| |
With no fear of leaving a paper trail, I used my platinum express card, and booked into this gold suite at the Palace Hotel, two days ago. Usually I wouldn’t bother to go all out luxury, but after all the horrors I’ve seen, I need comfort. I need a fully stocked top-notch liquor cabinet to help myself to. I’ve even cut back on the blood. My feeds have been replaced with whiskey, vodka, and gin.
I unscrew the lid off a bottle of 1985 dark bourbon, and swig down a quarter of the bottle, fast. My flight back to Paris leaves in the morning, so I’m trying to waste some time. I flick play on the flat screen TV, and drop down onto the plush sofa, listening to deep beat anthems.
I’ve not heard a thing about Liz, and that’s my own fault. My phone is switched off. I want no contact with the outside world until I get back to Paris, where I can throw myself back into work. Work is the one thing that makes me feel relevant. Even the undead need a purpose.
I slouch right back, swigging down my medicine as I take a crumpled twenty pack out from my shirt pocket. It’s a non-smoking hotel. But for the amount of money I’ve paid to stay here, I don’t give a shit. If I want to smoke, I damn well will.
I light up and take a long drag, when someone knocks on the door. I blow out a plume of smoke.
“Can you not fuckin see the do not disturb sign?” I yell, leaning back onto the cushions.
The idiot on the other side of the door is obviously deaf, because they are still frigging knocking.
“I said...” I spring up from the couch and march across the thick cream carpet. “Can you not read?” I fling open the door. “Sara?” I mumble, my eyes widening on hers.
How the fuck did she find me?
She looks me up and down. “What the hell happened to you?”
I peer down at my attire. Okay, maybe I should have put on a fresh shirt today. Maybe I should have put one on yesterday. But I have every right to be a slob for a while. This is my timeout.
“You going to let me in?” She pouts. “I have some news on Liz.”
Fuck. I don’t want to hear that name. I ran out on her again. I’ll admit it, at a real bad time for her I fucked-off, and now I’m sulking in this fancy hotel.
I pull the door wide open to allow Sara through.
“What is it?” I prepare myself for the worst, rubbing my hands over my face.
“She’s gone.” She nudges an empty whiskey bottle on the floor with the toe of her very sexy black shoe.
“Where?” I panic.
“She’s awakening, again. Adrien has taken her and Daniel somewhere private.” She’s not looked at me once. Her eyes are going over the mess I’ve made in here. “He wanted to do it alone.”
“Why the hell is she awakening again? And why the hell would you let Adrien take Daniel with them?” I bark, my head woozy with lack of blood and the whiskey rush.
“Her first time was to bring Daniel into the world.” She finally looks at me. “She would have died eventually. Now she’s waking as the sired of a pure blood.”
I wave my hand in the air, sobering up quicker than I would with blood. “Hold on, just back up. So Mr Prick thinks he can handle Liz alone, while he’s caring for a baby!”
“Ben is with them,” she says. “Besides, she’s handling it kind of well the second time round.”
“Shit Sara. Why the hell didn’t you go with them?” I pace to the unmade queen-size bed.
“I have spent an age with Gwen, searching for your sorry ass,” she yells. “Your message to me from Dom was real nice by the way. I mean look at you. You’re a mess Nathan.”
“Why the fuck do you care so much?”
She narrows her eyes at me, like she seriously wants to do me some damage. It’s a shit hot angry look, and I love it.
“You know what.” She shakes her head. “Forget it.”
She turns her back on me and marches to the door. But I can’t let her go. Hers is the only face I’ve seen in days. And I think, no, I know that I’m falling for her. She actually cares about me, and I’m being a dick with her.
As her fingers push down the door handle I hurry to her back, and press my hand against the door to stop her leaving.
“You are here for me?” I ask as the tension between us thickens.
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realise.” I lie my hand over the side of her face.
“What, that a vampire like me could... could love?”
She lets her head fall forward, but I lift her eyes back to mine. I want to look into them. She needs to know the truth.
“I feel the same, Sara. But I need to know one thing. Can we go slow?”
Her lustrous full lips offer me a sultry grin. Damn, she’s hot.
“I can do slow,” she says with a sexy ray glinting in her eyes. “But we’re not going to be doing any speed at all, until you shave that rug off your face.” She pushes me into the direction of the en-suite. “Shower, shave, and feed,” she orders.
I turn to her in the doorway with an urge that needs taking care of. “I may need a little help.” I wiggle my brow.
She sniggers as she walks to me. “In there, now.” She playfully shoves me into the bathroom.
Is she the one who I can share this eternal life with? I’m positive I want her now. I guess only time will tell. What I do know is that she’s become important to me, and now the feelings I once had for Liz, are nothing but a distant memory.