John watched Tela get into the car he’d called and pull the door shut behind her. He’d allowed her to think she wasn’t going to be escorted home, but he wasn’t about to let her walk past sunset without his eyes on her. Maybe he couldn’t be there at all times, but he could at least make sure she got home safely. From what he knew, blood donors were treated fairly well among his kind. It made no sense to be rude to the people providing them with food. But he knew better than most how cruel some could be. Especially among his own kind. He’d felt protective of Tela long before he ever tasted her. And after their brief exchange in his room, the urge to watch over her was stronger than ever.

He heard stories of this happening to other males, but he’d brushed them off. From an outsider’s perspective, it sounded as though the human females were seducing his kind and luring them away from their former lives. But with Tela, it was completely different. She was no seductress using her feminine wiles to draw him away. Maybe because humans were naturally weaker than his kind, or something about the way her giant blue eyes looked up at him, but it was somehow impossible for him to resist the urge to guard and protect.

Even letting her go home was a struggle. Some base, primal drive inside him wanted to lock her inside his apartment and keep her there until he didn’t think it was too dangerous to go outside. So, never.

To a lot of his kind, she was viewed as nothing more than livestock. He shouldn’t feel bad. In his studies of humans, he found they weren’t exactly that friendly to the creatures they used as food. But she was so much more than that to him. He couldn’t name exactly what she was, but she was more.

As the cab drove off, John started to move. He had to go slow to keep tabs on the vehicle, dodge the obstacles, and avoid being seen at the same time. He wondered whether she was looking for him. Could she feel his presence like he could feel hers?

All of his senses were on high alert when she was around. The second she showed up in the hallway, her scent had drifted over to his nostrils. Her taste still lingered in his mouth, and his cock was still hard with the urge—no, need—to feel more of her.

This shouldn’t be a problem. Back on Vora, there were so few women around, especially for someone as low ranked as him. Celibacy was a way of life. Even when he came here and saw all of the mortal females, he hadn’t been tempted. It wasn’t until that day—thirty-four days ago, to be exact—when he first felt Tela that he ever once felt the urge to stray. And today was supposed to take care of that. He assumed a donation would scratch that itch, but apparently his need to feed and his need to fuck were two separate things that needed to be satiated.

The cab stopped in front of her apartment building and she got out, saying a few words before heading to her building. As she unlocked the door, she stopped and glanced around.

This was it. She must’ve known he was there. He took one step forward, about to close the distance between them. If she felt him, that meant she must be feeling the pull too. He wasn’t imagining it. There was something between them and it was undeniable.

He took one more step before he noticed they weren’t alone on the street. About a hundred feet away from Tela, another Vopura was coming up. He was forced to let Tela disappear into the building as he walked out fully under the lamplight so he’d be sure that the other Vopura would see him.

He felt the need to be seen. Other vampires should know that as of right now, this place was under his protection. But instead of leaving, the other vampire approached. Faster than a human would, but slow enough for John to track his progression.

As he came closer, he recognized the male. He probably would’ve recognized him sooner, but obviously he had been distracted.

Dante stopped a few feet away. “I thought you were off duty tonight.”

“Just out for a walk.”

Dante glanced around them. “In District Six? Lots of mortals around this side of town. What made you walk here?”

“That’s the fun of being free. I can go where I want, when I want.”

“Yes, but as your commanding officer, I’m also allowed to ask you why.”

John shook his head. “Commanding officer. You’ve been reading too much human lingo. The closest translation I’ve found for what you are is master.”

Dante didn’t look annoyed or upset by John’s correction. Considering how rocky the transition had been, John had really lucked out that he hadn’t gotten someone worse than Dante. Just because he had his freedom now didn’t mean that any of his new peers looked at him as an equal.

Even if he wasn’t a slave anymore, the soldier and superior relationship was still different from humans. If one of them stepped out of line, it wasn’t unheard of for a superior officer to issue—what was it the humans called it? Capital punishment. So Dante referring to himself as a commanding officer was an understatement, regardless of John’s free status.

“You’re right. It doesn’t matter why you’re here. Have you seen anything out of the ordinary while you’ve been out?”

John frowned. “There’s something wrong?”

Dante gave him a stern look. “Don’t put words in my mouth. It was a simple question.”

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” he said. Except the fact that he’d followed a mortal here. But Dante didn’t need to hear about that.

“All right. You didn’t hear it from me, but there’s talk of... something going on.”

That had his attention. “What does that mean?”

“There are rumors of a traitor. A Vopura working with the humans.”

John scoffed. What idiots. Earth had made them soft. Back at Vora, with resources so scarce, violence was a way of life. A constant. It made war second nature to them. It was naive to think humans would ever accept their kind. Making a deal with them was making a deal with death. Humans might be weaker, but they had numbers and the sun on their side. The only way the Vopura stood a chance was with magic. The barrier around the city was strong, but no one knew whether it would last forever.

And they didn’t have a lot of witches on their side.

“Do you suspect there’s a rebellion going on?”

“I know there’s a human rebellion going on. Even slaves revolt every few centuries. We’ve hardly been here long enough to beat anyone into submission. We’ve been playing nice and hoping for acceptance, but I don’t see that happening any time soon. The resistance hasn’t given up searching for a way to bring the wall down.”

“You want to go in harder then?” The thought didn’t sit well with him. Maybe a few days, a few weeks ago, it would’ve been a palatable idea, but things were different now. Before, humans were nothing but an enemy. An obstacle to him living the life he’d always wanted.

But now the humans had a face, and her name was Tela.

“What do you want me to do?”

––––––––

––––––––

“How did it go?” asked Dani as soon as Tela walked in.

“Fine.” Tela took another big gulp of orange juice. If she was covering her face with a bottle of juice, maybe Dani wouldn’t be able to see her blushing. Hey, maybe the blood loss would make the blushing less noticeable. That was one hell of a silver lining.

Though she had a feeling nothing would help with this current blushing problem.

She’d sat in the back of the cab and relived every single second she’d spent in John’s apartment. This was bad. This was very bad. No, even worse. It was unacceptable.

She could not have feelings for a vampire. Not romantic ones and especially not sexy ones. The very idea was crazy.

This wasn’t just some bad boy. She’d done bad before. This was different. This was a bad species. Every time she’d ever heard those stupid stories about a human falling for a vampire, she’d immediately written the woman off as crazy.

And that applied to her as well. There was nothing normal about these thoughts going through her mind. She just had to go on. Go to bed and push all these crazy events out of her mind.

Dani came out of the room Tela had left her in and looked over Tela skeptically. Great. The last thing she needed was her sister studying her.

“I mean, it went as good as it could go,” she said quickly as she started to head to her room. Sleep and forget about all of this. It was a good plan. She just needed to stick to the plan.

“I got a hold of a few people,” said Dani in an excited voice that let Tela know she didn’t want to let the conversation go.

Tela took a breath and came to terms with the fact that she wouldn’t be making a quick escape any time soon. “I told you not to get your hopes up about any of those people.”

“Not getting my hopes up and ignoring everyone altogether aren’t the same thing.”

She winced. It wasn’t a terrible argument. Tela just didn’t want to be the one to keep on crushing Dani’s hopes. Taking another drink of the orange juice, she abandoned her path to her bedroom and went for the living room instead, flopping down onto the couch. “All right. Tell me who you found.”

“All right. On the first channel, I found Will, who sounded like some kid who just went through puberty. Then there was Gareth. He was over in Belltown, and it sounds like he’s been on the radio every day since the invasion.”

Why did her underage sister only connect with guys? But it wasn’t as if she’d be silly enough to actually try to meet one of these people. This wasn’t like internet dating here.... “Did Gareth have any interesting insights?” She rubbed at her head.

“Gareth knew nothing. Travis is the one who was so fascinating. He’s with the resistance.”

Oh, God help her. “The resistance?”

“Yeah. Get this, he’s outside the wall.”

This was exactly what she’d been afraid of. “I don’t want you getting involved with any resistance.” Tela tried to make sure her voice was firm. To make sure that there was no mistake that this was an order and not a suggestion.

“You have to be kidding me. I can’t afford to not be part of the resistance. Look around us. Look what you just had to do tonight. I can’t in good conscience sit back and do nothing while people are suffering and dying every day.”

“You’re a kid. That’s what you’re supposed to do in times of war. Sit back, do nothing, and wait to be rescued.”

“And in seven months, when I turn eighteen? Is there some magical switch that’s gonna go off? That will allow me to actually help somebody?”

“You are helping somebody. You’re helping me. I will lose my goddamn mind if anything happens to you. I want you to know that I’m putting all of my sanity in your hands, and I really hope you can handle that kind of responsibility. And my sanity is not an easy burden to bear.”

Dani narrowed her eyes, but she let it go. “So tell me more about your night.”

“I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“If you don’t want me to be a part of the resistance, okay. For right now, I’ll listen. But you have to at least keep me informed. What are the vampires like?”

Tela didn’t know what to say to that. Really fun to grind against? Oddly sexy if you give them a chance? Besides, she had a feeling John was hardly a standard by which to judge other vampires. He seemed more like an exception than a rule. “It’s... different. They seem to be catching up to society more and more. The last time I went, I had to manually check in, and this time they had a human receptionist.”

“A receptionist! You’re kidding. How on earth do they find humans to work for them?”

“I assume the same way they found me. I needed money and they had it.”

“And did the girl seem... terrified? Injured?”

“No. She seemed happy. As far as I can tell, of course.”

“And what about where they live? Do they sleep in coffins or anything?”

“I didn’t go in his bedroom,” said Tela harshly. She winced as she realized what she did and tried to backtrack. “I mean, I don’t see why they’d sleep in coffins. It’s not like they’re dead. You’d be surprised how warm they can be.”

“No, I remember. That dance club was scorching.”

Tela glared at her, and Dani quickly clarified, “I mean, it was way too hot. Uncomfortably so. So uncomfortable I never want to go back. Happy?”

“I’m never gonna be happy. After that little escapade, I’m surprised my hair didn’t turn white.”

“And did you see John when you went today?”

And there it was. Dani had been asking about John repeatedly ever since he dragged her out of that club. Understandably so. She’d been just as perplexed and confused by the help he’d offered as Tela had been. Should she lie? If she told Dani that John had requested her, that would only stoke the girl’s curiosity. But no, she couldn’t. Even if Dani was still legally a minor, she wasn’t exactly a child to be protected. In fact, she had to admit she respected Dani’s urge to help people and her willingness to put herself at risk for others, even if she didn’t agree with it. And Tela wasn’t in the habit of lying to people she respected. “Actually, I did see John tonight. He, um.... He requested to see me.”

“Requested to see you about what?” Tela just looked at her sister, and Dani’s mouth dropped open. “He requested you? You specifically?”

“Yep.”

“Wow. That’s, um, good?”

“I have no idea.”

“How was it?”

“He was much nicer than the last one,” she said honestly. And that was officially as much information as Dani was ever going to get about what had just happened.

“So he likes you then.”

“He likes me well enough to eat me.”

“No, I mean he likes you. This could be exactly what we need. Tela, if you can get him to fall in love with you, then we can—”

Tela stood up from the couch and slammed her empty juice carton down on the table. “You better not finish that sentence.”

“I’m not crazy,” insisted Dani as she followed Tela down the hall. “Vampire and human relationships are becoming more and more common. Just think of the things that we could get if you had a vampire falling all over himself for you. All you have to do is—”

“All I have to do is get some sleep, because I’m tired and suffering from blood loss. I will see you tomorrow morning.” Tela shut the door in her sister’s face. She then let out a deep sigh and leaned against the wood, her heart beating unexpectedly fast. A vampire in love with her? She had to let out a laugh as her head fell back against the door. Good Lord, that was the last thing she needed.