"I have the key." Grace told him as they arrived at her high-rise apartment. "Put me down a sec."
Aiden set her carefully down on her good foot and waited until she'd fished the key out of her front pocket and unlocked and opened the door.
But before she could hobble inside, and possibly injure her ankle more, he scooped her back up into his arms again and waited patiently for her to invite him in.
She heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Um, are you going to stand here in the hall all day?" she asked. "If so, put me back down so I can go in. 'Cause I really have to pee."
Surely, with her family knowing so much about vampires, she knew their limitations?
"Seriously, dude. The bathroom is like, right there. I think I can manage it."
Guess not. "You need to invite me in, poppet."
She snorted out loud. "Since when do you wait for an invitation to do anything?"
What was that supposed to mean? "Since...I can't enter your residence without you inviting me to do so."
An adorable crinkle appeared in the middle of her forehead. "Really? I thought that was just a myth made up by Hollywood."
"No, it's unfortunately true in real life also." He fought to keep his face serious, but didn't quite succeed. "I thought you 'knew all about vampires?"
"Obviously not as much as I thought I did." A rebellious gleam appeared in her eyes and she lifted her chin defiantly. "What if I don't want to invite you in?"
"Then we'll be standing in the hall all day."
"Your arms will get tired."
"No, poppet, they won't. You weigh about as much as that silly pet of yours to me. Luckily, you don't have as many prickles."
She looked longingly towards a door just inside her apartment, back at him, and then scowled. "Fine," she grumbled. "Come on in."
He gave her a cheeky grin. Perhaps she did have one or two prickles.
Enjoying her discomfiture maybe a bit more than necessary, he strode into her one room apartment and kicked the door shut behind him. Setting her down on the couch, he pushed his hood back off his head and planted his hands on his hips as he took a look around.
"Cozy." He nodded with approval. "I like it." He turned in a circle, taking it all in. "Very en vogue."
She looked at him sideways as she fished Mojo out of her shirt and set him on a pillow, smiling at the little bastard with warm eyes when he yawned, showing his little rat teeth.
He wished she'd smile at him like that.
"In vogue?" she asked.
He turned away before she could see the longing on his face. "Yes, you know, doing the whole minimalist thing," he swept his arm in an arc, indicating her complete lack of stuff.
Her place was definitely small, yet modern: just one main room and a galley kitchen. The cabinets were fronted with clear glass, the appliances were small, and a large island with a granite countertop divided the two spaces.
The living area contained what he presumed to be a pullout couch (as he didn't see a bed anywhere, mores the shame), a T.V., and a small bookshelf. Bamboo floors and large windows behind the couch completed the contemporary look.
The entire place was clean and uncluttered, giving it a less than lived-in look. The only homey spot was a sitting space in the corner by the windows that contained a small desk with a lamp. A book lay face down on its surface next to an empty teacup, and a fuzzy blanket was thrown over the chair.
Surprisingly, the place smelled like fresh-baked bread - warm and yeasty - but in a good way.
He went into the kitchen and found the fresh bread wrapped in cloth to keep it warm. Pulling open drawers, he found the one containing more towels on his third try. Filling it with ice from the freezer, he turned to find she had taken off her sandals and was slowly hobbling her way back towards the front door to the loo. Dropping the makeshift ice pack in the sink, he rushed over to assist her.
She jumped when he suddenly appeared at her side.
"Jesus, Aiden! Don't do that!"
He wrapped an arm around her waist and ducked a bit so he could lift her arm up over his shoulders, taking some of her weight off of her bad ankle.
"Sorry, love. Didn't mean to startle you."
She glared at him out of the corner of her eye. "I can walk on my own, you know."
He smiled down into her rebellious expression. "I know, but my mum would box my ears if she saw me standing around like an oaf when there is a lady in need."
She gave him a funny look, but didn't protest any more as he helped her across the room and through a large walk-in closet, leaving her in the loo on the other side of it. Propping her by the sink, he closed the door behind him when he left to give her some privacy.
As he waited for her to finish, he wandered over to the small bookshelf by the window and glanced at the titles. He whistled softly as he read some of them: A Practical Approach to Cardiac Anesthesia, 4th edition, Cardiovascular Physiology Concepts, 2nd Edition, and Cardiopulmonary Bypass (Cambridge Clinical Guides) were there among others, all pertaining to the heart.
Was his spunky little female a cardio doctor? Somehow, it didn't surprise him in the least.
The bathroom door opened behind him and he rushed over to help her, moving at human speed this time...sort of.
"Like to do a little light reading at night?" he asked as got her settled on the couch again.
She frowned up at him, and his heart sank. He wished she would smile again.
"Your books." He waved a hand in their general direction. "Not one for easy reading, I see."
"Oh. That. Those are my books from school. I graduated a few years ago."
He went to sit down next to her, but changed his mind when she looked pointedly at his dusty clothes. He wandered into the kitchen instead. "Are you a doctor then?"
"I'm a Cardiovascular Perfusionist. I work at a hospital off of Zhongshan Rd. by the People's Square."
He raised his eyebrows in silent question.
"Basically, I operate the circulation equipment during heart surgeries, when the heart needs to be artificially supported."
"So, you're not a squeamish girl." If she was in the operating room during surgeries, it meant she wasn't grossed out easily by let's say, oh...blood, for instance. He knew there was something he'd liked about her the moment he'd seen her sweet tush sticking out of that doorway.
Other than her sweet tush, of course.
"No. I'm not squeamish at all. And it's a good job. There's only about two thousand of us here in China, and more than twenty thousand hospitals, so we're in high demand. Hey, would you mind getting me a drink of water, please?"
He blinked at the change of subject. "Water...yes."
Which reminded him, he'd left her homemade ice pack in the sink. Getting her drink and putting fresh ice in the towel, he took both over to her. Handing her the glass, he ordered her to put her ankle up on the couch.
She did so, wincing slightly, and careful not to dislodge Mojo from his cushion.
Aiden rolled up her pant leg and took a look. There was some swelling on the delicate curve of her inner ankle, and a small bruise was promising to be quite colorful, but with some ice it should be fine. Provided he could keep her off of it for a few days.
And he knew just the way to do that.
"So does this thing pull out into a bed?" he asked innocently as he propped the ice on her ankle.
She squinted her eyes at him warily. "I'm fine sleeping on it like this."
Was that a challenge he heard in her tone? Getting into this one's knickers may prove to be a bit harder for him than normal, unless he "persuaded" her to come around to his way of thinking. However, he rarely found the need to do that with females. He preferred to bed them only if they were willing.
And he wanted Grace willing. Her stubbornness would only make it that much sweeter when he succeeded.
"Aiden?"
Thoughts of exactly what kind of knickers she was wearing drifted away, and he reluctantly came back to the present. "Hmm?"
Grace looked down at her fingers, which were tangled in her lap. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course."
"What made you decide to be a vampire?"
What indeed?
Careful not to create too much dust, he perched himself on the arm of the couch by her feet.
"I didn't 'decide' to become a vampire, per se. Well," he scratched his head, rethinking that statement. "I guess I rather did. I was given the choice. However, I was dying, so it really wasn't much of a choice. Not for me."
"You were dying?" she asked. "What happened?"
"I somehow managed to get in the way of a particularly nasty sword being wielded by a rather angry man. It was during the war."
Her hands lay forgotten in her lap. He had her full attention now. "A sword? What war was this?"
"The Great Northern War, in 1712. I found it quite by accident, while on a walk."
"The sword?" she asked.
He barked out a laugh. "No, love. The war."
She scrunched her forehead up in that adorable way she had. "How the hell do you find a war by accident? Didn't you hear the fighting? Or the screaming? See the uniforms?"
"Well, it was a rather lengthy walk. My father and I had gotten into a row, and I went outside for some air. I ended up at the local pub until they kicked me out, and then decided to walk it off before I went home. However, I was so pissed...drunk," he clarified for her. "That by the time I had sobered up I was on the other side of the English Channel. I was also quite famished, due to my walk being rather spur of the moment, as they say. So I wandered up to a group of gentlemen to see if they had any food they could spare."
"And you didn't notice that they were soldiers?"
"They were sitting outside their tent, carrying on around their fire. I just assumed they were enjoying the outdoors, having a gentleman's outing."
"That must've been before strip bars." Grace grinned at him.
Staring at her lovely face, lit up as it was by a genuine smile, he completely lost track of what he was saying.
"Sooo, they fed you..." she prompted after a moment.
"Yes! Right." He cleared his throat. "They were quite generous. And all they asked was that I repay them by helping them with their little spat." He shrugged. "So, I did. A few days later, Luukas and Nikulas found me on the battlefield, lying amongst my deceased companions. I'll spare you the gory details."
She stared at him a moment. "That's some heavy stuff, dude. Who're Luukas and Nikulas?"
He picked up her ice pack and rearranged it on her ankle, saying distractedly, "Luukas is the Master Vampire that turned me, and Nikulas is his younger brother. Also a vampire." The swelling was already going down, he was happy to see.
She snapped her fingers. "Oh, hey! Nikulas...that's the friend that you called, right?"
"Correct," he confirmed. "He's my best mate. I'm his Guardian, and a Hunter for Luukas."
She shook her head slightly. "You lost me again."
"Ah, yes. Sorry." Rubbing his temple, he tried to explain. "Luukas is the Master Vampire, as I said, which means he is like the leader of our colonies in the States. He created all of us, and protects us, and Nik..."
She interrupted him. "Created all of you? How many of you are there?"
"At last count there were five hundred and thirty-one of us throughout the country, with a large portion of them living and working in the Pacific Northwest."
Her mouth dropped open in surprise. "Luukas created five hundred vampires?"
"Yes. He's one of the more conservative Master Vampires, unlike some of those over here in the East."
Leaning forward, he took the tip of his index finger and gently closed her jaw.
She stared at him mutely, and he could see her trying to wrap her mind around the fact that humans have been going around all this time with no idea that they shared the night with that many vampires.
After a few minutes, she asked, "So, what did you and your father fight about? It must have been a doozy to cause you to react the way you did."
He thought back to that day. It seemed so long ago, yet he remembered everything as clearly as if it had just happened. But as he usually did whenever someone asked about his family, he blew it off like it was no big deal.
"Oh, something about him being a cheating bastard, I'm certain, or maybe his bloated sense of self-importance. My father tended to take on airs. He thought himself to be much more noble than he was. And," he added. "He was a cheating bastard."
"What did he do? Like, for a living?"
"He was part of what they used to call the 'landed gentry'. My family had money, but only because my father was particularly good at cheating at cards. He won most of it, rather than earning it honestly. Then he bought land with it, and we rented out the land. Our family's position was high in society, only immediately below the nobility. But to hear my father brag about it, one would think we were part of the royal family. He was eventually killed in a duel, and my younger brother took over the lands."
Because I wasn't there to do so.
He didn't like speaking of his father. It left a rather horrid taste in his mouth. His father was a liar, and a cheat, and a mean son of a bitch. And he didn't care about anyone but himself. Everything he did was for his own benefit. The only sound decision he'd ever made was using his ill-gotten gains to buy land instead of gambling it all away again. At least his family had gotten something out of that.
However, in the end, all he'd managed to accomplish was to get his entire family killed.
All of them except for me. Because I'd thrown a hissy fit and left home. Leaving my younger brother to try to clean up our father's mess on his own.
Maybe if he had stayed...or come back to check on his Mum sooner...he could have protected them. Could have been there to appease the tenants. But the responsibility had fallen on his younger brother, and they'd been beaten down for too long to think the son would be any different than the father.
Their father had consistently raised their rent to fund his addictions, until the people on his land had become so poor and hostile that his mum had been afraid to leave the house. Whether it was because she was afraid of being attacked or afraid of seeing the proof of his father's ways, Aiden wasn't certain.
His father's tenants couldn't afford the ungodly amounts of money and goods he charged them. But they were afraid to make a stand against him. Afraid that he would make them leave their homes and they'd starve on the road. They were barely feeding themselves as it was. So they didn't protest the high rents, however, they did talk amongst themselves. And then the talking turned to anger, and the anger turned to rebellion.
When his father had died, and his inexperienced brother had taken over, the tenants had seized their chance. They'd formed a mob, and marched to the house to take out the family that had caused them so much misery.
His entire family had been killed that night. He wasn't certain exactly what had happened, only that the house had been burned to the ground with his mum, brother and sister inside. He only knew it had been the tenants at all because he'd already been reborn as a vampire when he'd come back, and he'd used mind control on the nearest pretty wife to find out what had happened.
If only he hadn't let his father get to him. If only he'd been thinking about someone other than himself...
You're a selfish man, Aiden. Just like your father!
His mum's voice echoed in his head. She'd told him that exact thing many a time. But she was wrong. He was nothing like that bastard.
The empty hole in his chest, the one that never went away no matter how much time had passed since that fateful day, throbbed painfully.
The night he'd found the burned remains of his family, Aiden had sworn to the gods that never again would he not be there to protect those he loved. And his impressive head collection was evidence of the fact that he had kept that promise. Every single one of those heads had been taken protecting his new vampire family.
He pushed away the memories. "Let's speak of something else, all right?"
"Okay," she agreed.
Glancing down at Mojo, who was lying on his back on the pillow, he asked, "Is this where he sleeps?"
"No. Mojo will need to go back into his home." She pointed to an extravagant cage set up against the one wall. It didn't have a top, but it did have multi-levels with little ramps going up to each one, toys, a litter box, and even a little house for him to hide in.
Aiden looked over at the little ball of prickles lying serenely on the other pillow by her foot. It stared back with one beady, black eye, keeping the other one closed.
With a great sigh, he rose, picked up the little rodent, pillow and all, and gingerly slid Mojo off of it and into his cage. The little guy huffed a few times, then waddled off into his house.
A muffled noise behind him had him turning to find Grace giggling behind her hand.
He struck an indignant pose. "Are you laughing at me, poppet?"
At that, she burst out into full-fledged guffaws, telling him, "It's just...so funny...to see a grown man -and a vampire at that! - afraid of...a few little spines!"
"I'm not afraid!" he insisted, tossing the pillow back onto the couch. "Just because I dislike being stabbed for no good reason."
And besides, I prefer being the one doing the poking, he thought to himself.
She started giggling all over again. "Which is why you just happened to wander into a war..."
He didn't know what was so bloody amusing. Leaving her to her cackling, he wandered over to the walk-in closet. "Any chance you have some men's clothes in here that might fit me?" As she wiped at the tears on her face, he took it upon himself to start rummaging through her stuff.
He was elbow deep in a particularly interesting section of silky things that still smelled faintly of her skin when she said, "Sorry. I didn't mean to laugh at you. I think I'm just overtired. Look in the dresser on the right, against the wall under the hanging clothes. Third drawer down. There may be something in there that will fit."
Dropping his handful of silkies with regret, he yanked open the indicated drawer. It was full of her workout clothes, and, at the very bottom, a few pairs of men's black nylon running pants and T-shirts.
As he sorted through them, he asked her, "How did the rat get into that bag anyway?"
When nothing but stony silence answered his question, he poked his head out to find her staring at him stonily at him from the couch.
Rolling his eyes, he corrected himself. "How did the bloody hedgehog get into that bag anyway?" Hands full of clothes, he pointed with his chin to the bag in question, sitting on the floor at the end of the couch where it'd been dropped.
Narrowing her eyes at him in warning, she replied, "Mojo was in my little tote bag I have for him when I stopped at a restaurant to get something to eat. I set him on the floor, and when I was finished and stood up to leave, I picked up his bag only to notice he wasn't in it anymore. There weren't that many people there that late, just a couple on a date and that group of Suits I followed. When I couldn't find him anywhere, I saw them leaving and thought I saw the bag move. So I followed them to that empty building."
"And you left your tote bag at the restaurant?"
Her eyes widened as realization hit her. "Shit! I did. Dammit, that was my last one. I'll have to go pick up more."
Aiden quirked an eyebrow. "I'm just going to rinse off, if that's all right?" He didn't wait for her okay, but left her groaning to herself on the couch and took his new clothes into the loo.
Leaving the door cracked open an inch in case she needed him, he stripped off his dusty clothes and stepped gratefully under the hot spray. Rolling his head around on his neck, he let the water rinse off the dust and sludge, groaning aloud as it ran down the grooves of his muscular body.
Spotting the various bottles on the built-in shower shelves, he grabbed one, opened it, and smelled the contents. It smelled like her hair, and the constant burning of his gums, an unexpected and ever-present problem since he'd first found her, worsened, his fangs even sliding down a bit.
Pouring some of the herbal shampoo in his hand, he scrubbed his head and rinsed. Finding the body wash, he started scouring himself quickly, trying not to think of how the scent of the soap he was using smelled when it was warmed from her lovely peaches-n-cream skin. He'd bet his right fang that skin was as smooth and soft as it looked. It would be like warm silk under his hands and mouth.
He smothered a different kind of groan as his blood heated and his cock twitched, but he resisted the urge to take the hard length in his hand and ease some of this tension. Somehow, he knew that it would only make it all worse. Gritting his teeth, he quickly rinsed off his now throbbing cock and moved on.
What the bloody hell was he doing here anyway? He could be showering in a hotel right now while he waited on a plane ride home to Seattle.
He should already be on his way back to his family, doing his job, not running around rescuing silly boot brushes.
He should be trying to figure out what happened to him and how he got here, not how to shag the crumpet in the next room, intriguing as she was.
She didn't need him anymore. He'd helped her get her Mojo back and had gotten them both home safe and sound.
He should be on the phone with Nikulas, arranging his ride home. There were plenty of other, more willing, females in the world. This...pull he felt towards her would go away as soon as there was some distance between them.
He scowled at the shower wall. She made him FEEL things. He didn't like it.
He would call Nik first thing tonight, as soon as he woke up.
Mind made up, he turned off the water, grabbed her towel off the rack and dried off, then threw on his newly acquired shirt and trousers. He'd have to ask about washing his stuff. He couldn't spend the rest of his time here "going commando" as they say, at least not comfortably, and he hated shopping. Besides, he wasn't going to be here long enough to warrant doing so.
Be that as it may, as long as he was here, he needed to take a look into that bag tonight after he made that phone call.
Grace watched from under lowered lids, pretending to be asleep, as Aiden came out of the bathroom and headed towards her. Even through her lashes, she could see that her ex-boyfriend's clothes looked way hotter on him then they ever had on her ex.
Whereas Jim, her Swedish-born, computer geek ex-boyfriend, had those clothes here only to impress her by working out with her when he'd stayed over (which hadn't been often), Aiden already had the physique to make them look good.
She squeezed her eyes shut and snored lightly for effect as he treaded soundlessly over to her in his bare feet.
He lifted the ice from her ankle, and she cracked her eyes open again, watching him as he leaned closer and touched her bruise with light fingers.
A concerned frown creased his brow as he took the towel to the kitchen, put more ice in it, then placed it gently back on her swollen ankle.
He made no sound at all as he walked over to the window and peeked through the shades. If she hadn't been watching, she would never know he was even in the room. After a long moment, he turned away from the window, picked up the crocheted blanket from the rocking chair, and covered her with it. He tucked it around her, kissed her lightly on the forehead, and then he stole Mojo's pillow.
She managed to keep her breathing steady through it all. Her eyes followed him as he took his pillow into the closet, dug around for another blanket on one of the shelves, and then shut the closet door behind him against the oncoming sunlight.
Maybe she should've used the bathroom again before he went in there. She rolled over and pulled the blanket up around her while she thought about tiptoeing around a sleeping vampire in the middle of the day. The image made her shiver under her blanket.
What if he woke up? Would he know that it was her? Would he be hungry? Or thirsty? Or whatever? She had to admit, with her luck, it was more likely that the worst thing that would happen is that she'd forget he was there and fall over him.
She wondered if he looked dead when he slept, which he pretty much was, right?
She'd just have to hold it until sundown, that's all.
Her ankle throbbed and she sat up to adjust the ice. The thought crossed her mind that she could use her insignificant magic to heal it, which was pretty much all it was good for, but then decided against it for now. Magic took a lot out of her. And if Aiden happened to come out again and surprised her while she was in the middle of a healing spell, she might end up breaking her bones instead of healing them.
Besides, she wasn't ready for him to find out what a freak she was.
When all had been quiet for a good thirty minutes or so, she got up as quietly as she could. Hobbling over to the kitchen, she found the large container of salt where she kept it hidden in one of the lower cabinets.
Beginning in the corner at the far end of the kitchen, she limped her way around the entire apartment, pouring salt along the edge of the floor where it hit the wall. When she was finished, there was a complete circle enclosing the room she was in.
She glanced at the closed closet door, but she couldn't risk waking him up to contain him inside the circle. Not without exposing herself.
Besides, if what her mother had told her was true, she couldn't depend on him to help her. She'd have to take care of herself. And he was a vampire. He was perfectly capable of defending himself. Those things never came out during the day anyway.
This would just have to do.