Page 54

The Nick we’d known as a human was a summer, sunshine guy.

He went surfing, drank beer, climbed Half Dome at Yosemite, flew to Hawaii to go surfing with his military pals. His clothes had been completely different, his daytime habits and schedule had been totally different, his eating and drinking habitsobviouslyhad been different, and that didn’t even get into everything else about him that had changed.

Now, when Nick went surfing, it was in the middle of the night.

And peopledidstare at Nick, so I sympathized with his irritation.

They stared even apart from his inhumanly pale skin, his glass-like irises when they were visible, and his tendency to wear black gloves, trench coats, heavy sunglasses, hoodies, and an assortment of hats, all while carrying a thick umbrella in seventy-degree weather. The clothes definitely didn’t help, but I suspected they weren’t the main reason so many people struggled to look away from Nick when he passed them in the street.

The clothes did make him look a lot like… well, a vampire.

But even under the crazy get-ups he wore during the day, his actual appearance still garnered the most stares.

They didn’t look at his clothes really; I’d watched.

They looked at his face, his mouth, his body under the clothes.

They tried to see his eyes past his dark glasses.

Nick had always been good-looking, but now his looks had an ethereal quality that made him stand out from the rest of us, even compared to Dalejem, his boyfriend. Maybe it was the inhuman element to his looks, or maybe it was instinctive for people to be aware of him now. Maybe it was because his vampire presence pulled on humans for other reasons.

Either way, people often assumed he was an actor, or someone famous.

He looked younger, with more dramatic features than he’d had as a human.

Those things, coupled with that odd magnetism woven into the transformation itself, made him difficultnotto stare at.

I was used to it, so I didn’t stare anymore.

Some of the seers and humans in Black’s company still stared, but most of us who’d known him before he got turned no longer paid much attention. I’d known Nick for decades as a human, so the vampire thing barely registered for me now, other than when I tried to empathize with him as a friend. I knew it was still hard for him.

I noticed how people treated him, of course.

Even the ones who were drawn to him didn’t exactly treat himnormally.Something about that allure was obnoxiously compelling. You couldn’t help but notice it. But now it struck me as similar to an animal with a scent meant to attract prey.

I knew he could turn elements of that allure off and on at will, but some of it seemed to be totally outside his awareness, much less his control.

I wondered how it didn’t drive Jem crazy, having to deal with people’s odd reactions to Nick every day and night. I struggled enough with Black. Hell, I struggledall the timewith Black. It was infuriating how much I still struggled with Black.

Of course, Black had his own means of compelling people to pay attention to him. He also wasn’t shy about using them, not when he thought they might help him accomplish a particular goal.

“We got what we came for,” Black said, darting me a distinctly cold, hard look. He glanced over his shoulder at Nick as he pressed the button for the ignition.

“Did we?” Nick snorted. “And what was that?”

Black gave me another look, that one even darker.

“I read Wicker.” Black’s eyes shifted back to Nick, their expression blank. “While that woman was hovering over him––”

“She didn’t protect him?” I blurted. “His light, I mean. I thought…”

Nick and Black both looked at me.

Looking between them, I suddenly felt stupid. “I just thought that’s why she was standing there,” I said lamely. “She was definitely sending that message.”

Black’s eyes returned to the windshield.

“No. She didn’t protect him.” He backed the SUV smoothly out of the parking space. “She obviouslywouldhave, if she were able. Which is more evidence she’s not a seer.”