Page 95

Story: The Gloaming

Nicholas kept his distance, watching. “Are you… alright, love?”

I shook my head, opening my eyes. “I’ve never sensed anything like that before.”

He frowned and said nothing, leaning around me to open the passenger side door. I climbed in.

I closed my eyes tight as we left, trying to force my body back to normality. I needed to forget that awful, overwhelming feeling of… sickness.

Pulling up outside the house, I took a long breath before looking over at Nicholas, whose eyes followed my every movement as always.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, glancing away again.

“Would ye describe it to me?” He paused. “The way it works?”

I almost laughed, remembering how many times Jon had asked the same thing. But Nicholas’s quiet intensity was different – less clinical, more personal.

I shifted to face him over the gearstick, absently running a hand through my hair. “I can try.”

“It starts like that feeling when you know you’re being watched – an extra sense that bleeds into all the others. My skin tingles – beyond itchy, like something trying to crawl out from underneath. That hits first, then the hyper-awareness kicks in.” I leaned back against the headrest, trying to find the words. “The taste comes next. Hot metal in the air, coating my tongue. And then there’s the fire.”

“Fire?” His eyes darkened as he turned toward me, the lean muscle in his shoulders shifting beneath his shirt as he moved. For a moment I glimpsed the predator who understood exactly what that fire felt like.

“That’s how I think of it. Adrenaline, I suppose.” I remembered as I spoke. “When I was younger, it was immediate and overwhelming – all of that at once. I can control it better now, so the fire comes with the fighting. It pushes me harder, lets me take the blows and hit back,” I grinned. “That part’s not so bad.”

“Aye, I ken that part well,” he smiled. “And do you feel this way any time there’s a vampire near?”

“I did,” I hedged, though I knew what he was really asking. “Until I met you and Isabel. You’re…” I hesitated. I had to be honest with him here. “Idosense you, but I have to really try –it’s much harder.”

He nodded, his face hidden in the half-light.

“In the warehouse, it was different.” My hands twisted in my lap. “Beyond sickening. I’m not squeamish – I’ve seen enough blood for ten lifetimes. It was… wrong. Rotten. Something in there left a stain.”

Neither of us spoke. The truth was starting to sink in: my senses weren’t just getting stronger – they were evolving. The vampire girl in the park had been too much for me already. There was no way I wanted to bethataffected by every vamp death – and that was something that was fast approaching. With my deeper understanding of them, it seemed I was more attuned to their energy.

The warehouse’s atmosphere still clung to me like a shadow. I needed something normal to chase away the darkness.

“Do you want to come in for coffee?” The words slipped out before I could second-guess them.

“I’d like that verra much.” Nicholas’s voice was soft, but his eyes were intense.

On the steps, I fumbled for my keys, struggling to get into my jacket pocket under the strap of my sword sheath. As he had once before, Nicholas swept in, found the keys and unlocked the door in the blink of an eye.

“Cole!” The laugh bubbled up naturally, despite everything we’d seen tonight.

Nicholas gave me his now-familiar half-grin, and stepped inside, closing the door behind us. I shrugged out of my coat, hanging it by the door before peeking into the living room atthe piles of paperwork Tom had left on the desk and coffee table. I groaned inwardly at the mess. It wasn’t important, but still.

“The attic might be more comfortable,” I offered, heading for the kitchen. “I’ll grab those drinks.”

He nodded and began to make his way leisurely up the stairs.

As I waited for the kettle to boil, I thought about Solace’s words – about the intruder feeding on other vampires – and Nicholas’s appalled reaction. Taboo, he’d called it. If human blood was necessary for their survival, I had to assume that vampire blood would make them even stronger. Though it seemed a lot more like cannibalism, where a vamp feeding on a human just… didn’t.

Great.

I carried the mugs upstairs and set them on my dressing table. The silence from above was unnerving – I wondered what he was up to. Running my fingers through my wind-tangled hair, I climbed up to investigate.

Nicholas knelt on the floor with that perfect stillness only vampires seemed capable of, the strong lines of his back and shoulders evident even through his clothes as he bent to examine my sketches. His fingers traced the edge of one of the larger drawings – unfinished like everything lately, but raw with emotion I hadn’t meant to capture. Each page was more revealing than I’d intended.

“They’re private, you know.” The words came out barely above a whisper, but he actually startled.