Page 128 of Blood Stone

“Not like in the movies, but we have them.”

“But you walk around in daylight.”

“There’s a lot the movies don’t have right, Kate,” Garret told her gently. “They’re using fictional creatures passed down through literature and a hundred different authors’ imaginations. While we’re the real thing and have been hiding away in history and overlooked by humans altogether.”

“Because you pretend to be human,” she whispered.

Garrett could see she was trembling.

“It that so you can prey on humans?”

“No,” Roman said flatly. Sharply.

“Oh god…or seduce them?” She slapped her hand over her mouth and rushed from the room.

Garrett looked at Roman’s wretched expression. “Go after her,” he snapped.

“And have her scream hysterically when I get close?”

“You have to risk it. If you don’t go now, she’ll never be able to accept you later. Move your ass, Roman.”

* * * * *

Kate couldn’t remember ever being so comprehensively sick before. Every time she thought she was finished, the idea of long teeth or nails scraping across her vulnerable body would catch at her thoughts, or decomposing bodies, or the hot smell of free-flowing blood and she would have to lean over the toilet and start all over again.

Hands lifted her hair out of the way. A cold, wet towel pressed against the back of her neck. No nails.

Kate rested her head against her arm on the back of the bowl, too exhausted to lift herself up. “That feels too good for me to tell you to go away.”

“Good to know,” Adrian murmured. Roman, she amended.

“Here. To rinse with.”

She lifted her head an inch or two. He was holding out a glass of water. All she could see was his fingers wrapped around the glass. He was standing behind her and under the circumstances, that should have scared the crap out of her, but it didn’t.

She took the glass. “Thanks.” Her voice was very scratchy and raw. She rinsed, spat. Did it a few times more and then flushed. She slowly tried to get herself up off the tiles.

He picked her up. He scooped her like she was a two year old. She clutched at him because the ascent had been that fast and sucked in her breath.

“Just over to the bed,” he assured her. “Then you can relax.”

“You were hiding your real strength all along.”

He gave a small grimace. “‘Hiding’ pretty much defines our lives. Strength, age, experience, names, professions, friendships, the sum total of what we knew before has to be hidden from this present moment.” He put her on the bed.

“Doesn’t that get tiring?” she asked.

He hesitated, his eyes level with hers. “Yes,” he said flatly. Then he sat – not next to her, but on the chair in the corner.

It bothered her, but she couldn’t pin down why. Her heart was hurrying along unhappily. “If I asked you to show me your…teeth, I suppose you would be as coy as Garrett?”

“I’d be reluctant,” Adrian – Roman – agreed. “But not for reasons you might think. Baring teeth is a form of aphrodisiac for us. It’s a precursor to biting in sexual pleasure if we’re not about to feed or bite in defense.”

Kate could feel herself blushing. She sought for a change of subject. “You lived in Constantinople,” she said.

“For a long time,” he agreed.

“Were you there when Murad was emperor?” she asked. “My Murad? Murad IV?”