Page 7

Roman

R oman should really leave. Right now.

He’d been so close to killing that man. Not even biting him, feeding off him, but just beating the life out of him. But Danny’s voice had somehow cut through the murderous fog, his demon tuned in to the trembling boy more than the prey directly in front of them.

That in itself was a revelation.

The rational human side of him was aware he was in trouble—that he had his fangs fully out, his demon showing in his eyes—and that at any moment, Danny would start screaming bloody murder and run for the hills.

But his rational human side was definitely not in charge right now.

Sweet. Honey sweet. Ours, ours, ours.

The boy was bleeding, and…that scent . It was the rich, coppery, tantalizing smell of fresh blood but also the smell of Danny, that milk-and-honey intoxicating scent.

And apparently his demon was just as captivated by Danny’s scent as the rest of him.

It had barely registered the attacker scuttling away into the darkness, too focused on the boy himself, on having him in its sight.

The boy who was currently staring at Roman, eyes wide, looking a little fearful but mostly in shock.

“What…just happened?” Danny’s voice was barely more than a whisper.

Roman said the only thing he could, the only thing that mattered. “He was hurting you.”

Before Roman knew what he was doing, he was reaching for the neck of Danny’s shirt, pulling the collar down and to the side to reveal the bleeding cut on the boy’s shoulder. He couldn’t stop the growl that came out of him then, his demon and him both enraged that someone had hurt their lovely boy.

He waited again for his demon to demand to chase, to kill, to finish what they’d started with the boy’s attacker, or for Danny to scream and push him away. But neither happened. The boy continued to stare at him, wide-eyed, and Roman’s demon was focused in on the cut. Protect, soothe, lick, heal.

Roman could maybe, just maybe, fight that urge. Step back and let Danny run from them. But he couldn’t find it in himself to even want that. He and his demon were in agreement.

He gave in.

Before he knew it, he was leaning in and licking Danny’s cut, letting his saliva heal the wound, and the sweetest taste he’d ever known was filling his mouth.

He pulled Danny closer, his demon growling low enough that it was practically purring, pressing the boy against himself as he licked away any traces of blood on his too-pale skin, the shallow wound already healed in moments.

He was able to keep himself from attempting to mouth out the blood that had soaked into Danny’s shirt, but just barely.

Roman paused, lips resting against the smooth skin of Danny’s shoulder, and waited again for the demon to demand more —more blood, biting, tearing—but it continued to simply purr its approval at having Danny so close, the boy’s taste in their mouth a reward for having protected him, healed him.

Roman forced himself to lift his head, leaning back slightly to look at Danny, who was tilting his head to peer at his own shoulder. Those big brown eyes grew even wider, if that was possible.

“He sliced me. I felt it.”

“Yes,” Roman agreed.

“But the cut isn’t there anymore.”

“No.” Unable to keep the pride from his voice, Roman stated simply, “I fixed it.”

“With your tongue.” There was a rising edge of panic in the boy’s voice.

Danny pushed at Roman’s shoulders, not nearly strong enough to move him if he didn’t want it, but Roman reluctantly stepped back from him anyway. His demon grumbled softly in annoyance but seemed willing to give the boy some space.

For now.

Roman watched as Danny took a deep breath and then closed his eyes. When he opened them again, some of the shock had left them, and he seemed more like the self-assured nurse Roman had met in the hospital earlier.

“This might seem like a stupid question—” Danny paused and eyed Roman’s face, the fangs that Roman still hadn’t retracted. “—but are you…human?”

Roman did let his fangs retract then, until they once again resembled a human’s ordinary canines. “I used to be.”

Danny took another deep breath. “I’m going to say a word. A very silly word—a word that can’t possibly be true—and just to humor me, you’re going to say yes or no.”

Roman nodded. He had a feeling he knew where this was going.

“Vampire.”

There it was, hanging in the air between them. Roman found himself reluctant to answer, afraid that once Danny received his confirmation, he would run far, far away and never let Roman see him again.

“You could say…,” he started. Danny’s eyes immediately narrowed, and Roman sighed in annoyance, realizing he needed to give him a straight answer or the boy would keep pressing him. Or even worse, leave. “Yes.”

He wasn’t sure what reaction he was expecting, but Danny just nodded and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like “Mr. Handsome Vampire Creep” to himself.

“Can I see them again?”

No question what them Danny was referring to. Roman let his fangs descend again, baring his teeth slightly to give him the full effect. In for a penny…

He was surprised when Danny leaned in slightly, until his face was mere inches from the sharp fangs, eyeing them curiously. Then his gaze lifted to Roman’s. “And the eyes? Is that a vampire thing too?”

Roman nodded, finding himself speechless, enchanted with this boy who was letting his curiosity rather than his fear lead him.

“When will they change back?” Danny questioned.

“When I force the demon back again.” Roman was so intent on Danny—and Danny’s study of him—that he wasn’t paying attention to his own words.

Danny leaned his head back sharply. “ Demon ? You’re, what, a possessed vampire?”

Was that where this curious boy drew the limit?

“That is simply what I call the…nonhuman…part of me,” Roman reassured him. “The part of me that awoke when I turned. The part that craves blood and…other things. My demon. I have heard others like me call it different names.”

“You’re like…two separate beings? Or the same person?”

Roman shrugged slightly. “Sometimes it feels like just another side of me; sometimes it feels like a completely different entity. I never received a handbook on any of it.”

Danny tilted his head slightly, as if sizing Roman up. “And why is it—he?—still…out right now? Are you planning on biting me?”

Despite his question, Danny hadn’t taken any further steps away from Roman. He shook his head gently at the boy in response, pushing his demon back and allowing his eyes to return to their natural blue state.

“I don’t know which version unsettles me more.” Danny’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t actually work at the hospital, do you?”

“I do not.”

Danny gave a small, tired smile, then glanced around as if suddenly remembering where they were. “I need to go home now.”

“I will take you,” Roman blurted out. He prepared himself for the arguments against it, but once again, Danny didn’t react the way Roman would expect him to.

“Okay,” was all the boy said. “But I don’t want to leave my car here, so you’ll have to drive it. I’m that one.” He pointed to a dark-blue Toyota that had seen better days.

“You are…not afraid I am going to bite you in the car?”

“You just said you wouldn’t. And to be honest, Mr. Handsome Vampire Creep, I am too fucking tired to care. I think I have a higher chance of survival just having you drive instead of my exhausted ass. We can take the rest as it comes.”

Roman looked at the boy—really looked at him. He took in the pale complexion, the dark bruises showing under his eyes, and realized how exhausted the young man must really be.

Danny looked tired, not in the way of someone who’d just had a long night, but in the way of someone who had been working too hard for too long with no one to take care of him.

And that, Roman decided, just would not do.

Ours , his demon rumbled.

Ours , he agreed.

“It’s here, on the left. The yellow one.”

Roman pulled into the driveway of a small yellow house near the end of a cul-de-sac. All the houses on the road backed onto what looked to be forest lands, and Roman could see the tops of pines behind Danny’s home.

It had only been a short drive from the hospital, and they’d driven in silence, other than Danny’s few soft-spoken directions.

As they approached the front door, he held up the key ring for Danny to pick out the house key, biting back a grin as Danny just pointed to the correct one, allowing Roman to unlock the door for them.

He’d been preparing himself for a “thank you for the ride, now go away forever, you blood-sucking monster,” but apparently he was being allowed inside the house.

“You live here alone?” Roman questioned.

Danny nodded as he shrugged off his jacket, hanging it on a coatrack in the entryway. “I grew up here. It’s the family house, but Gabe wanted his own apartment and my mom is living…elsewhere…right now.”

Roman found himself stuck on one part of that statement: Gabe wanted his own apartment.

His demon went on alert as well. Who was Gabe ? A boyfriend? Maybe that handsome, cocky doctor that had felt so comfortable putting his arm around Danny earlier that night?

Roman’s demon had wanted to rip the man’s arm off, and Roman suddenly wished he had let it.

He cleared his throat, forcing his voice to remain calm. “Gabe?”

“My brother,” Danny replied, tossing his wallet and keys on a side table. “You saw him earlier, at the hospital. He’s a doctor there.”

Ah. Roman and his demon both settled. A brother.

“So that’s one myth debunked.”

He turned to look at Danny, who was giving him a small, cheeky grin. Roman raised an eyebrow in question.

The boy smirked at him. “I didn’t need to invite you in.”

Roman gave a startled laugh. So their entry had been a test? “No, no formal invitation necessary. Although, for politeness’s sake, I do try to make sure I am welcome before entering someone else’s home.”

“Mm-hmm.” Danny looked skeptical.