Page 49 of Zomromcom

At some point, everyone else drifted to other parts of the house, and Edie and Max finally had enough privacy to talk.

Well, semiprivacy. In the loft above, the trolls were ranking their evening’s refreshments as they noisily crunched on yet another snack.

But it was the most solitude Edie and her favorite vampire had managed all evening, and the most they might have until after the battle.

And even this limited isolation wouldn’t last long.

Some of the Girl Explorers would need to make a bed on the living room floor, sooner rather than later.

She had so many things to say and no time to waste.

“Shit, Max,” she whispered, as soon as they were alone. “I’m so sorry.”

His voice was quiet too, and very, very warm. “Why? You’ve done nothing wrong, my Edie.”

Gods and goddesses above, where to begin? She could apologize for the remainder of the night, and it wouldn’t be enough.

Kissing her fingertips, she pressed them over his heart and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry you were forced to reveal your secrets so publicly when you’d have preferred to keep silent.

I’m sorry you had to relive such an awful moment in your life.

I’m sorry you were betrayed and terribly hurt on every possible level by your ally and your lover.

” Her breath hitched. “And I’m sorry my decisions brought you here, to a place where you don’t trust anyone.

I’m sorry you’re about to risk your life to protect me—to protect all of us—instead of hunkering down safely and comfortably in your basement. ”

One broad hand rose to cover hers on his chest while the other cradled her nape.

“You know,” he said thoughtfully, “I think I prefer lair to basement . It sounds classier. More archvillain, less guy who lives with his mom and works part-time at Foot Locker .”

She huffed out a laugh. “Less Chad, you mean.”

“Precisely.” His fingertip smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Darling, I don’t think you understand what was happening to me down in my lair. Without your intervention, I might have been safe in the moment, but not for much longer.”

Did he think the zombies could potentially reach him down there? Despite the ladder and the freaking water pit? “You’re right. I don’t understand.”

“I was detaching.” The words were stark, his eyes certain. “Some days, even drinking a blood pack felt like too much effort.”

Was he telling her he’d eventually have starved himself? Compared to the alternative form of detachment he’d mentioned—a blood-drenched killing spree—it was certainly the preferable option, but…there would have been no more Gaston/Max/Chad in the world? Anywhere?

The thought of it squeezed her heart like a vicious fist.

His forehead came to rest against hers, underlining the intimacy of his confession.

“The only living being who truly interested me anymore was my human neighbor. The only duty I still cared about was keeping her safe, even as I kept her at a distance. The only bright moments in my endless days were my encounters with her, when she’d ring my doorbell and patiently suffer through another conversation with fucking Chad . ”

“But…” That couldn’t be true. “What about your videos?”

“They helped, but not enough to keep me tethered to my life.” He lifted his hand from hers, and his fingers tunneled through her hair, working out the tangles in slow, gentle tugs. “I’m grateful to care deeply about anything at all, sweet Edie. And I’m beyond lucky to care deeply about you .”

Her sinuses had begun to prickle. “I don’t…”

I don’t think anyone’s valued me this much in over two decades. I don’t know what I’ll do if you die tomorrow. I don’t care what anyone else believes about you, or about us as a couple, as long as I know the truth of who and what you are.

“You’re worth every risk I’m taking. You deserve everything I have to offer.” The tip of his nose glided along the side of hers, the tenderness in the gesture matching the open adoration in his words. “I don’t want your apologies, ma puce. I want to thank you.”

A declaration that nakedly heartfelt from such an embittered and suspicious vampire would have melted the knees of even the most hardened soul. Edie was many things, but not hard.

She sniffled. Loudly. Then ducked her head for a moment.

“Did you…” He paused. “Did you just wipe your nose on my hoodie? Again?”

Yes. Because her system simply couldn’t handle more sincere emotion right now, and if he kept being so sweet, she’d be tempted to jump him despite the presence of nearby trolls. Who would most likely peer over the loft railing and watch, snacking happily all the while.

She wasn’t shy. Dabbling in a little exhibitionism might be worth it.

No, she had to remember the Girl Explorers. They could walk in at any moment, dammit.

“Who’s to say?” she said breezily. “Maybe I did smear leaky mucus on you. Maybe I didn’t.”

His gusty exhalation caressed her face. “You did. Even though I have a handkerchief. You know I have a handkerchief. I used it on you earlier tonight.”

“But it’s not clean anymore. I don’t want a dirty handkerchief.”

“Yes.” Lifting his head, he glanced down at the glistening patch on his shoulder. “How awful that would be.”

“Thank you for your very sincere agreement.” She eased back an inch or two. “I know you don’t want me to apologize, but I still wish I hadn’t brought you to the home of someone who doesn’t trust your good intentions.”

He gave the back of her neck a comforting squeeze.

“Prior to SERC’s formation, Supernaturals and Enhanced humans preyed on common humans and one another without consequence, other than occasional vigilante justice.

When her mother’s friend died in my company, the first SERC reps hadn’t taken office.

No one knew about their investigation of the incident.

No one knew about Jacquette’s perfidy. Of course the witch suspected me of murder.

” His shoulders lifted in a tiny shrug. “I wasn’t sure whether her mother had shared the story, but if so, I knew I’d be the villain of the piece.

Which was part of the reason I kept track of her whereabouts over the years, and why I was reluctant to come here today.

But we had no real choice. I took a calculated risk and lost.”

And he’d taken that risk trying to do the right thing. For her, but also for the world at large. It wasn’t, as he’d said to Gwen earlier, such a small thing.

“The witch’s suspicions might annoy me,” he added, “but they don’t offend me, and they certainly don’t hurt me. If we hadn’t needed allies tomorrow, I wouldn’t have even bothered rebutting her accusations, except to you. In private.”

Honestly? That was an awfully tolerant view of Sabrina’s interrogation. Especially given the abject horribleness of the events he’d been prodded into recounting and the crowd of strangers who’d also borne witness to his unwilling confession.

“I’d rather have heard the story under other circumstances, but I understand your cynicism better now.

” Using the sleeve of her coveralls, she swiped at the moisture on his hoodie.

“And I understand why it might take a while to trust me with all your secrets. I won’t badger you. Not even to find out your true age.”

His grin brightened the dim living room. “We both know that’s a lie.”

“Yes.” She raised a finger in emphasis. “But one told with the best of intentions, as well as a sincere desire for it to be true. So it basically is the truth in all important respects.”

“That’s also a lie.”

“According to certain faulty definitions of the term.”

He snorted, then steered them out of their conversational detour.

“Jacquette was the last human who fed me directly, mouth to skin. Also my last lover. I didn’t intend to put myself in such a vulnerable position ever again, and I didn’t need to.

Bagged blood had become widely available for the first time, and I’m more than capable of taking care of my own sexual needs.

So there was no more biting. No more lovemaking. ”

Pinning her in place with a meaningful stare, he waited for her to say it.

“Until me,” she whispered.

“Until you.” Lightly, he tugged a fistful of her hair in emphasis.

“That’s my point. Despite all your unconvincing, easily disproven lies, I do trust you.

If I didn’t, I wouldn’t feed from you. I wouldn’t fuck you.

My Edie, I don’t require more time to allay my doubts, because I no longer have any. ”

For a secretive, jaded vampire like Max, a statement like that was…

It was a declaration of love. Full stop.

Edie couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t do anything but cling to his hoodie with one hand, his shoulder with the other, and bask in the warmth that filled her chest and coursed through her veins.

“If I hadn’t worried about frightening you, I would have told you about Jacquette after our first night together. But I did worry.” His brow creased. “If I’d confessed to killing my last human lover and you’d flinched away from me…”

Not long ago, she would have. Even yesterday might have been too soon.

But since then, she’d seen him soaked in blood, absorbing wound after life-threatening wound in his own front doorway, determined to spare her even the slightest injury.

She’d watched him carefully assist a nauseated human he didn’t even know.

She’d heard the gentleness in his voice whenever he spoke to a very, very ill woman he’d only met earlier in the day.

This evening, when he’d admitted to killing his former human lover, she’d been confused. Concerned. But not afraid of him, even for a moment.

“If you’d turned away or fled…” His throat bobbed in a hard swallow. “I thought it might break something inside me. Irrevocably.”

She still had no words, so she kissed him instead. Hard.

He seemed more than happy with her nonverbal response.

***

Later that night, as Max and Edie lay spooning beneath a quilt on the couch, various Girl Explorers snoring on the floor below, he quietly asked if she still dreaded the prospect of killing zombies who hadn’t attacked her first.

After wriggling deeper into the curve of his body, she searched for an honest answer.

“I think of them standing in a sunless underground compound, watching a television,” Edie finally whispered, gathering her words in small handfuls. “Groomed to kill and be killed from their first breath. Disposable. Unloved.”

He made a sort of humming sound. Acknowledgment of what she’d said and encouragement to continue speaking.

“It hurts my heart, Max.” Her breath hitched, and his arms closed more tightly around her.

“But whatever they used to be in that moment…it’s gone.

Starla told us as much. They have no conscience.

No drive except hunger. They murdered my parents, they would gladly kill everyone in this house and on this continent, and they won’t stop until they’re dead. ”

“True,” he said neutrally.

“I’d be figuring out ways to capture them alive so scientists could fix whatever went wrong in them, but I read the documents you sent me.

” When she shook her head, her hair rubbed against the couch cushion serving as her pillow.

“The government already tried all that. The few zombies they managed to lure outside the compound and whisk away to yet another secret underground laboratory failed to respond to any known or experimental treatment. Whatever snapped in them…”

He kissed the top of her head. “It stayed broken.”

“Yes. And without fail, scientists and researchers died in the process of reaching that conclusion.” Restlessly, she picked at the seam of the cushion.

“We both know the government has no interest in the creatures as sentient beings. At best, they’d become cannon fodder.

Weapons to use against anyone deemed too dangerous to live. At worst…”

His hand came to rest atop hers, stilling her anxious fidgeting, and he interlaced their fingers. “At worst?”

She skimmed her thumb over his. “At worst, we’d find ourselves in the exact same place we are now. Hunkering down in our homes with mindless, bloodthirsty zombies on the loose, wondering how far they’ll get and how many they’ll slaughter before they’re stopped again. If they’re stopped again.”

She wished they had more privacy. Whenever they lay skin to skin, their barriers of clothing tossed aside, the coolness of his embrace calmed her agitated thoughts.

As did the very enjoyable orgasms he gave her while naked. Alas.

She sighed. “So…to answer your original question, I’m not exactly thrilled to kill creatures who haven’t tried to kill us first, but I don’t see another livable choice.”

“If tomorrow’s encounter devolves into a physical battle, don’t wait for them to attack before you do.” His biceps bunched beneath her neck, steely with tension. “You can’t hesitate, my Edie. If you hesitate, you’re lost. And I am too.”

“I understand.” Ducking her head, she rubbed her cheek against that bulge of flexed muscle. “Is that something you’ll have to remember too? Are you worried you’ll hesitate to kill them without immediate provocation?”

Silence.

Then his hands curled into fists, and his cold, quiet words emerged in neat lines, like ice blocks chopped from a glacial lake.

“They took your parents from you. You had to listen to your family die.” The statements radiated so much chilly menace she actually shivered. “Almost every inch of your fragile body is bruised. You nearly drowned. You became hypothermic. Your ankle is injured.”

Now that he mentioned it, she probably should have popped some ibuprofen in preparation for tomorrow’s exertions. Running for her life would have been easier in her twenties, that was for certain.

“They’ve stalked you in my presence. Treated you like common prey. Savored the anticipation of your death.” The subarctic precision of his voice raised goose bumps on her arms. “If they could, they’d rip out your throat and snatch you from me.”

She winced, but he wasn’t quite done.

“I intend to scour them from this earth,” he said calmly.

It was a simple declaration of fact, so cold and emotionless it sounded dead. The verbal equivalent of absolute zero, and she hoped never to hear its like again.

For a while, they continued cuddling in renewed silence.

She cleared her throat. “I’ll take that as a no.”

“That was a no,” he confirmed.