12. Future Plans

Chapter 12

Future Plans

Victor

I could have sat there all night and listened to her talk. However, after declining my offer of another coffee, she chose that moment to tell me that she needed to go home. Of course, I insisted on taking her. Not only would it ensure she got home safely, but doing so also gave me the opportunity to discover where she lived.

She tried to argue against it, but I was having none of it and made this known with a stern gaze sent her way. Her safety was my main priority, and this lesson was one I was happy for her to learn sooner rather than later. The thought of what could have happened to her in the park still clung to me.

I knew the reason for her silence in the car was down to her nerves and most likely down to not feeling comfortable with trusting me yet. Something she would struggle with far more had she known I was a Vampire. A creature I now knew she both fantasized about as well as feared the reality of.

I had nearly choked on my coffee when she confessed the type of books she enjoyed reading. Out of all the genres she chose Vampires… what were the chances if not fated? It had to be because of who she was to us. An unknown lure to ready herself for the future, for Vampire romance was most definitely written in the stars for this nervous little angel of ours.

I swear, when she told me I felt like I had won some war without ever stepping foot on the battlefield. Perhaps our worries about her finding out too soon were unfounded. Because despite how terrified Tal had claimed her to be, she seemed calm enough in the aftermath of our discovery. Unless, of course, she had suffered some memory loss of the event, as she honestly didn't seem to be affected by it.

Although, she was a little jumpy. She flinched when I took her hand back in mine, finding myself unable to stop myself from touching her. I wasn't deterred by her action, as I knew I still made her nervous. Especially the entire time I had been touching her in the coffee shop. But she hadn't yet yanked her hand back, so I was taking it as a good sign that she liked my touch.

"Are you working tomorrow?" I asked, keeping my fingers laced with hers, the size difference in our hands bringing out a protective side within me. She was so much smaller than my brother and I, that it made me want to scoop her up and set her in my lap. An impulse I was forced to fight against because I knew that I would have to take things slow with her. Trying to get Tal to do the same would be the hard part… he wasn't exactly known for his restraint.

"Yeah, I work most days," she replied, making me frown as I thought back to our earlier conversation about money, or should I say the lack of it on her end. I knew by her expression that she had been embarrassed when admitting that she was broke. I also knew why she told me, as like I said, she had an expressive face. She was testing me to see if her dire financial situation would put me off dating her.

Oh, how wrong she had been.

For nothing would sway me in claiming her, not now I had finally met her and knew for certain that fate was not wrong.

It wasn't just the scent of her blood singing to me that made me want her like Hell's raging fire.

It was everything.

She was beautiful, intelligent, endearing, and funny, with a quick and comical wit I was coming to adore. But she was also brave, as she didn't fall to pieces like most women would have done when being faced with the gunman. I had not turned around to find a quivering mess barely able to take a breath. But then, this did add even more questions to what seemed like a never-ending list. Mainly about her upbringing, for she had seemed tense when I had inquired after her place of birth. Making me wonder if her leaving at the young age of eighteen had been something done out of necessity rather than anything else.

I had my suspicions her childhood had not been a happy one.

Well, if I discovered anyone had harmed her, then there would be blood spilled, for the thought made me nothing short of murderous. Something I tried to rein in so as not to scare her.

"What time do you finish?" I asked, still hating the idea that she worked at all, and no doubt a lot if she had debts to pay. A fact I would be dealing with the first chance I got. But for now, I would have to bide my time.

"Five-thirty, why?" she asked, and I forcefully hid my irk at having to remind her of our date.

"I will pick you at seven then, will that give you enough time to be ready for it?" Ah but there was that hard swallow again. My nervous little Firefly.

"I… I guess so, but you know it might be better if we reschedule, maybe one night next…"

I cut her off by tugging on her hand and therefore bringing her closer, something that made her pulse quicken once more. Then I lifted our entwined hands and extended my middle finger so as to tip her head back to look up at me.

"I will be picking you up at seven, won't I?"

She blinked before nodding and telling me what I wanted to hear despite making it sound like a question.

"Yes?"

I then grinned down at her.

"Yes, Nessa, I will," I said, trying out her nickname and finding it as sweet sounding as her scent was. Besides, it was worth using it just to see the warm look in her eyes, as she clearly preferred I use it. It was like it meant something to her, and I found myself marveling in how that made me feel inside.

By nature, I was a ruthlessly selfish being. A king that ran my city with an iron fist and a razor-sharp blade. My brother and I had worked hard for all we had achieved, for I had not lied when I told her of our family's poverty and hardship. I just hadn't divulged in the details of the circumstances surrounding it.

That particular tale of woe was for another time, one when she was used to the existence of our kind and could understand the true depths of how we came to be. Of what was taken from us and therefore to understand the true meaning of what I had told her. That the source of all evil is through the greed that feeds us and what another is willing to do to take from another.

Although I had not exactly worded it like that, and for good reason.

The way of my world was a brutal one and as such, gave me good sense enough to want to shield her against it for as long as possible. A small hint of it was one she had experienced last night. My only hope in all this was that she appeared to have come out of it relatively unscathed, and, well… she hadn't exactly had herself committed. Nor had she packed her bags and run for the hills.

Oh yes, I had high hopes indeed.

"Do you have a nickname?" she asked, her question amusing me like so many others.

I adored how she seemed to speak whatever was on her mind, despite looking to silently berate herself for it afterward. The wince after these times was always a dead giveaway, and one I enjoyed witnessing.

"My brother often calls me Vic," I told her, unable to hold back my grin, once more astounded at how easily they appeared around her. No doubt something my brother would quickly pick up on and find no end of amusement by it. Not that I gave a shit. The girl made me smile and that was that.

"Would you… erm… prefer I call you Vic?" she asked apprehensively, and once more there was that once rare grin forming.

"You may call me whatever you wish," I told her, lifting her hand to my lips and kissing her wrist again, the blood pulsing there had my mouth watering. Fuck, but how badly did my fangs wish to extend and pierce her tender flesh. I just knew she would taste so fucking good.

"What about snookums?" she said, making me burst out laughing, doing so over her skin. "Or snuggle butt… maybe muffin bear?" she continued, and this time I playfully bit her fingers, making her gasp after I warned in a teasing tone,

"Behave, Firefly." Then I sucked the slightest sting caused, as I made sure not to hurt her, only giving her the hint of things to come.

"Firefly?" she questioned, and I let go of her hand so as I could reach out and touch her hair like I had wanted to do since the park. It was as soft as I knew it would be.

"The hints of warm red in the light."

She blushed, and I was unsure whether it was down to my tender touch or my gentle words. Not that it mattered, for the outcome was all I cared about. Seeing her easy blush was yet another thing about her I adored. It was a list growing by the minute.

"My ex always wanted me to dye it," she said, but quickly after she looked like this was a mistake and she regrated it. Of course, I felt my jaw harden because of it, my reply coming quick and harsh.

"Then he was a fucking idiot."

She startled at my venomous outburst.

Just the thought of any other man having touched her had me wishing to commit mass murder so as none existed. Until my brother and I were the only ones left in this entire world to hold the claim. It was a brutish wish, and one I didn't give a fuck about. If I wanted to, I would kill every last man and have no trouble finding my daylight sleep after the act.

"No, I was the idiot for staying as long as I did." Her small voice managed to bring me back from my homicidal thoughts in an instant.

"You are no idiot, Vanessa, for giving someone the chance to change is not a failing for the hopeful, it is only foolish to those who chose not to take it. Especially given the incentive, fucking foolish indeed," I said, practically growling this last part, but when her gorgeous eyes widened again, she had the ability to disperse my temper by gifting me with another look and, this time, it was one that I hadn't yet seen on her.

It was pure warmth.

A kindness and open heartedness that had my shadowed soul attracted to the new source of light. A light that seemed to tame my darkness and calm the monster inside of me.

A pure soul I wanted to own.

And soon would.

"You know, I think that is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," she told me, rewarding me with her sweet thoughts. But not only that, she shocked me further by being brave enough to touch me. This time covering my hand with her much smaller one. Then she squeezed the top as if this was her way of letting me know how much my words had meant to her. Such a small gesture that, in this moment, felt monumental. But as soon as it was there, it was gone again.

No matter, for I knew her touch would come freely in time. A thought that had my lips twitching in anticipation for the night that it did.

"Oh, this is me," she said as my driver pulled over at the address she had given me.

"A Chinese restaurant?" I questioned with my far more usual frown.

"Yeah, we live in the apartment upstairs," she told me and, again, my frown deepened, hating that she lived in a shit hole like this. My girl only deserved the best but most of all, I wanted her safely guarded in my fortress in the sky.

"I will walk you inside," I said, making her tense next to me.

"Oh, that's okay, the owners of the restaurant get a bit funny when too many people walk through. I will just say goodbye here if that's okay," she said, and something about this vexed me further.

It was as if she was hiding something or didn't want me to be seen. My first impulse was to argue and do what I damn well pleased, not used to being denied anything. But then, I had only just met her this night and suspected that if I pushed too hard, too soon, then it would only backfire. She had already tried to get out of our date tomorrow night a few times, so I would not give her more ammunition to want to do so again.

Of course, I knew where she lived now, so she would soon find out the hard way what would happen if she thought that after this night she could be rid of me.

It wasn't fucking happening.

I was arrogant enough to know the signs of attraction, so I didn't believe her reluctance had anything to do with my not being her type. No, I believed it born solely out of fear and mistrust. Clearly, she had given me the hint of a bad relationship in her history. And if what I suspected was correct, I doubted she had a good relationship with her family either. The combination of the two would naturally make her wary and not so easily trusting. An obstacle I knew we would have to overcome eventually, especially when she discovered who I really was.

A Mafia Vampire King.

It was enough to have any sane person trying to flee the country once they were on the Erebus brothers' radar. Meaning at some point the future was inevitable, as she would once again find herself…

Our perfect little prisoner.