Chapter 37

Fluffy picked up speed as he kept his nose down and wove through the stacks. Finally he gave a yip which I recognised meant, ‘I’ve found something!’ As I turned the corner, I was both relieved and panicked to see Connor and Lee: relieved because we’d found them, panicked because they were either dead or unconscious.

I rushed to Connor and desperately pressed my fingers on his neck. I felt a bolt of pure panic when I found no pulse, then my brain caught up. He was a vampire, a proper one. He never had a pulse and, unlike me, he didn’t need to breathe.

How did you wake a sleeping vampire? My brain supplied the unhelpful punchline: by coffin. Shut up, brain, you are no help at all.

I gave the reins over to panic and slapped him across the face. ‘Connor, wake up!’ His eyelids stirred and I nearly fainted with relief. He was alive – or undead. ‘Connor, wake up!’ I said again and shook him none too gently. I really needed him with me.

He groaned as I tried to get my shit together. Connor and Lee were fine, though they’d probably needed blood to recover. I hastily untied them both. Lee moaned as I moved him but he didn’t regain consciousness.

Connor’s eyes fluttered open. I had never been happier in my entire life than I was when I saw that shade of blue. I tried to keep a lid on my emotions – bawling with relief wouldn’t have been professional and I was hanging onto my professionalism by a thread. I’d shot someone, for fuck’s sake. After I’d set him on fire. I wouldn’t be winning any law-and-order awards anytime soon.

‘Do you keep any blood around here?’ I asked Connor.

His eyes sharpened on my face and he jolted up. ‘Run, Bunny!’ His fangs snicked down as he tried to struggle to his feet. He staggered and I took his arm to steady him.

Just like him to think of my safety first, even when he was half out of it. My heart warmed. ‘It’s okay,’ I reassured him. ‘I shot Jayden – after I set him on fire. I promise we’re safe. But he did something to you and you need blood. Do you have any here?’

‘Fridge,’ he managed. ‘Break room.’

I had no idea where that was but I trusted Fluffy to find it. He knew the words fridge and food. ‘Fluffy, find the fridge.’

His eyes told me that he understood. He raised his head and sniffed, chose a direction and trotted off. I followed.

The break room was opposite the showroom. It was obvious how Fluffy had found it so fast; even I could smell the scent of old coffee from twenty feet away. I ran in, opened the fridge and saw several bags of blood. I grabbed two of them and, after a moment’s hesitation, bypassed the microwave. Getting Connor and Lee blood quickly seemed more important than warming it to a nice temperature.

I ran back to the men; they were both sitting up but they looked woozy. ‘Sorry, I didn’t take the time to heat it,’ I apologised as I handed each man a bag. Rather than trying to open them, they simply plunged in their fangs and drank until the blood was gone.

I was relieved to see the colour returning to their cheeks. ‘So how did he take you both down?’ I asked.

Connor rubbed the back of his head. ‘He hit me with something. I don’t know about Lee.’

‘He caught me off guard. He hit me with magic and that’s all I remember.’ Lee turned to Connor. ‘I have let you down. I resign as your second.’

Connor glared at him. ‘I don’t accept. I’ve lost Juan and I’ve lost Kivuk. I won’t lose you as well. Do better, Margrave.’

Lee bowed his head before snapping it up and saluting. ‘Yes, sir. I won’t let you down again.’

‘See that you don’t,’ Connor said firmly, then looked at me. ‘The witch – is he still around?’

‘I doubt it. I set him on fire,’ Lee shot me a startled look, ‘and then I shot him. By all rights, he should be dead.’

‘You use a lighter or something?’ Lee asked, obviously impressed.

‘Something like that.’

‘Supernats are tough bastards. I’ll go and see if he’s expired.’ He made it sound like Donaldson was milk past its use-by date. He got to his feet and Fluffy stepped up to him.

‘He’ll go with you,’ I said.

Lee patted my boy. ‘Let’s roll, Brute.’

‘His name is Fluffy!’ I protested.

‘That’s not what the boss says.’ Lee slunk away with Fluffy, and I turned to face Connor. He surprised me by pulling me into his arms and hugging me tightly before drawing back to study me anxiously. ‘You’re okay?’

‘I’m fine,’ I reassured him. ‘You?’

‘Couldn’t be better.’ His lie tugged a smile onto my face but it faded as quickly as it had come.

‘You could have died,’ I said solemnly. ‘You could have died thinking that I don’t care about you.’

He gave me his lopsided smile. ‘I know you care about me, Bunny. You just hate being told what to do.’ Smiled ruefully. ‘It’s handy that I learnt that early on.’

I let out a sharp breath. ‘Isn’t that the most ridiculous reason ever for not being with someone?’

He grinned. ‘If it helps, I’ll order you never to think of dating me ever again.’

His words startled a laugh out of me. ‘Don’t be cross but it really does help.’

He burst out laughing; so much that he doubled over and chased away the last shadows from my heart. When he stopped, I wrapped my hands around his neck, stood on tippy-toes and pressed my lips to his. When the zing came, I found that I didn’t mind all that much about the bloody thing – or what it meant.

I’d assumed that the old adage ‘life’s too short’ didn’t apply to me anymore because I was a vampire, but Connor had nearly died and I hadn’t seized the day. If I wasn’t ever truly with him, I’d regret it until my staking day.