Slay Alive

Chapter 13

thirteen

“I can’t believe the librarian was a philandering pervert.”

I want to scream but I don’t, I keep walking, okay, I’m stomping a little bit but it’s okay. I think I’ve earned a stomping power-walk. I’m on my way to the only one place that can heal finding out Gabriel was trying to play me and no one and nothing is going to stop me from getting there.

I never had to deal with this shit playing Fangs Are Forever so it feels absolutely criminal that I’m having to deal now that I’m here in real life. Or am I? Once again, the pit in my stomach returns when I think too hard about the fact that if all of this is really happening, that I’m trapped in an alternate timeline, dimension, world, whatever it is, Briarwood Hollow is real.

The sane part of my brain wants to refuse to believe it because magic and vampires are not real, they are not logically possible. But the “sane” part of me is smaller than the rest of me. My gut tells me I wasn’t talking to the version of Rhia that my brain cooked up and that she was telling the truth. That potion she gave me was real and now I’m stuck here until I find love.

It’s real. It has to be.

Even if it isn't, what can I really do? The easiest way for me to try and keep my shit together is to believe this is real and keep working towards the objective.

Made up world or not, I smile when I see my destination come into sight. It’s even more beautiful than I imagined it would be.

Midnight Market.

Now that night has fallen it’s lit up like the Fourth of July. Each and every stall is open and the aroma of food cooking and music playing floats to me on the night breeze.

“I’m getting that fucking upside down pineapple cake.”

I enter the market on a pineapple fueled mission and the stars truly align when I see my target not even fifty feet into the market. The Glazed Pineapple shop front is where I thought it would be, sandwiched right next to the Dragon Flame Chicken Skewer stall called ‘What are you Chik’n About?’ and a small tea shop. I almost weep from relief when I see the shop window full of every kind of pineapple pastry, confection, and cake known to man. I have truly reached Nirvana. I take a deep breath and pause before I enter The Glazed Pineapple . I want to savor the last moment of my life before I finally taste the dessert I have coveted since puberty.

I enter the shop and the next twenty minutes are a whirlwind of pure joy, delight, and discovery. When I take my first bite of the cake, I do indeed confirm that I was not making the cake right when I tried. I walk out of the shop with a smile on my face and a half eaten cake slice in hand. The drama with Gabriel fades away under the power of pineapple and sugar and I wander around the market with a blissed out smile on my face.

I’m ordering a cup of matcha bubble tea and eyeballing the stall next to me that looks like it’s serving meat pies when I see the crowd part for a large group of people. I crane my neck to see exactly who it is that’s got the Midnight Market parting like the Red Sea. No small feat in the space of the packed market. This is the most people and vampires that I’ve seen in one place, even more than the training yard.

“I can’t believe it’s him. He’s really here!” The woman standing behind me gushes and grabs her friend’s hand. “Come on, if we go now we can get his autograph.”

“I’m scared I’m going to look stupid. Don’t let me look stupid in front of him, okay?”

The women rush off from the line and towards the crowd that’s formed. I almost follow them out of curiosity.

“Enjoy!” The barista startles me back to reality and hands me my drink.

“Thank you.” I give her a smile and take my drink but I’m not interested in it like I was a minute before. Who can think about boba tea when someone famous just showed up? I raise up on my tiptoes but it's still no use. I’ll have to get closer to see who showed up. I start to make my way through the crowd when Gabriel steps out in front of me.

“Bonnie, a pleasure to see you here.”

I almost chuck my boba tea at his head but I don’t, because I just took a sip and it’s fucking phenomenal. Briarwood Hollow has a 10/10 score on the food and drink and a 0/10 on the men. Who woulda thunk it?

“Uh, hey.” I nod at him and step around him. Normally I’d be all up for running my mouth but he’s not worth the breath it would take for me to tell him he’s a piece of shit.

“A pity I wasn’t the one to bring you here. There are a few well kept secrets I’m keen to show you if you would grace me with your company.”

I want to hurl hearing Gabriel speak. “I’m good, thanks.” I keep walking but Gabriel’s hand on my arm stops me. “Get your hand off me.”

He doesn’t listen. Instead, the slimy librarian turns me to face him. “Have I upset you, Bonnie?”

“I know exactly what you want from me and I’m not interested.” I narrow my eyes at him and look down at where his idiot hand is touching me. “Now get your hand off of me.”

Gabriel’s grip tightens and his friendly mask slips a fraction. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, cut the innocent gentleman act. I know you’re a creep,” I tell him, finally losing the battle with myself not to talk shit. “And you have exactly three seconds to get your hand off me or you’re gonna catch a faceful of my boba tea, which kinda sucks because it’s delicious.”

Because Gabriel is a dumb shit he doesn’t let me go. “Bonnie, whatever you’ve heard about me is a lie. I will admit there are broken hearts that have turned bitter to me but I am innocent. I swear this to you on the honor of Thespia. You can trust me, Bonnie”

He’s bringing Thespia into this?

I lift my boba tea and prepare to launch it right at Gabriel’s treacherous, handsome face. As much as I hate to do it, I’m about to use my boba tea to serve vigilante justice for the women wronged by asshat Gabriel. “You leave Thespia out of this, you little-”

I’m interrupted by a hand grabbing Gabriel’s. It jerks and twists, effectively dropping the librarian to his knees like a sack of potatoes. “I thought they taught your lot to keep your hands to yourself, or are vampires the only ones meant to mind the rules?”

“Get your hands off me, vampire!” Gabriel tries to pull away but that just makes the hold he’s in worse. “Bonnie, help me!”

I wouldn’t ever help Gabriel under normal circumstances but given the vampire that has him in a hold I’m too shocked to even respond to the man’s whining. The vampire that’s come to my rescue is Cade.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I blurt out before I can stop myself.

Cade sighs at me. “That’s an interesting way of saying thank you.”

“I had it under control.”

“Right, because that boba tea is a suitable weapon for dealing with this trash.”

I look at the boba tea I’m still holding and lower it slowly. “In some cultures it’s a very formidable choice of weapon.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Can you please let me go?” Gabriel interrupts.

Cade and I both look at him in disgust. “No.”

“Finally we agree on something,” Cade mutters.

I nod in agreement. “A shocking but welcome turn of events. “

“What are you going to do with me? All I have to do is yell and you’re done, blood sucker. Who do you think people are going to believe?” Gabriel taunts. I hate that he’s kind of right.

People are starting to notice us, so I raise my voice when I say, “Thank you for volunteering to demonstrate hand-to-hand combat, Gabriel! I really needed that visual.”

Gabriel scowls at me. “You picked the wrong man to fuck with, Bonnie. You’re finished as a hunter.”

“Consider me your karma for all the women you’ve wronged.” I flip Gabriel off and gesture at him with my boba tea. “Hold him still while I kick him in the nuts.”

“Ah, ah, ah, Duskweaver. As disgusting a human as he is, that isn’t going to go over well. We’re taking him to the authorities.”

My mouth drops open again. “What? What do you mean? He’s right here. I thought you were a vigilante justice vampire. Let me do vigilante justice!”

“Me, yes. You, no.”

“I swear to the gods, you infuriating vampire. I’m going to-”

“Well, this is an interesting sight. A Von Helsing on his knees, and by a vampire no less.” A voice as smooth as butter sounds, cutting me off mid rant, which seems to be a recurring theme in Briarwood Hollow. The thought of chucking my boba tea at the unexpected arrival crosses my brain but that’s until I see the telltale red hair and green eyes.

Ohhhhhhh . Lucien has entered the chat. He looks even more splendid than he did when I spied him on horseback. If the crowd at his back is anything to go by then I’m not the only one to think so. It was him that parted the Midnight Market crowds. Everyone wants to stare at the beautiful vampire and I get why.

There’s an aura around Lucien that practically sparkles with beauty. He’s perfect. Tall, muscled, ethereally beautiful to the point that he doesn’t even look real and with the kind of grace that only vampires can move with.

“ Hi ,” I greet and I don’t so much as say it as sigh the one word. Cade doesn’t miss it and makes a gagging face at me. I’m going to stake him the first chance I get.

“Hello there, little hunter. I presume you’re the sweet morsel that’s caused this drama?” Lucien tilts his head to the side and gives me a once over. The slow drag of his eyes is interesting. I don’t feel the way I did when Cade did it, which is annoying, but I don’t get the ick either so that’s something. I can work with not being disgusted by the vampire after Gabriel’s ass.

“I guess?” I clear my throat and look over at Cade who looks bored now. If it wasn’t for the little twist he gives Gabriel’s arm, I’d think he was checked out. “I-well, it’s all just a misunderstanding.”

Gabriel curls his lip in anger and points a finger at me. “A misunderstanding you’re going to pay for. Do you know how badly you’ve ruined yourself? I was willing to be seen with you. I would have treated you like a lady and you’re nothing in this town. When I’m done speaking about this you’ll-”

Cade backhands him. “Shut up, you twat. You think running and telling your daddy is going to do something about this? You come for her and you come for me. Your family knows full well what it is to cross me. Now don’t they?”

Gabriel pales. “You won’t go near them. You wouldn’t dare.”

“I’ve already done in more hunters than years you’ve been alive. What’s a few more?” Cade asks before he lets Gabriel go and plants his boot in his back with a swift kick. Gabriel goes flying and lands in a heap at Lucien’s feet.

The librarian scrambles back from Lucien when the red-headed vampire leans in close to him. “You’re working with the Nightwardens,” Gabriel says pitifully, as if that means anything to a vampire like Cade.

“I do as I please. Come near Duskweaver again and I’ll pay that mother of yours a visit. She’s been going out on patrol to relive her glory days, hasn’t she? What do you think she’ll make of being drained by the Nightstalker?”

The Nightstalker.

Oh shit. Cade is in full vampire hunter annihilator mode now. “You know what? He’s going. Like right now, aren’t you?” I ask Gabriel with a pointed look. “And you’re not going to yap about this to a single soul, right?”

Gabriel agrees immediately. “Yes, I was-I think I was just tired before. I won’t say a word.”

“Good man.” I move to extend a hand down to help him up but Cade’s hand catches mine when Gabriel reaches for it.

“He doesn’t touch you.” Cade glares down at Gabriel. “Get your arse up and move before not even she can stop me.”

Gabriel crab scuttles to the side and stumbles into a run so fast that he nearly goes down again. We all watch him sprint through the crowd until he’s gone before Lucien sniffs.

“That one is incredibly dirty. I bet he tastes terrible.”

“No doubt,” Cade agrees.

“Yeah, totally tastes like crap,” I say because I don’t want to be left out. Both vampires look at me in confusion and I clear my throat. “What? I can’t have an opinion because I’m human?”

Lucien chuckles and motions for the vampire at his side I don’t notice until they jump to attention at being summoned. “Add this one to the masquerade guest list.”

“Masquerade? You mean the Eclipse of the Eternal Night Masquerade?” If he says yes then I’m halfway through the game play as I know it, which is not good for my falling in love quest from Rhia. I thought I had more time.

“I do. It’s in two nights time.” He points above us to where the moon shines bright. “When even the moon will fail to shine and the world will return to night.”

I raise an eyebrow at his words. “That’s an interesting way of putting the eclipse.”

Alarm bells are going off in my brain. If the world goes to night then that leaves the door wide open for the Ascendents to pop off. Lucien can’t be involved in that, can he?

Lucien hums. “I’ve been told I have a way with words. How would you like to hear more of them over dinner?”

My eyes bug out of my head. “You’re asking me to dinner?”

Lucien takes a step closer and holds his hand out to me. “I am. Few humans know such an honor.”

I want to take his hand, Lucien’s beauty is drawing me in like a drug. My hand twitches at the thought of slipping mine in his but that’s when I realize Cade is still holding my hand. I look down at where we’re touching in surprise. His larger hand is scarred on the knuckles, the pale skin at odds with the tan of mine. He has elegant hands, like I’d imagine an artist to have or maybe even a poet like he was once. But when he senses me shift towards Lucien the strength in his grip reminds me it’s not a poet that’s holding my hand.

It’s a killer.

“She’s already spoken for tonight, mate.”

Lucien’s eyebrow twitches but that’s the only sign he gives of being miffed. Instead, he gives us both a little bow. “Of course she is. Such a beauty would not be without an escort for the night, now would she?” He smiles at me once more and then pulls a rose out of his coat to hand to me.

“For you. As a token to remember me by, my fair beauty.”

I have to resort to an awkward juggling act of sliding my boba tea into the crook of my arm to take the rose with the hand Cade doesn’t have in a death grip. “Thank you.”

“A pleasure, my beauty. Till the masquerade then.” Lucien inclines his head and snaps his finger at his vampire entourage. And just like that, they all glide away into the crowd that shifts and moves with them.

I stare down at the rose and lift it up. “He gave me a rose. Where did he get a rose from?”

“A stupid parlor trick he uses on humans foolish enough to let him close.”

“Uh, Cade,” I start when I feel his fingers tighten on my hand.

“I meant what I said about him. You go to dinner with him and he’s going to drain you. That’s where he’s going right now with his lot of fanboys.”

“Cade, can you-”

“You’d do well to stay away from him unless you want to be on the menu next. Don’t even think I’m letting you go to the masquerade alone.”

“Cade!”

He stops ranting and looks at me. “What?”

I lift our hands that are still clasped. “You’re still holding my hand.”

“Oh.” Instantly the vampire lets go like my skin is made of lava.

“Yeah.” I sip from my boba tea and then point my straw at him. “What’s up?”

Cade blinks at me in surprise. “What’s up?”

“Yeah, I mean, don’t get me wrong. I am thankful you almost broke Gabriel’s arm but the threat to eat his family might have been over the line. I’m only saying that because it reminds me that you kill hunters like me, so I’ll ask again, what’s up? ”

“I don’t eat humans. I drink them.”

“Potato, tomato.”

“You’re an odd human, hunter.”

“Fair. But that makes you an odd vampire, doesn’t it?” I look around the Midnight Market before I do the dumbest thing possible. I’ve already had an eventful day, so why not? “Can you eat human food?” I ask him.

“It doesn’t keep me alive but I can.”

“So you can taste it like normal and everything?”

Cade shakes his head. “No, not like normal. It’s better for me due to my heightened senses.”

I hand my rose off to a passing woman and grab his arm. “Come on then, you’re coming with me.”

Cades lets me drag him along even if he looks uncertain. “Where are we going?”

“Dinner. You said I was spoken for and as confused as you make me, you’re actually not trying to kill me this time around so now you’re getting a thank you skewer.”

Cade doesn’t speak the entire trip back to ‘What are you Chik’n About?

“You keep speaking as if I’ve killed you before,” he says after I’ve placed our orders for two flamin’ hot chicken skewers with the works. I don’t know what the works are but how many times is a girl going to be tossed on a magical love quest in her favorite dating simulator?

“Oh, uh, I mean figuratively,” I cover up. I take a seat on a half wall near the stall and I’m surprised when Cade sits with me. There’s only a couple of inches between us. If I didn’t know he had a history of wanting to rip my throat out I could be fooled that we were having a friendly interaction. I set down my boba tea beside us as a boundary not to cross.

Cade is not romanceable. Here lies the path to death and destruction.

“That word doesn’t mean what you think it does, hunter. “ Cade gives me a concerned look. “What kind of schooling do they provide your kind?”

I pat the stake strapped to me. “The pointy end goes in a vampire kind? What else does a girl really need to know?”

He snorts and looks out into the milling market. “That I believe. You need to pick up a book or your mind’s going to turn to rot spending all your time with those hunters.”

“Do you have any recommendations, mister former poet? Do you still write by the way? I always did wonder that.” In any romanceable situation with Cade, I never made it far enough to find out real details about him.

Cade freezes and when he looks at me, I realize I fucked up. “Who told you about that?”

“I…um…”

“No one knows I was a poet before.”

The before he means is from when he was a human.

“I studied you?” Oh fuck. I didn’t think that my game knowledge was anything secret. How could they not know this about him? He’s only been dead a couple hundred years. Something like that isn’t forgotten so easily, is it?

“Is that why you were always following me around, hunter?”

“It’s called recon, honey, look it up.”

I don’t know why the real Duskweaver was after him, but she had to have a reason other than thinking he was hot…at least, I think so. She did take Rhia’s quest up to leave her world behind fully knowing what she was doing, so who really knows.

Cade smirks and shakes his head. “Recon. That’s what you’re calling it then?”

The man at the stall calls out our order, giving me an out to answer Cade. “Be right back!” I bound off towards the stall and pray that Cade drops our thread of conversation but I’m not a lucky gal, so of course he’s waiting for me when I get back with another question.

“If it was recon then what was it recon for? Like clockwork you were with knowing when I made a stop to Haven. I couldn’t go anywhere without you a few steps behind me.”

I hand him his skewer, which really does have the works on it. There looks like two different sauces, cheese, green onions, fried onions, and what I think is bacon wrapped around the whole thing. My stomach growls, cluing me in that while I might have inhaled a cake and a boba tea, I haven’t had much of anything with real nutritional value in the past day.

I’m starving.

“Cheers.” I say and bite into the skewer with a hum. If my mouth is full I can’t answer Cade.

Cade rolls his eyes at me when it’s clear that he isn’t going to get his answer, especially when I shove another bite in my mouth. I’m practically hoovering my skewer but there’s not a court that could rule against me because this shit is delicious.

I’m halfway through my skewer when I take a break and lean back to look up at the stars. The Midnight Market is in full swing around us. Laughter, music, the lights, all if it kind of fades away when I look up at the moon and stars. With a chicken skewer in my hand it’s easy to feel content.

It’s probably that content feeling that has me feeling up to offering Cade some sort of explanation as to why Duskweaver was his stalker. I might not know her but I know why I was initially interested in Cade. Why his game play kept me trying for weeks, even though all I ever seemed to do was misstep and choose the wrong fucking option.

I hope I’m not selecting wrong now by sharing this with him. I wonder if I die here if I’ll go back home…

“You’re different from any other vampire I’ve ever met,” I say softly. “I guess I wanted to understand why you weren’t like them, you know?”

“Not like them how?”

“You didn’t seem ruled by your urge to feed. You weren’t really made for leisure though, either. I can’t see you being stuck inside the way Lucien likes with his meals coming to him.” It’s true. In my game, Lucien is a bit of a brooder at first who likes to stay in the confines of the House of the Lunar Veil. He said it was to minimize the harm he would do, kind of tortured soul, I guess. I didn’t exactly notice it when I was romancing my vampire boo but now it seems obvious comparing him to Cade.

I look back down from the sky and see his throng of vampires moving through the crowd. He’s definitely not a homebody in this world. He’s certainly not worried about causing harm either, if the three women trailing after him with heart eyes is anything to go by. I hope Cade is wrong and nothing happens to them.

“It’s not that you didn’t want to but I dunno, I always thought that you wanted to make decisions based on feelings rather than hunger.”

“That’s true enough. Though not if I’d had one of these sooner.”

I look over at Cade to see him staring at the skewer with a look as close to love as I’ve ever seen on the vampire. “You like?” I ask.

“I’m going to need five more of these,” he says and takes another massive bite with a moan. My mouth goes dry at the sound. I watch him eat and shit, I get the whole food is an aphrodisiac and chefs are hot thing my cousin tried to tell me about the summer she dated a line cook from a diner.

Food is very hot. At least it is when Cade is fucking eating it.

I watch his throat move when he swallows and damned if I don’t swallow with him and lick my lips in a mirror of when Cade does it. I clear my throat and force myself to look anywhere else but at him.

What the hell is wrong with me? I look down at my pitiful boba tea boundary and when I reach for it, I knock the damn thing over.

“Oh shit!” I leap back from the mess but there’s no need. Cade’s already caught it. He holds it out to me while he keeps eating.

“Butter fingers, hunter.”

“T-thanks.” I take the cup from him and drain the last bit of it before I wander away and toss it in a bin. I take the opportunity to deep throat the last of my skewer and drop the trash in after my boba tea cup before taking my sweet time to walk back, which Cade clocks.

“No witty comeback?” he asks when I perch on the edge of the wall as far away from him as I can without it looking like I’m avoiding him.

I give him a weak smile. “Nope, guess I’m tired,” I tell him and pull at the turtleneck I’m wearing for air. The skewer lived up to the dragon in its name and now I’m sweating bullets from the spice. Or maybe it’s the hot as fuck vampire sitting next to you. I wince at the intrusive thought and pull my hair up into a ponytail.

“Thanks for earlier. The almost breaking Gabriel’s arm thing.”

“What?”

I look at Cade because the vampire sounds dazed. “You okay?” I ask him when I see he looks as out of it as he sounds. He’s looking at me like he’s seeing me for the first time, like he doesn’t know where he is, like I’m the only thing he can see. A lemonade cart passing us by nearly loses a wheel and he doesn’t even look to see what the hell the commotion is about when the glass barrel of lemonade hits the ground.

Shit was there garlic on the skewer? Am I the one that’s accidentally going to kill him?

Death by garlic would be so embarrassing.

“Cade?”

“What?” He says again and blinks. “I was…I don’t know what I was just then.” He looks away from me and then chuck’s his now empty wooden skewer into the trash bin near us with the kind of precision only a vampire is capable of.

“Okay,” I say softly. We’re both quiet for a spell. It’s comfortable to be silent with the vampire, which also has my alarm bells going off. What the fuck is going on? Why is it that every single boyfriend I should be falling in love with is turning out to be a dick, dead, or out to eat me? How is it that Cade is the one that I’m most comfortable with?

“I’ve known he’s a twat for a while,” Cade says, “you know, on account of him preying on the new girls.”

“Really? How does he–I mean, why does no one say anything?”

“How can they? His however many great grand ma’s ago founded the organization you’re doing your best to get into, now didn’t she? I suspect a lot of the new hunters don’t want to risk losing their place in your little fraternal organization over the thirty seconds of disappointment.”

I laugh so loud that I scare the hell out of the poor lemonade vendor that’s barely gotten themselves sorted out to continue on. I give them an apologetic look while they right their cart and power-walk away from us. My bad.

“Thirty seconds? You think that’s all he’s got in him?”

“Of course that’s all he has in him. Sticks for legs. That man is not built for endurance. Mark my words.”

I lean back on my hands and grin at Cade. “You’re not so scary up close.”

He scowls at me. “Don’t push this rush of unwanted feelings I have for you, Duskweaver. I can be plenty scary when I have a mind to be.”

“Would you really drain his mom?” I ask.

He makes a face. “Hells no. She’s as sour as he is. Chasing the young bucks around instead of patrolling as she ought.”

“Gross.” I make a face. “Well, I guess we know where he gets it.”

“I would, though…do harm to him if he hurt you,” Cade says. “It’s an interesting feeling that I haven’t quite made sense of. I don’t have very many friends. Even less that I’d step in for, but that’s the nature of this place. Can’t be too careful who you trust in Briarwood Hollow. Easy to end up with a stake in your heart from a friend ‘round these parts.”

“Then why are you helping us?” I ask, settling on putting the focus on the hunters as a group and not me. Every time I try to understand why he’s helping me there’s no explanation and I only end up liking Cade more. I clear my throat before I continue, “You’re not really the fall in line and fight the forces of evil kinda vampire, so what’s the reason?”

Cade smirks at me. He leans close and his hand brushes mine when he comes closer to me. “Is that what you think of me, hunter? You’ve got me all figured out, have you?”

“I-well, I don’t know.”

“It’s best not to think you understand a vampire’s reasons, Duskweaver. We live so long that our logic doesn’t track for humans. I’ve got my reasons for helping those idiots be ready for the Ascendents.”

“It’s Bonnie.”

“What?”

“My name. I-it’s Bonnie.” I don’t know why it’s important that I hear Cade say my name but it is. “My first name. I’d-I mean, you can call me Bonnie. I think we crossed the enemies vibe to slightly distrustful adversaries, even frenemy territory after tonight. You can call me Bonnie.”

Cade inclines his head. “Bonnie, then.” His voice drops an octave when he says my name and as nice as it is to hear him say it, I wonder if I just shot myself in the foot. “The story of why I’m helping the hunters is a story for another time.”

I purse my lips. “Just when I thought I was getting to the root of your rebel streak.”

Cade chuckles and stands up with a stretch. “It’s going to take more than a chicken skewer to get my secrets, hunter. Now, let’s go. You’ve had enough excitement for one day. I think it’s time for you to call it a night with the rest of the good little hunters.”

I roll my eyes but an ill-timed yawn makes Cade’s words true. “Fine, but I want it known that I’m getting up because I want to. Yes, I am tired but that’s like, my choice not because you said it was time to go to bed,” I say, making it abundantly clear he’s not the boss of me.

Cade waves me off. “Yeah, yeah.”

Good, he understands. Glad we got that straightened out.

It’s only when I’m a few steps into my trip back home that I understand Cade is coming with me. I pause and look up at him. “What are you doing?”

He makes a face at me. “It appears I’m walking you home like the gentleman I was raised to be.”

“You don’t look happy about it,” I point out. “That’s not very gentlemanly of you, now is it?”

“‘Mm, not on account of me not being a gentleman anymore. I’m bad. Clue in, hunter. I shouldn’t care what happens to you between here and that Watch but as it is, let’s go.” Cade jerks his chin towards the market exit and when another vampire gets too close to us he bares his fangs at them.

The sight warms my heart.

“Aw, you really care about me?”

“Don’t rub this horrifying turn of events in, Bonnie.”

I grin but keep my mouth shut like Cade wants. The walk back to Hunter’s Watch is uneventful in the best way. The moon shines bright overhead and a gentle breeze blows as we leave behind the busy market and make our way through the quiet streets of Briarwood Hollow. Gaslit street lights light the way and there’s lights in the homes we pass, the rosy firelight adds to the cozy vibes the night is serving.

When the Hunter’s Watch comes into view, disappointment washes over me. It surprises me, so does the light and happy feeling making me feel like I’m walking on Cloud Nine. I haven’t felt like this since the early days with Preston. I remember walking with him like I am with Cade now. It was different then, though. I was so young that I mistook Preston’s talking about nothing but his work and himself as including me in his work. Including me in his life.

We didn’t have the kind of banter I have with Cade. The feeling that the vampire does have my back. That whatever we’re talking about really is him letting me in. I swallow hard and look over at Cade. Of course he’s already watching me when I look at him. One blue, one brown, both trained right on me.

I smile at him and his gaze softens. Even in the cold moonlight I can feel the warmth coming from him. I don’t want to leave Cade. Who woulda thunk this is how my night would go? Not me.

I clasp my hands behind my back and drink up the sight of Cade. “Thanks for walking me back. You didn’t have to.”

“Didn’t I?” Cade crosses his arms and gives me a stern look, both of which just make him hotter. He’s not fooling anyone. This vampire is straight up flirting with me.“Go straight up to bed. No dawdling around these bawbags.”

I grin at him. “So, would you say you’re worried about little old me?” I ask, deciding to flirt back. This is the biggest flirt I’ve had since landing Briarwood Hollow.

Cade gives me his patented frown. The look isn’t communicating that he’s upset to me much anymore because my brain is a traitor and it just makes me think he’s sexy. I seriously need professional help.

“Think again, hunter. More like I’ve put enough effort into making sure you stay alive today and don’t have a mind to see all my efforts wrecked by an idiot hunter. Now off to bed with you.”

I give him a mock salute. “Aye, aye.” I pause before I leave, though. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” I ask, because I can’t help it. I have to know when I’m seeing him again. Cade doesn’t answer me, not right away. Instead, he reaches forward and brushes his fingers through my hair. Warmth spreads through my body and I forget how to breathe from that one touch Oh no.

I’m so going to end up dead trying to spend time with Cade.

“At the training yards, yeah.” That’s all he says as his fingers slide through my hair. When he twists the lock of hair around his finger I lean towards him. “You really are beautiful.”

My heart starts to pound. There’s no way he can’t hear it. “I think you’re pretty too.”

Cade’s lips curve up in a smile. He lifts his other hand and strokes my cheek. “Not smart for you to be alone in the dark with me, hunter.”

“I trust you,” I say softly. I’m an idiot about men, why would it be any different when it comes to a hot vampire with a habit of offing me?

“You shouldn’t.”

Cade’s hand moves lower, this thumb grazes my jaw and my lips part automatically. Please, please, I pray to all that is holy this evil vampire kisses me. He lowers his head and for one blissful moment I think I’m about to get exactly what I want. But because cold hard reality keeps sticking her nose in my business, Cade stops just an inch away from my mouth.

“Goodnight, Bonnie,” he whispers to me and the next second he’s gone and I’m left alone.

“Wha-?” I stumble forward into the empty space where Cade stood before. I spin around in a circle looking for him but no dice. The vampire left my ass.

“Just when it was getting to the good part,” I mutter. “Why am I not surprised?”