Vampires of Eden (Alexander #2)

39. Alexander

CHAPTER 39

Alexander

T he early morning sky is the color of slate when I arrive at the safe house in Nantshire. The air is misty and damp with microscopic flecks or rain that seem to float in every direction. Like their own chaotic cloud of activity.

The grand opening is busy. Much busier than Roland, Kathryn, Danny or me were anticipating. Not only is there a line at the door to get inside—which Danny and Leoni are currently managing while Roland gives indoor tours—but there are also a couple of news vans with reporters from local media outlets covering the event.

Eden’s first ranked-vampire safe house and blood clinic is a huge deal. It feels like we’ve just opened a highly anticipated café or club.

“They’ll offer donated blood packs here on site, only,” I explain. “There’s no plan for external wide-distribution at the moment—because of concerns surrounding ethical disposal. Making sure the blood bags are properly recycled post use.” The second-gen woman standing in front of me nods with rapt attention. I’m stationed at the registration table with Kathryn, taking down contact information and answering questions. “There’s also concern over profiteering and misuse of donated blood.”

We already have a wait list for donations, feeding and housing requests. It’s insane. The clinic has only been open for two hours.

“Okay, yes, understood,” the woman says, picking up one of the brochures and information packets placed in front of me. “I really hope they look into blood shipping and distribution in the future. I came here all the way from the south coast—maybe someone will open a clinic there?”

I shrug because I genuinely have no clue. “We can only hope?”

She beams. “Yes, for sure. Thank you, Prince Alexander. It-it’s so nice to have met you.”

“You too.”

She waves, then scurries past the controlled line of vampires waiting to speak with me or Kathryn. The next two vampires in line approach me and I’m surprised to see that the first-gen woman is cradling a professional video camera under her arm. The other, a purebred male, smiles at me with that practiced harmlessness that screams “reporter.”

“Your highness.” The man bows in reverence before popping back upright. The woman with the camera behind him nods politely. “I’m Reginald Vern from the Central Eden Courier and News . This is my camerawoman, Rema. What an interesting event this is—and to have you here in attendance and supporting the cause. Truly remarkable!”

No direct question has been asked so I smile politely. “This safe house will provide an important resource that I’m proud to support.”

“Can I quote you on that?” he asks, wrestling a notepad and pen from within his messenger bag.

“You can. But there are other vampires in line who need to register for services. I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have once the line dies down.”

Reginald blinks and turns around as if he’s suddenly surprised that there’s a long line of vampires behind him. “Right—yes, of course. Do you mind if we shoot some footage of you talking with the other vampires? And around the safe house, as well. ”

This guy gives me a weird vibe. The focus and attention should be on the safe house being the first of its kind in Eden—not on me. When we talk later, I’ll make it a point to redirect any of his questions back to the primary cause. “I don’t mind if Kathryn doesn’t?” I say, glancing over at her beside me and keeping my face neutral.

“I’m okay with it,” she says, busy writing something down for the vampire in front of her. “Sounds great. The more coverage, the better!”

Fundamentally, I know she’s right, but with how busy we are… Can this one house and clinic reasonably handle this level of demand?

“Thank you, Kathryn, and your grace.” Reginald bows again. “You won’t even notice that we’re here.” He winks, which makes me distrust him even more. I hate winkers. Reginald and his camerawoman step off to the side and he’s wrong. I do notice them as they skirt the edges of the room, getting various shots of me (and hopefully Kathryn) as we talk to other vampires. Eventually, they leave the kitchen and something inside of me unclenches.

After a while, Roland comes and joins me at the registration table, switching out with Kathryn. I offer to switch with Danny or Leoni, but they don’t want me outside managing the line and insist that I’m of better service here. I don’t even see Danny or Leoni as the day wears on because we’re all too busy.

Things don’t die down until the afternoon. When there’s only a handful of vamps wandering the property with Kathryn as their guide, I sneak off to the back porch to simply breathe and decompress. Today has been great. Exciting, but I feel as if I haven’t stopped talking for hours. Plus, Reginald Vern and his camerawoman haven’t come back to find me yet, so I figure I’ll sneak away for a break before I have to talk and smile some more for an interview.

The hazy mist from the morning has cleared and the air is dewy and warm. Sun rays peek from behind puffy clouds over head as I take my usual spot on the top step of the deck.

I feel Danny coming and I snicker to myself. The familiar rush of his electric heat bristles over my skin and body. It’s amazing that a couple months ago, I recoiled from this feeling. Condemned it, even. Now, I inhale and bask in the subtle pleasure it offers.

Within a minute, he steps through the back door. “Hi.”

I tilt my head back to view him upside down. “Hey.”

“What a crazy day.” He comes and sits down beside me. “I don’t know how they’re going to handle this volume of vampires. Some of them drove hours from all over the island to get here!”

“Agreed,” I say, glancing over to take in his profile as I relax back against my palms. “We’re going to have to open up other safe houses much sooner than we thought. Possibly route each community’s collective taxes into funding a local clinic? I could add that to the proposal.”

Daniel nods as he stares out into the lush green of the woods. “I like that idea. I don’t mind paying taxes so long as it’s being used properly and for the benefit of society as a whole. Not when it’s just lining some arrogant purebred’s fucking pockets…” He bites his bottom lip and looks over at me. “No offense. Please don’t take that personally.”

I chuckle, shaking my head. “I won’t. But there’s obviously still some residual anger looming in there.”

His fingertips brush mine against the wood of the porch. I flip my palm and he wraps his fingers around my hand. “Not directed toward you, though,” he says quietly. “Anyway, I came out here to let you know that I’m heading back to the vineyard. Leoni has an appointment and I need to drop her off since we came together. Will you leave now, too?”

“Not yet. There was a reporter earlier that asked to interview me once things calmed down. He gives me ick vibes, but I have to put my poker face on and give a friendly interview.”

Daniel huffs in a laugh. “ What ‘poker face’?”

I frown. “Um, the same poker face that has successfully won multiple bets and bluffs, and the one that hides the fact that I think most of my fellow Eden purebreds are assholes.”

Daniel shakes his head, smiling. “I’m sorry to break this to you sweetheart, but you have zero poker face. To me, you’re like an open book. If other vamps can’t clock what you’re really thinking, it’s because they’re not paying close enough attention—which makes sense with how self-centered most of the vampires in your world are.”

My heart warms as I squeeze his hand. “You pay close attention to me?”

He leans into my space so that the warmth and buzz of his essence caresses my cheek and neck. “I do. I’d like to take my analysis even deeper, if you’d let me?”

I take a breath as my pulse races.

He means feeding. “Danny, are you sure you want this with me? Once we cross this line, it’s… You can’t easily come back from it. You know this.”

He inches even closer. “I do know this. I also know that I’ve never been more certain of anything else in my life.” Softly, he pulls at the lobe of my ear with his teeth and tongue. “I want to show you what’s in my head and heart. But you have to trust me, Alexander. Will you?” He sits straighter, waiting patiently for my answer.

Daniel sees me. He pays attention and I see him, too. I know he’s right for me, and I know he’s what my nature wants…

It’s time to say the words. I have to take the leap.

“I do,” I say, swallowing hard as I face him. I inhale another deep breath. “You have consent.”

A subtle but undeniable glow radiates from Danny’s presence as the invisible barrier between us comes down. He leans in once more, smiling and resting his forehead to mine. “Thank you.” He kisses me. A teasing, sumptuous kiss that reminds me of a butterfly landing on a flower. Like delicate wings pulsing atop velvet petals and kicking up pollen.

He lifts and we stare into each others eyes. Mine are alighted, of course, because any time he touches me my nature goes berserk. I’ve given up on trying to control it. I can’t.

“So…” I hesitate, glancing around. “Are you about to bite me?”

“Not on this fucking back porch, no.” He juts his chin forward and kisses me again, then shifts to stand. “I want privacy with you. No interruptions. Text me when you leave?”

I grin, laughing to myself. “I will. I won’t be too far behind you, hopefully.”

My raven king glances down at me. Haunting, seductive and confident.

“Good. I’ll be waiting.”

Daniel and Leoni leave. I do a lap around the house, looking for Reginald Vern from the Central Eden Courier and News and his camerawoman, but they’re not inside. Neither Roland nor Kathryn have seen them in a long while. I go to the front of the house to see if the news van is still parked there and the weirdest thing happens.

The van is there, but as I push the front screen open, it pulls off and drives away.

What the hell? I stand, watching as it disappears down the tree-lined lane.

Well, whatever. Maybe they decided to focus their story on the event itself and not me, like I’d hoped. The other news crew never even came inside the house. Apparently, they took some b-roll of the line and exterior, then made an appointment with Kathryn to do a more in-depth story later when the safe house is less busy. Which is the proper way to handle the situation, in my opinion.

Since I’ve been stood up, I say my goodbyes and congratulations to Kat and Roland on a phenomenal opening, then head to the vineyard cottage .

During my drive, I firmly decide that it’s time to confront my mother about this ridiculous Lord Cherrington situation. And to tell her about Danny.

It is not going to go well.

At all.

But if Daniel starts feeding from me, I’ll have to see him regularly to maintain his diet. There’s no way I can hide this from her and I refuse to.

If appearances mean everything to my mother, then there’s no positive way for her to respond to this situation. Me, feeding a first-gen vampire that I love, but have no formal arrangements with. In her eyes, this situation is preposterous, but… I have to face her.

When I pull up to the cottage, the sun is low and burnt orange in the sky. Threatening to disappear behind the jagged mountains surrounding me. I step out of the car and the air smells clean and fresh like damp earth and green.

As I bound the steps, I’m nervous.

When will I not be nervous anymore? Danny seems so confident lately. I know he likes me. No, he says he loves me, even still… is my rigid way of thinking about relationships and bonding arrangements holding me back?

I’m trying to relax and go with the flow. I am. But it’s not easy.

Now that I’ve given him consent, it’s like I’m naked. The omnipresent barrier that shields me from another vampire biting and feeding from me has dissolved between us. It’s strange, letting that shield drop for someone new. Someone I’m not Officially Engaged to—with capital letters.

It also doesn’t help that the only other vampire to ever intimately feed from me didn’t like me. I’ll never forget that murky gray but polite sensation that flooded my body when Oliver fed from my neck. I know that Danny is not Oliver, but I don’t… It’s a hard memory to shake.

I ring the bell. Within a minute, the door swings open. The light from the orange sunset at my back floods Daniel and makes his eyes radiant. He’s wearing a crimson-colored terrycloth bathrobe tied at the waist so that there’s a deep “v” exposing his pale chest. His long hair is damp and swept over his shoulder.

“Hello sweetheart—that was fast.”

I point to my car over my shoulder. “I can come back later if now’s not a good time?”

He frowns. “Come back later for what? To sell me a vacuum cleaner? Get in here.” Daniel reaches and tugs me forward by my jacket and I laugh, tumbling over the threshold and into the space of his body. He raises a palm to my face and kisses me.

I return the kiss, but then lift my head. “I know that was a joke, but could I be hypothetically selling you something less rudimentary? Encyclopedias, maybe? The Lord?”

“Hm, visually you do exude a kind of seraphim, ‘celestial herald of God’ aesthetic, so religion would fit.”

“I do not.” I step out of my shoes, then shrug out of my jacket. I should dye my hair. People wouldn’t see me like this and call me “Goldie” and shit if my hair was a different color.

When my jacket is on the hook, Danny slips his hand into mine. “You do, but I’m into it. Maybe it’s why I’m so desperate to make an absolute mess of you.” He steps closer and dips his face to kiss beneath my ear, then slips his free hand up to palm the opposite side of my head.

My entire body tenses as he kisses down into the curve of my neck.

“Are you about to bite me?”

Daniel freezes. He stands upright, impassive. “No, I am not about to bite you next to the front door. What is wrong with you?”

“I want to know when it’s going to happen.”

He narrows his eyes. “Why? So you can mentally prepare yourself?”

“No—Well… yes? I don’t want to be surprised.” It’s just how I feel .

Daniel’s expression softens as he sighs. “You still don’t trust me.”

“I do.”

“You don’t.” He steps toward the stairs, pulling me by the hand. “But it’s okay, because you will.”