CHAPTER THREE
~
Emily looked at the vampire as if he was two planks short of a full load. She pulled her head back on her neck and wrinkled her nose. “If I were going to do that then I needn’t have kicked him where it hurt,” she said.
“Well, I did wonder,” Jai tossed back.
“What?”
“Why…”
“Why what?” Emily’s mind was preoccupied with the plan that was tap-tapping away inside her head like a woodpecker on steroids. Get to her car, get out of mad-town, and get as far away as she could from crazy-central. That sounded good to her.
“Why you kicked the shifter in the balls,” Jai offered back. “Keep up.”
“You know why I kicked him,” she tossed back as anxiety reared its ugly head inside of her — get to the car — get away from town — keep going. That was all she could think about.
“I know why you think you kicked him,” the vampire was playing for time. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Joel was getting stronger. At least, the man wasn’t threatening to cry tears of pain anymore.
“There is no think — only know,” she offered back and watched as the vampire twisted his head on his neck and craned it toward her with his eyes narrowed.
“Are you — Yoda?”
“Compared to you — yes,” Emily said with an emphatic nod.
“Harsh,” Jai said as he pulled his head back on his neck, folded his arms to show her that he meant her no harm, and watched as she mirrored his stance – only she definitely meant him harm should he step out of line.
“Oh, it gets better,” Emily informed him.
“Oh, I have no doubt,” the vampire tossed back with a devilish grin that spread his lips and enticed her to keep looking.
Emily was bewitched. She found herself staring at his smile, devilish as it was, and waiting for it to be complete. She didn’t know why, but that smile was enticing.
She bolstered her magic and reinforced her shields around her body, snuggling into them as if they were a comfy blanket. Which, they sort of were.
She knew that vampires were designed with the intention of pulling in poor, unsuspecting victims, but that wasn’t her. She was a witch — she wouldn’t fall foul of the vampire’s tricks, no matter how good the overall package looked.
“Well, I must be going,” Emily announced as if she were just popping off to the shops on a regular day and not talking to a bloodsucking leech with a beguiling smile and something about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on as to why she liked it.
“Well, I think it’s a little too soon for that,” Jai tossed back. “You should stay awhile.”
“I should?” she asked, and her eyebrows arched as she questioned his sanity.
“You should.”
“Come to the dark side — we have chocolate cake,” Bree said from somewhere over his left shoulder.
Emily peered around the vampire’s body at the witch. “I don’t like chocolate.”
“Now, that’s an out and out lie if ever I heard one,” Bree tossed back with a chuckle of disbelief.
“A female that doesn’t like chocolate, how — interesting,” Jai said and brought the witch’s attention right back to him. He liked that. Those big blue eyes of hers were enticing, and they were definitely somewhere he wouldn’t mind getting lost for a while — a long while.
“Gotta go,” Emily announced, and turned on her heels away from the group. She was sure she saw a look of a different kind of interest in that vampire’s eyes, and she wasn’t about to stick around and have to bat bat-boy off.
The little witch pulled up short when the vampire appeared right in front of her. It was that or crash into him, and she thought she’d walked into enough muscled walls for one day.
“I still believe that the best option for everyone is if you stay awhile,” Jai said, and watched as the witch narrowed her eyes on him, her cheeks flushed a lovely shade of blood red as she rushed to annoyance, and she sighed.
“Don’t make me hurt you,” Emily warned.
The vampire leaned in towards her, just a little, just enough to make her pull back her neck head on her neck, but she held in place. Good for a her. He liked a witch with backbone. “What’s a little pain between friends?”
“Friends?” her tone said bored and annoyed. He figured he was going up in the world.
“Are we not?” He aimed for surprised.
“Definitely not.”
“I don’t think she likes you,” Bree chuckled from behind him.
“I think I can change her mind,” Jai tossed back, but he didn’t take his eyes from Emily, and she didn’t like the way that those sexy eyes were practically feasting on her.
If the man let his fangs elongate — she’d knock them down the back of his throat, with a little magic, of course. She wouldn’t want to hurt her fist.
“Well, you’d be wrong…”
“Wrong? Me?” he said with a teasing air about him that amused her at the same time that it annoyed her. “Well, that’s never happened before.”
“First time for everything,” Emily offered back with a song in her voice.
The vampire grinned again. He liked the sound of the melody in her voice and thought she’d sound just fine as a vampire, and of course, two could play that melodic game. “What are the odds?”
“Of me toasting you?” She took a moment in a show of consideration. “Pretty good I’d say…”
“Don’t say — instead, say you’ll stay…”
“Not happening…”
“Just until he recovers — take a load off,” Jai grinned. “Where’s the harm?”
“The harm? With sniffy Macsniffles there?” She snorted a chuckle of disbelief at the vampire.
There was no way that she would let that wolf in man's clothing sniff at her. No way — no how — no, sir.
Emily took a step to the left, and the vampire blocked her. But, she’d been expecting that, so she ducked to the right and tried to skate past him. Her upper arm snagged against something on the wall, and she felt the sharp sting to her nerves as the vampire blocked her way again.
“Devious — but not fast enough,” Jai said, but at that same moment he caught the scent of blood on the breeze, and felt the rush of his bloodlust rise up within him.
The vampire’s mind, body, and soul reacted to that scent as if he was a new vampire once more. He felt the urge to reach out and yank her towards him, bury his fangs deep within her vein, and drink until he was done.
That – wasn’t – good.