I managed to evade most of his question questions that he threw at me before our dinner came. I answered every question with a response masked as flirtation. It could only go on so long like that, though. He had just asked about the reason I moved to London, when the waitress finally appeared with our plates.

“Wow, that looks amazing,” I said as she placed the massive steak in front of me. My mouth began to water as my stomach rumbled again, and I looked up at James eagerly as he watched me with curious eyes. He raised his glass to cheers once more, and I took a quick sip of my wine before diving into my meal.

I was absolutely ravenous, and the sensation of the warm, red meat between my teeth felt amazing. I moaned as I ate. I hadn’t eaten anything so substantial in quite a while, and the pleasure I felt from the meal was overwhelming. Take out Chinese food just didn’t have the same satisfying effect as a high-quality steak.

I pretty much devoured the entire thing in one go, and by the time I came to my last bite, I realized I had hardly tasted it at all. I had inhaled it like a starving animal, desperate for the last piece of meat. When I finally took a breath and looked up at James, his eyebrows were raised and I couldn’t tell if he was horrified or impressed.

“Hungry?” he laughed at me.

I nodded as I dabbed my napkin on the corners of my mouth. “I guess I didn’t realize just how starving I actually was.” I took another sip of wine to wash down the steak, and my stomach rumbled again. I held my hands tight against it to hide my embarrassment, but James had obviously heard it with his superhuman hearing.

The waitress walked by to refill our water glasses and top up our wine, and asked how our meals were.

“I think she’ll have another one,” James said amused as he watched me lick my knife. The waitress looked at me shocked for a moment, but then a quick smile spread across her face and she nodded politely. I had to hand it to her, she played the role quite well. Even as a young adult, I couldn’t stand working in restaurants. The forced politeness was just too much for me to handle. She watched me eagerly, waiting for me to speak.

“Yeah, actually. If it’s not too much trouble. Thank you.” I was slightly embarrassed, but my overwhelming hunger pushed the embarrassment just far enough down the list of feelings on my priority list that I didn’t seem to care enough to politely refuse.

James took another bite of his fish and watched me as I picked my fork through the braised beans that were still on my plate. “So, do you only eat meat, or do you eat other things, too?” He laughed as I pushed the vegetables around my plate.

“You know what, James. I’m starting to ask myself the same thing.” The beans were not appetizing in the slightest, and all I could think about was the juicy, fresh steak.

It didn’t take the waitress long to bring my next plate, and my mouth watered again and she placed it in front of me. I offered her the plate with my vegetables to be taken away, and was happy when she did so without saying a word. I should be concerned of what James thought of me, but right at that moment I was solely focused on the meat on my plate.

As I cut into the dark red steak, James took advantage of my silence to ask more questions. “So, what brought you to London?”

I closed my eyes and savoured the flavor of the meat as I chewed and swallowed. I felt so content and comfortable, that I wondered why I had even considered holding anything back from him. “I came for work,” I said as I chewed my food. I swallowed and took a sip of wine, and then thought carefully about how much I should tell them. “I was sort of a detective,” I told him. “I came here with colleagues of mine for an investigation.”

“And you liked it so much that he decided to stay?”

I shook my head and took another bite of steak. “Actually, there was an accident and my colleagues disappeared. I stayed because,” I chewed and swallowed my food before continuing, knowing I had to be extra careful with just how much I divulged. As much as I wanted to share my life story with him, as I knew he would sympathize, I didn’t want to get him wrapped up in any of the mess that I was in. “There was an accident and they disappeared, and I stayed so I could get to the bottom of it. To find out what happened. To get closure.”

James look shocked and put his cutlery down, then he looked at me with concern in his eyes. My heart melted just a little bit, as I’d never been looked at like that before. “So, you’re still here working?”

I shook my head. “No, I left my job when I left Chicago. I’m just here trying to get answers on my own.”

“Tell me about your colleagues,” he said, sympathetically. “I doubt I’ll be able to do anything to help, but you never know. I do have some good connections in the city.”

I thought about that for a moment, and figured it wouldn’t hurt to have another set of eyes on the problem, so to speak. I sat in silence as I organized my thoughts in my mind, and took another few bites of my glorious steak as I pondered. “There were five of them, plus me. Three men and two women, and they disappeared two months ago when we were here investigating something… for a client.” I paused before the word ‘client’, and hoped that I’d given enough that he wouldn’t pry.

James’ eyes widened when I told him that last bit, but he quickly shook it off and his surprised expression was replaced again with concern. Wow, I didn’t realize he’d be so affected by my story.

“So, your five colleagues. Do you have any idea where they are?” He looked incredibly concerned, his eyebrows furrowed as he gazed deeply into my eyes.

I thought I sensed a trace of anger in his eyes, but it was hard to tell why. “Wow, I didn’t think you’d take such an interest in this. Thank you for your concern. Really, it makes me feel better about how I’ve been feeling these past few months.”

James reached across the table and took my hand in his. “I’m here for you, Charlie. I want to help. Tell me more about these colleagues of yours. Are you any closer to finding out where they are? Are the even still alive?”

I savoured the feeling of my hand in his but then pulled it back. As much as I like touching him, I still had the rest of my stake to eat, and by the tight knot forming in my stomach and the gurgling noises that kept coming from it, I was determined to finish my stake. “Really, I know nothing. I haven’t been able to find a single thing and I know people are still working on it back in Chicago, but I can’t help but feel that there’s more I can do here.”

“Who is working on it back in Chicago? More colleagues?”

I paused for a moment and then shook my head. “No, no more colleagues.” My brain was running a mile a minute as I tried to come up with an explanation. I wanted to be honest with him, but for some reason I felt that admitting that I worked for the police back home might be a bit of a turn off. “I just meant, I’m sure some sort of authorities are looking out for them. Their families must be concerned, and I bet the city has their best people on it. I wouldn’t know, being here this whole time.” I took the last bite of my stake as I closed my eyes. I chewed and swallowed the last bite of the delicious meat. I licked the juices from my lips savouring taste, and heard an even louder growl coming for my stomach.

James’s eyes grew wide again as he looked down at my stomach and a backup at my eyes. “Are you okay?” Right then my skin suddenly felt cold and clammy, and I had a feeling my body was about to let me down. “Excuse me,” I said quickly. I pushed myself off the my chair and ran through the dining hall towards the back room where I’d seen a sign for the washer.

I pushed the door open as I ran into the first stall, and threw up the entire contents of my meal. My stomach clenched tightly in knots as I wiped away the sweat on my eyebrow after being sick multiple times.

I held my hair back with one hand and used the other to prop myself up on the back edge of the toilet. When I knew the contents of my stomach had been completely emptied, I wiped my mouth, flushed the toilet, and made my way shakily to the sink.

I splashed cold water on my face and swished water to my mouth to get rid of the discussing taste of vomit. I looked at myself in the mirror, my body shaking and my skin was pale and clammy. Serves me right for eating so much for fucking stake.

My stomach rumbled again and I couldn’t help but feel absolutely starving. I craved more stake, that taste of the blood dripping through my teeth as I chewed in the juices running down my throat. I never felt so hungry in my life and as I watched myself in the mirror, I splashed cold water on my face and wondered just what the hell was going on with my body. There was absolutely no way I could still be hungry after that meal, and after being so violently ill. What was going on with my body?

My body then froze and I snapped my head up to stare back at myself in the mirror again. I narrowed my eyes as I realized exactly what the hell was going on.

“Get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. My. Head!”

My body shook as I responded to the hunger that didn’t even belong to me. I wasn’t craving stake, I was craving blood. That wasn’t my own craving, it was Erik’s.

I could feel the tug of the mental connection between the two of us, but he didn’t answer. My mind felt weak and exhausted, but the sensation was overwhelmed by the desperate need for blood. Erik was hungry and he was passing it on to me. I glared at myself in the mirror hoping beyond anything that he could see or feel how angry I was at him. “You keep your disgusting fucking bloodsucking habits out of my mind, and out of my body, you hear me?” My fingers were digging into the edge of the countertop and my knuckles grew white. I was shaking still, but now it was more from anger than from being ill.

When Erik didn’t answer, I rolled my eyes and splashed water on my face. I needed to go back to Erik and give him another fucking stern talking to. This was getting absolutely ridiculous, and if this is what our link was going to result two, I had to put a stop to it. It was one thing to be in my mind, following me everywhere I went. It was another to make me crave blood like a disgusting, murderous bloodsucker.

Some people did sympathize with the vampires, but after seeing the devastation and death that they leave in their wake wherever they go, added to the number of deaths in the investigations back home in Chicago, I had no sympathy from the monsters. They were cold-blooded murderers that relied on human blood to sustain themselves. At least shifters can eat normal food, and didn’t rely on other people’s life energy to stay alive. Not that the vampires were really alive in any way.

I closed my eyes and delved deep into my mind to see if I could get any sense of what Erik was feeling right now. Any sense of remorse or apology. I sensed nothing but pain, weakness, and hunger.

An entirely new knot was forming in my stomach as I realized he was probably out hunting or something, looking for his next human meal. The idea made me even sicker as I ran back to the toilet throw up again. There was nothing left in my stomach, which made the experience all the more unpleasant.

After a few minutes, there is a knock on the bathroom door, and the waitress stepped inside.

“Excuse me, Miss? Mr. James asked me to come check on you. Is everything okay?”

I wet my mouth and turned to look at her and offered her a half smile and shrugged. “Yeah, sorry. Just feeling a little sick.”

With a hand raised to her mouth, she looked shocked. “It’s not the food, is it? Oh my gosh, I have to go get the chef.”

I raised my hand and stepped forward, and told her, “No, it’s not the food. I’ve had a bug all week. Please, don’t say anything to either of them. I don’t want to ruin my date after everything that he’s done for me tonight.”

The waitress looked concerned and nodded, and in turn swiftly walked out of the bathroom.

I let out a sigh that I apparently didn’t know I was holding, and walked back to the sink to splash more water on my face and trying get rid of the taste of vomit in my mouth.

Collecting my breath and calming my nerves. I then wiped a damp cloth across my forehead and went back to join James at the table.

“Is everything okay?” He looked incredibly concerned as he watched me sit back down the table.

“I’m fine.” I took a sip of the wine and the strong flavors helped mask the gross fuzziness I felt in my mouth. I took another sip and swished it through my teeth and swallowed. It wasn’t the best solution, but it certainly tasted better than what I had in my mouth before.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

I nodded,. “Yeah, I’m fine. Honestly, I think the conversation of my missing colleagues just upset me a little more than I thought it would.”

James took my hand in his and the warmth of his skin was comforting on my own. I reached my other hand on the table as well and wrapped that one around his hands, too. The connection with him calmed my nerves even more, and I was glad for his company.

“Do you have any leads at all about your colleagues? Not that I want to push the subject, or anything, as I can see how upset it makes you. But I think finding answers may help.”

I nodded silently just then as I thought about Erik and the murderous, hunting rampaging he must be on right now. Anger welled up inside of me again at the thought. I hadn’t heard him or any of the chatter in my mind all night, and I was glad he was at least given me the privacy on my date. I was grateful at first, but I realized now he probably wasn’t doing it out of kindness, he was doing it was simply because he was distracted on his hunt for blood.

“I have one lead,” I spoke up.

“Who?”

My mind seethed as I thought back to my strange interaction with Erik this past week. “Just a guy. Head of… a gang.”

“Sounds dangerous.” James no longer looked concerned, but determined. Maybe it was a good thing I was sharing with him. Having a guy like him close by, both for the obvious companionship benefits and for his strength as a shifter could help me on my mission.

“It is. I wasn’t going to see it through at first, but I realize now I need to go and find out what he has to do with the whole thing,” I spat bitterly. The very thought of Erik destroyed all chances of me having a happy night. I began to shake again and James squeezed my hands even harder.

“We can go together,” James offered. “I’ll help. It’s too dangerous on your own, and I don’t want to leave your side if you’re going to get yourself wrapped up in any sort of gang shit.”

I couldn’t help but smile. I think I could get used to the whole “we” thing. I’d been alone so long that maybe having a partner wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

I finally nodded my agreement.

He narrowed his eyes at me and nodded. “Do whatever you have to do. Find the fucker who did this. We need to make him pay.”