~

 

“Only when necessary and never a stalky thing…” Nathaniel bit out the words, but his eyes were still glaring at the vampire for blurting that out. He had a feeling that Morgana was going to be miffed.

“Ah, that’s kind of sweet…” Morgana said, and Nathaniel’s head snapped around on his neck to get a better read on her.

“It is?” He asked, somewhat surprised by her reaction.

“No, cut it out.” She snapped back on a scowl.

“Julian, I think it’s time you left,” Nathaniel turned back towards the other man. “Choose your window carefully.”

“Sore loser,” Julian offered as he pulled up to his feet.

“I didn’t lose, you bought dinner and now you’re leaving. That sounds like a win-win to me.” Nathaniel announced.

 

~

~

~

 

“Put my phone down, Nathaniel…” Morgana scolded him as she walked from the bathroom near the front door, and not the one he’d first offered that was off his bedroom, and caught him eyeing the handset.

“I wanted to know if you had a ringtone for me,” He said, tossing it to her when she strolled towards where he was sitting on the sofa.

“I have a ringtone for everyone,” she offered back with a mischievous smile that told him she wasn’t playing with him.

“What is it?”

“Curiosity killed the cat…”

“Wasn’t that a band in the eighties?” He mused.

“Before my time,” Morgana said, flopping down on the sofa next to him. She’d eaten too much and was more than tired. She could have fallen asleep in the bathroom moments earlier.

A heartbeat later and the mobile in her hand sprung to life. She didn’t need to look at it as the ringtone rung out in the air between them…

“Seriously. That’s my ring tone?” Nathaniel asked, and she rolled the back of her head on the couch and was obliging enough to offer him a small wince…

“Well … I like to fit the person to the song…”

“Monster Mash?” Nathaniel grumbled back.

“Like I said, fitting…”

“That’s how you see me?” He raised his eyebrows before dropping them in a scowl when she gave another small shrug. “I’ll try not to be too offended.” He snorted his contempt.

“I’m sure you’ve had worse…”

“Not so much…”

“But you do this dance through life…”

“Please, no more. I can’t take the sarcasm or the hurt and pain…” he ground out to the sound of her muted giggles.

Then he shot a look at her and she tried to bite down on her grin, but it wasn’t happening for either of them…

“Hurt and pain – laying it on a bit thick, don’t you think?”

“No,” he pouted. “You take the bed…”

“Oh, great. I need one of those – I’ll need to get a van to get it to my place, but some guy said only yesterday that my bed was bargain basement…”

“I … might have mentioned something about it being comfy too…”

“Considering it was bargain basement…”

“Hell, I’ll buy you a damn bed…”

“Good, because I hate to think about the things that have happened in that one,” she shot back, berating him with a look.

“Jealous?” He said with a teasing quality to his voice.

“Not this century. Catch me in the next life and you never know…”

“Fine. Take the bed and I’ll take the couch…”

“No, I’ll take the couch, as I said, I hate to think of what’s been happening in that bed.” Morgana tossed him another stink eye.

“You don’t think it’s happened on the couch?” He tossed back and watched her frown. “You’re very … what’s the word they use? Vanilla.” He offered, pleased with himself for remembering it.

“Vanilla?” She snorted a little chuckle – not so much as to overplay it, but enough to make him curious.

“Are you trying to tell me that there’s more to you than meets the eye?” He asked.

“I think we both know there is.”

“Would you like to play truth or dare?”

“No.” Morgana held all the cards.

Of course, there were many things that she wanted to know about the man – he’d lived longer than any human that she could have met, and he’d done a lot of bad things over the years. She still wasn’t entirely sure that the man wasn’t still up to no good at times.

But she’d cut her nose off to spite her face if she had to answer his questions or do a dare – and she had the distinct impression that she’d get off easier doing a deal with the Devil himself.

“And still you don’t trust me.”

“I don’t trust anybody, as you well know.” Morgana tossed back.

“Fine. Take the couch…” He grumbled.

“Nah, I might as well take the bed after what I heard about the damn couch. Do you have clean sheets or should I just hose myself down in the morning?”

 

~

~

~

 

When the mobile rang out a shrill tone in the dead of night; Morgana shot upright in the bed, and even in the first moments of waking she still noted that she wasn’t home. It slammed into mind like a brick wall – her first instinct was to kill the phone with a zap – her second instinct was to kill the dark blob that was coming her way surrounded by the full body glowing halo from the light from another room…

“Be nice – don’t zap…” Nathaniel’s voice shook her brain back to the present and her heart kicked her ribs, but then it finally started to pound a decent rhythm inside of her chest.

She turned to reach for the phone that she’d placed on the nightstand, but Nathaniel got there first…

“Morgana’s phone…” He offered into the handset and Morgana rolled her eyes and dropped her head back against the pillow. She wasn’t a morning person, so being a middle of the night – woken from a deep sleep – type person was out of the question.

In fact, she still wanted to zap something – probably the vampire…

“It’s for you…” Nathaniel said, holding out the phone and making her squint against the brightness of the screen…

“You don’t say…” Morgana muttered; her tone dripping with sarcasm.

She wanted to snatch the phone from his hand, and that would have been all well and good had she been able to see properly, as it was; their fingers played touchy-feely, and she felt her heart kick her ribs once more…

“If you wanted to hold my hand…” he started, and she let loose with her magic, zapping him just enough to make him grunt and release the phone to her.

“Speak or bug off…” She bit out into the phone.

“I hear you have something I might be interested in,” the very feminine voice started her pitch.

“And I hear you have information that I could use,” Morgana offered back.

She knew full well that the vampire could hear both sides of the conversation and that she wouldn’t need to repeat the witch’s side to him. He stood stock still in the darkness, ironically, still surrounded by that glowing halo of light…

“I’ll tell you mine if you show me yours and it’s acceptable,” Daniella replied after a thoughtful silence.

“Deal. Where do you want to meet up?” Morgana had a feeling that she knew.

“The Professor’s office, say, an hour?”

“I’ll be there.”

The phone went dead in Morgana’s hand and she tossed it down on the bed and groaned…

“We have time for a quickie…” Nathaniel said, and she just knew that the man was grinning from ear to ear, even if she couldn’t see his face.

She zapped him once more. Just for the poops and giggles of it.

Morgana figured that it was best to get out her aggression then, before she met up with the witch and the not so old professor again.

“Too soon?” Nathaniel asked, biting down on the shocks of pain that were chasing through his body.

“Hell freezing over would be too soon.”

“Never say never – witch.”