Eternal Kiss of Darkness

Though the boy's death would not have been a great loss, from what Mencheres overheard of their conversation. The boy's scent confirmed he was lying about the interview, lying about being off drugs, and lying about the taxi, as he proved by sauntering off on foot down the street instead of calling for transportation. If Mencheres hadn't heard the miscreant call her "sister," he would have killed the boy on principle after he'd deceived Kira out of her money. By her own admission - and from Mencheres's observation - Kira did not have adequate funds to support herself, her dishonest sibling, and her ill sister. To see her kindness taken advantage of made anger burn in him. You are lucky you share her blood, Mencheres thought at the foolish youth still strolling down the street. Or I'd be sharing yours with the gutters tonight.

In the next minute, the window in Kira's apartment glowed with soft light. Mencheres relaxed. She was safely inside now. He caught a glimpse of her as she passed by the window on her way to her bedroom. Even if she went to sleep immediately, Kira had less than seven hours until she would be at her desk again. Her long work days bothered him.

She hadn't returned home before ten o'clock even one night this week, and tonight, she had stayed out even later. It wasn't right that she toiled such long hours at her job.

You must stop this, his common sense railed at him. Here he was, perched like a gargoyle on a roof staring at a woman who had begged to be free of him. There was an appropriate modern word for his actions: "stalking." He didn't even bother to pretend that he'd only shadowed Kira these past several nights to ensure that she kept her word not to reveal what she'd learned about vampires. He knew he was here for one reason - he wanted to see her again even if he didn't alert her to his presence.

Though Kira was no longer under his roof, she still managed to dominate his thoughts to a dangerous degree. Even now, he wondered what she would do if he appeared at her door. Would she welcome him into her home? And if she did, would he be strong enough to leave? Or would her nearness, her tantalizing scent, and the smooth melody of her voice be enough to make him abandon all his careful planning in favor of the chance to be with her?

Better not to find out. Kira made him want to live, to fight Radjedef to the bitter, bloody end regardless of the consequences, and he couldn't afford that sort of thinking. His people couldn't afford it. They'd suffered enough the last time he'd let his emotions for a woman sway his actions.

Mencheres forced himself to turn away though the soft glow at her window proved that Kira was still awake. He had to cease this madness. From what he'd seen the past several days, Kira had settled back into a life of working hard and caring for her sister, similar to how his time was spent on duties related to his people. But even if it looked lonely - another thing they had in common - it was still her life, and it didn't include him.

He gave himself up to the embrace of the wind as he flew away. This would be the last night he followed her. It had to be, but he would do one tiny, additional thing before he purged Kira from his life completely.

Chapter 10

Kira mentally groaned as she heard Frank's voice cut through the usual cadence of sounds in the office. Next to her, Lily gave Kira a sympathetic glance.

"At it early today, isn't he?" Lily muttered.

"Where's Graceling?" Frank called out.

Before Kira had a chance to reply, Frank came through the door. She plastered a limp version of a smile on her face, bracing for whatever had made him seek her out before nine in the morning.

"I'm caught up on the reports from last week and I should be done with the new ones by the end of today," Kira said, heading Frank off before he could bark out a demand for her status.

Frank dropped something onto Kira's desk that for once wasn't a stack of papers.

She looked at the car keys in confusion.

"Did I leave those here? I thought I had them in my bag . . ."

"They're my set of keys for the company car," Frank said. He beamed. "I'm giving it to you. You deserve it."

Kira's mouth fell open even as she heard Lily drop something that sounded like her coffee cup. "You're giving it to me?" she repeated, glancing at the calendar. No, it wasn't April Fool's Day - unless Frank was getting his prank in a couple weeks late.

"Plus, I'm giving you a raise," Frank went on. "And I want you out of the office by six o'clock every night that you're not on surveillance. You work too hard." One extravagantly good deed from Frank, Kira could chalk up to his trying to balance his bad karma or something. Three extravagantly good deeds . . . either he was high, or this was his idea of a joke.

"I'm waiting for the punch line," Kira said cautiously.

Frank laughed, loud and hearty, confirming her guess that he'd been joking. She wanted to smack him. That man had a real sick sense of humor.

Then Frank slapped an envelope on her desk. "Open it."

Kira broke the seal, glancing once at Lily for moral support before she pulled out the contents.

It contained two pieces of paper. One was the title for the company car, signed by Frank and made out to her as the new owner. A check for two thousand dollars, also made out to her, was the other piece of paper.

"I made your raise retroactive," Frank said, still in the same cheerful tone she'd only ever heard him use with clients. "Good job, Graceling."

Kira just stared as Frank walked away. She was too stunned to even say thank you.

"What the hell just happened?" Lily whispered. "I mean, you do deserve all that, but Frank's so cheap, I can't believe he did it!"

Neither could Kira. Frank must've been visited by the Ghost of Christmas Future or something. Otherwise, his abrupt transformation from miserly Scrooge employer to gleeful generous benefactor was nothing short of miraculous.

Miraculous.

"Oh my God," Kira whispered.

"What?" Lily asked.

"I . . . nothing."

Kira swiveled her chair around, taking in several deep, uneven breaths. Frank hadn't experienced a miraculous change of heart after a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Future. No, he must have experienced something just as unusual - a visit from a mind-controlling vampire sometime between yesterday and today.

Mencheres. Her heart began to hammer. What are you doing?

Kira put another stack of folders in the trunk of Frank's car - make that her car - and paused to wave at Lily across the parking lot.

"What're you doing with all those, girl? You're not supposed to leave at a decent hour just so you can work all night at home," Lily called out.

"These are for, um, a side project," Kira stammered. A very side project.