“No, I can’t take that.” I had never relied on anyone to pay my way and I had no intention of starting now. I tried to give it back to him, but he refused.
“Seriously, please take it. Think of it as a gift. Think of it as a thank-you for helping Jonah,” he pushed, but I still shook my head.
He leaned over and whispered, “Please let me feel as though I have done something for you, even if it is barely a scratch in comparison to the penance I have to repay.”
Here we go, talking in riddles again. I stared back at him blankly, but I could tell he wasn’t going to budge, so I conceded. “Fine, but I’ll pay you back once I’ve found a job,” I insisted, waving the card in the air.
“A job?” he replied quizzically. “When I say that we need to get your life back to normal, you must understand that you need to remain hidden.”
“Oh, well, I can’t just stay here every day, I have to work.”
He rolled up the sleeves of his posh royal blue sweater, as if to tell me that he meant business. His expensive attire made me feel even more inadequate, but I doubted dressing myself in designer clothes would fix that problem.
With a serious tone, he pushed on. “No, you don’t. You can leave the house but only with one of us. We need to keep you protected; you’re vulnerable on your own. I’m trying to make sense of some things, but in the meantime it’s for the best if you remain here. If you must go out, I will insist that it’s under the protection of one of us.”
I readied myself to argue with him, to tell him that I was not a prisoner and I could look after myself.
“Though I hope you don’t mind,” he continued, “that will generally, mostly … always be me.” The edges of his lips curved up. It only took the smallest hint of that luscious smile of his, creeping back up his cheeks, to cause me to change my mind and become instantly amenable. So I returned the smile. “But first you have to go shopping with Brooke.…”
As I glanced up to the door, Brooke stepped through it, right on cue. “Jeez! You’re not supposed to wear jeans with that dress!”
She rolled her eyes at me, irritated, and I frowned at Gabriel. “Why do I have a feeling I’ll regret this?” I grinned sarcastically.
“Regret what exactly?” Brooke replied. “Come on, we’re going in to town.”
She grabbed my hand, yanking me up. She surprised me, and I jerked away from her, but I caught myself quickly. If I was going to live here, I would have to get used to the fact that my roommates were Vampires. One way or another, I would have to learn to trust them. I turned back around to Gabriel and picked up the shiny new phone from the sofa.
“Not town,” Gabriel warned, dipping his eyebrows.
“What? But Oxford Street calls!”
“No, stay local. Go to Windsor, there’s plenty of shops there, it’s perfectly adequate.”
Gabriel was clearly the leader of this pack; they all seemed to abide by his rules.
Brooke huffed and made a disgruntled face. She seemed so much younger than she looked, which was odd for a Vampire. I would have thought that with more years behind them, even if their faces didn’t show it, they would be more mature and worldly.
“It’s not fair, just because she’s being chased! Why do I have to suffer? I don’t even want to go with her!”
“I’m being chased?” That caught my attention more than Brooke’s clear disdain.
Gabriel stood up and paced over to the doorway where we were both standing.
“No, Cessie. You’re not being chased,” he replied calmly, easing me momentarily.
“Yes she is. I heard you talking to Jonah,” she shot back snidely, clearly pleased with her eavesdropping skills. “You said that Eligio and his clan are still looking for her.”
I turned to Gabriel for the truth.
“Cessie, what Jonah and I were discussing, privately”—he emphasized his last word and glared at Brooke as he did—“was simply that there is a chance that they’re still trying to find you, that’s all. Nothing more than what we already suspected.”
I tapped my foot on the floor, irritated; he was holding something back, I knew he was. “And?”
“And nothing.”
If there was nothing more to add, then why could I feel him blocking me from his thoughts? I didn’t appreciate being kept in the dark.
“Brooke, go and pull your car out of the garage. Cessie will be with you in a minute.”
She flicked her red hair, banging the door shut as she left.
“Well?” I said.
“It’s nothing to be concerned about, but Michael has been feeling Eligio’s presence a little stronger since we got back.” Still he was trying to protect me, putting it as gently as possible.
“More than he normally would?”
“Yes; Michael’s only been parted from his clan very recently, he’s our newest addition. So his connection to his Gualtiero is stronger than that of any of the others.”
“I don’t understand. Does that mean that everything he knows, this Eligio knows too?”
“Not at all. Eligio created Michael, his venom will always be part of him, and as such, they will always sense each other to a degree. It’s only when one or the other changes their proclivity that they essentially tune in to one another,” Gabriel explained, trying to soothe me. “Michael can sense that something has changed within Eligio; he feels him stirring. But it could be anything.”
I let out a breath. It could have been worse. After all, when I saw them outside the burning rubble of the house in Creigiau, there was no question in my mind that they would try to seek me out.
“But we have to be cautious. You’re certainly precious.” He smiled.
“Fine.” I accepted his explanation, just in time to be startled by the impatient honk of Brooke’s horn. “I better go, she’s waiting for me.”
Reluctantly I reached for the heavy handle, pulling the door back open.
Stay close to Brooke, and be careful. His words filled my mind and I answered him with a thumbs-up as I stepped through the hallway and out of the front door.
Brooke wriggled in the driver’s seat, revving the engine of a brand-new Mini Cooper; pink, of course. I plonked myself down in the passenger seat and we sped off down the drive.
As we zipped through the gate, she grabbed a jacket from the backseat and threw it at me. “You’ll freeze.”