Keystone (Crossbreed #1)(36)
“So you didn’t want to be connected to a woman?”
He sputtered out a laugh and then wiped his eye with the heel of his hand. “Vampires relied on each other for protection and information. Not for a cuddle.”
“And a woman can’t protect you?”
“Will you put a cork in it and let me finish? If you’re going to pluck a rose from the garden, you’re going to choose the finest-looking flower. Not many women in those days wanted to leave behind their families to become creatures of the night.”
“You’re not exactly Bela Lugosi.”
“We didn’t have sunglasses, and black eyes get noticed fairly quickly in the daylight. That’s how we got the reputation for being night creatures.”
“Ah. That makes more sense.” I continued cleaning off my arms and neck.
“And it didn’t take long for Vampires to figure out that bringing a woman over by force wasn’t going to make her a loyal subject, blood or not. When time wore away the feeling of submission, they’d hunt their maker down. Finding a wickedly handsome woman who was willing to give up her mortality wasn’t as easy as all that. Men are easier to convince. They thirst for power, war, and revenge.”
“Is that why you decided to take the plunge?”
He pulled at the whiskers on his chin. “After the Mageri was formed, some of the older Vampires got together to put rules in place. It was a big fecking mess back then. There were too many who were making bloodslaves, so the elders put a stop to it and set them to burn.”
“Do I have blood on my face?”
He pointed at his lip. “Just a little there. And there,” he added, pointing at his eyebrow, ear, cheek, and neck.
I stared at him blank-faced.
“Here, let me.” He scooted forward and took the towel, using it to wipe my temple. “And what about your maker? Clearly he’s a bastard if you can’t stand the sight of me.”
I smirked, and he wiped my humor away with the towel. “You think highly of yourself.”
He leaned in. “Did you get any blood on your breasts? I’m willing to go the extra mile.”
When I snatched the towel from his hand, he scooted back and leaned against the wall again. Christian was treading dangerous ground by asking about my maker. That wasn’t a topic I wanted to discuss with anyone, let alone a smarmy Vampire who was champing at the bit to make an offensive wisecrack.
Christian’s voice was deep and growly, like someone who had just woken up. “If you’re more than just sex on legs, then why is that all you offer to get a job done?”
“Because as handsome as you are, Christian, your hairy legs would have never gotten that man out of his chair.”
He raised his pant leg just an inch or two. “They’re not that hairy. See?”
“How am I supposed to trust you have my back when you’re busy dry-humping women in a dark corner somewhere? You should have been close enough that when he started the engine, it would have only taken you seconds to come out. What if he’d pulled out his gun and shot me in the head?”
He picked at a dried piece of blood on his chest. “Are you trying to blame this on me? Don’t bother preparing a speech for tomorrow with Viktor; I’m not taking the fall for this one.”
“I should have killed him as soon as I got into the car.”
Christian shook his head very slightly. “You’re digging your own grave and don’t even give a shite. Say that tomorrow and see what happens.”
“You still should have been there.”
He pointed his finger lazily at me. “You were armed, and you knew he might have a stunner on him.”
“Stunners don’t affect me. But a bullet might.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Say again?”
“When I’ve been stabbed, I can usually tell a stunner from a regular dagger. It just feels different. Plus a lot of the men acted really surprised when they put it in me and I was still moving around. It didn’t take long for me to figure it out.”
“Are you telling me that you don’t succumb to the paralyzed state that a dagger infused with magic brings to a Mage?”
“Pretty much.”
I decided not to tell him about impalement wood not affecting me either. I didn’t know how much people in the house talked to each other, but if I was on my way out the door because of tonight’s stunt, then maybe I needed to keep a few things to myself.
He ran his fingers through his hair forward and then back, which I found to be a peculiar gesture.
“Dazzled?” I asked.
“Perplexed… would be a better word.”
I leaned forward, giving him a good look at my mismatched eyes. “Don’t you know who I am? I’m the Shadow. Legend has it that if a man loses his shadow, it means that I ate it, and I’m coming for the rest of him.”
When his eyes flicked down at the floor, I laughed.
“Made you look.”
His jaw set, and he straightened his legs. “You’re a peculiar woman. Next time go for the handsome man of the group, you hear? How often do you think that sweaty little troll got singled out by a beautiful woman? From the moment you batted your lashes at him, his fantasies were peppered with doubt and suspicion, so when you asked him to go to the car, it’s no wonder he pulled a Ted Bundy. Instinct always tells you to pick the weaker one, so you need to go for the leader… or the most handsome.”