Steal the Light (Thieves #1)(28)

“I’d like to see you try, sweetheart,” Daniel said.

“Try what?”

Daniel turned around, and I took a step back. His fangs were fully out, and his eyes had turned from ordinary blue to a deep, rich sapphire color. The irises bled out, coating his whole eye in that unnatural color. He looked like a gorgeous predator, and he was completely alien to me. “I’d like to see you try to get away from me.”

The door opened, breaking our tension. A man stood in the hallway, waiting on the elevator. He wore a stylish blazer over a silk dress shirt and tailored slacks. His wardrobe was almost identical to Daniel’s, though he didn’t have bloodstains on his white dress shirt. It even looked like he shopped at the same shoe store. I knew instinctively this was a vampire and they followed a dress code. The man started to greet Daniel, but he took one look at me and suddenly Daniel wasn’t the only one with fangs.

I felt like the last cupcake in a room full of hungry kids.

Daniel didn’t hesitate. He walked straight out of the elevator, took the man by the throat, and shoved him high against the wall. He held the man a good three feet off the floor. His feet twitched as Daniel squeezed.

“Don’t you even look at her, Michael.” His hand tightened around Michael’s throat. “If you so much as think about her, I will rip your head off with my bare hands. Do you understand?”

“Damn it, Dan,” the vampire named Michael managed to squeak out. “I was just going upstairs for a newspaper. I’m not trying to hit on anyone, but look at her. I can’t help it…she’s…she’s…”

“Mine,” Daniel said, squeezing so tight I thought for a minute I was going to get to see the aforementioned beheading. “She’s mine.” Daniel released his hold on Michael who clutched his throat, checking for damage. “Get out of here.”

Michael obliged, and Daniel practically tossed me through the door of his apartment. I stumbled across the threshold. He threw the door closed, and I heard a series of locks being bolted. He turned back to me, and I could see none of his rage had been spent on Michael. I complained that he was an emotionless robot, but he didn’t look like one now. I admit I wasn’t the foremost authority on vampires. They tend to be secretive. However, if I knew one thing about them, it is that you shouldn’t piss them off.

“You want to know why I don’t bring you here? That’s why, Zoey.” He motioned to the hall outside. “I don’t want you walking around here like an open-all-night diner. That was Michael. He was born in 1892 and died during World War I. He’s quite the player. Do you know how many women he’s gone through? Do you know how many ended up in the hospital because he ‘loved’ them? Don’t even get me started on Alexander. I’ve thought about staking him myself just so I can sleep all day. I think he might have been Jack the Ripper. Do you have any idea what he would do with you?”

“I think I can guess.” Given what I knew about Jack the Ripper, it probably wouldn’t be pleasant.

Daniel brought his fist down on his kitchen table. It cracked in two. “This isn’t a joke! This is your life. Goddamn it, what is it going to take for you to be serious? What has to happen to get you to take me seriously?”

It was easy to fall back into old habits. Daniel rarely lost his temper before, but when he did, he could be volcanic. I’d found that staying calm was my best bet. I didn’t want to add fuel to his fire, so I kept my voice even and patient. “I take you seriously, Daniel. I’ve spent years waiting for you because I love you. I haven’t wasted my youth because I thought you were a laugh.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it. When are you going to see the threat I pose, Zoey?” His voice was slightly calmer now.

This was the same excuse he gave me when he returned from France. He was too big a threat to be trusted. He was a killer by nature, and I should keep my distance, watch my back…blah, blah, blah. “Daniel, I don’t care what the stupid Council told you. I trust you. I will always trust you.”

“You wouldn’t if you knew what I want to do to you.” He groaned as he reached out and pulled me close. I slammed against him, and he was hard everywhere. It felt so good. I sighed and let my arms slide around his waist. I breathed in his scent, and though I knew it was a trick of my memory, he smelled like the old Daniel. Everything about him seemed like home. The tension of the day melted away as I just let myself feel him.

Daniel ran a hand through my hair and pulled my head back, forcing me to look into his eyes. It was a part of the new Daniel he couldn’t hide. He wanted me to understand that he wasn’t human anymore. “Do you have any idea what you look like to me now? You’re so f*cking bright. I want your light. I want it so bad. I want to take you, and I want to feed, Zoey. I want to drink until I have my fill, and then I want to f*ck you, sweetheart. I want to f*ck you so long and so hard you’ll forget that there was a time I wasn’t inside you. I want to possess you. I want to bend you to my will until you’ll do anything I ask. Until you’ll die for me.”

I was sure in Daniel’s mind that this speech of his was supposed to send me screaming from the room and into the arms of someone less obsessive and fangy. I was supposed to see that he had changed. That he was a danger to my life. I was supposed to finally accept that there was a part of Daniel that could do all those things to me, and there was a part that even wanted to do those things to me. The problem was I’d accepted that a long time ago and loved him anyway.