The Immortal Hunter(82)

"I don't want you to tie me up again," she added, and then cried almost desperately, "I'm not like Leonius. I don't even want blood. I just want-" Her words died on a gasping sob, and Decker reached for the doorknob. This time he met no resistance and found out why when he saw that Dani had backed into the corner and turned to press her face there.

Decker hesitated and then stepped inside, pulling the door closed with one hand as he reached to rub her back with the other.

Dani stiffened at his touch and cast a quick glance over her shoulder, revealing that she was indeed crying. She then turned back to the corner, her voice watery as she asked, "What are you doing in here?"

"Hiding with you."

The words made her crumble and she sagged against the wall, her shoulders shaking with soft sobs.

Aching along with her, Decker caught her shoulders and turned her unresisting body to press her against his chest. He saw the piece of rope dangling from her wrist, realized she must not have been able to remove that one since the others were gone, and almost offered to remove it. But then he decided to ignore it for now, and slid his arms around to hold her as he rocked her in that dark, airless closet. He rubbed her back and murmured reassuringly, and eventually her crying slowed and stopped. After a moment she whispered, "You hate me now."

"No," he said quietly, and she lifted her head to peer up at him.

"But I'm a no-fanger."

"No, you're not," he assured her.

Dani shook her head sadly at his denial. "Yes, I am. I'm a no-fanger, and immortals hate them."

"You're Dani," he repeated firmly. "And you are not a no-fanger, you're an edentate. Immortals don't hate edentates."

"Edentate?" she asked with confusion.

"It's what sane immortals without fangs are called," he explained. "You're an edentate, Dani. Only the insane, rogue fangless ones are called no-fangers."

"Edentate," she said slowly, but then shook her head. "But Leonius said you would hate me, and you tied me down last night like a dog. You-"

"We tied you down last night so you wouldn't hurt yourself," Decker assured her quickly. "You were biting yourself and thrashing around, Dani, it was necessary."

When she raised her head, hope in her eyes, he added, "And we don't despise any race. We hunt down and kill rogues only, both immortal and edentata alike."

When she peered at him doubtfully, he reluctantly admitted, "Unfortunately, half of the edentata who survive the turning come out no-fangers like Leonius and go rogue so, in the past, enforcers had to kill a lot of them in comparison to immortals, but not much anymore," he added. "I've only ever even heard of one no-fanger besides Leonius and his sons since becoming an enforcer sixty years ago, but I know an edentate. He works as an enforcer."

"Really?" she asked, almost eagerly.

Decker nodded, and when she leaned against him with a sigh, asked, "Are you ready to get out of here now? I fetched some blood from the kitchen to take upstairs. It's outside the door. We could go to the kitchen and-"

"I don't want it," Dani interrupted on a mutter. "I'm not-I don't-" Shaking her head, she pressed her face to his chest again and repeated, "I don't want it."

Decker peered down at the top of her head, slowly realizing Dani was still struggling to accept what she was. There had been shame and even despair in her voice as she'd refused the suggestion. He understood, but denying it wasn't going to make it go away, and neither would refusing to feed. And judging by the way her face glowed palely in the dark of the closet, she was in need of blood whether she admitted it to herself or not. The longer she left it, the more likely the chances she would be leaping on some poor unsuspecting mortal in search of food. Decker considered the problem briefly, and then urged her away from his chest, saying, "Come. Let's sit down."

Dani hesitated, but then sat down on the floor with her back to the wall when he did. The moment she was settled, Decker reached to open the door, grabbed first one bag of blood and then the other, and dragged them into the closet before pulling the door closed again.

"Here, can you hold this for a minute?" He handed her one of the bags. "I'm afraid of kneeling on it and bursting it."

Dani reluctantly took the bag, and he immediately popped the other to his teeth. He didn't look at her, but could feel her eyes watching him in the bit of light creeping under the door as his teeth began to drain the bag. Decker had hoped seeing him feed would encourage her to do the same, but she merely watched him silently. When the bag was nearly empty, Decker tipped it up, deliberately allowing the last few drops to dribble out and run slowly down his chin. He tore the empty bag away and set it in the corner, then turned to face her.

"Kiss me," he said softly.

Dani swayed toward him, nostrils flaring and eyes locked on the droplet of blood and the trail it was leaving, and then she caught herself and leaped to her feet, dropping the bag of blood as if it were on fire. She reached for the doorknob, but Decker grabbed the discarded pouch of blood and launched to his feet, catching her hand to stop her.

"Kiss me," he repeated.

"I don't want to," Dani said, but he could hear the lie in her voice.

"I want you to," he said softly, drawing her closer and lowering his head above hers. "Just one kiss."