Vampire's Kiss (17 page)

The vampire with the answers appeared as though bidden. One minute Alcántara wasn’t there, and
boom
, the next he was, leaning against the back wall with his arms crossed over his chest while looking all blasé, as if he’d been kicking it there for the last half hour instead of materializing as though from thin air.

I knew a swell of satisfaction—he’d sensed me here, and he’d come. Then dread came, quick on its heels. It would be dangerous to forget just whom I was dealing with. Seeking out vampires was a dangerous game…a deadly one.

“Acari Drew.” That voice, a sultry rasp. That hair and those eyes, black and gleaming like a panther’s.

I sat upright. My hands trembled with the adrenaline dump I experienced whenever he appeared like this, and I folded them primly in my lap. “Master Alcántara.”

“Why have you come?”

Good question. He’d know that, with his office just upstairs, I’d pretty much thrown myself in his path simply by being there. I’d wanted to find out more about our mission, but did I have other questions, too? That he might have a flirtation with Masha was just too intriguing. That
many
girls had special relationships with vampires, too compelling.

So why seek him out privately, instead of in a classroom setting? Was it that I wanted to bring
our
relationship to some sort of a head? And if so, was it
really
because I wanted it, or did I just want to best Masha?

There was no way in hell I was sharing any of
that
wacko stream of consciousness, so I went with a half-truth instead. I flashed the spine of my book. “I came to study. Brushing up on my business protocol, just like you asked.”

“But so near me.” He was unwilling to drop it; yet he still managed to look bored, unconcerned, and vaguely put out as he glided across the room to sprawl in the chair opposite me. Alcántara might have been a fourteenth-century royal mathematician, but his hot indie rocker impression was spot-on. “Was encountering me your intention?”

I neither agreed nor denied. “This is my favorite place on campus.”

“Surely you knew you’d run into me.” He stretched, and his black boots came to rest perilously close to mine.

He was bringing his A-game, and what else had I thought would happen? I was just a stupid, stupid girl, playing with fire.

I laughed nervously. “That’s pretty direct.”

“Do I have reason not to be?” A teasing smile spread across his face. “Is there something you’d have me avoid?”

I was squirming, and clearly the guy was enjoying it. “No, direct is good.…” Scrambling to change the subject, I began riffling through my book and practically felt a cartoon lightbulb flash over my head. I pointed with authority at one of the passages. “Just like they say in this manual here. See, Germans value directness. To the point of discomfort.”

That bored demeanor of his shattered with an explosive laugh. “You have done your homework.”

“Always.” I couldn’t help but feel pleased at his praise. But—
crap
—did that prove I
had
sought him out? Was I seeking his approval?

“Truly, you are as quick-witted and as versatile as we’d hoped.” He concentrated on my face, and it made me nervous. What was he looking for…or finding? “Tell me, young Acari—what else have you learned?”

That to have flirty banter with a vampire was to be outmatched?

Obviously, I gave a different reply, rattling off some of what I’d gathered from my reading. “German businessmen value structure. Hierarchy, formality, and titles are important. Oh, and punctuality, above all things.”

A slow smile spread across his face—it was the same smile that always kicked my heart rate into panic gear. “It sounds as if you describe those of us who are Vampire.”

I paused, needing to get this
just
right
. I imagined the first time I inadvertently insulted a vampire might be my last. “Yes, you’re right. It’s reminiscent of life on this island. All the best aspects of traditional culture.” I gave myself a ginormous pat on the back for that little gem.

He leaned forward, elbows on knees. “As with vampires, traditional German businessmen have many rules. Is that not so?”

Hella rules. Though obviously I phrased it differently. “Yes, in a typical meeting, there are many conventions to be followed.”

“Such as?”

“You must already know.”

“Amuse me.”

I rattled them out rapid-fire, figuring it was an easier topic than why I’d chosen the sciences building as a hangout. “Men enter a room before women.” I was sure the vamps must’ve loved that one. “Use a formal greeting and a quick, firm handshake. Stand until you’re asked to sit. Confrontation, exaggeration, and emotion are to be avoided.”

He stopped me with a raised hand. “That will suffice.”

“Why do I need to know all this, anyway? Are we going to Germany for our mission?”

He laughed, and it was a little on the patronizing side. “No,
querida
. We are not going to Germany for our mission. In time, you will learn all you need to know. For now, you have sufficiently grasped this aspect of your preparations. Trainee Joshua did well.”

Actually
I
did well—all Josh did was give me a book. But credit where credit was due and all, so I said, “Yes, he gave me a good book to read.”

“I heard that’s not all he did.”

I bristled. Of course he’d have heard about the latest hazing. Using reasoning that might appeal to a vampire, I tread carefully, answering slowly. “I found myself in a compromising situation, and Trainee Joshua proved himself a gentleman.”

Alcántara didn’t look too happy about it, and it freaked me out.

I was dying to ask if Josh was in trouble now. If Trainees couldn’t stand up to Guidons without consequences. Josh and I weren’t exactly buddies, but it didn’t mean I wanted to see him eviscerated or anything. Plus, it was hard to avoid the fact that, if he was in trouble, it was because of me.
I
was accountable.

I had to change the subject, take the attention off Josh. I could think of only one way, and it was the moral equivalent of batting my eyelashes. Normally I wouldn’t know a feminine wile from a hole in the ground, but I decided to go for it.

And okay, maybe I could’ve thought of
other
ways, but for some reason, something deep down inside me wanted to go there. Maybe it was discovering that all these girls were enjoying private intrigues with vampires. But in the wake of discovering the whole Ronan/Amanda thing, I wondered at my own appeal—doubted it, really. Either way, I felt ready to push the whole fate-tempting thing.

How did girls do this? I kicked my legs in front of me, trying to mimic Alcántara’s sexy sprawl. But his eyes remained flat on me.

Alrighty, then
. On to step two. Cue the lazy smile.

I busted out my most languorous smile, but Alcántara remained a granite statue across from me—an unreadable, unemotional but very attractive slab of granite. Yet I
knew
that’d been an obvious softball I’d lobbed his way—wouldn’t he have had
some
reaction? Maybe all this nonsense about vampires having affairs was just that…nonsense.

Fine. Step three. I’d bring out the big guns: my hair. Shiny and blond, it’d always gotten a big reaction. I casually twirled a bit around my finger, because that was what flirty girls did, right? They toyed with their hair?

But only when I lifted it from my cheek did Alcántara’s eyes flare to life. He knelt before me in an instant. And it wasn’t my hair he was interested in. It was the huge bruise my hair had concealed.

He studied my cheekbone intently. When he spoke, his voice came out in a strange whisper. “What has come to pass?”

“Stick training.” I eased away from him, self-conscious and a little embarrassed, too. “Tracer Otto faked left but went right.”

He closed the distance I’d put between us. He lifted his hand, then gently traced a finger along the line of the bruise. “All that blood, just beneath the surface.”

Of course.
Of course he didn’t go for sexy smiles or flowing hair. It was the blood that floated his boat.

“It’s not a big deal,” I demurred, making my voice steadier than I felt, when really all I wanted to do was flee. I’d taken his mind from Josh, that was for sure.

He inhaled deeply. “Black, blue, green, purple, yellow…every color but red. And yet just below the surface, all those burst vessels, pooled a rich crimson.”

I wriggled deeper into my seat, totally creeped out. “Happens all the time.”

“So brave you are. Did you know they once treated bruises with leeches? The leech would suck, ingesting the excess blood.” His eyes grazed from my cheekbone to my mouth. “We have other ways now.”

Alarm bells shrilled in my head.
Run run run.
But I couldn’t. It wasn’t just because of Josh, or me, or any of that other stuff. The specter of Masha kept me glued to my seat. I needed Alcántara on my side if I wanted to stop Masha from coming and slaughtering me in my sleep.

He dragged his fingertip down the side of my face, to the tip of my chin. He pinched it, then tilted my face to look at him eye to eye. “
Mi Acarita
, I wonder if you’d be brave about all things.”

I knew he meant kisses. Would I be brave about kisses? I’d thought I might. But I realized now, the answer was a resounding
no
. Not about kisses from him, at least.

This was my own fault. I’d been a kid with a box of matches; I’d played with fire; I’d tempted fate—all the clichés in the book.

How quickly this had gone from blood to kisses. Inside, I recoiled. But I kept my face a placid mask on the outside. I stayed still, my gaze locked with his.

Something happened—a shift in the world around me, and my skin grew cold. The air whooshed from my ears and the room grew dim—as though I might faint. And then I fell into his eyes. They were black, and deep, and bottomless, like gleaming shards of obsidian.

I trembled, fighting the sensation. I didn’t want to kiss him. So why was I leaning closer?

I was wrong to have been this bold. This wasn’t what I wanted. I blinked hard, fisting the heat back into my hands. I curled my toes in my boots till my feet cramped.

The world snapped back into clarity, and I sucked in a great breath.

Alcántara’s low laugh came to me as though from a great distance. “Touché. For now,
querida
.”

A vampire wouldn’t be my first kiss.
Yet.

I’d won the battle. But I still worried how I might fare in the war.

“F
inally.” A cramp seized me, and I shook out my calf as I hobbled to keep up with Emma. My bruises were almost healed, but I still stiffened up at odd moments. One more drink of the blood should get me back to full strength.

“Finally
what
?” Emma stopped and, noticing my limp, let me catch up.

“Finally we get a moment together. You and Yas have been attached at the hip.” I rubbed my lower back as we walked.

“Are you okay?”

“My ass hurts,” I grumbled. “Tracer Otto kicked it for me.”

She held the dorm door open and slowed her pace for me. She studied me as we made our way up the stairs to our rooms on the second floor. Pulling the hair from my face, she said, “That’s some bruise.”

I flinched away. “Unfortunately, you’re not the first to notice.”

She shot me a questioning look as she came to a stop in front of her bedroom door, rifling in her bag for her key.

I leaned against the wall with a sigh. “Alcántara. Apparently all that blood under the skin is tantalizing.”

“Ugh.” She grimaced. “Did not. Need. To know.” She pushed open her door, assuming I’d follow.

I didn’t. The Initiates hadn’t yet targeted her for a special hazing treat, and it’d been on my mind since my whole Saran Wrap ordeal.

“Get in here,” she said, her
get
sounding more like
git
, “before anyone sees us.”