Blood Born Read online

  He felt … awkward, which was an astonishing sensation for someone over two thousand years old. Before, no one had ever remembered what he said or did, so he hadn’t worried about his behavior. After all, what did it matter? Now, suddenly, he felt as guilty as a misbehaving schoolboy, and he didn’t know why.

  She didn’t remember just him, she remembered last night, too. He had glamoured her. She shouldn’t remember any of it. But evidently she did. Why did she remember last night?

  This was wrong. Something was wrong. Either that, or Chloe Fallon was somehow different, on a genetic level, from every other human he’d met over the past two thousand years.

  She was a puzzle he’d have to explore, but right now he had the more immediate duty of watching to see who next tried to kill her. He put away all thoughts of the mystery that Chloe represented, instead concentrating on the here and now. He waited, listening, scenting, but nothing unusual registered. Attacking her here would be the least logical place, anyway: too many people around. Enoch had done it the smart way, waiting for her at home, attacking before she could get inside. Luca would make certain he was there before she arrived, waiting and watching.

  Finally the last customer was gone, the door locked, the restaurant cleaned and ready for the next day. Chloe rolled her shoulders, trying to ease the tension in her tired muscles. Once again, she’d been on her feet almost the entire shift, and had managed to snag roughly five bites of food in the past eight hours.

  “Want to try to catch a midnight show?” Valerie asked.

  For a moment Chloe was tempted, then reality made her shake her head. “I’m beat. I didn’t sleep much last night, either. All I want to do is get out of these shoes, put my feet up, and relax.”

  Valerie’s eyebrows danced. “Can I assume it was a man who kept you from your beauty sleep?”

  “Yeah, but not in a good way.” After a pause, Chloe told her friend about the attack, and Luca’s appearance.

  Valerie’s full mouth quickly settled into a disapproving frown “You called the police, I hope.”

  “No. I wasn’t hurt and I couldn’t really give a description of the guy, so it didn’t make much sense to file a report.” Even as she heard the words coming out of her mouth, Chloe wondered at herself. For crying out loud, she should have called the cops, at least made the report.

  “For all you know, it was a setup. Those two might’ve been in cahoots. One scares you, the other saves you, and you end up trusting a complete stranger.” Valerie paled a little. “Tell me you didn’t ask him into the house.”

  “No, Mom, I didn’t ask him into the house.” If she was going to tell, she might as well tell it all. “I did kind of … ask him to come by so I could buy him a meal.”

  Valerie sighed in obvious disapproval. “You told him where you work?”

  “He already knows where I live.”

  “Yeah, but …” Valerie pursed her lips. “Sorry. I do kinda sound like your mother, don’t I?”

  “Yep.”

  “It’s just … we single women have to be careful, we have to look out for each other.” Valerie smiled at the customer who stood, waved, and headed for the door. “So, what did he look like?”

  “I told you, I didn’t get …”

  “Not the attacker, this Luca person.”

  “You saw him. He’s the man who came in while you were seating that last group. He couldn’t stay, though. He just stopped by to see if I was okay.”

  Valerie frowned. “I don’t remember anyone coming in. How did I miss that?”

  “I signaled to you that I’d handle seating him, remember?”

  “I remember you walking that way, but, sorry. Guess I wasn’t paying attention. Anyway, what does he look like?”

  Chloe pictured his face, and that odd shimmer danced behind her eyes. “He’s very striking—not pretty-boy handsome, there’s something all man about him. Olive complexion, but light-colored eyes. Like I said—striking. At least six feet tall, maybe taller. Long dark hair, down to his shoulders. Strong, but not muscle-bound. Like I said, he isn’t pretty, but he’s definitely hot. Nice ass. Good hands. Really sharp jawline.”

  Valerie made a low, humming sound. “Now I’m sorry I didn’t see him.” She smiled. “And going strictly by your description, I have to confess that maybe I wouldn’t have been nearly as cautious as you. I think I would’ve had to take a chance and ask him in for a drink, or whatever.”

  “I was too tired for a drink, and I don’t whatever with men I just met.”

  Valerie smiled wickedly, her earlier concern gone. “We both desperately need a little whatever in our lives.” The smile faded a little. “Unfortunately, unless you buy one at a specialty store, penises come attached to men, who almost always turn out to be more trouble than they’re worth. You’re not taking the Metro home tonight, are you?”

  “Nope. For the duration, I’m driving.” Sputtering from place to place was a more accurate description, but since she was off work for the next two days she was going to get her disobedient car to the shop and have that taken care of. “And you’ll be happy to know that I had my pepper spray in my hand.” For all the good it had done her, since she’d dropped it when she was grabbed. But Valerie had given her the pepper spray for her birthday, so she wanted her to know the gift was being put to use … almost, anyway. The intent had been there. Maybe she should also think about buying a taser, but wouldn’t that be overreacting? After all, she hadn’t been hurt, had she? No, she didn’t think so. She couldn’t even find any scrapes or bruises this morning.

  On the other hand, was it possible to overreact to being attacked in her own front yard? On the upset scale, that ranked in the upper third, at least. She should definitely be upset; should be, but wasn’t. Weird.

  Chloe pushed back that memory. Now would be the time to tell Valerie about the voices, if she was going to take that step. It was hard to admit even to a good friend that she hadn’t slept in days, weeks, that she was hearing voices and having weird, vivid dreams that made her question what was real and what was not.

  Even though she had almost decided the cause of her auditory hallucinations was physical, not psychological, there was one detail that gave her pause. She only heard the voices when she was home alone. Never at work, or on the drive or walk home. Chloe had to wonder: if she had invited Luca in last night, if she had asked him to stay, would she still be questioning her sanity and her health today? Would a visitor, any visitor, bring blessed silence to her home?

  “Why don’t you come by the house after work?” Chloe asked.

  “I thought you wanted to sleep.”

  “We can crash in the living room and catch a movie on TV. I know I need to sleep, but I’m not sure I can.”

  “Still shaken from last night?”

  Chloe nodded. She didn’t have to explain to Valerie exactly why she didn’t want to be alone. They were good enough friends that they were there for each other, no questions asked … not many, anyway.

  Valerie followed Chloe home and parked behind her. Walking from her car to the door without sprinting was difficult for Chloe. Last night the big bald man had come out of nowhere, and there were a lot of shadows in and around her small front yard. All day long the memory had been vague, as if it had been in a movie she’d seen, but tonight, taking that same walk, it all came back. She didn’t breathe deeply until she was inside the house, with Valerie, with the door locked behind them.

  They talked about work for a while, watched a movie on TV, ate microwave popcorn, and drank too much diet soda. Chloe didn’t want to talk about Luca, and fortunately Valerie didn’t mention his visit to the restaurant. Odd for Valerie, but maybe she sensed that Chloe didn’t want to go there.

  Since the movie wasn’t very good they talked more than they watched. They made fun of the movie and laughed a lot. It was a laid-back evening, relaxed and very nice. There were no disembodied voices, not with Valerie in the house.

  Unfortunately that couldn’t last f