I cringed, not sure how to answer that. I suppose, in the very simplest of terms, that had been the reason behind our temporary split. "Yeah...kind of."
Ashley shook her head at me, her expression disapproving. "That surprises me, Emma." She half-grinned. "Especially with your Brad Pitt as a vampire obsession."
I gaped at her and flicked her on the shoulder. "Shut up."
Teren started laughing. He eyed me in the rearview mirror, not even bothering to contain his chuckles. "Not into Anne Rice, huh?"
Frowning, I flicked him on the shoulder. "You shut up, too."
Teren and Ashley laughed and shared a companionable look. They talked with each other on the ride home, about Teren's work, about Ashley's schooling, and I smiled as I watched them. The few other guys I had introduced to my sister hadn't taken to her nearly as readily as Teren had. I supposed, just like Ash, he wasn't one to question someone else's differences. Lord knows he wasn't one hundred percent normal. And I'd definitely never had a boyfriend who had growled in her defense before. Seemed he was as protective of her as I was.
In Mom's driveway, Ash politely asked Teren, "Can I see them again?"
Teren shifted uncomfortably and looked down. I interceded on his behalf. "He really doesn't like doing it on command...it makes him self-conscious."
My sister completely understood feeling self-conscious and let it drop. She glanced at me, then back to him. "Thank you for inviting me out again."
She opened her door and I opened mine to take her spot. Teren looked like he wanted to walk her to her door, but I gave him a "just a minute" motion with my finger. He nodded and I stepped away from the car with Ashley. I grabbed her hand as I walked with her to the front porch. "Ash, you can't say anything to Mom...or anyone else. No one can know. We're trusting you with this."
She gave me a hug at the door. "I know, Emma. I knew how serious it was the moment he showed me. I wouldn't say anything. I won't...ever."
I gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you. I knew you'd understand."
She nodded and then bit her lip. As I turned to leave, she grabbed my arm and pulled me close. With a flick at Teren, she said in a low voice, "Be careful, Emma. He might care for you, but he is still...dangerous."
I put my hand on her arm. "He's not dangerous to me. I'll be fine. I'll be safer with him than anyone else." I kissed her again and then turned back to the car as she went inside the house. Teren was smiling with his head down as I got back in the car. I realized that he'd just heard that entire conversation. "You need to work on that eavesdropping thing...you and your whole family."
He laughed. "Sorry...I'll work on that." He grinned over at me. "You're very sweet."
I laughed, too. "Just don't make me a liar."
"Deal." He restarted the car and drove me back home.
Sitting beside him, I watched his pale eyes study the road. I thought back to our time in the bar. I thought back to his reaction to those jerks. That was a side of Teren I'd never seen before. That was definitely a more vampiric side. I wondered if that side would be more prominent when he changed over. I silently watched him until he pulled up to my driveway and shut the car off. Then I turned to face him. "Did you really growl back there in the bar?"
Embarrassment washed over his face. "Yeah...I think I did." He stared at the steering wheel as he shook his head. "That was...unexpected."
I put a hand on his arm and he raised his eyes to my face. "You must really like my sister."
He smiled. "I do. I feel very...kindred to her. The instinct to protect her was very...intense."
I smiled too and ran a hand along his stubbly jaw. "Would you like to come inside? You can protect me?"
His eyes flicked down my body and then returned to mine, a touch unfocused. "I'd love to."
He woke way before me the next morning, leaving me a rose on my pillow with a note explaining that he'd had to run home to get ready for work. I wondered briefly where in the world he'd gotten a rose at this hour, but then decided that he probably could have run just about anywhere to pick one and been back in plenty of time. Definitely an ability I was jealous of. I wondered why he didn't just flick home, grab clothes and flick back, but maybe he'd just wanted to be romantic with the whole rose on the pillow and not a trace of the man thing. I inhaled the red petals and smiled-it worked, he had me.
Later during my day, an idea started forming in my brain while I was preparing a tax file for one of the firm's newest clients. The firm had several movie stars, recording artists, authors, internet startup millionaires, computer software entrepreneurs and foreign businessmen as clients. The firm was quickly working its way up to rival the "Big 6." Being Mr. Peterson's assistant gave you the opportunity to sit in on some of the meetings with these interesting people. Once again, being his assistant's assistant did not. The particular client that I was working on had developed a dating website that Google had purchased and planned on adding to their enterprise. The man was rolling in the dough now. I barely noticed the staggering numbers on his financial statements as this pesky little idea flicked into life.
I tried to push it back. It wasn't feasible. It wasn't appropriate, and on some levels it was downright scary, but the idea wouldn't leave me and the more I considered it, the more my heart started beating in excited expectation. I could at least talk to Teren about it. No harm in discussing an idea...crazy as that idea may be. I considered the pros and cons for the rest of my day. I considered the consequences as I punched my way through kickboxing, sans Tracey who skipped out to see a movie with Hot Ben. I rethought every tiny detail as I showered and took my time getting ready for my dinner date with Teren.
He met me at my car as I pulled into his drive. He had a half-smile on his lips and his hands shoved in his pockets, and I thought he looked like a very content, and incredibly handsome, normal man. That only firmed up the idea swimming in my head. He opened my door, as the never-ending gentleman he was, and extended his hand to help me out. I smiled and took it, letting him sweep me all the way up to his lips for a tender kiss.
"Hi," he muttered.
"Hi," I muttered back.
I pulled aside as he moved me out of the way and shut my door. We walked to his front door hand in hand and I leaned my head on his shoulder as I plotted how to best bring up my admittedly crazy idea. I set my purse down on the table as we walked through the formal dining room, that now looked small and cozy in comparison to his parents' place. Entering his now quaint kitchen, I glanced at the oven, where something deliriously delicious was cooking away.
He dropped our hands and poured us each a glass of deep red wine. It made me smile that my vampire enjoyed the dark stuff. I tried to not think about the other glass of dark stuff he'd so thoroughly enjoyed at the ranch. To each his own. Who was I to admonish him for something I'd never even tried? I'd heard there were tribes in Africa that drank cow's blood for survival, so it wasn't purely a vampire thing. Maybe I was the one missing out on a scrumptious treat and I didn't even realize it. That thought made my stomach a little queasy, though. Baby steps.
He started to pull us towards the living room, maybe so we could enjoy our wine on his lovely shaded patio. The beginnings of my question slipped out of my mouth, just as I let his hand slip out of my fingers.
"Does being turned heal you of everything?"
Teren frowned at me for a second and then nodded as he understood my question. "Yes. When someone is changed into a vampire, all of their human injuries are healed, and they heal fast afterwards." Smiling, he leaned back against the counter. "I heard about this one newborn that ripped off her creator's arm after she discovered that her numerous piercings had closed. I guess he failed to mention that would happen." He laughed and took a sip of his wine while I absorbed that.
"What happened to him?"
He shrugged in a casual, nonchalant way. "Well, I guess if she didn't reattach the arm before the wound healed itself, then there's probably a one-armed vampire running around out there." He grinned. "Probably pretty pissed off, too." My expression must have been one of disbelief, because he chuckled and said, "It's just a story you hear, it's probably not even true."
Oh, cautionary vampire tales...nice to know they had those. "But the healing thing...that's true?"
He nodded and took another sip of his wine. "Yeah...why?"
I didn't answer him. Looking back on this moment, I probably should have answered him. But I was so sure of my hypothesis, and just so insanely curious, that I did something rather foolish to a soon to be irate vampire. In a casual manner, I set down my glass of wine. He charmingly tilted his head in curiosity. I picked up the slicing knife lying on the counter, the one that he had used to prepare our dinner, and before giving it a much needed second of thought, ran the blade over his knuckle.
His eyes widened as he too late realized what I was doing. He started to jerk his hand away which ended up making the cut much bigger than I'd intended. I had really just planned on a tiny, itty-bitty scratch...but what I got was a deep, welling cut across his finger. He dropped his wine glass, but lightning-quick grabbed it with his other hand before it hit the floor. He couldn't save all the wine however, and a large amount spilled over the edge of the glass and splashed ominously onto the kitchen tile. The blood on his finger oozed deep red and started dripping back towards his hand. He immediately put it in his mouth. Setting down his glass and sucking on his knuckle, his eyes burned holes into me as I froze, realizing what I had just stupidly done, to a potentially very dangerous person.
"What the hell was that!" he yelled at me, taking his finger out of his mouth for a moment. I could clearly see that it was still bleeding, and his fangs had extended at the taste of blood, even his own.
I immediately tossed the knife on the counter and backed up a step, wondering if I was quite possibly the dumbest person on the planet. "I'm so very, very sorry. Please don't be mad."
He shook his head and removed his finger again. "You're sorry? You sliced me open. Are you sure you're not nuts?" His tone had calmed and his expression shifted to concern, like I was now some threat that the big, bad vampire had to be scared of.
That look and the tone of his voice made me relax and step towards him. I let out a tiny laugh. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to see the super-healing thing."
I came up and put a hand on his arm, trying to pull his finger out of his mouth to look at it, but he stubbornly pulled away. His brow drew down to a point. "Emma..." He pulled his finger out and I could see fresh blood welling; guilt washed through me. I hadn't meant to hurt him. "I keep telling you, I'm mostly human right now. I won't heal like that, until I've changed over. Once I'm dead, you can slice me open all you like." He put his finger back in his mouth.
I bit my lip and put my head on his chest, genuinely feeling awful, but a little entertained by his comment and the annoyance on his face. Remorseful, I murmured, "I'm sorry, honey...I keep forgetting."
Teren sighed and put an arm around me. "I wish you'd remember. That really frickin' hurt."