Blood and Sand (28 page)

“Where is Natalie?” he asked in a clipped voice.

She lifted one eyebrow. “Hello to you, too. Been swimming in Long Beach?”

“Where is she?”

“Sheesh!” She curled her lip. “Relax. She turned in about an hour ago. Had a little too much wine and got tired of waiting up for you. She’s nuts about you, by the way. I’m only telling you this because she’s conflicted about it, and I’m pretty sure you’re in love with her because you’re doing that panicky, protective thing Gio did when I was still human.”

He ignored Beatrice’s presumptuous statement and asked, “Why is she conflicted?”

“Men.” She shook her head. “All idiots. Why do you think,
vampire
? She’s human. She’s spent her whole life thinking her happily ever after is going to involve finding someone to love and grow old with. Have kids and maybe a dog.”

Baojia forced himself to relax and stepped closer. “I don’t have a problem with dogs. I’ll get her a dog.”

“That’s not…” Beatrice shook her head. “That’s not the point. She’s adjusting to the new reality, you know? She’s had, what? A couple of weeks? It took me months to get used to the idea with Gio. Years, really.”

Baojia smirked and sat across from her. “I remember. It was kind of fun to see you put him through the wringer.”
 

“Yes, I’m sure you enjoyed that.” Byed aceatrice set down the coffee and reached for his hand. “You were a good friend to me, even when I didn’t know it. And… if there hadn’t have been Gio—”

“Don’t. There was. There always was. And it’s not the same.” He looked toward the door. “Nothing is the same with her.”

“I’d like to see you happy.”

“I am,” he said, somewhat surprised. “I think… I am.”

She smiled. “Then run along.” She picked up her coffee again and sipped. “And don’t mess it up.”

Baojia rose and walked toward the door that would take him back to her. He paused at the threshold. “Beatrice?”

“Hmm?”

He turned and leaned against the wall. “Do you ever wonder?”

“About…” She raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.”

She grinned. “When he’s pissing me off? Sure.”

Baojia broke into a grin and started to laugh as he walked down the hall and toward the lower floors. He punched in the code and slipped into the dark room where Natalie was already sleeping. As he reprogrammed the lock, he noticed she had left on the light in the bathroom and had pulled his pillow under her face, clutching it as she slept.
 

“Natalie?”
He laid his clothes carefully over the chair in the corner when he undressed. He’d hang them the next night. “Natalie?” he whispered again as he slid into bed behind her.

“Hmm?”

“I’m back.”

She was still sleeping, but she snuggled up next to him, tucking her back into his chest and fitting their bodies together like two pieces of a puzzle.

“Hey. Cold.”

“Sorry about that. I was swimming.”

“Gonna talk tomorrow, mister.”

No doubt she’d have an opinion about him taking off without her. Baojia smiled. “I’ll put it on the schedule.”

“Hmm,” she sighed. “Going back to sleep. Missed you.”

Murder. Betrayal. An uncertain future. And despite it all, he was happy.

“I missed you, too.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Natalie was trying to take her first
tai chi
lesson seriously. Really. She was. But the feel of Baojia moving her arms and legs into various positions, then standing really close to move her from form to form was more than a little distracting.

“You should really put on a shirt if you want me to concentrate.”

He moved in front of her and tilted her chin up as she stood with arms stretched out and legs half-bent. “I don’t have many clothes here, and I’m not going to ruin my nice shirts practicing. Now focus.”

She muttered, “Kind of hard to do after that thing you did an hour ago.”
 

A lift at the corner of his mouth was the only reaction she got.

They were in Beatrice and Tenzin’s studio again, but this time it was just the two of them in the empty practice room. She focused on moving her limbs slowly. Deliberately. Her breath moved in and out of her body at a steady rate. She’d never been athletic, but she had practiced yoga with her mother her whole childhood. Though she’d stopped after Mallory Ellis’s death, the breathing exercises were like riding a bike.

ўced
Baojia moved around her, sometimes demonstrating, sometimes correcting. Always very… present. Even when he didn’t say a word, she was intensely aware of him.

“Soften your arm. Keep it relaxed, but strong.”

She frowned. “I’m not sure what that means. And this seems so slow. Why are we—?”

“The purpose of teaching you this self-defense technique is to teach you to respond to an opponent with more physical strength than you. You will not be able to counter with an equal opposing force, so you must learn to yield to it.” He stepped forward, moving one of his arms as if to punch her. She tried not to flinch when he grabbed her arm and moved it to block his. Her balance shifted without thought. “Yield to it, then counter. The best fighters know how to avoid a fight if they can. Never waste energy on an unnecessary struggle. It will leave your resources drained when you might need them later.
Avoid
the punch.” He moved her arm across his, directing it to the side so that it passed her body, leaving them in an odd embrace. “See? You will do this slowly, then the movements will become very natural. Your balance is excellent. You have a good awareness of how to move in response to me already.”

She couldn’t hide the smile. “You’ve mentioned that.”

Natalie felt his chest move in silent laughter. Then his arm reached back and around her waist, pulling her closer. “I’m teaching. Pay attention.”

She felt the flush rise in her face when her skin pressed against his. “Trust me. I’m paying attention.”

His energy hummed under her fingers. Touching Baojia was like putting her hand over an electrical wire. His skin contained him, but just barely. It was as if power vibrated under her fingertips. Keeping her close, he moved into another position.

“Try this—no wait, I’ll demonstrate first.”

He pulled away and showed her another form, then moved back and helped her position herself correctly. They practiced for another hour like that. Natalie could tell he was a great teacher, but if he wanted her to learn self-defense, she had a feeling there were other, faster, methods.

“How long does it take to learn this?”

“The proper practice of tai chi takes years to master. But it is an excellent martial art.” He paused to let her get a drink. The slow practice had been unexpectedly tiring and her muscles already felt it. “You will be able to practice this your whole life.”

Her whole life? See, it was phrases like that she simply couldn’t brush off. Because
her
whole life and
his
were vastly different. Turning away from him, she stared at the fountain in the corner. “What the hell are we doing?”

She heard him, felt him, come to her side. She was starting to get used to the speed, but other things, like his complete stillness when he was unsure of a situation, still kind of freaked her out. He was still as a statue when she turned back to him.

“What do you mean? We’re practicing. You’re learning self-defense.”

She set the water bottle down on the bench and threw a towel around her neck to have something to hold on to. “You’re teaching me something that takes years to master.”

“Yes.”

She remained silent, waiting for him to speak. Surprisingly, she didn’t have to wait long.

“You’re under my aegis, Natalie.” His face was doing that whole closed-off thing it did. She couldn’t read him at all. “That means I am responsible for your safety.”

“Does it me>ing that an I belong to you in some weird vampire way?” He paused long enough for her to guess the answer. She felt her temper rise. “Dammit, Baojia, I’m not a… possession. I have a life of my own. Whatever we’re doing here doesn’t change that.”

He stepped closer and she saw the flash in his eyes. “You’re right. What
we’re
doing doesn’t change that. It changed the minute you walked into Ivan’s bar and became a human on his radar. Don’t think you can avoid this.”

“I’m not trying to avoid anything!”

“You’re trying to avoid the reality that
you
are the one who walked into this, Natalie. I didn’t pull you in. You walked in. And you can’t just walk out without consequences.”

Her stomach dropped. “Is that a threat?”

His eyes closed and he shook his head. “As if I would threaten you. As if… Natalie, I am the
last
person on earth who would ever hurt you. But you have to realize that others will. If I’m not there—”

“You weren’t here last night.” Her anger spiked. “You took off without me to go tail Rory, and you didn’t even tell me.”

She saw his fangs fall. “Is that what this is about? You’re pissed off that I went somewhere without you?”

“This is
my
story. I should be there if you’re going to—”

His control snapped. “It’s not a fucking story! It’s a deadly game that someone is playing with consequences you don’t even want to imagine. And you put yourself on the board. I tried—” He grabbed her shoulders. She thought about pushing him away, but didn’t. “I tried to keep you out of it, but I couldn’t. You wouldn’t let me. And now…” His hands softened and he took a calming breath. “You’re more than just an innocent bystander. You’re more than Dez’s friend. You’re…”

She stood, trembling with anger, but also with fear. Because he looked afraid. And if Baojia was afraid of anything, then it was something to take seriously. “I’m what?”

His hand left her shoulder and pressed against her chest right over her heart. It pounded at his touch.

“You’re so vulnerable. A thousand different things can kill you in the space of a heartbeat. I’m trying. I’m
trying
, but I would sincerely like to lock you in a padded room until I can kill every vampire who looks sideways at you. Maybe then we could have a rational conversation about this. Right now, all I can think of is all the ways you could be killed, and I wouldn’t be fast enough to save you.”

How could he be so frightening and so sweet, all at the same time? “A padded room?” she said hoarsely. “I’m not
that
nuts, George.”

Baojia pulled her into his arms and she let him. He pressed her against his chest and just held her. “You are completely nuts,” he said. “But for some reason, I like it.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him back. “I’m getting attached to your overly protective, control-freak self, too.” Getting attached? She was half in love with him. It had happened so fast she was still reeling.

“I’m teaching you this because I need you to be alive, Natalie. Do you understand?”

She hugged him tighter and sighed. “But it takes years to learn.”

“I have time if you do.”

“I know.” She blinked back tears, hoping he couldn’t feel them on his skin. “I know you do.”

They were driving down drl tto the desert in his old Camaro again, but by this time, Natalie found the lack of lit-up switches and dials soothing rather than disturbing. She was starting to see the unexpected benefits of a life without as much technology. Her eyes were more sensitive to changes in light and movement
in the dark interior of the car. Her ears weren’t distracted by anything but the hum of the wheels as they sped over the cracked asphalt.

She still missed her iPhone, though.

“Hey, when am I getting a phone? You owe me one.”

He glanced over. “We can go tomorrow and get you one. Will you lose anything from your old one?”

“I had it synched up with my laptop, so not much. Still not apologizing for taking it, huh?”

He smiled. “Nope.”

Typical. He probably didn’t apologize for much. At least when he did, she’d know it was sincere. “I need to call Kristy and let her know where I am. And I don’t even want to think about what she’s going to tell me about work.” She sighed. “I’ll be amazed if they haven’t fired me already.”

“You told me you had sick days.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty much to the end of those. And how long is this going to take before I can get back to work?” And, as suspected, he had no response to that. She decided to change the subject. “So, Rory, huh?”

“His involvement makes sense and it doesn’t. He’s either clueless—a definite possibility—or he’s letting Ivan dump his victims on Ernesto’s property. According to Brigid and Gio, most of the major water vampires on the Atlantic have had challenges to their authority recently. If this is connected to the spread or distribution of Elixir—”

“Which everyone seems to think is likely.”

“—then we need to be prepared for Ernesto to be challenged, too. But at the same time, what’s in it for Rory if Ernesto is challenged? He’s got a pretty easy life right now. Well, not as much now that I’m gone, but he still has a lot of status. Ernesto has always been generous with him and Paula. So changing the status quo makes no sense.”