Vampire for Christmas (7 page)

He halted
and waited. She had only opened the door to retrieve her clothes.
He told that to himself over and over, filling the expectant
silence, dampening the anticipation swirling inside him.

“
Rafe?” Her voice was soft, his name spoken with trepidation.
He kept his back to her, giving her time to find her courage and to
say whatever it was that she needed to. Her steps on the porch were
loud in the silence of his mind. She wasn’t barefoot. “I... I don’t
think you’re a monster.”

Rafe
closed his eyes and dipped his chin, breathing slowly to steady
himself. Warmth chased through him, easing away his anger and the
chill that had settled in his heart.

The light
disappeared, leaving him in darkness again, and he sighed at the
soft click of the door. It was a start, he supposed, but not quite
what he had wanted. Perhaps he could come back later, after
completing the mission, and try to speak with her again. He looked
over his shoulder at the house and frowned.

Shannon
stood on the porch, wearing her black coat. She walked down the
three steps and stopped at the bottom of them. The moon shone on
her hair and Rafe fancied the golden glow was the halo she deserved
for being able to look at him after what had happened to
her.

“
We have a demon to hunt, right?” Her voice shook but she
managed to hold his gaze, and even tilted her chin up.

He loved
it when she put on her best poker face. It could fool humans and
some demons, but not him, and not because he was a vampire. He
could see in her eyes even from where he was standing that she was
nervous about coming out with him again, worried that he would try
to make her talk. He wouldn’t push her. He would do what he had
always done with her. He would wait for her to talk to him. When
she was ready, she would tell him why she had joined the agency and
what had happened to the vampire who had attacked her.

“
Get moving then.” Rafe turned back and walked down to the
pavement lining the quiet road. He waited there for her to catch
up. When she reached him, he started down the street, heading
towards the town centre.

Christmas
lights and decorations illuminated their path. Festive music
drifted out of houses and distant laughter rose above it. Rafe kept
his hands in his pockets and glanced at Shannon. She tied her hair
up, twisting it in an elaborate but messy knot at the back of her
head, and then checked her pockets and muttered something about
being missing a stake.

Rafe
reached into his coat and pulled out one of the two he kept there
and offered it to her. She looked at it and then up at
him.

“
Thanks,” Shannon said and placed her hand over the stake. Her
fingers brushed his, warm and teasing, and he savoured the brief
contact between them, even though it only left him wanting more.
She slipped the stake into the back pocket of her dark
jeans.

The
silence was oppressive.

Rafe took
to humming along with whatever Christmas song was playing in each
house they passed. It seemed he remembered about that aspect of the
season too, although he couldn’t recall their names.

“
Last night... when I said about not celebrating
Christmas.”

Rafe made
sure that he didn’t make any sharp movements that would distract
her. He kept pace with her, still humming softly so she wouldn’t
feel as though he was suddenly paying too much attention to her. He
didn’t want her to bolt again.

“
I used to love it.”

His dark
gaze slid to her. She frowned at the pavement and heaved a
sigh.

“
Now you hate it,” he offered when she didn’t look as though
she was going to continue.

She
nodded.

“
You do not have to talk about it.” He stopped on the street
and she turned to face him. Tears sparkled on her
lashes.

“
No... I do need to. You were right, Rafe. We’ve worked
together for two years, and... I know you better than I know most
people at the agency... and they know about me... and you don’t. I
don’t know why I never told you.”

“
Yes, you do.” Rafe went to touch her cheek and then dropped
his hand back to his side. She looked so small and afraid. He
wanted to comfort her and tell her that he didn’t care that she
hadn’t told him because she was willing to do so now, and that made
up for everything. He tripped on the words, fearing they would push
her away when she was so close to him, and he could almost reach
out and touch her. She just needed to break through whatever
barrier she had placed between them and she would finally be his.
“And I understand why... a vampire hurt you and you don’t trust my
kind because of it. You think I will hurt you too, but I won’t,
Shannon. You know my history but you know me too, and do you
honestly believe that I would do such a thing to you?”

Her gaze
darted to his chest and then met his again, stronger this time,
full of conviction and resolve. She shook her head. His breath left
him in a sigh of relief. He believed her. It was all there in her
eyes for him to read. She did trust him. She knew that he wouldn’t
hurt her.

“
He attacked you at Christmas, didn’t he?”

Shannon
nodded and pain surfaced in her eyes but this time she didn’t look
away. She held his gaze and he could feel the strength in her. She
was facing whatever her fears were and she wasn’t going to bolt
this time. Her fists clenched and she moved closer to him, until
she was within easy reach. She had never placed herself within his
grasp before. She had always been just beyond arm’s length, a
distance at which she probably believed that she could escape him.
If he wanted to capture her, he could easily do it, regardless of
how near or far she was.

He
appreciated the gesture though. It showed her faith in him better
than anything she could have said.

“
Just you?” he said and she did look away this time, staring
distantly at the nearest house, her eyes fixed on the Santa and
reindeer on the frosty lawn.

“
My family first.” There was no tremble or emotion in her
voice. She frowned. “He butchered my little brother and my parents,
and then he came after me. I screamed and screamed. Police came
then. I remember the lights clearly. It was the day after Christmas
and I spent until the end of January recovering in a hospital
psychiatric ward, suffering nightmarish visions of my family’s
deaths and someone attacking me.”

The
vampire must have failed to correctly wipe her memory of the
incident. Was Shannon only alive because the police had disturbed
them? The vampire had killed her family, but not her. That thought
had plagued him all day but now he knew what had happened it all
made sense. The police had come and the vampire had rushed the job
and fled to protect himself. He had probably thought she would die
of blood loss before she remembered anything.

“
Shannon,” Rafe whispered and reached out to her.

“
Not yet,” she said and he paused with his hand almost touching
her shoulder. “Wait...”

Rafe
didn’t think he could wait. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and
hold her close to him. He wanted to vow to always protect her and
that he would never allow another vampire near her. He needed to
keep her safe.

“
The agency came to the hospital. When they told me why I was
there, and that the nightmares I’d been having were fragments of my
memories of that night, I couldn’t believe it. I thought I had gone
crazy and deserved to be there. They explained everything and
offered to train me and protect me, and said I could hunt the
vampire who had hurt me and killed my family. I agreed. It took me
seven years to find him. I was partnered with another man at the
time, in New York. I killed him, Rafe, and it frightened
me.”

“
Why?” Rafe took a step closer to her, moving around her so he
could see her face. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she turned her
head and looked right into his eyes.

“
Because I liked it.” She bit her lip and it trembled. “Does
that make me a monster too?”

“
No, Shannon.” He swept his hand over her hair and furrowed his
eyebrows. “It makes you human. You avenged your family. That was
why you felt the way you did. Because you knew they could rest in
peace at last.”

“
Hold me.”

Rafe
nodded and opened his arms to her. She came to him, nestling close,
her hands pressing into his chest. He wrapped his arms carefully
around her and she turned her head, rested her cheek against his
chest, and slid her arms around him beneath his coat. She sobbed
and he tightened his grip on her, one hand against her side and the
other on the nape of her neck.

He was
glad that she had been the one to kill the vampire who had attacked
her and murdered her family. She thought it made her a monster to
have felt anything positive on completing her vengeance. Had she
felt that way ever since she had killed him? Hadn’t she spoken to
anyone about it? He breathed in her soft fragrance and held her
close to him, nestled safe in his arms. Her sobbing subsided and
her grip on him loosened. Was it over already? He didn’t want to
have to relinquish his hold on her. He wanted to keep her in his
arms.

“
That’s why I don’t celebrate Christmas,” she said, as though
she thought he hadn’t already figured that out for
himself.

He
frowned at the garden in front of him, thinking about their time
together. “You did not have a tree last year.”

She shook
her head.

“
Have you ever had a tree since you joined the
agency?”

Another
shake.

“
But you have one this year.”

She drew
back and looked at him. “It felt right to have one this year. I
don’t know why.”

Rafe knew
why. She was moving on and finding her feet again.

“
How long ago did you join the agency?”

Shannon
stepped back and he let go of her. His gaze traced her profile when
she tilted her head back and stared at the stars. A small frown
creased her brow.

“
I was twenty three. I moved straight here after my assignment
finished in New York.” A smile graced her lips. “If you’re trying
to figure out my age, it’s thirty two. I met you just after I
had... you know... the agency said I needed a change of pace, and
that they had the perfect partner for me.”

“
Me.”

What had
the agency been thinking by sending her to work with a vampire
straight after she had defeated the one who had killed her family?
Had they thought it would help her get over it and her feelings
against vampires, or had they been hoping she would stake him
too?

“
You look worried.” She turned her frown on him and he shook
his head. He wasn’t worried anymore. He had been at the start but
now that he knew why she had been so prickly back then, he could
understand her attitude. He was just glad that she hadn’t staked
him before she had come to know him and see that not all vampires
were created equal, although all had a weakness for hunting and the
taste of the kill. “When did the agency rope you into working with
them?”

Rafe had
assumed that she had asked the agency that. She knew about his
history, so he was surprised that she didn’t know all about
him.

“
A little while ago.” He started walking again, leading her
towards the centre of town and doing his best to act casual. He
wasn’t going to leap to conclusions about what her need for comfort
from him meant. He was going to leave the next move up to her. She
had the most to risk after all.

“
How many years fit into a little while?”

A smile
tugged at his lips. “Around ninety.”

She
pushed his arm. “No.”

He raised
a dark eyebrow in her direction. “I assure you, if you had been
with the agency for ninety years, you would remember every one of
them too... even when you wished you didn’t.”

She ran
her gaze over him, long and slow, stirring a desire in him to know
what she thought when she did that.

“
So how old are you? I didn’t think you were over fifty,
excluding human years.”

“
I am only around one hundred and twenty.” He glanced at her to
see her reaction. Her eyebrows rose, widening her green eyes, and
she made a small noise of surprise. “I am still young.”

“
Why don’t you just leave?”

“
Pardon?”

“
The agency? What’s keeping you there? You could
leave.”

Rafe
tracked a small pale fluffy patch of cloud as it scudded across the
moon. “I thought about it once. They have a tracking device planted
in me somewhere. They put it in me before they released me out into
the world as an agent. They do it to all of us demons. It wouldn’t
do to let us go roaming around without keeping an eye on
us.”

“
Released you?” Shannon stopped.

He turned
to face her. “I had to be reformed before I could be trusted. They
did their best. Starvation. Torture. Shackles. You name it, they
gave it a shot.”

“
That’s not reformation.” She frowned at him as though he was
the agency. If she wanted to direct the anger he could feel in her
at the agency, she was welcome to do so. He had pointed his rage at
them and unleashed Hell several times and it had gotten him
absolutely nowhere.