“Would hearing an answer from me really satisfy you?”
“Try me.”
The consequences for telling her the truth weren’t as terrible as they used to be. Once upon a time, any vampire caught divulging the secrets of the preternatural world would be exterminated, along with the human who’d been told. And anyone the human might have been in contact with. Neither friends nor family would have been spared.
Now, with the preternatural and the human worlds colliding with such frequency, it was becoming more and more difficult to keep them separated. The Council, in its wisdom, agreed to allow a revealing under extenuating circumstances, and only those of a certain privilege had the means with which to do so. When the Council discovered Bast’s breach—and they would discover it—the fine would cost him an outrageous sum of money. True, he’d amassed an obscene wealth over the years, but that didn’t mean he wanted to part with two and a half million dollars when a lie could spare it.
“No,” he said. “I’m not what you think.”
Alice folded her arms across her chest. “Explain the teeth then.”
“Later.” His stomach rolled again. He couldn’t see himself, but if he could, he imagined his face had managed to turn a shade of green not found in the natural color spectrum.
Alice’s pale-faced expression touched panic. “Not a chance. Tell me now or I walk. And just so you know how serious I am about that, consider the fact that I don’t have a place to sleep tonight. When I leave here, I’m heading for the closest bridge or safest park. Sometimes cars in a tow truck lot are kept unlocked and if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to snag a few hours of sleep before the lot opens. The pizza? Was the first time I’d had restaurant food not taken from a trash bin first in months. Bottom line is if I leave your place right now, know it’s for a very good reason. There is nothing waiting for me out there. Absolutely nothing.”
“When are you going to tell me about yourself?” he asked. Curiosity raged through him, and so did another type of anger. He had to hear more about this woman and why she was in such a desperate place. And here he was being a jerk about it. A couple of million dollars was pocket change to him. Not the difference between sleeping in a bed or sleeping on a park bench.
“Tell me about you and those teeth first.”
The edges of Bast’s vision went white and then faded to black over the course of seconds. His entire being burned from the inside, deep in his belly, turning into a cauldron of heat. It was as if he’d swallowed a ball of fire that pulsed inside him, needing an escape route. It pushed at his flesh, tendrils of feelers racing through his veins. Panicked and desperate in its need for release.
Bast groaned in part fear, part pain. He could deal with the stabbing sensations, like little needlepoints covering every inch of his skin, searing each place they touched. And he could even deal with appearing weak in front of Alice, as much as that sucked. But it was the unknown, the realization he had no idea what this all meant, nor how to fix it—assuming it could be fixed—that practically paralyzed him.
“Yes,” he admitted at last. He’d pay the damned fine. Whatever it took.
Alice squinted at him. “Yes to what?”
“Goddamn it, yes, I’m a vampire.” Bast snarled, his face contorting. He lifted his lips over his teeth, giving her the best possible view. Even if she hadn’t wanted to see, he probably would have done it anyway. They were so fucking sensitive now, they too pulsed, sending rhythmic pounding into his head. “Now what are you going to do?”
He couldn’t admit he needed her. That he would burn alive without her. Bast didn’t know how and he didn’t know why, but for some reason, Alice was the solution to this current problem.
For two heartbeats, she did nothing. Still studying him, Alice took a deep breath. And then another...right before turning tail and hauling ass toward the exit.
Bast swore and took off after her. She’d just managed to get her hand on the knob, pulling the door toward her before he launched himself forward. His palm slammed into the metal, forcing the door shut again. It crashed closed, the resulting boom cutting through the air, shattering what had been a perfect silence.