Page 10 of Twice Bitten

“Be careful,” she whispered. “There’s something about that vampire.” Quinn shuddered. “I don’t like him.”

I smiled at her. The warning wasn’t necessary, but it was still appreciated. “I don’t either.”

She rubbed her hands over her arms. “Vampires are already creepy, but that one…” She shook her head. “There’s darkness in him.”

A foreboding shiver rolled through me. “I’m sure he lost interest as soon as he left here, but I’ll be careful.”

Quinn nodded and flew back up to her perch on the curtain rod, but she still looked ill at ease. Beckett had unnerved her as much as he had me.

I lifted my hand in a wave and headed outside. Several orders to fill awaited me at home, and I had to stop by the herb shop for a top-up of lavender and valerian root. The thought of a busy night of hedgecrafting soothed my nerves. So much so, I missed the pale vampire leaning against the driver’s side door of my vehicle until I was almost upon him.

FOUR

Beckett’s slow smile told me he’d heard the abrupt lurch of my heart and the rapid increase of my pulse. I was not afraid of darkness or the night. Bathing in the moonlight in my backyard was one of my favorite things to do. But tonight, with the malfunctioning streetlight casting a watery pale glow over Beckett, elongating his shadows and the angular planes of his face, I felt weak. Human.

Pissed.

I stopped and watched him, realizing that taking a few steps back to add some space between us would reveal my weakness even more.

“Hello, lovely Alex,” Beckett drawled.

He really was a handsome bastard, but I never went for blonds. And even if I did, I wouldn’t go for Beckett. There was a look in his eyes, the same look a lot of men had when they thought they had the upper hand.

We were outside in a parking lot, no other people around, and Beckett assumed I was vulnerable. Nothing could be further from the truth, but I preferred not showing off magic when I could help it. Green and hedgewitches mightbe considered low on the totem pole power-wise, but we all had our fair share of tricks. And I was hiding more than my fair share. For good reason.

“Beckett. Can I help you?”

“Call me Beck, darling.” He smirked.

It took all my willpower not to roll my eyes. There was only one blond man who could successfully make a smirk sexy, and James Dean was long dead. Plus, he wasn’t even a real blond, so my original point stood. I adjusted the bag on my shoulder and stared.

Beckett sighed and pushed off my car. “You turned me down. Why?”

I could rattle off a million excuses, but he’d catch me in a lie, and telling the truth would only antagonize him. Only the best deceivers could successfully fool a vampire when telling an untruth. Pesky things like a quickening heartbeat, your respiration rate, pupil contraction all happened in an instant when you lied, and a vamp would catch all of the signs.

With anyone else, I’d usually go with the false boyfriend excuse. When that didn’t work, I’d claim to be getting out of a long relationship. Other excuses included:I have to wash my hair,orI belong to a cult and they’re looking for a few good men like you.

But Beckett was the first vampire to show interest in me, and I couldn’t use any of those excuses. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy you should piss off. So I went for a kinder version of the truth, with just enough information to be true while still allowing me to leave with all my parts still intact. Hopefully.

“First, you obviously don’t like hedgewitches since the first thing you did when we met was make fun of me. Second, I don’t date.”

His eyebrows rose a hair. “Excuse me? You don’t date?”

“Nope.”

Beckett’s brow furrowed. He’d lost his edgy-cool-guy persona in his surprise. “Never?”

“Never.”

He stared at me for a long moment. “Mind if I ask why?”

“Yes.”

Beckett snorted. “Maybe you haven’t found the right man.”

Ugh. Of course, he’d say that. My temper brewed. “We can go back and forth, and you’ll say something like ‘I bet I can convince you,’ and I’ll politely demur, and you’ll push because that’s what you’ve been taught is acceptable.”

His eyes began to darken.