Page 34 of Twice Bitten

I snorted. “Only an ancient immortal would say something like bleeding to death isregrettable.”

Alric winced. “Ancient? Ouch.”

His switch from terrifying to charming made me twitchy. Was that a special skill they taught in vampire school?

“Ancient and arrogant,” I snapped. “How the hell do you know where I live anyway?”

His smile made my breath catch. How could someone so scary be so pretty? Totally unfair. “Age comes with certain gifts.”

“Forget my address,” I grumbled as I fished my keys from my purse.

A soft gust of wind and suddenly Alric stood only inches away. I went still, the keys dangling between my fingers.

“How can I forget the address of a beautiful woman?”

The spell broken, I lifted my head and rolled my eyes. “Please. Beautiful women are a dime a dozen in your circle. Don’t play stupid games with me, Prime. You left me for dead and now some misplaced sense of guilt is driving you to apologize.” I waved my hand at him. “Fine. Apology accepted. Let’s forget we ever met, okay? I won’t tell anyone what happened,and we go our separate ways. Never the twain shall meet and all that.”

Alric tilted his head and studied me, a soft glow turning his eyes the color of jade. “You speak to me like a fishwife.”

“I have no idea what that is, but I assume it isn’t flattering.” I turned to unlock my door. “Please go away. I lived. You’re good. We can pretend this never happened.”

Alric wrapped his fingers around my wrist as I twisted my hand to open the door. “Have dinner with me.”

My mouth dropped open. “What? No.”

Alric was so close, but this time he didn’t seem so terrifying. His presence overwhelmed all my senses. His breath smelled like mint, and he wore an unfamiliar cologne that smelled like cedar and balsam. A lock of golden hair fell over his forehead, giving him a rakish air. I took a few steps back.

“Why not?”

It took a moment for my brain to unstick. The Vampire Prime was here, and he was asking me to dinner. Had I somehow stepped into an alternate dimension? “Because I’m a hedgewitch and you’re the Vampire Prime. You’re asking me to dinner because you still feel guilty. All I want is to be left alone. You’re off the hook. I forgive you. I’d tell you to go say five Hail Marys, but you’ll probably burst into flames, so go do whatever vampires do to absolve themselves of sin.”

Alric blinked. “You have zero respect for authority.”

“I’m not a vampire. You hold no dominion over me.”

He lifted his hand and stroked a cool finger down the column of my throat. I froze. “I am a predator who is far more powerful than you.”

“Resorting to threats now?” I said through a thick throat. “I’m stunned, I tell you.”

A huff of laughter and Alric dropped his hand. “I will ask you once more. Come to dinner with me.”

“And I will tell you once more. No.”

His brilliant green eyes flashed with anger. “Very well.” He backed up a step. “I’m sure I can find someone interested in the two couriers coming by your house at periodic times to pick up a large number of packages that smell suspiciously…witchy.”

My hand clenched around my keys.

“I wouldn’t have thought much of it, but when they showed up for the third time, I followed one of them and asked a few questions.”

He’d whammied my couriers! Asshole.

“They couldn’t tell me much, but I found their method of getting paid very interesting. Tell me, Alex. What kind of business are you running from your basement that requires two couriers and untraceable payment methods? And also requires those couriers to mail from four separate post offices in two different cities?”

If I had a rowan stake, I’d shove it in his heart so hard right now.

“One dinner,” I snapped. “Then you leave me alone.”

I wanted to slap the satisfied smile off his face. “One dinner,” he agreed.