Relationship? Was that really what I wanted? There were so many obstacles I just didn’t know which way to go.

  Shawn pursed his lips, eyeballing me suspiciously. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk like that before.” I gawked at him confused. “You like him. Like, really like him.” I smirked then nodded. “Alright,” he exhaled, “you’re my girl, Gabs. We’ll think of something.”

  Chapter 2

  It was almost two in the morning when I found myself back at the nest. We owned the entire apartment building; all twenty-six floors. From the outside, it looked like every other building surrounding it, but on the inside the windows were covered in cement and bricks to block the sunlight, all but the first three floors. They were partially visible from the street. We didn’t want it to look unusual from the outside looking in for someone to see the bricks on the other side of the glass.

  “Gabriella!” I paused and inwardly groaned while trying to hold back the shudder I felt that threatened to overtake my system. That voice made my skin crawl far worse than any disgusting bug would. Faster than a bolt of lightning, Anton stood in front of me. I was so used to the faster movement of vampires that I didn’t even jolt with surprise. He was as white as a sheet, probably something to do with not seeing the sun in the last four hundred years. His black hair hung in waves to his shoulders. His eyes were almost matching in color. He was, at the minimum, a scary looking vampire and he had his gaze set on me, which might make a weaker person flinch. Maybe as a human he might have been considered handsome, but the centuries of being undead had tainted him. Or maybe it was because he was evil.

  “We missed you this evening, Gabriella,” his accent rolled off his tongue. I could never pinpoint it. I guess moving around for all these years, several different accents contributed to Anton’s speech. “I do hope everything is well with your furry friend, Shane.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Shawn,” I corrected. I was certain Anton knew Shawn’s name. He just wanted to get me riled and it did, but I did my best to not let him know.

  “Ah, yes. My apologies,” he made a slight bow then gestured down the hall. “Would you join me for a nightcap?”

  No, no, no. I definitely did not want to join him. I wanted him to leave me alone. “I’m really tired,” I tried my best to sound convincing.

  “Have you fed today?”

  I couldn’t lie. He’d sense it, listening to my heartbeat. And unlike when I lied to my mother where my heartbeat was already racing, Anton would hear it jump. I sighed and shook my head. Without another word, he turned me around and we walked towards the dining room, at a regular human pace.

  Once I was settled in, Anton summoned two glasses of blood. He yelled at the newbie vampire who was serving us, complaining he wasn’t fast enough. All new vampires had to pay the price for their immortality and this one was certainly paying. I was handed my glass first. It was in a large wine glass and warm to the touch. You’d figure vampires would want their blood at a perfect 98.6, but once it was in blood bags, they wanted it heated up a little higher to help dissolve the anticoagulant. It wasn’t the best tasting stuff, leaving a bitter edged aftertaste behind, but it was much better than the cow blood they tried to get us to drink a few years ago. The temperature also helped warm their bodies a little more so they weren’t quite so cold to the touch. I was drinking my glass of warm goodness as fast as I could without scalding my tongue, not that it would take long to heal. The blood tasted divine but that wasn’t why I was guzzling it down. Normally I liked to savor it, draw out the delectable moment, but I was ready to be away from Anton.

  “Your mother tells me your werewolf friend was having some problems that you needed to assist him with. What kind of problems?”

  I licked my lips, removing the delicious red residue. “I’m not sure how that is any of your business, but if you must know, it was guy problems.”

  His nose cringed, wrinkling in disgust. Anton was what one might call a bit of a homophobe. He had never met Shawn, but just the fact Shawn was interested in guys grossed Anton out, which I found amusing. It stopped him from asking too many questions that might add to his discomfort. I really wasn’t lying, there were guy problems I was just the one having them.

  “You’ve seen my mother this evening?” I spoke before sipping more of my O positive. He studied me for a moment then nodded. “Is she still here?” I said once I downed the remainder of my glass. He nodded again. “I need to speak to her. Thank you for the blood.” I set my glass down. I expected him to stop me but was glad he didn’t. As I walked away, I could hear Anton yelling at the new vampire. I heard a loud smack, not wanting to get involved I scurried away. I felt awful for the new vampire, but he knew what it was he signing up for. A few years of servitude for several lifetimes of immortality didn’t seem like a steep price to most humans. Trying to get away from Anton as quickly as I could had me running straight into a cold, human-shaped wall. Why the hell did I keep running into people today?

  I let my eyes take in the person in front of me. Her short blond hair was pulled away from her face and was clipped in a type of twist that wasn’t visible to me. Her lean, slender body barely hid under her low-cut, yellow blouse and extremely short, black skirt.

  “Gabriella, such a pity you were not here this evening. You were missed terribly.” Her voice had a melodic resonance, which was part of her allure to humans. I could hear the lie in her words even though she kept her mask tightly bound on her face.

  “Ava, I’m so sorry to be missed. I was just telling Anton that it could not be helped. You understand, of course. When friends need us, we must go,” I joked. I doubted she understood. Ava was a cold, heartless, vampire, which made me certain she had no friends. She was what gave the rest of us a bad name. History would have called her a succubus. She used her charms to seduce humans then drained them dry, believing they deserved it simply for being inferior to us. If it weren’t for the fact that Anton was her maker, she would have been killed for her indiscretions long ago. As it was, she showed no remorse for her crimes and did not even ask Anton for forgiveness.

  “Of course. Such a pity though. I do hope your friend is well.” Her words came out tight and I knew I had hit a nerve. Ava hated the idea of me speaking to Anton. Well, anything that was Anton and me. If she only knew we were on the same side of the coin on that one. She wanted him and I wanted her to have him. I wanted anything that would push his unwanted infatuation on someone else. Even if it meant a wicked, devilish creature like Ava would get what she wanted to be happy. “Is the master in there?” She pointed to the door to the kitchen. I nodded, ready to be done toying with Ava and be on my way. “Then I must excuse myself. I have some most urgent business to attend to with him and it needs his immediate attention,” she smiled wickedly wanting to make sure I caught her double innuendo.

  I returned her smile. Of course it didn’t bother me. Sometimes I felt like she was just going to squat over Anton and pee on him to mark him in order to force all others to stay away from him. She could have him, pee-marked or not. I never wanted him, but his pursuit of me made Ava’s need to claim Anton stronger, along with her dislike of me.

  She made her way around me and I continued on my original course, this time making sure that nothing else would distract me or cause me to run into someone else. I definitely didn’t need it to happen a third time in twenty-four hours.

  My mother was on the third floor, standing out on the balcony overlooking the busy street below. It took me asking several people where they last saw her, before I finally found her.

  “Mother?”

  She turned. I smiled taking in her appearance. Her black hair was layered around her shoulders. Green eyes sparkled with curiosity. She wore a gray sweater over a pale blue top and jeans. She looked more like my sister than my mother. She was eternally thirty-one.

  “Sweetheart, why aren’t you in bed yet?”

  I smiled at the gentleness in her tone. “I just got back. Then I ran into Anton,” I sneered. Her lips raised in a soft knowing smile, which angered me. “Will you stop feeding him information about me?” I spat.

  Her smile fell. “He is a powerful vampire, Gabriella. You could do worse than a master.”

  I rolled my eyes, “I’d rather live eternally alone.”

  “Gabriella!” she snapped.

  I raised my hands up in surrender, “I didn’t come here to argue. Something’s come up.”

  Her brows furrowed, “What’s wrong? Are you well?”

  Hearing the worry in her voice, I continued quickly. “No, I’m okay. Work called.” Her eyes squinted, waiting for me to elaborate. I took a deep breath forcing myself to believe what I was about to tell her. “We’ve just landed a big account, which means late nights.” Which was true, but I wasn’t the one working on that particular account. A lie by omissions was not truly a lie or so I told myself. Her eyes focused on me. She tilted her head to the side like she was trying to sense something. I just hoped it wasn’t my vague idea of the truth. “I won’t always be able to call. They can spring it on me at the last minute. And let’s face it, no other employees have to call their mommies to get the okay.” All of that was true and I assured myself it would ease any doubt she had about the truthfulness of my statement.

  She turned, putting her back to me. Looking out the window, she shook her head. I was worried that she was seeing through my façade. If this didn’t work, I didn’t know what I’d do. I wanted to continue seeing Grayson, but I didn’t how if my mother saw through me. “I don’t like it,” she whispered.

  I sighed, almost sagging visible with relief. Thank goodness. “I know mom, but it’s my job.”

  “No, Gabriella. I don’t like this working business. You are a vampire trying to play in the human world. You belong here.”

  This was not going the way I hoped, but at least it was just the same argument we had been having since I decided to start working and not about me lying to date a human. “Mother, we’ve talked about this. I want to work. I need to get away from here and try to have a life for myself.”

  “Your life is here.”

  “And I’ve told you, I feel like you’re suffocating me,” I practically yelled.

  She exhaled a deep breath and took a moment before she spoke. “You’re right. I know you need to stretch your wings.” She chuckled at herself, but I wasn’t sure why. It was like she was laughing at her own inside joke. “Just stay out of trouble. And if you can call, please do so. You know I only worry.” She looked sternly at me for a moment when I didn’t respond immediately; then I nodded. “Now go get some sleep.”

  Worrying she’d change her mind or add some kind of conditions; I left without another word carrying myself straight to bed. I was just lucky tomorrow wasn’t an early morning.

  Work the next day was dragging on. My coworker, Rachel, and I were making a few last minute changes to our presentation for a new club opening. Gates and Summers was one of the top party planning agencies in the city. They were always making bids to plan major social gatherings for the elite and famous and I was glad to be working for them. It was an amazing opportunity for me, especially with my lack of a portfolio when I was hired. But since then, I had worked on some amazing accounts and hoped to soon head up an account. However, I knew it’d probably be a couple of years before that happened. There were still several more experienced people that would have their shot first.

  “So any plans tonight?” Rachel asked, flipping through options for possible flyers while I clicked away on my computer, typing up a summary for a client.

  “No, not really,” I exhaled heavily, ready for the day to be over. “It’ll be late when we get out of here so I was thinking about just catching a quick bite with Shawn before heading home.” She knew about Shawn, well not entirely about him, just our relationship. Seeing as how he was the only real friend I had, he got talked about. A lot.

  Rachel sighed contently, “God, if the boy was straight, you two would have the best relationship. You hang around one another and genuinely enjoy the others company. If only you could add sex into the mix, that would be an amazing combination.”

  My head shot up from my task while my face contorted with disgust. “Eww, Rachel. I don’t see him like that.”

  “You should. He is a yummy piece of man candy that I just want to lick and suck until there is nothing left of him.” I laughed lightly and shook my head at her remark. Man candy? Really? I knew Shawn was attractive, I wasn’t blind, but he was like a brother to me. Gay or straight, I just couldn’t see him any other way.

  We were continuing with our work when the phone rang. I looked at the screen as Rachel answered it. The call was coming from downstairs.

  “Hello?” Rachel answered, instead of using the typical “Thank you for Calling Gates and Summers” greeting. She listened and occasionally ‘mm, hmmed’ until the call came to an end. “Alright, send it up,” she hung up the phone and turned, glaring at me.

  “What?” I asked, not understanding where her sudden hostility had come from.

  “You got something you wanna tell me?” she spat. I slowly shook my head still mystified. “You sure?”

  My brow furrowed and I started shaking my head in confusion. “Rachel... I...” The elevator dinged, announcing someone’s arrival. I heaved a sigh of relief. I felt saved by the bell. The elevator doors opened, revealing someone carrying a large display of white orchids. I looked to Rachel who was still glaring. “Gabriella Carmichael?” The person behind the flowers asked.

  “Her,” Rachel stated snidely. The flowers were set on the corner of my desk. The person who’d carried them left the way they came. “Now do you have something to tell me?”

  Ignoring her, I reached for the card while inhaling the sweet smell of my new flowers. I had a pretty good idea who they could be from and as I read the card, my inclination was confirmed.

  I look forward to Monday

  G

  I smiled as I finished reading the card, just before Rachel ripped it from my fingers.

  “Who’s G?” she asked examining the card for some hidden meaning.

  “A guy I just met,” I said with a huge grin on my face that seemed impossible to suppress.

  “Uh huh. You just met and he’s already sending several hundred dollars’ worth of flowers? You must’ve been pretty rocking between the sheets,” she insinuated, tossing the card back on the table.

  “Oh God, Rachel! Can you keep your head out of the gutter for a minute? I didn’t sleep with him.”

  “Geez, Gaby. I’m only teasing. So this G, he got a name or is he an initial only kinda guy? That would be so mysterious.”

  I sighed shaking my head. Rachel was a reader. She always wanted to find some special allusion in everything. I didn’t want to tell her about Grayson. The fact that we would be presenting to him next week just felt, I don’t know, weird.

  “He does.”

  She waited for me to elaborate, but I didn’t. I got back to work.

  “Really?” she asked. I ignored her as I continued clicking away on my computer. “Fine! I see how it is. Just don’t except me to be sharing details about my love life with you anymore.” I knew that would never happen. Rachel was inclined to tell everyone anything about her relationships. Finally dropping the topic she grabbed the flyer templates and began scrolling through them again. I looked at my beautiful flowers and couldn’t help but grin. I was suddenly even more excited for Monday to come.

  Sunday dragged on. During the daylight hours, I was locked inside waiting for our weekly delivery from the blood bank. Luckily, we owned the bank. It raised a lot less suspicion. Plus, I answered the delivery every week. I’m sure the drivers thought I had some really sick people that I took care of, not a building full of bloodthirsty immortals that fed on human blood to survive. Afterwards, I headed to our in-home gym figuring I’d go a few rounds with the Wavemaster. Having superhuman strength really didn’t do you any good if you didn’t know how to use it. So I would try to get together with a trainer whenever I could and when I couldn’t, the Wavemaster made a good opponent.

  Once the sunset, I was immediately bombarded with Anton and his never-ending flirtation. He found me in the gym just when I started sparring with one of the trainers, an older vampire who made for an excellent sparring partner. Anton refused to leave, telling me he’d wait until I was done. Not really keen on the idea of him watching me, I quickly showered and followed him from the gym. He placed my hand on the crook of his arm. When I would try to pull away he’d squeeze my knuckles with his cool fingers causing my stomach to churn from his increased touch. I stopped trying to fight him off and just let him drag me along with him as he walked through the building while attending to business throughout the nest. We shared breakfast together, of the liquid variety. Vampires could eat food, but Anton chose not to. I think he thought it made him look less like a vampire. It held no nutritional value, unlike blood, but I still enjoyed the variety of flavors of a normal human diet.

  Around eight o’clock, my phone chirped, alerting me to an incoming text. I looked around for Anton before I pulled the phone from my pocket. He was several feet away, arguing with one of his many helpers, which wasn’t unusual. That was part of what irritated me about Anton. He ran over people and treated them like garbage. I knew if I ever gave into him, which would never happen, that he would treat me just the same as he did everyone else. Look at Ava. But luckily for me there was no attraction from my side.