“No,” I said quietly. “He doesn’t want me now.”
“But you want him.”
All I had to do was say no and the vampire would offer himself to me. We had a strange connection, Marcus Vorenus and I, and if I hadn’t met Gray when I did I would have been all over him. But I had met Gray and, even though he’d walked out on me, it seemed too soon to consider anyone else. “Yes.”
“He is a fool.” The vampire backed up again. His face was once more pleasant, but without the emotion that lit him previously. This was Marcus Vorenus as he wanted the world to see him—cool and regal, distant. “But then aren’t we all? I thought, for a moment, that Devinshea was doing me a favor. I thought, perhaps, I was reading too much into our situation. I see he is still playing a game with me.”
The vampire sounded bitter and I hated the fact that I’d made him feel that way. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying…”
“It isn’t your fault, dear girl. You must be careful around the fertility god. He always knows what he’s doing when he puts two people in an intimate situation. He knew I would be attracted to you. He knew you’re precisely the type of female to pique my interest. He also knew that you are involved with another man. This is his way of telling me it’s time to go home, that there is nothing here for me.”
A second wave of loss hit me and I’d only just met this male. I’d been looking forward to his company, but I didn’t want to hurt him further. He seemed sad enough as it was, as though the world had turned on him. I didn’t want to add to his trouble. “I’ll ask Mr. Quinn for another escort. I’m sorry to have taken up your time. I’ll wait here for him. I’m sure he’ll be back.”
I sat down again in the chair where I’d talked to Quinn and tried to hold myself with as much dignity as I could muster. I prayed the next vampire he sent me was obnoxious and unattractive.
Marcus kneeled at my side. “I’m sorry, Kelsey. I should not have tried to drag you into my troubles with Devinshea and Daniel. My only excuse is that I’ve been thinking of you ever since I saw you last night. I’m a bit tired of wanting women I cannot have.”
Now I was the bitter one. “Then you should stick by my side, Vorenus. I can assure you after you spend a little time with me, you’ll change your mind. They all do after I pull a gun on them or yell too much. And this ain’t me.” I gestured to the dress and shoes. “This is someone else’s magic. I’m a jeans and T-shirts kind of girl and I don’t do relationships well, obviously. I drink too much, cuss too much, and can be unpleasant to be around. I think you’ll discover your heart is perfectly safe around me if you give me the chance to annoy you.”
Marcus’s eyes closed with a shake of his head. “He knows me so well.” When he opened them again, he was perfectly smooth and polite. He stood and moved to sit across from me. “Let’s forget this portion of the evening and begin again. I’m Marcus Vorenus, your escort. Consider me your knight and your guide. So, tell me, how may I aid you? I am entirely at your service.”
A deep gratitude swept over me. Vorenus gave me exactly what I needed to get on solid ground again. I pulled out my phone and spent the next twenty minutes going over what I knew with the vampire. As he was an academic, he was quick and gave me several tips. He pointed out the small streak of sunlight in one of the photos that I had missed. Laura Nesson had been killed during the day. Or at least photographed.
“There are only a few vampires I know who can daywalk,” Vorenus explained. “Myself and the king among them. This particular killing occurred when?”
I enlarged the picture, pointing to the bottom of the photo where the date was visible. The photos were taken with a digital camera that recorded the date. “Last week. I believe that was a Thursday.”
He nodded his regal head. “I thought so. The king and I were attending a meeting in London that day. I can show you the ticket from my flight and give you any number of witnesses to my whereabouts. The king, well, he prefers to fly on his own. I assure you he was with me that day.”
I was already making progress. I thought it couldn’t be a vampire and this was proof. Vampires don’t hide during daylight hours. They sleep and they don’t have a choice about it. Unless they can daywalk, as Marcus and the king can, they were stuck. My first instinct was right. This was a human or another type of supe.
Marcus stared at the photos, flipping through them. He studied them with a clinical detachment Quinn hadn’t been able to produce. “These girls all look vaguely alike. I would say they’re all within three years of each other in age.”