For a moment, I don’t know what to do. Then I realize that she must have mistaken my shiver for a chill.
Icanfeel the cool autumn air on my skin, but it doesn’t bother me much. Cold doesn’t affect witches that way, and I’ve always been the outdoorsy type. I suppose I’ve got to pretend it does.
“It’s a bit nippy, but I’m all right, you should keep…”
“Take it,” she says, putting it around my shoulders. “I don’t need it.”
“Thanks.”
The jacket is more comfortable and worn-in than it looks. Although it doesn’t keep me warm, a different sort of heat envelopes me as we continue our walk.
“Can I ask you another question?” I say.
“I don’t think I could stop you,” she answers.
“Why do you stop vampires from draining humans at the club?”
“I don’t stop vampires from draining humans.”
“That’s not true. You staked Lazarus’s progeny the first night I was working in the club.”
She keeps her eyes on the path in front of us. “I wanted to send Lazarus a message. And besides, draining breathers, it’s…bad for business. Can’t have customers dying every other day.”
“That’s not it. None of the other vampire clubs do that. They don’t mind if people disappear, as long as the vampires are healthy.”
“We have a reputation to uphold…”
“That’s not it either. I have another theory,” I say, stepping out in front of her so we’re facing each other. “I think thatyoudon’t like it when vampires drain humans. It bothers you, and not because it’s bad for business. It bothers you because you don’t like to see innocent humans dying. That’s why you stopped Lazarus’s progeny. That’s why you saved Hallie.”
She scowls, and I know I’m right on track. There’s a little flutter in my chest at the thought. “You’re mistaken. I run a difficult and dangerous business. I can’t allow myself to care about every human life…”
I shake my head. “I don’t think so. I’ve seen you at the club. The othervampires, they treat the humans like prey. They glamour and enchant them, use glow to weaken them so they can feed from them. But you don’t. You find the humans who want to be fed on, and you make sure that you don’t feed on the same one twice.”
Her lip twitches, and she moves closer to me, in that smooth, vampiric way that always catches me off guard. “You’ve been watching me in the club?”
“That’s not the point,” I reply, but there’s a glint in her eyes. I try to steady myself again, but I’m feeling strangely weak in the knees. “Thepointis that I don’t think you’re the heartless, scary monster that you think you…”
Something shifts in the air around us. Both of us notice it immediately, but Celine is faster to respond. Her head turns on her neck with unnatural speed, to look at the path ahead of us.
It’s three men. They move with a staggering, aggressive gait that reveals their intentions. They hold bottles wrapped in paper and they smell awful.
“Hey ladies!” one of them shouts. Another lets out a loud, wet wolf whistle that pierces the dark night air.
My stomach drops. Celine’s eyes narrow into malevolent slits, the tips of her fangs beginning to appear over her bottom lip.
“Celine, don’t-” I hiss under my breath, but I’m interrupted by another jeer.
“Why don’t you leave a little for us, beautiful?”
The men are getting uncomfortably close. I quickly move between them and Celine, holding up my hands and addressing the three drunken idiots. “Listen, we don’t want any trouble. Let’s all just move on…”
Butof coursethey don’t listen. On the contrary, my words seem to rile them up further. They surround us. One throws his bottle aside and it smashes, littering glass along the paved road.
“If you don’t want any trouble, why are you flaunting yourselves around here at night?” one of them asks, his words slightly slurred.
“We have a right to be here,” I tell him firmly. “Leave us alone.”
“No chance,” says the man to my left, moving a step too close to me. “All you need is a realman-”
