Boris and the Vampire (Legends of Pinewood 2)

He Will Hunt More Than Only Deer

Etienne gloated beside me. I refused to look at his face, but I just knew he was. Already he had Mr. and especially Mrs. Davis wrapped around his pale little finger.

"You simply must invite us to have dinner together soon." Mrs. Davis beamed. "I need to learn more about the person who finally captured Boris' heart."

"I would love that, but... Boris?"

Etienne turned to me. He bit his lip, playing the part of an insecure lover so perfectly. If I denied we had any sort of relationship now, it'd look like a lie. Like I was the asshole, refusing to admit I had a relationship with the man living in my house.

Etienne lived with me, and I couldn't keep that a secret forever. And Mr. and Mrs. Davis wanted to see me dating someone so badly they'd made it very easy for the vampire to spin the narrative in his favour.

"Certainly," I said through gritted teeth. "We can have dinner together sometime."

Mrs. Davis clapped her hands, seemingly unaware that the tension between Etienne and I certainly was not the kind of tension she thought it was. "Fantastic!" she said. "It's late and we should really head home now, but we'll swing by tomorrow if that's okay with you."

Great. That meant I had to get rid of the vampire somewhere between now and tomorrow around dinner time.

"Sounds like a plan," I said. "I'll make sure there's a nice, completely vegan meal and a cup of tea waiting for you."

"Oh, you're going vegan?" Mr. Davis asked with wide eyes. "I never thought I'd see the day! You're always asking for steaks so rare they're almost running off your plate."

"If you want to know the truth, Etienne here told me he is a strict vegan—so strict he can't stand the sight of blood and meat actually—and of course I'll be accommodating," I said, glancing smugly at Etienne to see his reaction. If he was going to throw me under the bus, I'd do the same to him. 

Etienne grimaced for a millisecond before going back to his upbeat act.

"So, if you don't mind, I'll make absolutely sure there's not a single drop of blood on our plates, or anywhere near this house, as long as Etienne is here," I added with a smile just to rub it in further.

"Well, meat or no meat, I look forward to what you come up with," Mr. Davis said, rubbing his hands.

Mrs. Davis looked less enthusiastic, probably because she thought her butchery would lose me as a customer, and with it, a good chunk of their income.

We bid Mr. and Mrs. Davis goodnight and went inside. The moment their footsteps faded into the distance, Etienne glared at me."Vegan? Really? You can't even eat vegan food! You're a wolf!" he called out.

"I'm a werewolf," I corrected. "In my human form, I'm decidedly an omnivore, even if I prefer meat. I'll be fine. You, on the other hand, will look quite weird tomorrow when you don't eat your greens. Can a vampire even eat food?"

Etienne clacked his tongue. "Of course I can eat. But it would be like you eating literal trash with no nutritional value."

"Then I will look forward to you turning as green as the beans on your plate when you're made to eat trash. Hope it tastes hat way to you too." I shrugged. "At least I would be looking forward to it if I wasn't going to cancel. You and I both know it's against the rules for you to speak with the people of Pinewood before your month is up."

"I beg to differ," Etienne replied with a raised brow. "Your rules never said anything about people coming to this house and seeing me here. You only told me I couldn't go near the townsfolk, which I wouldn't be doing in this scenario since they are coming to me."

"You're a slippery mosquito, aren't you?" I said, but I with mostly angry at myself for leaving any sort of ambiguity Etienne could argue about in my rules.

"I prefer the term cunning," Etienne pleasantly replied. "Cancel all you want tomorrow. The bat's out of the bag now. They know I'm here. And even if Mr. and Mrs. Davis don't come to your house, people are going to wonder why you keep me locked up in here. Especially now that we're as... intimately involved as we are, my love."

I gave the vampire a hard stare. "This does not change anything," I warned him. "No biting and trying to get blood from these people, and you cannot tell them what you are."

Etienne fake-gasped. "I would never. Haven't you heard? I'm a strict vegan nowadays."

"Good," I said. "Sweat dreams. Enjoy dreaming of my delicious, entirely bloodless meals."

Etienne scoffed as I turned my back on him and trudged up the stairs to go back to bed. Though, I had a feeling it'd be hard to fall asleep tonight with the huge amount of trouble I was now in heavy on my mind.