CHAPTER 6
The arctic air completely numbed my fingers, and I cursed myself for not thinking to buy gloves. What an epic fail. If I got frostbite, I’d deserve it for being so stupid.
I did my best to keep a firm grip on Nathan; though, with the lack of sensation in my hands, I wasn’t sure if I was holding on tight enough. I took it as a good sign that I was, since I hadn’t yet fallen to my death. Even as my fingers quickly turned to icicles, the rest of me was pretty much protected, thanks to my travel buddy, who’s back shielded me from the icy wind as we sped along the frozen landscape.
Just when I started to get a little comfortable with riding, the snowmobile went airborne for a few seconds before roughly landing again. I yelped, and attached myself to Nathan like a leech, holding on for dear life.
“Are you crazy? You’re going to get us killed!”
I felt something come to rest on my arm. Under any other circumstances, I may have welcomed Nathan’s touch, but with him consoling me, that meant he was now driving with one arm. He was tempting fate too much to my liking.
“Trust me,” Nathan bellowed back loud enough so that I could hear him over the rumbling of the engine, and the whoosh of the wind.
He wasn’t making it easy with his X-treme snowmobiling stunt. Not that I had much of a choice to do anything about it. Not unless I thought that flinging my body off the contraption was the better option—which I didn’t. I could only cling on and pray.
It seemed like an eternity later that we finally came to a stop, and I was ready to kiss the ground. We’d been on the snowmobile for at least a half-hour, which felt like an eternity to me. My legs felt like jell-o, and my butt had fallen asleep. My hands had warmed, though. Nathan had ordered me to tuck them in his trench coat after he’d felt how cold they were halfway through the ride. Looked like I would get to keep my fingers after all.
My excitement to finally be off the death-mobile, and the relief at having sensation back in my fingers, was short lived. From the looks of it, we were still in the middle of nowhere. For all I knew this could be just another pit stop.
“Where are we?”
“This is where we rendezvous with Larson.”
I allowed myself a moment to rejoice internally before the cynicism kicked in.
We were standing a few hundred feet from the mouth of a colossal ice cave. It seemed this Larson guy liked to meet in obscure, creepy places. I guess I should have known he’d be weird. After all, he associated himself with Nathan.
“You sure he isn’t a demon?” No normal human being, not even the most paranoid, would suggest such an unusual meeting place.
Nathan’s eyes strayed from mine. He stiffly replied, “No. Larson is not of that sort.”
Well, crap, he wasn’t anything I was going to like if he made Nathan uncomfortable.
I was about to demand he give me a better explanation, when my intent was interrupted by the echoing of a man’s voice resounding from within the ice cave.
“Nethaneel, such a pleasant surprise! It feels like centuries past since the last time I saw you. Ah! What do we have here? This must be the lady you’ve told me so much about.”
Larson’s features came into view as he descended upon me and Nathan. His eyes, I noticed, were a mossy green set against alabaster skin with dark chestnut waves that framed his face. Larson’s full lips looked drastically softer when compared to his strong jaw line.
To my amazement, his good looks were almost enough to rival Nathan’s, something I would have thought impossible. Though Nathan was still taller, Larson wasn’t lacking in the height department. Their body build was also similar enough that they could have been related; that is, if you didn’t look too closely at the details. Nathan’s face was soft and sensual in a way that made you want to trust him. Larson, on the other hand, was made up of sharp angles with eyes that held a million dangerous promises. They were like day and night.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, love,” Larson purred, taking one last stride to stand before me.
Everything happened in a flash. One moment Larson was lifting my hand to his lips, and then the next I was whirling around like the Tasmanian Devil, stopping to land against Nathan’s chest. Our embrace probably resembled something close to a hug, but I knew that Nathan hadn’t been randomly overcome with the need to hold me. So then, what was his deal?
That thought was briefly replaced by another. Wow, did he smell amazing. Like Lake Tahoe in winter.
“You swore to be on your best behavior,” Nathan reprimanded, still holding me firmly against him.
His tone broke my haze. If I didn’t know any better I’d say Nathan, the King of Chill, sounded affronted.
“Oh now, Nethaneel, don’t be so paranoid. I was merely giving the girl a proper greeting.”
Nathan continued to eye Larson skeptically, but his grip on me loosened.
“Would anyone care to explain to me what just happened?”
They both stood silently. Nathan appeared unsure or apprehensive, but Larson simply looked entertained.
“Go ahead. Tell the lady why you’re going to be jumping at every move I make.”
Nathan’s expression was wary as he spoke. “He’s had issues in the past.”
“Issues?” Larson sounded more amused than offended.
Nathan locked eyes with his frenemy, and said through clenched teeth, “How would you like me to phrase it? Would you rather I come right out and say it?”
I saw the glint of anger that sparked in Larson’s eyes, but I could hear none of it in his voice. “Only if you think it is better that she knows. But the past is the past, Nethaneel. I ask you not to hold it against me.”
After a moment, he expelled a breath and nodded apologetically. I didn’t miss the sympathetic look Nathan gave him either.
“Are y’all just going to leave me in the dark over here, or is someone going to start explaining?”
Nathan stood like a statue in the snow, every bit of him tense. When he didn’t say anything, Larson assumed control.
“What I believe he means to say, love, is that I am a dangerous, scary vampire. Not to be trusted, of course.”
I snorted, “Right.”
Larson fixed me with an assertive gaze. “He didn’t tell you? No matter. You see demons, and yet you have trouble believing?”
“Definitely. If the real thing existed I’d have run into one by now.”
“And what exactly do you think is happening then?” When I crossed my arms defiantly, he continued, “Here, let me do the honor of being your first.”
Larson bowed at the waist and looked up at me. When his lips curled back into a predatory grin, I saw them: two very apparent fangs glistening like snow among the rest of his pearly whites.
I attempted to make sense of what I was seeing. “Could be veneers…”
He cocked an eyebrow at me as rose back to his full height. “Shall I prove it?”
Before I could shake my head, Nathan was between us. “You will do no such thing.” I could feel the beginning waves of power start to roll off him.
Although the energy in the air made me uneasy, Larson showed no discomfort. He simply put his hands in his jacket pockets and shrugged.
What little I knew about vampires came from myth, and since vampires weren’t supposed to exist, I didn’t know what to believe. Was he super fast or inhumanly strong? Could he kill my bodyguard? Larson didn’t look like he wanted a fight, but if he did I wondered who might win. The fact that my gut instincts told me the vamp might actually lose concerned the hell out of me. Whatever Nathan was, he was a force to be reckoned with.
When Larson didn’t push Nathan any further, my bodyguard turned back to me, his expression severely serious. “And you—I suggest you keep the bleeding to a minimum.”
Before I could stop them, the words were out of my mouth. “Are you a vampire?” It would make sense. What was that old adage? Oh yeah, you may know a man by the company he keeps.
At first, Nathan’s eyes widened in shock, but then sparkled with amusement, “No Viktoriya, I am not.”
As Nathan was answering me, I could feel Larson’s gaze as it traveled back and forth between us. His booming laughter startled me and I jumped.
“Oh, this is rich,” Larson laughed. Nathan’s face was hard as Larson continued, “She doesn’t know? Is that not considered lying old friend?”
“No.” Nathan said in a guarded voice, “True, I have not been forthcoming about the subject…but it is irrelevant at the moment. I will broach the subject when it becomes necessary.”
Larson rolled his eyes. “I am sure you will. But be careful—it’s a thin line you walk. Omission is a close relative.”
“This is none of your business.”
“Sure it is,” Larson sneered. “Come now Nethaneel, you and I both know I’d be doing you both a favor here; best to get it all out in the open, my friend.”
Nathan was dead silent as he shot Larson a threatening look. It didn’t take any concentration on my part to sense the pull of his power for the second time tonight. I could feel it trying to burst through the cracks of his constraints.
I attempted to do my part in easing the tension while simultaneously trying to encourage Nathan to open up. “If I can accept the existence of vampires, I can handle anything,” I said teasing.
Nathan exhaled heavily, seeming unconvinced, but he continued anyway saying something just under his breath.
“What?”
Nathan’s eyes, which were as blue and as deep as the Atlantic Ocean, locked on mine. “This is a little different.”
“How different?” I coaxed, hoping he’d explain further.
Nathan attempted a half-smirk, but it looked a little sad. He brought his hand up to place it against the side of my face. As Nathan’s fingertips grazed my frozen cheeks, they seemed to defrost along with the rest of my body. Suddenly, the world was beautiful and I felt at peace…words couldn’t describe my euphoria. It was like having my family back. In that perfect moment the aching crater in my heart ceased to exist. I felt whole. I had hope. My life was no longer so empty. It was such a profound, amazing thing that it brought tears to my eyes. The rightness of it all was borderline painful. The sensation was so different from the empty void his power usually sent me.
When Nathan tried to pull away, I startled him—and myself— by capturing his hand with mine. With my eyes, I pleaded with him not to break our connection.
“Viktoriya,” Nathan breathed. But he didn’t actually deny my request. What’s more, his hand remained even without my persistence.
“Ahem,” Larson’s obviously faked cough broke our little moment.
Nathan tentatively removed his hand to let it hang at his side. It took a few minutes for me to finally recover and remember how to breathe again. A few times, he opened and closed his hand into a fist, as if trying to expel the tingles from sleeping fingers.
Nathan was watching me with a new and even more intense expression when he finally answered my question. “Very different.”