her heart. It pounded at his touch.
“You’re so vulnerable. A thousand different things can kill you in the space of a heartbeat. I’m trying. I’m trying, but I would sincerely like to lock you in a padded room until I can kill every vampire who looks sideways at you. Maybe then we could have a rational conversation about this. Right now, all I can think of is all the ways you could be killed, and I wouldn’t be fast enough to save you.”
How could he be so frightening and so sweet, all at the same time? “A padded room?” she said hoarsely. “I’m not that nuts, George.”
Baojia pulled her into his arms and she let him. He pressed her against his chest and just held her. “You are completely nuts,” he said. “But for some reason, I like it.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him back. “I’m getting attached to your overly protective, control-freak self, too.” Getting attached? She was half in love with him. It had happened so fast she was still reeling.
“I’m teaching you this because I need you to be alive, Natalie. Do you understand?”
She hugged him tighter and sighed. “But it takes years to learn.”
“I have time if you do.”
“I know.” She blinked back tears, hoping he couldn’t feel them on his skin. “I know you do.”
They were driving down drl tto the desert in his old Camaro again, but by this time, Natalie found the lack of lit-up switches and dials soothing rather than disturbing. She was starting to see the unexpected benefits of a life without as much technology. Her eyes were more sensitive to changes in light and movement in the dark interior of the car. Her ears weren’t distracted by anything but the hum of the wheels as they sped over the cracked asphalt.
She still missed her iPhone, though.
“Hey, when am I getting a phone? You owe me one.”
He glanced over. “We can go tomorrow and get you one. Will you lose anything from your old one?”
“I had it synched up with my laptop, so not much. Still not apologizing for taking it, huh?”
He smiled. “Nope.”
Typical. He probably didn’t apologize for much. At least when he did, she’d know it was sincere. “I need to call Kristy and let her know where I am. And I don’t even want to think about what she’s going to tell me about work.” She sighed. “I’ll be amazed if they haven’t fired me already.”
“You told me you had sick days.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty much to the end of those. And how long is this going to take before I can get back to work?” And, as suspected, he had no response to that. She decided to change the subject. “So, Rory, huh?”
“His involvement makes sense and it doesn’t. He’s either clueless—a definite possibility—or he’s letting Ivan dump his victims on Ernesto’s property. According to Brigid and Gio, most of the major water vampires on the Atlantic have had challenges to their authority recently. If this is connected to the spread or distribution of Elixir—”
“Which everyone seems to think is likely.”
“—then we need to be prepared for Ernesto to be challenged, too. But at the same time, what’s in it for Rory if Ernesto is challenged? He’s got a pretty easy life right now. Well, not as much now that I’m gone, but he still has a lot of status. Ernesto has always been generous with him and Paula. So changing the status quo makes no sense.”
“One, you’re asking almost as many questions as me now; I’m so proud. And two, sometimes people’s motivations for crime don’t make sense. Sometimes…” Her voice fell. “…they can seem downright crazy. Or there is no purpose. No reason. I’ve seen that, too. You really think these murders are linked to some big conspiracy?”
“They’re either linked, or it’s a hell of a coincidence. Elixir just happens to show up in Mexico, and Ivan just happens to lose a waitress who’s been taking it, who just happens to show up dead near my sire’s casino? I don’t believe in coincidences like that. Hopefully, we’ll find out more tonight.”
She had forced him to take her when she heard he was going out to the casino again. It was time for the regular monthly meeting that Rory would have with the manager, and since Baojia wanted to talk to Tulio again, he thought they could investigate Rory’s involvement and speak to Tulio with one trip. Well, originally he had thought to