All Souls' Night - Renee Rose Page 0,29

a reminder of who she belongs to and what I expect out of her. Where we are heading, I need her to listen to me, stay close. There are things going on in Tucson that have me worried. Erik is staying at my house for a while. He has tracked his wife’s murderers to the area. Add that to the vampires, shifters and wolves in the area, and you never know what could happen.

Keri is snoring softly in the front seat beside me. I should wake her, but sleeping is good for her, she does too little of that these days. I’ve never taken her on a trip before, I was worried about her finding out my secret. It is one thing letting her think I work the late-night shift as a world traveling diamantaire, which means sleeping during the day, it is another thing altogether to be on vacation with her. I have kept who I am a secret for a year, and it is time I opened up to her, especially if I am going to ask her to spend the rest of her life with me.

This trip is planned right down to the minute details. It is infuriating having to plan around another person, but for her, I will do it. It has been a long time since a woman has slowed my movements, complicated my plans. She is worth it. She stirs and looks at me, her beautiful brown eyes reminding me of a time long, long ago when another looked at me the same way. I can’t think of her right now. It wouldn’t be fair to Keri. I focus instead on the sweetheart next to me.

“Are you going to tell me where we are going, Sir?”

Her bottom lip flares out just the teeniest bit, a small pout. Adorable. I wonder if she knows she is doing it. “Don’t you want to be surprised?”

“No!” Her emphatic answer has me chuckling.

“If you must know then, we are headed to Arizona.” I can’t hide my smile as she bounces in her seat.

“Are you taking me there? To the club? The one you always talk about?”

“Club Toxic is on the agenda, Butterfly. Among other things. First stop will be my Arizona residence, for rest. You will get to meet Erik, he is staying there while he looks for his own place. This weekend is the All Hallows’ Eve celebrations, and there is a full schedule of fun ahead of us. But, the fun is all at night, so your schedule is going to be changed quite a bit. We will sleep during the day and play all night.”

“That is what you do already,” she says with a giggle.

“It is. I like to stay on my routine so when I return to work, it is easier.” Another lie. How easily they roll off my tongue now. There was a time, fifteen hundred years ago, when I was a moral, mortal man. The before. This is the after. I am not the man I was then. Hell, I am not a man at all. I am a vampire.

The drive to the private airport went quickly. Keri is easy to talk to, one of the traits of hers that I am drawn to. There is a quicker way to get there, but not with a human. I answered her questions the best I could, the lies piling up as we drove. How could I tell her that Erik and I have known each other from The Battle of Hastings in 1066? That we fought on opposite sides and, when we lay dying, a fucking Italian monk of all people, captured us and then had the two of us chained and turned into vampires before holding us hostage in a tower? That he kept us in a bird cage covered with blackout curtains like fucking pets? Nah. That doesn’t come up in polite company. Old army buddies—not buddies, brothers. That’s what Erik and I are. If she wants to fill in the missing pieces with assumptions, that is on her. Lying by omission… something I would tan her hide for but that I’ve become habitual at. I have a problem with the hypocrisy of it all. I have to convince myself it is being done for her safety. It is and… it isn’t.

Erik and I share the same mantra: Vampires have a bigger purpose in this world beyond our mere existence. Maybe, we were chosen to be the protectors of the weak