Blood Debt (Kingdom of Blood #1) - Callie Rose Page 0,26

perfect synchronicity, not even deigning to grace us with a glance. I’m pretty sure Connor is going to get in trouble for this later. I can’t imagine what possessed him to ask me in the first place—but, shit, why do I care? It doesn’t matter to me if they tear him limb from limb. One less vampire in Baltimore is always a good thing.

“Oh, I should have warned you,” he says with a crooked little smile, looking at me out of the corners of his eyes. “I can’t really dance—not the waltz, anyway. I can do a mean running man, though! A little boogey, maybe. Anything you’d see at a forty-year-old dad’s barbecue, basically.”

“I’m sure that’ll go over well out here,” I reply, letting a little gentle sarcasm creep into my voice as I watch the deadly beauties before us move in perfect time.

He chuckles and leads me out onto the floor, then slides his left hand awkwardly around my waist and grabs my hand with his right. I shake my head at him, a small gesture meant only for his eyes.

“Other way around,” I whisper.

“Ah, fuck.”

He grimaces and switches hands, then stares at the feet of the couples around us as he starts manhandling me back and forth across the dance floor. He stumbles on my foot and turns his breathtaking eyes back to me.

“Shit. I’m so, so sorry. I suck at this. I shouldn’t have asked you to dance. I’m still getting used to all the vampire court customs. There are so many of them! I mean, they’re more than happy to teach me, but there’s so much to learn, and vampires don’t really have a sense of urgency, you know. Side effect of being immortal, I guess.”

My brows furrow as I listen to him, and I can feel myself staring, but I can’t make myself stop.

What is it with this guy?

He looks so out of place here. He doesn’t even talk like a vampire. It doesn’t make any sense, but it’s none of my business. If I start wondering about vampire backstories, I’m going to make a mess of my entire mission, now and for the rest of my life. I can’t afford to give a shit.

On the other hand, I’ve never seen a vampire like him before. If the nest has started a suburban outreach program or something, I should probably know about it. At least that’s the excuse I’m making for what I’m about to do.

“How did you end up like this?” I ask him, cursing myself inwardly for my curiosity.

“Like a terrible dancer?” He chuckles as he steps on my toes again.

“No. A vampire. You’re… unexpected.”

He flashes me a grin, then gestures toward the high table with a look that borders on hero worship.

“Bastian,” he tells me, then quickly amends, “I’m sorry, Prince Bastian. It’s so weird to use titles and things like that, isn’t it? I didn’t even call my doctor ‘doctor’ when I was human, I called him Paul. Anyway, Bastian—Prince Bastian, dammit, I swear I’ll get it right one of these days—he saved my life.”

My heart sinks. I feel like I know where this is going. Connor got wrapped up in some kind of criminal activity, got pressured by a gang—probably one run by vampires—and made a deal with another vampire to get out of it. That’s always how these things go.

“I was hit by a car,” he says quietly, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I look up at him, startled. That wasn’t what I was expecting at all.

“A… a car?”

He nods somberly. “Yup. Downtown Baltimore, one rainy night, I was walking home from work. You know how the sidewalk sort of just disappears sometimes? I wasn’t paying attention, and I stepped off a little awkwardly. Would have gotten away with nothing worse than a twisted ankle if that car hadn’t come flying around the corner. I didn’t even see the headlights until it was right on top of me. Crushed my chest.”

He shudders at the memory, and I rub his shoulder comfortingly for a second before I catch myself. This is exactly what I was afraid of. He’s too damn pure to be a vampire, the confusing bastard. He sighs heavily and shoots me a grateful smile.

“It was a hit and run with no witnesses. Nobody to call an ambulance. And honestly, even if someone had called nine-one-one, I would’ve been long gone before the ambulance got there. I knew I was dying. I was drowning in my own blood,