only other missing immortal they’d been able to find, had warmed up to him pretty quickly considering she’d met him on one of his…
Well… he couldn’t say one of his bad days. They were all bad says now. So maybe one of his worse days?
Cliff listened to the goings-on outside his door while he dressed in a T-shirt, cargo pants, and boots—all black. The other vampires often teased him about what they called his IG-wannabe attire. They didn’t know that he wore black because he never knew when his mental state might deteriorate so much during the day that Aidan would have to teleport him to the other side of the globe where it was still night and take him hunting because Cliff couldn’t hold out until the sun set.
As soon as he finished tying his shoes, he left his apartment.
Todd and Jin, another guard, walked toward him in the hallway, heading back to their post from he didn’t know where.
Jin nodded, his expression aloof but not hostile.
“Hey, man.” Todd proffered his fist. “How’s it going?”
They had greeted each other thusly for what seemed like forever, and Cliff took comfort in the routine of it. “Hey, do you know the names of the two new immortals? I can’t remember them.”
“Jordan and Liora.”
Cliff silently repeated the names, committing them to memory. “Do you know where they are? I thought I’d say hi and show them around sublevel 5 if no one else already has.”
Todd jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “They’re down in 10. We just came from there. Liora wanted to talk to Melanie, something about blood work. I saw her chatting with Tessa earlier and think she’s starting to grasp the reality of it all. But Melanie and Bastien haven’t arrived yet. Aidan either. They had a long night last night.”
He would imagine so with two new immortals to initiate to the truth.
Todd shrugged. “Sunset isn’t that far away though. Until then, Jared is here if you need anything.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Cliff strode toward apartment 10.
Before he reached it, the heavy door swung inward and a man and woman stepped out. The man—whom he took to be Jordan—was tall and broad-shouldered with dark, closely cropped hair. Liora was shorter with long auburn hair. They appeared to be carrying on a rather heated discussion and didn’t notice him at first. Though their lips moved, they spoke so low that even with his preternatural hearing he couldn’t hear them over the damned voices in his head.
Cliff continued forward, the thuds of his boots drawing their attention.
The moment they saw him, they froze.
He smiled. “Hi. I’m Cliff. We met last night.”
Liora’s eyes widened and color fled her face as she took a hasty step backward.
Jordan’s eyes widened, too. Then his brows drew down in a scowl as he thrust an arm out in front of the woman as if to shield her and pointed at Cliff. “You stay the hell back!”
Caught off guard by the malice reflected in the man’s expression, Cliff halted. “What?”
“You heard me,” he snapped. “Stay the hell away from her.”
“Jordan,” Liora protested softly. But unease darkened the eyes that didn’t stray from Cliff… as though she feared he might attack if she looked away for even a second. “Take it easy. While you were sedated, I chatted with the other vampires. And it isn’t what you think.”
Nodding, Cliff held up his hands in an attempt to appear harmless. “Yeah. I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding.”
If anything, Jordan’s expression darkened further as his eyes acquired an amber glow. “I’m not misunderstanding shit. You tried to kill Liora last night. And you would’ve succeeded if that British immortal hadn’t intervened.”
Ice filled Cliff’s veins. His breath stopped. “What?”
“You tried to kill her!” Jordan repeated furiously. “You would’ve killed her if—”
Jared appeared at Jordan’s side, startling him into silence. “Shut up,” he ordered, face grim.
Jordan scowled up at him. Recovering quickly, he opened his mouth.
Jared waved a hand.
Jordan flew off his feet and through the doorway into apartment 10. A crash sounded just before the door clunked shut.
Cliff’s heart began to pound.
Jared’s expression softened as he looked down at Liora. “Are you all right?”
She nodded.
But she wasn’t. Her hands trembled visibly, and she looked poised for flight.
Jared turned to Cliff. “Ignore Jordan. He’s having difficulty accepting the truth. He doesn’t want to believe it, so he’s lashing out at everyone.”