But vampires? I hate to think of what else is out there.”
Pietro nodded, his eyes watching her, concerned and cautious all at the same time. He must know she was feeling on the edge. In the past half-day, her life had gone from shaky to completely and utterly destabilized with no hope of recovery. She couldn’t see a path out of it.
“You don’t have to know everything that’s out there,” Pietro said, in what she was sure was supposed to be a comforting manner.
Unfortunately, all it did was confirm to her that there were even worse things out there than this vampire that was after her. Claire shivered, despite the warm mid-summer heat of the evening. What was worse than a vampire?
I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know.
“Good. Because I suspect that’s a lot, and I don’t need more nightmares. I might not know much about what you’re talking about. I get the concept of vampires, but I don’t need details. Don’t want them. What I do know, however, is that, despite the awkwardness of our first, um, shall we say, meeting, all you’ve ever been to me is polite and nice.”
Which simply was not what I wanted at the time, but right now, a nice person to see me home safe sounds wonderful.
Pietro, however, cringed at the reminder. Visibly cringed.
“Can we just pretend that never happened? Please?”
“So I should just pretend that I only met you now, at the bar half an hour ago? That you then followed me home? A stranger?” She was teasing, and he knew it.
“Okay, fine. But can you just not mention it? It wasn’t my finest hour. I was…” Pietro shook his head.
Claire caught herself, shocked at the dark shadow that slipped across his face at the time. He wasn’t just embarrassed by the memory, she realized. There was something more to it than that. What had happened to him that night, she wondered?
The dark look was gone almost as fast as it appeared. It was just the two of them on the sidewalk, halfway between streetlights, and it wasn’t like her attention was elsewhere. There was no way she could have missed it.
Now is not the time to ask. Not when there’s a vampire after you.
“A vampire…what did you call it, hunter?” she asked in sudden confusion. “Someone who hunts vampires?”
“No,” Pietro said quietly. “Not someone who hunts vampires. It’s a vampire that hunts other vampires, creatures, or people. It’s the most elite, superior vampire caste there is. Sort of like the Navy SEALS, British SAS. The best of the best sort of thing.”
“Oh,” she said, her voice sounding very, very small. “And it’s after me?”
He nodded.
Well, that sucked.
“Okay,” Claire said, coming to what could be the only rational decision, given the truth she could see in his face. “Armed with all that knowledge and terror, I will let you walk me home tonight.”
Pietro seemed to breathe easier as she gave him her permission. Claire almost asked him what would have happened if she’d said no, but decided, again, that she was probably better off not knowing.
She gestured to him that he was standing between her and where they needed to go to get her home, and Pietro stepped to the side. Claire started to walk, but as she passed the hulking dragon shifter, she paused.
“Thank you,” she said quietly. “For…everything.”
Then, before she could think it over too much, Claire stepped in close and wrapped her arms around his powerful chest, squeezing.
Pietro jerked in surprise, the contact catching him off guard, but then his arms draped over her, returning the tight embrace. For just a moment, Claire felt safe and protected, a surprisingly nice feeling that she’d not expected from the moment. Desperate to keep feeling that way, she held the hug for longer than she’d planned, basking in that shield Pietro had draped over her.
“Okay,” she said at long last, feeling like an eternity had passed. “We should get going.”
Immediately, Pietro withdrew his arms, the gentle strength contained within them departing with it. Claire couldn’t help but compare him to Pete. Despite the similar sounding names, the two were nothing alike.
Whereas Pete was strong, aggressive, and anything but gentle with her, Pietro was calm and confident. He didn’t need to show off his muscles or his strength, so she’d not had an appreciation for his size or strength until she’d been pressed against it.
Pietro was huge, and she saw now the way his muscles pulled at the sleeves of