and slowly edged his way out of the closet. He looked around nervously, as if there was a vampire hiding just around the corner, ready to pounce. When he didn’t see any, especially John, he relaxed marginally. He nodded at Jessica, who seemed annoying.
“I’d... rather not be introduced, thank you,” he said quietly.
“Aw, John scared the hell out of you last night, huh?” Jessica said, clucking her tongue in sympathy. She squeezed around Thad. “Don’t worry, he’s not an ass all the time.”
“Just most of it,” Thad muttered.
Jessica shot him a look before scooching over to Ashi’s side and gently urging him toward the door, waving off Clarisse as she made like she was going to “help” him along, too. The Irish vampire hardly came up to his shoulder. “Come on, you’re probably cold from blood loss and need something to eat. I’ll help you.”
“Aw, lass, ye take the fun out o’ everything.” Clarisse pouted.
“Look at the poor guy, he’s been hiding in a closet for Chrissakes. No wonder he doesn’t want to play meet-and-greet.”
Ashi, once he realized they were going to leave the room, planted his feet. It wasn’t the frantic heel-digging that most would have done, but a very solid stance. Jessica was starting to get on his nerves. “Poor guy” was something he never wanted to hear applied to himself. Having his cowardice called to attention was not helping.
“I ate.” He glanced back at the closet. “I’d like to stay here.”
If she’d been a Goliath, he would have kicked her feet out from under her and stormed away. As it was, he settled on being a rock.
“Hiding won’t make the bad fangy things go away, lad,” Clarisse pointed out, though her point might have been taken better if she wasn’t grinning while she said it. “We’re just trying tae help.”
“Besides, I’m a doctor—”
“Almost a doctor,” Thad interjected, smiling.
“—almost a doctor, and I want to make sure everything’s as it should be,” Jessica stated.
“C’mon, lad, ye won’t get bit going across the hall.”
Ashi looked at Jessica. If he’d been Were, his eyes would have been gold.
“Thank you, Dr. Jessica. I. Am staying. Here.”
Each word was ground out through clenched teeth. Wild horses couldn’t drag him out of the room. There were bitey things out there and at least one of them was an evil creep. It was safer in here.
Jessica was exasperatingly patient. “You could have a delayed shock reaction, collapsed veins, and other nasty little things that will hurt a lot more to fix later than if you let me check now. Trust me, I know my stuff.”
“She does,” Thad said, smirking. “C’mon, she won’t do anything but stick you with needles and shine bright lights in your eyes and—”
“Yeah, that’s enough from the peanut gallery over there.”
Clarisse was snickering. “Methinks ye’ve met a stubborn one.”
Jessica rolled her eyes. “If you feel safer in here, I can bring my stuff over instead. Would that make you feel better?”
Clarisse brightened. “What if we brought little Analie up here? She’ll tell ye we’re not so bad, I’ll wager.”
With a snort, Thad headed back to the living room, leaving the girls to deal with Ashi’s unsociable ways as he slumped down onto the couch and shut his eyes. Looks like they’d be at this for a while.
Ashi took a step back from the two. “Thank you for your concern. I don’t need a doctor. I’d really just like to be left alone.”
It took all of his self-control not to say what he really wanted to. Jessica was infuriating. The short chick was almost as bad.
God, he should be at work right now. He should not be here!
Jessica gave him a look of bemused tolerance. “Look, it’s not like I’m not going to be giving you a prostate exam, I just want to make sure he didn’t do too much damage.”
With that, she swept out, purposeful as she went to collect some of her medical equipment.
Clarisse beamed up at him, eyes twinkling with mirth as she took in his disgruntled attitude. “Can I give ye a word of advice, lad? Try tae make some friends. It might make all the difference in how pleasant ye find yer stay with us.”
At the look he gave her, she patted him on the shoulder, urging him toward the bed. “Let me tell ye a bit about how tae survive here. Ye might not yet have noticed, but Christoph was lucky enough tae have Mouse take an interest in him. She’s the only one who