Chapter 18: Chapter 17

“I wasn’t sure where you went.” Adam pulled my chair out for me.

“Uh… yeah…” I didn’t think I could tell him a vampire had threatened me.

Adam frowned, but sat beside me as Bennett arrived behind me. There we were. Two couples based on lies and supernatural coincidences. As I looked around, I realized that we were at the best table. The restaurant was nice and by nice—I meant expensive. A fountain was in the middle of the restaurant and each table had a crystal goblet with three small goldfish swimming inside. Our glasses were diamond encrusted.

“Did you request this table?” I asked Adam.

“What?”

“This is the best table in the restaurant. Did you ask for this?”

Bennett lifted his whispering head. Emily fanned herself.

“No. I mean, I called and asked for the availability tonight. They weren’t doing reservations. We just got here. I couldn’t have… what was the question?”

“Nothing.” I shook my head with an easy smile. It didn’t matter, but I wondered if Roane had anything to do with the table. I hoped not. It didn’t help my confused emotions.

“Shall we order?” Bennett suggested.

I fixed him with a glare. “Right. You’re a big fan of… what? Salad?”

“Davy.” Both Emily and Adam reprimanded me.

I was nonplussed. “Maybe you can order the meat rare. You can tell them not to cook it, just slap it on a plate for you.”

“Davina.” Emily had remembered her prim and proper standards. She looked nauseous.

I arched an eyebrow, ready for whatever Bennett threw back, but Adam caught my hand and dragged me from the table.

“What is going on with you?” Adam tried to be nice, but he still sounded aggravated. It was somewhat endearing. He was like a gentleman that needed to ask something ungentlemanly, but couldn’t figure out the words.

“I don’t like him.”

Adam sighed and scratched the back of his head. A surge of warmth speared through me. He really was unlike everything else in my life. Stable. Honest.

“Hey.” I caught his hand and pulled it between us. “I like you.”

He was startled, but delight spread over his features. “Really?”

I squeezed his hand and moved closer. “I know that it’s sudden and fast and this is our first date, but… I just wanted to tell you that. I like you.”

“I like you too.” An anchor seemed to have lifted off him. “Wow. That feels good to have that off my chest.”

This is what I wanted, right? I wasn’t sure, but I held tight to his hand anyway. Adam glanced from my eyes to my lips and back again. I held my breath. I knew what he was going to do—he waited for a signal, any signal. If I moved just an inch he would’ve been a happy boy. I was stricken. Adam was what I wanted. I’d taken one look at him at the hotline and knew he would be mine. I enjoyed the chase and now the chase was done. Adam was mine. So why wasn’t I happy? Giddy? I was just…nothing.

Then I glanced over Adam’s shoulder and knew it would have to wait. Kates was at our table.

“What the—?” I straightened away from Adam and stepped around.

“What?” He looked too and froze in place.

I wasn’t sure why he seemed paralyzed, but I know that the sight of Kates whispering into Bennett’s ear wasn’t going to make my life any easier. What in the hell was she doing here? I didn’t wait to ponder and marched across the room. “What are you doing here? And with ~him~?”

Kates gasped, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m on a date.” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. Adam looked like he was caught in a pair of headlights.

“With him?”

Why was this so surprising?

“Yes. That’s Adam. I told you he was mine.” My chest puffed up a little bit.

“~That’s~ Adam?” Why was Kates so incredulous?

“Yes.” I felt like a broken record.

A myriad of emotions flashed across her face. Shock, bafflement, disdain, and horror. I didn’t care about the others, not really, but the horror caught me. I zeroed in and felt inside of her. What I felt made my toes curl.

Kates had a secret, a very shameful end-your-life type of secret. Bennett had told me that she was one of them, but I hadn’t given him credit. I did now. The Lu— that she was loyal to wasn’t Lucas. It was a vampire named Lucan. I remembered that two Families that had arrived in town, ready for a war. Lucan and Raitscliff. I highly doubted it was a coincidence. There were no coincidences when it came to the supernatural or to anything that regarded my life.

“Kates.” It was all I could mutter. I was still dumbfounded by what was planned and I saw the veil fall over her eyes. She knew that I knew. She knew ~how~ I knew. That’s when she grabbed my arm and held tight. Each of her fingers tightened over my elbow, but I couldn’t look away.

“What are you going to do?” The question choked me.

“You weren’t supposed to be here. You weren’t supposed to be a part of this.”

“But I am.”

Her fingers tightened again. They would’ve hurt if they’d been from anyone except my best friend. “Don’t.”

She hung her head, but her fingers still held my arm immobile. Then she made a decision and barked at Bennett, “Take him.”

Bennett nodded with an eager look in his eyes and rushed around me. He grabbed Adam and hauled him out of the restaurant.

“What’s going on…?” Emily started to run after Bennett, but stopped and looked at us. She looked confused as she saw Kates. “Davy? What’s going on… Kates?”

“Don’t,” I pleaded with Kates. I knew what was happening. I knew that Emily had seen too much, but I still tried.

Kates shook her head and strode forward. She clamped a hand on Emily and dragged both of us behind her. We burst into the cold air where a black van waited for us. The doors were open—beckoning and dark.

“Oh my god. No!” Emily cried out and dug her heels in.

She was no match for a vampire slayer. Kates tightened her hold and merely lifted Emily across the pavement and into the van. She let go of my arm in the process and I wasn’t sure if it was accidental or not. It didn’t matter. Kates started to climb into the van, but stopped and looked at me. I stood on the cold pavement, the chill bounced off my adrenaline, and I held my best friend’s gaze steadfastly.

Emily cried behind her and Adam groaned in pain.

I could bolt and I knew Kates wouldn’t chase after me. This was my best friend giving me a chance. I rubbed where she had held my elbow. It was a dull throb, but it didn’t matter.

“Davy.” Kates wanted me to run. She didn’t want me to be a part of this—little did she know how much I ~was~ a part of it all.

I made my mind up in that second and strode forward. Kates dropped into a chair and I crossed over her to drop into the chair beside her. Emily and Adam shrank back in their seats. The door slammed shut and the van shot off down the street.

“We got him?” Bennett turned around from his front seat. I wasn’t surprised to see a handgun in his hand, but did vampires even need weapons? I thought they were a weapon in themselves.

Kates reached to the floor and slammed a cartridge into her gun. “We got him, Benny.”

“Alrighty tighty, man. That was fresh.” Bennett grinned wolfishly, caught my look of disdain, and winked. “Come on, babe. You know our race. You’ve gotta appreciate how tight that was run.”

“How tight that was run? Your race? Babe?” I questioned dully and leaned forward. “You really want to ask my opinion?”

Bennett cut an uneasy look towards Kates. “You hopped in all by yourself. No one made you come.”

“Right, because when my friends are being kidnapped, I’d really appreciate the opportunity to run and hide. I’ll remember that next time.”

“You don’t have to be such a bitch,” Bennett muttered underneath his breath and turned back to look out the front window.

“What is going on? I don’t understand—my arm really hurts,” Emily moaned from the back.

Bennett smiled wolfishly.

“You like this, don’t you.” I was starting to ~really~ hate this vampire.

“Davy,” Kates hushed me.

I shook off her restraining hand and narrowed my eyes. “You’re like all the rest. You enjoy hurting people. You get off on it?”

Bennett chuckled and shook his head. “You mean like your ex-boyfriend? I knew him, you know.”

“He wasn’t my boyfriend,” I snarled.

“That’s what Craig used to say too.” He didn’t believe me at all.

“Bennett,” Kates tried to hush him. It hadn’t worked with me.

“You have horrible taste in men. Craig was fun to hang out with, but he was off his radar.”

Emily squeaked. “What are you talking about, Bennett? What is he talking about, Davy? Kates?”

The only one not talking was Adam. I wondered why… and then I heard my answer from Kates as she turned to look at me. “We were sent to get the Immortal’s boyfriend.”

Adam seemed to shrink underneath her gaze. His hair was messed and his shirt was wrinkled. Then I saw the guilt in his eyes, in those adorable pure-kindness almond eyes. The anchor dropped. “What is she talking about?”

Bennett started to laugh.

“Shut up, Bennett!” Kates swiftly punched him.

Bennett seemed shocked and then he growled. It was an unearthly growl, a sound that only the undead could produce. The sound sent shivers down my back.

Emily shrieked.

I wanted Bennett dead, not silenced, but it didn’t matter in that moment. I turned around, placed a hand on my seat, and felt the cold plastic material underneath my fingers. “Boyfriend?”

Adam flushed and hung his head in shame. “I… Shelly and I are dating.”

Shelly and him—they were dating. The words met my ears, but I sat back, dazed, as I let them comprehend…. I liked Adam. I actually did, but… I didn’t too… and I was so confused. Was this remorse that I was feeling?

“What’d I tell you? Bad taste in men. You should stick to my kind.”

“Bennett, I swear that if you don’t shut up, I will slice your head off!” Kates grated out.

“Your kind?” Emily moaned, tearful.

My throat burned, but when didn’t it? I felt the first tingle in my stomach, deep inside, but I sucked in a ragged breath. Roane told me no Immortal stuff, certainly not with my current company. I wanted so badly to do something, to follow through with Kates’ threat.

“You’re one of us, Kates. Don’t get all twisted and holy. You’re in this all the way. Just like the rest of us. It’s a tough break your buddy got brought along, but that’s what you get for living in two worlds. You can’t have it all, Katie.”

“Do not call me Katie,” Kates warned. Lethal.

Bennett laughed and turned back around.

I glanced at the driver. He’d remained quiet the entire time. I couldn’t see his face at all, except a small side section. He was dressed in all black. A black baseball cap was pulled low over his eyes. It overshadowed the side of his face, but I caught a prominent cheekbone. Whoever he was, he had angular cheekbones. That was Kates’ type. She liked her men lean and with those hollow cheeks.

“You said that you were sent for the Immortal’s boyfriend. That’s Adam?”

“Yeah.” Kates frowned in sympathy. She raised a hand and I watched, immobile, as it descended in the air.

That’s when I snapped. I gasped and caught her hand. “Don’t you dare have pity on me. Don’t you ~dare~ try to comfort me like a friend. You don’t have that right. Don’t you dare….”

Kates blanched.

I gripped harder.

I felt the pain slice through her arm. It flared in her sapphire eyes, but I didn’t care. I sunk my fingers tighter in her arm until she cried out, “Davy, stop. Please…” She whimpered the last word.

Disgusted, I flung her arm away and sat back in my chair. I turned towards the window as I watched the scenery fly by.

In the back, Emily whimpered right alongside my betrayer. “Have we been kidnapped?”

“Yes, Emily,” I murmured dully. “We’ve been kidnapped.”