Torsten sighs again, though it sounds different to a regular sigh, hollow, like a wind blowing through the inside of a catacomb.
The man leaps with the knife, slashing with a speed that seems vicious and unstoppable.
But then – so quickly I hardly even have time to register it – the knife is on the floor and the man is lying on his back, gasping up at the night sky, making a choking noise that sounds like he’s on the verge of passing out.
Torsten blinks into existence in front of me, facing down the other men.
“Well?” he snarls.
Several of them let out guttural cries and leap at him.
Blink, blink, blink.
They all end up on the asphalt, clutching their injuries, whirrs of movement so quickly I’d need a special slow-motion camera to see how they got there.
I’m stunned to see that five of the nine men are lying on the ground, with the remaining four slowly creeping away, their mouths agape.
One man was smoking and his cigarette falls to the ground and extinguishes with an oddly loud hiss as he stares.
“Are we done?” Torsten says, sounding bored and utterly in control.
The men turn at the same time and sprint away, their heads ducked as they pump their arms so quickly it’s like they’re trying to dislocate them.
Torsten kneels down next to the leader and grips the back of his neck. He holds him with his thumb and forefinger, but the way the man squirms tells me everything I need know about the power in Torsten’s grip.
If this is a trick, it’s the most well-orchestrated trick in the world, and if that’s the case, how the heck did Torsten know I’d take this particular route? Surely there’d be equipment to fake his speed? Surely there’d be prep?
I feel a swelling inside of me.
It’s true.
Jesus Christ.
Torsten really is a vampire.
“Apologizes,” he snarls. “Now.”
“S-sorry,” the man whimpers. “I’m so sorry. Jesus. Please. Don’t kill me.”
Torsten glances up at me, a glinting question in his eyes.
“It’s fine,” I say quickly. “Let him lie in the dirt where he belongs.”
“Hmm,” Torsten growls, and then stands up with the grace of a jungle cat. He places a hand on Chipper’s head. “Calm, boy. Be calm. You’re safe. You’re protected.”
I feel Chipper’s body relax, his heartbeat no longer pounding as though it’s trying to bust out of his chest.
“Did you …”
“No,” he says. “I wouldn’t use a charm without your permission.”
When we walk out onto the street, into the greater light of the street lamps, I can see that steam is rising from Torsten’s skin. It whirls into the air and then dissipates like smoke.
“I swam here,” he says. “And now, well, just being close to you is burning me up, Tammy.”
“Can I …”
Am I really going to say this?
“Can I feel?”
He nods and, feeling like I’m in some kind of dream, I reach across and place my palm against his neck. I gasp as the heat shoots up my arm and all through my body, infusing me, causing my sex to tighten and heat and my nipples to tingle with longing.
“Jesus,” I whisper.
“Do you believe me yet?” he asks with a wry twist of his mouth.
“I guess I’m still trying to fit it all into my head,” I whisper as we walk back toward my apartment building. “So you were a Viking?”
He nods.
“And you’re like a thousand years old?”
He nods again.
“And you’ve chosen me? Your magic amulet thingy, it’s chosen me?”
“I chose you, yes,” he growls. “I’ve never scented anyone like you before. It’s like there’s something deep inside of you calling to me, Tammy. I can’t explain it. All I can say is that the amulet confirms it. You’re the woman from my prophecy. You’re the only woman I’ve ever felt like this about. You’re mine. You fucking belong to me. That’s what I’m telling you.”
“Jeez,” I whisper, licking my lips. “I guess that should freak me out, right?”
“I don’t know,” he growls. “Does it?”
“I don’t know,” I giggle softly. “Probably … not as much as it should?”
“Why do you ask that like a question?”
“Because being sure about anything right now is pretty freaking difficult.”
He nods and we walk in silence. But I can feel the heat radiating from him as we walk, and then getting cooler and cooler until he seems just like any other person.
“What the heck is that?” I ask as we walk up the graffiti-strewn stairs to my apartment.
“The only way to control what I feel for you is to bring an icy coldness over myself,” he explains. “It’s a technique I learned a long time ago to tame the blood-lust.”
“And I make you feel like that? Filled with lust?”
A shiver moves through me.
I can hardly believe we’re having this conversation.
“Yes,” he growls. “You did the second I saw you. No, even before that. The moment I scented you in the air, you filled me with this fierce desire.”
I open the door to my apartment, my hands shaking, everything tense and taut and tightly wound.
“So here we are,” I say, nodding to the small space. I keep it clean, but it’s really just a kitchen-living room with a bedroom and bathroom off to the side. “Home sweet freaking home.”
“Does Chipper have his own private area?” Torsten asks, walking into the living room and turning to me, his suit dry from the heat of his body.
“Y-yes,” I say, his look searing into me, spiraling through me.
I can’t believe this is happening.
“Send him there, if he’d be so gracious.”
I giggle even as primal need surges through me.
“Oh, Chipper is probably the most gracious dog you’ll ever meet. Bed, boy. Go to bed.”
I place him down and the little wiener dog is only all too glad to pad to the corner of the living room and wriggle under the mound of blankets he calls home.
And then, in a flash of movement, Torsten’s arms are wrapped around me and I’m floating into my bedroom.
The door closes quietly behind us and he places me down, spinning me so that I’m facing him.
His heat erupts and burns into my skin, so hot it’s like being inside a sauna.
He pushes me up against the wall and leans down, his fangs glinting in the light from the open window, his blue eyes searing into me.
“I can’t wait anymore,” he says fiercely. “I need to taste you.”
“Oh, jeez,” I whisper as he pushes his lips against mine.
I gasp and wrap my arms around him, clutching onto his solid back and closing my eyes. His lips are as fire-hot as the rest of him, tingly warmth dances over my lips and into my mouth, deep inside of me, down to my womb and my sex and every single sultry inch of my body.
Our tongues clash together and mine briefly moves over his canines, sharper than I ever would’ve believed, huge carnal teeth that proclaim his dominance over the assholes who lurk in the dark.
I moan and push even closer to him, wanting to throw myself wildly into this moment, wanting to not have to worry about where this is going to go.