I shot him a look, cocking an eyebrow up. “Now you ask? Aren’t we a tad bit late for those formalities?”
Another point for ‘formalities.’
His gaze just turned more heated, if that was an option.
“What is your name?”
I waited a beat, though I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t like being called by my full name, but that was my only hang-up with my name.
“I could find out.”
Now I flicked my eyes upwards. “I’m sure you could. Who are you, hmm? Want to know my name, I’d like yours first.”
He said almost on the same breath as I ended my sentence, “Kieran Raoul.”
Kieran—I choked.
Correction.
I was choking.
That name. No way.
I snorted, laughing. “Yeah, right.”
He only looked at me.
He was serious.
I jerked forward. “No way!”
Kieran Raoul was a story told to us non-humans. A bedtime book to scare us into behaving and not going out to kill humans. He was as ancient as they came, knowing the origins of the vampire species, even the werewolves. It was whispered that the demon masters came to the surface to pay him homage, to give him presents. That the messengers above swept down to meet with him personally.
No one knew what he was, but he wasn’t supposed to be real.
Or alive.
He was a mythical creature to the mythical creatures.
And I was officially lightheaded again.
My voice was so faint, even to my ears. “Legend says that you rule the Eastern Hemisphere.”
“I do.”
His tone was so monotone, matter-of-fact.
I—I was freaking.
My pulse skyrocketed.
I was feverish, sweating buckets.
My legs took on the definition of a hyperactive kid with restless leg syndrome on steroids.
I had to get out of there.
He was the Big Bad. Like the OG Big Bad.
He could kill me with a thought, or the blink of an eye.
Panic rose up, swirling around and around in me as I tried again to look for a door within jumping distance, or a window I thought I could break.
Kieran Raoul was a killer, above all else.
We had rules to live by, and if anyone broke one, they were instantly incinerated in his hemisphere. At least that was the story we were told when we were younger. The ruler of our hemisphere was Matron Epux, the most earth-like an angel could get to being an archangel, and they were super powerful. But Kieran was something else entirely. He wasn’t rumored to be from evil or saint-like roots.
“You’re not joking?” I was whispering at this point. “Are you?”
Holding my gaze, he shook his head.
You cannot escape me, so stop looking for a way out. It’s insulting.
My breath left me at the same time. I was, once again, left lightheaded, this time for a completely different reason
I couldn’t process this. At all.
How did I get here?
I only meant to think that to myself, not directed at him.
Energists do not come out on dissension nights. I sensed you, and then took you. Coincidences rarely happen. You were there on purpose.
I wasn’t.
I could tell he didn’t believe me.
I tried again. I didn’t wake up and think, “I bet that super powerful badass that I don’t think exists is going to be at Nik’s club tonight.” I snorted more to myself than him, and glanced out the window. “Especially on the same day I left my boyfriend after I found him mid-thrust in a girl I know.”
I was still looking out the window, not really noticing the passing scenery, but at least looking anywhere but at him.
Instantly, I was back there, going into our apartment and hearing the moans, the groans. The roar right as I opened the door.
“He came as you walked in?”
My heart paused at the same time I whipped my head to his.
He could—he could see what I was seeing!
Holy invasion of all invasions!
GET OUT OF MY HEAD, YOU MONSTER ASSHOLE!
He winced, but I felt him withdrawing, and I gotta admit, that was a different sensation too. I wasn’t sure if I Iiked it, or was relieved, or disappointed.
That’d be for pondering later, a lot later, preferably a drunk me later.
“What are you planning for me again?”
His eyebrows lowered. “Why?” He blinked a few times, and I was thinking he needed to get that same visualization out of his head now.
Maybe I should invite him back in? I could go through the entire scene.
And the fork. I didn’t think I’d ever forget what I did with the fork.
Well. I threw it. At her vagina, then I had a strong urge to get the fuck out of there.
“What are the chances we could stop at a liquor store?”
He tilted his head forward, then blinked. “You were in dire straits to save your demon best friend, and now you’re asking if we can pull over to a liquor store?”
I sighed, slouching down in the vehicle. “I’m resigned to my fate. You’re right. Nik’s probably going to be fine. It’s dissension night, she usually avoids those like the plague, but she’s old enough where she’s supposed to be paying homage, so I get it. Which brings me back to my original plan for the night: getting drunk. Can we stop at a store?” I thought about it. “Can I owe you too? I didn’t bring my wallet with me.”
Which goes to show how drunk I was when I first left, or how blessed I am that I wouldn’t need my wallet getting to a nightclub, inside the club, and also with a free drink. I felt like that was all kinds of points owed me.
I grinned. “I’m in ‘dire straits’ to get liquored up if that’s any consolation.”
Another point for using ‘dire straits.’
He stared at me for ten more seconds before he released the slightest amount of air. He put his phone in his pocket at the same time as he hit a button overhead. “The nearest liquor store, Leon.”
“Yes, sire.”
Sire. Jeez.
I had no idea how to use that word in a sentence without sounding lame.
“Is there anything else you’d like? Lobster? A fresh human to feed off their energy?”
“Gross. I don’t do that.”
He was pulling his phone back out as it was buzzing, and he swiped the screen as he responded, “Of course you do, you’re an energy sensor.”
“Yeah. I sense energy. I don’t eat it.”
I felt the air shift in the car. Or the energy.
It was suddenly very, very tense, and I held my breath, noting the changes that came over him. His phone was ignored as his gaze was locked on me. I was pinned in place.
“You don’t eat energy?”
“No. That’s disgusting and a huge violation. Who am I to take their energy from them?”
“A relief to some, sexual to others.”
“Huh?”
I’d heard that wrong. Right?
“Where did you grow up?”
“Here.”
“You were not taught the proper way to be an energist?”
I grinned. “No, Sire Big Bad Ass. Apparently, I got no clue how to be an energist, which is what I’ve been all my life.”
So many points for me. I got ‘energist’ in there, on top of sire.
“You cannot be an energist and still be alive if you don’t eat energy.”