Beautiful Danger

But if the Order did not police the vampires, then who would? The Council? The little Lark knew about that organization of paranormals who oversaw the paranormal realms was that they watched, and rarely intervened. They would never act against one of their own simply because he’d slain a mortal to feed his blood lust.

Lark felt a hand on her arm. Or maybe Domingos brushed the end of her ponytail. The vampire’s touch didn’t land on her for long, just testing, making the briefest yet cruelest contact.

The longtooth bastards had never touched Todd so gently.

She flipped her hair over a shoulder and pounded the slate tiles with a fist. Through gritted teeth, she growled, “Would you get the hell away from me?”

“You don’t own the roof. I can sit where I want to.” Domingos leaned back on his elbows, stretching out his legs and crossing one ankle over the other. He wiggled his toes. The Order clothing fit him well, and—She wasn’t going to admire him. “Do I bring all this bad stuff up from inside your tender little soul?”

“Tender?” She scoffed. “It has nothing to do with you, vampire.”

“You’re lying.”

“You think yourself far more important than others do, obviously.”

“I am the least important thing to walk this world. Insignificant.”

“Save me the self-pity. We all have our crosses.”

“And yours is dragging through my path to salvation.”

“Poetic.”

“Just making an observation.” He rapped the tiles smartly. “I don’t like to see you sad.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“You are my death,” he said softly.

His words fluttered over her skin like something fragile, too delicate to hold without breaking further.

“Yeah?” Lark dismissed the ridiculous image. “If I’m your death, you don’t look too worried. I can take you out, vampire. I’m just a little…off…tonight. I’m tired. I’ve only slept a few hours.”

“Then we should reconvene tomorrow night. Same roof? Same stake?”

Lark smiled wearily, then tucked her head against her elbow, looking over her arm at him. His crazy smile wasn’t so much insane as charming, and charming promised nothing good for her.

“I can’t figure you out,” she said. “I can see the madness. But I also see a soul behind your fucked-up eyes.”

“I bet you’ve never looked into the eyes of your victims before you stake them, eh?”

“It’s not very smart. Track ’em and take ’em out. That’s the way of it. Live to serve. Serve until death. Die fighting.”

“Is that the Order’s motto? Special. You gotta love an organization that has its own kick-ass yet self-sacrificing motto.”

Lark was amused but couldn’t manage a smile. It was true. The knights kicked ass and sacrificed all for the cause. Rarely did the knight have a family and friends, though certainly Todd had tried. He had known his job demanded all. He just hadn’t realized a family life would demand as much of him. Nor had she.