Chapter Seventeen: Stephen
Raven stood on his terrace, watching how the moonlight glinted off of the pond behind his property. He sipped whiskey on the rocks, something to strong to ease his troubled mind. Inside his home were those he had to protect, and he didn't even know why. For someone who had made it a point not to get close to anyone, he'd let entirely too many people near.
He sighed before he brought the crystal glass up to his lips and let the rest of the amber liquid burn down his throat. It was because of that nearness they were all at risk. There was Abi, a human who teetered between both worlds and Raven now knew neither he nor Constantine had the willpower any longer to resist taking her that final inch over to immortality. A couple of hunters who, a scant hundred years ago, he would have eliminated the moment he realized they posed any threat. And a vampire whom he had regretted turning from almost the moment he had done it, a continual thorn in his side for longer than he cared to remember.
They were all his to protect now.
How did that happen?
"Are you all right?" a female voice asked from behind, and Raven turned to see Ginger standing there, in loose fitting pajama bottoms and an old concert T-shirt that clung to her body like a second skin. "Peachy," he quipped. "For a dead guy." He brushed past her and headed back to the bar to pour himself another drink. "Can I get you something?"
She joined him and pulled another crystal glass from the shelf. "Make it a double."
He smirked as he filled her glass. "No Vampire-be-Gone? Are you sure you can trust me?"
"Yes."
It was stated simply, and Raven glanced up into her endless green eyes. "That's what your sister thought. Now she's upstairs sleeping off four bites on her neck."
He went over to sit on his sofa. Ginger took a sip before she followed. "I'm not my sister."
His eyes bored into hers. "I'm well aware."
His body still tingled at the thought of their kiss; a kiss that was doomed to destroy him had they not broken apart.
Death by a kiss, he thought. What a fitting way to go. If they had sex, he might just explode in more ways than one.
"So what are you doing up, Ginger?" he asked. "I thought you'd be in bed with your husband."
She tucked her foot under her knee as she perched on a nearby chair. "Hunter is not my husband," she admitted. Raven raised his eyebrow in an unspoken question. "He said that hoping it'd keep Abi away from the club and away from the Creature. We have a lot of history," she confided.
"I know," he told her bluntly. "Jealous sister, ditched boyfriend. Classic somebody done somebody wrong song."
She nodded and took another drink.
"So who is Hunter to you now?"
"My partner," she answered almost absently. "When he showed up in Europe, I was ... well I wasn't in the best situation. He got me out of it. He's stayed by my side ever since."
"So you owe him?"
"No," she rejected immediately. "I love Hunter."
"But...?"
She sighed. "I don't know. But nothing, I guess. I just don't think in terms of forever anymore."
He just laughed. "You mortals. As if you could think in terms of forever anyway."
She nodded. That was exactly the point. As vampire hunters they walked the line with life or death constantly, and it wasn't fair to ask someone to risk their hearts in addition to their lives. She glanced at Raven to find him staring at her thoughtfully. "Looks like none of us own forever anymore... vampire or human."
He said nothing as he took another drink, but he never took his eyes from her face. Finally, "So how many vampires have you killed, Ginger?"
She looked away. "It's not important."
"That's a matter of perspective. To a vampire, it's very important."
She looked him in the eye. "I've hunted more than I've killed. Let's just leave it at that."
Raven sat up and placed his glass on the table. "I'm afraid I can't." He came over to stand in front of her. "If you won't tell me where your limits are, I'll be forced to test them." He bent down to eye level. "Is that what you want?"
She didn't bat an eye. "I want you to trust me. I'm no threat to you."
He smirked. "No?" He leaned in, and though she knew she should have moved away she couldn't. His lips touched hers, tentatively at first and then more urgently. His skin burned and electricity hummed between them as his tongue probed between her lips and brushed against her tongue. She heard his skin sizzle but he refused to pull away from her, and instead kissed her harder almost to punish her for the pain.
When he pulled away, bits of his skin had burned away. "You see how dangerous you are to me?" he whispered, and she thought she might very well drown in his eyes.
"Then save yourself," she managed to eke out. "Stay away from me."
He chuckled as his eyes scanned her face, the curve of her jaw, the fullness of her lips, the brightness of her eyes rimmed with dark lashes. "If only I could," he whispered back. He leaned in again but this time she sprung from the chair sprinted from the room before he could kiss her again.
She didn't stop running until she reached the suite she now called home. Full of purple velvet, black satin and lace, it felt like movie set more than a bedroom. And with Hunter sprawled naked across the bed, an adult movie at that.
She embraced herself as she stared down at him. She wasn't lying to Raven when she said she loved Hunter. She had, in some way or another, since she was fifteen years old. And had it not been for Hunter, she'd be dead by now.