Demon Night

her head; her hands patted her pockets.
    “I never took you for shy, Miss Charlie. You talk real easy with strangers,” he said.
    “Yeah, but clubs, there’s lots of shouting and no real conversation, because you can’t hear anything.” She glanced up at him, then stuck out her bottom lip and blew her hair out of her face. “In New York, we’d hit the clubs…but my favorite part was going for fresh air and a cigarette. Because all of the other smokers were out there, and you got a chance to talk to someone. You ask for a light, and then you end up finding out half their life story.”
    He’d wager it wasn’t as simple as someone spilling their story; never had he known Easterners to be that friendly. More likely, she’d put them at ease by giving them her full attention and listening well. It was as comfortable talking to her as it had always been to Caleb.
    Hell, maybe more so.
    “And even now, when I see someone smoking outside a restaurant or on their break, I want to stop and chat. I think I miss that instant connection more than I do the cigarettes.” She stopped digging in her pockets and sighed. “I’ve lost my ID card.”
    “I reckon it’s still in the communications room, since we left in such an all-fired rush,” he said in his slowest drawl, mostly so he could see her crooked fangs again. “I’ve got mine, but it’ll be more entertaining to piss off Jeeves.”
    He saw her brace herself when he used his Gift, and remembering the nervous comment she’d made after rolling off of him, he gave the locks another push before he asked, “That’s different than when you’re feeding from me, then?”
    She nodded as they moved into the corridor. “Like standing next to a speaker with the bass pounding. No noise, but that thump through your chest. With the blood, though, it sounded like you. Only cold, like the…” She glanced at Jeeves, and her cheeks flushed. “Like the metal.”
    Ethan suppressed his grin. Like the handcuffs.
    She said under her breath, “And it wasn’t hot . You know.”
    Ethan frowned into the retinal scanner. If she meant what he was thinking she did, and it hadn’t felt sexual, that was downright peculiar. He’d been damn near crazy with wanting her.
    “Hold on a minute, Jeeves,” he said when Charlie finished her scans. She looked up at him, her brows lifting. “You fed real well, Charlie, so I figure this won’t trigger your bloodlust—and I’m curious to see how opening this door feels to you. It’s an electromagnetic lock, not metal.”
    She blinked several times. “You mean you want me to…” Her gaze settled on his neck. “Here?”
    He pushed up his left jacket sleeve, exposing his wrist. “I was thinking more like hereabouts.”
    She shook her head, smiling. “I meant here , in front of—”
    “I know it, Charlie,” he said softly. “I’ll hold on to you; I wouldn’t ask you if I thought it meant you’d be embarrassing yourself.”
    She darted a glance at Jeeves, but the novice had the sense to be staring straight ahead with one hell of a poker face on. “All right.”
    He drew her in, turned her around so they were both facing the door, and wrapped his right arm around her waist. Anticipation tingled over his skin as she brought his wrist to her mouth, but he pushed the pleasure away, concentrated on the lock.
    “Now, you get a good sip, Charlie, and as soon as you’re in, I’ll slide it on open.”
    “Okay.” Her response was a puff of cold air against his wrist; a sting followed it, then the soft euphoria of a sated vampire drinking hummed into his veins.
    Ethan closed his eyes before they rolled back in his head. Sweet Jesus. Maybe he’d just ask her to do this all the time.
    When they weren’t out in the corridor.
    He felt the locks with his Gift, taking his time. Charlie stiffened up at the first touch, then relaxed back against him.
    She released him as soon as the door opened, tilting her head to the side and looking up to meet his eyes. “It was different. Still you underscoring it all, but more like…Have you ever touched a nine-volt battery to your tongue?”
    Ethan shook his head. “If we got one lying around, I will.”
    “No, no.” A laugh tripped from her. “It hurts, but it was like that without hurting. But it makes your tongue—” She demonstrated with her hand, straightening her fingers then bowing them, holding them so tight they shook. “Just, zapped.”
    “The electric current running through