“Turned around and staked her,” he says bluntly. “You wanted to know,” he adds at my mortified expression.
“Cade! That’s…”
“A genius plan? I thought so. So, did my tutor,” he says proudly.
“Oh, the gods,” I say to him. “I am speechless.”
“That’s probably a first,” he snorts.
I ignore the barb and say, “I thought you would rather shoot yourself in the eye than be with one of my kind? Not to mention killing yourself before you let one of us get our fangs in you.”
“Again,” he says simply. “I had a job to do and I did it the best way I could.”
“And that is why you are known as the best Vampire Hunter in the history of Hunters,” I remark.
“Am I?” he asks, surprised. “That’s nice to know.”
“Was she your first?” I ask slyly, trying to knock him off his high horse.
“Oh, now what do you take me for? I can assure you; I was an accomplished lover by the time I got to her.”
“At sixteen?” I croak.
“Weren’t you?” he asks back just as slyly, and I shake my head in honesty.
“No. That wasn’t our way back then. I was ridiculously naïve. Before I met CK, the only man I had been with was my husband, and that wasn’t exactly a normal setting.”
“Husband? Huh. I find that hard to believe.”
“Well, a thousand years has brought me out of my shell a bit,” I say dryly, and he laughs again.
“A bit? No, in all honesty, I was fairly innocent. It was what attracted her to me the most.”
“Yes, innocence can be seductive,” I say, thinking of my own sire and his wonder at me being so sweet. “Her name?”
“Sasha,” he says, and I think I see a small shadow pass over his features.
“Did you feel anything for her?”
“Other than contempt for what she was? No,” he says almost too forcefully.
“Do you feel contempt for me?”
“I did,” he says warily. “Having gotten to know you a little better, I see that you are more than just a bloodsucking leech.”
“As are most of us,” I point out.
He shrugs. “I am only concerned about you. You are a productive member of society. Pay your taxes, give back. You have morals, such as they are, towards feeding and killing. Well, at least now, I assume that wasn’t always the case. I like you,” he states to my surprise. “But I won’t ever forget what you are.”
Hm. “I like you too. And I, too, won’t ever forget what you are.”
He chuckles. “Well then, we should have a very successful business relationship. For however long it lasts.”
“It could last forever,” I say with a feral grin.
He huffs at me. “Why do you insist on bringing that up almost every time we speak?”
“I just like to remind you that you have options,” I say, tapping my sharp nails on the table.