First Drop of Crimson (Night Huntress World 1)

"Stop fretting about things like that. I'm not." Spade kissed her other hand. "I'll see you soon."

He left, closing the door. Denise glanced at the dangling, useless handle and then her reflection. Any situation is better faced with an empty bladder and a clean body, she reminded herself. Oh, and a lack of tuna-vomit breath.

After Spade laid some clothes out on the bed for Denise - and threw away the remnants of milk and tuna - he found Crispin in the drawing room, sipping a whiskey and swirling the liquid around in silent contemplation.

"Where's Nathanial?" Spade asked.

"In one of the new vampire holding cells in the basement. Best place for him. He'd have to shift into vapor to escape that, not that he has any intention of trying to run away." Crispin set down his glass with a sardonic snort. "He thinks you're his bloody hero."

Spade sat across from him. "He said that? Or you heard it in his thoughts?"

"His thoughts," Crispin replied. "Bloke reckons you stole him away from Web to get his help in controlling the demon essence in Denise. He has no idea he's to be exchanged for the removal of that essence."

Spade digested that without a hint of sympathy. He'd do far worse than sacrifice one unworthy sod who'd signed away his own fate to save Denise from the destructiveness of those brands.

"We need to keep him away from Denise as much as possible. She's already begun to feel guilty over the matter."

"Agreed. When do you intend to summon the demon?"

Spade's mouth twisted. "Like to do it straightaway, except there's the small matter of my not knowing how to kill Raum. I don't fancy trusting the demon at his word that he'll release Denise instead of simply killing her, once he has Nathanial back."

Crispin gave him a shrewd look. "Your lad in the basement might prove useful for that. If he thinks you mean to destroy Raum, I wager he'd be more than forthcoming with any information he has to assist that."

Spade would wager that, too, but he had no intention of destroying Raum unless it was a last resort. He wanted the brands off Denise. Not to kill Raum on sight, dooming her to forever carrying the demon's marks.

"Cat's sleeping?" he asked absently.

Crispin nodded. "Once she knew Denise was safely back, she couldn't hold out any longer."

Ian sauntered in, his turquoise gaze flicking over the two of them before he settled himself into a chair.

"Wretched unfair, it is," he remarked. "Of the three of us, I'm the one who's always collected the rare and unusual, yet you two managed to snag the world's most unusual women. First you, Crispin, with the only living half-breed, who then turned into an even more unusual vampire. And now you, Charles, have bagged a shape-shifter. Thought you were joking when you said Denise was the kitty. I'm simply green with jealousy."

"Denise won't be a shape-shifter for long," Spade said sharply. "And once she has those brands off, I don't intend for her to remain human, either."

Even as the words left his mouth, the hairs on Spade's neck stood on end. Crispin's expression turning grim only confirmed it. Slowly, Spade turned around to meet Denise's shocked gaze.

"Bootleg and Lyceum were right. You really do expect me to turn into a vampire." Her voice was incredulous. "Why would you think I'd do that?"

Bones and Ian left the room without a word. Denise barely noticed them, concentrating on Spade's face, hoping he'd tell her she had misunderstood what he meant.

But he didn't. Instead his expression darkened as he rose. "Why would I think you'd do that?" he repeated. "Why wouldn't I, now that we're together? You didn't truly believe I'd be content to allow you to remain human, did you?"

Denise felt betrayal welling up in her. He'd just decided she'd change her species without even talking to her about it? She'd been willing to fight her PTSD and stay in the vampire world, just to be with him. But no matter how sweet he acted toward her, he'd never gotten past his prejudice against her being a human. She'd thought Spade accepted her for who she was, but all along, it hadn't been good enough.

"I have always been clear about the fact that if I got these brands off, I was going back to being a normal human. That hasn't changed."

Spade was in front of her in a blink, his hands gripping almost painfully into her shoulders.

"You were willing to sacrifice your humanity to protect my life, yet you're not willing to sacrifice it for our relationship?" He let out a cruel laugh. "And here I believed you when you said you weren't interested in a casual shag, but clearly that's all I am to you."

Denise shoved at him, but it didn't even make him flinch. "I shouldn't need to change into a vampire to be good enough for a relationship with you!"

"Fancy being a ghoul instead? Fine, choose that," he flared.

She gaped at him. Did he really despise humans this much?

"I'm not going to change my species just to be worthy of a relationship with you," Denise got out, anger seeping over the hurt of his rejection. "If I'm not good enough for you as I am, then we're through."

Spade's eyes went green and fangs jutted out from his teeth. "So be it. I wish you joy of your short life."

He spun on his heel and strode out, his preternatural grace and speed emphasizing that the differences between them were insurmountable. Denise heard the front door slam seconds later. Only when she was sure that Spade had left the house did she finally allow her tears to fall.

Chapter Thirty

"That was impressively inept of you."

Spade cursed but kept walking through the dense forest that bordered the house, not deigning to respond to Ian.

The crunching sounds of leaves continued behind him. "If I were a betting man, I'd wager the lass is in tears right now," Ian went on.

Spade's jaw clenched. "Not bloody likely. She's the one who just threw me away, not the reverse."

"Hmm. I suppose. If you've resigned yourself to things being over between you two, then I think I'll wander back to the house and see if the fetching little shape-shifter is in need of any comfort - "

Spade had Ian against a tree when a knowing laugh made him drop his hands.

"Indeed, right finished with her, you are," Ian taunted him.

He forced himself to step back from Ian, cursing that he'd so easily fallen into that one.

"It doesn't matter that I still feel for her. She's as good as dead as a human, and I'm not going through that again."

The knowledge burned like silver in his heart. Lovely, brave, stubborn Denise. Rotting in a grave within a few fleeting decades - if she was lucky. Sooner, if she wasn't. He couldn't tolerate that. It had nearly destroyed him with Giselda.