"You're pretty when you smile," Nolan said weakly.
Her gaze shifted to him. Once, he'd probably been handsome. His bone structure was total perfection, his body tall and packed with just the right amount of muscle. But now, ashen and bruised as he was, he just looked pitiful. "Thank you, and thanks for the loan, by the way."
A choking sound bubbled from his throat. A laugh? "Please, you won't pay me back."
No, she wouldn't. She couldn't work during the day, her skin was too sensitive, and she couldn't hold a job at night since she needed to hunt. She had to steal what money she could. "Thanks for the gift, then."
"You're welcome." He sounded sincere.
"Listen," she said. "You seem like a nice guy despite the fact that you had AIR gunning for you. I want you to know that I don't plan, to hurt you."
His gaze locked with hers, grim but determined. "If you don't want to hurt me, you have to let me go."
Did she look stupid? "Do you have a terribly infectious disease?”
“Yes," he said, shocking her. She hadn't expected him to answer honestly.
"Then you understand that I can't let you loose on the streets." She rubbed a hand over her forehead and sighed. "I need to take a shower, but maybe we can talk afterward, okay? I'll tell you my plans for you.”
“I'd like that."
"I'll hurry." In her bedroom, Bride brushed her teeth, rushed through an enzyme shower, and quickly dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Took her ten minutes. Ten minutes she used to breathe deep and get her hunger under control. Finally she dragged a chair in front of Nolan's cage, her fangs retracted. He hadn't moved an inch. "I'm back. Now, before I tell you what's to be done with you, why don't you tell me why Devyn wants you?"
His eyes, once most likely a vibrant blue, were now dull and glazed with pain. "Do his plans affect yours?"
"Yes." If Devyn didn't want him as much as she suspected he did, she would have no use for him.
"At least you're honest." The shoulder not pressed into the cot lifted in a weak shrug. "Devyn wants me because I need sex, and I need sex because Devyn wants me."
O-kay. Great. That explained everything. "Let's try a different angle. Maybe break it down for me like I'm a five-year-old child."
"Nope. I answered you, whether you realize it or not. Now you have to answer something for me. Why did you take me from that alley?"
Easy enough. "Devyn has something I want. A few things, actually." And he would give them to her. First, he would take her to the women he'd bedded that day. Would do no good to go to the place he'd sexed them up. The scent was long gone, she was sure.
If neither of them was Aleaha, she would make him take her to everyone he'd been around that day. Then, he would tell her everything he knew about vampires. Maybe even introduce her to the ones he knew.
"And you plan to trade me for these things?" Nolan asked.
She played with the hem of her shirt, but didn't shrink from his gaze. "Yes. In a perfect world I would have captured him and put him in the cage, but this isn't a perfect world, and I had to make do with what I could." She was grumbling.
"Why didn't you? Lock him up, I mean?"
"Nope. Your turn to answer something. Did Devyn plan to kill you, or simply capture you?"
"I don't know. My guess is capture. My queen is on her way to this planet, and Devyn, along with the rest of AIR, is desperate to know when and where she'll arrive."
Then Devyn wanted him back for more reasons than she'd realized. Did life get any better than this? "Your disease—"
"Is deadly, yes. If that's what you planned to ask. AIR expects me to let it eat away at my body, destroying me. They don't understand that I just want to live. Like everyone else, I just want to live. And ... love." His voice dripped with sadness. "I've never fallen in love, and that's something everyone deserves a chance to experience."
"I've been alive a long, long time. Trust me, you're better off without the emotion. It just leads to hurt."
"Nevertheless."
Well, she'd warned him. That's all a girl could do. "Your turn to answer," he said. "Why didn't you just lock up Devyn?"
"Originally, that was my plan. That's why I erected the cage. But as I was watching him stalk you, I realized that if he can freeze me in place, he can also force me to move the way he wants, so he'd just have me unlock the cage, defeating the purpose of bringing him here. I didn't relish the idea of being at his mercy in my own home."
"Smart girl. So if you could lock him up without having to worry about his taking over your body,
would you let me go and lock him up in my place?"
She thought about it; she really did. Because, God, it was tempting. This guy could help her. Devyn hadn't been able to manipulate his body the way he'd done hers, and with Nolan's help, Devyn probably wouldn't be able to manipulate hers anymore. But in the end, she couldn't do it. Couldn't free this otherworlder, no matter the reason. By his own admission, he was infected with something dangerous and contagious, and she couldn't willingly unleash that upon the unsuspecting world. A girl needed to eat.
With the thought, her shoulders slumped. Why couldn't she eat like before? "No need to answer," he said with a sigh. "I can read the decision in your eyes."
Perceptive man. "So how'd you dodge those pyre-beams? I can do it, sure, but I've been doing it for a long time. Which also means I've seen a lot of aliens over the years. I've never seen one move like you. And yeah, I could still see you when you shed your color."
He regarded her intently for a moment, as though an internal battle was raging inside his mind. Finally, his shoulders lifted in another shrug. "Don't let my weak appearance fool you. The disease I told you about?
It's a being inside of me, a parasite that grows stronger while my health declines. It told me when and where to move."
A being that spoke to him? Poor guy needed a psychiatrist, she thought, then blinked. He'd dodged those beams, something she had already admitted she'd never seen another person do. And while he did appear near death, he didn't look crazy. "Did this being also help you absorb those stun rays rather than lose control of your body?"
Slowly he grinned and glided a trembling finger along the necklace he wore. "That was all me, baby."
That grin lit up his face and erased the grayish tint to his skin, offering a glimpse of the devilishly handsome man he'd been before. "How? The necklace?"