Chasing the Shadows (Nikki & Michael 3)

"Good grief."

He chuckled softly. “You spent quite a few years on the streets as a teenager. Surely you saw more shocking sights than old men chasing young boys."

"Well, yeah. It's just I never figured you were one of those young boys."

"I ran very fast,” he said solemnly. “Believe me, he never caught me."

"And after death?"

"They quickly found their attention directed elsewhere." She raised an eyebrow, amusement touching her full lips. “Including the females?"

"Of course. How could you think otherwise?"

"Something to do with the expertise you show in certain fields,” she said dryly. “What if this vampire intends to lure you into a trap?"

"I doubt he'd do anything in a crowded café."

"What if he's seizing the opportunity to size up the opposition?"

"Then that'll make two of us, won't it?” He studied her for a moment. “What is it about this meeting that worries you?"

"I don't know. He doesn't sound anything like Jasper or Cordell. He sounds normal, and he's very obviously not.” She bit her lip for a moment, her gaze sweeping the fog-enshrouded darkness around them. “I think it's going to be a lot harder to stop him than it was either of them."

"Which is why—"

Anger flared through the link, singeing his senses. “Don't say it,” she warned, pulling her fingers from his.

“Not unless you want an all-out argument right here on the street." He didn't want to argue at all, here or anywhere else. You keep complaining I don't listen to you, and yet you refuse to consider my reasons.

Her gaze searched his, expression annoyed. “Maybe you're right. Maybe you should fully explain your reasons."

He reached out, brushing the moisture from the tip of her nose. “Not out here. It's too wet."

"The fog may be damp, but the night isn't really cold.” She shrugged. “I want you to talk to me, Michael."

He didn't want to talk. He just wanted to enjoy the night and her company in this brief window of peace they'd been given. But her determined expression suggested this time she would not let it go. He twined his fingers through hers again and kept walking. On a clear night, the bay would have stretched out before them. Tonight, there was little more to be seen than fog muffled lights.

"I have been with the Circle since its beginning,” he said. “In that time, both the Circle and I have gained a fair number of enemies. There are some alive today who would stop at nothing to destroy either of us."

"I'd think that would be a natural fallout from the type of work you do,” she said, voice flat. “You can't run around killing bad guys without the bad guys’ friends and relatives getting a little pissed about it." He smiled, despite his annoyance. “True. The point is, these people will do all in their power to destroy me and everything I hold dear. That has never worried me because, until you, I had no one in my life whose destruction would destroy me."

She stopped, her gaze searching his, eyes glittering liquid gold in the damp night. “Then you know precisely how I feel when you go off on one of your missions and leave me behind." He brushed his fingers against her cheek. “You're stronger than I am. You would survive my death. But I have spent over three and a half centuries alone, and I could not survive another three if I lost you."

"And you think I'd want to go on if I lost you?"

"No. But I think you'd survive the loss. I think you would go on. I think in many ways you are far stronger than I ever will be."

She turned away and continued down the hill. “You're wrong. So wrong." He followed her, watching the sway of her fog-dampened hair across her shoulders. “I don't want you to become a target. If you join the Circle, become a part of what I do, you will be."

"Isn't that a risk everyone in the Circle takes?"

"Yes. But because of me, the risk will be doubled for you."

"What if I said I understood that risk and was willing to take it?"

"I'm not."

She swung around to face him again. Her anger seared the night, burned through the link. “So what the hell am I supposed to do with my life for the next three or four centuries? It's not as if I can stay home and watch the kids, is it?"