Page 62 of Guardians for the Vamp
“No, wait!” Layla says, stepping forward to grab his arm. He looks down as if no one has touched him in decades.
Maybe no one has.
“Of course we’d like your help. I’m sorry about Vara. She can be bitchy sometimes, but you already know that, don’t you?”
He glances at Vara, and she snarls at him.
“She’s just protecting her mates. She doesn’t trust me and that’s fair. I can’t expect my community to accept me when I’ve been hiding in the shadows, wallowing in self-pity.”
“Old emo ass vampire,” Vara mumbles.
Rorik shakes his head at Vara, amused. “Would you three like to set up a time next week to meet?”
“Yes,” Layla says, eager with the prospect of getting some answers. “We’re all free Thursday night.”
Rorik nods. “Then let’s do Thursday at midnight.”
He reaches out a hand, and Layla accepts it. He gives her a firm shake before offering his hand to me and Vara.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, there are some witches here I’d like to terrorize.”
He turns but pauses and pivots back towards us.
“Joking,” he says with a wink. “Mostly.”
And he walks away chuckling.
“Did that really happen?” Layla asks in awe as if she’s just met a celebrity. I suppose for her, she did.
“He’s an asshole,” Vara grumbles.
“But an asshole with answers,” Layla says.
“Okay, let’s go dance and socialize so we can get the fuck out of here,” Vara says. “Rory got me all riled up and now I’m horny.”
Same, to be honest.
The event will go on throughout the night but after another hour of mingling, Layla and Vara have had enough. We make a final round to say our goodbyes, then hop into the SUV to take us back to Layla’s penthouse about ten blocks away. We could have walked, but we’re more vulnerable that way, even if I’ve made sure Layla’s security team could adequately protect us.
Layla has also expressed how she doesn’t want us to fly her around. I think she’s a little scared of heights. Hopefully, we can convince her to participate in sky sex at least once.
We make two turns before the team in the SUV behind us notifies me that we’re being followed.
I bark at the driver to make an unexpected turn.
“What’s going on?” Layla asks from the backseat, panicked.
Before I can explain, the SUV behind us explodes, catapulting us forward. Our SUV lands on its side, glass shattering and metal grinding. My ears ring as I hastily work the seat belt. Supernaturals, especially vampires, quicklylearned that heads can be decapitated, and hearts can be impaled when thrown out of a vehicle during a crash. Seat belts are just an extra precaution.
Once undone, I crawl into the back to help Layla and Vara.
“Are you two okay?”
“Yes, I think so,” Layla says, her voice shaken.
“I’m fine, but my dress is ruined now,” Vara growls, and her humor in this high stress situation somehow eases me.
One of the bodyguards from the SUV that was driving ahead of us appears and helps Vara crawl out through the broken window while I work on Layla’s stuck seat belt. Despite my supernatural strength, it’s not coming free, so I use the knife from the holster on my ankle and cut her out.
