They exchanged nervous looks.
One wearing a Tar Heels T-shirt swallowed. “Are you the one they call the Day Walker?”
“Yes.”
“Why do they call you that?” another asked.
Seth glanced at Bastien, who clapped a hand to his forehead. “Because I can walk in daylight,” he explained.
“Ohhhhhhh.”
Okay, so he wasn’t the smartest kid Seth had encountered. At least he wasn’t manic.
Chapter 15
“You aren’t sleeping,” Étienne commented.
He lay on his back, Krysta’s lovely naked body cuddled up against his side in bed.
“I’m procrastinating,” she said, drawing circles on his chest with her fingers.
“About sleeping?”
“No. There’s something I want to ask you and I’m not sure how you’re going to react.”
“I don’t know that I like the sound of that,” he admitted. Tentative was not a word he would ordinarily use to describe her.
She sat up, the covers falling to her waist, and swiveled to face him.
Étienne’s gaze instantly dropped to her breasts.
She began to speak earnestly, but—for the life of him—Étienne didn’t know what she was saying.
He held up a hand.
She quieted.
He raised his eyes. “If there’s something you wish to discuss, you’re going to have to cover up. I can’t concentrate with your beautiful breasts in my face, tempting me to touch and taste them.”
She dragged the covers up and tucked them under her arms, her lips forming a small smile. “What breasts? I’m built like a ten-year-old boy.”
“The hell you are. I love your breasts. They’re perfect. And, if you doubt that . . .” He motioned to the sheet tenting over his erection.
She smiled and licked her lips. “Ooh. Nice.”
His breath caught as she reached for him.
Stopping inches away, she drew her hand back. “No. Not now. I really do need to talk to you.”
Damn.
“But hold that thought.”
He could do that. “What’s troubling you?” He took her hand and began to toy with her fingers. Did she regret making love with him?
“The same thing that troubled me before,” she answered. “With the mercenary threat combining with the increased vampire population, I can’t continue to hunt the way I have been. I’m putting too many people I care about in danger.”
And he was one of those people. Étienne still couldn’t believe it. “Krysta, I told you. You aren’t—”
“Let me finish.”
“As you wish.”
“There’s an obvious solution. One that will keep me from putting you in danger and from harming Sean when he heals my wounds.”
“Okay.” Had she decided to follow Seth’s advice and become a Second? As much as Étienne wished to keep her safe, he would miss hunting with her each night.
“I want you to transform me,” she blurted, then held her breath.
Étienne stared, convinced he had heard her wrong. “I’m sorry. What?”
“I want you to transform me.”
His heart began to thud against his ribs. His hand tightened on hers. He sat up, the motion drawing them closer. “Krysta . . .”
“Just hear me out,” she said anxiously.
“Only weeks ago you thought I was a vampire and were contemplating killing me.”
“I wasn’t. I mean, I did think you were a vampire, but I already knew I couldn’t kill you. You’re freaking irresistible and you know it.”
“True,” he said, just to goad her.
Smiling, she shoved him in the shoulder with her free hand.
He laughed.
“I hear what you’re saying.” Her face grew solemn. “But I know now that you’re immortal. That you’re just like me, only infected with a virus. I know you won’t go crazy. I know you don’t prey upon innocents. I know how the virus works. Sean has spent every night with Dr. Lipton and explained everything to me in excruciating detail. I just think this is the best solution. The only solution.” She tightened her hold on his hand, her face earnest. “If you transformed me and made me immortal, I could keep hunting and hold my own better against vampires. And I would heal without Sean’s help if mercenaries shot me.”
The thought of her being shot made him lose his erection. He hated the idea of her getting hurt.
“Sean would be safe. You would be safe, knowing I could take care of myself—”
“If you think I would stop worrying about you if you were immortal, you are mistaken.”
“But you would worry about me less, right? Because a bullet wound or two or four wouldn’t kill me or endanger my life.”
Yes, damn it.
“Right?” she pressed.
“Yes,” he conceded.
“Then . . . what do you think? Will you do it?”
He hesitated. “I just don’t want you to rush into anything. I know seeing Sean collapse shook you, but there are other healers among us to whom you could go when—”
“I can’t keep depending on someone else to patch me up. I want to be able to heal on my own. Like you and the other Immortal Guardians. I want to be able to continue hunting vampires. I want to be able to help you defeat your enemies.”
“They’ve tried to kill you three times. They’re your enemies as well.”
“I know. And I’m vulnerable, facing them as I am. I want to be strong like you. I don’t want to have to settle. I don’t want to have to stop hunting and become a Second.”
“Seconds fight in battles, too. I’ve lost more than one in the past to vampires’ blades.”
“But they don’t actively hunt.”
No, they didn’t.
Étienne studied her. He wanted to be objective here, to look out for her best interests instead of going with his own. Did he want her to transform? Absolutely. They had made no promises to each other yet, but they had each admitted they were falling in love and . . .
He couldn’t deny that an eternity spent hunting alongside Krysta sounded blissful. An eternity laughing with her and teasing her. Making love with her.
But those were all his wishes.
This was a decision which, once acted upon, was irreversible.
“Let me read your thoughts,” he requested.
She frowned. “What?”
“Let me read your thoughts. All of them, not just those you send me. I need to know you really have considered this thoroughly and have no doubts. No reservations. That this isn’t a knee-jerk reaction to Sean collapsing.”
She hesitated.
“Seth will insist on doing the same before he renders his decision.”
“We have to ask his permission?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He’s our leader. That’s how it’s done.”
She didn’t look too pleased.
“You’ll have to answer to Seth if you transform, Krysta. You’ll have to obey the rules like the rest of us. And his orders.”
“Well . . . I kinda already am, so . . .”
He arched a brow.
“Okay. I won’t lie. It’ll be hard. I’ve been doing my own thing for years. But you did say he’s the wisest among you.”
“He is.”
“That will make it a little easier.”
“So? Your thoughts?”
She bit her lip. “I’m not hesitating because I have doubts. I’m hesitating because there are things up there that I’m not sure I’m ready for you to see.”
He supposed he would feel the same way. But Étienne wouldn’t approach Seth with the request until he was sure she wasn’t merely panicking and grasping at straws after seeing her brother collapse, pale as death, after healing her. Or panicking over having to give up hunting. Or just plain panicking. She could have been killed tonight. Again.