What Lies Beneath

We were headed to an office building a few miles from the Strip. We didn't know what it was for, but it was written down that there was a meeting in two hours.

We knew so little that it made me feel nothing but dumb at the idea of just busting in there out of nowhere. Landon was cocky, but I doubted he could take on half-a-dozen men with guns. I had to expect that was what we could find there. If this Knox-guy was some leader of a demon-selling ring, he would have back up. Backup that would love nothing more than to kill a couple people that were threatening their paychecks.

"Do we have any kind of plan?" I asked.

"I don't know. Beat the fuck out of him until he says where your brother was taken."

Of course the cold blooded killer would go for the violent option. How did I ever get to the point where I wanted him in my pants?

"What if he doesn't give it up?"

There was a quick silence. "Those employees are a dime a dozen, and they don't know the meaning of loyalty. We threaten him or bribe him. He'll fold eventually."

It had been hours of looking today. It was long past lunchtime, and the traffic was light. We had another couple hours before work would get out for most of the population, and I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. If that office was swamped, it would make it harder to get to the man without being seen.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Landon said. "We'll figure it out."

I closed my eyes. "Don't do that." "Do what?"

"Try and comfort me. Don't be nice. Or more accurately, don't be nice and then try and make me feel like a crazy person for thinking you like me. I don't know about when you were my age, but for me, when a guy gets all hot and bothered over you, he likes you." Or when a guy starts feeling you up completely unprovoked. I could take the blame for the stuff that had happened later; I'd practically begged him to lay me out. But the stuff before that was all him. I wouldn't have even pushed if he hadn't been touching me like that.

He let out a sigh. "I never said I didn't like you. I just said that this wouldn't work out."

"Why?" Stupid question. He was immortal; I wasn't. He was a killer; I wasn't. He was old, and angry, and not of this world. I was young, reckless, and too broken to function without someone to lean on. I was more trouble than I was worth. "Because..." He was getting more hostile. "...whatever you want from me, it's bad for you. If you just want sex, then if I gave in, you would be all fucked up over it when I left. I won't be the man that takes your virginity and ditches you. As fun as you think sex is, I bet it's not worth that to you."

"And what if I don't just want sex? What if I like you and the fact that you always know what to do, or how to do it? Or how you didn't buy my bullshit from the very start? What then?"

His hands gripped the wheel. "Then you're a fool. I'm a monster and a killer, and I'm not good for you. I wouldn't even know where to start."

"Fine," I breathed. "You wanted to know what I want from you, and now I wanna know what you want from me. What you really want. It's not blood. We both know I'm more than willing to give it to you, foreplay or not. So what do you get out of this? You and me and everything we do that doesn't involve my brother."

"Sex isn't love, Mila. That's what that was this morning. I wanted to fuck you, not keep you forever. It was about sex."

"Sex and blood," I corrected. "You were drinking from me. If I pushed for it, or even suggested it, would you have had sex with me?" "Yes," he said angrily.

"You told me that blood was nothing more than food, but you didn't take enough to make a meal. So why did you drink from me at all? We were playing around, and you made it something else. Be angry with me all you want, but it wasn't what you want me to believe it was."

I thought I felt him trying to connect with me. The mockery in his eyes was telling me different. It was telling me I was a stupid little girl with a crush on a man that would do nothing but break my heart and leave me in a puddle of my own tears. It wasn't worth this.

He laughed, but it was hostile. "You just go looking for trouble, don't you?"

"We're on the same boat, sweetie, so don't look down on me. You like it. I know you do. I've seen how you are when you're fighting. You live for it, take pleasure in it. And guess what. I don't care. I don't care that you like it, and I don't care that it's fucked up that I don't care! My whole life is violence and lies and tricks. I know lies, and you're lying to me now. Why are you trying so hard to make me hate you?"

"Because," he shouted, "you should hate me. I threatened to kill you the second time we met. I'm a vampire, for God's sake. You want to be friends with someone who wants to drink your blood? Do you realize how fucked up that is?" "Of course I do."

"Better yet. How about when we find your brother? What would he say if he found out his baby sister was screwing a vampire? You think he'd throw you a party? Maybe he'd be an usher at the wedding, so long as we named the first baby after him." Everything about his tone was mocking and angry and cruel. "This isn't going to end with a pretty white dress and a little house in the country. This ends with you heartbroken and me alone."

"You don't have to be an asshole about it. I never asked for any of that, so don't put words in my mouth. I never said you were Prince Charming, and I sure as hell don't wanna be Cinderella. I'm just trying to make it clear what's going on with you and me." "Nothing is going on."

I scoffed. "Most of our conversations consist of sometimes graphic flirting and innuendos. We've kissed, you've had my blood several times, you've touched me all over, you watched me while you got me off. We are not nothing. We're not partners."

"We're not mates either."

"I never said we were! I didn't ask you to love me, or to marry me. I just wanted to know why you couldn't stay just a little longer. If you have nothing to go back to, why are you so quick to run back to it?"

The van stopped, and I realized we were in a parking lot. We were already there, and I hadn't even noticed how much time had passed. "Are you done yet?" Landon asked.

"Not even close. If you can be perfectly honest about why you don't want anything to do with me, then I'll drop the whole thing. No more touching or flirting. You can still get blood when you need it. Just tell me the truth, and it's over. Why don't you want to be with me?"

He looked straight ahead. "You want the truth? Fine. I don't want to be with you because I don't want you. I don't want to touch you. Be your friend. You took something I needed, and I'm stuck finding your brother because you were stupid and messed with a psycho. I have no feelings for you other than a deep, deep annoyance. Do you want to know why I did what I did to you this morning? I thought it would shut you up for a while. The second I can leave you, I will. And I will never think about you ever again. You shouldn't think of me either."

My heart dropped again, and I couldn't feel anything but pain and burning humiliation. We had been playing before, and I thought he'd liked it. He'd seemed like he had. He'd smiled with me before. Laughed. I guess it wasn't real. He hated me.