Vicki sat in the ashes of the man who had just kissed her a moment before. The sun was beating directly overhead, causing the ocean to dry to a desert, and making the sand pearls so hot she had to hop from foot to foot not to burn. The bed beside her and all of the trees were on fire.

It was hell. Paradise had turned to hell. Smoking figures came in from all sides, all looking like Carter and wearing the same grin she used to love. They grabbed at her, pulling her to the inferno raging on the bed. She did her best to kick and fight them off, but they did not relent. She felt her skin sear and bubble against the bed's heat, but worse was feeling the Carters drag their nails across her burning flesh. Everything stabbed her, the fire, the nails, and her own heart. All she could do was look up into the looming sun and curse it as it burned her eyes just as it did the sea.

Vicki awoke in a cold sweat. She took a deep breath and sat up. She pulled back a blanket and duvet. This was definitely not her apartment. The bed was too nice, and it was too dark, as if she had slept a whole day away. Had she? If she did, where was she now? She couldn't remember anything but going into a club with Selene and needing to pee. How did that get her in someone else's bed?

She felt around for her phone but found nothing. She wasn't even in her own clothes. She cringed. She had her moments, but Vicki wasn't the type to go looking for one night stands. Kissing someone in the back of a bar or theater, sure, but getting into a stranger's car let alone apartment? No. That was a surefire way to get murdered.

But she wasn't murdered, not yet anyway. She got up from the bed and felt around. There was what felt like a chair next to the bed. Weird. She swept her hands around more and tapped something with the edges of her fingers.

Whatever it was, it was fragile and shattered into a billion invisible pieces. She froze. A lamp above her turned on, and she squinted in the new light. When she opened them again, she found herself in a lofted room with grey stone walls. The furniture was all black and looked to be made of solid wood. Heavy black curtains, glass sconces, and vases, like the one she just destroyed, made up the décor of the room. Minimalistic, and almost too modern for its own good.

Vicki was just happy that she had hit the vase before she went over the loft's low edge and plunged to the living space downstairs.

Steps began to echo from below her, but she didn't move. She was trapped by a sea of glass, and she had no idea where her shoes went.

"Good morning, Vicki," a familiar voice said, his voice slurred from missed sleep.

Oh gods. She didn't know how, but she just knew Selene must've been the reason she was in the vampire's lair.

"Morning, um, where is Selene?" she asked.

The vampire came up the stairs in full view. His blond hair was messy, covering most of his face. She must've woken him because he was only wearing a black tank top and grey sweatpants, and that type of casual wear was vastly different from the attire he usually wore to the shop.

He had a broom and dustpan in his hands and began working on cleaning up the mess she had made.

"Home probably. Just check your phone," he said as he swept.

Vicki looked behind her "Do you have any idea of where it went?"

She did not like having to ask these questions. It was embarrassing, being here, with him, and wearing his clothes. This was the guy she was keeping at a distance, how did she end up here?

"Most likely the floor with how you slept. Let me finish this and I'll help you find it," he said.

She could do nothing but watch as he meticulously swept up the shards of glass and dumped them into a wastebasket. They both began checking opposite sides of the king-sized bed.

"Found it," he said and slid the phone across the bed at her. Vicki quickly unlocked it and went to check her texts. There was only one, from Selene.

Text me when you make it home 😘

The text would have been ordinary enough if it didn't have the damn winky face attached to it. As if Selene were expecting some hot gossip once she got back to the store. Vicki darkened the screen and banished the phone into her borrowed pocket.

"I should get going," she said.

The vampire shook his head.

"It's daylight. I keep the door locked and bolted until dusk. No exceptions."

"You're trapping me here?"

"You trapped yourself by letting some incubus get you drunk on your own salacious desires. Maybe I should have let him have you, since you wanted it so badly," he said. His words were laced with bitterness and unnecessary judgment. She didn't even know what he was talking about. Everyone knew that an incubus wouldn't waste their energy on a succubus, and Vicki was confident her charm was foolproof.

Unless...

She covered her mouth. That bastard Carter had tried to feed on her again.

"I don't want anything to do with that jerk," she said.

The vampire sat on the bed.

"Then why did his temptations work on you? Or, were you maybe thinking of someone else?"

He crossed his arms, and Vicki couldn't help but notice the way his muscles had tensed up. She never knew him to be that fit. He was always draped in black shirts and jackets. She pulled her eyes away and bit back embarrassment. How was she going to answer a question she was asking herself?

"It's none of your business anyway, so quit trying to shame me," she said, punctuating her response with a stomp of her foot.

She winced.

The vampire rolled his eyes and stood up. Vicki's breath left her body as he came closer. Too close.

"Sit down," he said.

She barely managed to squeak out a 'no'.

"Sit down or I will make you," he said, his voice rising.

It only took one look into those intense eyes and the scowl on his face for her to obey. He kneeled in front of her and picked up her foot.

"Looks like a piece of glass. Hang on. I'll get the tweezers."

He walked away, leaving her to hold her bloodied foot in midair. She didn't know what to make of him. He seemed annoyed and angry with her. Why would he bring her here if it were just going to burden him?

Gods, the more time that she spent with the vampire, the more questions she had. And there was nothing more aggravating than an expanding list of unanswered questions.

The vampire, his hair now pulled back in a ponytail, came into the room with a small tray of first aid supplies. Vicki held out her hand.

The vampire pulled the supplies closer to himself.

"It'll be faster if I do it."

He gingerly picked out the shard of glass that had impaled the ball of her foot and deposited it on the tray. Vicki was surprised at the concentration he mustered even though he was obviously very tired. He wiped up the blood with the tissues, licked his thumb, and then pressed it against the wound.

Vicki gasped at the warm tingling that ran across her foot. The questions that had been eating at her mind for days came back to the forefront and now that they were here, totally alone and with no chance of prying ears or eyes, maybe she would risk asking.

But gods, she just couldn't think of a way to ask that wouldn't be too forward.

"Why didn't you drain me?" she blurted out.

The vampire got up to take the first aid supplies back to the bathroom.

"Today wasn't the right day, I guess."

"Well, do you have any idea of when it might be? Because that was the second time you could've drank my blood and gotten away with it."

The vampire froze in the doorway, his expression unreadable stone like the wall behind him.

He finally shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe it would've been a waste," he said slowly, and Vicki couldn't tell if he were talking to her or himself.

"A waste?"

He turned around and went to sit beside her on the bed. Vicki's heart jumped into her throat. What would she do if he attacked her? The way he looked at her, it almost looked as if him leaning over to kiss her would be more likely. What would she do then? Slap him and run away? She looked at his face. His gorgeous vampire face. His lips looked soft, too soft to have sharp fangs behind them. Maybe a kiss wouldn't be so bad.

"I want to ask you something," he said slowly.

"Okay."

He looked her up and down again.

"How would you feel about going into business with me, as a," he paused as if searching for the right word. "Blood partner."

Vicki was speechless, but Evan wasn't done yet.

"I would only require donations every three to four weeks and I pay well. You wouldn't need to run that old shop anymore or fool around with petty magic. I promise you'll be very comfortable."

She stood up and began looking around.

"Where are my clothes?"

"You didn't answer my question."

She glared at him. "Because it isn't worth an answer! I'm leaving, now tell me where my clothes are."

He stood up and began heading for the stairs.

"Selene took them. And you're not going anywhere, not until tonight."

She folded her arms.

Every time she thought he might be a nice guy, he proved her wrong. He was a vampire, a primordial underdweller that was notoriously monstrous. How could she ever think someone like him could be the man of her dreams?