Page 16 of Roman

“Am I?” He was.

“You’re always staring at me.” There was no anger or fear in Danny’s voice. He simply seemed to be stating a fact.

“Well,” Roman answered, unable to keep himself from leaning in closer, “you are always looking delectable.”

Danny looked up at that. “Delectable as in…vampire food? Or…” He trailed off.

“Or,” Roman replied. He watched in fascination as a blush stole over the boy’s pale cheeks, spreading all the way down his neck. Roman was suddenly desperate to know how far down that blush went.

Danny cleared his throat, pushing his now empty plate away. “Speaking of vampire food, how often do you need toeat?”

Roman had been expecting something along this line of questioning. The boy had too much of a curious nature to let things lie. “You mean feed on blood? About once a week. If I go any longer than that, it starts to get…testy.”

“‘It’ as in…your demon?”

Roman nodded.

Danny hummed, eyes on the wall behind Roman’s shoulder. He seemed to stare off into space when he needed to focus. “You healed my shoulder just by licking it.”

“I did. Our saliva has healing properties, up to a certain point. I cannot do anything about large injuries, but I can heal shallow wounds like yours. I think of it as an evolutionary mechanism. So we can feed regularly without leaving victims walking around with suspicious holes in their necks.”

Roman couldn’t remember the last time he’d shared so much about what he was with someone. Possibly he never had. Why was he just telling the boy everything he wanted to know?

“Walking around?” Danny questioned. “So you don’t have to kill to feed?”

“I do not. Neither do the few vampires in my acquaintance. We do not require all that much blood to survive, really. But I cannot speak for everyone. Not all vampires hold on to their humanity as well as others. We may notneeda lot, but need is different from want, wouldn’t you agree?”

Danny gave another thoughtful hum. “I knew you weren’t a killer.”

Roman shook his head. This boy was entirely too trusting. “Do not convince yourself I am not dangerous. My demon may not want toeatyou, but it has other feelings toward you. Very…possessivefeelings.” Roman leaned in even closer, delighting in the way the boy’s breath hitched at his proximity. “You might run in the other direction if you could hear some of the things it thinks about you.”

Danny waved a hand in dismissal, as if a vampire’s inner demon wanting to own him was inconsequential. “You fought off my attacker—withoutkilling him, by the way—healed me, and then fed me dinner/breakfast. If that’s your demon being possessive of me, I think I can handle it. Being a nurse has taught me to trust my instincts, and my instincts tell me to trust you.”

Danny nodded sharply as if that was the end of that, but then gave a little start as if he had just realized something. “Unless…that’s a vampire thing too? Is it some compulsion thing? The way I’m drawn to you? Is that why you smell so good?”

Roman was momentarily stunned. Danny was drawn to him the same way Roman was drawn to Danny? Maybe the boy wasn’t overly trusting and naive; maybe he just knew somewhere inside him already that he belonged to Roman.

Roman no longer suspected the boy of any magical inclinations, hadn’t really since their second meeting. Danny was too clearly…tooachinglymortal, ordinary.

His demon was smug as all hell at the thought.Knew it.Knew it.Ours, ours, ours.

Roman understood exactly where his demon was going with this, but he wasn’t ready to go there in his mind. Not yet.

He focused back on Danny. “We can do something like that. We can draw humans in, make ourselves alluring, and fog their minds. But that is a conscious effort. Something we do on purpose in specific instances. And I have not been doing that with you.Could notcontinue for this long, not without bringing my demon forth.”

Danny nodded, seeming again to easily trust what Roman was telling him. “Then why? Why aren’t I more afraid of you?” he asked.

“I have a theory,” Roman hedged. “But I would rather discuss it when you are feeling a little less exhausted.”

Danny gave him a frown, about to argue, but then relented when a giant yawn took over his face.

“Time for bed,” Roman urged, eager to end the conversation.

Danny nodded. “Are you staying?”

“Do you want me to?” If his demon had anything to say about it, they were never leaving this boy’s side again.

“I think so. Isn’t that weird?” Danny gave a small laugh, amazingly unconcerned at the whole situation. Was it possibly his exhaustion was making him so compliant?

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