Page 24 of Hot for Slayer
Acrossis, somehow, an understatement. He lives in the house facing my apartment building, exactly two sidewalks and a narrow crossroad away from me.
I linger at the door, a little bewildered, and don’t follow him inside, even when he looks at me with that half-reproachful, half-impatient, scolding expression that I’m becoming all too fond of. “If I wanted you dead, you would be dead.”
“That is very presumptuous of you. You could try, but I would—”
“Aethelthryth,” he says, absolute. Tired, too.
I clear my throat. “I can’t.”
He frowns.
“I can’t come in. Unless you formally,verballyinvite me.”
His eyes widen as though Lazlo Enyedi, Guild slayer extraordinaire, had forgotten about one of our most dangerous limitations. “Right. My bad.” He clears his throat. “Aethelthryth, nothing would make me happier than having you with me here, or in any other place that I will call home, for as long as I live. Please, come in.”
I try not to gasp, but it’s a blanket invitation—incredibly difficult to take back, and therefore stupid to extend. He must know that.
Suddenly, stepping inside feels dangerous for a whole new set of reasons.
I do it anyway.
Lazlo couldn’t quite see inside my apartment from his home, and I doubt he spent his days observing my every move. But he did have a view of my fire escape, and I cannot help but mentally go through all the nights I spent sitting on the steps, looking up at the sky and down at the city.
“How long?”
“Hmm?” In the kitchen, he takes off his sweater to wash off the worst of the blood.
“How long have you lived here?”
“Come on. You know how long.”
Right. “Why?”
“Why not?” He shrugs. “I have lots of free time. Very few interests. Just the one, really.” He glances in my direction.
He’s talking about you,a redundant, obnoxious voice screams in my head. I want to punch it. “What about ... killing vampires? Shouldn’t you ... Am I the last of my bloodline?”
“No. There are two more. But they are like you.”
“Like me?”
“They carefully select their food. No longer kill innocents.”
It still makes no sense. “Since when did the Hällsing Guild give a pass to ethical vampires?”
“Since never, I believe. But I wouldn’t know. I stopped working with them a while ago.”
“Oh.” I tilt my head. “I didn’t think that was something slayers could do. Retire, I mean.”
He kills the faucet and turns to me, leaning back against the counter, giving me a full view of the Colombina mask on his shirtless chest. “They don’t. Slayers just keep being reassigned to new bloodlines until they die. Some have tried to leave, but it tends to get messy. The Guild is not a particularly benevolent former employer.”
“Then why did they letyougo?”
“They didn’t. When I left, they sent people after me.”
“And?”
“And I sent them back.”
