Onyx hair ruffled and windswept, Levi almost looks panicked. "Why did you leave the cabin? Did something happen?"

Faded ruby eyes dart to look behind me. That's more emotion than he's showed all day. Interesting.

My tongue takes longer to catch up than his does.

"No," I answer after a pause, regaining mental balance after the blatant use of inhuman abilities and shocking display of human emotion. "I went out for a walk."

He frowns, but seems to have assessed there's no emergency and dials down the first responder protocol. "With no shoes?"

I shrug. "I was fine without, and besides, I don't have any here."

It's not my fault shoes weren't included in the one and only care package from my apartment.

A blank expression resettles on his face. "Make a list of everything you need. You can't be going around like this."

Not like I didn't know that; but I thought a pair of dirty socks wasn't a big deal. Guess I was wrong.

Maybe there's more I've been wrong about. "I guess I should add nicer clothes and a makeover to the list, so I look less like this." I motion to myself in general.

Pieces of leaves and little barbs cling to my jeans, and I'm sure a stick or two has gotten caught in my hair. But he's seen me looking worse than this. "If appearances mattered so much, you should have left me to—"

"Enough," Levi cuts me off before I can finish.

We glare at each other.

"Go inside and wash off."

Crossing my arms, I turn on my heel and stomp off—delicately stomp, or else I might get poked too hard on the bottom of the foot. Here I was thinking two weeks in this place might not be as bad as it seemed, but now I hope I can leave in a few days. Obviously, I've been getting on Levi's nerves more than he's let on.

I can't tell if he follows me back or not, and I don't look behind to check. As soon as I step into the house, however, he's right behind me, closing the door.

"The forest isn't a place to be wandering around," he scolds. "Especially alone and unprepared."

I purse my lips, although he's behind me and won't notice. "Turns out I wasn't alone, was I?"

"Another good point—you didn't notice me until I was in front of you. What if that had been anyone else?"

Oh—he means someone like Lucien? I almost laugh. I'll be seeing him soon enough, for better or for worse. I peel off my muddy socks, intending to wash them off in the bathroom. "Well, it wasn't."

Levi steps in front of me, blocking the path to the hallway. "You can't trust me as much as you do. Your first response should have been to run away, or to at least scream."

"Not like either of those things would stop a vampire." Certainly didn't when I was cornered by Lucien.

"That's not my point."

I match his energy, hand on my hip. "What is it then—your point?"

His face hardens, and he takes a measured step towards me so we're toe-to-toe. Goosebumps rise along my arms.

"You know what I am," he hisses, lips curling back to expose sharp fangs. "What I'm capable of."

I pause. Something feels off about that statement.

Then I get it, he groups himself with all vampires. He doesn't acknowledge that being Levi, and being a vampire, means two different things.

"You're nothing like them," I protest in a harsh whisper, very aware of the sliver of space between us.

In an instant, that sliver is gone.

Cold breath hits my neck and I'm momentarily thrown back into that night in the parking garage. My whole body freezes. I'm paralyzed, trapped like a small animal.

Levi leans in, yet refrains from touching me.

"I could snap your neck in an instant," he whispers against my ear. "Or overindulge in a single bite." The tip of a fang grazes my vein, not quite breaking the skin. "And you'd be dead within minutes."

His scent, familiar enough to snap me back to the present, pushes away the dark memories and fear. The threat in his words, in his actions, is overshadowed by the sensation of soft lips skimming over my thrumming pulse.

My chest rises, meeting his. He's cold and hard, and I'm not sure I should feel reassured from the proximity, but I do. I feel safe.

"You don't scare me."

For someone who's thought a lot about death, I recognize he listed rather quick ways to die. I wouldn't mind those as much as what Lucien had implied. Levi couldn't torture me, not even if he tried.

"Then," he sneers, "tell me why your heart is beating so fast. Tell me why I can smell your adrenaline."

It's true my heart rate is abnormal, but I'm not so sure he wants to know the reason. I'm not even sure I want to know the reason.

"You see..." Sharp nails press into my bicep. I don't mind, the tight grip is the reason I'm still on my feet. "I am a monster."

Wrong.

"All you've done is save me," I breathe out.

He pulls away sharply, still holding my arm as if he knows I'm close to fainting. "I was repaying a debt, now we're even. Don't count on me beyond that."

I remember him saying something similar a couple days back, but he never explained and I forgot to ask. "What do you mean?"

He lets go and I slump sideways into the wall. His expression remains hard but the next words come out more measured. "I'd be dead if you hadn't distracted Anne and Mark on the night I found you. Lucien chose to go after you instead of finishing me."

"That was you?" My eyebrows furrow, remembering the dark figure and his scream. Levi slinks into the living room and I chase after him.

­"It was nothing new, they found me in their territory and were going to kill me for it. Normally I can fight them off if I have to, but since..." He stops, voice lowering to a whisper. "I overestimated my strength."

"Why would you be in their territory, if the consequence is so severe?" I ask, a single step away from him yet unsure if I should try to get closer. He seems more on edge than I am, and I'm frustrated that I don't know what to do about it. I can't even reach out to offer support, only talk to his turned back.

"I'm not a part of a clan. I don't have the rights to a hunting ground, which means I have to trespass to find enough provisions."

Vampire politics—a little more complicated than I imagined, but this does make the relocating part of Levi's plan to save me more understandable. I can't return to Lucien's territory, but if I go to another vampire's territory I won't be a target anymore, just a regular person who can live under the vampire radar while being protected from outside threats.

"Why aren't you in a clan?" I ask.

This whole thing would be a lot easier if I could just move into Levi's territory. In fact, I don't think I'd mind that one bit.

"Reasons." He turns to face me, more calm but pained at the same time, as if he's bound by some invisible chain. His hand reaches up and plucks a briar from my hair. "You should go wash off. And I need to finish my errands."

He's doing it again, trying to end the conversation before it's over—or more accurately, end it before I get any real answers—before I can wrap my head around this truth I've fallen into.

The one thing I have learned about vampires, is they don't want to share any part of themselves with humans. They'd rather hide and hunt and wear their superiority like a badge of honor. But I recognize when someone isn't happy.

"Answer one question before you leave," I demand. His eyes meet mine, granting space to continue. "Do all vampires care about repaying their debts? If I unknowingly saved Hugh's life, or Anne's or Lucien's—would they turn around and save me? Or would I be locked into the same 'deal' of slavery as Kristi? Are you the same as them?"

He doesn't look away, rather pierces my soul with an unwavering gaze. I can tell by the way his eyes widen that we both know the answer. It hangs unspoken between us, and the air crackles with a force trying to either push us apart, or pull us closer. Maybe both.

At last he looks away and grants me an answer. "Any other vampire wouldn't have taken that burden."

That stings. Still, I should have seen it coming. I'm a burden.

He turns to the door, adding in a murmur. "—but bearing burdens is nothing new for me."

Not gonna lie, nothing's hotter than a good-at-heart vampire threatening you.

❤️‍🩹 Siberia