Finding Fire

Chapter 9

Anna could feel the blood rush to her face as he laughed out loud, causing a few heads to turn. He dropped his voice a little. "Sweetie, we can talk about that whenever you want to."

She'd been dreading this part of the conversation on the whole trip back to the city. "We need to talk about the fact that we're not going to have any."

He wasn't laughing anymore. "Are you kidding me?"

She glared at him. "Yes. This is my favorite thing to joke about," she said sarcastically. "I'm dead serious. We can't do anything."

He opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut before any sound came out. Instead, he took a long swig of his drink.

Anna looked at the glass and tried to decipher what was in it, but the sides were too dark for her to make out much. "What are you drinking?"

He handed it to her. She looked inside, but it was too dim to make anything out. She tilted the contents toward the top of the glass and took a small sniff. Immediately, she gagged at the coppery scent.

"Why would you hand that to me?" she asked, so loud it was almost a shout.

He didn't answer her. His eyes were focused on something over her shoulder. She glanced behind her and saw two big, beefy men talking with the two vampires who had moved earlier.

She diverted her attention back to Nicolas, and he appeared to be trying to listen to what the group of men was talking about.

Anna snapped her fingers in front of his face. His attention immediately reverted back to her and she waved his dark glass in the air. "What the hell?"

He shrugged. "I wanted to see your reaction."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Jerk," she muttered under her breath.

His smile stayed in place, but his eyes seemed to get serious. "You have no idea." Before she could ask him what he meant, he said, "I think you might've been right about coffee." His eyes once again looked beyond her.

Anna turned around and saw that the two muscle-bound men Nicolas had been watching now approached their booth. The closer they got, the more she saw how big they really were.

They weren't quite as tall as Nicolas, but they were still around six feet. The sleeves on their t-shirts could hardly fit around their biceps, and Anna had a feeling they purposely bought shirts too small for them. They walked intently toward her and Nicolas, but he didn't seem concerned. Instead, he finished off what was left in his glass. He set the drink down just as the two big shadows fell over the table.

The one on the left said, "You should leave."

Nicolas calmly looked up at the one who'd spoken. "We are in the middle of a conversation. You may speak to me when I'm done with her."

Anna groaned as Nicolas patronized the man. The two men didn't appear too happy about it either. The second man picked up Nicolas's glass and slammed it into the table. The glass shattered.

Anna jumped back as shards of glass shot toward her.

Quicker than her eye could follow, Nicolas was on his feet. He had one hand on the back of the offender's neck and had his face pressed onto the table, against the broken glass and blood.

The other man took a step back, shaking his head. Apparently he wasn't willing to actually get hurt.

Nicolas seemed to press his captive harder into the sharp shards. "Apologize to the woman."