Dracul by Finley Aaron

you can win.”
    “That is all I ask. Do your best—I won’t require any dollar amount. Even when we count cards, we’re still gambling.”
    That much decided, I pull my house key from the zipper pouch of my wallet where I keep it (yet another reason I’m glad Constantine found my wallet, or at least returned it to me—or the vampires would have the key to my place and I’d be locked out). As I unlock the door, I ask, “Am I going to be safe here? They keep attacking me.”
    As Constantine makes a face, apparently weighing my question, I consider my options. Under any other circumstances, I’d ask one of my family members to come stay with me. But who can I ask? Two of my siblings have babies at home, a third is recently married and hoping to lay an egg before long. My parents are busy supporting the new parents and ruling their kingdom. Even my grandfather is a new father again.
    That leaves only one person—my youngest brother, Felix.
    But Felix has made gold. If these vampires are so desperate for information on how that’s done—no, I can’t. I can’t ask Felix to come. To do so would endanger him far more than the others. He’s the last person I’d want to come here.
    I’ve no sooner made that resolution than Constantine sets his jaw in an expression that says he’s made his mind up, as well.
    “You are not their target,” he assures me solemnly. “They’re after information. As long as they think they can steal the information from you, they won’t hurt you, not on purpose. What would that accomplish? They need you. I don’t think they will hurt you.”
    “You don’t think —”
    Constantine cuts off my words. “If I believed you were in real danger, I would not let you out of my sight.” His eyes lock on mine as we share the front stoop.
    His face might not be so familiar to me, but right now, his eyes are screaming with something I can almost read. What is that? Zeal? Determination? Something like that, but it’s almost more like…no, that can’t be.
    I shake my head to clear my thoughts.
    “Thanks. I appreciate that.” We make plans to meet tomorrow after my last class, assuming it snows as predicted, so he’s not out in the sunshine. Then I duck inside, closing the door behind me before leaning my back against it, pinching my eyes shut, and reviewing what I saw in Constantine’s dark brown eyes.
    He’s the one who’s been so emphatic about there not being anything between us, though I never suggested otherwise. He’s the one who insists we’re two different species who can, at best, only be friends.
    So why would he look at me with longing in his eyes?

Chapter Nine
     
    My sleep is restless. Every whistle of the wind, every tree branch creaking in the night sends my uneasy dreams scrambling into nightmares of bats and blood and thirsty vampires.
    At four in the morning, I’m shocked awake by a clattering noise that goes silent as my eyes snap open.
    What was that?
    Cautiously, I switch on a light, slip out of bed, and clutch my phone, ready to call Constantine at any sign of danger, but a quick tour of the house shows nothing out of place.
    Not that I checked the attic.
    What am I supposed to do? I have too much adrenaline in my system to fall asleep now. I don’t want to call Constantine—not again. We’ve been spending an awful lot of time together all of a sudden, and I don’t really trust him.
    Besides, I don’t know what to think of the way he looked at me. Probably I was overtired or…something. I just don’t know.
    But I do know it would be foolish of me to try to stick this out alone. I don’t dare go running home to Azerbaijan. Not only would I quite possibly lead the vampires back to my family, but I’m so close to graduating. So close .
    I can’t leave now.
    That leaves one option. It’s not a good option. I’m not proud of what I’m going to do, but every other option seems much worse.
    “Hello? Rilla?” Dad answers his phone on the third ring. It