Free The Order Boxed Set by Nina Croft

you wanted to know.”
    “But why?”
    “Maybe because you need to believe in order to find out what happened with your aunt, but I don’t think that’s it. I think he likes you.”
    Tara stopped stirring her coffee. “You do?”
    “I do, and that’s not something I’ve come across in the five years I’ve known him. Oh, I’m not saying he’s celibate or anything, but he doesn’t do relationships.”
    “We’re not having a relationship.”
    “No?”
    “I just feel that if I’m going to keep him on as an investigator—and I’m not sure that’s going to be the case—then I need to understand what he’s like, what I can expect.”
    “So , ask away.”
    Tara took a sip of coffee, stirred it some more. She wanted to know everything, but that wouldn’t sound very cool.
    “What are they? Where do they come from? Are they a different species or were they once human? Do—”
    Graham held up a hand, a slight smile on his face. “That’s enough questions to start with. I’m not sure what they are, and I’m not sure they do either. I once asked Christian, and he said all they knew was that they were descended from an original group, but no one knows where that group came from, or if they do, they aren’t telling. But I do know Christian was once human. A long time ago.”
    “How long? How old is he?”
    “I’m not sure exactly. He was born sometime in the Middle-Ages, so over five hundred years, but he doesn’t talk about it much.”
    Wow, five hundred years. What would it be like to live that long? Go through all those changes, and see so many people die. She wondered if that bothered him, or whether he just saw humans as food. “Are you human?”
    He grinned. “What do you think? Yeah, I’m human.”
    “So how did you get mixed up in all this?”
    “I’m Christian’s human servant.” He thought for a moment as if wondering how much to tell her. “A bond forms when a vampire feeds a number of times from the same human. I’m tied to him. I don’t mind. He saved my life.”
    “How?”
    “I was sixteen, living on the streets and I was a real fucked-up mess. One night I pissed off the wrong people. They took me down an alley, and beat on me. I was almost dead when Christian came along. I’ve been with him ever since.”
    “What do you get out of it?”
    “I was a street punk—I wouldn’t have lasted much longer out there.” He grinned. “My mouth got me into trouble so many times it was lucky I lasted as long as I did. Now look at me.”
    She did. There was nothing of the street kid left in him, with his designer suits and his perfectly cut hair, his air of languid grace.
    “I’ve got a great job,” he continued. “Even if I do have to work nights. Christian has shown me a whole different way of life. All I have to do is donate a little blood now and then, and that’s hardly a hardship.” His face took on that dreamy expression he’d had when Christian had fed, and a wave of heat washed over her.
    “Are you in love with him?”
    He appeared startled at the question. “Who wouldn’t be? He is seriously gorgeous, but I told you he doesn’t go for guys, not like that.”
    “What about female vampires?”
    “There are none. Not that I know of. Something to do with the process. They don’t survive.”
    “So no little vampire babies?”
    “God, no!”
    They were silent for a few minutes.
    “What’s t he Order?”
    “You’ll have to ask Christian about that, but I doubt he’ll tell you anything. All I know is Christian was involved up until about twenty years ago. Piers Lamont, the other vamp you met, is the big boss now, but I’m not sure what they do or why. The only other person I’ve met from there is Ella. She used to drop by the office occasionally. She’d had a thing with Christian a long time ago and would like to have a thing again.”
    “Ella?”
    He grinned. “She’s a witch, and I mean that in the literal sense. Don’t worry—she’s no competition.