Quinn's Undying Rose

For good measure, he glared at the other two gays in the room: Thomas and Eddie. No matter how masculine the two had looked when he’d met them the day before, all dressed in their biker gear, there was no doubt in Blake’s mind that the two were queer.

When Rose suddenly stood up from her chair and took a step toward him, he shrank back, hitting the kitchen counter behind him. As much as he didn’t want to display fear in front of these predators, he couldn’t help himself. He was outnumbered, and that alone freaked him out.

“Men in Black, my ass,” he murmured under his breath. “More like Dracula.”

“It’s the truth. Quinn and I are your ancestors. And you’re here because somebody wants to take revenge on me by hurting you. That’s why we had to come up with this ruse; so we could protect you twenty-four-seven.”

He shook his head, because he didn’t want to believe it. It changed nothing about the facts. They were what they were. And somehow he had to get away from them. Outsmart them, since fighting them was not an option. There were too many of them. And if they were all as strong as Oliver, Quinn, and Rose, he had a snowball’s chance in hell at landing even a single punch.

Mixed emotions battled for supremacy inside him, stirring him up. He’d never been so confused in his entire life. While fear for his immediate future was still at the forefront of his thoughts, other emotions invaded. Confusion and disbelief were paramount, but annoyance crept in too. They’d tricked him into believing that he’d landed a fabulous job, when they’d lied to him from the start.

He felt like an idiot that he hadn’t spotted their deception any earlier. Hell, they’d fed him all kinds of crap, and he’d eaten it up like it was mother’s milk!

“I’m not stupid, you know!” he ground out.

“Nobody says you are,” Rose cooed, her soft tone only underscoring that she thought him to be a dimwit.

When she reached for him, he recoiled from her touch. At any other time, he would have welcomed her hand on his skin, but not now. And hell, if she was really his great-great-whatever than the fact that he’d thought her hot was just utterly gross and disgusting!

“Don’t touch me!”

He tossed a warning look at the vampires that all stared at him like he was food and they were starving. Instinctively, he pressed his hand to the spot where Oliver had bitten him only minutes earlier. Shit, they were all after his blood.

“Nobody will hurt you,” Quinn assured him. “Oliver is young, he hasn’t learned yet how to control himself. It won’t happen again, I swear it.”

“You’re right about that!” Because he’d be out of here as soon as he could find a way to escape. He had no intention of waiting around until the next one of them got hungry and took a bite out of him. Not even if that hottie Nina was the one to do it.

Blake thrust his chin up in a show of defiance, when inside him everything was crumbling. He’d put all his hopes into this new endeavor. When he’d moved to San Francisco, he’d hoped to finally find something that interested him, a job he could dig into and make his own. For a few short days he’d believed himself in luck. Scanguards probably didn’t even exist. It wouldn’t surprise him if the whole things was some front for a criminal operation. No wonder Quinn had made it sound so mysterious. And been so secretive.

“Are you feeling better?” Quinn suddenly asked.

Blake shrugged. “How do you want me to feel? You imprison me here under some pretense and then you let one of your guys attack me.” He pointed at Oliver. “He would have drained me!”

Oliver whirled around to face him. “I said I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do it. I told you to run, I did . . . ”

“Don’t think I didn’t try,” he shot back.

Quinn shot a surprised look at Oliver. “You used mind control to paralyze him?”

Oliver shook his head. “I didn’t. I don’t even know how yet.”

“I suppose your instincts kicked in.” Then Quinn looked back at him. “As I said, I’ll make sure Oliver behaves from now on. And from the rest of us, you have nothing to fear either. We don’t attack humans.”

He wanted to believe it, for his own sanity’s sake, but when Blake looked at the other vampires, his gaze fell on Zane. There was something mean looking about him, and he knew that he never wanted to meet that guy in a dark alley. Something told him that he was dangerous. No, he wasn’t safe here, even if Quinn and Rose tried to convince him of it. Even if they were his 4th great-grandparents.