My words forced Andrey to freeze. Shock opened his eyes wide. He shook his head in disbelief and glowered at JJ again. “What nonsense did you fill her head with, bastard? What did you turn my Diana into?”

I clenched my fists until my nails threatened to pierce my skin. “Are you fucking serious, Andrey? Are you fucking serious?!”

An icy hand on my shoulder jerked me out of my frustrated fury. JJ held it there for a moment longer before slowly sliding it away, the motion sending a shiver through my body.

“You are truly a fool to keep dismissing Diana like that. Of course, witches’ auras are hard to distinguish from those of normal humans, with how they blend with their surroundings, but you didn’t even try,” he said in an unamused tone. “I’d like you to do it before you hurt ma chèrie even more.”

For a moment I was afraid that Andrey would refuse just to spite JJ. Then I saw him visibly relent, his eyes lowering before falling on me. I stood still, unsure if I should feel anything at the moment.

A weak wave of warmth washed over me, tingly with what felt like bursts of static running over my body, before receding like it never appeared. Andrey staggered back, sagging in his bonds and staring at me like I grew a second head.

“But… But how? Your parents…”

“I know for sure Dad wasn’t a witcher, but my mom? Who knew? And I know even less about her parents.” I shrugged. “My gift just awakened one day. You can say, Hermione Granger changed over the summer.” I chuckled at the joke, since no one else present would. “Now, will you fuckinally listen to what I tell you?”

Andrey stayed silent and unmoving. I took it as a sign to continue.

“I broke off with you, because you were a complete ass, and I was a moron since it took me so long to understand it. Contrary to you, Jean-Jacques never harmed or threatened to harm me. He had always been honest about who he was and his intentions towards me, and treated me with respect. If he, who had been born when the words “women’s rights” were considered a joke, can do it, why can’t you, Andrey?”

“You flatter me so much, ma chèrie. You should call me by my full name more often, too. I like the way it sounds from your lips,” JJ purred in my ear. His chilly breath washed over my skin, but I felt only hotter. It wasn’t the cold what made me shiver this time. I knew JJ’s flirting wasn’t a part of the act.

“But he is a monster, Diana. A walking corpse that needs to drink blood to survive,” Andrey protested, but his voice sounded weak.

I studied his face. He hunched his shoulders, appearing defeated at the first glance, but some tension in the line of his muscles told me he didn’t give up entirely yet.

“So what? It’s not like he needs to kill people. Hell, he might even be making some of them healthier. You know, leeches are still used in modern medicine sometimes. How vampires are worse?”

“Ma chèrie, this comparison was a little cruel,” JJ said. I looked at him to see him wearing an expression of mock hurt on his face, holding one hand over his heart.

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I grinned at him. “Well, you live in my apartment, use my water, spend hours at my computer… I’m afraid to think what my utility bills for the month will be!”

“You conveniently forget the fact that you make me work for you for nothing but the roof over my head.” JJ clicked his tongue in admonishment and shook his head. “After everything I did for you.”

“Stop it!” Andrey shouted from his corner, straining against his restraints. His lips curved into a snarl, but the rest of his expression was pure suffering. “Why did you bring me here, Diana? To torture me with the sight of you and your bloodsucker?”

He startled me. For a moment I forgot about his presence entirely, too concentrated on JJ. With a corner of my eye, I caught the knowing smirk he sent in my direction. Did he really had such a potent effect on me? I shook that thought away and concentrated on Andrey.

“I brought you here because you were half a step away from trashing my store. And now that you know the truth, I hope you will stay away from me. I don’t know what delusions run in your head about our relationship, but here’s what—we don’t have any relationship anymore, Andrey. Go back to your family or whatever, but don’t appear near me any more unless you want to become JJ’s snack.”

Andrey’s eyes narrowed as his gaze flickered between me and JJ. “You wouldn’t let him do something like that to me, Diana,” he said, but his voice betrayed his lack of certainty.

I gave Andrey a tired look and turned towards JJ. “I so don’t want to try to convince him anymore.”

He looked at me with sympathy glistening in the depths of his vivid green eyes. “You don’t need to, ma chèrie. The truth will prove itself.”

JJ gave my cheek a quick brush of his fingers and walked up to Andrey. The man growled and tried to lunge at him, but JJ effortlessly avoided the motions as he moved behind Andrey and grasped his head and shoulder. His grip looked gentle, but despite all the flexing of his muscles, Andrey stayed unmoved in it.

JJ’s eyes lit with red when he bared his fangs. Then he struck, biting deep into Andrey’s skin and drawing a pained grunt from him. Desire to watch this macabre yet sensual scene and a desire to turn away from it and all the emotions it stirred within me tore me apart. In the end, my eyes stayed locked on them.

I expected Andrey’s face to slacken into a mask of bliss as it happened with the two other people JJ bit in front of me, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Andrey kept looking at me with clear eyes, full of pain and betrayal. Like I fed him to wolves.

I glared at him, because the fault was all his, and turned to JJ. As if sensing my eyes on him, he lifted his gaze at me. His red eyes shone with a raw hunger that made something low in my body clench.

Unable to tear my eyes away, I watched as JJ sucked and swallowed, looking at me all the time. By the time he finally stood up, licking the last drops of blood from his lips, my body heated up like I just run a sprint.

JJ approached me, his frame blocking my view of Andrey, the hunger still alive in his eyes. To my surprise, the undead paleness went away from his face, and his sallow cheeks were fuller than several minutes earlier. While pale, right now JJ looked as alive as anyone else, and I knew he wasn’t lying about the effect of shifters’ blood on vampires.

He leaned in towards me, his hands gliding over my waist and hips in a ghost of an embrace—close enough for me to feel cold, but never actually touching.

When JJ inclined his head to the side a little, his face so close to mine that our noses almost touched, I was sure that he was going to kiss me. And oh God, I just didn’t have it in me to stop him, a kiss with an iceberg or not.

He stopped a centimetre away from my lips, and disappointment mixed with relief washed over me. JJ’s lips curved into a smile, one that turned wicked by the raw lust in his eyes. Eyes that flickered to the side for a moment.

Suddenly, I understood what he was doing. Just in time for him to draw away.

From the Andrey’s anguished and jealous look, I knew that JJ’s operation “Pretend Kiss” was a success. I turned to grin at him, the best I could do to give my approval of his creativity without exposing us to Andrey.

“Now that we both done with him, what’s next?” I asked.

JJ shrugged. Speckle by speckle, red began to disappear from his eyes. “Just leave him there. He will free himself soon enough.”