Graham looked a bit uncomfortable when he initially walked into Rachael’s room, but he hid it well, and when she offered him a seat on the couch and a beer, he accepted both. Scrappy pounced on his lap pretty quickly, and Rachael fought off her jealousy, wishing she was the one sitting there having her back scratched.

“How was your trip?” she asked, taking a seat at the far end of the couch, sipping her own Bud. Wine would’ve been better, but without a kitchen, and a sink to wash dishes in, this would have to do. “Did you convince the recruit?”

“We didn’t get as many this time around as we had hoped for. I think this will be the smallest class we’ve ever had. There are only seven people moving in this weekend. We weren’t able to get a few that we thought we’d convinced. But it’s all right. A tighter knit group will be a good thing.”

He didn’t sound completely convinced that what he was saying was accurate. The worry in his eyes was evident. “Are you concerned about some of the recent attacks? I’m hearing rumors they might be vampire related.”

An eyebrow arched over one lavender eye. “Which ones?”

“Baltimore, especially. That family.” She shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. “Some people around here have better connections than I do and seem to think that might be significant.”

Again, she could see him trying to play off his concerns. “We haven’t investigated anything nearby. It might be something we need to look into.”

Rachael didn’t mention the marking she’d seen by the window in the video Rex had shown her, the one that indicated the slaughter was the work of Sasha Thornsby. If Graham looked into it at all, he’d make the discovery pretty quickly for himself.

Scrappy fell asleep on his lap within a few moments of him petting her, and Rachael had to laugh. He looked so uncomfortable with sleeping beauty curled up there. “It looks like Scrappy hasn’t slept all day, just hoping you’d come by.”

“Somehow I doubt that’s the case.” Graham smirked at the cat and then looked back at Rachael, still running his hands through the kitty’s fur. “How was your day? You were at the library a lot, huh?”

“I was. I went earlier just to have a look around. But then, Dr. McCall mentioned my grandfather might’ve been working with his on a certain book, and I wanted to see if I could find it.”

He nodded in understanding. “Right. He said something about that at dinner.” A shadow passed over Graham’s face, and Rachael assumed Jared had said some things he was questioning whether or not to share. “You weren’t all that close with him, were you? Wessley?”

“No, not at all. I thought it might help for me to read something he was involved in, but….” She hesitated. The last thing she wanted was for Graham to go looking for the book and not be able to find it, as if she’d purposely hid it--which she had. “I’m not that schooled on astrophysics.”

“I’ve read the book in question, and honestly, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me. As far as I can tell, even the professors with backgrounds in similar fields have no idea what he’s talking about in ninety percent of that book.”

Rachael managed a small smile, but she wasn’t sure whether she should admit she found the book and read part of it or not. Instead, she asked a question she thought she shouldn’t ask. “Do you think it’s possible? That two worlds could collide and make a new reality for everyone involved?” She took another sip of her beer, again wishing it was wine, or even something stronger, and set it on the coffee table in front of her, thinking she should've thought to bring coasters.

“I think so.” Graham readjusted, causing Scrappy to stretch and roll over. He pulled his eyes off of Rachael long enough to shake his head at the furry creature and then was looking at her again. “My great-grandfather said he thought that’s how vampires came to be in this world in the first place, that they weren’t originally part of our reality, but when they came through, it pulled their history in with ours, mingling the two.”

Fascinated, Rachael leaned forward slightly on the couch so she was peering at him. “Did he have any evidence of that happening?”

“No, nothing more than the ramblings of a villager in Wallachia who swore he’d brought Vlad the Impaler to our world through a collision of worlds, that he hadn’t meant to, but his made-up story of death and destruction changed into his reality one day.”

Graham looked nonchalant, but Rachael could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. “Do you… think that really happened?”

“I have no idea.” He smirked and shrugged his shoulders. “It doesn’t really matter, in my opinion. Vampires are real, they’re here, and it’s our job to kill them.”

“But… what it if it happened again? What if worlds collided another time? Or a hundred times?”

“As far as I can tell, the only one who remembered a world from before was this one guy who said he was responsible for it. That was… four hundred years ago. So… if there are more people running around out there thinking they caused worlds to collide, they aren’t talking.”

He had given Rachael an awful lot to think about, and he must’ve seen the consternation on her face. He reached his long arm over and rested his hand on her bent knee halfway to him on the middle cushion of the couch, her foot tucked beneath her. “Rach? Are you okay?”

The feel of his palm radiated through her jeans, and once again thoughts of pushing Scrappy aside and claiming his lap for herself came to mind. The inappropriateness of such a move was obvious. Even if his fiancee hadn’t recently died, she’d only known him a few days, and she was going to be here a long time if she continued in the program. It would be hard to walk away, as she’d contemplated earlier, with Graham and his heavenly cologne visiting her dorm room, even occasionally, and even for nothing more than a chat and a beer.

“I’m okay,” Rachael assured him. She looked at him and found a smile. In his eyes, she could see he wasn’t buying everything she was selling, but she knew him well enough to expect that he wouldn’t ask her any more questions on the topic.

He kept his hand on her knee far longer than she expected and even rubbed her leg for a moment before he said, “I should probably go. I have a ton of appointments tomorrow. Gotta process these new recruits and get them settled in.”

“Right.” He pulled his hand away, and her leg suddenly felt ice cold. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Tipping his head to the ceiling for a second, he considered an answer and then shook his head. “No, just pop out and say hi if you’re around when I bring any of them by. Trip will be bringing some through, too. Make the newbies feel at home. Other than Tony, they’re all kids.”

She remembered him mentioning the older guy. “I’m looking forward to meeting him.”

Something about the narrowing of one corner of one eye made her feel like he didn’t like that answer for reasons she didn’t dare ponder. He changed the subject. “I’d hate to wake your cat….”

The urge to scoop Scrappy up in her arms was overwhelming; she'd be running the backs of her arms over his muscular legs in an innocent gesture, but she didn’t do it. “Scrap, come on girly, let the man go,” she said, petting the top of her kitty’s head.

Scrappy protested but then hopped down, discombobulated in her sleepy state. She meowed and then went straight to her bed as Graham stood and brushed a few stray hairs off of his lap.

“Sorry.” Rachael offered him one of the rollers she always had on hand for such incidents.

“It’s okay.” He didn’t take it. As far as she could tell, there weren’t any more stray hairs, and she was really looking. Really, really looking.

He picked up his bottle and tossed it in the trash can before heading toward the door. Rachael followed, wondering what she should say, if she should try to hug him. An air of awkwardness settled over both of them, as Graham placed a hand on the doorknob but turned back to survey the room. “This used to be Chell’s room. You know that, right?”

“I do.” She didn’t bother to go over all the ways that she knew that information. “Does it bother you?”

“No. It did at first, but then….” He shook his head, and she could see in his eyes that he meant it. “I don’t know, Rachael. I miss her like crazy, but, in some ways, I feel like she’s not exactly gone. It’s bizarre, and I probably sound insane even saying that out loud. But… for some reason… when I met you… I felt like I had part of her back.”

Rachael met his eyes, and she could see the longing there, not for her but for understanding, and perhaps for the woman he was talking about. “It doesn’t sound crazy. From what I can tell, Chell and I had a lot in common. At least, when it comes to personality. I’m not sure I will ever be able to kick vampire ass the way that she could…. But if knowing me makes you miss her a little less, then, I’m really glad I came here.”

“I’m really glad you came here, too.” He had turned to face her, and somehow the distance between them had narrowed during the discussion such that he was only a few inches from her now, and Rachael couldn’t keep her eyes off of those soft, luscious lips, the ones she’d purposely written to feel like warm embers and taste like honey.

She pressed a hand to his chest, the feel of his leather jacket heightening her sense of smell so that the manly scent he exuded had her head spinning, and he moved toward her again, letting go of the door completely, his arms moving around her, pulling her closer.

But he didn’t kiss her. Instead, Graham crushed her against his chest, one hand on her back, the other wrapped around her hips. She breathed him in, felt the brush of an exhale dancing against her ear, teasing the hairs on her neck into submission. He held her for a few seconds, and Rachael let both of the worlds she’d known slip away, lost in his embrace.

When Graham stepped back, he grazed her cheek with his fingertips. “Bye, Rach.”

“See you soon,” she said, not sure what else might come out of her mouth, and then he was gone, out her door, leaving only a whiff of his intoxicating aroma behind for her to relish before that, too, dissipated.

Rachael pressed her forehead to the door jamb as Scrappy, suddenly fully awake, began to rub against her leg. “What am I going to do about that man?” she whispered. The cat had no answers, and neither did she, but if Graham continued to touch her the way that he had tonight, it wouldn’t be long until she’d find herself confessing her feelings to him--and possibly more, even though she knew it would be a mistake to tell him the truth. It was just about impossible to keep deceiving him, though. And if she ever wanted to find herself lying with him, she’d have to figure out a way to stop lying to him.