Nico Giudice nursed his glass of cognac and contemplated what he was doing with his life. The bar was tightly packed with breathers, with only a handful of other supernatural creatures, all of which avoided him as if their life depended on it. Which wasn't entirely irrational. They should fear him, had grown up hearing the legends of the Giudice family; the royal vampires that ruled the rest of his kind.

He hated the side glances, the whispering, the speculation that often followed him. Even amongst his own kind, he experienced the same. It was one reason he rarely went home.

But like most things, his life had come back to haunt him. Reminding him that no matter how much he tried to run from his past and his supposed destiny, he could never truly escape.

He picked up the glass and swallowed a mouthful, the usual taste doing little to appease him. He'd fed recently and yet he felt on edge. He would have rather been anywhere else.

It was foolish of his brothers to offer his services without speaking to him first. Still, he couldn't help but be intrigued by the situation they had placed him in. Usually they requested he come home, stop his roaming and take on more responsibility as was fitting of a vampire prince. But this time was different. This request had come from their friend; the shadow walker.

Nico had never met Lenah Rhys and yet he felt like he knew her. She had served his family well over the last decade, and his brothers' praise for her was never ending.

Still, being relegated to nothing more than a glorified babysitter irked him. It did not sit well with his royal upbringing.

A quickened heartbeat caught his attention, making the rest of the noisy crowd fade away as he focused his senses.

'Are you sure you want to do this by yourself? I could be there in a couple of hours.'

'Lenah, I need to do this. I just have this feeling,' an exasperated voice said, sounding like this was an argument that the two had had many times before.

'Just be careful. You're still meeting the vampire, right?'

'Yes. Since apparently I need a babysitter,' the voice grumbled.

Nico sat up straighter as the footsteps neared the entrance to the bar.

'We just want to make sure you're safe,' the voice on the other end of the phone reasoned.

'This isn't my first time in the human world, you know.'

'Just stay safe and call me if you need us.'

Nico listened as the sisters said their goodbye and disconnected. Unless he was very much mistaken, his charge was a few seconds away from walking into the bar. He drained the rest of his drink and signalled to the barman for another.

He held his breath as the door creaked open and the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen walked in. She was still typing on her phone as she headed towards the bar, completely missing the many eyes that followed her path.

Nico could feel the tension rack up as the locals sized up their new prey. In a pair of white jeans and a crop top, she looked utterly helpless and a tourist. The large backpack strapped to her body only cinched it.

He wanted to curse. He'd picked this bar because the barman was a friend of his and it was low-key. Never did he think the woman would so totally stick out. Did she not realise that this was Brazil and not Florida?

'What can I get you, miss?' the barman asked.

'I'll have a cachaça on the rocks,' she replied, stowing her mobile safely in the bag slung over her shoulder.

Nico raised his eyebrow, reassessing her now that he'd heard her drink. It was a frequent favourite with the locals and it gave the rest of the bar patrons pause for thought as they openly watched her.

'That's a hard drink for such a delicate creature.'

Nico stiffened as a muscle bound human leaned against the bar next to her, his gaze raking over her body.

'Anything I can get you, Raoul?' The barman tried to divert attention away from the woman, but it was no good. The man - Raoul - had fully set his eyes on the unsuspecting woman.

'No, I think I have everything I need.' He smirked, once again letting his eyes trail over the woman's body. 'Why don't you come and sit with me?'

'Thank you for the offer, but I'm actually here to meet someone.' She smiled to take the edge off her words.

Raoul frowned, clearly not expecting her answer. 'Sit with us whilst you wait for this someone,' he said, leaving no room to argue.

'Look, I think I'll stay here if it's all the same to you,' the woman scowled, taking a sip of her drink.

The man grabbed her hand before the rim of the glass could reach her lips. 'I wasn't asking.'

Nico gritted his teeth and strutted towards the man, seeming to materialise at his side.

'I'd appreciate it if you'd release my friend.'

Raoul and the woman both jumped at his sudden appearance, and the barman disappeared somewhere out back. Of course Carlos would scarper at the first sign of trouble, Nico thought to himself. For a human, Carlos had an uncanny ability to know when danger was around. And when to get the hell out of the way.

'Back off. This is between me and the girl,' Raoul shouted.

Nico held his hands up. 'I don't want any trouble. Just let my friend go and we'll leave. No harm done.'

'You leave, the girl stays.'

Nico regarded the rest of the bar as stools dragged across the floor. Several people followed Carlos' example and fled. The rest rose from their seats, makeshift weapons grasped in their hands.

'Who the hell do you think you are? I'm not staying with you.' The woman ripped her arm out of the man's grasp.

Nico moved in a blindingly fast move so that he stood directly in front of her. He'd given his brothers his word; he wasn't about to fuck up his job within the first hour, even if the woman did attract trouble.

'I think that's our cue to go,' he said.

'Who the hell are you? If I say the girl stays, then she stays,' Raoul said, the remaining bar patrons grunting along with his words, though they knew very little English.

'And I say she's coming with me,' Nico growled.

Akari blinked. 'Don't I get a say in this?'

Nico huffed and turned to face the ignorant woman. Bright blue eyes stared back at him under long dark eyelashes. Her white face was a set in hard scowl but he could tell it was more used to smiling. He took in her scent for the first time, expecting to smell her fear or anxiety. Instead, the primary emotion coming from her was annoyance, only he couldn't tell who she was more annoyed at; him or her unwanted admirer.

He was about to ask her when her eyes focused on something behind him; her face falling. Only then could he scent her fear.

Nico whirled around and caught the metal bar that had been heading for the back of his head. The man attached to the other end looked at him in shock, not quick enough to stop Nico from ripping the bar from his hands.

'That's not very nice,' Nico drawled.

The man took a large step back, but it was too late for that. He'd started the challenge, and Nico's instincts wouldn't allow him to get away with it. On his second step back, Nico grabbed him and tossed him effortlessly to the side, feeling satisfied when the human crashed into the table and slumped unconscious to the floor.

He was enjoying the looks of fear from the man's friends so much so that he didn't notice the gun pointed in his direction until a bullet tore through his shoulder. He staggered back, turning to see Raoul holding the gun, his hand shaking as he took in Nico's deceptively lithe frame.

'What are you?' whispered Raoul, his eyes bugging out of his head when he saw Nico's fangs descend 'C-corpo-S-seco,' he stuttered, his fingers twitching on the trigger.

'I can assure you I have never met the Devil, but please send him my regards.' Nico pounced as bullets thudded into his body. He dimly heard the woman scream as he held the man up by the throat.

'Please, please,' Raoul begged.

Nico sneered, drawing the man's neck towards his waiting teeth.

'Stop! Put him down.' The woman appeared at his side, trying to get between him and Raoul. 'You've had your fun and proven your point. Now let him go.'

Nico growled, the woman unintentionally setting off all of his worst instincts. Vampires were very protective over their prey, and in his eyes, Raoul was most definitely prey.

He swallowed the hiss that was trying to escape, knowing that his brothers were already going to kill him when they found out what he'd done. 'Don't get involved with things that you don't know,' Nico warned.

The woman stood straighter. 'You can't just attack and feed off him.'

Nico shook his head. 'This man is a trafficker. He was sizing you up as his next sale. Beautiful foreign women travelling alone are easy pickings for bastards like him.' He shook Raoul, relishing the sound of him whimpering.

'H-he was planning on doing that to me?' Her pale skin became even paler and Nico cursed himself as he watched her sway on the spot.

'This isn't some safe holiday destination that you've wandered into,' he reminded her.

'Please can we just go,' she mumbled, unable to look at Nico or her would be attacker.

Nico regarded her in silence before sighing and dropping the man back to the floor. He crouched down to where Raoul was curled up in the fetal position.

'If I hear you trafficking anyone, I'll make sure a couple of my friends come and pay you a little visit.' Nico flashed his fangs, so that Raoul knew exactly what type of friends he meant.

He didn't wait for a reply, knowing that the trafficking operation would be back up and running within a week. The memory of Nico would just be a horrible nightmare. A trick of a rival gang looking to muscle in on their territory.

He would inform André about it, but considering the troubles facing Brazil, he doubted the ruling vampire master could do much straight away.

He took the woman's arm and dragged her out of the bar, walking her towards his parked car.

'Wait. Wait. You're hurt.' The woman panicked.

Nico sighed and held up his t-shirt, showing her the already healing wounds. His body had already pushed out the bullets and thankfully, the holes were small. He would have been in more trouble if it had been a shotgun aimed at him. The bigger the wound, the higher the risk of blood loss, and vampires didn't handle blood loss well. In the worst cases, blood loss could cause death.

'But I saw the bullets hit you. I heard them,' the woman said in wonder as she lifted her hand to his torso.

Nico shivered as her warmth met his coolness. Her fingers only traced the wounds for a second, but it felt glorious to him.

When she pulled away, he yanked his t-shirt back in place and held the car door open for her. She winced as she folded herself into the car, and Nico frowned.

He bent down towards her and sniffed, rearing back when the smell of her blood invaded his senses.

'You're bleeding,' he accused, his eyes drawn to a dark stain on her jeans.

'What?'

Nico shook his head and pointed towards her leg.

'I didn't even feel it,' she murmured, watching as the stain grew.

'That's the adrenaline. Come on, I'll take you somewhere you can rest and clean up.'

The woman didn't answer as she continued to watch the wound with an almost amused expression. It wasn't until they were a few minutes from their destination that she spoke.

'My name is Akari, by the way. Thanks for protecting me, Nico.' she smiled up at him, dazzling Nico for a few seconds before he remembered to focus on the road. The woman sure had a killer smile.