by Jamie Craig
Lucas Richards was not one of Gideon’s favorite people, for a lot of reasons, but he had a point. A long time ago, Gideon had made a vow to protect and help the city, and he wasn’t going to break it now. Even if he didn’t like how some of its citizens behaved. But the thought of draining Lucas and tossing him aside filled him with dark glee.
“That area of town you directed me to,” he said. “I need to know why you sent me there and what you expected me to discover.”
The lines around Lucas’ eyes deepened as he frowned. “What did you find?”
“I believe I’m asking the questions here.”
Lucas stared at him, unblinking, his mouth tight as he seemed to weigh his response. “Toby got picked up in that area two weeks before we found his body,” he said. “A local business had reported a break-in, and Toby matched the description. He told me it was a mistake, that he’d been lost. I pulled some strings and got the charges dropped.”
“This business. What was it?”
Lucas shrugged. “I don’t even remember exactly. But it doesn’t matter. It was their warehouse that reported it.”
And there it was. The link Gideon had been looking for. He needed to find out what that warehouse had housed. If it was capable of turning an innocent young man into some kind of beast, it needed to be stopped before the rest of the populace was put at risk.
“I want a copy of the police report,” he said. “You can…”
His voice trailed off as Lucas turned and opened a bottom drawer on his desk. Flipping through a number of file folders, he finally settled on one and began thumbing through its contents. He extracted a single piece of paper and handed it over to Gideon.
“That’s my copy,” he said. “But you can keep it. I can always get another.”
Ignoring the question of why Richards wouldn’t have brought this up at their first meeting, Gideon scanned the report, his frown deepening with every word.
“This says he was spotted with a girl.” He leveled an accusatory glare at Lucas. “You never mentioned a girl.”
Lucas grimaced. “Because she’s not important. Toby insisted she was his girlfriend, but I’ve never been able to get any information on her, other than her first name. It’s like she doesn’t exist.”
“I’ll assume that means she wasn’t questioned about the murder.”
“Did you miss the part where I don’t even know her last name? And she took off before the police caught her. All I know about the girl is that Toby was spending a lot of money on her, and that they were always going to some new club called Sangre. I couldn’t even find that, let alone Tricia. Which is why I brought you in.”
Though he didn’t let it show, everything inside Gideon froze.
Sangre.
That wasn’t a new club. And there was a reason Lucas Richards couldn’t find it. Nobody knew about Sangre except vampires and their human playthings. And since Toby wasn’t a vampire, that left only one other possible permutation.
Maybe Toby wasn’t the one who’d been affected by whatever was in the warehouse. Maybe it was the mysterious girl. Considering what Gideon had done to Jesse—someone he had a long, trusting history with—it was more than feasible that someone with less of an emotional investment would go too far.
“You should’ve told me about all this from the start,” Gideon said. He rose from the corner of the desk and headed for the door. “Next time you want a job done right, don’t start by cutting it off at the knees.”
“Does it mean something?” When Gideon didn’t stop, Lucas bolted from his chair and darted forward to stand between him and the door. “If you’ve found something out, tell me. This is my son we’re talking about.”
“No.” It was pointless to get the man filled with false hope. “I haven’t. But I will.” He brushed past Lucas, blocking out the specter of guilt that he’d seen in the man’s eyes. “I’ll be in touch.”
Lucas didn’t stop him this time, which was a relief. Gideon had enough on his mind, not to have to deal with someone else’s fear. Something was going on at that warehouse, and he’d dragged Jess into the middle of it.
He had to find out what it was before the next victim was someone he cared about.
Chapter 4
Jesse handled the oddly ornate doorknob with care. It seemed far too elaborate to belong to the busted door at the warehouse, and yet, he had found it among the boards and slivers, like it was where it was always meant to be. There was some sort of greasy substance coating the bottom of it that he couldn’t identify—but not for lack of trying. Was this the last object Gideon touched before he…
Jesse shivered. Just the thought of the week before sent chills down his spine. Gideon had been firm…Jesse grimaced. Bad choice of words. Gideon was strict about no touching, no contact, nothing that could be distracting or misconstrued.
But he couldn’t shake the feeling—or rather the fervent hope—that whatever was on this misplaced knob would be the way to break down the very tall wall that was now between them.
As if summoned by his thoughts, Gideon sauntered into the kitchen. Jesse swallowed, holding up the small object. “Does this seem familiar to you?”
Gideon plucked it from his fingers, turning it over in his hands. A slow frown drew his brows together, and he held it up to his nose, taking a long sniff.
“This is from the warehouse,” he said. “How’d you get it?”
“I went to the warehouse and found it, Gideon.” He arched his brow. “You know, as part of the investigation we’re ostensibly conducting.” Which was a lie, but he didn’t think Gideon would call him a liar to his face.
Gideon’s frown deepened. “I thought we agreed you were going to stay away from there.”
“I don’t think I agreed to that,” Jesse countered mildly. “We’re looking for something that causes a powerful reaction in demons that make them uncontrollable. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to actually check out the scene of a…well…an incident?”
“It would be if you hadn’t nearly died the last time.” Gideon set the knob down on the table, and as it tilted back and forth in a short arc, he brought his fingers back to his nose. “Why does this smell funny?”
Jess glanced up. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t smell it?”
“No. I don’t have super-senses, remember?”
“Well, have you analyzed it?” Gideon didn’t wait for a response. He rubbed his fingers against his thumb, as if testing the texture. “Huh. It felt like there was a lot more a second ago.”
“I’ve tried to analyze it,” Jesse said, watching Gideon carefully. The hair on the back of his neck was on end, and he felt a little warm. “I don’t have all the necessary equipment for a full analysis right now.”
Gideon seemed intent on his fingertips, their movement slowing. By the time they stopped, the greasy substance that had transferred from the door knob was gone.
He didn’t lift his head. Instead, Gideon looked at Jess through his lashes. A shiver ran down Jesse’s spine.
“You’re wearing rubber gloves,” he commented, almost too casually. “I’m going to bet it’s not because you were hoping to check my prostate. Because we both know you wouldn’t bother covering up for that.”
It was the slight darkening of his tone that made Jesse’s stomach clench. “I thought it would be smart to wear protective gear before handling strange items.”
“But you handed it to me without hesitation.” Slowly, Gideon shook his head, clicking his tongue in reproof. “Do you think I’m dumb, Jess? Did you think I wouldn’t figure it out?”
“I don’t think you’re dumb, but I didn’t know…”
Being around Gideon all the time had a tendency to make Jess forget how fast he could be. Before the last word was out of his mouth, the table was pushed screeching out of the way and Gideon’s hand was at his throat. He didn’t squeeze, but merely held him firm, pulling with enough strength to force Jess to rise to his feet if he didn’t want to lose
his head.
“I hate it when you lie to me,” Gideon said. He pushed Jess back against the wall, but continued moving until their bodies were flush. “Too bad I thought you’d actually learned something the last time we were in this position.”
Jesse’s hands hung uselessly at his side. It wouldn’t do any good to try to push Gideon away. He tried to swallow, but Gideon’s grip was tight enough to prevent that, though he wasn’t blocking his air. “I did.”
“Oh? And what did you learn? It wasn’t how not to piss off a vampire, that’s for sure.”
He felt more than a hint of fear now. Gideon’s face was inscrutable. He hadn’t been angry like this before, and if there was anything beneath the rage, Jesse didn’t see it. “I’m sorry, Gideon.”
Though Gideon didn’t loosen his grip, Jess felt his fingertips begin to massage the sides of his neck.
“Do you even know what you’re sorry for, Jess?” His voice was lower, almost silken, and it made Jesse’s heart speed up even more. “Because I don’t believe for a second you are. I think you deliberately put yourself in danger in order to satisfy some urge to get under my skin again. I don’t think you regret any of it.”
It was hard to imagine regretting any action that put Gideon’s body against his, any decision that finally made Gideon touch him again. He understood why Gideon thought he needed to keep his distance, he did, but he didn’t think Gideon understood how much Jess needed this. “You’re right.”
The admission softened the glint in Gideon’s eyes, though his jaw remained firm. “You’re lucky desperation makes you smell like fucking nirvana,” he said. “But if you think you’re going to get anywhere near my cock with this little stunt, think again.” He leaned in, pressing his mouth to Jesse’s ear. “Bad boys don’t deserve to be rewarded when they’re naughty, now do they, Jess?”
Jesse tensed, imagining Gideon’s tongue against his skin, the scrape of his teeth. It was a good thing the question had only one logical answer, because he was very distracted. “No…no they don’t.”
“I’m glad we’re in agreement, then.”
Suddenly, they were moving, and Jess stumbled along after Gideon, his wrists suddenly trapped in one of Gideon’s powerful hands. Gideon pulled him from the kitchen, not looking back, and headed straight for the stairs, up the single flight and through the deserted office to the spare room.
Jesse’s stomach seized. Only one thing happened in that room, and usually Gideon kicked him out when it happened. For whatever reasons, he didn’t like Jesse to witness his interrogations. He’d been in it when Gideon wasn’t around, of course. And he knew what he would find this time.
The room was dark, but Gideon navigated with ease, pulling Jess to the opposite wall to stand before a glass-fronted cabinet. Without letting go of his wrists, Gideon opened a door and reached in to extract a pair of thick manacles.
Jesse licked his lips nervously, eyeing the manacles. “But they’re punished?” he asked, unable to quell the part of him that wanted to have all the right answers.
In the dim light, Gideon’s eyes seemed to glow. “You call it punishment. I call it happy hour.”
The manacles snapped around Jesse’s wrists, heavy and cold. He didn’t have time to assess their weight before Gideon stepped to the middle of the room and lifted them over his head. The chains linking them looped perfectly over a hook that hung from the ceiling, pulling the muscles in Jesse’s sides as he stretched, and Gideon closed the metal tab that locked the hook shut.
There would be no escaping. It didn’t matter. He didn’t want to go anywhere anyway.
Jesse trembled. Now that he was utterly at Gideon’s mercy, he shook with delight, with anticipation. His clothes felt more restricting than the manacles, and he felt bereft without any contact at all. He couldn’t predict Gideon, couldn’t second guess him, and though he had read everything there was to read about what he’d been like before he’d changed his existence around to fight for good, there was no literature to guide him in this situation. Gideon—his friend—was an unknown, and that, somehow, excited Jess more than anything else.
Gideon walked past him to flip the light switch, then went back to the cabinet. A low sound filled the room, and it took a moment for Jess to realize what it was. Gideon was humming. Like he was in a good mood. Like he was looking forward to what was about to happen.
Jesse’s cock jumped. Gideon could deny it all he wanted, but if he really didn’t want anything to do with Jess, he would’ve left well enough alone back in the kitchen. The substance on the door knob had simply erased any inhibitions Gideon might have had about holding back.
He watched with a pounding heart as Gideon picked up first one thing and then another. With his back turned, it was impossible to see for sure what Gideon was doing, but that dialed up the anticipation even further.
“You didn’t like those clothes, right?” Gideon finally commented.
“No,” Jesse said quickly. He didn’t care about the clothes at all. He’d buy more, later. He’d never wear clothes again, if that’s what Gideon wanted.
“Good. They’re in the way.”
A knife suddenly appeared in his hand, and he sauntered toward Jesse with long, lazy steps. Jess held his breath as Gideon began slicing off the buttons on his shirt, one by one from the bottom, and when it hung open, Gideon ran the flat of the blade down the middle of Jesse’s chest.
The knife was cold on his skin, and Jesse sucked his breath in and tried to arch away from the blade. Gideon put the flat of his hand against Jesse’s back, forcing him against the knife again. Jesse nearly whimpered. If nothing else, being with Gideon reminded him of how vulnerable he was.
“What? This wasn’t what you wanted? Now how did I possibly misgauge that?”
The knife whispered through Jesse’s clothes, shredding the fabric so that it fell effortlessly to the floor. Not once did Jess feel the blade against his skin again, but all too soon, Gideon was stepping away, leaving him naked and hard with anticipation.
His throat went dry when Gideon pulled his own shirt off, revealing his tightly sculpted back. “Good to know I didn’t misgauge this getting you hot, though,” Gideon commented. “What exactly do you think is going to happen here, Jess?”
Jesse felt the undeniable urge to apologize for being wary of the knife. “I don’t know,” he murmured, and he felt like apologizing for that as well. “Please tell me.”
“A lesson.” He turned back, and from his hand dangled a cat o’nine tails. “Maybe when we’re done here, you’ll remember to be a little more straight up with me. Honesty will get you a hell of a lot farther than fucking with me, Jess.”
“I was honest with you,” Jesse protested. He twisted in the chains, his eye on the whip. “I was honest with you, and it didn’t get me anywhere.”
Gideon prowled around the edge of the room, and though he struggled to follow him, Jess soon lost sight of where he was.
“You gave me the door knob, knowing it was tainted,” Gideon said. Whether he was deliberately ignoring Jesse’s meaning, he had no idea. He simply wished he could see what Gideon was doing. “You did it deliberately to see what would happen.”
There wasn’t time for a response. The crack of leather split the air.
Jesse trapped the howl in his throat, and his lungs seized, the sudden contact freezing the air in his chest. He was more shocked than hurt, but the shock enveloped him completely. His cock jerked, a single thread of pleasure winding its way down his spine and to his groin.
“I’m sorry,” Jesse gasped, when he could speak. “It won’t happen again.”
Gideon chuckled. “You’re lying. You’ve got balls, I’ll give you that. But if you thought it would get you what you wanted, you’d do it again.” The whip cracked again. Slivers of heat sliced down Jesse’s back. “Admit it.”
It occurred to him to lie again, but he suspected Gideon’s reaction would be the same whether he told the truth or not. “I would if I thought we’
d both get what we wanted.”
“And what’s that?”
“You don’t want to have to care about the consequences.” The whip landed across his shoulders. “You want to be the one in charge.” And lower on his ribs. “You think you should be able to do whatever you want to me, and, God, Gideon, I want that, too.” The whip whistled through the air behind him, erupting like fire across his skin. Jesse cried out, unable to ignore the pain any longer.
So wrapped in the searing agony now making his skin throb, he never heard Gideon move.
“I should be able to do whatever I want to you,” Gideon murmured in Jesse’s ear. His bare chest pressed to Jess’ back, and the cool contact helped ease some of the sting. “But right now, I’ll settle for this.”
The first touch of Gideon’s tongue along his split skin made Jess cry out again, but this time, it was a sound of shocked pleasure.
Jesse writhed against Gideon’s mouth, but never attempted to pull away from him. If anything, he wanted more contact. Gideon abandoned his broken skin and sought out the long thin lines of blood rolling down his back. Each swipe of Gideon’s tongue soothed every sliver of pain, until he was quivering with pleasure and need, the sting from the whip almost entirely forgotten.
“I smell you everywhere.” Gideon’s voice floated up to him, caressing hands gliding around the front of his thighs. “In the office, in my bed. Do you know I can’t bring myself to change my sheets ever since you spent the day in them? You need to bleed more often. I don’t think my cock’s been soft since I fucked you.”
Jesse moaned. He knew Gideon wanted him, but remembering a long night of fucking was not the same as hearing the words come from Gideon’s mouth. Gideon moved his hands over his thighs, his fingers framing Jesse’s stiff cock without actually touching him. He wanted Gideon to make him bleed, wanted Gideon to fuck him, wanted Gideon to touch him, wanted Gideon to bite him…
