I glanced down at his crotch. “Nope, you look dry to me. Let’s drag him back inside and cut out his heart before…”
“We can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“The Order will take care of that. We just deliver the staked corpse.”
I bit my lip. “That’s not efficient. We could easily…”
Devin shook his head. “They believe that if the vampire’s human soul is to be saved, it has to happen in a certain way.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s bullshit.”
“Maybe,” Devin said. “But it’s how they do things. So far as I know, it goes all the way back to the founding of the Order.”
“So now we have to carry a body down the stairs, toss it into your car, and hope no one sees us?”
Devin nodded. “Yeah. But that’s not an insurmountable challenge. We already did the hard part.”
“True enough,” I said. “And sorry about that.”
“Sorry?”
“Yeah, for almost getting you bitten.”
“Are you kidding?” Devin asked. “It was a rush. And I knew you’d have my back. Or… his back, as the case ended up being.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I had his back good. On the plus side, a stake through the back will make it a bit easier to carry him to the car than if it were in his chest.”
“Does it really matter?”
I shrugged as I bent down and heaved the vampire over my shoulders. “The way I carry them, it does.”
“Holy shit,” Devin said. “I could have helped with that, you know.”
I smiled. “It’s okay. I work out.”
“Shouldn’t we wrap him up or something?” Devin asked. “I mean, it’s the middle of the day.”
“Good point,” I said. “Maybe he has a blanket we can use?”
Devin nodded, gesturing toward the open door leading into the vampire’s apartment.
“Ladies first?” I asked, only half-joking. It was the subtlest way I could affirm my femininity, given the situation.
“Of course,” Devin said, grinning.
I flopped Chad’s body down on his own couch. He had already turned gray. When a vamp is staked, their bodies don’t totally desiccate. At least not rapidly. They are dead, of course, but their bodies aren’t subject to the same natural decomposition processes as humans.
“Surely he has a blanket or something,” I said.
“How about a rug?” Devin glanced toward the ground beneath my feet.
“Leopard print?” I asked, chuckling to myself. “I suppose the vamp had a sense of style.”
“If leopard print is really in style.”
“Honey,” I quipped back, “leopard print is always in style. You just have to know how to work it.”
Devin cocked his head. “Did you just call me ‘honey?’”
I raised an eyebrow. If I had blood in my body and was capable of blushing, I probably would have. I didn’t even realize I’d said it. I scratched my head in awkward silence until I looked up at Devin and he was smiling wide. And from the look in his eyes, I could tell he didn’t mind it at all.
14
“SO, WHAT IS this ritual exactly?” I asked. “I mean, I’m a bit curious how they think a vampire’s soul can be redeemed.”
Devin shrugged as he drove, both hands on the wheel at two and ten o’clock. I suppose when you have a body wrapped up in a rug in the back seat, you want to be extra careful to follow all the rules of the road. A routine pull-over for a minor traffic violation could turn south quickly. And it was about an hour’s drive between the city and the church. Inconvenient, considering once we were done I’d have to turn right back around again to go home.
“I don’t have any clue,” Devin said.
“Aren’t you a part of the Order?”
“Yes and no,” Devin said. “I mean, I am. But I haven’t been initiated yet into the inner circle.”
“There’s an inner circle?”
Devin nodded. “My father’s a part of it. Mina and the other ladies, too.”
“And why aren’t you?”
“They haven’t invited me yet,” Devin said. “To be considered, you need to successfully complete what they’d deem a ‘notable hunt.’”
“So Chad here isn’t notable enough for them?”
Devin shook his head. “They have a most-wanted list—the most notorious witches and vamps. Take one of them out and you’re automatically brought to a vote for consideration.”
I bit my lip. “Notorious witches and vamps? How do we get a contract for one of those?”
Devin shrugged. “First, they need to have actionable intelligence on the target’s whereabouts. Second, the handler has to be convinced that you’ve demonstrated the capacity to complete the job.”
“The handler?” I asked, looking at Devin even as he glanced at me before fixing his eyes back on the road.
“Mina,” Devin said. “She’s the handler.”
I snorted. “Not exactly the sort I’d expect.”
“Because she’s an old woman?” Devin asked. “She’s been a part of the Order since she was a little girl. From what I’ve heard, she was initiated into the inner circle at thirteen.”
I cocked my head. “She killed a notable vampire at thirteen?”
“A witch, I believe,” Devin said. “And more than one. Apparently she stumbled across a whole coven. They were a group of her friends in school.”
“And she killed her own friends?”
Devin nodded. “Can you imagine? Apparently she took them all out. Burned every last one of them.”
“And she never got investigated?”
“I really don’t know,” Devin said. “I imagine she was questioned about it. But a thirteen-year-old crying because she just lost her friends probably doesn’t rise to the top of a list of suspects. Not to mention she’d locked them all in her own house.”
“She locked them in?”
“Turned the locks around on the door,” Devin said. “Fire burned so hot there wasn’t any door left. And I suppose arson investigations weren’t as common back then.”
“How do you know about this?” I asked. “I mean, I don’t think a crime like that has a statute of limitations. I can’t imagine these details are exactly common knowledge.”
Devin shook his head. “My father. Probably wasn’t supposed to tell me the story. He gave it to me as an example. Something to aspire toward…”
I bit my lip. It was hard to believe that anyone would see such a slaughter as exemplary. Not that I didn’t have a lot of bodies in my past, but I was just acting according to my nature… I had to eat. This was pure hate. A zealous elimination of other people, and one’s friends, no less, based on some backward idea that all witches deserved to die. I mean, it must’ve happened at least sixty years ago based on Mina’s current age. But it had still happened recently, relatively speaking. Far removed from the seventeenth-century witch trials.
“How was that supposed to inspire you?” I asked. “An example of her methods?”
“Sort of.” Devin shook his head. “But more than that, her willingness to eliminate even those she thought were her friends. To follow the path of righteousness, my father insists, we must be willing to hate even our own friends and family for the sake of holiness. If that means burning our own friends—even our own family—as witches, or staking them if they become vamps… that’s what it takes.”
I took a deep breath. “Do you think you have what it takes?”
Devin shook his head. “I really don’t know.”
“Well,” I said, “I don’t have any family to speak of. Long story. But I do have friends. And I can’t imagine… I mean, no matter what they became, I’d do anything to save them.”
Devin nodded. “And that’s exactly what the Order believes they’re doing when they burn a witch or stake a vamp. They consider it an act of mercy.”
I pressed my lips together. “Do you agree with that?”
Devin
sighed. “I’d be foolish to say I don’t. Because if I admitted that, I couldn’t get into the inner circle. But…”
“I’m sure there are a lot of things you’re afraid to admit,” I said. “For fear of being judged. Excluded.”
Devin nodded. I could see tears welling up in his eyes, but he was trying to hold it back. “Damnit, why am I telling you all this? We barely know each other.”
I lifted my hands and crossed my fingers in front of my face. “Cross my fingers, hope to die. Whatever’s said on a hunt or, in this case, in the wake of a hunt… stays on the hunt. Your secrets are safe with me.”
“Same here,” Devin said. “I mean, if you had anything you needed to get off your chest.”
I smirked. “I don’t really. But I bet Chad back there has something he’d like off—or out of—his chest at the moment.”
Devin laughed. “I’m sure he would. I’ve heard that when a vampire is staked, their spirits languish in a special part of hell.”
I nodded. “I’ve been told the same.”
“Told by who?”
“I’ve had a few conversations with vampires,” I said. “I’d stake them, then bind them in chains and garlic. I don’t know if Mina or the ladies told you, but the whole reason I’m hunting vamps… Well, there was one who took something very important from me. And I’ve been hoping, perhaps against all hope, that if I hunted long enough I’d find the vamp who did it.”
“What did the vampire take from you?”
I took a deep breath. “I’ll just say that she bit me. And when she did, it felt like she took a piece of me with her.”
Devin raised his eyebrows, even as he continued looking ahead at the highway. “So you’re a victim?”
I shook my head. “I don’t like to use that word. When you call yourself a victim it gives whoever hurt you power over your life. It lets them define a part of who you are.”
Devin shrugged. “But it’s true. This vampire is defining you. I mean, look at what an accomplished hunter you’ve become. Don’t tell me that hunting vamps hasn’t defined you.”
“It’s a part of me,” I said honestly. “But it’s not all of me. I also like to sing. I can’t let vampire hunting be all that’s left. If I did that, you’d be right—I would allow the vamp who bit me to define me.”
Devin nodded. “I’d like to hear you sing some time.”
I grinned. “Perhaps when the occasion strikes, I’ll serenade you.”
“I’d like that,” Devin said, blushing again.
I just nodded. I didn’t know what to say next, and neither did he. The awkward silence, though, spoke volumes. We both knew it—we were attracted to each other. But we were both denying it, afraid to say it out loud. For him, accepting that and admitting it to someone even loosely connected to the Order, like me, risked him losing everything. And for me, pushing my interest in Devin risked compromising my mission.
And after this kill, and a few more, I had to believe I’d get a contract on Alice sooner rather than later. What I had to do was get into the inner circle. And if I was going to do that, I needed to get Devin into the inner circle. I mean, I doubted they’d let me in before him. And if he got in and presented us as a team… maybe they’d bite. It was worth a shot, anyway.
“I’ll try and help you,” Devin said, finally breaking the silence.
“With what?”
“Finding the vampire who bit you.”
I nodded. “And I’ll help you do what needs to be done to get into the inner circle. Provided you can get me in along with you.”
Devin cocked his head. “That might take some convincing. I mean, I have the benefit of being a legacy…”
I shrugged. “Just do what you can. At the very least, if we get you in, put in a good word for me.”
Devin chuckled. “If you can help me catch a tier-one vamp, I’ll insist that they bring you in at the very least as my apprentice.”
I snorted. “Apprentice?”
Devin laughed. “I mean, that’s how they’ll see it. But truth be told, I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around. I could use a more… experienced man.”
I pressed my lips together. He’d said “man.” What if he knew that I wasn’t really a man at all? One thing at a time… one problem at a time. So far, we’d only flirted casually. And while he seemed comfortable sharing his truth with me, albeit subtly and indirectly, it would be a while before I could tell him mine.
——
I flopped Chad’s staked body onto the loveseat.
The three women, still knitting on the couch, didn’t even look up.
“Where’s Mina?” Devin asked, strolling in behind me.
“I trust the vampire is firmly staked?” Susan asked. “I’d hate to have a repeat of last time.”
I glanced at Devin.
He winced. “Yeah, last time… I had a staked vamp, brought him back, and tossed him down. When I did, the landing forced the stake out of his chest. And he was pissed.”
“Nothing a knitting needle couldn’t take care of,” Dorcas added.
“You ladies re-staked the vamp yourselves?”
“What?” Carol asked. “Do you think we women can’t handle ourselves?”
“It’s because we’re old,” Dorcas added. “Not because we’re women.”
“Exactly,” I said.
The three women on the couch stopped knitting and looked at me blankly.
“Not that I’m saying you’re old, either…”
Two more seconds of silence.
And then they all busted out in raucous laughter. “No shame in that, dear!” Susan added. “Of course we’re old. It’s not an insult to speak the truth. But with age also comes experience.”
This was the second time the topic of experience had come up, but when Devin mentioned it, I got the distinct sense he’d meant something entirely different.
“I agree,” I said. “If you don’t have experience, it doesn’t matter how fit you are. You’ll never get it in.”
The three women nodded, but didn’t respond.
“The stake,” I clarified. “Obviously.”
“We know what you meant, dear.” Dorcas resumed knitting.
“Well, what do we have here?” Mina asked as she walked through the door. “I didn’t expect you two to be back so soon.”
“Nick did great,” Devin said. “He’s a natural.”
I smiled in appreciation. “Couldn’t have done it without you, Devin.”
“We’ll take it from here, boys,” Mina said. “Perhaps next time we’ll give you a more challenging target.”
“A tier one?” Devin asked.
“Sweet Jesus, no,” Mina said. “You aren’t ready for that. But if you two continue to prove yourselves, I’ll see what I can do.”
“Can I get your number?” Devin asked, turning to me.
I cocked my head. “My… number?” I couldn’t believe he’d asked me that in front of the Order ladies.
“So I can let you know when we have another target,” Devin said.
I smiled wide. Duh. I should have known. “Of course.”
Devin pulled out his phone, tapped at the screen, then handed it to me.
I typed in my number and handed it back. “Call me any time,” I said. “Day or night.”
Devin smiled and nodded.
“It’s been a pleasure to meet you ladies,” I said as I glanced at Mina. Just looking at her, it was hard to believe the story Devin had told me, about how she’d burned a whole coven of witches alive. She looked so… sweet.
“Thank you for seeking us out, Nick,” Mina said. “It was a pleasure.”
“The pleasure was mine,” I said, nodding my head slightly.
“God bless you, child.” Mina smiled wide.
I nodded back. “You, too.”
15
MY FIRST ENCOUNTER—and hunt—with the Order was nothing like what I’d expected. First, I’d never have predicted that the handlers would be little old lad
ies. Second, that I’d be paired with a dashing preacher’s son who seemed as attracted to me as I was to him.
I sighed as flew down the highway on my bike, the wind blowing in my face.
I was due to take the stage later in the evening at Leotards and Lace. I was looking forward to that. Too much Nyx for one day. Not even that—I’d had to pretend to be “Nick.” Ugh. I needed a little Nicky time.
I planned to go extra fabulous for the night. Maybe I’d have Donnie do my nails. She was good at it, and I’d have the time once she got off work before showtime.
And as silly as it sounds, I couldn’t stop thinking about Devin. A part of it might have been the fact that I have a natural tendency to want to help the helpless. I have a bit of that “heroine” complex—I wanted to be the damsel in shining armor who beats the odds to rescue her knight in distress.
But who was I kidding? Devin was gay. And while I had a body he might like, I wasn’t a man. If he was attracted to whatever of me was apparently masculine, he was only attracted to the act I was putting on. He desired Nick, not Nicky. And I couldn’t be Nick. I could pretend to be him for short periods of time—but even that was exhausting.
If he knew me—the real me… If he knew Nicky, or even if he hunted alongside Nyx…
I doubt he’d be into me. I wasn’t his type. Not really.
But damnit, as much as I knew all that was true, I couldn’t help but see his face, his flawless complexion, his lean and toned backside, dancing through my mind.
It wasn’t the first time I’d been attracted to a human. I mean, it was rare. Not medium rare, though that was more in line with the allure that humans historically had for me.
But the longer I’d lived as a human, even if I wasn’t one, even if I didn’t bleed red, the more I thought of myself as a part of their species.
And if Devin knew that about me—if he knew I wasn’t even human, that I used to eat humans…
He’d be disgusted. Hell, I was disgusted by what I knew I was.
Maybe I’d never be a human. Not completely. But when people have a dog, they come to love their dog. They begin to see the dog as a part of the family, as if it were one of them, as close to a human as any animal could be. And they’d never think about eating a dog, any dog, precisely because they’d bonded with one. They’d had one as a pet. They’d welcomed a dog into their family.
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