by Rose, Renee
I usually don’t drink on the job, but tonight’s kicked me in the teeth, and this isn’t my real job. I lift the glass to my lips and savor the burn.
Then I see who’s standing at the bar and almost choke.
Nero, the leech, leans on the polished wood, silky blond hair falling in his face. “Hello again.”
I slam the shot glass down, not worrying about whether it will break. I’m a she-wolf, and I feel safer showing strength.
“What’s your poison?” I ask. “We don’t have a ton of arsenic back here, but for you…”
“So impolite.” The vamp shows his teeth. I stare at a point on his forehead, feigning boredom. Even I know not to look a leech in the eye. “And here I was going to give you a big tip.”
“Save it,” I mutter and start to turn away.
He pulls out a few bills and waves them in my direction. All of them Benjamins. Why would a vamp carry so much cash? He’s in a nicely tailored suit and looks like he just came from a job downtown where the plaque on his office door reads ‘Analyst,’ but I doubt he got that stack shorting stocks. Is he here to deal?
I stop to ponder this, and he smirks, thinking he caught my attention with some green. “Hennessy Paradis.”
I fight the urge to laugh. Who comes to a rundown shifter club and orders cognac? Only a vampire.
Instead I hand him a bottle of Wolf Ridge. A new IPA my company is calling ‘Luna-tic.’
Nero grimaces like I’ve given him a bag of dung.
“Try it,” I say sweetly. “I’d garnish it, but we’re fresh out of garlic.” I don’t wait to see if he does try it. I don’t care. Everything is wrong about this place. Vampires are hanging out in a shifter bar like they own the place, and Trey doesn’t seem to care.
I grab a rag and swipe the bar, and a strong, cool hand grasps my wrist. I snarl, catching the stoney scent of the vampire.
“Be still,” he hisses, a seductive tone that chills me. Vampires can control people with their gaze. But some of the old ones only need to use their voice.
“Let go of me,” I growl and he does, but stays close, his manicured fingernails drumming on the bar.
“I need to give you your tip, little wolf.”
I want to grab a bottle and smash it against the bar, and use the shards to cut off a vampire’s head. But something’s up, and I need to find out what.
He pulls out a hundred dollar bill and folds it in half. I swear to the fates, if he tries to tuck it between my breasts, I will clock the guy. “Are you coming to the territory meeting tonight?” he murmurs.
I go still. “What territory meeting?”
“We invited the wolves out for a discussion. Midnight. Santa Cruz wash, south of Congress.”
I raise my head and look at the clock on the wall. It’s almost eleven.
Nero drops the C-note on the bar, puts a finger to his lips and glides away, leaving me cold.
“You all right?” Luka asks for the second time.
“Yeah.” I try to shake off the eerie chill running through my limbs. There is nothing natural about a vampire. “How long have the leeches been coming around?”
“Since the beginning. There are a few in town who run No Return, a nightclub on Congress.” The shifter shrugs. “They’re all right. But this is a new crowd. Lucius Frangelico, an old vampire king, moved outta Hollywood, starting over. They do that, you know, every fifty years. So people don’t realize they don’t age.”
“Yeah. But what’s he doing here?” I whisper the question to myself, watching Nero’s back as the tall vampire heads deeper into the club. He ignores the fight, going straight to a side door, opening it and disappearing.
Luka picks up the bottle he left, and drops it into the recycle barrel, glass clinking against glass. The sound jerks me out of my trance.
“Here.” Luka hands me the hundred-dollar bill Nero left. “You earned it.”
At ten to midnight, I rinse my hands and slip away, telling Luka I need a break. I thread through the groups of shifters standing around talking about the last fight, and when I reach the side door Nero took, I hesitate only a second before pushing through it. I don’t know what’s going on with the leeches in what should be wolf territory, but if Trey and my cousin won’t talk to me, Nero might. If not, maybe he can lead me to this Lucius Frangelico vampire king. Once I find out, I can report back to my Alpha and my dad, and go home. Before history repeats itself with Trey.
The night air is cool on my face as I walk. It’s easy, way too easy to follow the vampire’s scent.
* * *
Trey
Moonlight pools in the arroyo, lining the ruts thirsty for water. There’s no sound but the highway in the distance and the crunch of our boots on the dry rock.
“How much farther?” Jared asks, just as a large shadow detaches from a group of rocks and flows down into the empty basin.
“There.” Tank, the pack’s second in command, jerks his chin towards the shadow, which cleaves into several distinct bodies. My skin prickles as I recognize the new arrivals. Dark and suit clad, with slick hair and inhuman good looks. Vampires.
My lips curl automatically, showing my teeth.
Garrett waves us forward. He marches right up to the group of vampires, stopping a few feet away from their leader. Tank, Jared and I fan out behind him, acting cool and unafraid. A few more of our pack take up watch positions in case the leeches decide to ambush us. So far they’ve acted in good faith, but I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them. I’m not sure how far I can throw a vampire, but it sounds like a great way to relieve stress.
“Alpha,” the vampire leader greets Garrett. The kingpin, as we call him, is lean like a runner, with swarthy skin and an impeccably tailored suit. His name is Lucius Frangelico and he looks like he should have some corny Transylvanian accent. Instead, he speaks in cultured tones, like a BBC newscaster. “What a fine night you chose for our meeting.”
Behind Frangelico, the rest of the vampires stare at us like snakes, unblinking. They’re all perfectly groomed and wearing dark suits, mirror images of their boss. They look like fucking yuppies who stepped out of the office to get a cold brew, but their scent tells me they’re old. We’re not sure how old, but between me and a few of my hacker friends, we’ve traced properties their leader has held for over two hundred years. The shell corporation changes every few decades, but everything ties back to Frangelico.
“Glad you all could make it,” Garrett answers blandly.
Lucius tilts his head to the side. It’s a natural movement, but I get the feeling it’s one he’s studied and copied. He waves a hand at his gang. “These are my lieutenants, Maximus, Nero, Tiberius and Augustus.”
“The Roman Empire called,” I mutter to Jared. “They want their emperors back.” My best friend chuckles silently, his shoulders shaking.
In front of us, Garrett hooks his thumbs in his jeans and lets his chin drop. On any other wolf it would be a submissive pose, but our Alpha is so big, he’s still looking down on all but the tallest of the leeches.
“That’s a lot of mouths to feed,” he says thoughtfully, and Jared and I stop joking.
“That is why we meet, no?” Lucius spreads his large hands. He’s pretty big for a leech. Most of them are pretty boy thin and—forgive me—anemic. “To work out territory.”
“Tucson’s not big enough for all of us, plus your gang.”
“We prefer the word nest,” Nero corrects. At a hand signal from Frangelico, he comes forward, offering a sheet of paper. “Here is a map of the area. We have marked out ample territory for the wolves, with access to the all the mountain ranges, of course. We merely wish to dwell west of the Santa Cruz, and south of Congress street. To hunt and feed in peace.”
At Garrett’s signal, I move forward and meet the sleek-looking vampire halfway, keeping my gaze somewhere between his ear and his shoulder. Without touching his fingers, I grab the map and hand it to Tank.
He and Garrett study it a moment,
and when Garrett looks up, his eyes glow with anger. “See, we have a problem with this. Because you don’t hunt and feed off rabbits or deer. You hunt humans.”
Moonlight glints off Lucius’ fangs. “My children are too well-trained to make a mess of our food.”
“I’ve heard otherwise. I heard you got into a turf war in L.A., and your victims ended up drained dry.”
“A small issue only.” Frangelico waves a hand. “Here I have no enemies. I offer you much to continue the goodwill between our species.”
“What exactly are you offering?” Tank asks, folding beefy arms over his chest.
“The continued survival of your pack,” Lucius replies, and the temperature plunges twenty degrees.
“What makes you think you’d survive a fight with our pack?” Garrett asks.
“You are young. You have only begun to take mates. You have too much to lose.” Lucius’ voice is matter-of-fact as he recites his reasons. He’s pretty nonchalant for a guy who just threatened our entire existence.
And our mates.
But he’s right. Our strongest pack members—Garrett, Jared and Tank—all have mates they would do anything to protect. And she’s not my mate, but fuck if the image of Sheridan in her goddamn corset-dress doesn’t materialize in my mind, making my fingers clench into fists. I would die to keep her safe without a moment’s thought.
Loud growls grow in several wolves’ chests. Garrett snaps the map in his hand, and the pack falls silent.
“It says here you’ll be claiming Phoenix for your feeding grounds.” Garrett studies the paper in his hands. “Have you spoken to the pack there? I doubt they’ll be happy to know a new vampire nest is trespassing on their territory.”
“They won’t.” A clear voice drifts down the side of the ravine, and we all turn. Sheridan appears at the top of the hill, swinging a leg over the concrete barrier and making her way down, crunching rocks under her big boots.
“Who is this?” Frangelico asks sharply.
“She’s one of us,” I blurt and lean close to Garrett and Tank to let them know, “It’s Sheridan.”
“What the fuck?” Garrett’s forehead creases, but he motions for Jared and me to go to her. We meet her halfway up the side of the ravine.
“Hello, again,” she says calmly, as if she’s not interrupted a tension-filled meeting between sworn enemies. She’s still wearing my jacket, thank the fates. The whole goth makeup and corset getup makes her look like a depraved Tinkerbell.
“Hi.” I grit my teeth and put a hand out to help keep her from sliding down the loose rocks. She smells like beer and the vanilla-orange scent of her perfume. My favorite scents in the world. My dick perks right up.
I’m still mad as hell. “What in the fuck are you doing here?”
“My job,” she chirps, and strides forward to meet the vampires.
The leeches wait with perfect poker faces, honed over hundreds of years. Lucius moves first, stepping forward with a little bow. “I do not believe we have been introduced.”
“I’m Sheridan Green,” she says, walking right up to stand beside Garrett as if she’s his equal. As if she belongs here. “I represent the Phoenix pack.”
“My lieutenants reported no Phoenix pack,” Lucius tilts his head at Sheridan, questioning.
“Wolf Ridge,” Garrett answers for her. “It’s north of Scottsdale. My father’s the Alpha.”
“Ah yes, Alpha Green. I have heard of his rule and the little schism between him and his son. You are the son?”
“As if you don’t know,” Jared mutters, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes. This whole playing dumb act of Lucius’ is getting old. He’s trying to be disarming. But we know all about vampire charm. Let it get to you and you’re dead. Sucker food.
I move closer to Sheridan.
“I am,” Garrett answers. “But, as you can see, there is no divide between me and my father’s pack. We are united on all fronts.” His voice holds a warning. Attack one and you’ll have to fight us all. Score one for our alpha.
“I see,” Lucius says pleasantly. “It is well that a Phoenix representative is here. The proposed territory allows my children to feed there as well as here. We can spread out our prey.”
“Spread out the deaths, you mean,” Tank rumbles.
Lucius makes an impatient gesture. “No deaths. And with the opening of our club, we may not have to roam too far.”
“Club? What club?” Sheridan asks. I lay a warning hand on her back, but she doesn’t back down. I sense her tension, but she faces the vampires with a calm, almost bored expression.
“My new club, Toxic,” Frangelico tilts his head towards Sheridan. “You must visit us, my lady.”
“No fucking way,” I mutter, and step in front of Sheridan, putting as much of my body between her and the vampire king as he’ll allow.
Lucius keeps smiling at Sheridan, showing fangs. She smiles right back, her incisors front and center. Her creature-of-the-night outfit has one advantage to it: the hot dress and artful makeup is one hell of a costume. Combined with her smarts, she charms the vampires completely. Too well. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Nero lick his fangs. I bite back a growl.
A crackle of paper and we all snap back to attention. Garrett holds up the map.
“For purposes of a temporary treaty, we agree to this territory,” he says. “Any vampire caught outside will be subject to punishment.”
“If any of mine are caught breaking my rules, I will deal with them myself,” Lucius promises. His voice is smooth, almost a purr. The leech is pleased.
I feel sick. I didn’t glance at the map, but I bet the fight club is right inside the vamp’s territory. Which means we might have to pay tribute or be overrun by leeches hunting their victims. Not that we haven’t been already. Garrett wouldn’t let us throw any vampires out until we met with Frangelico.
“Wait,” Sheridan says. “What about sucre sang?”
There’s a silence as wolves and vampires alike try to make sense of what she said. It sounds vaguely French.
“What is this?” Lucius sounds surprised.
I hear Sheridan’s heartbeat pick up as all eyes turn to her, but her chin lifts and her voice stays strong. “I’ve heard of it in connection with leeches, I mean, vampires. Some sort of drug, right?”
A few of the lieutenants exchange knowing looks. Nero hides his mouth behind a manicured hand.
“Ahh,” Lucius says. “Sweetblood. I had not heard the street name. It is not a drug. Well, not for humans, anyway.”
“Not directly,” Nero murmurs.
“It is for vampires only.” Lucius spreads his hands and looks smug. “You come to our club and I will show you. All of you are welcome, anytime.”
A low growl from Garrett makes the vampire king add, “No harm would come to you or yours. You would be our esteemed guests.”
“All right,” Sheridan says. At first I can’t believe my ears—she’s calling the vampire’s bluff? Lucius inclines his head and Sheridan adds, “I’ll go. Saturday night.” Then she glances up at me and the look on her face...it’s a challenge.
The scraping sound is me gritting my teeth, biting back my response before I say something I regret and set off a war. I can’t stop myself from glaring at Nero when he glides forward and leans towards Sheridan. “You will enjoy yourself, little wolf. I will make sure of it.”
“This meeting’s over,” Garrett growls, thank the fates, and one by one the wolves turn and walk back the way we came. I wait for Sheridan to go, and glare in Nero’s general direction before spinning on my boot. The leech’s laughter starts as soon as I turn my back, unhinges my spine and follows me from the ravine.
Up at the cars, Sheridan is surrounded by the pack, talking to Garrett. I can’t stop myself from marching up and grabbing her arm. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“Back off, biker boy,” she spits back, wrenching her arm from my grip. Shit, I forget how strong she is. “You’re not the boss of
me.”
I ignore her, turning to Garrett. “She’s not safe here. My bouncer told me one of the leeches—Nero—took an interest in her. You gotta send her back to Phoenix.”
“I’m right here, moonhead,” Sheridan snaps. It’s her turn to grab my arm and jerk me to face her. “I am perfectly fine. I can fight my own battles.”
“The fuck you can,” I growl and talk over her head to Garrett. “Did you hear her? She’s going to go into the leeches territory—to their club!”
“I heard,” Tank says. “I think it’s a good idea.”
“What?” I whirl on him. I swear I’m going to sock somebody in the jaw. My wolf writhes under my skin, ready to wreck someone.
“Hear him out,” Garrett orders.
“We know Frangelico is powerful, right? But we don’t know much about him. We need to know more. Visiting the nightclub is the perfect way to find out more.”
“Then why don’t you go?” I shoot back.
Tank shakes his head. “Can’t. I’m too high up in the pack. Also, I’m a threat.” He shrugs his massive shoulders. “We need someone less thug-like. More professional.”
“A spy,” Garrett agrees, and turns to Sheridan. She flushes but doesn’t drop her gaze. “What do you say, Cuz? You’re already here to keep tabs on us.”
“It’s not like that,” she protests weakly, and for the first time since she’s shown up, she looks uncertain. “I’m not here to spy on you.”
“Uh huh.” Garrett raises a brow. “At least do me the favor of telling the truth.”
She drops her eyes. “They’re worried, and not just about the leeches in our territory. Your pack has been through a lot.” Sheridan sucks the inside of her cheek. It has the unfortunate resemblance to sucking dick, and my cock stiffens to full mast. I almost groan out loud as I shift it in my jeans.
“I know. I’ll call my dad.” Garrett grimaces for a brief moment before smoothing his expression. The rest of us share sympathetic looks. We all know what Alpha Green can be like. After all, we grew up under his rule. Until he kicked us out.
