“I sympathized with what he was doing,” Axel replied honestly. “Right or wrong, he was doing what I didn’t have the nerve to.”
“I understand. I believe there are times in all our lives when our anger at what we’ve become makes us hate or be jealous of the humans who can live normal lives, day and night. Most of us don’t act on our feelings for one reason or another.”
“Fear of being proclaimed a rogue comes to mind,” Dina said.
“For most of us, that is the primary reason,” Roland agreed. “In Lucas’s case, emotions overruled common sense.”
“Then Axel finally let me know he was around, put in his two cents’ worth, and showed me the error of my ways.” I kissed him deeply for a long moment. “My knight in shining armor.”
Roland smiled at us before asking, “Do you still hate humans, Lucas?”
“Yes, sometimes. It helps that I, we, can deal with the worst of the worst.”
Roland gazed at me and I knew he was probing to see if I was telling the truth. That didn’t bother me, because I was. When he finished, he took my hand, and Axel’s. “Then you have my blessing.”
“And mine,” Dina said. “But they know that.”
Roland stood, offering his hand to Dina. “Now that that’s settled, would you care to dance?”
She smiled brightly as she got up. “I would love to.”
We watched them walk into the throng of dancers, chatting as they went. Axel looked at me in question. I knew what it was and shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“He did connect us with Dina,” Axel pointed out. “To me that means they must have known and trusted each other for quite a while.”
I chuckled. “Define ‘a while’. For our kind that could be ten years or a thousand.”
“You know what I mean,” he grumbled.
“Yeah, I do. My guess would be they’re at least old friends, and from the way they’re dancing probably more than that.” A logical supposition considering how their bodies melded together. “We’ll have to ask sometime, but not right now. We’d better start playing hosts again and see what we can find out about some of our honored guests.”
“For a kiss,” he murmured. A request I had no problem fulfilling. It was keeping it to that which was. Unfortunately I had to. Our disappearing up to our quarters wasn’t an option until the club was closed and everyone had left.
We spent the remainder of the night gathering some interesting information about our guests. Information we put to good use over the next two years. We could have dealt with them, from the mayor on down, fairly quickly, given what we knew. We were smarter than that. Wholesale revelations of corruption in the city’s government and by well-known business people would have made it appear as if someone was set on fomenting a revolution. It was the kind of attention we didn’t want. Ergo, slow and steady was our watchword in most cases. We put together proof of what was happening and then passed it on, anonymously, to people we knew would do something about it.
As Axel joked at one point, “We’re the second wave of Anonymous, only we don’t hack into databases to collect what we need. We hack into minds, instead.”
We did move faster when it came to the criminal element. We would learn all that we could about their operations and when something was set to go down. Then we passed the information on to the police. Obviously not in person. We’d choose a CI, that’s cop lingo for confidential informant or snitch, enthrall them and feed them the information before compelling them pass it on to whichever cop they worked for. We managed to bring down two high-ranking drug dealers, an arms trafficker, and a couple who were running a sex ring that used underage kids.
By the end of our time as owners of Club Erebus we had cleaned up the city as much as possible. There would always be someone new, trying to step into the shoes of the men and women we’d dealt with, but that was to be expected. We’d done our bit to make things better for those humans who deserved it, which was our aim. Now, we had to move on.
* * * *
“You finally found a buyer,” Dina said with a grin, startling me and Axel when we arrived back at our quarters above the club after feeding.
“Damn, give a guy some warning,” Axel grumbled.
“Now where’s the fun in that?” Roland replied. He was with her, as he often was these days.
“Yep, we did,” I said in reply to Dina. “Two young men with more money than common sense. They didn’t blink when we told them how much we wanted for the place. We have to go through the usual rigmarole but we should be able to move on in about six weeks.”
“Filthy rich, and free to do what we want for a while,” Axel added.
“Clean up another city?” Roland wanted to know.
“In time,” Axel replied. “First we’re going to see the world. With the newest advances in flight we can be in London in less than an hour so we won’t have to worry about daylight and all that.”
“I’ve never been out of the States,” I said. “And Axel was only a kid when his family immigrated here.”
“You’ll love it,” Dina said. “I’ll give you a list of some of my friends, if you want. The younger ones who might enjoy showing you their cities. The Old and Ancient ones…” She shrugged and I knew what she meant. Most of them probably didn’t have her joy for life after thousands of years of being alive.
“Do keep in touch,” Roland said. “I want to hear all about it.”
“We will, I promise.”
We kept my promise, sending him and Dina long missives detailing everything we’d seen and done. The trip also reinforced what Axel and I had learned during the last half a century or more. There are definitely evil bastards who need our special attention. However, most humans are decent people. Yes, they have their faults, but then who of us doesn’t.
We’ve continued our mission, now that we’re home. We also took a page from Dina’s book. We look at our very long and different life as an experience to be savored, not hated. Axel and I have our love for each other to give us the strength we need through the good and the bad. What more could anyone ask, be they human or vampire.
THE END
ABOUT EDWARD KENDRICK
Born and bred in Cleveland, I earned a degree in technical theater, later switched to costuming, and headed to NYC. Finally seeing the futility of trying to become rich and famous in the Big Apple, I joined VISTA—Volunteers in Service to America—ending up in Chicago for three years. Then it was on to Denver where I put down roots and worked as a costume designer until I retired in 2007.
I began writing a few years ago after joining an online fanfic group. Two friends and I then started a group for writers, where they could post any story they wished no matter the genre or content. Since then, for the last five years, I’ve been writing for publication—my first book came out in February of 2011. Most, but not all, of my work is M/M, either mildly erotic or purely ‘romantic.’ More often than not it involves a mystery or action/adventure, and is sometimes paranormal to boot.
For more information, visit edwardkendrick.blogspot.com.
ABOUT JMS BOOKS LLC
JMS Books LLC is a small queer press with competitive royalty rates publishing LGBT romance, erotic romance, and young adult fiction. Visit jms-books.com for our latest releases and submission guidelines!
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