by Amie Gibbons
She was one of them. Their mother told them stories of the bloodsuckers. He never dreamed he’d become one.
The woman dropped the bodies between the brothers and together they went for them. They drank deep, and when they pulled away with bloody mouths after a few minutes, they looked at each other, then at her.
Milo asked her something and she answered with a small smile. He got up and gave her shy eyes as he leaned in to kiss her. She returned it, wrapping her arms around his neck.
And while she was busy, his brother grabbed his sword and sliced, going clean through her neck from behind. She disintegrated in a bloody dust pile and Milo frowned, said something to his brother, and they started laughing together.
I panted as I pulled out of the vision, my hands grasping his for all they were worth. His grip was urgent, and he was breathing pretty heavy too, even though he hadn’t needed to for about two thousand years if I was right about those Gladiator costumes.
He licked his lips again and sighed. “You don’t know.”
It wasn’t a question.
We stared into each other’s eyes until I jerked mine away and looked around, hopin’ none of the other vamps noticed our moment. They weren’t supposed to know I was a psychic.
And apparently they weren’t supposed to know Milo was one either.
“What did you see?” I asked Milo in a whisper, not letting go of his hands.
“What did you see?” he asked just as quietly, lookin’ around too. “Not here.”
He tugged on my hands and I looked at Quil.
“We can’t go anywhere alone. We should just dance and talk really quietly,” I said. “What don’t I know?”
He shook his head and started laughing. “It’s too hard to explain. I never even understood it. Neither did he. He’s the one they talked to. I just got some of the story, and I just saw it now. I can’t believe you don’t know, but no one’s left to tell, except him, and as I said, they didn’t give him much. I didn’t even know she came here.”
“Who’s him? Who’s she? Tell me what?” I asked.
“Oh Quil,” a voice I was really beginnin’ to hate cut in, “looks like your little girl wants to play with someone else.”
I looked up to sneer at Jade and she smiled, stayin’ just out of reach.
“Milo.” Jade sounded almost surprised as he turned. “We are honored by your presence. Is your brother here?”
“No, unfortunately he has business at our nest, but thought I would be a suitable substitute. And actually, I was just saying hello to the lovely young lady. I would love to take you for a spin.”
She smiled and took his hand without a flinch.
So either she didn’t know he was psychic too, or wasn’t worried about him seeing into her head.
Something told me it was the first as they danced away.
“Did you know he was psychic?” I asked Quil as he took me in his arms again.
He shook his head with wide eyes. “Never. But it makes sense, him and Carvi always seem to know things they shouldn’t. What did you see?”
I gave him the gist. “I need to know what he saw. What did he mean by I don’t know?”
Quil shrugged. “How would I know?”
I shrugged back.
“Did you see anything about him to suggest he summoned the demon?” Quil asked.
I shook my head. “But he’s sneaky, he kissed his maker while his brother killed her so they wouldn’t be bound to her. And he’s hiding what he saw in my head. I need to talk to him again.”
My eyes tracked him and Jade swingin’ around the dance floor, and he looked at me over her shoulder before turning with her again.
He was grinnin’ like a jack-o-lantern.
He knew something.
I needed to know what.
I looked up at the bar and caught Grant staring at me.
“You catch all that, General?” I asked, keepin’ my voice low.
“Yes.”
“Any thoughts?”
“A few. None that add up.”
“You think he’s a suspect?”
“I think they’re all suspects.”
“Be a little less obvious, sweets,” Quil said. “It doesn’t look like you’re talking to me when you look over like that.”
“Right, sorry,” I said, leanin’ into his chest. “Quil, you think Milo’s in on this?”
“I wouldn’t put anything past him and Carvi, but they have nothing against me personally, all our business deals have been amicable and our ideology lines up pretty well. We all would like to see vampires and magic out.”
“I don’t like him smirkin’ at me like that. Like he’s a kid sayin’ I know something you don’t know. He’s way too old for that.”
“Do you know how old he is?” Quil asked.
“Based on the Gladiator scene I’m pretty sure was in the Colosseum, I’m guessing Ancient Roman age.”
He drew a sharp breath.
“You didn’t know that?” Grant asked.
“None of us know how old they are, but there have been rumors,” Quil said. “Some say two thousand years. Some say older.”
“Powerful?”
“Yeah. Easily the most powerful this side of the Atlantic, maybe even the world. You don’t know how hard it was for vampires through the dark ages. Most of them died from starvation or being hunted. To have thousands of years, well, it is not a feat many can claim or even expect to.”
“Who’s the oldest vampire in the world?”
“Recorded?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, you tell me.”
“Oldest recorded was an ancient Egyptian vampire. He was about three thousand years old when he was killed.”
“What happened?”
“Milo and Carvi happened. They took him out back in the nineties.”
“Why?”
“No idea. Better question was how. I’m guessing Milo being psychic had a lot to do with that.”
“Hey, how good is y’all’s hearing?”
“Better than the average human, nothing like what you see on TV. They can’t hear us whispering with the music and the crowd as cover.”
I nodded. “Oh, okay.”
We walked over to the bar where Grant was loadin’ up a tray of drinks Dan just made.
“Dan, you are doin’ awesome!” I said, takin’ a glass of champagne.
He grinned. He actually looked like he was havin’ fun.
“You okay?” Grant asked.
“Tipsy. Why I’m switchin’ to wine.”
“Champagne,” Dan said.
Grant shot him a look and he held up his hands, going back to pouring.
“Only one suspicious so far is Blanche,” I said. “And, well, Jade. She won’t let me touch her.”
“But she let Milo,” Grant said. “She doesn’t know about him.”
“I don’t think any of them do.”
“Man knows how to keep a secret.”
Quil put his hand on the small of my back. “We need to wander off. Grouping up like this looks suspicious.”
Grant nodded once and we walked back into the crowd.
“Hey,” I said as Blanche danced up.
“Hello, pretty little girl.” She grinned and grabbed my hand, spinnin’ me around.
I focused on her and a quick vision of her getting married flashed through my head in perfect clarity and sound.
Huh, maybe I just didn’t get anything strong earlier cuz I was tired?
We danced, spinnin’ each other and trying to keep our drinks from splashin’ out of our glasses. When hers sloshed over, she stopped and giggled, saying something to Quil.
“Ryder,” Grant’s voice came over the earbuds, “If you saw anything from her, scratch your nose.”
I did.
“Okay, if it wasn’t about the case, scratch again.”
I did.
“Good. Go talk to Milo. He’s been watching you and he winked at me and Dan. I think he knows we’r
e feds.”
I excused myself and downed my champagne to give me an excuse to go back to the bar.
I grabbed another one, leanin’ against the bar and smiling at Dan.
“So, good party, huh? You gettin’ good tips?” I asked, loud enough for people around to hear.
“Subtle,” Dan said quietly.
“Okay guys, all I got off Blanche was her gettin’ married. Couldn’t tell if she was alive or undead, but there’s no bad vibes on her.”
“Try Milo again,” Grant said. “Then see what else you can get off the leaders through another pass.”
I nodded, grabbed another glass, and dove back into the crowd.
Milo was dancin’ with one of the vamp underlings who came with the Kentucky ones if I remembered correctly.
“May I cut in?” I asked.
“With me or him?” the woman winked at me.
Her dark skin and colorful multi-layered garment suggested she was from somewhere around India originally, though it must have been long ago since I couldn’t pick up anything but the lightest flavor of a foreign accent.
“With him,” I said. “But thank you.” I held out my hand. “I think we met up at front when you first came in. What was your name again?”
“Peri,” she said, shakin’ her head, making the bobbles on her pink head scarf dance as she took my hand.
Another quick vision of her killing her maker flashed across my eyes. Oh yeah, I remembered her. From what I saw about how he made her the first time I touched her, the bastard needed killin’.
I shuttered as I pulled back and she gave me a look.
“Caught a chill,” I said. “So, may I?”
“Of course.” She left and I took Milo’s hands.
He smiled as we started dancin’ and met my eyes.
“What did you see, when you touched me?” I asked him.
He smiled wider. “You mean what did I see that I’m not telling you? Or the scenes of you?”
My mouth worked. “How about we start with what you won’t tell me?”
“Nope.” He leaned in. “That one will cost you.”
“What?”
“Let me think.”
I rolled my eyes. “What about… what did you call them? Scenes? You saw?”
“I saw you getting your first vision. Your fight with your sister. Still not talking to her, I guess. Losing the virginity. The suicide attempt. Let’s see, what else. Oh, you being rescued by that large server we both know isn’t a server, who is now your boss. How you feel about your boss. And your night with Quil. I paused on that one, it was hot.”
My jaw dropped. “You can pause!”
“Shhhhhhh,” he said, dippin’ me and pulling me up to hold me tight. “I’ve kept this secret for longer than you can imagine. Don’t go blowing it now.”
“You can do that though? Can you teach me? I’m barely learnin’ how to do anything with my visions besides just have them.”
“Ohhhhhh, teach you. I like this. I’d love to.”
“Really!”
“For a price,” he said before I got the last syllable out.
“Okay, like what?”
“How about you come down to Miami for a month? My brother and I teach you during the day, and, then teach you different things at night.”
I jerked back to look him in the eyes. “You mean like sleep with you? With both of you?”
“Not together. We do have some boundaries. That’s pretty much the only one. No sex with family. It’s just weird.”
“Wait, both of you teach me. Is he psychic too?”
“No.”
But something about the way he said it made my hackles rise.
“You’ve got that look again,” I said. “The I know something you don’t know look.”
“I know a lot you don’t. I can skim visions off you while we talk, look for specific things, do the same for others too.”
“Can you help us tonight? Do you know about the investigation?”
“I do. What makes you think I’ll help you?”
“I… I don’t know. You’re kinda annoying but you seem like a good sort.”
“Seem being the operative word.”
“What do you mean?”
He met my eyes. “Do you ever feel like just shooting the cars in front of you out of the way when you’re stuck in traffic?”
My breath caught as the music fuzzed away and the crowd noises died down, like someone shuttin’ a door.
I couldn’t look away as I nodded. “I get so frustrated.”
“Okay. Take that feeling. That stuck in traffic frustration, but you can roll over everyone in front of you. You with me?”
I nodded again.
“Add it to the need to have your lover right then,” he said. “The desire to make them scream… Even put them in a little pain. Take that bound up potential and imagine it being satisfied with you sinking your teeth in.”
I gulped as heat flashed straight from my face to my groin.
“That is what it feels like to be a vampire,” he said, lettin’ go of my hands. “Pressure, sex, pain and power all rolled into one. Don’t make the mistake of thinking us human, girl. You won’t live to regret it.”
I looked around.
We stood in an empty hotel lobby and my heart raced as I ran for the door.
Milo caught me around my waist, pullin’ me back into him so tight I could feel his arousal against my back.
“We’re still on that dance floor, Ariana. We’re staring at each other, and we’re only here in your mind.”
I licked my lips.
“No. It’s so real.”
The intricate gold and red carpet was soft and thick under my bare feet. I could smell the leather of the chairs in the nook off to the left with the big screen TV and hear the gurgle of the waterfall takin’ up the back wall.
“This place is real. It’s one of the hotels Carvi and I own. You’re seeing it because I’m projecting it. This is hypnosis, but so much more. Most vampires can not do this, trap you in your own head, but perfectly aware.”
He turned me around and took my hands, dancin’ with me like we’d just been on the dance floor.
Or still were.
“I could leave you here.”
Panic shot through me and I jerked, but he held me fast.
“I could,” he said. “I won’t. But you have to understand what we’re capable of, or you’ll never understand what you’re facing.”
I shook. “I get it. Please let me go.”
He pulled me into a hug. “Lost little lamb. You have no idea the power you could wield. You’re not hard enough to have that kind of power without breaking. Yet.”
“If being hard is what it takes, I don’t want it.”
“You will. When your people are on the line, you will. I’ve seen you kill. The witch who summoned the demon last February. You killed her and didn’t lose one night of sleep.”
“Because I didn’t do anything wrong. She was a rapist and would have killed me and Grant. It was self-defense.”
“I know. I saw. That ability to kill though? Almost all humans have it. But in the modern age, in civilized countries, they’ve been trained to feel bad about it. You don’t. And I know why.”
He still wouldn’t let me go and I sighed, huggin’ him back. “Why?”
“Now, now, that would be telling. Come down here with me. Meet my brother, spend the month with us, and I’ll tell you all you want to know, teach you what I can.”
“I can’t. I have a job. I have Quil.”
“He could come. It would keep him safe from Jade.”
I pulled away and he let me.
The club turned back on around us like switching the TV channel and I clapped my hands over my ears at the sudden noise.
Milo took my hand and pulled me off the floor and out into the back hall before I remembered no one was supposed to go off, even in pairs.
“Milo!” I yelped as he shut the door behind us.
/>
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Three, two, one.”
The door burst open and Grant rushed through, hand on gun under his vest. He came to a dead stop as he saw us waitin’ for him and closed the door behind him.
“Sorry, General,” I said. “He just grabbed me and pulled me off. And he had me in his eyes, like full on hallucination.”
Milo shrugged. “I knew he’d follow. We need to talk. I’ll help tonight, but I don’t do anything for free.”
“What do you want?” Grant asked.
“I want to take you for a spin.”
I blushed as Grant blinked in surprise.
Milo burst out laughing. “That came out wrong. I want to see into your head. You let me touch you, I’ll help tonight.”
“Why?” Grant asked.
“Do we have a deal?”
“I can’t let you have free rein in my head.”
“I know, you’re a federal agent. You have state secrets, blah blah. I got it. I’m not looking for work secrets. I’m looking for personal ones. You want my help or not?”
Grant held out his arm and Milo took it before I could protest.
They locked eyes and didn’t move.
“Um sir?” I said after a moment.
He didn’t answer.
The door opened and Quil came in, breathin’ a sigh like he was relieved when he saw me. He shut the door and looked at the guys.
“What the hell are you doing now, Milo?” Quil asked.
No answer.
“Milo’s got some interestin’ tricks,” I said. “He did this to me on the dance floor. It’s like a mind meld. He’s looking around. He said if Grant let him do this, then he’ll help us tonight.”
Quil stared at them, eyes disco dancing.
“What?” I asked.
“I can’t begin to think how he’s doing this,” Quil said. “That kind of power. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
The guys broke apart and Grant had his gun up and out before I could blink.
Milo held up his hands, face showin’… something.
Milo said something in another language and grinned. “That was interesting. Grant, I must introduce you to my brother.”
“Talking to him in there told me all I need to know about him. My agent is not going down there.”
He talked to someone else in the mindmeld?
How was that even possible?
“You don’t own her. But, one deal at a time. Speaking of, I did promise my help. Quil! So good of you to join us.”
