Venom & Vampires: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection

by Casey Lane

“Peace, Fang.” Leon held up his hand. “Let me finish. You know how Tina is. She often imagines herself injured.” He passed his hand tiredly across his eyes. “I wished now I’d paid more attention. At the time it seemed outlandish; I just thought she was being dramatic.”

  Hattie opened her mouth to speak but then closed it. She wanted Leon to keep talking, now that he had started. I did too.

  “Who did she think was following her?” I growled. “Someone from the casino?” Tina had just started work there. She liked the fancy dresses Leon promised her as a hostess. She liked the fame; being a big fish in a small pond suited her. She liked being Tina Ryk there. Not Tina Fang, never that.

  “I don’t know,” Leon replied.

  Hattie leaned forward, placing her hands on her knees. She looked at ease. Must be all that damned yoga in LA.

  I was built for tracking, not for folding up like a pretzel.

  “Leon, do you trust me to find out what happened to your sister?” she asked.

  “Of course,” he said. Then he paused. His eyes glinted. “You’re thinking of Ramon.”

  “He was also your brother,” she pointed out placidly.

  “Foster brother,” Leon corrected automatically. “Ramon was never an easy individual. I think the Bite messed with his brain. As mayor of Nowhere, I can’t let personal relationships override what’s best for this community.”

  Offhand I could think of at least a half a dozen times he’d used his position to benefit himself. But that was an old argument and not relevant. I wanted to find Tina too, and get this mess sorted out.

  “You aren’t married to Tina.” Leon kept his eyes on Hattie but nodded his head toward me. “It’s no secret they’ve been having problems. Vampires are known for their impartiality. You in particular—you’ve developed quite a reputation. I’ve been following your career in LA.”

  Leon in full flattery mode was disgusting. What had Hattie been up to in LA? I’d never googled her out of fear I’d run across her obituary. Or maybe learn about the likes of Ben.

  “Find my sister,” he said.

  I was sick of sitting there literally feeling like a third wheel. “I’m the sheriff. It’s my duty to find Tina. And I’ll find out what happened to the dead female troll.”

  “Of course.” Leon was treating me like a tired toddler. I half expected him to tell me what a big boy I was. Instead he turned to Hattie. “When all this is over and we have our Tina back, I hope you return, Dr. Silverthorne, for our Midnight Marathon next spring. It’ll be our inaugural event.”

  “A marathon after dark?” This was the first I’d heard of it. Then again, I couldn’t have cared less about that kind of activity.

  “The first of its kind, catering exclusively to paranormals. The casino will sponsor it.”

  His house lights flickered on then. The place was as austere as I remembered. It could have been a lobby in any fancy hotel.

  “Ah. Let there be light.” Leon clapped his hands. “I hope next time we meet, Dr. Silverthorne, to have better news. The timing of Tina’s disappearance couldn’t be worse. The casino opens tomorrow night. You must come. You’ll see more of the community at once than you’d ever see otherwise. Someone may have news of Tina. And let me know if you need anything for the investigation.”

  Hattie nodded. She was preoccupied, her mind already busy with the problem.

  “Fang.” He clasped my hand in both of his. “I hope next time we meet, Tina is back home.”

  No one wanted that more than I.

  We left Leon’s glowing mansion for my waiting truck out front.

  One of Leon’s minions had cleaned its interior during our visit. The empty food wrappers in the backseat were gone. Leon had been looking for something, I felt sure of it. Did he think I had Tina tied up in my backseat? The same antiseptic aroma that came from his house now permeated my vehicle.

  Hattie and I both unrolled our windows at the same time as I started down the long driveway. Once we were beyond Leon’s guardhouse and past the first two bends in the drive, she said, “Stop.”

  “What’s the matter?” I immediately slowed the truck. I scanned the horizon for what I’d missed but didn’t bother pulling to the side. Traffic wasn’t exactly a problem out here.

  “He’s lying, about what I don’t know. Maybe Tina, maybe the missing troll.”

  She opened her door. “Something is not right. I’ll get myself back.”

  I glanced around. We were literally in the middle of nowhere. Then I remembered our nights running the mountains together. The pain was sharp in my chest at the memory. I had to stop myself from following her. That could never happen again.

  “See you tomorrow,” I said.

  In a blink, she was out of the car and gone without a goodbye. I sat in the middle of road with the lights on for a few minutes, letting the engine idle. Then I shifted back into gear and headed back into town.

  I had the feeling I was followed back home. I never saw any sign of anyone. Whatever it was kept out of sight, like all good hunters.

  After a lifetime of tracking others, I discovered that I did not care at all for being the prey.

  Chapter Five

  Silverthorne

  The next evening I came to consciousness in my crypt with a feeling of dread. The whole previous night replayed in my mind. Seeing Fang again was difficult. Much more than I expected, though maybe I had known. There was a reason I’d kept myself sequestered down in LA for the past decade.

  For me that length of time should be a blink of an eye. I’d disregarded whole decades of my afterlife. I tried to regain the feeling of calm and power that I usually carried with me as a vampire. My crypt here was a sanctuary—and the center of my time with Fang. Ironic that a place that maintained the dead was the same place I’d ever felt truly alive.

  I should find another crypt. Someplace without all the memories. These canyons were covered with hiding holes. But I wouldn’t. It was as if I needed the pain here. Why? It was over between us. I was only here to pay a debt.

  Coming back here had been a mistake. I should’ve stayed in LA. I should’ve let Fang find his own way out of this mess.

  I couldn’t believe he’d married Tina. That he married didn’t surprise me. I could easily see Fang with a wolf shifter wife and a pack of his own. But Tina was a bad choice. They had nothing in common. To say it was a bad situation was an understatement.

  Her safe return would clear Fang’s name; that was all I had to focus on. The rest was none of my concern.

  I moved around the crypt with the strange sensation that someone had been there. I didn’t detect any evidence, but it was a feeling that something in the air was slightly disturbed.

  The run back to town had cleared my head. Jackrabbits scurried away from me. The chilled wind helped numb my confusion. Already I missed the controlled atmosphere of the operating room. Real life was too unpredictable.

  Back at the motel, Ben was waiting for me. Mr. Figgles opened one eye when I ran my fingers through his curls. He’d need a trip to the groomer again. At the rate he was burning through them in LA, I might have to glamour someone. This was not a thought I ever expected to consider in two hundred years of living as a vampire.

  “What’s the news?” I greeted Ben when I entered the room. The cheap beige walls and generic western prints made this look like any motel in the western US. The rug’s funky smell was even a combination of sweat, dirt, and ground-in tortilla chips.

  Ben skimmed his iPad. “Fang’s wife is still missing. Tons of work emails, but nothing that can’t wait a few more days.”

  “More REAP deaths?”

  “Two confirmed and one probable. I may have found something.”

  “Tina?”

  He shook his head. “I was reading Fang’s recent case files. A troll female went missing and was found dead recently.”

  I nodded. I knew this from last night’s discussion with Fang and Leon.

  “Fang noted ‘a sticky black tar-li
ke substance among her remains.’ She was pretty picked over by vultures when he found her.”

  “REAP up here? Among paranormals?” I was thinking out loud. If so, this was a very interesting development. Coming to Nowhere was a deliberate act. No one stumbled across it. That meant a supplier was delivering here. But why for such a small community?

  “And this arrived for you.” Ben handed me a card.

  I waved it away, heading for the bathroom. “The reason I have an assistant is to read things for me.” I always went straight for a shower after a night in the crypt. A good hot shower made feel alive.

  Ben waylaid me. “It’s a costume party at the new casino.”

  Kill me now.

  The casino.

  A major draw for paranormals from all around. The casino would change Nowhere into a destination. A place for REAP.

  Ben chattered away. “A casino catering to paranormals having a costume party on Halloween. How perfect! My friends back in LA are so jealous. I only wish I’d known before we left. We could do a couple thing like from The Munsters.”

  “I don’t need a costume.” Now I understood why the motel room looked as though it had been ransacked. Ben was normally very tidy—another plus for my human assistant. But my clothes and accessories were everywhere. I wasn’t even sure how that much stuff fit in my car in the first place. “I’m here on official business.”

  “According to this invitation that was hand delivered by the cutest cowboy ever, you do. Too bad assless chaps aren’t mandatory around here.” He brandished the fancy cardstock. “And yes, we traded phone numbers. Never fear: I’ve got you set.” He swept his arm out wide, pulling a draped sheet off a hanger.

  I stared. “You’re kidding.”

  “I would never joke about something as serious as a costume party.”

  He was right. Personal attire was serious subject for him.

  On the hanger was a schoolgirl uniform. He held up my favorite pair of heeled boots next to it. “I picked you up some thigh-high stockings. Hurry and get dressed. I can do your hair in pigtails before the sheriff picks us up.”

  An ache started at the base of my neck. Vampires don’t get headaches. “I’m going as a pedophile’s dream?”

  “It was all I could find in town on short notice and in your size. Think sexy schoolgirl slayer, aka Buffy, but with you it has a self-referential twist.” Ben beamed. It dawned on me that he wore a leather duster, jeans, and boots that looked familiar.

  My head throbbed. “Why are we driving with Fang? I have my car.”

  He shrugged. “The way he said it, I thought you two already arranged that.”

  “If I wanted that I’d have told you.” I peeled off my clothes and tossed them on the floor while the shower heated up. I knew from experience here it would take a while.

  Ben scooped up my dirty clothes.

  “Tell me that’s not what you are wearing.” I felt the water temp—a cold shower was hardly going to improve the evening. I should have fed. I wasn’t in the mood for Ben. I should’ve killed one of the rabbits on my way here. Now my hunger was making me irritable, and a long night was ahead.

  Fang’s knock came just as Ben finished my hair. I wouldn’t have needed a mirror even if I’d had a reflection. The way Ben chirped around, I could tell he was pleased.

  “Door’s open,” Ben called. He seemed to have adjusted speedily to Nowhere. Then again, I’d never met a human who loved parties more than Ben.

  “What is that?” Fang coughed.

  I straightened from adjusting my stocking. “My costume. Where’s yours?”

  Meanwhile, Ben had sidled up to close the door behind Fang. He took the opportunity to study Fang’s weathered leather duster. Ben’s fingers even reached out for his sleeve.

  Fang’s eyes hadn’t left mine, but he growled before Ben’s fingers made contact.

  It was too bad I needed Ben’s help. It was like having a kitten in a shark tank.

  “He’s coming too?” Fang jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

  Fang got my imperceptible nod, but Ben still rattled on. “As Dr. Silverthorne’s assistant, I go wherever she does.”

  This wasn’t entirely true, but I didn’t mention it.

  I’d heard that humans used “buffer guests” for thorny social situations. It appeared I, too, had need of my own buffer human.

  Fang wore exactly what he usually wore; apparently always dressing like a cowboy from the nineteenth century had its advantages.

  There was no denying it: Fang looked good. Humans hated aging and fought against it with every trick they could come up with. Shifters aged, but much slower than humans. Sometimes stress or injury accelerated that process.

  I stopped aging at seventeen, when I received the Bite. Maybe if my appearance changed I’d be as obsessed with it as everyone else. Fang was aging well, rugged and fierce. He had that squinty-eye look, even at night. I’d never seen him in daylight, though; maybe he squinted then too. Still, it suited him.

  If I’d had human emotions, I’d have felt sad about the time that had slipped between us. I’d never thought of it, so it hadn’t bothered me. Now, as I sat a foot away from Fang, it gave me the slightest pause before I could push it away.

  “I’ll wait outside.” Fang slammed the motel door behind him.

  “I can’t imagine why his wife was unhappy. He’s a peach.” Ben scooped up Mr. Figgles in one hand and his new beige cowboy hat off the bed with the other. “Shotgun?” he asked hopefully.

  “In your dreams.” I pulled my pigtails tighter so the skin at my temples tightened. Didn’t help my headache, but for some reason I felt better.

  “Is everyone in this town always so grumpy?” Ben murmured before leaving the room.

  I’m not grumpy, I wanted to snap, but I kept my mouth shut.

  We all piled into Fang’s Bronco and set off for the new Twin Moons Casino just as the full moon rose over the mountains.

  Fang blasted the heat without asking me because he knew I was freezing. It wasn’t long before I heard telltale human and dog snores from the backseat. My schedule was tough on Ben. To make up for the sleep he never got enough of, he had the wonderful ability to drop into a nap.

  “What’s to keep Junior from becoming somebody’s dinner when we get there?” Fang’s eyes strayed to my thighs, then back to the road.

  “He’s mine. Nobody will touch him.” I rubbed my hands together, then held them before the vent.

  “You’ve been living among humans for a long time. Let’s just hope everyone already ate.”

  “Still no word from Tina?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Look, just because I didn’t ask you to come doesn’t mean I’m not glad to see you.”

  I had nothing to say to that, so I ignored it. “She’s done this thing before? Disappeared?”

  “Couple of times. Never so dramatically.”

  The timing was clearly suspicious, given the casino. The Tina I knew never missed an opportunity to be the center of attention. Unless she was hiding out somewhere close, watching Fang squirm. I wouldn’t have put it past her.

  “What about the troll corpse?” I asked.

  “There wasn’t much left to examine.”

  “I’d like to see her remains.”

  “Why?”

  I filled him in on REAP and the havoc it was causing among the human population in LA. Its effects on paranormals were unknown, but given how much a more fragile population reacted to the powerful drug, it couldn’t be good.

  “Did you find a cell phone for the troll?” That was this century’s answer to the smoking gun.

  “Nope. When’s the last time you fed? You aren’t yourself.”

  I was not myself. And fuck the universe for making him the one to notice.

  Outside the truck window, the desert slid by. Earlier this evening I’d been out running back to the motel from my hidden crypt. I’d liked that freedom, something I’d had to give up in LA. But I’d gained an intere
sting career, which helped fill a void I couldn’t quite shake.

  Fang was tense. I could tell by the set of his jaw. I didn’t want to believe he killed Tina. God knows I’d have been happy if someone else had done the job, but not Fang. The trouble was, without a body I had no proof that he didn’t do it. And then there was the matter of him having killed before.

  Fang rounded a curve in the road and slowed. Ahead, a valley rimmed by red stone walls surrounded the casino. It was as if a spaceship had landed in the New Mexico desert. Steel, glass, and blinking neon lights were Leon’s predominant themes for Twin Moons Casino.

  A demon in a bright red sports jacket trotted over to us, flagging Fang down.

  “Where the hell do I park?”

  “It’s all valet, sir.” The demon’s light blond hair was buzz cut on the sides with the top longer. Thanks to a combination of prominent Adam’s apple and skinny neck, he looked like a juvenile ostrich parking cars.

  I glanced in the backseat. Ben and Mr. Figgles were still asleep. I hoped they could sleep through Fang’s refusal to relinquish his keys.

  Finally, we were waved through to self-park in a small overflow lot.

  “Wake up, Ben,” I said. Paranormals of all types were streaming into the casino. It was impressive and also nauseating. “Ben,” I said again.

  Fang reached back, grabbing his collar. “Kid, wake up. Come on.”

  Ben started and shrank back at Fang’s not-too-gentle wake-up call. He blinked, then shook his head. “I’m good. I’m good.”

  Fang and I looked at each other. Fang rolled his eyes. “Look alive, and try not to get eaten in the parking lot.”

  The cold night breeze blew up my skirt, which barely covered my ass. Demons were running the entire valet service, parking vehicles of every shape and size at haphazard angles. Frost was beginning to form on windshields.

  The demons wore bright red jackets, but their scales, horns, and hot skin were causing singe marks. A supervisor with a pitchfork ran around randomly prodding employees and patrons alike in the ass, causing considerable delays in traffic as fights broke out.

  We walked up to the casino entrance with Ben hugging Mr. Figgles like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. I tugged him along by his sleeve to keep him from falling behind. Ben was used to LA, but the sheer weirdness of the paranormals here made home look tame.