Six-Spot (Afterlife Book 7)

by Kaitlyn Meyers

  "Right, sorry," Chloe said, getting up. She hurried to fill a cup with it.

  "We were lured into a trap," Conner said softly. "I thought we could handle it. It was just supposed to be gypsies. They were scamming people. We thought they were using the Sight to trick people out of their money, that's all."

  Harper frowned. "Gypsies?"

  "Why didn't you get the rest of us?" Alec demanded. "You don't take jobs on alone."

  Conner shrugged and looked away. Chloe returned with the water and Sarah dipped a cloth into it. She started to move it toward the wound, but Samuel grabbed her arm. "Sarah, there's something you need to know. They weren't gypsies. They were vampires... I was bit."

  "What?" Everyone exclaimed and Alec moved so fast that he nearly knocked Sarah out of the way. He grabbed Samuel's arm and looked at it. "Damn it!"

  Sarah stared at Samuel. Everyone else had gone silent. She carefully dampened her cloth again and swallowed. "It'll need cleaned," she said. "Hold out your arm."

  "Did you hear me?" Samuel asked.

  "Hold out your arm!"

  Samuel extended his arm. It was drenched in blood. Sarah began washing away the blood from around the wound, and then she moved on to the wound itself. As soon as the blood was gone, it was easy to tell it was a bite. There were two puncture wounds. They were still oozing blood.

  She got out a gauze pad, and fixed it over the bite and taped it down. "There," she said. "You're all better. Didn't even need stitches."

  "Samuel," Alec said. "Was she transformed?"

  "Yes."

  Alec closed his eyes.

  "That doesn't mean anything," Sarah said. "We're shape-shifters. Our blood is different. He'll be fine."

  "No," Alec said. "You might have the powers to shape-shift but you're still human. That's why Harper's Sight doesn't work on you. Humans can be changed, even if they're shifted. I would know, I've done it enough."

  "What are you saying?" Sarah demanded. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You think he'll be one of you?"

  Alec nodded.

  Sarah turned back to Samuel. "Well, you won't," she said. "You're fine, Samuel. I promise you."

  "Sarah, I'm going to change," Samuel said.

  "No."

  Sarah looked around but everyone was avoiding looking at them. Her eyes landed on Conner. "You tell me how this happened."

  In fragmented sentences, Conner began to tell the story. He told them how he'd first heard about the gypsies when he was supposed to be gathering information about the fey. He told them how he had run into Samuel in the club, how he'd convinced him it would be fun to take the job on.

  At this point Sarah interrupted. "So this is your fault."

  Conner sighed. "Sarah..."

  "No," she said. "This is your fault. If you'd gotten the rest of us like you should have--"

  Samuel grabbed her arm. "I don't blame him. I wanted to help. I wanted something to do. This seemed like a good plan. Conner and I didn't know they'd be vampires. They were just supposed to be gypsies. We thought we could just scare them off."

  "Finish the story," Alec said sharply.

  Conner looked down at the floor. He told them how they went to the police station and got the paperwork.

  "You should have asked Brittney and me to do that," Harper said. "What were you thinking? What if you'd been caught?"

  "We have enough problems with the police right now," Brittney said.

  "Let him finish," Sarah told them.

  Conner hurried through the rest of the story, telling how they'd gone to meet the women, how Samuel had convinced them to come into the hotel room, and how it had turned out to be a trap because the women were all vampires. He told about the fight, and then how afterward, they saw that Samuel had been bit.

  "I'm disgusted," Alec said.

  "Alec," Harper said sharply.

  "No, I am," Alec said. "We're a team for a reason. You could have both been killed. You're lucky that Samuel only has a bite. He's going to turn but at least he'll still be here. It could have ended a lot worse for both of you. Do you realize the danger you put yourself in? If they knew you were from Afterlife they could have come after the rest of us, and you wouldn't be here to help. It was dangerous for everyone."

  Conner looked up from the floor. "You think I don't know that?"

  "Well clearly his safety meant nothing to you!" Alec yelled.

  Conner turned on a heel and left the room into the club, letting the door slam shut behind him. Harper jumped to her feet, glared at Alec, and ran after Conner.

  "I don't blame him," Samuel repeated. "And the rest of you shouldn't either. We both made a mistake, but it was both of our faults, not just his."

  "He shouldn't have endangered you," Alec said. "This wasn't your battle to fight."

  "I'm more than capable," Samuel said. "It could have happened to any of you. You think I don't risk my life every day in Phoenix? I'm not just some civilian who didn't know what he was getting into. And Chloe, stop looking at me that way. I'm not someone to pity."

  "I'm not pitying you," Chloe said. "I just..."

  "You're just feeling sorry for me," Samuel said. "It's fine. I understand. But this isn't the end of the world. I live in a city crawling with vampires. I'll fit right in."

  Sarah frowned. "You're going back?"

  "Of course I am," Samuel said.

  "But you need to stay here," Sarah said. "With Alec. He can help you. It's going to be hard at first. You need to be surrounded by friends and--"

  "I will be."

  Sarah stopped talking. She realized she had forgotten about Serendipity. Wren, and Heather. Of course they'd be there to help him. Those were his real friends. Afterlife was just a substitute while he was in town trying to visit her.

  Harper came back into the room. She looked like a mess.

  "He's gone," she said.

  "Gone where?" Samuel asked.

  "I don't know," Harper said. "He's just gone."

  SEVENTEEN

  Despite what he'd told the harpy moonlighting as a car saleswoman, Conner hadn't stop using his powers after the incident. He couldn't. He had been addicted to them, the same way someone might be addicted to drugs.

  Eventually, he had met a girl that intrigued him enough that he decided to go after her. She was pretty, with dark hair and dark eyes, and a cool complexion. He had infiltrated her dreams first, trying to make her think of him and only him. It had worked, as it always did.

  Janice was two years younger than him, and had no idea what he was. She was a witch herself, and Conner would sit and watch her work on her spells, paying attention the way her fingers moved deftly over different herbs and potions when she was mixing something.

  She reminded Conner somewhat of his mother, whom he still missed all these years later. Perhaps it was the way she would sit and rub his back in the evenings, the same way his mother had done for his father, or perhaps it was she cooked for them every night, and they ate at the table together as a family.

  Conner didn't have to keep Janice under his charms. She fell in love with him, and soon they were living as an ordinary couple. She had a job working at a bank, and he took odd jobs when he could find them -- but he didn't really need them. He was still able to use his powers to get money when it was necessary. The odd jobs just gave him something to do.

  There were times when Conner felt almost human, and that was nice. In the end, though, the relationship began to sour. The things he loved about her started to annoy him, and he couldn't imagine why he'd want to be with someone who reminded him of his mother. The little things began piling up. He gave it a fair shot, though. He tried to make it work.

  Then one day, he was walking home from his current job as a window repairman, and he saw a beautiful blonde woman. When she threw her head back to laugh, he thought he could fall in love with that sound. That night, he packed up his things and left. Janice was out of town at a conference. He was grateful for this, and just as he'd left ho
me at seventeen, he left home now, and he had managed to avoid yet another emotional goodbye.

  The blonde woman was fun, but she didn't last long. The woman after her didn't either, or the woman after her. Nobody lasted, and nothing else did either. He went from job to job, apartment to apartment, and hobby to hobby. The only thing that remained consistent was the use of his powers.

  He used his charm to swindle people out of money. It was a game, mostly. He didn't need to do it, but he did because it gave him practice, and it was fun.

  One day, he was creating a ruse to get an elderly woman to leave him her inheritance, when a vampire with dark hair approached him. He was accompanied by a slender fairy with big eyes and a quick smile. She wasn't smiling for him, though.

  "Come with us," Alec said.

  "Why?"

  "Because otherwise I'll snap your neck," Alec said, leering at him.

  Conner glanced around the small cafe he was sitting in and looked back to Alec. "Right here? In front of all these people?"

  "That's right," Alec said. "If you don't think I'll do it, you're wrong. And if you don't think I can, you're stupid. Which are you?"

  He had been hungover that morning and in no position to fight, especially outnumbered two-to-one. He decided to follow them, and play the situation by ear. He might get a chance to charm the girl and he could use her against the vampire.

  Chloe seemed to be reading his thoughts, because she flashed him a grin. "Don't even think about it, Incubus. If you try to use your powers on me, he'll kill you. It won't work, either. But he'll still kill you. Now, are you coming with us?"

  "I'm not stupid," Conner decided and stood. He followed Alec and Chloe out of the cafe, down the street, and into a hotel. Alec opened up the door to a room and invited him inside. It wasn't exactly an invitation he could turn down.

  "Sit," Alec commanded.

  Conner sat at the chair in front of the desk and looked at the pair of them. "Is this where you kill me?" he asked.

  Alec considered for a moment. "It's tempting," he said.

  Chloe chimed in. "We've been watching you for a while. You're a demon, and our job here in Vegas is to get rid of demons. Especially demons who use and abuse people the way you've been doing. How do you even live with yourself?"

  Conner opened his mouth but Alec cut him off before he could begin. "Actually, we don't care. What we care about is cleaning up this city. If that means killing you, then that's what we'll do. Right, Chloe?"

  "Right, Alec."

  "I've never killed anyone," Conner said.

  "That's the only reason you're still breathing," Alec said. "We want to know why."

  "Why what?"

  "Why you aren't killing," Chloe said.

  Conner blinked. "What do you mean? I have no reason to kill."

  "You're an incubus," Alec said. "That's reason enough on it's own. We know your kind and what you do. You take the energy from people and you use it for yourself. You feed on it. Why aren't you feeding?"

  "I never thought about it," Conner admitted. "It's true that I use people and I steal, but killing? I don't have the stomach for it, I guess. It's messy, and I don't like being messy. Besides, it's hard enough what I do. Killing would be... well, my mother wouldn't like it, I guess."

  "Your mother wouldn't like it," Alec repeated. He glanced at Chloe, and they shared a small smile. "That's sweet."

  Conner looked around the room. His eyes fell on a set of playing cards. He saw chips next to them. "You play?" he asked.

  Alec blinked, distracted. "What?"

  "You play poker?" Conner asked.

  "Not much," Alec said. "I love it, but nobody is good enough."

  "I'm good enough," Conner said. "I'll tell you what. We'll play for it. You beat me, and you can do whatever you want to me. I beat you, and you let me go. I'll go somewhere else. I'll leave your city alone."

  Alec considered this for a moment. Then he smiled. "I suppose we could play a few hands."

  Chloe rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm out. I'm no good at poker. I'll just sit back and watch. How does that sound?"

  "Or you could get us food," Alec suggested.

  "And leave you alone?"

  "He's not going to hurt me," Alec said. "He's not strong enough, for starters. He doesn't have the stomach for it, either. His mother wouldn't approve."

  Conner flushed a dull red, but didn't contradict the vampire. Alec smirked at him and got out the cards. He set up the game as Chloe skipped out of the room to get some food for them all. The game went by slowly. Both of them were good players.

  In the end, Alec won the game but by luck on the river. Conner made a bluff that he called, and lost. He gulped, looking at the pair of them. He regretted that his last meal was the fast food hamburger Chloe had brought.

  "I suppose this is it then."

  "I suppose it is," Alec said.

  "Can I ask you a question first?" Conner asked.

  Alec shrugged.

  "You're a vampire," Conner said. "You should love killing. Why don't you do it? Why are you determined to clean up Las Vegas? It doesn't make sense."

  "Because I chose to be good," Alec said. "And trust me, it's not easy. I have to try every single day. Chloe helps me with that, don't you Chloe?"

  Chloe nodded.

  "You know, I could be good," Conner said. "You could help me too."

  Chloe studied him for a moment. "You want our help?"

  "I don't want to live the life I'm living anymore," Conner whispered, realizing for the first time that it was true. "I'm tired of not having real friends, or real relationships, or a real job. I'm tired of getting by on my charms and good looks. If I could make myself human, I would."

  "Well, you can't," Alec said. "And how do we know you're serious?"

  "You don't," Conner said. "But you can give me the chance, can't you? If it doesn't go well, you can always kill me then."

  "That's true," Chloe said.

  "Chloe," Alec said sharply.

  "Well it is," Chloe said. "And look at him. He's almost crying. I believe him. If he could be human, he would. I gave you a chance, Alec. Can't we do the same for him?"

  Alec sighed. "Fine," he said to Conner. "But you follow my lead. I tell you to do something, you do it. You don't go off on your own, you don't use your powers unless I tell you to, and you don't ever get a human killed, whether by your hand or by your stupidity. Understand?"

  "Yes," Conner said. He felt a wave of relief sweep through him. Part of it was because he wasn't ready to die. The other part was because he finally had a chance, and he thought his father might be proud if he knew the choice he was making.

  "Yes. You say jump, and I'll ask how high. Fair?"

  "Fair," Alec said. He extended a hand. "Welcome to the good side, Conner. It ain't half bad."

  EIGHTEEN

  Harper hadn't had any luck, so Chloe decided to go look for Conner. Everyone else stayed behind at Afterlife. Alec had told Samuel he could use his apartment to rest, and Sarah had gone upstairs with him. The others were staying down below to wait for Marissa.

  She wandered around the streets for a bit, checking different bars, wondering where he could be. She sent him a few texts he didn't respond to and she tried to call but he didn't answer. She was starting to get frustrated when she thought of a place he might be.

  The hotel they'd met in had been a shabby one, run down and falling apart. It had been demolished less than a year after they'd played poker there and replaced with a five-star luxury resort. Chloe went there. She had to rent a room before she could access any of the amenities and was once again grateful that she didn't have to pay the expense herself; the Afterlife credit card always came in handy.

  Once she'd gotten her room key, she went straight to the pool. As she'd hoped, Conner was sitting beside it, looking morose. There was nobody else out there. She went to join him.

  "Hi," she said, sitting down next to him.

  Conner glanced over at her. "If I wanted c
ompany, I would have texted back. Or answered your calls. What do you want, Chloe?"

  "I want to make sure you're alright."

  Conner shook his head. "Well, I'm not. Alright? So just leave me alone."

  "We both know that's not going to happen," Chloe said. "Look, Conner, you should have involved the rest of us, but you didn't, and Samuel got hurt. But that's not your fault. He's right; it could have been any one of us that got hurt. It was bad luck that it was him."

  "Bad luck for him that got him turned into a vampire," Conner said sourly.

  Chloe put a hand on his arm. "You can't just run away from this, Conner. What happened, it happened. Now we need to face the consequences together as a team."

  Conner shook his head. "Do you remember what Alec said to me when I first joined you guys? He said he'd kill me if I ever got someone killed."

  "Is that what you're worried about?" Chloe asked. "You're one of us, Conner. You're Alec's best friend. He's upset right now, but he's not going to kill you."

  "Maybe he should."

  Chloe slapped him. She hadn't been planning on it, it just happened. Conner caught her hand on the way down and held it tight. She squeezed his fingers and they sat there like that for a while in the silence. She thought Conner might have tears in his eyes, but she didn't comment on it.

  Eventually he opened his mouth. "Everyone has someone they can fall back on in a time like this. You have Brittney. Samuel has Sarah."

  "And you have Harper."

  "No," Conner said bitterly. "Alec has Harper. Don't you think I see the way they look at each other?"

  "It doesn't matter how they look at each other," Chloe said. "She's with you and she wants to be with you. She finds you funny, and charming, and sweet, and smart."

  Conner scoffed. "But I'm not Alec."

  "No, you're not," Chloe said. "You're someone who can take her for walks during the day. You're someone who can sing to her when she's sad, and you're someone who can give her a family someday. Do you know, Conner, when you left, she immediately went to find you?"

  "She did?"

  "Yeah," Chloe said. "It doesn't matter how she feels about Alec, because she feels the same way about you."