CREAM

by Zenobia Renquist

“You’re already here. Now take it off.”

  Jeliyah hadn’t taken off the necrome since her trainer put it on her ten years ago. It was her first necrome. She wouldn’t feel right not wearing it.

  “Now.”

  With shaking fingers, she undid the clasp and removed the necklace. The necrome stopped humming the second it no longer touched her skin. She missed the familiar sound already.

  Teaghan opened the glove box. He pulled out his shades and slipped them on.

  “Shades?”

  “Strobe lights.” He pointed to the glove box. “In and let’s go.”

  She laid the necrome inside and then had to yank her hand back to keep Teaghan from slamming her fingers in the closing door. “Watch it, vampire.”

  “It’s a hunk of metal, not your fucking baby. Get over it.” He hopped the car door and started walking to the club.

  She followed after him, glancing over her shoulder at the car every few steps. Teaghan didn’t lock his car and he left the top down. Would her necrome be safe? Necro-metal had no value except to a necromancer but someone might steal it thinking it was valuable.

  She started to ask Teaghan if he could secure his car but a flock of women surrounded him, cutting off her words. He laughed and gave the giggling women each a kiss before ushering them into the club. She heaved a sigh as she followed.

  Teaghan pointed her out to the doorman, who appeared a little surprised but nodded. Jeliyah didn’t know what the man’s reaction meant and ignored him and the people waiting behind the velvet rope as she entered the club.

  Loud music and thumping bass that beat her heart for her greeted Jeliyah. She was already tired and annoyed and she’d just gotten there. Moving close to Teaghan, she asked loud enough to be heard, “How do you vampires stand such loud music?”

  “Earplugs.” He jabbed his finger at his ear. Sure enough, he had a neon-green earplug stuffed in his ear.

  “Why even go to a club if you’re just going to wear earplugs? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?”

  “We can still hear the music and everything else. The earplugs make it less piercing. It’s about human volume.”

  “Oh.”

  One of the women hanging on Teaghan glared at Jeliyah before asking, “Who’s she, Big T?”

  He said, “She’s in need of a new outfit. Do something about that, sweet thang.” He smacked the woman’s ass.

  Jeliyah bristled. “I don’t need—”

  “Sure thing, Big T.” The woman laid a kiss on his lips, making sure her breasts and the rest of her pressed against Teaghan before she turned to Jeliyah. “Come on.” Her voice held a note of annoyance.

  Teaghan said, “Pick something I like, Nessa.” He winked at Jeliyah and then turned his back on her as he led the flock of women to the DJ booth. The man occupying the spot bumped fists with Teaghan before vacating.

  “I said come on. Damn,” Nessa snapped.

  Jeliyah glared at her but caught up with the woman as they walked to the back of the club. She didn’t know why she followed Nessa or why she was at the club. It was a nice change of pace though. Jeliyah decided to chalk it up to a new experience and go along with it.

  Or that was her plan until she saw the dress Nessa pulled out of the closet. The woman held up a gray tube top. “There you go. Big T will love this.”

  “Where’s the rest of it?”

  “This is it.”

  “What about pants?”

  “This is a dress. You don’t need pants.”

  “That’s an oversized headband. I’m not wearing it.”

  “Big T said—”

  “I don’t give a damn what Teaghan said. I’m not wearing that.”

  Nessa sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She dug through the closet and pulled out a one-legged catsuit. “What about this?”

  The cut would leave Jeliyah’s upper thigh exposed along with a large portion of her waist, which meant no panties. “No.”

  She vetoed three more suggestions before giving in to the dress—a description she still didn’t think fit. It stretched to accommodate her curves but stopped right below her ass. That wasn’t long enough for her and requests for leggings got ignored.

  Nessa led Jeliyah back to the DJ booth and Teaghan, who bopped his head to the music as he gave Jeliyah a once-over complete with licking his tongue over his gold canine and sucking his teeth. He grinned. “That’s better.”

  “This isn’t my normal style.” Jeliyah pulled the back of the micro-mini dress down, not liking the draft she felt on her upper thighs. The dress rode back up as soon as she released it.

  Teaghan’s leaned to the side so he could look behind her. “It should be.”

  “Who asked you?” She yanked the dress down again and held it. “Pay attention to your music, vampire.”

  He laughed but returned to mixing music. Jeliyah hugged the back wall, refusing to go into the crowd with her ass exposed. The women around Teaghan ignored her. Good. She was there, which satisfied Teaghan. He wasn’t making her do anything besides be there, which satisfied her. She wished she had a pair of Teaghan’s earplugs but settled on trying to drown out the music by reciting spells in her head.

  The night would be over soon.

  Chapter Four

  Jeliyah hated to admit it but Teaghan did his job well. The music was good and kept the crowd in high energy the whole night. It ended with him getting a bite to eat from the women who’d stayed by his side the entire time. Each one propositioned him, touching his thighs and crotch and rubbing their barely covered breasts against him, but he turned them all down.

  On the way to the car, Jeliyah asked, “So you work for blood then?”

  Teaghan held out his arms. “Do I look like I’m holding a sign that says I ‘will work for food’? No, sweetness, I work for cash. Lee, the owner, gave me mine after you left to get dressed. DJs get paid a wage, tips and sometimes free drinks. The girls are drinks.”

  “They’re more than that.” Jeliyah couldn’t keep the edge of disgust out of her voice.

  “Depends on my mood and theirs.” Teaghan grinned at her. “Jealous?”

  “You wish.”

  “You do—”

  Jeliyah blinked as Teaghan went flying backward. His actions made no sense until she realized Teaghan had been sucker-punched by a large, Cro-Mag-looking man. Said man turned his sights on Jeliyah. She didn’t have time to scream before he tackled her to the ground and wrapped his hands around her throat, choking her.

  He laughed, spraying her with his spit. “Die, you necromancer bitch.”

  A vampire. She could see his fangs now that he had his mouth open. If she had her necrome, she would have known that from the start. Not having it also meant she had no way to defend herself.

  Her rings were back at the hotel. Her necklace was in the car. Damn Teaghan and his stupid side job. If she died, she planned to haunt him for the rest of his days, keeping him awake so he shriveled into a pile of dust.

  “Jeliyah!” Teaghan’s yell drew her attention.

  Something glinted overhead. She could feel the hum of the necro-metal and reached out to it with her magic. She didn’t have time for anything fancy and not touching the metal to guide the magic meant anything she cast would hit Teaghan—and any other vampire in the immediate vicinity—as well. She croaked, “Repel.”

  The vampire above her grunted as a wall of energy blew him away from her and sent him flying across the parking lot. Teaghan cursed. Jeliyah sat up in time to see him land near the other man. They both pulled swords and then blurred out of view. Jeliyah busied herself looking for her necrome. She’d heard it land but the dark parking lot made it hard to find.

  The headlights of a passing car reflected off the metal and Jeliyah grabbed it. She didn’t bother putting on the necklace. Holding the necrome in a tight fist, she said, “Activate.”

  Two white dots entered her field of vision. Jeliyah stared at them. Another enforcer? Why was another enforcer attacking
her? Enforcers—in fact, all vampires—knew a necromancer on sight, necro-metal accessories or not. It was the magic the necromancers possessed. A new vampire might have the excuse of ignorance, but not an enforcer.

  Jeliyah started to call a warning to Teaghan that he was fighting another enforcer, when the two men stopped and faced each other.

  Teaghan sneered at his opponent. “Which one are you? Dumas or Didios? I could never tell you fuckers apart.”

  “Didios. You took our hunt.”

  “Correction—you got called to take my hunt and I took it back. And that issue pales in comparison to you attacking my necromancer. You’ve gone rogue, Didios. That means your ass is mine.” Teaghan lunged forward with his sword in front of him.

  Jeliyah watched the dots because the men themselves were all but invisible to her. Even the dots moved too fast to follow at times. She couldn’t help. She hadn’t been with Teaghan long enough to know his distinct marker. She couldn’t tell the men apart so anything she cast would hit both. But she couldn’t stand around doing nothing.

  Her mind rushed as she tried to think of all the different spells she knew. She needed something that would hinder and help at the same time but that she could also cast with only her amulet. It was a defense necrome. Her rings were for fighting. Teaghan and his stupid clubbing.

  Defense. Of course. Jeliyah summoned up her power and focused on Shield. With a push and a prayer, she trapped one of the dots and hoped it was the one she wanted.

  Didios came back into view when his sword bounced off the invisible barrier surrounding Teaghan.

  “Necromancers. Never leave home without them.” Teaghan smirked as he thrust his sword through Didios’ chest and then yanked it sideways, cutting the man’s heart in half. He brought his sword around and severed Didios’ head from his shoulders.

  Jeliyah lowered the shield before rushing forward.

  Teaghan wiped his sword on Didios’ clothes then sheathed it. “Good job.”

  “Not really,” she rasped, her throat scratchy from being choked. “I was hoping to put him in the shield, not you.”

  “What good would that have done? Trying to kill me off, necromancer? And here I thought we were getting along.”

  “Shield can keep people out or hold them in. I planned to catch him to limit his movement. When I saw it landed on you, I switched it from confinement to protection.”

  “Quick thinking and smart. Nice to know you have brains and beauty.”

  She shrugged, trying not to let his compliment go to her head. “It’s all I could think to do. I don’t know your marker. I couldn’t tell you two apart—and what the hell? Why did he attack me?”

  Teaghan yanked a plastic bag from one of his pants pockets and stashed Didios’ head in it. “Pissed that we took his hunt last night. I’m guessing the twins are hard up if one went off the reservation and attacked you. He knew that was a death sentence. Only someone desperate—or really dumb—would do it.”

  “Both?”

  “With the twins, that’s a high possibility.” He unclipped his cell phone and hit the speed dial before putting it to his ear. “Yeah, this is Teaghan. I need a cleanup at Sugar-Sugar downtown.”

  Jeliyah looked at Didios’ body. His blood seeped out, staining the parking lot. In a few hours, no one would know he’d been killed there. The cleanup crews the vampires sent were good at their jobs, but then they’d been cleaning up vampire corpses for centuries so humans never found them.

  She asked, “Are you going to get in trouble? He did attack me but Didios hadn’t been declared a rogue and he’s an enforcer.”

  “He’s dead and that bruise around your neck is all the proof I need for the kill. Come on.” Teaghan walked away.

  Jeliyah followed him to his car and was a little surprised when he held the door open for her. She got in, settled herself and then reached for the head. Teaghan pulled it back while he closed the door. He put the head in the trunk. Jeliyah decided not question it since she hadn’t wanted to hold it.

  Teaghan drove them to the reserve. It was her first time going there. She’d never thought she would. Enforcers didn’t usually bring necromancers to the vampire bank. The only humans allowed inside were the ones who worked there and those were few and far between.

  At the door, Teaghan glared down the guards when they started to bar Jeliyah’s way. He put his arm around her waist and yanked her against his side as they entered. The enforcers followed them inside and up to the teller Teaghan chose to receive Didios’ head.

  The teller didn’t look at the bag and continued staring at his computer screen with a bored—or maybe it was fed-up—manner. He clicked his mouse with a sigh. “You weren’t assigned a hunt.”

  “This fucker attacked my necromancer. I took him out.”

  The teller turned his gaze to Jeliyah. “Necromancer?”

  She nodded then hissed at the pain in her throat. Her voice still rasped when she said, “No provocation. We think he was pissed that Teaghan took his hunt.”

  “It happens,” the man said with an indifferent shrug. He opened the plastic bag. “Yup, that’s one of the twins all right.”

  “Teaghan.” Jeliyah and Teaghan faced Fredrick, the vampire who had accompanied Teaghan the day before. The man nodded to them in greeting. “Good timing. I was about to call you with a hunt.”

  Teaghan said, “Let me guess. Dumbass and Dipshit.”

  “Their names are Dumas and Didios. And how did you know I was calling you about the twins?”

  “Because I already solved half the problem.” Teaghan jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the teller and the bag in front of him.

  Fredrick went to the counter and pulled down the edge of the bag. “I only just authorized this hunt.”

  “Next time how about you authorize it before he goes after my partner, so I have a little warning?”

  “He went after the necromancer?”

  Teaghan gestured to Jeliyah’s neck as his answer.

  “Then it wasn’t isolated.” Fredrick closed the bag and pushed it at the teller. “Pay the man.”

  The teller picked up the bag and walked away.

  Jeliyah asked, “What’s not isolated? Did he attack someone else before coming after me?”

  “His necromancer. It’s the reason I changed their status to rogue. We got an emergency call from Dumas’ necromancer that Didios had killed his necromancer. The call got cut short. We’re not sure if the other necromancer is alive or not. Since neither twin works alone, we’re assuming this insubordination is both of them and we gave them both rogue status.”

  Teaghan released Jeliyah when the teller returned with the payment. He checked each jewel with quick, precise movements and then handed the bag to Jeliyah. He asked Fredrick, “Dead or alive?”

  “The necromancers want him alive for interrogation. The family wants him dead.”

  “Which one is paying the highest?”

  Fredrick grinned. “How mercenary of you.”

  “Me and every other enforcer or we wouldn’t be doing this job. Which one?”

  “The family is prepared to pay ten percent above anything the necromancers will offer.”

  “Dead it is.” Teaghan slipped his arm around Jeliyah’s waist again and escorted her out of the building. They were in the car headed back to the hotel when Teaghan asked, “No lectures about how I should capture Dumas alive and hand him over to the necromancers?”

  “You don’t know me well enough to assume I would say something like that. If the higher-ups want him, they’ll send a team after him. That they left it up to an enforcer means it’s lip service. The necromancers want him as dead as the head family does but they know the families of the murdered partners will want answers so they act like they want Dumas alive to placate them.”

  “And they call vampires shady.”

  “Plus the necromancers get an enforcer to do a job while sticking the head family with the bill. Not to mention, the head family will owe restitutio
n to the partners’ families for ordering a kill when the necromancers wanted him alive. That restitution will probably be in the amount of both men’s retirements plus a little extra for the families.”

  “Cash rules everything around me.”

  “C.R.E.A.M.”

  Teaghan grinned at her. “Know that song, do you?”

  “I don’t dislike hip-hop.”

  “Oh, so it’s me you don’t like.”

  “I thought we’d already established that.”

  Silence descended for the rest of the ride back to the hotel. Teaghan walked Jeliyah to the room door with his hand on the small of her back. She didn’t know why he felt the need to keep touching her and she also didn’t know why she didn’t call an end to it.

  He said, “Pack. We’re leaving.”

  “Okay. Here.” She held the bag of jewels out to him.

  “That’s yours.”

  “What? All of it?”

  “And half the next one when I kill Dumas. Get packed and meet me at the car. I’m going to check out.” Teaghan grabbed his duffel bag and left the room.

  Jeliyah stared after him in confusion. Why would he let her keep the entire payout and then promise her half the next one? She knew she shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth but this day had gotten surreal.

  Putting it out of her mind, she gathered up the few things she’d left spread around the room and shoved them back in her bag. In the next room, she would keep her belongings together. It seemed like Teaghan was the get-up-and-go type. She didn’t want to slow him down.

  To that end, she pulled her gun harness out and slipped into it. Didios had taught her a lesson about preparedness. She tied her pouch of necromes to the harness so they were close. That attack was the first and last time she would be so helpless.

  She did one last walk-through of the room for anything she might have overlooked, before slinging her duffel onto her shoulder opposite her gun. Grabbing the bag of jewels, Jeliyah headed out of the room for Teaghan’s car.

  They would need to stop by her bank so she could stash the jewels in her safe-deposit box, which is what she would tell Teaghan when he joined her. Or that was what she planned.