by Kat Cotton
“Yeah, I think we are,” I replied.
“What is actually going on among the three of you?” Jeb asked. He glanced at Nic, then back to Kisho and me.
I raised my eyebrows in fake innocence. That was none of Jeb’s business, and also, I wasn’t that sure myself.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I said.
“We have more important things to talk about. Like what we’re actually doing here. In this town. My original plan to get out and stay out seems like it’d have been the most sensible one.” Nic glared at me, since I’d made him promise to stay in the city and fight with me.
“It seems ridiculous to stay and fight when we’re not actually fighting anything. We’re just sitting here like sitting ducks,” Jeb said. Which was crazy, because he never actually sat. He paced around and fidgeted.
Nic glared at me. “What do you want to stay for, anyway? You have no work here. You have nothing. You may as well get out, too.”
“It’s my city. I can’t just desert it. I’m a loyal girl, and Melbourne has the best coffee in the world.”
“Yet you wanted the mayor to put a wall around the city and leave it to the vamps?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, well, that was more to rile up the mayor than a solid plan. He annoyed me with his presentation and his handouts. I’m not working for the mayor, especially not for free. I think you guys are forgetting one pivotal point here.”
“I’m not forgetting. I’m getting to it.” Nic exchanged glances with me. “The Vampire King will come for us, no matter where we go.”
“Yeah, that was a really stupid idea, stealing the Demon Child off him and putting the whole pack on his radar. Especially since that kid ran away from home at the first opportunity.” After he’d said that, Jeb put his hand to his mouth as though he’d accidentally said too much, but there was no accident about it. He knew Nic was still sensitive about the kid leaving him. He just wanted to twist that knife.
“So, let’s get to the heart of this matter,” Andre said. “Does Kisho kill the Vampire King? We should vote on it.”
Kisho’s muscles tensed. Really tensed. I rubbed his arm to relax him.
“Are you an idiot?” I asked. “It’s not like we can just vote and voila, no more Vampire King. Voting is just one step in an incredibly complicated process that could end with Kisho dead.”
Yeah, that had done nothing to relax him, but it had to be said. These guys acted like Kisho could just walk up to the King and off him, but the King had an insane amount of power.
“The decision has to be Kisho’s,” Nic said. “And I think we all need to support that decision, no matter what it is.”
I stroked Kisho’s neck. Even though he’d said nothing, his body had become so tense, it might snap.
“Yeah, Nic, that hippy bullshit is all well and good until the King gets serious,” Andre said. “At the moment, it’s just his minions and some other riff-raff running around causing mayhem. But it’s only going to get more insane. The King will emerge from the chaos, and he’ll cut us down.”
Nic stroked his chin. He was acting like none of this fazed him, but that gesture gave him away. He wanted Kisho to do this, but he didn’t want to force him. Smart tactic. Forcing Kisho would only send him running for cover. Kisho needed to work though this on his own.
“Is there any other way?” I asked. “I mean, this whole ‘can only be killed by his own blood’ bullshit seems a bit farfetched. Also, has no one considered that if the geezer knocked up Kisho’s mother, he might have a whole bunch of brats out there in the world? The dude’s a bit of a sleaze, and he’s had centuries to spread his seed around.”
Nic sighed. “Always so vulgar, Clem. You really think I’ve not considered that? There is no other child. It’s near-on impossible for humans to carry vampire babies to term. Kisho being born and surviving is close to a miracle. I’ve researched. Every other woman he’s ‘knocked up’” — he actually did air quotes for that — “died in childbirth.”
“So, Kisho actually is the chosen one,” Jeb said. “Surely the whole miracle of Kisho is for a reason. And we all know what that reason is.”
Kisho’s fingers dug into my thigh. I didn’t want to say anything, since he was obviously stressed, but it hurt. Sure, Jeb could throw out statements like that, but he wasn’t the one sitting on Kisho’s lap.
“Kisho, what do you think?” Luis asked.
I thought Kisho would avoid the question. Avoiding direct questions like that seemed to be his M.O.
“I can’t defeat him,” Kisho said, his voice shaking. “No matter what, I can’t defeat him.”
Kisho had never told me any more of his story after his step-father had sold him to the Vampire King, but anyone could tell it hadn’t been a happy one.
The meeting broke up not long after that. Kisho went to his room alone. The others drifted off.
“Hey, Nic, what happened to that cake you promised?”
There’d been no cake at the meeting.
“Come to my room and we’ll have cake.”
“Do you mean literally have cake, or ‘have cake’?” Then I winked at him to get my meaning across. Luring me to his room with cake was a sneaky subterfuge. And an unnecessary one. If he’d just said “have sex,” I’d have been up for that too. I mean, I’d totally missed out last night, so I needed makeup sex.
“I mean, have cake. And don’t get crumbs everywhere.”
I followed him to his room and sat on the bed.
He pulled out the stool from the dressing table. “Sit here. Don’t mess up the bed.”
I rolled my eyes and sat down.
“Don’t look,” he said.
If he meant don’t look at where he kept his secret cake stash, then he was a fool. I’d sniffed that out long ago. Well, Hellhound had helped. We were a winning cake-finding team.
Nic handed me a thin slice on a dainty plate.
I stared at it. “Where’s the rest?” I held the plate out.
“We’re on rations.”
“Phht.”
He took my plate and added another slice, thicker this time. With the cake thing done, he got serious.
“We have to convince Kisho.”
“What happened to ‘the decision has to be Kisho’s and we’ll support him’?”
Nic frowned, then smiled. That smile. No matter how I tried to build up my resistance to it, it hit me like a full beam of sunlight. Not regular sunlight, either, but the kind of sun you get in the middle of summer that will fry your nose bright red within seconds. Damn him.
“Are you stupid? Of course I’m going to say that. If I’d said ‘Kisho needs to grow a pair and get over his daddy issues,’ he’d be half way across the country by now. We have to be far wilier than that.”
I crossed my legs. “What’s this ‘we’ business? I’m not part of the pack. I’m an outsider, remember?”
I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to get on board with this.
“I can’t involve the pack. You’re different. You have that sex thing that the pack doesn’t. The pack can’t influence Kisho like that. Well, except for Shelley, but that’s not an aura, it’s just sex. Oh, I think maybe Jeb a few times. But you’ve got an actual power.”
“I’m not using it on Kisho. That would be dirty and wrong. I don’t have many standards, but that’s a line I’m not crossing. No way. No how.”
Nic put his head to the side and ramped that smile up even higher.
“No, Nic.”
Then he did the eye thing.
I put my empty cake plate down on the dressing table and stood up.
“This discussion isn’t going any further,” I said. “You can’t make Kisho do it.”
Nic jumped up and grabbed me by the shoulders. “The Vampire King will come for you. He wants revenge. You took out his eye, and you have no way to protect yourself.”
“Even so, I can’t do what you want.”
Nic didn’t let me go. He just moved closer.
&
nbsp; “You know you want to,” he whispered in my ear. “You really want to. Don’t hold back.”
“No, I don’t. And even if I did, I wouldn’t use my aura. But I’m not convincing him to feed. With sex.”
Except, the next instant, I was kissing him. Damn Nic. I didn’t even want to kiss him, but my lips moved without my permission. The smell of him engulfed me. I didn’t want to touch him, but my fingers ran inside his jacket without my say-so. My entire body could just cool the fuck down, except we were on the bed. I hated that vampire, but having sex with him felt so good. As soon as he touched me, all my resolve crumpled.
Every part of me tingled. I tried to push him down. I wanted to be on top, but he held me firmly.
He did that thing he did with his lips on my stomach that turned every cell in my body to fluid, then he did that thing with his fingers. Oh, I loved that thing with his fingers. I’d never known a man to move their fingers like that.
I tried to stay quiet, but when he did that, I couldn’t stop myself from screaming.
Thirty-nine orgasms.
“Clem, are you there?” Jeb yelled to me. “Someone wants to see you.”
Hell, who? The mayor, with my car? I jumped up.
My car. It so had to be. Who else knew I was here but the mayor? And it wasn’t like anyone would risk traveling through the city for a social call. Actually, it probably wasn’t a good time for driving through the city in a convertible, but I’d take the chance. I couldn’t wait to get back behind the wheel.
“This guy wants to talk to you,” Jeb said.
The guy sitting on the couch was so not the mayor. That guy was Bob Kelpie, my old mentor from the Demon Fighters Council. Only, the last time I’d seen him, I’d had to fight him because he’d tried to kill Nic. And I’d won. That must’ve been a tough defeat for him, his student kicking his butt.
There was also that little matter of the Demon Fighters Council not being all that happy with me.
“I’m busy,” I said, and tried to run back to Nic’s room.
“Clem, how are you?”
Shit. Bob stood up. He’d seen me. I couldn’t run.
“Hey, Bob.”
Chapter 6: Bob
“Is there somewhere we can talk in private?” Bob asked.
I looked around. “Not really. I think you can say what you need to say right here.”
The living room seemed the safest place for this discussion. Privacy would just give him a chance to say things I didn’t want to hear. Hell, had he heard me with Nic? How loud had I screamed? My sex life was my own business, and I definitely didn’t want Bob listening in on it.
“This is Council business. I really can’t discuss it in front of a pack of vampires.”
I planned to dig my heels in and tell him it was here or nowhere, mostly because I didn’t want to be alone with him. The less he said to me, the less shit I’d have to deal with.
“You can go out into the garden,” Jeb said.
He’d pay for that later. If he had any sense, he’d have worked out that I absolutely didn’t want to be alone with Bob.
Then Nic appeared.
“What are you doing here?” he said to Bob.
Whoa. I’d seen Nic be bitchy and snarky before, but he’d gone way beyond that. That steely cold voice would freeze anyone. Hopefully, he’d throw Bob out of the house and I’d be safe.
“I’m here to see Clem.”
“You know it’s not actually good manners to visit someone’s house after you’ve tried to kill them.”
Nic had forgiven the mayor for the same thing, but then the mayor had given him cake. Bob wouldn’t think to bring cake or other treats. Which, I had to admit, was rather rude.
“We won’t be long,” Bob said.
He tried to be haughtier than Nic, but he had no chance. Then Nic turned his gaze on me.
“Hey, I had nothing to do with this. I didn’t even know he was coming.”
Nic screwed up his face but said no more. He could’ve been a bit more demanding. He didn’t even mention throwing Bob out. That would’ve been really handy. This was not a chat I wanted to have. Still, we went out to the garden.
“Why are you living with a pack of vampires, Clem?” he asked me.
That was none of his business, and I didn’t want to go into it.
“Because the sex is good,” I said, hoping that would prevent further questions. If it didn’t, maybe I could start throwing in random stuff about my menstrual cycle and ovaries. Best way to shut up middle-aged men ever.
He just sighed.
“The city is in a lot of danger at the moment,” he said.
“Well, duh, I hadn’t noticed.”
“This is no time to be flippant, Clem. It’s a very serious business. It’s not going to stop here, either. This is just the beginning.”
He wandered around the garden. It didn’t take him long to do a circuit.
“Well, look, Bob, I don’t want to be all disrespectful to you or anything, but maybe you should reflect a little on your part in that. I have no idea what made you join the mayor on his stupid ‘team humans,’ but it was a very ill-considered move.”
“I had my reasons.”
I rolled my eyes. Sure he did. Probably money. The mayor had offered me a shitload to kill Nic.
“At this time, we have to stick together.”
Ha, more of the mayor’s unity bullshit. Was he still working for the mayor? I didn’t care a bunch about humans sticking together or any of that unity stuff. I wanted myself safe, and I wanted the pack safe. That was my main concern.
“We at the Council want you on our side to fight this danger.”
I guessed that meant I hadn’t been expelled. Still, it didn’t sound reassuring.
“Tell me, what exactly are the Council’s plans? Because I want concrete examples before I agree.”
There is no way I’d agree. They had nothing to offer me.
“We’re still formulating those plans. We have a strong team and a vast network. We also have a lot of cash.”
That got me interested. “Cash? Now we’re talking. Exactly how much cash?”
He named his figure. Nice, but not nice enough. I could talk that up a fair bit, and that would be a nice bundle of money. But then, what would I do with it?
I’d never said no to any money-making opportunity in my life before I met these vampires. Damn them.
“We’d find you somewhere to live, well away from here. You’d be out of the danger zone until the actual attack. And you’d be among your own kind. You’ve got to admit, that’s a helluva lot better than living in a vampire nest.”
“No, not really. You want me to turn on the people who care for me. I can’t do that.”
Bob recoiled in shock. “Have they mind-controlled you?”
“Huh?”
“This talk of people caring for you — and they aren’t actually people; you know that as well as I do — it’s not you, Clem. You were my star student, the most promising. You were born to kill demons, not hang out with them. There’s one thing that motivates you, and you’ve always been open about that. The money. What are they paying you? I’ll double it.”
I could name anything I wanted.
“If the whole world goes to hell, what is money going to buy me?” I said. “Look at the city now. If I want something, I can go loot it like every creature out there. If I want to buy something honestly, it might not even be for sale.”
“Gold? Gold is always stable.”
“Nothing’s stable, Bob. Nothing at all.” I’d grown bored of this conversation. “Is that all you want? Because no matter what you say, the answer is no. I’ve made my decision.”
My decision had been made long ago. No matter what happened, I’d not desert Kisho.
As I walked Bob out of the house, he kept gazing around. I wasn’t sure if he was worried that Nic would have more to say to him, or if he was looking for something else. Maybe he was just curious about what a vampire l
air looked like. Who cared? He was gone.
Chapter 7: Orgies of Blood
“We need to get more food,” I said. “I can’t survive on cake alone.”
Nic glared at me, horrified. The intensity of that glare burned into me. “I can’t believe you said that. I’m offended on behalf of cake.”
He was lolling in his armchair while Luis and Shelley watched a movie. Twilight, I think. Those vampires had an obsession with vampire movies.
“Hey, I’m human. I need a balanced diet. It’s not like I have a bunch of groupies in the basement to feed on. And, speaking of, those girls probably need food too. You can’t feed on them if they starve to death.”
“She’s not wrong,” Jeb said. “Dinner last night barely hit the sides.”
“Fine, then,” Nic said. “I’ll send a couple of the boys. Not you. That little imp said he’d never sell to us again if you were involved.”
“He was joking.”
“I don’t think so. Anyway, Luis and Shelley can go.”
“I’ll go with them,” Jeb said.
“Good idea,” Nic agreed. He threw Jeb the keys to the van. “I’ll phone him with our order.”
“We need vegetables and maybe some steaks,” I said. “Ha, get it?”
Nic didn’t laugh. Jeb didn’t, either.
“I wanna go too.” I was sick of being stuck in the lair. I needed to get out.
“Shut up, Clem.”
After the guys had left, Nic picked up the remote control and turned the TV off.
“Hey, I was watching that.”
“We need to make plans. About Kisho.”
“I told you, no way. I’m not about to start toying with him.”
Nic sighed. He could do the guilt thing, and he could do the charming thing, since he’d already done the sex thing. I had no intention of fooling with this. If Kisho decided to fight and ended up dead, I didn’t want have a hand in any of that.
“He can fight him, and he can win. Have faith in Kisho.”
That was the thing. I didn’t. I knew Kisho could fight, but I’d also seen how he reacted to his father. He couldn’t even function when that geezer was around. Meanwhile, the Vampire King had immense power and no qualms about using it. He wanted Kisho dead. That much was just fact. Kisho, on the other hand, had no killer instinct at all.
