Vampire Prince

by Kat Cotton

  I screwed up my face. I’d aim better next time. That pretty face would be much improved with a broken nose.

  “Shut up about sex. You have no evidence that sex with me will help him feed.”

  “Just get him all hot and bothered, then — ow, that hurt.”

  “I’m sure he’ll be okay. It’s must be difficult having the entire pack waiting for him to feed.”

  “And waiting for him to have sex with you, too.”

  I ducked Nic’s punch and then swung for his face. Again, he was too fast, but I’d get him one day.

  He could talk all about anchoring Kisho, but he hadn’t thought about it from my perspective. This relationship could end one of two ways — either with Kisho dead or Kisho turned dark. Maybe, just maybe, there was a third option, where Kisho killed his father and came through all that unscathed. The chances of that were not something I could bet on.

  “You’re way too invested in Kisho and me doing it. What gives? You wanna watch us?”

  “No. Well...” He arched an eyebrow. “Maybe.”

  Bastard. He seemed way too keen. The idea was disgusting. I didn’t want Nic watching us going for it. Not one tiny bit. Well, okay, maybe the idea had flitted through my head a few times. I was only human.

  The buzzer went off again, and I moved to fight with Jeb. Jeb was the only pack member not obsessed with Kisho feeding. Or maybe he just kept quiet about it. Jeb being quiet was suspicious in itself.

  Training with Jeb was easy. He fought well but was totally predictable in his punches.

  When the buzzer sounded, Nic stopped us.

  “Okay, weapons training.”

  He handed out a bunch of cardboard stakes.

  “What the hell is this?” I said. “It’s not an effective weapon.”

  “You think I’m going to let you near my pack with a real stake, Clem Starr? You might accidentally hurt someone.”

  “Yes, and that someone would be you. But it wouldn’t be an accident.”

  There was no way I could stake Nic, but I did like to fantasize about it. I bet if I did, he’d end up a pile of glittery dust, all silvery and shining. And I bet even that dust would be annoying.

  I took a deep breath and prepared to stake someone, anyone.

  I ended up with Kisho. Even with a cardboard stake, I wasn’t sure I should attack him. He’d seemed so vulnerable lately.

  “Maybe we should sit this one out?” I said to him.

  “Clem Starr, you will not sit this out, and don’t try to infect Kisho with your slack habits, either.”

  Shit. I’d thought I’d said that quietly enough for Nic not to hear. “Fine, then.”

  I shot Nic a look that said, “If you want me to have sex with Kisho, maybe you should let us chill together,” but Nic choose not to interpret that look.

  I ran at Kisho, pretending to stake him.

  “Don’t hold back just because it’s me,” he said.

  “I’m not. I’m holding back because this stupid cardboard stake is hard to hold. It’s a stupid idea.”

  Training took everyone’s mind off impending doom, and it did the girls good to practice on real vampires, not just mats. Tabia rushed at Shelley, dodging his attack and getting him straight in the heart.

  “Nice work,” I said.

  She grinned back.

  It made me proud that the girls could hold their own. They really took this training seriously.

  I rushed at Kisho, a token effort at attacking him. He dodged. I counter-dodged, but it got me off balance. I nearly face-planted on the ground, but Kisho put his arm out to stop my fall. He scooped me up, pulling me to him. My heart beat like crazy.

  “Clem, Kisho, stop mucking around and train.”

  That was a bit rich coming from Nic.

  “Make your mind up, Nic,” I said.

  Before I could say anything to Kisho, the buzzer went off again, and I moved to train with Luis. Poor guy, he was all red-faced and sweaty. I’d never known a vampire could sweat like that until I met him. Luis was a little chubby and not all that fit. Vampires are stuck with what they are when they turn. I bet if Luis had known that, he’d have worked out a little first. Still, he was a good guy. I took it easy on him so he could get his breath back.

  After that, I trained with Andre.

  “This is the stupidest idea ever. We don’t need to train. We need to get Kisho to feed. This is just a distraction because Nic has no idea how to handle Kisho.”

  That might be true, but it wasn’t something you could force. Kisho had become more and more stressed about it. That didn’t help matters at all.

  While Andre stared at my boobs, I staked him with the cardboard.

  “Eyes on the prize, dude.”

  “Oh, my eyes were on the prize. By the way, I think I’ve found a battery for your car.”

  I grinned at Andre and inwardly forgave him for focusing on my boobs. The guy was hard-wired for perving, but under that man whore exterior, he was a lot more practical than the other vampires. He was the guy to call on for anything mechanical.

  “Thanks, dude.” Then I fake-staked him again.

  “We can’t just sit around waiting for the mood to hit him. We don’t have time. We need to work this out.”

  “How did it happen the first time you fed?”

  He dodged that time. I twisted and tried again, but he blocked me.

  “I don’t even remember, really. I was hungry, and I did what came naturally. Maybe if Nic stopped feeding Kisho, he’d get hungry enough to feed.”

  I didn’t think so. Not after what Kisho had told me. He’d starve to death rather than feed. I hadn’t even realized that Nic still fed Kisho.

  Andre lunged at me, getting the stake to my heart.

  “Good thing I’m not a vampire,” I said.

  “Yep, good thing.” He laughed.

  After that, I trained with the girls for a while. Francine had been disappointed that Kisho couldn’t feed on her. She took it as her own failure.

  “I don’t want him to try again,” she said.

  “Why not?”

  “He cried afterward. I hated that.”

  Of course he cried. But Kisho was so pretty when he cried. I might be a bad person, but the thought of Kisho crying hit me right in the libido.

  “Did you hug him and rub his back?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “It wasn’t like that.”

  See, that’s what I would’ve done. I’d have made him feel better. Francine didn’t know how to handle Kisho. I wished everyone would lay off him, and lay off me too. You couldn’t rush these things.

  Sleeping with Kisho when he was risk-free had been scary enough. Now, I’d get all emotionally tangled just to know he’d change almost immediately. I’d get hurt, maybe more than I could handle.

  In the meantime, I’d be so worn out from training that I’d not be capable of having sex again this decade.

  Chapter 18: Tourists

  The next day, I got a message from the Demon Fighters Council. A text. I could ignore it, but I couldn’t resist opening it.

  They wanted to revoke my license. Good luck with that. They’d have to find it first. It wasn’t like I made any money out of fighting demons while the city was in chaos. If they thought they could come in here and fix things, the whole bunch of them would be dead anyway. Then there’d be no one doing any revoking. I just had to sit tight.

  The girls and I trained all morning. Then the five of us headed to the kitchen, all sweat-covered and needing drinks. Francine grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge and ran it over her forehead.

  “Oh, yeah, my dreams have come true.” Andre walked into the kitchen.

  Francine lowered the bottle and crossed her arms over her chest. All of us were wearing tights and singlets. After all, we’d been training hard.

  “You don’t have to constantly sexualize women,” Francine told him. “We don’t exist for your viewing pleasure.”

  “Yeah, keep that up and you�
��ll be living on bagged blood,” Rose added.

  “Sorry,” he said.

  Wow. I’d not heard Andre apologize for his sexist behavior before. Breakthrough.

  “If you’re really sorry, you can be our training partner tomorrow.” Francine smiled.

  “Training partner?”

  “The girls need something to practice their high kicks on.” I winked at Francine.

  He backed away.

  “Come on. You have eternal life, and there’ll be no stakes involved.”

  “Will there be padding? By the way, if the boss finds out you’ve been using those gymnastics mats, he’ll kill you.”

  “He won’t find out.”

  “So, are you going to train with us?” Rose asked. “It’ll make it much more fun.”

  She grinned at Andre, and he grinned back. Either she had a thing for him, or she really hated him and wanted to give him a battering.

  “Okay, but you girls have to go easy on me.”

  “Oh, yeah, we will,” I said. Then I headed out to the shower.

  “I don’t like the sound of that,” Andre said as I reached the door.

  It was only when I got in the shower that that text message started to worry me. My license revoked. That didn’t seem like such a drama, but I had shit in my office — books and charms and other random things that technically belonged to the Demon Fighters Council. They could break in and get them. I really needed that stuff.

  Once I was dressed, I found Nic.

  “I need to go to my office,” I said. “Can I borrow your car?”

  “You need to dry your hair before you do anything else. Really, Clem Starr, walking around with wet hair isn’t just bad personal grooming, it’s a good way to get a head cold.”

  “Yeah, whatever. I need the car.”

  He gave me that look. “You have your own car.”

  “It’s not in peak working order, and you were the one who told me I shouldn’tbe driving around in a convertible at the moment, so it’s only common sense for me to take your car.”

  “Give me one good reason why I should loan you my car.”

  “Because you promised you’d return my car, and you broke your promise. I had to nag the mayor almost to death to get it back. Seriously, if the battery dies on me in the middle of the city, I’ll be vamp food and no use to you.”

  “Your hair?” Nic’s look couldn’t get any less pointed.

  “I’ll dry my hair first. Just say it’s okay. Otherwise, I’ll get an Uber.”

  “Good luck with that. I don’t think there are many Uber drivers left in this city. Where do you need to go so urgently? Is it to get secret cake stocks? Because you can’t keep that to yourself.”

  “Says Mr. Cake Hoarder. And no, it has nothing to do with cake.” I explained about Bob and the Council. “I want to go get my stuff.”

  Nic walked into his bathroom and grabbed a towel. Then he twisted it turban-style around my head.

  “Was that necessary?” I asked.

  “Hey, you’re the one who always complains about being cold. Now, go dry your hair properly and maybe accessorize that outfit better, and you can borrow the car. You can’t be seen in my car looking slatternly. If you’re picking up things from your office, maybe check if you have any books on protection charms, that kind of thing.”

  “You really don’t have a plan, do you?”

  “I have a plan of sorts. First, though, we need Kisho to feed and see how he reacts. He’s finished training for a while, so get him to drive.”

  “I’m a good driver.”

  “I’m sure you are, but you’re not driving my car.”

  I ran upstairs to my room and dried my hair.

  Kisho knocked on my door. “Ready to go?”

  “Sure am.” I made sure I put all my jewelry back on. You can’t be too careful. I slipped my knife into the waistband of my skirt. My orb necklace was sitting on the dressing table. I’d taken it off when I had sex with Nic so it didn’t burn him, and it had sat there since. I slipped that around my neck.

  Over the past few days, Luis and Shelley had rescued a lot of people trapped around the city and taken them to the mayor’s safe house, but they said things were getting worse. The fewer humans around, the more bloodthirsty the vamps became.

  The mayor’s troops had tried to clear up a few areas of the city and make them safety zones, but the vamps saw those areas as being like food truck parks.

  Getting from the car to the office was the hardest part.

  “Is Nic’s car safe parked on the street?” I asked Kisho.

  “Well, there’s nowhere else we can park it.”

  My office was in a rundown old building in the middle of the city. Nothing sophisticated here, like onsite parking.

  We got into the building. The elevator didn’t work, so we ran up the stairs. I arrived at my floor out of breath and red-faced.

  “I could’ve carried you if I’d known,” Kisho said.

  “That’s okay.” But I might’ve enjoyed that. “Check and see if there’s anything you think will come in handy.”

  I went into my office and opened the drawers. I gathered up anything I thought would be useful, a few charms and things. I put a USB stick into my computer and downloaded all the files.

  “Shit, it says it’ll take 18 minutes.”

  Kisho had stacked up a pile of books.

  “Do we need all of them?” I asked.

  “They might come in handy. You never know what will be useful.”

  I already had stacks of books at the vampire lair. All this reading would hurt my head. But if there was one shred of information in those books that could help Kisho, I’d read them all.

  “Ah, my demon fighting license. I need that. They can’t revoke it if I have it on me.”

  Kisho raised his eyebrows. “It doesn’t exactly work like that. That card isn’t the actual license, it’s just proof of it. If the license has been revoked, the card is useless.”

  “Not so, my friend. This card is perfect for picking locks and a number of other purposes.” I slipped it into my bra.

  The USB still had ten minutes to go. “You know, in movies when people do this, the data loads so much faster,” I said. “Movies just set up unrealistic expectations.”

  “Maybe in movies, their computer isn’t as old as yours. Also, in movies, just before the file transfer finishes, the bad guys come crashing into the office. We don’t want that.”

  “Yeah, hopefully all the charms and wards I’ve put on this office will stop that.”

  Finally, it finished. I pulled the stick out.

  “You’re supposed to eject that properly,” Kisho said. “Not just pull it out.”

  “Yeah, right. Does anyone in the world ever do that?” I looked at him. “Anyone but you?”

  When we got back to the car, I saw that a crowd of people had gathered farther down the street. Human people. Were they stupid?

  “What’s going on, do you think?”

  “Tourists.”

  “Huh?”

  “Luis told me there are these vampire tourists coming into the city. They want to see ‘real’ vampires.”

  That seemed to me about as stupid as you could get. This was no Disneyland. You couldn’t just wander around, flashing your tempting neck, in a city filled with hungry vamps. You might as well wear a “bite me” t-shirt to go with that.

  I marched off down the street.

  “Clem, wait...”

  I had things to say.

  “Hey, you dumb-ass tourists. What do you think you’re doing?”

  A few of them spun around.

  “Do you want to get yourselves killed? It’s not safe in this city. You can’t just wander around, snapping a few pics for your Instagram, and expect to be safe. Now, go get on your tour bus or whatever you came here in, and get out of town. No one wants to waste time saving your stupid butts.”

  “Who do you think you are, telling us what to do?” one of the guys said.<
br />
  “I’m the greatest demon fighter in the world, that’s who.”

  “Yeah, right,” a girl said.

  I pulled my demon fighter license out of my cleavage and flashed it at her. “See this. Proof.”

  “It doesn’t say you’re the greatest. It says nothing of the kind.”

  “Yeah, well, see that box he’s carrying? That’s full of my awards. But, hey, I don’t need to justify myself to you. Believe me or not.”

  I started to walk off.

  “Hey, wait. Can I have my photo taken with you?” one of the guys asked.

  “Listen, buddy, I’m a busy woman. I can’t stand around all day posing for photos.”

  “I’ll pay you. Twenty bucks for one photo.”

  “Deal.”

  I held out my hand for the money. Always get the money up front. Then I got out my stake.

  “Want me to pretend to stake you?” I asked. “That’ll make a great shot.”

  “Sweet,” he said.

  “One shot only. Unless you want to pay more.”

  I put an arm around the guy’s shoulder and held the stake in my other hand.

  A few other people came over, wanting photos.

  “Clem, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Kisho said.

  What wasn’t good about getting twenty bucks per photo? For basically doing nothing?

  Another girl came over. “I don’t care about demon fighters. I want a photo of a real vampire.”

  I glanced at Kisho.

  “No,” he said. “No way.”

  “He’s a vampire?” she asked.

  “Sure is,” I told her. “Come on, Kisho. One photo won’t hurt.”

  “He needs to have his teeth out,” she said.

  “Not going to happen. If he does that, he won’t be able to resist feeding on you. He might look all harmless now, but he’s a killer.”

  While that wasn’t totally true, Kisho wouldn’t get into feed mode around these tourists.

  “I don’t have twenty bucks, but I have a few bars of chocolate,” one girl said. “Will that do?”

  “Show me. I don’t want cheap, low quality shit.”