by Kat Cotton
“It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve seen it all before.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“Is that him over there?” We got closer. Same hair, same height. I couldn’t see the face because he was too engrossed in sucking neck. “Kisho?”
No response. I looked at Vlad.
“I don’t think it’s him,” Vlad said.
The guy made the grossest slurping noises. I hoped it wasn’t Kisho.
We pushed through a few more people. One couple on the ground going for it. Sex and feeding. The woman groaned. Then some girl-on-girl action. Then girl-on-guy-on-girl.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” I asked Vlad. In my mind, he was still fourteen years old, even if he was much, much older.
“Yeah. Hey, that’s Kisho.”
Right down at the end of the alley, in the darkest corner. He had a woman against the wall, his head in the crook of her neck. It was definitely him. I recognized those moves.
His body rubbed up against hers, and she cried out. They were having way too much fun. If Kisho wanted to feed on groupies, that was one thing, but that woman didn’t even look clean. He might pick up some kind of infection from her. Not that he could actually get infections, but he could pass it on to me. That was so not on.
I stormed over and pulled him off her, and she cried out. I guessed having his teeth dragged out of her probably hurt a bit, but that wasn’t my concern.
“Clem?” Kisho looked a little dazed.
I pushed him against the wall. “You will not do this!”
He smiled. He wasn’t taking me seriously. Screw him. If I had to beat some sense into him, I would.
“Hey, are you two related?” the woman said, looking from Kisho to Vlad.
Huh? This was not the right time for a discussion like that.
“Because if you are, I’d love to take you both on.”
“Hey, lady, scram,” I said to her. “Get back inside where you’re welcome.”
She ran off. I could be pretty scary when I was angry.
“I mean it, Kisho,” I said. “You can’t do this. You’re being totally irresponsible.” I was usually on the other end of responsibility lectures, and despite being mad as hell, I was kind of satisfied being the one in the right. “You’re putting the entire pack in danger. Nic has told you so many times, and even though I hate that vampire, he’s right. I never thought you’d be so stupid.”
Kisho giggled. “Come on, Clem, loosen up.”
I wanted to slap him. I’d never thought I’d want to slap Kisho, but right now, my hand was itching.
“Remember your father? The Vampire King? The war? All that stuff. This is no time for being loose, my friend. You’ve forced Vlad and me out looking for you. And Andre.” Although Andre had been a fat lot of good.
He finally looked a little contrite. Maybe the blood high was wearing off.
“I can’t help it,” he said. “I can’t think of anything but feeding. It’s all I want.”
I sighed. Nic had been right. Again. Kisho needed to learn self-control.
I hooked my arm around his. “Come home. If you need to feed, feed on me.”
“But...”
Why didn’t he want to feed on me?
“He’s scared he’ll hurt you,” Vlad said. “He’s too new at this. And too hungry.”
“You won’t hurt me,” I said. “Feed on me all you like. It hurts me much less than seeing you like this.” I wasn’t sure if that was true, but I couldn’t let Kisho endanger himself. If the Vampire King knew he was out of the house, Kisho would be dead.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Positive.”
Kisho put his arm around me. “Clem, I love you.”
Hell. Bloody hell. Bloody, bloody hell. He’d said that? It was the feeding euphoria talking. You couldn’t just drop an “I love you” in the back alley of a skanky club after feeding on some random.
I sighed and let it go.
“Let’s get back to the car,” I said. “Vlad, can you check if Andre’s going with us or staying here? I’ve got a feeling he wants to stay.”
Vlad ran off, and I walked Kisho to the car.
“Nic’s going to kill us when he finds out,” Kisho said.
“Yeah, well, you should’ve thought of that before you snuck out your bedroom window like a rebellious teen. It’s not even going to be the good sort of punishment. You know we put ourselves at risk to get you before he found out.”
“Thanks.”
We sat in the car, waiting for Vlad, and I thought about what that woman had said. Kisho and Vlad did look alike. You didn’t really notice it because the difference in their heights really set them apart, but they had the same black hair. Of course, Kisho being half-Japanese accounted for that. But a few other things too. Their posture and a few gestures.
Kisho was a lot older than Vlad, but he’d always slept around, and Vlad’s unicorn hybrid mother would be mighty appealing. But even Kisho said he was the only half-vampire. And if being half-vampire made Kisho weaker, then Vlad being quarter-vampire would make him weaker still, surely, instead of being super-strong.
I shook myself. Vlad being Kisho’s son was the stupidest idea ever. Vlad had been born human. He’d been turned. He hadn’t been born vampire. The turning had ruined his Olympic chances. That was a fact everyone knew. As much as I wanted to believe that someone else had Vampire King blood, I was just clutching at straws.
When we got home, Nic was sitting on the sofa waiting for us. Of course. How had I ever thought it’d be any different?
He stared at us when we walked in, and I prepared myself for a Nic lecture and got ready to fight back. My fists tightened and my blood pumped. He could bring it on. I’d done the right thing.
“Thank you, Clem. Thank you, Vlad. Kisho, we need to talk alone.”
Wow. I had not been expecting to be thanked. I slumped now that the fight hadn’t come.
Kisho followed Nic into his bedroom.
Vlad and I looked at each other and ran upstairs. Shit would be hitting the fan any moment now, and we didn’t want to be around for that.
Chapter 29: The Mayor Calls
Nic got off the phone. “That was the mayor. He’s got trouble on his hands at the safe house. He wants us to help out.”
“Another vampire riot?” Andre said. “Doesn’t he have his troops to deal with that?”
“He says they’re busy with other things. A distraction on the other side of the city. Meanwhile, the house is under attack, and he can’t get people out.”
“I think we should leave the mayor to deal with his own business and concentrate on our thing,” Jeb said. “It’s not like we have any obligation to the mayor.”
Nic would’ve agreed with anyone else but Jeb. Jeb just seemed to solidify his determination in the other direction.
“There’ll be kids at that house,” Shelley said. “We really need to help out.”
“I’m not sure when we became protectors of the city,” Nic said. “But he dropped some heavy hints. He knows about Kisho now, and we don’t want that knowledge becoming public.”
“Did he say exactly what was going on?” I asked. “It’d be nice to know what we’re headed into.”
“Not really. Just that they were in danger.”
“Since when have we been the mayor’s bitches, anyway?” Jeb asked. “The mayor is too much in control of this pack. Remember when you kicked him out of the house and told him never to come back? You should’ve stuck to that.”
Nic shook his head. “We’ve involved in this now. We can’t just back out. Anyway, if nothing else, it’ll hone our fighting skills. We need the practice, and this will be a bunch of low-level punks just stirring for a fight. Bring it on, I say. We can train all we like, but nothing beats a real fight.”
“I should bring the girls with us,” I said. What Nic said made sense. Nothing beat a real fight for honing skills.
He shook his head. �
�No way. Absolutely no way.”
“They need the practice.”
“They’re humans. It makes sense you training them for self-defense, but I’m not going to risk their lives in a fight.”
“You risk mine.”
“Yeah, well, Clem Starr, you’re not completely human.”
I punched his arm. He knew I hated him saying that.
In response, he shot me that smile that went straight to my girl parts. Bastard. No matter what my feelings were for Kisho, Nic’s piercing sexuality could cut through all that. Nic and I would never have the same emotional connection I had with Kisho, and we’d never have that closeness, but I had a feeling there’d never be a time when I’d be immune from these shots of lust.
“You’re not going either,” Nic said to Kisho.
“I have to help.”
“You’re grounded. You stay here. I’d tie you up, but you’d probably like that.” Nic pursed his lips, thinking for a moment. “Vlad, you stay here with Kisho. We shouldn’t need you just to fight off a few rogue vamps.”
Kisho pouted. Staying home would be really hard for him, but Nic had a point. We didn’t want the Vampire King attacking on his terms. We needed all the advantages we could get, and the element of surprise was vital. If he got at Kisho today, we’d be screwed.
“So, I’m supposed to stay behind and clean the kitchen or something?” Kisho put his hands on his hips. “I want to fight.”
Kisho was changing. He definitely was changing.
“Yes, you are,” Nic said. “We don’t have time to argue.”
The rest of us took off in the van.
“This is it?” I asked when we arrived. “A safe house should look a bit safer.”
It was just a normal suburban house. No extra security, nothing special at all. The place was solid stone, one of those older-style cottages. It’d take a bulldozer to get through those walls.
“I think the point is not to call attention to the place,” Nic said.
“Well, that works really well.”
Hopefully, we’d arrived in time. We’d driven to the house as fast as we could, but how long did it take for a vampire attack? Surely not long.
“Andre, Jeb, you guys take the back door,” Nic said. “We have no idea what’s going on in there, but make sure no humans are killed.”
The guys nodded. I wrapped my fingers around my trusty stake, my pulse racing, ready for the fight.
We jumped out of the van and moved toward the house. It looked quiet, as empty and deserted as every other house on the street. I guessed Nic was right. It was best not to make it stand out as a safe house. Still, that quietness worried me. At the apartment building, the vampires hadn’t been worried about being quiet. It’d been a full-on riot.
Even the street was abnormally quiet. No birds tweeting, even. Not a single sound. Something felt wrong. In the pit of my stomach, a gnawing feeing told me this wasn’t right.
“Ready,” Nic said.
I wanted to tell him about my pit gnawings, but it was too late. He’d smashed the door open, and we rushed in. That door had smashed way too easily for a safe house.
As we ran in, my stomach feeling intensified. There was no attack going on. Maybe we were too late. I hoped not.
The front door opened into a long hallway with two rooms off it and another door at the end. Nothing moved in the hallway; there was just a coat rack with a few coats and a picture hanging on the wall.
We pushed open to the door to the room on the left. An empty bedroom. We tried the door to the right, another empty room. We headed to the back of the house.
I was behind the vamps, so I heard their groans and cries before I even got to the room. I jumped, my stomach churning like crazy now.
I rushed into the dark room behind them. I could sense the vamps rather than see them. Where the hell was the light switch?
“Rescue the humans,” Nic said.
One of the vamps laughed. “There’s no humans here, loser.”
Did he mean they were dead? Gone? All thought left my head as a hand tightened around my throat. I struggled, swinging wildly, trying to get free. That vamp held tight, squeezing the air out of me.
I staked his arm, burying that wood deep into him, deep enough to make him drop me. The rest of the pack were surrounded. We could fight these punks off, but it wasn’t the easy fight the mayor had said it would be.
A few rogue vamps, the mayor had said. This was a vamp army, better fighters than your average vampires.
We’d been ambushed. The vamps had known we were coming. They’d lain in wait.
My eyes began to adjust, lessening the advantage the vamps had over me. Three came at me at once. I staked one while kicking another away.
Something thudded my head, and that thud pounded through my body. I could barely stand, but I had to keep fighting. I couldn’t exactly call for a time-out. I swung around, staking the bastard, then turned back to the two vamps still trying to get me.
After I’d dusted them, I put my hand to my head. It felt like it was bleeding. Human blood in a vampire fight was a death warrant.
My hand came away dry. Lucky.
Hell, Shelley had been dragged to the floor. He had two vamps on him, and he couldn’t get up. I flew across the room to help him. I grabbed one around the neck, staking him before he knew what’d got him. The other vamp put up a little fight, but I flashed him my sex eyes and he purred like a kitten. Soon, I had him purring like a dead dust kitten.
I held out my hand to Shelley to help him up.
“Thanks,” he said.
We both jumped up and kept fighting. A bunch more vamps came at us. I grabbed an old armchair and pushed it at them. One of them laughed and flew over it, jumping at me.
Then he stopped. Almost in mid-air.
Why?
I heard a fluttering, and that gnawing in my stomach became too strong to ignore, like a dozen rats were trying to burrow their way out of my intestines. The room fell silent, and the coldness intensified.
He was here.
The Vampire King.
Shit. We couldn’t fight him, not here.
The Vampire King wanted Kisho, and the mayor planned to deliver. Nic had been right to make Kisho stay behind.
But as the King stepped into the room, his focus was on Nic. He didn’t even register that Kisho wasn’t there.
“Come with me,” the King said.
I tried to make eye contact with Nic, but he didn’t look at me.
Nic didn’t move. His body twitched, and his face distorted. He tried to fight the King’s command. Vlad had said to focus. Nic needed to hold that focus.
The King held up his hand. His blue, glowing hand.
Nic could fight him. He had the hexenspiegel.
Nic stood firm. Well, as firm as all that twitching allowed.
Instead of aiming at Nic, the King turned to Jeb.
Nic had his suspicions about Jeb, but surely Jeb wasn’t working with the King. Sure, Jeb thought he should be leader, but he’d never betray Nic like that. He’d never betray the pack. Jeb might be ambitious, but he wasn’t evil.
The King threw his power at Jeb, blue light shooting across the darkened, dingy room.
Jeb twisted in pain.
“Stop!” Nic screamed.
“Come with me,” the King said again.
Nic moved.
Nic could stop this. He had the hexenspiegel. If he blocked Jeb from the King, we might escape.
“Don’t be an idiot!” I yelled. “You can’t go with him.”
The King’s attention moved from Jeb to me. Shit. I had no vampire powers. The only thing I could do was run. I wasn’t under their control. Running would be pathetic and weak, but, hey, it’d keep me alive. I dodged around the frozen vamps, heading for the door. I’d never be able to outrun the King, but he might see me as such small fry that he wouldn’t bother coming after me. If I used his troops as shields, he couldn’t zap me. I just needed to make it to the
door.
Wishful thinking. Those frozen vamps suddenly unfroze and came for me. Too many for me to fight off. They pinned me, and the King approached. He had his good eye focused on me. I trembled. My whole fucking body trembled, like I was a delicate little flower, unable to protect myself.
Fuck. He’d kill me.
Instead, he put his hand under my chin and raised my face to him.
My body became cold. I couldn’t turn from his gaze. I’d be dead in seconds. He didn’t even need to use his super vampire powers on me. With his thugs pinning my arms, I couldn’t escape. I couldn’t do a damn thing. He could feed on me or just snap my neck.
I struggled, trying to free myself.
The King didn’t attack. He pressed his lips against mine. What the hell was the guy doing? I tried to turn my head, but he gripped my face.
Kiss a guy once, and he thinks he can fool around with you whenever he likes.
Hands dug into my flesh as I struggled to get free. I’d survived the Vampire King last time, but the temptation to go to that dark place had been so strong, I’d barely been able to fight it off. I wasn’t sure if I could be that strong again. It stirred within me, that power. When I’d used it before, I’d only felt it surge toward my hand, but with the King this close, it buzzed around my entire body. Every cell in me sparked.
I wasn’t sure how long I could hold on like this.
“No!” Nic screamed. “I’ll come with you.”
I stopped struggling. I couldn’t let Nic do that. “Don’t be an idiot. I’m expendable, remember?”
But the Vampire King had turned back to Nic. He laughed.
The minions let me go and grabbed Nic instead.
“Get your hands off me,” Nic said. “I’ll come quietly.”
I rushed to stop him.
“It’s okay, Clem,” he said. And he smiled. That smile was meant to reassure me, but it did anything but. My heart clenched. This was not how things were meant to go. I couldn’t let Nic go.
As Nic followed the King through the door, I ran after them, but the door slammed in my face. I pushed against it with all my might, but it didn’t budge. The King had used some magical vampire door stopper.
