by Kat Cotton
“So, the Germans?” I said when she’d finished ranting.
“We’ll meet with you now.”
I didn’t want to meet with Portia at the vampire lair, but it seemed the most sensible thing. After all, I didn’t want to risk my life leaving this place. As leader, I was far too valuable. Also, it meant I didn’t have to get off the sofa, and I’d waste that coffee if I had to leave now. Since Portia had never tried to kill Nic, I was sure he’d have no qualms about me inviting her here.
“Bring cake,” I said.
While I was waiting for her, I got a message from the mayor. Hell, what did he want?
There was an attachment. I wasn’t sure about opening it. After everything else that guy had done, sending me a virus that would wipe out my entire phone memory was a very real risk.
“I was told to pass this on,” the mayor said in his message.
Okay, curiosity got the better of me. I opened the video attachment.
Nic.
He looked terrible. Really awful. Even when I got back from Japan and saw he’d really let himself go to seed, he hadn’t looked that bad. His hair had become all matted. Could hair even mat that fast? And his skin had dulled. I couldn’t show that photo to Kisho. He’d cry. He’d most definitely cry.
I played the video.
“Help me,” Nic, his voice strained and weak. “I’m not sure how much longer I can hold on.”
Yikes! We needed to get in and rescue him immediately. He looked so pathetic.
There was only person I could discuss this with.
“Where’s Vlad?” I asked Kisho.
“Upstairs, I think. What’s wrong? Bad news?” Kisho looked at the phone in my hand.
“Nope, nothing.” I jumped up and ran upstairs.
Luckily, Vlad was alone.
“Watch this,” I said, and played the video. “What are we doing to do? We can’t just sit around waiting until Thursday.”
Vlad took the phone from me. He replayed the video, then he enlarged it and played it again.
“He still has the hexenspiegel. That’s good. That’s really good.” He smiled at me.
Damn him and his chipmunky smile. He was missing the entire point.
“But Nic, look at him...”
Vlad sighed. “The Vampire King is trying to play us. He wants us to see this video and spring into immediate action. Then we’re playing on his terms. We sit tight, Clem. We keep to the original terms.”
I bit my lip. Hard. My sitting couldn’t be tight after watching that.
“The King tried to compel Nic to say that,” Vlad said. “He played along so the King wouldn’t get suspicious. If you look closely, those vampires have done something to mess up his looks. It’s all games.”
I rewatched that video. Vlad was right. It did look set up, now he’d mentioned it.
Vlad took my phone again and sent a reply. When he handed the phone back to me, I read it.
“ROFL!!!!”
That was it? ROFL?
“You can’t say that!”
“I just did. Best way to deal with them.” He rolled over like he wanted to go back to sleep.
I looked at the message again. “I’d never use four exclamation marks in a text!”
Damn little hybrid. There was nothing for it but to go back downstairs and wait for Portia.
She turned up without cake but with Professor Henty and that other old geezer. I could never remember his name.
“Why are they here?” I asked, pointing to the academics. “Where are the Germans? These men are not strapping or ax-wielding.”
“Chill, Clem. The boys will be along soon. Nice setup you have here.”
She stared at my whiteboard. I should’ve put that away before she arrived.
Then she sat on the sofa and looked at her nails. You didn’t get nails that long fighting demons, that’s for sure. Mine were always broken and raggedy. Nic hated it, but then he hated everything. Actually, looking at Portia, you would believe we were in a paranormal war zone. Where did she get her hair done? No regrowth for her. Not a hair out of place, in fact. Perfect makeup, perfect clothing. That in itself was preternatural.
The two old geezers loitered around.
“Sit down, guys,” I said.
Kisho offered them a drink.
“Tea for me,” Professor Henty said.
Of course. He had tea drinker written all over him.
“What would you prefer?” Kisho asked. “We have most of the usual black teas, a range of fruit teas, then some nice—”
“English Breakfast, thank you.”
“For me, too,” the other one added.
Well, we’d gotten the niceties out of the way. Where were my fighting Germans?
Professor Henty sat down in Nic’s chair. I gasped.
“Everything okay?” Portia asked.
I nodded and tried to smile. I couldn’t tell him to move seats, but if any of the pack saw the old guy sitting there, they’d freak. I leaned forward, curling my fingers around the sofa cushion. I guessed it wouldn’t hurt him sitting there, but I didn’t want to look at him or think about it.
“Why didn’t you call on us to help with research?” Portia asked. “I have a team of experts, after all.”
Her smile scared me.
“We want real world knowledge, not theory.”
Kisho came in with two fine china cups and saucers and a teapot. Wow, all fancy. Then he handed me another coffee.
Professor Henty leaned forward to pour his tea without taking his eyes off Kisho.
“Wait up!” he said suddenly. “You’re the Vampire Prince!”
I had no idea how he’d picked that up. Did Kisho have a sign around his neck or something?
“I prefer to be called Kisho.”
Professor Henty couldn’t stop staring. I didn’t blame him. Kisho wore that t-shirt that did nothing to hide the hot body beneath it. And there was something about the way he stood, one leg twisted behind him, that was disarmingly attractive. Shy, yet incredibly sexy at the same time.
“You sat there in that meeting and didn’t say a word. I can’t believe that.” Professor Henty finally stopped staring.
“Good thing, too,” I said. “Since there were people in that meeting we couldn’t trust.”
The mayor knew now, but he obviously hadn’t shared that knowledge with Portia. Or maybe she’d missed it on the Facebook group because she’d been too busy posting selfies.
Professor Henty started talking about protection symbols, letting Kisho know which would work best in fighting the King. I wasn’t sure if Kisho was really interested or just being polite, but he leaned forward, listening intently.
“Unfortunately, most of those won’t work because I’m a vampire,” he said.
The professor jumped back. “Oh, yes, sorry. I’d not thought of that.”
The old fool slopped his tea in his saucer with the shock. I guessed Kisho, even now, didn’t look as vampiry as most.
Just then, the doorbell rang. I rushed to answer it. The Germans.
“Ja, this is a vampire lair,” the taller one said. ‘I’ve never been in one before unless I’m fighting.”
He walked around the room, peering at every little thing. Then he picked up one of the swan ornaments from the mantelpiece.
“Aric, look at this. Very interesting, don’t you think?”
The other German joined him. “Yes, Franz.”
They both examined it intently.
I took the swan ornament out of his giant hands before he could crush it. “This is an Airbnb. The swan came with the place. It’s not like it’s a vampire artifact or anything.”
“It’s not a vampire thing?” Franz asked.
I shook my head.
Franz kept moving around and stopped in front of Kisho. “The Vampire Prince. You were hiding under our noses the whole time. Very clever.”
Kisho ducked his head. “I’m not a prince, really.”
The Germans laughed as
if that was the greatest joke ever.
“He’s not a prince, Aric,” Franz said.
Aric laughed and slapped Kisho on the arm.
Vlad came to join us. He curled up in the other chair with his legs beneath him.
“Okay, let’s get this out in the open before we go any further,” I said. “This guy is the Demon Child.”
I just wanted to bring them up to speed, but Portia jumped up and slapped Vlad around the face.
“You bastard, you killed my sister!”
Hell, that had slipped my mind. I’d had a lot to think about since then. I wouldn’t have been so casual about introducing them if I’d remembered.
“Why is he here?” Portia yelled. She picked up her handbag. “I’m leaving.”
I’d have let her leave, but Vlad stood up.
“I know this is totally inadequate, but I’m sorry. It was most unfortunate.”
“Also, we need Vlad for this plan,” I added.
“Plan?” Aric asked. “You have a plan to kill the Vampire King? Of course you do. After all, you have the Vampire Prince.”
“Yes, and I’d like you to work with us.”
“Ja, I understand. I will consult privately with my brother. We need to work out our fees.”
“You want to be paid? This is about saving the world.”
Aric put his head to the side and smiled sweetly. “Saving the world doesn’t come cheaply. I’m sure you understand. Our fees will be reasonable.”
The two of them walked out to the garden.
I paced the floor. ‘The cheek of them. Don’t they care about anything but money?”
Kisho got up and put his arm around me. “It’s okay. Nic has some money put aside. It’s not like you have to pay them yourself.”
When they came back in, they gave me their invoice.
“You understand this job is going to be very dangerous?” I said. “Life-threateningly dangerous?”
Aric glanced at Franz, and they both laughed.
“We like to fuck things up!” he said.
As I’d thought, they were my kind of people.
Chapter 33: Fear
For the next few days, we did nothing but train. I’d fall into bed exhausted. For Kisho, it was even worse. He never let up on himself. When we weren’t fight training, he practiced with Vlad, then he’d work on protection methods with Professor Henty.
The night before the attack, Kisho came to my room.
“Do you want to feed?” I asked him.
“No, I just wanted to hang out.”
He seemed to have settled down a bit with the feeding. Maybe worry over Nic had him too upset. Maybe it was exhaustion from the hours and hours of training. It might be only a tiny silver lining, but it was something. As leader, I didn’t need to deal with Kisho’s feeding frenzy on top of everything else. I’d never realized how much work being a leader entailed. Even though I was technically just project leader and not in charge of the pack, the others didn’t really see it that way.
This afternoon, Luis and Shelley had come to me with their usual Twilight vs Buffy argument.
“Is this really the time to be watching TV?” I asked them. “We’re in crisis.”
“We need some down time,” Luis said.
I understood that. “What about Vampire Diaries?”
Luis looked at Shelley. “Oooh. We hadn’t thought of that.”
Seriously, was that the kind of thing Nic had to deal with all day?
I moved over on the bed, and Kisho sat down. He put his arm around me, and I rested my head on his shoulder. Something was weighing on his mind, but I knew to let him say it in his own time.
“You’re not as warm as you used to be,” I said. “You’re changing.”
“I am. Whether I like it or not.”
I hadn’t thought about Kisho’s own feelings about the changes. I’d just assumed he went with the flow.
From down the hallway, I heard the hum of Luis and Shelley’s TV. Out in the garage, Andre was training on his new punching bag. The thud, thud, thud of him hitting things reverberated through the house, but Kisho stayed silent.
“What’s it been like?” I asked him.
“Weird. I’m not in control sometimes. That other side of me takes over. You saw what I was like at the club. That wasn’t me, the real me. Or maybe it was. Maybe this human side has been fake all along.”
“Yeah, you’ll just drive yourself batshit trying to figure that stuff out.” I stroked his belly. “You need to work with what you’ve got.”
He sighed. “I can’t do it, Clem.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant. The fight? The feeding? Something else? Sex with me? I hoped that wasn’t it.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Everyone’s relying on me. And now, it’s even worse. Nic’s life’s at stake. I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m going to fail, and I’m going to destroy everything.”
Kisho’s bottom lip quivered. I put my thumb to it, tracing the edge.
“You’ll be fine.”
“You don’t really think that. You’ve been against this all along, and I know why. You don’t think I’m capable of killing him. If you thought I’d win, you wouldn’t be so anti the feeding and the fighting.”
“I said I’d support you.”
I’d said that, but Kisho wasn’t wrong. I’d never once believed he’d win. I wanted him safe. I’d have done anything to keep him safe. Maybe I’d been wrong. After all, confidence played a huge part in any fight. And, like it or not, this fight would happen. I still didn’t believe he could win, but I had to convince him I thought otherwise.
“I’m going to let everyone down,” he said. “That’s what I’m afraid of. I’m not strong enough. Not physically, but mentally. He terrifies me. In his presence, I’m a quivering mess.”
He wasn’t wrong about that, but I had to give him courage. That was what a leader did, and I was the leader. It was up to me.
Fuck, why wasn’t Nic here? He was the motivational speaker. The only thing I could motivate people to do was have sex with me, and as much as I’d like that right now, I needed to fix things with Kisho.
Maybe sex would fix it. Sex might give him confidence. Maybe.
No. He needed to talk.
“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s okay to feel scared.”
“I’m way beyond scared.”
“That’s okay too,” I said, stroking his face. “You can do this. Why would there be a stupid prophesy and all that if you couldn’t win? Vlad is convinced you can do it. When the time comes, you’ll reach inside you and find the courage.”
Kisho frowned so hard that the two lines between his eyes almost joined together.
“I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, and I’m not saying there’s no reason to be scared, but you won’t be doing this alone,” I told him. “I’ll be with you, and the pack will support you. We’ll free Nic, and he’ll help too.” Actually, that probably wasn’t reassuring, since they’d all be useless. “Vlad will be there too. It doesn’t matter if you don’t fight the King or even if you don’t defeat him. The main thing is that you’re the one who does the killing. Have you thought about how you’ll do it? A stake would be easiest, but maybe slitting his throat would be better?”
Kisho shuddered. “I don’t even want to think about that.”
If I were Kisho, I’d have thought about nothing else. That man had done evil, horrible things to him. Most people would want revenge. Even if you didn’t intend carrying through on it, you’d sit in bed plotting it all out.
“You need to. You know what you need to do?” I sat upright. “You need to get all this shit inside you, all the bad things he did to you and other people, and instead of letting it hold you down, get angry about it. Really angry.”
The idea of someone being treated like shit and not being angry about it was so alien to my personality that I couldn’t even imagine it. I knew Kisho had been raised in a gentle manner by his mother be
fore being thrust into the violent care of the King, but I’d never had that gentleness. I’d only had anger.
People bad-talk anger, but it’s a mighty fine emotion. It motivates you to do things. Anger beats the fuck out of fear any time.
“Think about what he did to your mother,” I said. “I know it hurts, but dig down. Aren’t you even a bit pissed off about that? He impregnated her, knowing the chances were that a pregnancy would kill her. He didn’t even care. I mean, Jesus, he could’ve used a condom or whatever people used back in those days. But, nope, he just went around putting it in people.”
Kisho nodded. “That was pretty bad.”
“It wasn’t pretty bad. It was full-on evil. He’s a bastard. An evil bastard. He could’ve at least given your mother the option, let her know what she was getting into. She could’ve had an easy life. Marrying that guy and running the kimono shop.”
“Yeah!”
I handed Kisho a pillow. “Here, hit this.”
Kisho gave it a light punch.
“You can do better than that.”
Kisho punched again, this time harder.
“And those kids you told me about. They didn’t deserve any of that. He stole them and used them for his own purposes. That’s just fucked-up shit, right there. He’s ruined lives.”
Kisho punched the pillow again. Harder this time.
“And remember that time he filled me, non-consensually, with his zappy power? I had to stand under that freezing cold waterfall. I’ve never been the same since. That creep.”
Kisho hit the pillow again. “To be honest, I don’t think that compares in evil with taking the lives of a bunch of children.”
I sighed. Maybe not, but it still pissed me off.
“That little blond boy, the shithead who threw the rock at me. The King still has him,” I said. “He’s going to turn that kid evil. Well, eviler. I mean, he did throw a rock at me, so he wasn’t exactly a sweet kid to begin with, but that’s small potatoes compared to what the King will make him do.”
Kisho punched the pillow harder.
“So many lives taken. And he’s got Nic. Never forget that. He did all that ‘come with me, or Jeb gets it’ stuff. Nic can’t fight against that. He’s too protective of this pack.”
