She grinned at him and shook her head, the corners of her eyes crinkling.
“Good evening, Gus. You’re wearing a lovely suit.” Her eyes slid down him. “I was a little afraid you were going to wear the suit from the other day. But to be honest, I think I’d have been alright with that, too. It’s so rare I get to go out and about these days.”
Taking a moment, Gus reattached himself to the thread of power he’d left in her mind. Instantly, he was inside her head and her thoughts.
She was impressed with how he looked. On top of that, she hungered for him. Her interest in him—sexually, intellectually, and merely as a subject of interest—was at a peak maximum.
In truth, part of her had expected he wouldn’t show up at all. That he’d only humored her.
Which led her mind straight to the idea that he was wearing a microphone, a recorder, or something of that nature.
That this was all a trap.
“You can hit me with that Vampire spell that fries electronics,” Gus said, pulling his phone out of his coat pocket. He held it up in front of him and visibly turned it off so she could see it happen. Then he set it down on her side of the table, near her. “And you’re welcome to inspect that if you like.”
Dunyasha made no move and instead continued to watch him.
“Really, I don’t mind,” Gus said, smiling at her.
Without realizing she was doing it, Dunyasha ran her tongue along her fangs and lips. It seemed to be a nervous habit of hers. He’d already seen her do it when he’d caught her unaware.
“If you insist,” she murmured, then held two fingers out toward him. Gus could see the red mist rapidly spread out from her fingertips and then surround him. Very few Paras would be able to see such a thing.
Then the mist vanished.
“You really don’t have anything on you at all,” Dunyasha said. Then she reached over and picked up his phone.
Pressing several buttons, she found it was unresponsive. She flipped it over, peeled off the back cover, and found nothing out of the ordinary. Just a battery.
“This… there’s nothing here.” She snapped the back cover back on.
“Nope. And there’s no truck outside, either. I came in my personal vehicle,” Gus said. “Though if it makes you feel better, you’re welcome to put a spell around us.”
Watching him, Dunyasha was completely at a loss. This was far and away beyond her expectations.
Quickly she eliminated everything else this could be and arrived at only one possibility.
That he was genuinely interested in her, or a mind reader.
Before she could do anything to test him like Chloe had, Gus extricated himself from her thoughts. He’d reengage in a minute.
“So,” Gus said, looking at the menu. “You said they did a good blood sausage and pasta. Is that something I’d like, or is it more of a Vampire thing?
“And if it is, what do you recommend instead? Never been here before. My treat, by the way. I’d feel weird if you paid for us. Don’t hesitate to order the most expensive thing on the menu, if that’s what you were going to order.”
Reading through the menu, Gus found precious little he was interested in.
Not having a particular need to eat, he’d never really found food very compelling to him.
Melody’s cooking is altogether different.
Then again, Trish is a close second now. Glad Mel taught her the secret to fear cooking.
With Dunyasha remaining absolutely silent for longer than he’d expected, Gus finally looked up at her over his menu.
“You alright, Yasha?” he asked.
She was watching him, her gaze hard and sharp.
As soon as his eyes met hers, it was like something finally broke.
“I’m… I’m fine, Gus. I’m just… adjusting. Sorry.” Dunyasha gave him a fanged smile. A true, honest, and full smile.
As soon as she did, he immediately reentered her mind.
He got the impression from the lingering thoughts there that she’d tried something like what Chloe had done.
And failed to find him in her mind.
Now she was trying to figure out how to talk him into coming back to her penthouse tonight. She was going to give him a wild night full of fun, feeding, and fucking.
Even if she had to agree to join the Fed to get it all from him.
With several muffled pops, her thoughts became sluggish and she slumped sideways out of her chair.
Practically leaping out of his chair after he heard the first pop, Gus had already drawn Indali and was swinging her around.
He knew what that sound was.
The moment Indali’s iron sights landed on a young woman with a gun in her hand, Gus pulled the trigger.
Indali spoke, sending lead and smoke with seventeen inches of flame.
Before the round hit its target, Gus pulled the trigger again.
Hitting the ground next to Dunyasha, he grabbed her by the shoulder and immediately started dragging her away from the table.
“They shot me,” Dunyasha said in a grunt, her hands pressed to her chest. “Right in the heart. It hurts.”
Holding on to the young woman, Gus pulled her deeper into the restaurant while keeping low.
He pulled back Indali’s hammer, then stood up for a millisecond and went back down. There were three other people with guns, all looking his way. He’d had no chance to fire.
Rounds began passing over his head as they reacted to him popping up.
After moving under a table and its tablecloth, Gus paused and looked at Dunyasha. She was bleeding everywhere, and it was pumping out of her in spurts.
Gus decocked Indali and then pulled at Dunyasha’s dress, exposing her chest in the process. He needed to get a look at the wounded area.
They’d hit her center mass with more than just a few shots. It was like eight or nine holes.
“Do what you can to stay alive,” Gus said. “If it comes down to it and you need it, I’ll feed you myself. But you have to hang on long enough for me to get rid of these people. Do you understand, Yasha?”
Dunyasha nodded and stared up at him with wide eyes.
Using his other hand, Gus broke open Indali and carefully extracted the two fired rounds. He had to be careful or she might spew out all of her rounds, included the unfired ones.
He pocketed the casings because he knew they were precious to Indali, then reached behind him.
All around, he could hear screaming, shouting, and guns going off.
On his belt, Indali’s holster held a row of rounds. It felt odd to carry live ammo on a belt, but he wasn’t about to question it right now, especially when he could use it.
It would be easier to reach behind himself than anywhere else right now.
Pulling out two from their individual spaces, he looked back at Indali.
He pushed in the two fresh ones, then locked Indali back up and stood up from under the table.
Sighting on the furthest enemy to the left, he pulled the trigger twice.
Not waiting around, Gus dove forward and landed low behind another table.
Rounds hit the table and the ground around him, and some went over him. Explosions of wood, tablecloth, and carpet flew in every direction.
Then a round hit Gus low in the thigh.
Grimacing at the sudden flare of pain, Gus found himself reaching out. Straight into the maddened and panicked fear that was washing over everything.
It was like an instant, massive well of energy given to him.
He felt better instantly. As if he hadn’t just been shot at all.
Spinning around, Gus stood up while moving back the same way he’d come.
The two remaining shooters were looking where they thought he would come from rather than where he’d gone.
After firing all four of his rounds, Gus went back down to the ground.
Just because he’d cleared the three he could see didn’t mean there weren’t more.
Gra
bbing Indali by her rather hot barrel, he broke her top open and pulled down. With a clatter, her brass hit the ground, completely ejected.
Gus scooped them up and stuffed them in a pocket, then grabbed one of the speed loaders she’d come with. He mashed the device into Indali’s cylinder and was pleased to find it worked perfectly.
Stuffing the speed loader back into place, Gus locked Indali back together and stood up, both his hands on the handle.
Five people were rushing in from outside the building.
All with weapons.
Gus turned to the rear and found there was nowhere for him to go.
He gritted his teeth. He knew he couldn’t just open fire on them till he identified them.
“Freeze!” Gus shouted at the top of his lungs while pointing Indali at the newcomers.
In response, they raised their weapons and fired at him.
Gus dropped down as soon as he saw their guns go up, and so was spared being turned into a poor imitation of a fishing net.
Scrambling back over to where he’d left Dunyasha, he lifted the tablecloth.
He found the Vampire coven leader right where he’d left her. She had one hand pressed to the messy wound. Her eyes flicked to him as soon as he lifted the cover. Her lips were trembling, her face pale.
“Yeah, you’re not doing so good,” Gus muttered. “Almost done. Just… hang on, Yasha.”
Dunyasha nodded her head slightly.
“Hey! Wa—”
The sudden shout was broken off by several gunshots.
Gus stood up immediately with Indali out in front of him.
Chloe was there, emptying her pistol into the three men in front of her. When the pistol went dry, she used the butt of it to crush the fourth man’s face.
Sighting the fifth man, Gus pulled the trigger three times. Two rounds hit the man in the back, and the third drifted up to detonate his head.
“You pack an awful mean punch, Indali,” Gus said to his sidearm.
“Thank you. It’s most pleasing to be held in the hands of a professional again,” she sent back. There was clear pride in her thoughts at the compliment he’d given her.
Looking around, Gus found no other enemies.
“Clear,” he called out to Chloe.
“Yeah,” Chloe said. “I mean, uh, yes, clear. Yeah.”
Shaking his head slightly, Gus cracked Indali open once more, then fished out her spent rounds, pocketed them, and reloaded her.
Her accuracy was great, her stopping power above what her cartridges should have done, and her recoil wasn’t bad.
Indali’s major limitations were her capacity and trigger pull.
Slipping her back into her holster, Gus went back down to Dunyasha.
“Alright, guessing you need blood, Yasha?” Gus asked as he lifted the tablecloth.
“Yes,” wheezed the Vampire. “Dying.”
He hadn’t disconnected himself from her mind. Nor had he prevented himself from feasting on her fear.
In the past, he’d taken a strange and awful delight in listening to the minds of Elves as he killed them. Listening to their final thoughts as death took them. As they knew he was sharing their death and watching them.
All the while devouring the fear.
Dunyasha was afraid. Her fear was delicious.
And she believed she was going to die. That there was no way a Fed agent would keep someone like her alive. She fully expected Gus to let her die, blame her death on the shooters, and dismantle her coven.
Except she didn’t understand. She’d been pulling her coven further from violence, further from attacks on other groups, and out of the public view.
Which didn’t line up with the information Gus had, or what Mark had given them.
Gus pulled off his coat and immediately went for his forearm, rolling up the sleeve.
“Fuck that,” Chloe said, slapping his hand away. “There’s no way you’re doing that with her. Move, stupid.”
Knocked to one side, Gus ended up bumping against the corpse of some unlucky diner who’d been caught in the crossfire.
Chloe got down where Gus had been and jammed her wrist into Dunyasha’s mouth.
“I swear, kin-drinker, that if you try to do something stupid, I’ll pull your head off, despite whatever promise I made to Gus,” Chloe hissed. “So shut up, drink, and fucking fix your stupid self. Your tits are hanging out. You look like a whore. Cunt. Bitch.”
Dunyasha’s eyes narrowed as she glared up at Chloe, but she bit down into the Vampire’s proffered wrist and began drinking from her.
“And before you start thinking stupid things, I was his backup. That’s all,” Chloe growled. “I wasn’t listening in, or nothing like that. I was sitting there reading stupid crap on my phone in the car.”
Listening to Dunyasha’s thoughts, Gus was surprised to find she believed that. She was also becoming incredibly amused at the fact that she was only feeding from Chloe because Chloe didn’t want Gus to feed her.
The glare faded from Dunyasha’s eyes as they slid over to Gus.
“Oh, fuck that—stop it,” Chloe said. “Knock it off or I’m taking my wrist back and you can fuck off! I’ll fucking beat you to death. Shouldn’t even be doing this.”
Dunyasha’s nose wrinkled as she grinned.
She’d been licking at Chloe’s flesh as she drank.
All while staring at Gus.
Chapter 11 - New Direction
“What in the fuck, Gussy?”
Looking up from Mark’s desk, Gus found the owner of said desk standing in the doorway.
“Hey,” Gus said. Then he put his head back in his hands and closed his eyes.
He was coming down from his fear feast and felt extremely tired. It tended to happen every time he ate too much.
“That bad this time?” Mark said, much more softly this time after closing the door to his office.
“Yeah,” Gus mumbled. “Was pretty bad.”
“I’ve got corpses, both Paras and human, assailants who’ll live, and a Vampire coven leader who asked only about you. The man who’s investigating her,” Mark said. “Apparently you were at dinner with her?”
“Yeah,” Gus said without looking up.
Everyone had been carted back to the Fed building by ambulance, car, or hearse. Nothing had been left behind to give anyone an idea of what had happened.
Mark was making sure the Fed kept up the appearance of being the Fed, it seemed.
“I’ve almost convinced her to join my department,” Gus said. He’d dozed lightly while Chloe drove them back to the building, but that only seemed to have made it worse. “If I can talk her over the line, coven goes poof, I solve my case.”
“I swear to god, Gussy,” Mark said, and then he laughed. Gus could hear him walking around and dropping into his seat behind the desk. “Let me just… get this straight. You take a blood-mage kin-drinking coven leader to dinner, after she’s apparently been flirting with you since you met her the other day, and proceed to get caught up in a professional hit.
“At which point you… disable or neutralize every assailant and even save the coven leader. All to coerce her into joining your department.”
“I mean… I guess?” Gus lifted his head up. Sitting in his seat properly, he adjusted his posture, straightened himself out, and got his shit together.
Mark was his friend.
But right now, he was his boss. Gus needed to present himself accordingly.
“Oh, Gussy, I love you,” Mark said, waving a hand at him. “I’ve put you to bed after giving you sponge baths when you’ve come home from work. We’re well beyond you trying to be at attention.”
Gus couldn’t really argue with that. Mark had been the only person to care for him when he’d come back from destroying Elves.
Mark had just left out the part where Gus would come back covered in blood, vomit, piss, and shit, and not all from his victims.
“Alright, well. I sent your new girlfriend home,�
� Mark said, shaking his head. “I never expected a blood-mage coven head to be worrying over you like a teenager on a first date. Said she’d call you later and went home after I asked her to. Told me goodnight and everything. Was creepy with how polite she was.”
Gus shrugged. He couldn’t speak to that.
“Ever since you started eating again, you’ve become somewhat of a chick magnet,” Mark muttered, staring hard at Gus. “Megan hasn’t done anything stupid, has she?”
“No!” Gus said immediately, annoyed. “What the fuck, Durh?”
“Sorry, sorry. Daddy instincts took over for a minute. You know I love you. Can we kiss and make up?” Mark asked.
Unable to keep up with him, Gus just let out a short single laugh and then sighed, leaning back into his chair. “You’re so stupid.”
“Mm. Well, my boss is impressed,” Mark said, changing the subject now that he’d maneuvered Gus into a better mood. “She happened to be in town and got to see the aftermath. As well as your haul from your raid on the coven. And a little bit of Dunyasha gushing over you.”
“Goodie,” Gus said. “You getting a raise?”
“I did, yeah,” Mark said with a wide grin. “She made my budget bigger, too. I have a massive budget. I make all the boys and girls jealous. They all want my big fat budget.”
Groaning, Gus rested his head against the back of the chair.
“I mean, didn’t we talk about this? All I have to do is bet on you, make sure I’m there to clean you off, make sure you’re okay, and put you back in the field,” Mark said. “You’re my silver bullet, my holy cross, my oak stake, my condom I forgot I had after finding a perfect and willing ten out of ten.
“And to that end, I already made sure to get a pre-draft of an offer for Dunyasha. She won’t say no.”
Gus grunted at that, then shook his head.
“Been thinking about that. You said you looked over our haul from the clubs and what not, yeah?” Gus asked.
“I did, yes.”
“It doesn’t add up,” Gus said. It’d been bothering him this entire time, but he hadn’t been able to put a finger on it till he’d been listening to Dunyasha’s thoughts after her attack.
“Read her thoughts?” Mark asked.
Swing Shift: Book 2 Page 12
