Eleven
TWO MONTHS LATER AT HUNTER HQ
“I can’t keep doing this.” Sanquinetta pushed away from the computer desk and surged from her seat. Her eyes shot to Jack, Plato, and Saul, who surrounded her.
“We’ve lost Ben, Xavier is gone, and I’m just spread too thin. Elias took care of all the computer shit, all the surveillance, most of the research, and while I’m good at it, I can’t do it all. We need a good computer tech.”
“I’m sorry, San. We’ll keep an eye out for one. The problem is finding someone who knows about vampires. Next time we do a raid, we’ll see if we can relocate their tech.”
“No, damn’t. I am actually getting chest pain from all the stress of trying to keep so many balls in the air. You guys just have to go in, do the nasty, and walk away. I have to do all that, plus find everyone, plus track down any accomplices and research their lives so we can rebuild them, and then there are the vampire clans we’re working on simultaneously. I can’t do it all.”
“San, I’ll start looking right away. Plato, know anyone?”
“Not off hand. I’ll think about it too. I can help some, though.”
“You suck with a keyboard. I think I remember you couldn’t even figure out how to do a simple background check.”
“You could teach me.”
“I ain’t got time for all that. Seriously, I need help.”
Quiet, in the corner of the room he usually retreated to as he worked, Saul finished the list he usually liked to prepare before they started on a mission. When the others had stopped talking, he looked up. “I know someone.”
Three heads swiveled in his direction.
“What?” Sanquinetta barked.
They got along fairly well when they worked together, but after the missions, he had never been included in their camaraderie. Accustomed to isolation, Saul didn’t complain. He knew his introduction to this team had been highly contentious. Still, it stung sometimes to see them laughing, going for a drink or dinner, and leaving him behind without even looking at him.
He would have left long before now except that they really were making a difference in eliminating the hunters who’d plagued vampires for a century, and stopping vicious vampires from making humans think it was necessary to kill them.
Sanquinetta walked closer to his corner.
“I mean, who?”
“Her name is Evaleigh. I don’t have a last one. She’s brilliant, exactly what you need, and she’s well versed in the supernatural community. I don’t know how she came to be, but she’s been around for about eight years, available for a price. If we can pay her, she’d be perfect.”
“Xavier can make that arrangement. Can you contact her?”
“I can. No one knows her full name, but that isn’t necessary. When do you want her here?”
“Yesterday. But I’ll settle for Monday.”
“I will make the arrangement.”
Hesitating, her eyes on Saul’s back as he turned, Sanquinetta glanced at Jack and Plato. Plato nodded, although Jack didn’t commit to anything.
“Um, Saul, we’re getting some dinner at The Northern Sun later. Uh, you want to join us?”
If it was possible for him to have responded slower, Sanquinetta didn’t know how. He slowly lifted his head without looking back at her, then, what had to be sixty seconds later, he nodded.
“Good. Okay. We’ll let you know when we’re ready to go.”
An invitation to join them. He’d learned that the lovely Louisianan didn’t do anything she didn’t want to, so the invitation was offered in earnest. He could go home tonight to the beautiful beach house he’d temporarily inherited and fone his family, or make an attempt at bonding with these people he worked with.
He already knew what he wanted to do.
The Northern Sun was busy, the table that used to hold Elias’s hunting party filled now with young people celebrating a birthday.
With just a small group of four, the rag-tag remaining hunters took a table near the front of the diner, their conversation rarely about work anymore.
Ife had purged all of Quesh’s vampire memories, his involvement as a watcher, all of it down to the knowledge that they existed at all. She’d let him maintain his memory of being close with the hunters that remained.
“We gotta eat,” Sanquinetta had complained.
Now, watching her longtime friends and an extremely unlikely ally in the stoic vampire she’d hated at one time, Sanquinetta ordered her favorite meal and promised herself that she would find a way to make this work. Her eyes lingered on Saul. Somewhat surprised that he’d accepted her invitation to join them, San wondered if he had an agenda. Ife had taught her methods to direct her talent, so she pushed the skill from deep inside her and focused on the vampire who now studied Quesh’s menu.
What she received surprised her much more than his presence. He was grateful. She read loneliness and gratitude for a chance to find common ground with the hunters he unexpectedly found himself working with. He was a good man, she realized, and they’d been awful to him.
“Jack, Plato, we are in this together, all four of us. I want to share everything evenly from now on with Saul, who, I can assure you, has our backs. We’ve let our prejudices slip in again. Saul, we have your back too.”
Sanquinetta raised her glass of wine. “To our special partnership, may we finish quickly and may we finish well.”
Plato was onboard immediately, tipping his glass to Saul, but when Saul and Jack looked at each other, eyes locked, the moment tense, it broke only after Jack smiled and lifted his glass too.
“To teammates.”
There, Sanquinetta, thought, finally, we’re musketeers.
Two weeks later in Kansas City
Finishing up closing a hunter’s group with seven hunters actively working, the four hunters from Oregon arrived back at their hotel room and dropped onto their beds.
“Fuck, that was five days of one nightmare after another.”
“Shit, you can say that again, dude.” Plato glanced at Jack, fully prone now.
Jack groaned. “Fuck, that was…no, that’s all I can get out. I can’t believe that those hunters had so many people in their confidence about fangs. Sorry, Saul.”
“Fair enough. I don’t see a problem with that term. It’s accurate enough. And the ones who kill, that term perfectly fits. Although. Fuck. Yeah.”
On a long sigh, Sanquinetta moaned. “Well it’s finally done. We can head home tomorrow night.”
“Fuckin’ A.” Jack turned and looked at a half full bottle of ale on the counter. “Shit, too far away. I guess I’ll…”
The bottle was in his hand before he could blink. Jack took a long swig and glanced to where Saul lay across his bed on his stomach. “Thanks, buddy.”
Without answering, Saul lifted a hand to acknowledge Jack’s comment.
“We need food. Lots of it.”
“Plato ain’t wrong,” Sanquinetta agreed.
“There’s an FP down the hall,” moaned Jack.
“No, Jack. Kansas City is the home of the Cheeseburger Queen. There’s a kiosk half a block from here in the Food Arcade.”
“The food in those arcades are printed too, just like the food printers here in the hotel.”
“Not the same. Now, any chance one of you handsome heroes would go get a girl her dream burger?”
Saul looked up. “I would, San, but the sun is too close to rising.”
“I know, sweet vamp. Which leaves two capable human heroes. Boys?”
Jack rolled over onto his back. “Ahhh…like I could ever say no to you, you Cajun witch. I’ll go.”
“No, I’ll do it,” Plato moaned without lifting his head off his pillow.
“I got it. Cheeseburger Queen, huh? What should I get everyone, San?”
“Double cheeseburgers, loaded. Large orders of Sanche’s fries. He’s the owner of the kiosks, the fries are named after him and they are to die for.”
“Fine. Food to die for. Guess it’s worth a walk.” Jack hauled himself off the bed, tucked his gun back into his holster, hunters felt naked when unarmed, and pushed into his boots.
Just before the door closed, he heard Saul’s voice.
“Triple for me.”
“Already know that.” Closing the door, Jack yawned and bounced down the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Six flights would give him the energy jolt he needed if he was going to make it there and back. Half a block was near enough he didn’t need to call a taxi.
“Seven of everything.” Jack repeated the phrase several times as he moved down the well-lit street toward the Food Arcade present in most big cities. They featured food printers that dispensed high quality entrees from favorite restaurants twenty-four seven, luckily for the hunters who often came off shifts very late at night or early in the morning as they had today.
Dozens of kiosks with bright, eye-catching signage struck him as he moved around one of the residential towers. The area was deserted, no surprise, since just before sunrise most people were asleep or preparing for their work day in apartments in the sky within this tower city.
“Seven of everything.” Jack easily found the Cheeseburger Queen kiosk, his mouth watering all the sudden, as he tucked his credit chip into the machine. Five minutes later, behind a transparent panel, two large bags lowered into place, and funnels dropped foil-wrapped sandwiches and paperboard packs into them. A slim rack came down, folded and sealed the bags before the transparent panel lifted to dispense the hot food.
“Smells amazing,” Jack commented as he lifted the bags, yawned for the fifth time, and turned to head back to the windowless hotel room they would crash in until night came again.
Now roaring hungry, he moved quickly down the sidewalk to get the food back to his friends. He was considering tearing one of the bags open to snatch a French fry when Jack’s hunter sense went on alert. He heard a sound, low, behind him, near…a footfall? It was odd.
Before he could turn to see if someone was around, a rush of air he recognized, he knew, oh, fuck, he knew that sound. Vampire. Moving fast. With the sun cresting on the other side of the tower he passed, a vampire risked immolation to be out?
The answer was clear when Jack, grabbed from behind, hands brutal, the fingers biting into his arms, realized he was right, and that he was fucked. His assailant pulled him between two kiosks out of the increasing daylight. As he fought to get to his gun, hot breath steamed the skin on his neck.
“Tell your hunter friends they’re next.” A coarse laugh brought more hot air against Jack’s face. “If you can.”
Sharp pain blinded Jack as fangs bit holes in his neck, not like Ife, not feeding, but deep, bleeding tears in his skin. He knew he was losing blood, too much, as consciousness started to fade. Jack watched the precious bags of food collapse to the pavement as he followed them down, aware enough to feel the explosion on his cheek as he hit the pavement full force. Stickiness covered him where his blood pooled around his face.
“Arrogant assholes.”
As Jack lost his fight to stay conscious, he heard the vampire’s final statement and thought, I’m done.
Sanquinetta crawled off her bed to grab one of the beers they’d bought after they arrived five days ago.
“If he doesn’t get back soon, I won’t have enough energy to eat. Plato, Saul, thirsty?”
Both men nodded, so she opened two more bottles and handed one to each.
Plato swallowed several healthy sips, but she noticed that Saul was already struggling with the vampire imperative to sleep during daylight.
“Here.” She slid beside him to rouse him so he could drink.
“Gods. Thank you, my lady. I’m parched, but almost too exhausted to care.”
Moments later, he upended the bottle and pulled down most of it. He looked around. “Jack’s not back yet?”
“Nope. It’s been half an hour, He should have been.”
Sanquinetta stood. “I’m going to check on him.”
Plato killed the rest of his beer. “We’ll both go.”
They knew Saul couldn’t go with them, it was too dangerous. “Keep the place for us, Vampire. I’m sure Jack’s fine, but he should have been back, so it makes sense to check. We’ll see you shortly.”
Plato followed her from the room, both choosing the stairs as Jack had. “Damn, I’m glad we’re finished here. This has been a fucking marathon. I’m not sure I’ve ever been this tired. Fuck, San, I forgot my gun. I never forget my gun.”
“I got your back, buddy. I’m fully armed. Hell, I was too tired to disarm when we got back. I fell right into bed with my gun and my Bowie.”
Leaving the building, Sanquinetta pointed. “We go left here. It isn’t far.”
As they continued toward the Food Arcade, Sanquinetta’s gut began to clench when they didn’t see Jack as they walked.
“Plato.”
He nodded. The situation was wrong. Jack would have gone straight there and back. They should have met him by now.
Both hunters scanned the streets, Plato to the rear and right, Sanquinetta to the front and left. On the ground and buildings, colorful streetlights cast what Sanquinetta had always found to be warm and festive, but now they just looked ominous.
They stopped when they reached the Food Arcade. It was completely deserted.
“Fuck, Plato, where is he?”
Just ahead the brightly lit sign for the Cheeseburger Queen illuminated the pavement around it but no one was there.
In full hunter mode, they scanned quickly for any movement, any evidence that Jack had been there or where he might be, keeping their back together. Sanquinetta held her gun in her hand, her knife in Plato’s.
“San!”
Plato moved to a dark corner between two of the kiosks where he noticed an odd shape on the ground.
“Jack…” he hissed when he saw the dark figure lying on the pavement, a bag from the Cheeseburger Queen near the head.
“No…!” Joining Plato, Sanquinetta dropped down. They had already known the figure was Jack, had to be, Plato shining the light from his fone on Jack’s face.
“It was a vampire.” Plato hissed.
“God. He’s dying.” Sanquinetta pulled her fone out and hit a button.
“Yeah?” came a sleepy voice.
“Saul. A vampire has torn out Jack’s throat.”
“Fuck. Is he alive?”
“Not for much longer.”
“I’m coming.”
“But…”
The fone went dead. Seconds later, Saul blew in on the air, a dark blanket wrapped around him, completely swaddled, his head covered.
“No, Saul…”
“Let me near him.”
Pushing Plato back, Saul leaned over Jack, a hand on his forehead.
“He’s bad,” was all he said as he used his fangs to tear open his wrist.
“Drink, damn’t!” he told the unconscious Jack, forcing blood into his mouth. Jack didn’t respond. Seconds passed that felt like an eternity.
“Saul?” Sanquinetta already knew, cold dread spreading through her rigid body, she could tell that Jack wasn’t responding to the vampire blood meant to help him heal. She asked her question. “Is it too late?”
Saul, still forcing his blood into Jack’s mouth, shook his head. “It might be. His only chance now would be…”
His eyes locked on Sanquinetta’s, the unspoken truth clear to both of them.
Saul had brutally forced Ben to convert. Gods, he didn’t want to do that to Jack as well. But if he didn’t, Jack was going to die. He saw in Sanquinetta’s eyes the moment she decided. Of course, she loved Jack, even Saul had seen that, so she would have chosen nothing else.
“Save him Saul. Save him.”
Plato grabbed Saul’s arm. “Do it. He’d want it.”
“It still might not work.”
“Take the chance.”
The sun now skirted through the towers, the ultraviolet light streaming onto the blanket too inadequate to protect Saul, so he lifted Jack in his arms, and when the blanket began to slide away, he just ran faster, making it to the shelter of the stairwell in their building as the damaging light penetrated his skin, burns forming instantly.
All that mattered to him now was beginning a conversion that might save this man that he himself had come to care about. His relationship with Jack was complicated. Steeped in mutual respect, both trying to accept transgressions on the other’s part, working together for an honorable goal, they actually did like each other. Their humor and ideas matched well, and once in a while, they found themselves lockstepping to decisions about individuals and how to proceed on certain issues.
Once back in the room, he laid Jack on his bed, tore his shirt away, and lay beside him, his own wrist, nearly healed, torn open again, the vicious act of conversion began again.
Forcing blood, making an unconscious man take it down was inhumane, but the only way to begin the blood change. The only way this man would survive wounds meant to kill. Wounds that were even now doing exactly that.
Sanquinetta and Plato hurried in twenty minutes later, locked the door, and joined them on the bed.
“Saul?”
He looked into her moisture-filled eyes. “He isn’t taking it in on his own yet. Until he does, his body will not begin the change. I’ll continue until he’s gone. I won’t give up.”
“I know you won’t. Is there anything you need from us?”
“If he starts to take the blood, if he rouses, then yes, I’ll need heavy restraints. That new thin chain that has the tensile strength of eighty chains, that’s what we need. If you can get it.”
“I can get anything.”
“Then wait by my side until I know the outcome. Do you have any idea who did this?”
“A vampire, obviously. And it was personal. If he had wanted to kill one of us, a gun would have been quicker and more efficient. But he wanted us to know it was vampire, and that he needed to tear out his throat. No, we don’t know who it was, but as important, why it was. Now, we have another mission in Kansas City.”
Near Jack’s feet, Plato nodded.
“We have to find and kill the bastard who did this.”
“That’s right, and we begin tonight, whether Jack…”
Sanquinetta didn’t finish. Sitting quietly at his side, she watched as a sorrowful Saul tried to save Jack.
“Plato, we’re all deadly tired, but we have a threat on our doorstep. Get some sleep and I’ll wake you in three hours to take a shift.”
His eyes still on Jack, Plato finally looked up and agreed. “Three hours of shut-eye. Luxury. Wake me if you need me.” He tugged on Jack’s foot. “Pull out of this, dude. You still owe me sixty dollars and two dinners.”
After crawling onto his bed, Plato was out almost at once, succumbing to exhaustion and stress.
Saul watched Jack, worried that he hadn’t begun to recover enough to drink. It wasn’t a good sign.
Sanquinetta crawled up on the opposite side of the bed, watching the process.
“What happens when a conversion begins? We really don’t know a lot of the details.”
“It’s unbelievably painful. The vampire virus responsible for the conversion from human to vampire is unforgiving. It tears you apart and rebuilds you, replacing much of the original human DNA with that of vampire. It requires a lot of vampire blood to begin the change and when it does, then it requires more blood to feed the change. It’s unrelenting for up to a week, sometimes longer, depending on the individual.”
“Huh.” Sliding her fingers along Jack’s side, her eyes stayed on Saul’s. “And you. How old are you, Saul? What’s your story?”
“I am slightly over three hundred, so I am not so young, yet for a vampire, not so old. For most of my years, I have been alone. It suited me. You learn, though, after three centuries, that it is relationships, people you love, who love you back, that make it all worth the inherent pain and joy that comes with living.”
Quiet, her eyes moist again, Sanquinetta’s hand moved to Saul’s. “I’m sorry, for the pain our group caused for you. It’s been a strange life, and we truly thought we were protecting people. I’m glad you gave us a second chance. And thank you for helping Jack. However this turns out, you have been here for us since you came back and decided to help.”
“I know that, which is why I am surprised that you accepted the truth as easily as you have. It shows how good you all are inside. Your hard road isn’t over yet, and your reward of a hunter-free life is far away. Yet you stay positive and grateful. The family I was building in Canada have already adjusted to my absence.”
“Saul, you have a family here now too. You’re a part of our little cult of crazies, and that makes you family. Don’t forget that.”
Squeezing her warm hand, they were so engaged with each other, when Jack suddenly gasped, Saul smiled and forced his head back down.
“Is he all right?”
“It means he’s beginning to respond. Yes, I think he’s going to be.”
Dedicated to Jack now, Saul saw his eyes flutter open and then close. When it happened again, he caught his gaze. “Drink, take the blood, Jack.”
Compulsion would make Jack do as needed, but it wouldn’t work the next time. Once conversion started, compulsion didn’t work. That’s why he still had to know how Xavier, Ife, and Cari could freeze and compel a vampire. Jack’s beautiful woman had promised to tell him someday.
Up on her knees, Sanquinetta watched, her breath held, as Jack lifted a hand to press Saul’s wrist to his mouth and started to drink. It seemed bizarre to her that she found it repulsive and intriguing at the same time. In the end, it meant she wouldn’t have to say goodbye to Jack, and for that, she would be grateful forever to this extraordinarily sexy vampire who had come into their lives.
Saul glanced up from Jack to Sanquinetta and smiled, a tickle in his chest when she smiled back with just as much joy. This felt right, the sharing, the protecting, being with these people. Perhaps he had finally found his place after all.
That night in a pub six blocks away
“Crazy shit, isn’t it?”
“You kill the motherfucker?”
“Well, fuck, yeah. Ripped his throat out. Human trash thinks it’s gonna end us? Hunters groups. Fuck them all, they’ll find out.”
“We should take those meals-on-wheels and show them real power. Fuck, we should reveal ourselves to all the stupid creatures.”
Buck leaned back and beckoned the waitress to their table. “Four more cartons of ale. Quick.”
Compelled, she went immediately to fill his demand.
He turned back to his companion. “D.J., that hasn’t exactly turned out well for vampires in the past. We don’t do that. It’s kind of understood.”
“But how cool would it be to have a house full of them as slaves, and they all know what we are, but can’t do anything about it? We’d be gods.”
“We’re not gods. Don’t go there. Yeah, we feed, we fuck, we have a good time. If the occasional human doesn’t make it through rough play, well, no big loss. But we have to live with them. They’re the majority of life on the planet.”
“We should change a whole lot of them, then we’d become the majority.”
Buck stared at his newest make for a full minute before he rolled his eyes and poured himself a drink, draining the last carton of beer on the table. “You are one dumbass vampire, Deej. I don’t know what I was thinking. Here, let’s see you kill a whole carton of this beer.”
Already forgetting about what Buck had said, D.J. left his mug behind and started to chug the beer right from the carton.
He didn’t know that Buck had decided right there tonight that this particular new make was shit. D.J. would be beheaded by morning.
What he needed were four men in Texas who he would hire, the biggest baddest-assed vampires he’d ever seen. No one would win over them, no one ever had. They actually scared the shit out of him, but he needed apocalyptic fighters, and that four fit the description.
It was time to get rid of human hunters once and for all. He’d known they existed for a lot of decades, and as long as they didn’t get close to him and his, he didn’t give a shit.
Two weeks ago, though, hunters had sent one of his closest makes to her death. A beautiful vampire, a great lay, quite possibly his all-time favorite, and she was dead now.
Okay, yeah, she was rough, liked to lick ‘em to death, kill ‘em slowly, so she did kill many of her blood meals. Even though he discouraged it, a lot of the young vamps really enjoyed it.
Who was he to judge? His past could tear paint off walls. So, for now, he’d send for the Four Horsemen and let hell rain down.
One week later at Hunter HQ
“How are you feeling tonight, Jack? Funky, I bet, without a shower for a week and all that yucky blood all over you.”
His expression stormy, he barked, “You think?”
Moving closer than Saul said she should, Sanquinetta pushed a bottle of water to him. “You’re still alive, you asshole. Saul says you’re almost finished, so you get to come off the chains tomorrow.”
“I know it. Fuck, San, I know it, I just can’t wrap my head around this. I’m a fucking vampire.”
“Yeah, buddy, you are. I watched him turn you into one and you know I’d do it again. And Jack, you would have done it for me or Plato too. Saul saved your life. At some point, you’re going to thank him.”
“No. Fuck. Yeah. Probably. Just, get me out of this basement. I can’t believe we thought it was going to be okay to keep Ben down here. This place smells like ass.”
“So do you. Look, my friend, one more day. Now, I have to go. Saul made arrangements for that computer tech to meet with us. Damn, I hope she works out. That would take so much off my back.”
“You meeting upstairs?”
“Yeah, in twenty minutes.”
“Let me come.”
“Nope. Saul is God when it comes to you right now. He says you stay, you fucking stay. There’s the remote, watch some vids.”
Upstairs, Sanquinetta couldn’t stop smiling. Jack was his old crusty self again, arguing with her instead of glaring at her like he wanted to eat her. Literally, eat her.
Now, she hoped to add another member to the team who could help them find, identify, and purge hunters and research disappearances or mysterious deaths for Xavier’s team which was still searching for any rogues.
Except, she thought, for the rogue in Kansas City. She was saving that asshole for her own team here. When Jack was up and running again, they were going to revisit that city, find the motherfucker who nearly killed Jack and fry him with extreme prejudice.
“San, may I present Ms. Evaleigh. No last name.”
Beside Saul stood a very pretty young woman who looked like she’d walked off a vidscreen. Her hair was to her waist, but twisted into a long complicated braid and held in place by multiple colorful clips. She wore a short top that exposed flat abs, a skirt that showed off gorgeous legs and feet tucked into knee high boots. A tattoo around her right wrist looked like a charm bracelet, the left covered with a pale green vine that eventually left the wrist to travel up her arm and curl around it until it reached her shoulder. A silver star tattoo highlighted huge blue eyes that reminded San of Ife’s.
And attitude. The girl oozed attitude.
“Yeah, so, this vamp told me you had work for me? Long term stuff?”
“We do. Please, sit down and let’s go over specifics.”
While Sanquinetta had been sizing up Evaleigh, she realized that Evaleigh had been sizing her up too. In both instances, it appeared that the two women had already decided that the other was cool.
It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
At Donovan’s beach house
“So, I’ve been sleeping here. There are two other rooms. Choose whichever you prefer.”
Jack shot a glance to Saul, who was being gracious, had offered to share this vampire protected beach house with him, and tried to be gracious back. He failed.
“Yeah, well, my house is a fireball for vampires, so I guess this will have to work. I’ll take the one on the bottom floor.”
“Fine. Look, we have a tough go of it here. You know I changed you at the request of your companions. I apologize if it isn’t what you would have chosen. Jack, I saved your life because we all thought you were worth saving.”
He knew that. He even agreed with the decision. It still took everything he had to accept that he was actually a fucking vampire. For the rest of his life, which apparently was a much longer one now, he would have to drink blood, fuck that, and live in the dark. He grinned bitterly; like that was going to be much of an adjustment. Entering the bedroom that he thought Cari had used when she was here, he pitched his small pack. None of his clothes fit anymore, so he wore jeans and a tee shirt loaned by Saul.
Walking to the mirror that lined one wall, he stared at the new and…improved?...Jack. His muscles had never been more impressive, his thighs thicker, arms fuller, chest wider. Yeah, he was pretty fucking buff, and apparently going to stay that way without effort. All good. He’d stay young and handsome without aging. Yeah, definitely good.
But at what price?
Walking to the doors that opened out onto a private balcony, he looked out at the sea, too dark tonight to see much.
This did, however, solve the problem of whether he would be willing to convert to be with Ife. There wasn’t any barrier anymore to their relationship. His heart beat hard as he thought about the woman who had changed his life.
He wanted her, had never stopped. Maybe this was all providence, maybe the vampire in Kansas City had done him a favor.
But he was still going to fucking kill the motherfucker before he left to find out if Ife still wanted him.