Chance McKay waited for his literal partner in crime, Alex Shapiro to step outside before he closed the door to the warehouse and pulled the latch to secure the premises. He’d been working with Alex for nearly two years now and for all intents and purposes he had proven to be a worthy ally in their various missions in search of new locations and fresh blood.

Alex rubbed his hands together and blew warm air into them. “Damn. You’d think by now I’d be used to this, but I can’t ever seem to get warm enough.”

“One of the many perks of being undead.”

Chance often teased the younger and newest member of his clan, but he knew that Alex still had a long way to go before he truly learned and got used to the daily nuisances of living life as a modern day vampire.

“I guess so.”

Chance could sense there was something more on Alex’s mind, something that he wasn’t sharing. It was becoming both an irritating and predictable habit that Chance was growing tired of.

As they descended the final two concrete steps into the alleyway, Chance turned in front of him. “What is it this time?”

Alex made a feeble attempt at looking surprised, but gave in, knowing that Chance could read him like a book. “Jesus, man. How the hell do you do that?”

“What? Turn on a dime? Or know when you’re holding something back?”

“Either. Both.”

“Well the turning on the dime thing is called coordination. If you’re too clumsy to spin around in front of someone without falling on your ass then I don’t know what to tell you.”

Alex chuckled. “Funny.”

“Alright. Look, we’ve been over this. Being able to read people is kind of what I do. And it’s a big part of who we are. It’s one of our few perks.”

“Few?”

“Well let’s not pretend like being a vampire is all sunshine and roses.”

“It’s definitely not sunshine.”

Chance smirked. “You know what I mean. Here it is the twenty-first century. Society and the entertainment industry are all enamored with the idea of vampires. We’re dark, brooding, shit some of us are even supposed to twinkle if you believe that one author.”

They both laughed, knowing they’d all shared quite a few sharp jabs at the bestselling books which had depicted their kind to be magical beings which sparkled in the sunlight.

“Look, Alex. I know you’ve only been with us for a couple of years now, and you’re still learning how things work. But, I’ve been a member of the Spryth Bloodline for all my life. I was born into it. My parents lived the life of the typical vampire life for ages. It’s hard. It sucks. And there’s far less reward than there is penance.”

“Is this supposed to be another one of your pep talks? Because it kind of sucks.”

Chance shook his head. “No, no pep talk from me. You should know me better than that by now. All I’m saying is, it’s not easy being us. Going from town to town, traveling all over the continent, moving all the time. Breaking into blood banks, drinking only what we absolutely need and storing the rest while some nights we feel like we’re crawling out of our skin. It gets old. Really old. And really fast.”

“I’ve heard all this before.”

“I know. But when we go out on these blood runs, I need to know that you’ve got my back. We can’t get caught, Alex. So when your mind is somewhere else, when I can literally hear your mind racing, it worries me.”

“I do have your back. Nothing went wrong tonight.”

“Yeah, this time. But you’re always off somewhere else. You need to stay focused. If one of us gets caught. If anyone ever finds out about us, I don’t have to tell you what that would mean for the rest of us. Do I?”

“No. I get it. I do.” Alex ran his fingers through his hair and let out a sigh. “And I am focused when we’re on a job. I’ve just been feeling… never mind.”

“Oh for the love of the Spryth Bloodline, will you just spill it already? You’ve pulled this never mind bullshit twice already this week. What is it?”

“Alright look, if I tell you, you can’t tell anyone.”

“Okay.” Chance shrugged. “Who the hell am I going to tell anyway?”

“I mean it. No one.”

“Fine.” Chance raised his hand. “Scout’s honor, or whatever the hell that crap is.”

“It’s Blair.”

“Blair? You mean Bossy?”

“Yeah.”

Chance saw the look in Alex’s eyes. He knew it all too well. “Forget about it, man. She’s off limits.”

“Does she know that?”

Chance pulled the helmet off of the back of his motorcycle and lifted his leg over, getting on the seat. “It doesn’t matter what she knows. Or what she’s told. She didn’t get the name Bossy for nothing. She is a world class pain in the ass.”

“Aren’t you two like… best friends or something?”

“Me and Bossy?” Chance laughed. “No.”

“I thought that you two grew up together?”

“We did. Our fathers are like brothers and I’ve known her my whole life. But she’s off limits. Even knowing this, she still flaunts herself all around the unmated men of the clan, driving them crazy. So whatever she’s done to raise your attention, forget about it. She’s our leader’s only daughter. Not only is she untouchable, but it’s not worth the trouble.”

“She sure as hell looks like she’d be worth the trouble.”

“I’m telling you, man. Forget about her.”

“She’s so damn sexy though.”

“And don’t you think for one minute that she doesn’t know that she is too. That’s the problem.” Chance put on his helmet. “Let’s get out of here.”

He started up his Harley Davidson Fat Boy and drove away with Alex trailing in his rearview mirror.

Their drive back to the compound they were staying at was only twenty minutes away, but he wished it was hours. He sympathized with and understood all too well the fire that Blair could evoke. She may be vampire, but for all other intents and purposes she was a siren. From her long brown hair and chocolate seductive eyes, there wasn’t a man with a pulse who wouldn’t stand up and take notice of her whenever she walked into a room.

She’d come onto Chance more times than he could count in the past several years. She had left him hard, hot and aching so bad that it had taken nearly all of his willpower to deny her advances.

No matter how tempting she looked, or how delicious he was sure she would taste, he had to refuse both her and him such pleasures.

She wasn’t just his childhood friend. She was their leader’s daughter. She was the one who was to carry on the Spryth Bloodline.

She was… off limits.