Harlan hadn’t even gotten to sink his teeth into the pretty redhead sitting on his lap, when he felt himself tensing. His predatory instincts kicked in, as he sensed a wave of power sweeping over the room. With a sigh, he pulled his head back from the girl’s neck – Brittany was her name, maybe? – and gave her a wide smile.

“Sorry, darling. We’ll pick this up later,” he said, making her frown.

They were seated near the back of one of LA’s most popular underground clubs, known to those who were on the very hard to get on guest list as Sin. It was an apt name, Harlan thought.

Definitely no saints here, he mused, brushing a stray curl away from Brittany’s forehead.

“Did I do something wrong?” she asked, stretching out her neck and writhing around in his lap.

The vein throbbing just below her ear did look tasty, but if Harlan was right about what had made his skin prickle only a moment before, he’d better take care of other things first.

He wasn’t that hungry, anyway. Places like Sin made sure he had plenty of willing donors to snack on.

“Not a thing,” he replied, while already scanning the crowd lounging around the club.

The music was muted, so this party was a lot quieter than most. Harlan’s kind was more sensitive to sounds, among other things, so there was no need for a thumping bass line or blown-out speakers.

A few couples were out on the dance floor, but most of the guests lounged around, talking, drinking, or playing card games with rules that most people had long forgotten. Both men and women walked around with trays, weaving past old and new friends, and offering drinks to shyer humans working up the courage to go introduce themselves to the alluring creatures of the night.

Harlan chuckled to himself, wondering if Brittany had ever been so coy. The way she threw a leg over his and was now straddling him made him think not. But then again, people had a great capacity for change. Having seen entire generations be born and die gave him a unique perspective on that.

Spotting a familiar figure standing near the doorway, one he definitely had not been expecting to see tonight, made Harlan turn serious. Brittany must have sensed something had changed, her smile wavering at the laser-like focus of Harlan’s gaze.

“Run along, now, darling,” Harlan waved her off, as he narrowed his eyes at the man now headed his way.

Brittany quickly disentangled herself from him, likely having been around long enough to know when she was not needed, and scampered off, leaving Harlan to adjust the lapels of his suit and run a hand over his long, dark-brown hair. Draping his hands over the backrest of the sofa he was sitting on, Harlan conjured up a neutral expression when his visitor reached him, coming to a stop in front of the small table near his feet.

“Julius,” Harlan stated impassively, giving the man a disinterested once-over. “Haven’t had the pleasure of seeing you in a decade or two.”

Julius stood stiffly in front of him, impeccably dressed as always in a three-piece suit, gray eyes fixed on Harlan. Tall and lean, with angular features and a clean-shaven jaw, Julius looked cold and regal, with his perfect posture and an air of privilege following him around wherever he went.

“Drop the sarcasm, Harlan. It doesn’t suit you,” Julius replied in that smooth British accent Harlan had come to find grating, folding his hands in front of him.

“I see you still haven’t gotten that stick dislodged from your ass. Might want to get that checked out,” Harlan remarked. “Doctors these days really do wonders, you know. No more prescribing mercury for everything and treating coughs with heroine. I bet that was fun, though,” he said, tapping a finger on his chin. “I bet you forgot all about cough after that treatment.”

Julius looked like he wanted to roll his eyes at Harlan but thought better of it at the last second.

“May I join you?” he asked instead, gesturing toward the sofa.

“Sure, sure, why not. I can get Brittany to come back, if you’d like,” Harlan replied, putting on a smile.

“That won’t be necessary,” Julius stated, taking the seat next to him. “Now would you please be a little more serious. I’m here for a reason.”

Harlan knew that couldn’t be good for him. And he couldn’t care less about what Julius did or didn’t want from him. His days of following the man around were done. He lived a different life now, and he wasn’t about to give it up.

“Let me be completely honest,” Harlan said, earning a nod from Julius. “Whatever it is you were about to say – I don’t care.”

Julius looked like he wanted to disagree or interrupt, but Harlan just held up a hand.

“The royal families are in shambles? The human government has caught on to our existence and is sharpening their stakes? You’ve gambled away your fortune and are looking for a couch to crash on? I don’t care,” he said, putting special emphasis on that last part in case Julius was still confused.

“What a shock,” Julius scoffed, throwing him a withering glare. “Harlan Akers doesn’t care. As if you whoring and drinking your way through your immortal life hadn’t clued me in,” he continued, a distinct edge creeping into his voice.

“You must love the fact that you can never get a hangover, or an STD for that matter. My friends have been telling me for years I wasted my gift on you. I have to say, I’m beginning to think they’re right.”

Harlan could feel a dark part of him floating toward the surface, that corner of him that hungered for blood and relished in feeding off someone else’s life force sneaking out into the light. As much as he thought he no longer cared what anyone thought of him, Julius’ words still had an effect.

“You can tell your friends they can fuck off,” Harlan replied, trying to make it sound casual but failing.

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, as Julius’ expression grew thunderous. Shoulders tensing, he stared at Harlan, looking like he was ready to explode.

“I am your Maker,” he said, sounding like not yelling those words took considerable effort. “And you will treat me with the respect I deserve.”

The people closest to where Harlan and Julius were sitting suddenly made themselves scarce. Julius was very old, which made him very powerful, and all the other vampires close enough could easily sense that.

And they did not want to get in his way.

Harlan wanted to argue, but it went against every instinct he had. As the vampire that had turned him, Julius shared a special bond with Harlan, one that couldn’t be easily broken. Even after not seeing his Maker for almost thirty years, Julius’ demand for respect still tugged at something inside Harlan. It was a feeling he couldn’t ignore.

“What do you want?” he sighed, picking up his glass of champagne from the table and downing it in a single gulp.

It was hard for him to get drunk, a lot harder than it was for humans, but damned if he wasn’t going to give it the old college try. The drink didn’t taste as good as it had a second ago, though, especially not when Julius was still narrowing his eyes at him.

“I’m not here to ask you to return home,” Julius explained, touching his cufflinks before letting his hands rest in his lap. “I promised I would give you your freedom and I keep my promises. But there is a problem the Families need handled, and you are perfectly equipped for the task.”

“Is that so,” Harlan remarked, grabbing the bottle of Dom Pérignon from the ice bucket in front of him and refilling his glass.

To say Julius showing up and making demands of him irked Harlan would be an understatement. Yet he knew Julius wouldn’t have come if his business wasn’t both important, and something Harlan probably couldn’t afford to say ‘no’ to.

Doesn’t mean I have to like it. Or that I have to make it easy for him.

“It’s about Grant,” Julius said, and Harlan couldn’t help but raise a brow at that.

“Grant Williams?” he asked, even though he knew that had to be who Julius was talking about.

Harlan and Grant had been friends a long time ago, running in the same circles and both having a penchant for having fun. Older vampires all tended to be impossibly dull, so as relative newcomers, he and Grant had stuck together. Until they drifted apart, as many friends tended to do as years passed and lives, or afterlives as it were, took different turns.

“He has no regard for the rules anymore. We have tried reasoning with him, but now, he’s dropped off the map entirely. Whatever he is up to, it’s not good. He hasn’t made a lot of friends in the years you’ve spent apart, so I’d wager you know the man as well as anyone. How he thinks, where he’d go… And coming from you, maybe he’d finally listen to reason.”

Gritting his teeth, Harlan listened. Grant had always been kind of a loner, so what Julius was saying didn’t exactly surprise him. But that Grant would go against vampire rules… As much as Harlan had come to resent authority, even he still honored the principles set out by the old families.

The consequences were too severe for him not to.

“I’m guessing I don’t really have a choice in the matter,” Harlan commented, catching Brittany winking at him from across the room.

“No, you don’t,” Julius replied.

Didn’t think so.