Chapter 18

Irode out into the morning sunshine that did little to bring any warmth to the day. The ride was chilly, and I cursed under my breath as I thought of Kallista having to ride on my bike in the cold weather. At least it wasn’t the dead of winter. We would have had to find a place to hole up in for the season much closer than I would have been comfortable with.

I drove to a small cafe that wasn’t too far away and backed my bike into a parking space near the door. After I turned off the engine, I swung my leg over the side to head inside. I had been eyeing the buildings as I had passed, trying to tell if I was being watched or followed, but hadn’t sensed anything. I was still uneasy leaving my mate behind, though. I wanted to order the food so I could get back to her as quickly as possible. Vampires weren’t the only threat out there. If Syn showed herself again, I would be tempted to rip her pretty head off her shoulders. I wasn’t sure if she would regenerate the way I would, and didn’t give a shit. I had warned her. Repeatedly. If she continued to cause trouble, it would mean her end.

I pushed open the door, the bells above it jingling, announcing my arrival. As I strode to the counter, a waitress in a T-shirt with the cafe logo printed on it walked past with her arms loaded with plates. The food looked and smelled delicious, and I felt my stomach rumble angrily. It reminded me that all I had fed my mate yesterday were a couple of tacos, and I wanted to curse. I would have to do better about looking out for her welfare.

“I’ll be right with you, sweetie. Take a seat anywhere.” It was on the tip of my tongue to correct her. I was mated, and no one should be calling me by a pet name, but I held my words back. She meant no harm. Besides, if I were a human, she looked old enough to be my grandmother.

I slid onto a barstool and snatched a menu out of the holder in front of me. I thought about what Kallista might want to eat and decided to get a little of everything. We would need to fuel up. Especially if I ended up fucking her again before we left. I grinned to myself as I thought the odds were pretty fucking good that I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands and cock off of her.

“Alright, young man, what can I get for you?” The woman appeared in front of me with a smile, and her pen was poised against her pad, which had several small grease stains on it. I rattled off my order, figuring I had probably gone overboard, when her eyes widened, and she had to flip the page to continue writing.

“Will that be for here or to go?” She asked as she peered up at me with wide eyes.

“To go, ma’am. Thank you.”

“You got it, sweetie. It’s, uh, going to be a few minutes. Would you like a cup of coffee while you wait? It’s on the house.”

I nodded and gave her my thanks. Once she handed me the steaming cup of black coffee I stood up. “I’m going to step outside to make a phone call. I’ll be back in before the food is done.”

“You got it, hun.” She waved me off with a smile, then glanced down at her pad as she walked to the kitchen window.

I carried the cup outside with me and leaned against my bike as I pulled the phone out of my jacket pocket with one hand. I had very few contacts, but one I did have would be able to get me the information I needed.

The phone rang several times before a gruff voice answered angrily. “What the fuck do you want, asshole?”

“Now, Cyprian, is that any way to speak to your oldest friend?” I growled down the line.

His snort of amusement had my lips tipping up. “Ain’t that fucking right? Oldest. Ha. The boy’s got jokes. So what can I do for you? You only call when you need something.” His tone was full of accusation, which was well warranted because he was right. I sighed.

“I need to get in touch with the local vampire King in the northeast region of the United States. There seems to be an infestation problem around these parts that needs exterminating.”

“Oh damn. Why doesn’t that surprise me? That fucker has been in charge for, what, five years, maybe a few more? And shit’s been falling apart ever since. I hear that the Council is looking into finding a replacement.” He sighed long and deep. “If shit’s going down out there long enough to cause big problems, then he’s not going to be able to help you. You’re better off going straight to the Council. The previous King from that region would probably be very interested in hearing what you have to say. I’ll get a message to him and have him call you.”

Before I could say anything else, the call cut off, and I was left with nothing but silence. It was typical of the Wendigo demon. He probably kept to himself more than even I did. But he was one of the few I trusted after we met a few hundred years ago in a forest where he’d been practically starving. Wendigo demons didn’t have to eat human flesh the way modern human stories portrayed, but they did have to ingest the occasional heart to keep from starving. Though they would never die from starvation, they would wither until they were little more than husks.

When I found him as I was passing through Europe, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the state he was in. I promised to help him, and as he looked up at me, full of doubt but still willing to trust me, I knew that I couldn’t let him down. It didn’t take long before I came across a group of highwaymen who had just slaughtered a young family of farmers. They were tying up the stolen horses and laughing at each other. A young child lay in the cold dirt not ten feet away, its life taken callously for what was probably only a few coins. It was one of the few times I wasn’t sorry to use my ability to make a man deathly ill.

I knew diseases wouldn’t hurt the Wendigo, so I was unconcerned when I dropped their still-breathing bodies in the dirt under the barren tree where the demon lay curled on his side. He jerked, bringing his frail body to sit upright with his back to the tree. He looked up at me, his demon eyes peering at me through the bleached bone of his skull.

“You came back,” he breathed raggedly.

I crouched down in front of him with my dagger in my hand. I dragged the nearest man closer and struck the man through the chest, between his ribcage. “I promised I would, friend.” He watched hungrily, licking his skull with his long tongue, as I reached into the still breathing human male’s chest and ripped his heart out. I handed the warm heart over to the Wendigo. “My name is Valen.”

After that day, we had stayed in touch. Cyprian had never forgotten what I had done for him that day, and I never forgave myself for not allowing him to come with me as I bade him farewell. But Cyprian was very good at tracking, and he made sure that he kept in touch throughout the years.

He was right, though, I thought with a grimace. I was shit at calling at any other time than when I needed information from him. Maybe that was something I could change now that I could feel the strength in the control I held over my power. Perhaps I could build friendships that were stronger than the occasional phone call. I grinned as I thought about my mate’s reaction to seeing a Wendigo demon as I walked back inside the cafe.

The waitress was in the process of bagging up my food order, and I grimaced at the sheer amount of it. My saddlebags were going to be stuffed to the brim. I just hoped it all made it back to the warehouse without being too smashed from the way I’d have to pack the styrofoam boxes.

I set the empty coffee cup down and pulled the wallet from my back pocket. I withdrew some folded bills, checking to ensure there was plenty to cover the tab, along with a hefty tip. I set the bills on the counter in front of me just as the silver-haired waitress turned to face me with a broad smile on her gently lined face.

“Here you go, sweetie. Is there anything else I can get for you?”

“No, ma’am, this is perfect. Thank you,” I replied, reaching out to take the bags from her.

“You got it. Drive safely, and come back to see us.”

I nodded but didn’t respond, knowing the chance of me returning to this area within her lifetime was slim at best. I turned, walking away from the counter and out through the front door. I had grown numb to the fact that nearly every being I came in contact with would die and wither to nothing but dust as I continued to roam this realm. Some much sooner than others. There were times, though, after meeting a human who stood out for their genuine kindness that I was reminded of my loneliness. Immortality was more of a curse than a gift, and I couldn’t help but wonder over the years what I had done to deserve it. But then, there were several regrets I had that were worth being cursed for.

But now I had a mate who would share my longevity. I also suspected she held a power similar to mine for a reason. I would show her how to use it without fear, as well as how to use it to protect herself. With our mating came strength. We would both be immensely more powerful with better control. Though I hadn’t been taught about any of those things, I could already sense it inside of me. The fact that we were connected so strongly suggested that the same would be true for her. Though, I did think that it was prudent to speak to someone sooner rather than later. We both had much to learn about our world and shouldn’t wait to find someone to teach us.

As I finished packing away our food containers as well as I could, my phone began to ring inside my jacket where I had stashed it after my conversation with Cyprian. I withdrew it as I sat on my bike and frowned at the screen. The number wasn’t one I recognized. I hit the answer button and brought it to my ear.

“Hello?”

The voice on the other end of the line was brisk and formal with a faint accent similar to the kind most long-lived supernatural beings held after living in so many different places through their long lives. It wasn’t the voice that made me freeze, though.

“This is Councilman Crispin Decious. I received a message a few minutes ago that you might have information about an issue in one of our regions with rogue vampires.”

My head was still spinning as I sat there numbly.

“Are you there?” His tone had turned from business serious to suspicious at my silence. I gripped the phone tighter.

“Crispin. As in the Crispin who singly-handedly defeated twenty skilled fighters carrying spears before finally allowing help from your teammates?”

It was his turn to become silent for a long beat. I heard what sounded like the creaking of a chair. “There are very few who might know me from that time.”

I stared out across the parking lot as I got lost in a memory from nearly two thousand years ago. Crispin had been a human at that time; of that, I had no doubts. He’d been a volunteer gladiator, one who was fighting to earn money. Most who joined the ranks of the gladiators died in the Colosseum within the first year. Crispin had continued fighting for more than five that I could remember.

“I could imagine,” I replied with a grunt.

“There is only one other man who survived that day.” He wasn’t wrong. It had been a brutal battle, and nearly all of our team had died. Crispin had felt he needed to prove something after his intended bride had shown up married to someone else. “I always knew there was something different about you.”

I huffed out an amused breath. “Well, the human I knew back then definitely wasn’t a high ranking vampire.”

“How are you doing, Valen?”

“I’d be doing better if there weren’t vermin threatening my mate.”

It was his turn to grunt, disgust filling his tone. “That region has gone to shit since I left. I have been working with the other Council members to pick a new leader to take over for the worthless excuse of a King that’s in place there now. Tell me everything you know, and I will be on the next plane out there.” He paused. “Congratulations on your mate. We obviously need to catch up.”

I shook my head at the turn of events. Never would I have suspected that the man I had fought with back then, and considered a friend for the short time I had stayed to fight in the Colosseum, would have become a vampire. I wondered how it had happened and if, perhaps, he wasn’t one of the shitty ones.