Chapter Four

“ T hat little shit.”

Kelvin fidgeted on the spot, watching Key suck on his finger before rubbing his nipple with it. When he closed the curtains, Kelvin groaned. He wanted to watch more. After seeing Key fuck his ass, Kelvin had been aroused to the point of pain and no man would do except his mate. The one he couldn’t have.

It didn’t matter how many times he’d come. Kelvin was hard again within minutes. His body telling him what it wanted. Who it wanted, but Kelvin couldn’t give in. Not with the way things were. He would stand here watching his mate until eternity, and do nothing.

Minho was right.

He was pathetic.

Was he willing to give up the one person who was truly meant to be his because of some laws put into effect centuries ago? Laws that should be checked to see if they are still relevant in this day and age? It would seem Kelvin was a true vampire. Still holding to laws and rules and regulations doing his species more harm than good.

He stared at the window, the curtains blocking his view, then spun on his heel and stormed away. He hated being that vampire. The one too afraid to go against the rules, the one afraid to break them and face the consequences. Would the harm his mate could potentially suffer be worth a few days of happiness? The council would find out. They always do and they would find out about Key and who knew what would happen.

No, Kelvin knew. They would banish him and punish his mate. Key would be the one to suffer more than Kelvin. He’d heard tales from when the laws had first been enacted, a time when vampires had human mates. He’d heard about the fallout, families ripped apart, lives ended.

Closing his eyes, Kelvin thought of Gray and ported to him. One second, he had been standing on the roof of a building, and the next, he was in Gray’s office.

“We need to have a bell that rings every time one of you appears,” Gray muttered. “Every time one of you pops in, I feel ten years of my life disappear.”

“You do it all the time.” Shrugging, Kelvin dragged a chair over to Gray and sat next to him, watching him search through a website that had cartoon pictures of vampires. “What’s that?”

“That is a website dedicated to revealing the existence of vampires. It’s a crank. Not many people believe what they post. They actually managed to photograph Minho.” Gray tapped a few buttons and a picture of Minho appeared. The fucker was posing.

“He let them take a picture?”

“Yeah, the daft bastard then told him his fangs were fake.”

Kelvin snorted. “Of course he did. He gets off on shit like that.”

“What’s been going on with you? You’ve become distracted.”

Shrugging, Kelvin pointed to the screen. “What do the comments say?” Yeah, he was avoiding the question, but he knew Gray wouldn’t let him get away with it.

“Have a look?”

‘Vampire or not, I’d let him fuck me any day of the week.’

‘Hot Damn! He can take a bite out of me anytime he wants!’

Kelvin cleared his throat. “Vamp is so hot my pussy–”

Gray clicked off the comments. “The humans love Minho.”

“Clearly. That one was talking about how wet her–”

“And we don’t need to hear or read about it.” Gray swirled around in his chair and stared at Kelvin. “Talk to me.”

“What’s there to say? You probably know already.” The vampire knew everyone’s secrets or was close to knowing them all. He seemed to have some extrasensory perception where he knew your deepest, darkest secret without you having to utter a single word.

“Key.”

“See. Told you that you knew.”

“He’s human.”

“Which is why I’m here and he is there.”

“We have laws in place regarding that.” Gray watched Kelvin, and he began to feel like he was under a microscope with the other vampire’s intense stare laser focused on him.

“I know and again that’s why he is there and I am here. Alone.”

“Minho has spoken to you.”

Inhaling deeply, Kelvin held it, then slowly released it. “How do you know everything?”

Smiling, Gray turned back to his computer and went back to searching the website ‘vampiresrreal.com’ “Such an original name. A lot of thought went into that. I can smell the burning from here.” Shaking his head slowly, Gray murmured, “Humans.”

“I still think about us revealing ourselves to the humans and the potential outcomes.”

“Some will fetishize us; others will want to hunt us.” Shrugging, Gray closed the webpage down and leaned back in his chair. “I too have considered it.”

There was only one problem, well, several, but they were all the same thing. “The laws.”

“Are there to protect both us and them, even if we sacrifice what is important to us?”

“I’m not so sure about that. Those laws came into effect during a turbulent phase of our history.”

“‘Turbulent phase’ is a nice way to put the near annihilation of our species. One which we still haven’t completely healed from.” Gray tapped away on the keyboard, then asked, “How is Maxim?”

“If anyone would know, it’s you.” Kelvin watched Gray run a search for Maxim as he spoke.

“He’s good at disappearing. I haven’t seen anything of him in decades. Whispers, yes, mutterings of where he could be, but nothing has panned out. He went dark and has remained that way for close to sixty years. Last whisper I heard was about a son. No name, or age, just that he had one.”

Maxim was one of the descendants that caused the civil war that spilled out to include humans. He still believed they should be in power, that all vampires should be ruled by one and not a council of ‘pussies’ as he had called them. Humans were to be considered game. To be hunted, fed on, killed. Vampires fewer in numbers but far more dominant, and they should rule all considered beneath them.

“I wonder if becoming a father has mellowed him?”

Gray’s eyes widened. “Maxim? The vampire who believes he is the ultimate authority over all species? That Maxim?”

“I’ll take that as a no, then.” No, Maxim wouldn’t have mellowed. If anything, Kelvin suspected that he would be far worse now, wanting to hand all vampires and humans over to his son. The one good thing about the civil war was that it brought the truth to the surface about many vampires and what they really thought of their fellow vampires and humans. People Kelvin’s family had called friend had shown their true colors, and it had devastated him, like it had many of the vampires.

Almost two centuries later and the ripples from that event could still be felt, hence the laws that were now in place. And the reason Kelvin would remain mateless. He would watch from a distance and ensure his mate had a good happy life and the family he deserved.

Fuck, it was like a dagger to the heart. The thought of another creating a life with his mate, making him laugh, making him moan; but Kelvin didn’t think he was in any position to question the laws. He would have to approach the council and request Key, and it would all fall apart. No vampire had been able to alter the laws, so why did Kelvin think he would be successful?

“Speak to him.”

“To who?” Kelvin watched Gray flicker through the city’s CCTV, bringing up one camera after another. Until he stopped.

“Key. Now look who we have here.”

Kelvin leaned closer to the screen, then groaned. “Speak of the devil and he shall appear.”

“Maxim.” Gray tapped a few keys and the picture quality improved. “Looking good in his old age.”

Kelvin snorted. “We age well.”

“That we do. I’m only three hundred. Still plenty of years left.” Maxim was closer to three hundred and in those years had caused nothing but problems. His father was one of the original ringleaders to have caused the civil war, and even though the vampire had been executed for his crimes, Maxim still believed completely in what his father had wanted. With a son, the cycle would begin again and nothing would be resolved.

“No son?” Kelvin searched the screen but couldn’t see anyone who appeared to be with Maxim.

“No, but I’ll track him as he moves. He knows we’ll be watching him, so let’s play.”

Kelvin sat back and watched Gray track Maxim as he moved from street to street. Watching Maxim made Kelvin think about Key and what he couldn’t have because of this vampire’s family. He’d studied their history at school and he knew what was recorded barely scratched the surface of the atrocities Maxim’s family had caused.

Maxim Hutch. A name no one was likely to forget, but he’d somehow had a son that they knew very little about. How old was he? What was his name? Where did he live? Did he work or did he do what his father wanted?

Did it matter?

Kelvin wasn’t sure if it did. They kept an eye on them and no doubt they watched, too. The Hutch Regime, as it became known. An almost separate entity with their own rules. They still hunted humans, or tried to. Their patrols put a stop to that, but still, they couldn’t save everyone, and they did have to clean up and put cover stories in place.

The council had created a division to deal with the Hutch’s once it became clear that they might disappear, but they would never be gone. The council anticipated a time when they might return, and so they watched and waited, trained men and women to be capable of defense if it was needed.

They were needed, but not as the council had originally thought. They rarely encountered any of Hutch’s people – Maxim Hutch or the families who sided with him. Now they dealt with the aftermath or tried to intercept before it happened. They were the hunters who did clean up. And Kelvin was good at his job.