11. Lucien

Chapter 11

Lucien

I stand with my back to the closed bedroom door and feel my fingernails dig into my palm as I clasp her clothes tightly in my fist.

My cock is harder than it has been in months. Racing through my veins is a primal, animalistic urge to rip that door from its hinges, and go back into her room, and devour her. I want to hear her whimper again; except this time, I want to watch her eyes widen as I thrust deep inside her.

I want to see her lips quiver, hear my name on her tongue. I want her voice, the one she keeps buried inside, to tell me exactly how hard she wants it. Because even though she looks the picture of innocence, there's something fluttering beneath the surface of her gaze that tells me she wants to be ruined.

She wants it hard, and fast, and sweaty, and dirty.

And somehow, hearing those filthy things from her, on her honey-sweet tongue, makes them even more torturous.

Unfastening my belt, I wrap my hand around my cock and start to stroke it. I want release. But then I stop because I don't want it like this; I want it with her.

Inside her.

I want to come while I watch her come.

I turn around and press my palm against her door. A dog-like growl parts my lips and I feel them curl on top of my fangs.

She tasted good. Her blood is sweet and thick, but it isn't the most powerful I've ever tasted, which surprises me.

It has made me horny as fuck. But it hasn't made me supercharged or stronger or any of the things I'd expect if I'm right about who she is. What she is.

Refastening my belt, I stride away from her, trying not to think about her half-naked body curled up in my bed in my house, pulling the blankets up to cover her perfectly full breasts and her rose red nipples.

Fuck, those nipples.

And the way her voice deepened when she told me to suck them.

I am still hard as hell by the time I reach my study. Immediately, I take my phone from the top drawer and text Kim. Get back here, now. I have another job for you.

He doesn't reply, but I know he'll do as I say.

He hates me, but he needs me.

I need him too. A human who can do things in daylight that I can't.

It is an arrangement that works, even though both of us wish we didn't need it to.

While I wait for him, I go to the kennels and release the dogs. I let them sniff Luna's shirt – I keep her bra in my pocket – then open the door to the garden and watch as they race in the direction of her bedroom and position themselves beneath the broken window.

If she tries to move the painting and escape again, they will stop her. There is no way she'll escape me. Not now.

Slamming the door shut, listening to the dogs barking, I scratch my forearms. They still itch from the sunlight, and my cock is still hard as fuck for Luna.

Back in the study, I sit down at my desk. Instinctively, even though she's here and not there, I navigate to the security cameras for the bookshop.

Light streams in through the window. Kim did a good job of cleaning up; everything looks completely normal. As if Luna's going to appear at any moment and open up.

I'm still staring at it when Kim arrives. He knocks but enters at the same time and stands in the doorway with an expression on his face I can't quite read.

"Well?"

He clocks the camera feed of the bookshop and nods at it. "Were you watching me the whole time, or…?"

"I was not watching you. I had more important things to do."

Kim flops down into the armchair opposite my desk, and folds one leg over the other. He's holding a reusable take out coffee cup with a black silicon lid. The combination of the coffee and the silicon assaults my nose; two smells I can't stand.

Ignoring the look of displeasure on my face, but clearly understanding it has something to do with the coffee, Kim takes a leisurely sip and fixes his gaze on mine.

"What did you find at the bookshop?"

"Nothing." Kim shrugs. "It felt creepy as fuck in there. A lot of demonic energy floating about. But you did murder three vampires there, so..."

"Four," I mutter.

"Right. Four. Sorry, I lost count of the body parts."

"Did you retrieve the box?"

"No box."

I frown at him, and he holds up his palm as if he knows I think he's lying. "There was no box, Lucien. Lots of blood. Lots of gore. Lots of powerful juju in the air, but no box and no dancing shadows."

"That doesn't mean I'm wrong."

"No, it doesn't."

"Can you be serious for a moment and tell me what you really think?"

"You care what I think?"

"You hunt demons for a living, boy. You have hunter blood. So, yes, I care what you think about the demonic energy in my shop."

"Your shop?" Kim's mouth drops open a little. "I knew it... you own that place?"

I ignore the question.

Kim sighs and leans forward onto his knees. "Okay. Seriously? It's strong. That's all I can tell you. Not bad, not dark, not good, not light. Just strong. But it's just an essence. Like whatever the powerful thing was is gone now."

"I see." I glance back at the screen and steeple my fingers together.

"You said you had another job for me?" Kim sits back in his chair.

"I need you to board up a window." I reply absentmindedly, drumming my fingernails on the desk.

"Board up a window?" Kim uncrosses his legs and shakes his head, so his curls move across his eyes. When he swipes them away, he stands up and moves toward the door.

"I'm not a fucking handyman," he says. He's wearing a white shirt and slacks. He still looks like someone who works a respectable office job. An accountant or someone who works in insurance. But his aura is different these days. Since he decided to embrace his destiny as a demon hunter, he's carried himself differently. He's talked to me differently.

I respect him for it.

But I don't like it.

"We have an agreement," I remind him.

Kim braces a hand on the door frame. His back stiffens as he holds his breath in his chest then sighs. When he turns to face me, he leans against the wall and crosses his arms in front of his stomach. "Fine," he says. "Fix a window. Why and where?"

"In Luna's room. Because she tried to escape."

His expression changes. His forehead creases and there's a flicker of irritation, maybe even anger, in his eyes. "What did you do to her? You said you brought her here to protect her while we try to figure out?—"

"I didn't do anything to her." My lips twitch as the image of her shaking and orgasming onto my hand dances through my mind. "Not before the escape, at least. She made that decision completely unprompted by anything I'd done."

Kim's jaw twitches. "I don't like this, Lucien. If the girl wants to leave?—"

Rage blooms in my gut. I stand up and slam my fists on the desk. I feel my eyes flash red, and I feel her blood – the tiny amount I licked from her hand – flutter in my throat. "If she leaves, she could die!" I shout so loudly the lights rattle and the walls seem to creak.

"We have no proof of that, Lucien. The vampires who attacked her were there because of the box." Kim is speaking calmly and firmly, unrattled by my display of anger.

I leave the desk and start pacing the room. I want to break something. I flex my fingers, clench my fists, then pick up the decanter of whiskey on the sideboard and throw it at the wall. It shatters, stains the wallpaper, and the scent of the alcohol fills the air.

"They were there because of her !"

Raising his hands as if he's surrendering, Kim says, "All right, okay, I'll fix the window. But you need to promise you won't hurt her."

I swallow hard, throat twitching at the thought of the deep, scarlet liquid that dripped down her arm when she cut herself. "She is already hurt. She cut herself when she broke the window. See to that, too." I hesitate then meet his eyes. "While you're with her..."

Kim nods and rolls his eyes slightly. "I'll see if I can get a read on her. If I sense the same energy."

"Good." I roll my tongue over my teeth then reach into my pocket and take out the key to Luna's room. "Give this back when you're done."

He looks at the key, then at me, and sighs a little. "Fine. Where are your tools?"

I frown at him. "Tools?"

"Hammer? Nails?"

I wave a dismissive hand. "Basement somewhere."

"And a first aid kit?"

"You think I own a first aid kit? I'm a vampire, Kim. I heal on my own."

Kim slurps the last of his coffee. The noise grates at my temples. "You really need to employ some more people. Big scary mafia guy like you, shouldn't you have a house full of staff to do this shit?"

I step toward him, foot crunching on the broken decanter. "I tried that. It didn't work out," I mutter through gritted teeth. "I keep my inner circle close these days."

"If you say so." Kim shakes his head, disappearing through the door and closing it behind him.

He's part way down the corridor when I hear him say, "Fucking vamps. Crazy mother fuckers."

I return to my desk and re-open the bookshop feed, then take the flask of blood from the drawer. Taking a long swig, holding it in my mouth for a second to savor the taste, I flick to the previous recordings from the shop and find the one that shows Luna receiving the box.

I press play and sit back.

"Yeah," I mutter as I watch her opening the box and peering inside, shadows flickering. "We are crazy mother fuckers."