Chapter 4

"Our guests are so needy!"Zee exclaimed, slumped in a chair, boots up on the bar table, wings laid back, and tail flopped on the floor. "It never ends." He draped the back of his hand against his forehead. "I want food, call a cab, fluff my pillows, remove the gremlin from the tub. On and on."

I pulled out a chair next to him and sat with a huff. I'd spent the rest of the afternoon, after returning from Reynard's, performing triage on the hotel bills. We'd barely earned enough to pay the monthly commitments. Closing the bar wasn't helping our financial situation.

"Razorsedge is so much easier," Zee declared. "All I have to do is get my dick out and everyone's happy." His head tilted, face turning thoughtful. "Maybe I should try that here?"

"Definitely do not do that."

"Uh oh," he grumbled, noting my tone. "What happened at Daddy Vampire's? Was it as boring as a box factory?"

"It could have gone better."

"Nobody died, right?"

I winced. I'd deleted myself from Reynard's monitoring system, so...

"Oh fuck." Zee dropped his feet to the floor and leaned on the table. "Adam Vex, did you have another accident? Was it Reynard? Is he dead? Not that I'd care. Or notice. But is he?"

"No, Zee. It wasn't like that. Nothing happened."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh." Zee rolled his eyes and air quoted. "Nothing happened."

"It really didn't. I was just there and found something I probably shouldn't have, but it's all fine now. Nobody actually died."

"Are you sure? Because your aura tastes like a whole lot of fucked-up, just sayin'."

If I told him what I'd found, he'd launch into a tirade about how Reynard was bad and couldn't be trusted, and I did not have the energy for that. I slumped, face first onto the table and folded my arms over the back of my head. I needed Tom, and whiskey, and a day off, and maybe some frantic personal time with Zee against a wall. "Wanna get wasted and fool around on the roof?" I mumbled into the table, still face down. We could probably throw together some of Tom Collins's drinks and hope they made something that wouldn't prove fatal.

"Is that a concierge cry for help, I hear?" The screeching of chair legs on the floor filled the bar, then his voice grew distant. "A concierge's work is never done, you know. I'm on call all the fucking time, fluffing towels, saving lives. Anyhoo. Bye."

I looked up in time to see his tail vanish out the door and the door swing shut.

Okay, there was definitely something going on with him. He'd never turned down an offer like that before. Was it me? Had I done something? Was it because I'd accidentally-maybe-on-purpose squished his general to mush? People seemed to die around me. All the time. Had Zee noticed, and realized his future was better without me?

Didn't he want me anymore?

Ugh, being a boring human was hard.

Tom would have known what to do.

I frowned at the limp and basic Tom Collins behind the bar. Zee had draped a sign around his neck that read: OUT OF ORDER. Then in brackets had added, more out of order than usual.

I moved to the bar and ventured behind it, into Tom's space. Everything had its place. All the bottles, glasses, cannisters, and trays were where they should be. It was all clean and shiny and perfect. He'd run a tight ship.

A cable ran from the humanoid robot into its brain box, where the chip was housed. The only other cable ran to the power outlet. Nothing appeared to be out of place. Strange, how the unit shouldn't have worked at all. Tom had said he'd gotten around the wards, but how? Was Tom really just a computer chip and programmed AI, or something more?

"Good afternoon, Adam." Reynard strode into the bar looking sophisticated and powerful, and took a stool. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm good!" I tittered. "So good. You know? Having a great day, living my best life." Reynard's eyebrow arched. "I mean, uh..." His eyebrow arched higher. "Nothing happened. Nothing at all. Everything is super fine."

"Adam."

Mercy, if his voice sounded any more like chocolate I'd lick it, and him.

"What happened at the office today?" he asked.

If I told him what I'd found, or what I'd done, he'd ask why it mattered, and then we'd have to talk about all the things I couldn't talk about, and once I'd begun, I wouldn't stop, because I wanted to tell him everything. Add to that the unfortunate fact his family were mean, and had already tried to kidnap me once, and while I was really, really into Victor Reynard, I was also really, really into staying alive and hiding.

If he knew the truth, it would put him in danger.

Or, he'd leave.

And I didn't want him to go.

"Oh my stars, this bar sure could use a lick of paint, don't you think?" I said with a forced smile.

Reynard sighed through his nose, then reached inside his jacket pocket and handed over Tom's chip. "You should reinstall Tom for the time being, so you can open the bar again, or else Zodiac will go hungry."

Reynard was considering Zodiac's well-being? "That's thoughtful. Thank you."

"Your grin implies you're assuming my thoughtfulness for the demon is more than a courtesy, when I am merely stating a fact."

"Sure, yup. Why would you care if Zee goes hungry? It's not as though you've recently experienced some complicated feelings regarding Zodiac, like you said at Razorsedge?" I left that one hanging, knelt, and plugged the chip back into its little black box.

"Those were extenuating circumstances."

"Hello, and welcome to the Tom Collins Artificial Bartender Package, version two point one. To change my language, please state your preferred linguistic package now."

I stood, and patted Basic Tom's shoulder. "You're going to be alright, Tom. We'll find a way to break you again."

"Adam Vex," Basic Tom said. His head swiveled toward me. His eyes widened, unblinking. "Goodbye."

"Eh?" That was weird.

Tom picked up a glass, and brought it down onto the side of the bar, smashing it into jagged pieces. "Goodbye."

"Adam!" Reynard yelled.

"Goodbye," Tom repeated again, and lunged.

Jagged glass slashed an inch from my face. I yelped, and danced backwards, away from the sharp parts. The wards hadn't activated.

Reynard became a blur of darkness between me and Murder Tom. Broken glass flew, and Reynard tore off Tom's arm, that was still holding the remains of the glass. Sparks danced and hissed.

I dropped, yanked the plug out, and blinked up at the now limp Tom Collins, and Reynard holding his floppy, mechanical arm.

"Adam, are you alright?" Reynard dumped the arm on the bar.

"I think so." I straightened, then caught Reynard's widening eyes, and how their swirl of silver grew.

"You're bleeding."

"Oh, am I? Uh." I frantically patted my legs, chest, arms. Nothing felt hurt. "Are you—" As I looked up, Reynard moved in close, squishing me against the bar and all of his firm, powerful self. "Sure?" I squeaked.

"Most certain." His voice had gotten all smooth and delicious, and as his fingers trailed down my right arm, tiny shivers danced through me too. He gathered my hand in his, and brought it up between us. There, on my fingertip, glistened a dribble of blood. Tom's broken glass must have caught me when I'd jumped back.

Reynard brought my finger to his lips.

I gulped.

His tongue swept out, and licked up my finger—warm, and wet, and firm. His eyes held me transfixed. He angled my finger, sucked it between his fangs, and every single thought fell out of my head. Apart from one. I really wished my finger was my dick.

A tiny mew squeaked out of me. Oh-kay, daddy, do me now. Backward, forward, upside down. I didn't care. Do me any way. I bit my lip to keep from blurting how much he'd set me ablaze.

Another step, and he was everywhere, pressed in, pulling me deeper into his orbit.

His free hand teased into my hair, and as he brought my finger from his mouth, he bowed his head and whispered, "Would this be an appropriate time for me to admit how I crave your closeness?"

So many words. "Now is good."

Zee was a lot to take in up close, and so was Reynard, but in a very different way. Zee was loud, rambunctious, and physical. Reynard was restrained power. He could snap me in half, but at the same time, his touch was as delicate as butterfly wings. He could move faster than I could track, but right now, he barely moved at all.

That long-lashed gaze roamed my face, drinking in every nuance, savoring me, like a fine wine he'd yet to fully sample.

All my blood rushed to where my body assumed it was needed the most—my dick. My heart thumped, trying to drown out the little voice in my head telling me to drop to my knees and take Reynard in new and exciting ways that had nothing to do with our mutually beneficial arrangement and everything to do with me having a huge thing for Daddy Vampire.

"Adam." His fingers skimmed down my neck.

I moaned around my own blunt teeth, pinched in my lip. "Hmh?"

"This is the only warning I'll give. If you have no wish to proceed?—"

I slung both arms around his neck. "Kiss me, Victor."

He surged in, captured my mouth and thrust in his tongue, pinning me to the bar, kissing with his entire body. His fingers speared into my hair, while the other hand captured my lower back, leaving no room for doubt.

I was about to get owned.

Need pulled at my skin. I clutched him close, but it wasn't enough. He tasted wicked, like something sinfully delicious. My thoughts fragmented, flicking between how his touch burned, his mouth owned, the hardness of his thigh held me pinned, and how as he rocked, a new, tantalizing hardness nudged my hip. Victor Reynard was hard for me.

I dropped my hand between us, and cupped his dick, just to be sure. Mercy. There it was. I mean, I knew he had one. But to grab it, feel it, squeeze it—was a whole other braingasm I'd not prepared for.

A sneering growl rumbled through him. He tore his mouth from mine, cupped the back of my head and scratched sharp fangs down my neck without breaking the skin. Control. He had it in spades.

My body remembered what it felt like to have those fangs sink in. If I hadn't been pinned to the bar, I'd have already been on my knees, desperate to have his cock between my lips or his teeth in my neck. I wanted that, craved it so badly I'd forgotten how to speak.

He leaned back, ran his finger across my parted lips, then probed inside. "Is it this finger you want, Adam? Or something else?"

Oh my stars. My name on his lips, his finger in my mouth, my hand on his hot dick. All my Victor Reynard fantasies were coming true.

He eased his finger free. "Speak. Tell me what you want or this will happen on my terms and mine alone."

Words. I could do words. Words like, do me, daddy. "Victor." I peered into his vampire eyes, resisting their pull, and liking it. "I want to taste you."

"Then get on your knees and make it happen."

My strangled, mewling moan was not at all manly, but it matched the way my legs weakened. Victor took a step back, and down I went, running my hands over his narrow hips until I was eye level with the bulge in his trousers. My cock ached. My mouth watered. Reynard's expert hand came between me and his dick, and his quick fingers plucked at his fly.

The bar doors banged. "How do you get a dick out of a ketchup bottle?" Zee's unmistakable voice piped up.

I shot to my feet, and spun, keeping Reynard behind me. "Zee?!"

Reynard moved in, pressing down the length of my back, my ass, my legs, his body sandwiching mine to the bar. Oh mercy, Zee had the worst timing.

"The one thing you'd think I'd be qualified to answer, but I have no fucking idea—" He jolted to a stop so fast his wings flung forward and momentum almost toppled him over. "Wow. Fuck. There's a whole lot of lust in here. This is... fuck. Also hot. So fucking hot." He spun on his heel—wings and tail sweeping—and faced the door. "Go Adam, but ugh yuck, a vampire? I'm so conflicted. And fucking confused. And, like... aroused?"

"Zee, do you mind?" My voice came out all scratchy, and deep. "We're uh, busy."

"I saw that. I can't un-fucking-see it, can I. So hot. But one of our guests is having a dick emergency. So, hurry it up. I'll wait."

The next few seconds passed in heavy silence.

"Is he just going to stand there?" Reynard whispered. His lips skimmed my cheek.

I peered over my shoulder and up at the fine angles of Reynard's thin face, tracing its haughty lines. His gaze tried to drag me down and bury me in desire, but I was already lost. I'd had my hand on Reynard's dick, had it almost within sucking distance, and would really have liked to investigate that further, but Zee loomed, tail swishing, foot tapping, so distracting. "I think he might be."

Reynard's eyes narrowed. His whole body stiffened, and not in a sexy way. Okay, Reynard was not ready for an audience. And definitely not an audience with Zee in the front row.

"Zee, can you maybe come back later?"

"What about the dick emergency?"

I had my own dick emergency happening.

"Guests are our number one priority." He went on. "You tell me that all the time. Do the rules go out the window because you wanna fuck Vampire Daddy? Just so I know... for future reference."

"Rules are rules. But erm..." His timing was terrible. "Can't you handle it?"

"I have handled it. I am now intimately acquainted with our guest's balls. And I can't get it out. It's hard. It's stuck. He really liked that ketchup bottle. You ever worn a cock ring? No, probably not... Ugh. Whatever. I'll fix it. No thanks to you, Kitten. The things I do for this hotel. I need a raise, and drugs—and Tom back."

Zee left and the door clanged shut behind him, leaving me alone with Reynard and Basic Tom the murderbot, now missing an arm. The volcanic surge of lust that had burned me up moments ago had fizzled to a tepid spurt.

Sensing my fading enthusiasm, Reynard eased off. "Perhaps we should continue this discussion elsewhere, at another time, in a location with more privacy and fewer potential interruptions."

His sudden absence left my back cold. Could this day get any worse? I eyed Basic Tom and huffed.

Okay.

Right.

Priorities.

There were more important things happening than finally getting my hands on Reynard's cock. Mercy, it had been hard. Obviously. And warm. Also, an inch from my face. I'd been so close...

I unpinned my bottom lip from between my teeth and sighed. Must focus on problem number one, not Daddy Vampire's cock. Right. Okay. I could do this. "Did Tom just try to kill me?"

Reynard cleared his throat, his demeanor back to professional businessman, and he studied Tom up close. "Adam, where did you purchase this Tom Collins unit from?"

"A fae, downtown. He had several in the back of a van." I shook off the dregs of the lust and faced Basic Tom.

"You just happened upon him?" Reynard asked. "Did you not wonder why the fae might be selling several Tom Collins bartender AIs from the back of a vehicle?"

"Obviously." I definitely had not wondered that. "But he'd been really nice." Having a bar in the hotel I'd been renovating with Zee had seemed like a great idea at the time. And a bar needed a bartender. The timing had been perfect. Unlike Zee's timing. "It was super cheap, so I thought the AI might just be outdated."

"I wonder if we might be able to locate the fae again and ascertain where this unit was made, and if there's something more going on behind its programming? Shall we head downtown to the spot you bought it, and investigate?"

Yes, in a car with Reynard. But also, no. Because the hotel needed my attention, and apparently a guest had a personal emergency that needed to be dealt with.

"I'd like that, but I should help Zee." And I really needed to keep my head down, and fix my curse, and maybe feel sorry for myself with a glass of whiskey for company.

"Very well, then. I'll attempt to visit alone, but given my notoriety, it's unlikely any fae will speak with me." Reynard hesitated, glancing at armless Tom, then at me.

Would he invite me up to his room? Say it. He had to be thinking it, like I was? I could say it, but he'd just declared we should continue at another time, and I'd just clearly explained I was needed elsewhere.

Oh my stars, why was getting some action so difficult?

"We could..." he began, then swallowed, and glanced away.

"Yes?" Please say it, invite me up, order me, take me on my knees.

"Another night, perhaps, Adam? When you're not so... in demand."

"Okay. Yup. Sure. Great. It's a date—not a date, a... thing? Super."

Reynard left, and there I was, alone again, with a broken bot and its severed arm. "You're no help." I sighed. Although, Basic Tom's attempted murder had resulted in Reynard getting all protective and aroused.

Maybe getting protective was his kink? Or maybe he was into violence? Tom would have known. He also would have fixed me a drink to go with our talk, then told me to get my shit in order and stop whining.

I did have a lot of problems to fix.

"I guess I'd better go help Zee, and then maybe fix my curse, huh?"

Basic Tom didn't reply.

I couldn't put it off any longer.

I had a curse to patch up. And curses, unfortunately, required sacrifices.

I was going gremlin hunting.