Chapter 2

CHAPTER

TWO

Showering after murdering vampires was a must.

Not only did I need to wash all the nasty, undead blood splatter from my hair, but the chill and ache I carried home from the day needed to be cleared away.

It wasn’t even a big bite, but it had fucked with me. I hadn’t felt teeth in my skin in a long time; long enough that I had felt too confident. It had been a brutal wake-up call today to feel it again, to feel that prickling, childish fear crawling up my spine and into my stomach, exploding into a winter storm.

The warm shower helped temper that sharpness somewhat into a dull stab that was easier to mask.

The note, the handwriting and the warning was something else entirely. I’d need some drugs and sex to curb that one down.

“You, my good man,” I said to my reflection, wiping the steam away to check if I’d missed a spot shaving. “Need to get out of your head.”

While my face was very handsome and clean-shaven, I was keenly aware of the dark rings under my eyes. I was long overdue for a good, deep sleep, but I had run painfully dry on Dallas’s Super Fun Time Sleep Drugs, after burning the bridge with Marthas. After years of dabbling in recreational drug activities, melatonin wasn’t going to cut through my insomnia, and I wasn’t sure if asking Sias to charm me so I could sleep was appropriate yet.

Hell, I wasn’t sure what was appropriate at all for us, other than wild, fantastic sex.

I wasn’t even sure if saying “us” was within the realm of appropriate. We never discussed it, even after I saved him from drowning after Omar’s spooky shit. Somehow, after all that, we just fell back into the same pattern of “dinners” and avoidance of deep conversations about relationships.

And for some reason, it was starting to hurt my feelings, which I really didn’t know how to manage.

I didn’t get my feelings hurt. I was an assassin. A vampire hunter. A goddamn menace.

Menaces don’t get their feelings hurt. We kill things or do drugs about it. The whole thing was throwing off my groove.

The brisk bite of cold air on my body helped dispel the clouds in my brain as I threw my bathroom curtain open, steam breathing out into the apartment. My skin rolled with warmth, the towel around my shoulders protecting me from too much chill at once. I closed my eyes and inhaled, getting back into character.

I had work to do, a “dinner” to attend, and fuckery to accomplish.

“Other people live here,” Zane commented from the kitchen. “Can you put your dick away?”

“Never.”

“Marthas is going to be at a gala tomorrow,” he added as he turned his wide back to me. The sound of a can of cat food popping open set off the Twig alarm, the tiny rat-kitten dancing at his feet for the processed tuna.

“A gala?” I transferred the towel to my waist and sat on a barstool near the kitchen so my ass didn’t stick to the vinyl. “What kind of gala?”

“The kind where Florence is going to be.”

“How the hell do you know that?”

Zane emptied the contents of the metal can into a dish, cutting it into tiny pieces with a fork. Twig sprinted ahead of his footsteps, jumping up onto the counter beside Kevin’s tank and continued to scream.

“I called Dex and asked,” he explained, following after his kitten. “You owe her two hundred bucks for the intel by the way.”

“Me? You’re the one she gave the info to!”

“Mm-hm. You owe me a hundred for the relay.” Zane placed the small bowl that was full of pungent, fishy cat food next to Kevin.

“Fuck you. Also, are you feeding your feral little goblin beside my betta’s tank? The hell is wrong with you?”

“Keeps his ego in check.” Zane cut his eyes to Kevin, who blew a bubble at him.

“Dick.” I waited until he turned around and pushed the bowl away from the tank. Kevin flicked his fin. I agreed with the sentiment.

“Where is the gala going to be?” I asked after Kevin and I exchanged mental notes about murdering a vampire and feeding it to a cat.

“Metro Gardens. It’s an exclusive, invite-only situation.”

“Easy. Did she say if he was bringing the goods with him to this gala?”

Zane rinsed the dirty fork and put it away, leaning on the sink. “According to her intel, he’s bringing everything he has. Florance is going to make him an offer at the location.” He wiped his hands off and crossed his arms over his chest, face settling into his normal scowl. “What are you thinking?”

“If we can catch him before he gets there, we can grab the shit before it gets into the heavily guarded VIP, rich person party.”

“You know where he might be stashing everything?”

“Not a clue,” I admitted with a sigh. “All my contacts went quiet after the…uh…club incident.”

“Where you fucked his boyfriend and caused a fight?” Zane said it like he was bored.

“Didn’t know it was his boyfriend, and it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

Zane’s scowl shifted to the more grumpy kind.

“I got stabbed, hunter.”

“But you got that jacket,” I pointed out. “So silver lining.”

“Do you have any means in finding out the route or travel arrangements Marthas is going to take to his gala?” he asked, ignoring my positive spin on the stabbing situation.

“Yeah. I got a last-ditch effort sort of contact. What are your feelings on acquiring human meat?”

“Human meat,” he repeated slowly. “If this is your weird term for sex stuff?—”

“I would just say ‘sex stuff.’ I mean actual meat. Fresh is better. Like a newly dead person, optimally a chunk from the upper thigh or butt.” I shrugged. “I’m not asking you to kill someone. The general hospital near the Swallows has a great morgue guy who’ll leave you alone with a corpse for a bag of Dust.”

It was always a delight to watch Zane’s face twist like he just ate a bug.

“What in Goddess’s name are you talking about?”

“It would really save me a trip.” I slid off the stool. “I’m going to be a little busy tonight, so if you pop down there, we could get a jump on this intel.”

“You’re not joking,” he realized out loud, possibly amused in his horror.

“Not even a little bit.”

“You’re honest and upfront with me about you bribing morgue workers and acquiring human meat for intel, but you’re cagey as hell about injuries.” Zane gave a knowing nod to my leg.

“It’s fine.” I adjusted my towel a bit to make sure it was covered. It stung, and it made me feel sick each time the skin pulled around it, but I’d live.

“It’s not fine,” he countered coolly. “It’s bothering you.”

“Mind your own feelings, Zane. I hate that shit.”

“I can heal it for you. It just takes a little blood?—”

“No. Fuck no. We’re not doing blood stuff.” I felt my heart ricochet around, bouncing off sharp barbs of intense disgust and excitement that I couldn’t wrangle into cohesive thoughts.

“Fine.”

“You’re getting me stressed before my dinner date.” I checked my bare wrist for a watch I didn’t have, then patted my towel for pockets. “What time is it?”

“You’re going to be late,” the vampire said just as I heard a knock at the door.

“Damnit! Stall him!” I sprinted to my clothing, throwing my pile into smaller piles to find something clean. “Don’t let him leave without me! Break his leg!”

“You’re more upset about being late to your booty call than you were about defiling a corpse,” Zane mused. “Each day I learn that you’re more depraved than I had originally thought.”

“Gotta keep the boys on their toes.” I extracted a pair of pants that seemed cleanish, and tugged them on while wrestling a shirt free. “Adds some spice to life.”

The knock came again, a little more demanding the second time around. It became very apparent that Zane had decided not to assist, instead opting into poking around on his phone while his kitten gobbled down processed fish. The knocking continued, agitated and quick, whatever patience this driver had was waning quickly.

I tugged my shoes on as I made my way to the door, barely getting my left foot into the damn thing before beginning the process of unlatching all of my security mechanisms. By the time I swung my front door open, I was aware that I must have looked like a sweaty mess of horny desperation.

What greeted me on the other side wasn’t a pissed-off driver wearing a nice suit, getting paid handsomely to bring Sias his dinner.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what the hell I was looking at. A few seconds of confusion hung in the air as I stared dumbfounded at a stone statue positioned right in front of my face, a grinning Barnaby just outside of frame.

“Hey, Barns,” I finally managed. “That’s a really nice stone vagina you have there.”

The extremely detailed carving of what I assume was a very lovely vulva was retracted, replaced instead by Barnaby’s grinning face.

“Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Sure,” I lamented, turning to let him inside. “If you’re into sex toys for rocks.”

“This is an authentic fertility offering from almost two thousand years ago.” Barnaby swept inside, placing the graphic totem near the whiny kitten and the unamused betta fish. “They use these to burn incense during sex in order to please the spirits. Isn’t it simply stunning ?”

“Where the hell did they put the incense?” I asked, immediately regretting my question as Barnaby extracted a stick from his pocket, putting it exactly where I knew it would go. “Women really had a crap time in history, didn’t they?”

“Oh, there’s a male version too,” Barnaby informed us, lighting the incense unprompted. “I’ve yet to track that one down.”

“How progressive,” Zane added, waving the vagina smoke away from the cat.

“You hoping to please some spirits?” I teased.

The fussy incubi rolled his eyes, dusting the figure off with his sleeve.

“I came to see if you are going to drop off a crystal tonight. I’m getting hungry and the last three you gave me weren’t great quality.”

My pride was stung, Zane’s snicker an extra little stab that made me a bit more defensive than I wanted.

“You try having a fulfilling self-love session when you share a one room apartment with a guy who doesn’t sleep.” I smoothed my cleanish shirt down, the movement fidgety instead of cool. “Sias is back in town, so tonight’s sex crystal menu is going to be much better.”

In addition to being a fussy prick at the best of times, Barnaby had apparently been working on his passive aggressive stand-up because he popped off with, “Thank the Gods for that. It was like chewing gum that lost its flavor after three bites.”

I wasn’t a fan. Zane sure as fuck was, because he laughed like it was the funniest goddamn thing he’d ever heard.

“You know I’ve trained Kevin to poison people, right? They’d never find your bodies,” I reminded them, but was overshadowed by an undead Thrall giggling. Even his little goblin got in on the action, meowing along too.

Barnaby pretended like he wasn’t proud of the jab but failed to hide his little smirk. “I didn’t mean it as a joke.”

“Uh-huh. Why don’t you go enjoy your weird smoking vagina statue back at your shop. I’m waiting on someone to pick me up.”

“You mean the gentleman downstairs?” Barnaby tossed a lazy gesture over his shoulder. “He’s been parked for about twenty minutes.”

Of course he had been. Of. Fucking. Course.

“Great!” I announced, snatching my jacket. “Fuck you both very much, I hope you fall down the stairs.”

“Don’t forget rent is due in three days!” Barnaby called after me, and I slammed the door behind me.

As expected, the driver was pissed.

He didn’t even greet me as I sprinted over to his town car, only checked his watch slowly, and walked to the driver’s side door.

“Mr. Llon’nai wanted us there by seven,” he growled.

“Yeah, blame the idiot with the patchouli pussy.”

He gave me a look and I just shook my head.

“Never mind.”

To say the ride to Sias’s office building was uncomfortable was an understatement. Not the car itself—that was all premium leather with heat-controlled seats—but the driver decided that I had lost my music privileges. I had to ride in silence the entire way, listening only to the man’s contempt for making him fail to meet Sias’s expectations.

To be fair, I wouldn’t want to disappoint Sias either. The Gods themselves didn’t have a presence in the city, but he sure as hell did.

I was unceremoniously dropped off in front of Llon’nai tower, a glittering monument to the power of the all-mighty dollar placed right at the heart of St. Athesall’s business district. The spiral of glass and steel captured the city lights and played with them, sliding neon signs and streetlights lazily across the surface like the world itself was its toy. Automatic doors whispered greetings when I passed through, a security guard waving for me to go ahead.

It was after hours, which made the building hum at a low boil, only a few floors still active. Sitting at the very top of his castle, Sias’s suite was waiting for me, guarded by a blond dragon with a killer resting bitch face.

Claudia flicked her eyes up at me as I sauntered in, perfect eyebrows bored with my audacity.

“What the hell are you still doing here?” I demanded. “Also, hi, Claudia. How are you?”

“I don’t leave until Mr. Llon’nai leaves.” She made a show of checking her watch. “It’s like you’re not even trying anymore.”

“I was ambushed by a very excited landlord bearing a new stone sex toy.” I angled my head to the closed door. “I’d rather not be later by having to explain that.”

Claudia hummed, lifting one finger and taking a million years to push down on the com.

“Sir, your late dinner has finally arrived.”

The office door clicked, a lock sliding open. Claudia wiggled her fingers at it and cut me with a judgmental up and down.

“He’ll see you now.”

I still disliked Claudia.

All the windows facing the lobby were tinted too dark to see through, but the windows overlooking the city were clear and wrapped around the expanse of Sias’s immaculate office. A never-ending lake of electric crystals shone up at us, blinking and buzzing with life. The inner lights of the office were dim and calm, Sias’s lithe form leaning against his marble desk.

Tonight he was wearing a bespoke, gray suit with sapphire shirt, his hair a waterfall of honey blond cascading down his shoulders. The golden tips of his incubi horns caught the soft light, reflecting as sharply as the tumbler he sipped from. Tan skin under his open collar looked warm and delicious, his long fingers curled around the edge of the desk.

“You kept me waiting, Dallas.”

“I had a wild landlord hold me up.” I crossed the office, pausing just within arm’s reach. “And I kinda got exploded earlier. Had to make sure to get all the debris out of my hair.”

His eyes were a smoky swirl of lavender and magenta as he looked up from the tumbler, a galaxy of splendor I could never navigate.

“If you’re trying to be intimidating, it’s just making it worse,” I teased. “I like it when you glare at me like you want to literally eat me.”

He finished his drink with one final toss, throat moving hypnotically.

“You don’t think I could punish you properly, darling boy?”

A thrill of excitement slid down my spine like it was a stripper pole. Every bit of me that liked being touched by Sias tingled, and I failed to hold back my smirk.

“I’d love to see you try.”

Sias lifted from his causal lean, his eyes flashing a shade of fuchsia only reserved for when he was about to bend me over something. The long fingers that had been cooled from the glass pinched my chin, forcing it up as he stepped in close. There was only a few inches of difference between our heights, but when he was a breath away from me, he was a tower of sex peering down a perfect nose at me.

A beautiful warmth curled up from my chest and flooded my brain, the charm magic pulsing from Sias a drug I was hopelessly addicted to. The city lights faded away, reality tunneling into only bright eyes and the rich taste of amber and tobacco.

Incubus magic was the blissful venom used to relax prey before devouring, a non-lethal poison that made their meals drooling simps that would do whatever they wanted in order to reach the height of sexual pleasure. When Sias’s venom was pumping through me, when his magic had a grip on me, I wasn’t just a horny jackass ready to fall to my knees at his command; it gave me a way to forget, to get lost in the fantasy that there was nothing else out there but that moment.

No necromancers. No death.

No disappointment or regrets.

No mistakes.

No loss.

No loneliness.

Only pleasure, release, and priceless distractions.

Sias was my escape, and I was in love with it.

Warm breath traced over my lips as he spoke, spiked with the sting of the drink he just finished.

“Lie on your back across my desk. I want to watch your face when I make you come.”

A brutal chill shook me, my body responding immediately to not only the promise of ecstasy, but in the authoritative, boss daddy tone he used when he was ready to eat me alive. I hadn’t realized his other hand had hooked into my belt loop until I was manhandled in a circle, my ass hitting the edge of his desk. As ordered, I lifted myself and sat on the cold marble, bringing us eye to eye. Fuchsia pinks shifted to rose under hooded lids, and I nearly gasped as he finally pulled me into a kiss.

Sias’s tongue tasted like hundred dollar whiskey and sex magic, an impossibly delicious aphrodisiac that made me groan and wiggle around like a touch-starved deviant. My fingers grabbed his designer shirt in an effort to keep myself from floating away as well as bring him closer, my tongue dancing with his like it was going to solve all my damn problems.

Long, elegant fingers gripped the back of my hair, the tug of his magic feeding on my mounting excitement made me almost lift off the damn desk with need. I felt my jeans being unfastened with such speed and dexterity that it was almost distracting, but my dick had taken the wheel at this point.

God, had I needed his touch, his magic, his taste. My mind had been crowded with the growing vampire population, the risk of Marthas doing something stupid with those fucking artifacts, the necromancer I couldn’t seem to track down.

Not to mention the goddamn note.

It had been a long time since I had seen that handwriting.

But that was future Dallas’s problem, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to think about that when Sias was about to have his absolute fill of me.

My body was on fire, lit within the electric pulse of incubus magic and Sias’s hunger. I was making noises only Sias got to hear: the desperate whines and pants of a man drowning in an ocean of lust and happily ready to sink to the bottom.

When the spell was broken, it happened so suddenly I exhaled like someone had punched me in the gut.

Sias’s palm had landed right on the vampire bite on my leg, the sting a shrapnel bomb that ripped through the fantasy. The devastation was so severe, so complete, that I was left embarrassed with my ass on a very cold desk.

Worse yet, Sias blinked like he had just woken up from a dream.

“Are you alright?” he asked, more surprised than concerned.

“Fuck.” I squeezed my eyes shut, an ache of shame creeping over like a storm cloud.

“Did I hurt you somehow?” Sias lifted his hands off me. “When you said you exploded earlier, I thought it was a joke.”

“It wasn’t the explosion.” I scrubbed at my face, hoping maybe I could just erase myself from the situation. “I got…this fucking vampire surprised me earlier. On my leg.”

“How bad?”

“Not bad. It’s fine.” I rolled my head from side to side to try and ease the tension knotting between my shoulders. “Just give me a second. I’ll be good to start again.”

“Dallas.”

“Can we start back from the kiss and go from there?”

His fingers weren’t icy anymore when he took my chin again, my eyes forced up from the ground to meet his. They weren’t pink anymore. They had shifted to a sapphire, the fire gone.

“You should go heal and rest.”

“Sias, I’m fine. I’m not about to leave you hungry.”

His brow quirked a fraction. “I didn’t invite you here just to eat.”

The fist around my heart unclenched, and I felt a new wave of something complicated.

“Really?”

He hummed in affirmation, and gave my chin a soft squeeze before letting me go.

“It also matters to me that you’re healthy and rested. I don’t want you keeping injuries from me in the future.”

“I don’t plan on letting this happen again,” I practically growled, pushing myself from the desk.

Sias extracted a billfold from his pocket, plucking a few hundred from the fold before tucking them into my pocket.

“Go heal, and get something to eat. You were too excited to notice but your stomach was growling.”

“One of these days we need to go get food dinner after sex dinner.” I managed to force a smirk, even though I wanted to sprint out the nearest window.

Sias leaned down to kiss my lips, a gentle, sweet thing he didn’t give out often.

“It’s a date.”