Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Alexander woke late in the evening, long after sunset. His body was battered and bruised and required rest to heal after his brief battle with Joseph the previous night. His joints were still aching and his face sore, and he silently cursed the man as he rose naked from the bed that had belonged to the Uber driver they’d fed on. He saw that Roxana was not in bed nor in the room and ventured out to see if she was elsewhere in the apartment. He didn’t bother putting on clothes.

The single apartment was especially dark. They had covered the windows against sunlight and none of the lights were on inside. Nevertheless, Alexander’s eyes were attuned to the darkness, and he saw Roxana standing at the bookshelf in the corner, leafing through the previous owner’s meager library.

“Darling,” he said.

Roxana looked up from the copy of From Beirut to Jerusalem. “Alexander. Are you well?”

He noticed the lack of her usual pet name for him. “I will be. You are upset with me, my queen?”

She closed the book deliberately and set it back on the bookshelf. She turned to him and pondered the question a moment before evenly replying. “No, my love. I am upset, but not at you. Your maker is the one who gives me ire. He attacked us without provocation. You, his own progeny.”

Alexander moved towards her, speaking carefully, as if to a dangerous animal. He did not want her ire directed his way. “He would say he had provocation, since we were about to feed on his human.”

Roxana spat on the floor of the apartment. “Humans are for food, not for fucking.”

“I agree,” he said, closing the distance between them. “Though Joseph is not the only vampire to use humans for sexual pleasure.”

“You defend him? He could have killed you. If I had not been there—”

“Joseph would not kill me. He is too sentimental.” Alexander stroked the side of Roxana’s face. “And I find the fact that he dismisses his nature, refusing to feed on humans, more blasphemous than anything else. I lived with that insanity my whole life until you rescued me.”

Roxana’s expression softened at his touch, and she returned the gesture. “You are more vampire than he ever was.” Her hand fell away from his face and she turned as anger crossed her features. “I despise the fact that he found prosperity despite having such weakness.”

Alexander approached behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. “You come from a different time, my queen. When your strength and savagery were all that was needed to rule, who could have known money would become more important than the strength of ten men, or the will to decimate those that cross you?” He reached up and gently turned her face to his. “Those are the things I have always loved in you and still do.”

Roxana sighed. “My batal. You are my warrior poet.” A look of concern passed over her eyes as she looked at him. “It has been two days since you fed and healing your wounds has taxed you. You need to eat.”

“Then let us feast on this City of Angels until we are gorged on it.” He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to him, pressing his lips to hers with a passionate kiss. He ignored the pain in his face, and she ignored his erection that was rising between them.

“Later, my lord,” she cooed as they parted lips, running her fingernails gently along his shaft and making him gasp. “After dinner, I shall give you dessert.”

Los Angeles truly was a banquet for vampire kind. They had taken the Uber driver’s wallet to make it harder to identify the body, but it had the added benefit of providing them a few days of shelter while they got themselves situated in the city. The driver had a modest apartment in Glendale. They determined he didn’t have a family before killing him; Roxana’s connection to his Middle Eastern ancestry charmed him into easy conversation. Now they also had a car to use. But they didn’t have to go far, the unhomed were everywhere in this city. They came for the weather. If you’re going to live outside, you might as well go to a place that rarely gets rain. The only tricky thing for Alexander and Roxana was getting them alone, away from the tent cities they congregated in under freeway overpasses and in public parks.

It wasn’t that tricky.

The pair was closing in on an old black man pushing a rickety grocery cart through North Atwater Park, a strip of greenery between Glendale proper and the Los Angeles River across the freeway from the hills of Griffith park. The location was perfect for feeding. The River, a concrete trough courtesy of the Army Corps of Engineers that snaked through the city from Canoga Park to its mouth in Long Beach, served as a perfect dump for bodies, and the I-5 freeway provided enough noise to drown out screams.

The homeless man was muttering to himself as he pushed his cart, which was laden with all his worldly possessions, the supplies for a makeshift tent, and assorted junk. Alexander and Roxana were stalking him, waiting for when he passed between streetlights and when no witnesses were within sight. The moment came, and Alexander moved in for the kill when a voice came from the direction of the freeway.

“Alexander! We need to talk.” Joseph stepped out of the shadows into the moonlight. The homeless man started at the sound and grabbed a bent golf club from his cart, waving it at the people he realized were following him.

“Git away, now! You git and leave me be!” He pushed his cart with one hand as he swung the club with the other.

Joseph stepped between the man and his would-be killers. “Go, old man, find a place to hunker down.” He faced the other vampires. “A storm is coming.”

Roxana swore at him in Arabic, “Kess Ommak.”

“At least I had a mother,” Joseph shot back, “and am not the bastard daughter of a slave whore.”

Alexander erupted, “You dare speak that way to my wife!”

“Dare?” Joseph pinned Alexander with his gaze, which was filled with white-hot fury. “I dare? You attacked someone who is dear to me and you have the audacity to accuse me of insult?”

Roxana stepped next to her mate, her body taut and ready for combat. “You are a disgrace to our kind, Bavarian. If a fight is what you want, we shall mete out your destruction.”

“Like you did last night?” Joseph taunted.

Alexander responded, his buttons deftly pushed by his former mentor. “You caught me by surprise so I was not able to stand by Roxana’s side against you. Now it is two against one.”

“I can tell from here that you’re weak. I interrupted your meal last night and again tonight.” Joseph gestured towards the homeless man, who was halfway across the park. “While I, on the other hand, am fully fed.”

Roxana sneered. “On the blood of dogs and cats…”

Joseph tsked. “You are tragically behind the times, my dear. No, I feed on human blood.” He omitted the part where it was donated human blood and stood tall, making himself as intimidating as possible. “I am stronger than you, Alexander. And Roxana… well, I feel pretty good about my chances.”

Roxana pushed back. “You lie. For hundreds of years, since you turned my love, you have refused to feed on humans, yet now you change?”

“Do you wish to test my full strength against your weakness, then?” Joseph took a single step towards the couple.

“What do you want, if not a fight?” Alexander asked cautiously, unconsciously retreating half a step.

Joseph spoke slowly, enunciating each word clearly and deliberately. “It’s not what I want. It’s what you want. I know why you’re here. I know why you attacked David. You were trying to get to me. Well, here I am.”

Joseph took another step closer; this time it was Roxana who retreated next to Alexander. “I propose a bargain.”

There was a moment while the words hung in the air between them. It wasn’t what Alexander had expected, and Roxana was always more interested in a fight than talking.

“What sort of bargain?” she finally replied.

“You want what I have built. To join us here in the twenty-first century with money and influence. I want you out of my city. Leave and I will give you half.”

The greed in Alexander spoke before he could think. “Two-thirds.”

Joseph closed the distance between them in a fraction of a blink, the power of his gaze capturing Alexander the way Alexander had held David the night before. “Do not presume you are in a position to negotiate, spawn!” he bellowed. Roxana did not retreat but made no move to intervene.

“Why would you do this?” she inquired skeptically.

Joseph took a deep breath and released Alexander from his freezing stare. The younger vampire stumbled back a step. Joseph looked at the older female. “Because I value peace over conflict. If we fight, at least one of us dies.” He gave Alexander a side-eye. “Probably two-thirds.”

Joseph raised his hands in a gesture of peace and backed up a step to illustrate his desire for conflict-free resolution. “Besides, Alexander is my progeny, despite how our views may differ. We don’t get along, the three of us, but I would never wish you harm. I know you have resisted this new world of business and finance, but I have done well enough to provide for you both. I can give you money or a portion of my company to run. You can learn to turn that into more money to do with as you please, or you can squander it. But you will do it in any part of the world except Los Angeles.”

Alexander was clearly about to say something defiant and rash, but Roxana placed a hand on his shoulder, and he held his tongue. Instead, she spoke for them. “That is most generous of you, Herr Knoblauch. May we take some time to consider your offer?” It was barely a request.

“Don’t take long. I know where you’re living, and I could make that a very short-term arrangement,” Joseph threatened.

“A week, then. No longer.” Roxana bowed, her hands out in supplication. “Now if you’ll excuse us, my husband and I must find a new meal.”

Joseph nodded but did not move. It was clear who was to retreat from this confrontation. Alexander and Roxana backed away until they were far enough that they felt safe, and they strode into the brush and into the Los Angeles River Basin. It was dry this time of year, made for easy travel through the city, and any stray humans that might be down there were easy pickings.