Just on purpose, Nick’s mind muttered. Just when they tell you to––
It’s not his fault, Tai thought at him stubbornly. This isn’t Mal’s fault, Nick!
Nick clenched his jaw.
He forced himself not to answer, not to say what he really, really wanted to say to the kid.
Truthfully, he was at a loss.
There was no way he could get close enough to Tai to stop her.
Tai herself aside, St. Maarten’s people would definitely get between him and whatever they were doing in there. They would definitely get between him and Tai. Nick had his doubts they’d kill him, at least not outright, but they wouldn’t need to. If Tai was right about the drones, a few good tranq darts to the torso, and they could dump him and Wynter off in his apartment and let them sleep it off.
After all, who was he going to tell?
Would he really go to Jordan with this? To Charlie?
Would he ever even consider reporting her to I.S. Fucked? Drop an anonymous tip maybe, that a pre-teen, adorably cute nuclear bomb who happened to like cookies, hamburgers, and pink unicorns was walking around the New York and Northeastern Protected Areas, able to kill humans and vampires just by thinking at them really, really hard?
He was about to try and talk to Tai again, when he sensed movement up ahead and froze, squeezing Wynter’s hand so that she froze with him.
He stared out over the street, aiming his vampire eyes at the area past the one and only streetlight he could see that was actually working. A shadowy figure walked there. He was far away at first, so far Nick hadn’t yet heard him.
Now that he found him with his eyes, he could see him, though.
He held what looked like a bag of groceries in his arms.
Nick glanced at Wynter.
Looking at the cluster of trees alongside the road, he made a decision, and leaned towards her ear.
“Wait here,” he murmured. He kissed her face. “Stay in the shadows. Please, honey. Don’t move. Stay out of sight.”
She met his gaze when he drew back.
Frowning, she seemed to be contemplating arguing with him for a second.
Then she nodded, reluctant, her eyes sharp.
Kissing her face again, he released her hand.
Then, glancing ahead long enough to chart a course through the shadows, he ran.
Chapter 27
A Familiar Face
Nick made his way down the rain-slicked street, staying out of the light.
He moved fast, soundlessly, keeping to the shadows.
His fangs extended before he was halfway there, but he kept his mind completely silent, using a skill-set he hadn’t had reason to use in over a hundred years.
He already knew the man walking down the street in front of him was human.
He stripped his thoughts because of Tai.
He didn’t want Tai to stop him.
The wind shifted, giving him a big whiff of the man’s scent.
It re-confirmed his race, but he’d known well before that.
He could see it in the way the human walked, in how he propelled his limbs and body down the street. Everything about him indicated he was making his way home––the groceries in his arms, his indifference to his own surroundings, his relaxed demeanor. His steps zig-zagged as he watched something on his headset, paying little attention to his exact course down an obviously-familiar road.
Even so, Nick knew he must be using the infrared settings on his headset as he walked; he worried briefly about Wynter showing up in the male’s headset for the same reason…
Then the human turned on a dim light, illuminating his steps with the visible light spectrum, and Nick relaxed.
The human had just left the round glow of the last working streetlamp on this segment of street. Apparently, he wasn’t worried about anyone ambushing him down here, whoever he was.
Nick was still heading his way as the human entered the pitch-black part of the street, now staring down at the segment of road illuminated by his headset.
By then, Nick could see the size of him.
The human wasn’t overly tall, but he was muscular.
Moreover, while he might be slow for a vampire, for a human, he moved like a fighter.
His steps were unusually graceful for a human, and he landed firmly on his heels, giving himself a solid center of gravity.
None of that concerned Nick, of course.
Seconds later, he was close enough to make out the man’s face, to really see his features.
Once he did, he cursed. Silently, of course.
Jesus.
Yeah, he knew this fucker all right.
He also now knew it hadn’t been Tom who infiltrated the boxing club, at least not for the gang of vampire harvesters. Tom might have been there for the White Death, and for Brick, but he wasn’t there to drain and kill vampires.
The man coughed as Nick watched, his eyes showing him to definitely be watching something in his headset, likely in split-screen, which is probably why he wasn’t using his infrared settings. Instead, he used the visible light, his attention flickering back and forth between the virtual screen and his view of the street.
He still held two bags of groceries, now carrying them at his sides using straps.
Nick smelled chips, something syrupy and sugary that was probably soda, protein supplements, heated pizza squares, water, artificial chocolate, artificial meat––
Blood.
He smelled a lot of blood.
At least one of those bags was filled entirely with blood bags. He had to have at least twenty in there. Enough for two vampires.
Or one vampire who was holed up.
Or one vampire who was injured, maybe.
All of that flashed through Nick’s mind without him slowing his silent tread.
He watched the human switch one of the bags to the other hand, and pat down his thick red hair in the misting, not-quite-rain air, pulling briefly on his own beard without losing the distant look in his eyes.
Taking the second bag back with his free hand, he moved his arms without letting go of his grip on either, simulating punches as he walked without losing stride. He made the heavy bags swing from the motion of his fists, but didn’t drop or spill anything in them.
He was watching the fights.
Fucking perfect.
That was just… perfect.
Nick’s fangs were fully extended now.
He didn’t make a sound as he slid lower to the ground in a stalking run, moving fast despite some lingering sluggishness, not to mention his arm, which was still wrapped in an organic cast, and his ribs and leg, which were as well. All of those things slowed him down, but this was a human, not a vampire.
A human didn’t have a fucking chance against him.
Moreover, Nick was hungry.
His injuries made that hunger worse.
The smell of all that blood made his hunger worse.
Nick leapt once he was close enough, catching hold of the male’s throat in midair and landing heavily on his chest with his knees.
He felt the wind leave the man’s body in a thick whoosh…
Then the human was gasping under him in pain, eyes wide as he fought to breathe through his semi-collapsed lungs, groaning under the fingers clenched around his throat.
Nick stared down at that face, and something in him snapped.
Fury rose in him, hitting him with an intensity that was briefly hard to think through. Fury at what had been done to him.
Fury about Wynter, about what she’d been through.
Fury about Tai. Fury about what they’d done to Tai.
Every instinct in his body and mind told him to rip out the human’s throat, maybe spit it out in his fucking face.
He didn’t do that, though.
Instead he bent down in a single swift motion, before the human had even figured out what was happening to him, much less what was about to happen.
Ripping the human’s headset
off with one hand, Nick flung it behind him, hearing it clatter lightly on the pavement. Before it came to a final resting spot, Nick had already bent down, and sank his fangs into the human’s thick chest.
He bit him right through the thin T-shirt that covered his muscular upper body, injecting venom and drinking hard without thought.
It was the first live feed he’d had in weeks.
It felt a lot longer than that.
Letting out a low groan, he drank harder, shifting his fingers from the throat to the male’s hair. He was hard, without fully acknowledging that either, and then he was injecting more venom, feeling the human grow soft under him, completely submissive.
Nick kept drinking.
He growled as he drank, but he barely heard it.
A fog fell over his mind.
He forgot why he was there, why he was doing this.
He forgot Tai.
He forgot Wynter…
Then he didn’t.
His mind flickered back, even as he felt the male under him starting to shift, to grow more faint. Nick made himself stop. He didn’t manage to do it gracefully. He didn’t manage to extract his fangs smoothly––he ripped them out of the human’s chest, taking a chunk of flesh with him as he did.
He spit it out, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve.
He was still growling faintly, kneeling astride the human’s chest.
He fought to pull himself back, to control the heat that washed over him as the blood filled his veins. He stared down at the human’s face, meeting the blank, strangely awe-filled looked the human aimed up at Nick.
Nick knew that look.
He’d seen it hundreds… thousands… tens of thousands of times before.
He’d seen it a lot over the years.
Desire filled the human’s eyes, increasing as Nick watched. The male reached up, putting a thick hand on Nick’s crotch. Nick hadn’t asked him to do that. He doubted the human normally preferred males.
He also didn’t take the hand off him.
“Gabriel,” Nick said, his voice a low growl still. “Hello, Gabriel.”
The human blinked up at him, dazed.
Looking at him, feeling the weakness of the hand that wanted to massage his cock, Nick realized how close he’d come to killing him.
He might have killed him yet.
“Remember me, jackass?” Nick said.
The human nodded, still staring up at him with adoring eyes.
“You’re the White Wolf,” the male said, his voice an awe-filled whisper. “You’re the cop. The vampire cop…”
The human’s eyes grew confused.
Nick could feel the male’s free will battling with the venom.
Feeling what was behind that, he grunted, pushing the other male’s hand off as he rose to his feet in a single, smooth motion, staring down at his prey.
“You hate my guts, don’t you, Gabriel?” Nick said, as he watched the male look at him. “You tried to kill me.”
The human nodded, swallowing. “Yes,” he whispered.
“Why?” Nick growled.
The red-haired human––the same human who had first taken Nick down to the pit below the fighting ring, the red-haired human who wished him luck along with everyone else, patting him on the back as he helped escort Nick up to the ring earlier that night––looked about to answer him.
Before he could speak, much less pull himself off the pavement, another voice rose.
“Why do you think, bloodsucker?” the voice hissed, coldly.
Nick froze.
Turning, he found himself staring at two faces.
One of those, he’d never seen before in his life.
The other one was his girlfriend, Wynter.
Chapter 28
Three Brothers
The snarl rose in Nick’s throat and chest without him willing it.
He didn’t look at Wynter.
He stared at the human who held her by the hair, fingers clenched in a fist where he’d wrenched her head back. He held a knife to her throat, a knife with a long edge, serrated at the thickest part of the blade.
Nick didn’t know him.
He’d never seen him before in his life.
But that didn’t matter now.
Nothing to do with the case, with who this fucker was, even with Tai, meant a damned thing to Nick in that moment. Nick’s eyes took in every detail of the knife, every millimeter of it, and where it pressed against Wynter’s pale throat.
Then he met Wynter’s gaze.
Seeming to see the meaning in his eyes, she shook her head, her eyes wide.
At the same time, he could almost feel her taking him in.
He wondered how much she’d seen of him with the red-haired human, Gabriel, who Nick had just now almost killed…
He shoved that from his mind, too.
She couldn’t push this guy for some reason.
She couldn’t use her mental powers on him.
“He’s a vampire,” Wynter blurted, as if seeing the calculation going through Nick’s mind on his face. “I think he’s not fully turned… but he’s a vampire.”
The man holding her growled and snapped, gripping her hair even tighter in his fist.
“Fuck you,” he hissed, leaning down into her face. “Blood-whore bitch. I saw you holding his hand. I saw you with him… disgusting whore…”
The male turned, glaring at Nick, and that time, Nick saw it.
His eyes were changing under the cheap contacts he wore.
A human wouldn’t have seen it, but Nick could.
Nick saw it clearly, even in the dark.
He didn’t let himself look down at Wynter.
He kept his attention focused solely on the newborn vampire. The vampire growled at him then, and Nick saw the fangs.
He found he understood. Some of it, at least.
“Did your brother do it?” he said. “Raphael? Was he the one who turned you?”
Nick waited for the other male to answer him.
He didn’t.
“He’s new too, isn’t he?” Nick said. “Your brother. He’s new. That’s how it happened.” Nick’s eyes flickered over the newborn’s face. “Yeah, you’ve got newbie written all over you. So does your brother. I can’t believe I didn’t notice. He couldn’t help himself, could he? He started off just drinking some, here and there… right? He got too hungry.”
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!” the other vampire hissed.
Nick grunted, hands on his hips.
“Don’t I? You sure about that kid?”
He paused, gauging the other’s eyes, waiting to see if he’d say more.
He didn’t.
“How’d it happen?” Nick said, prodding him again. “You tried to keep him happy with blood bags, but it wasn’t enough? The fights weren’t enough? And you were there. Every night, you were there.”
Nick jerked his head towards the red-headed human on the ground, giving Gabriel a bare glance. “Is he feeding on him yet?”
Nick’s voice grew harder still, still charged from his feed.
“Are you?” he said, colder. “Are you feeding on brother Gabriel yet?”
Thinking about the other two names, he grunted.
“What’s your name?” he said. “Uriel? Saraqael? Raguel? Or––”
“Michael,” the other blurted, yanking harder on Wynter’s hair.
“Of course,” Nick said, fighting not to roll his eyes. “Of course it is––”
“Shut the fuck up!” the human snarled. “You don’t know shit! You don’t know anything! You’re a demon––”
Nick’s lips quirked. “What does that make you… brother?”
“You’re the reason I’m this way! They came there for you! They came to rescue you! My brother told me everything!” Still growling in the back of his throat, the vampire lowered his voice. “Those people came. They killed Melissa… and Felix. They locked me in the freezer. By the time Ra
phael found me, I was almost dead. He had no choice. He had to turn me––”
“Sure he did.” Nick rolled his eyes for real that time. “I’m sure that’s what he told you, kid. He had to turn you. To save your life, right? He had no choice.”
Nick grunted, still keeping his eyes carefully off Wynter’s face.
“…That’s a sad tale, kid,” he added. “A sad, utterly bullshit tale, but hey, at least your brother and you can pal around for eternity now, right? Killing other vampires together? Pretending you’re doing God’s work?”
A hiss came out of the young vampire’s lips.
Fury rose in that pale face.
Nick could feel it.
It wasn’t all anger at him. The vampire wasn’t only reacting to him.
He wasn’t even mostly reacting to him, not anymore.
The fucker was smelling Wynter.
He was smelling her and it was turning him on. He wanted to feed on her. He wanted to fuck her and feed on her, and he was some kind of religious weirdo who hated vampires, so he probably hadn’t even fully admitted to himself what was happening to him, or what he wanted, or even what he was now.
In any case, Nick remembered being a newborn.
He remembered what that was like.
Michael wouldn’t be able to stop himself for long.
Feeling the newborn starting to focus on her overtly, Nick sharpened his voice, trying to keep his attention on him.
“So what now, ‘Michael’?” Nick said, his voice openly derisive.
He moved as he spoke, closing the gap between himself and the two of them.
He kept his movements predatory, a hunter’s walk, moving as vampire-like as he could.
For the same reason, he punctuated his smooth strides with sharper, faster movements that would bring the newborn’s eyes and instincts back to him, put him into the category of threat to the newborn’s life. The goal was to keep Michael’s vampire lizard-brain off-balance. Nick added jerks and head movements when he felt the other’s awareness of Wynter return, keeping the vampire’s attention on him, yanking on every one of the vampire’s unconscious fear-threat triggers he could manage.
Eyes of Ice Page 32