by Kat Cotton
I wanted to repair things with Kisho, but, seriously, he needed to toughen up.
Chapter 3 Nic: Problem Child
“I have to go out for a while.”
“No.” Vlad rushed over and threw his arms around me.
“Down, Vlad, down. You’re cute, but you can’t come with me.”
The two of us had bonded, but that bond could be a bit overwhelming at times. This was the first time I’d left him alone in the days since I’d rescued him. My last speaking engagement had ended in him trying to feed off the audience, so I sure wasn’t taking him along with me. Of course, part of that killing could’ve been my fault. We’d only put on the event to lure Vlad out of hiding, but I’d rescued him and fought off the Vampire King, so all up, it’d been a success. We’d been saved by my ingenuity. Oh, and a little bit by Clem Starr sexing up the Vampire King. But mainly by me.
“It’s going to be boring, anyway. You wouldn’t like it. And the basement is nice. Do you want to watch a DVD?”
When I’d refurbished the basement for him, I’d put in a large screen TV and got some DVDs for him to watch. He didn’t seem that interested in those, but then I wasn’t sure if he really understood what a TV was. In his human days, they hadn’t yet been invented, and he’d lived a feral life since he’d been turned.
“Here, I’ll put a fun DVD on. You’ll enjoy it.”
I set up the DVD player. My face appeared on the screen as I spoke about being your best possible you.
Vlad looked from the screen to me, then back again.
“Pretty man,” he said to the TV. “Pretty man,” he said to me.
He called me pretty man. Mainly because I was preternaturally beautiful.
The DVD fascinated him. He stood in the middle of the room, mesmerized. I led him to the chair in front of the television.
“Watch the pretty man.”
Vlad hmphed. I hated leaving him locked in the basement. Once I’d trained him to be a properly socialized vampire, he could have his freedom, but until then, he needed to be contained.
I checked my watch. I didn’t have much time to get to the event.
It wasn’t even like it was a horrible dungeon. I’d made it gorgeous. There were no windows, but it wasn’t like Vlad needed light. He had a bed with a blue and white comforter and a bunch of throw cushions. Then I’d put in a comfortable chair so he had somewhere nice to sit. A framed portrait of me hung over the bed. As far as basements went, this one was luxurious.
I’d also set up some of those gymnastic bars so he could train at home. He’d been a world-class gymnast as a human. It was the one thing that kept him occupied. One of the problems with the kid was that he got bored so easily. He might not be capable of expressing himself in English, but he was super bright.
Vlad was no ordinary vampire. He had unicorn blood, which made him extra strong and extra hungry. It also made him super cute, with his shiny hair and cute chipmunk teeth.
“Pretty man, come back,” he cried as I prepared to leave the house.
I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. Because of the bond between us, if I got tense or worried, he felt it. Maybe he even felt it more deeply than I did. I wasn’t sure if he was aware of the bond as an actual bond, running between the two of us like a pipeline, or if he just suddenly got swamped with emotion, unsure of its source. I had to be extra sure to keep my emotions in check. Luckily, I tended not to be an overly emotional person. Today, though, the stress had started getting to me.
I inhaled again. In with positivity. I exhaled. Out with negativity. After a few breaths, Vlad settled down to watch the DVD.
Before I left the house, I checked myself in the mirror.
Damnation. Creases in my shirt. Smeared eyeliner. And what was going on with my hair?
If I was known for anything, it was the perfection of my appearance. I couldn’t leave the house looking like a mess. I’d been so focused on Vlad, I couldn’t even remember if I had moisturized. I’d never thought about how hard-working mothers had it until now. I’d been pack leader for decades, but leading a full-grown pack was so different from dealing with a feral, child-like unicorn vampire.
Down in the basement, Vlad gave a scream. Yep, my face made me feel like that too. It was as though someone had marred a work of art.
There wasn’t much I could do about the creases in my shirt, but if I kept my jacket on, they wouldn’t be noticeable. The eyeliner was easily fixed. My hair, I did what I could. Hopefully, no one would take photos.
I hated driving, but I didn’t have Kisho to do it for me. Maybe I should ring an Uber.
No. I wouldn’t do that. I didn’t need Kisho around. I could handle this myself. I’d sent him away for reasons. Firstly, I needed to focus all my energy on training Vlad. Secondly, I wanted Kisho to get over his hissy fit with Clem Starr. And lastly, I wanted him to find out more about this prophecy—the one about how the Vampire King could only be defeated by his own blood, which was Kisho.
Even though we’d put the Vampire King out of action, that was only temporary. He was one angry old man, and now we’d put ourselves on his radar. He’d be coming for us soon enough.
I could do this myself. I didn’t want anyone thinking otherwise. If only the car would go into gear properly, I’d be able to reverse out of the garage much more easily. Stupid car never jumped around like this for Kisho.
There was another reason I wanted Kisho and Clem Starr well away from me, a reason I’d never admit to anyone. Because I was not attracted to her. I wasn’t attracted one little bit. That human wasn’t pretty or stylish. All she had was a weird sexual aura that she couldn’t even use on me. The way she dressed almost made me cry, and she had no idea how to apply makeup so it flattered her face.
If I was going to be attracted to a female human, she was the exact opposite to my type. I had no idea what my type was; I just knew slatternly wasn’t it.
I adjusted the mirror and pulled out into traffic.
Today’s event had to go well. This panel was small potatoes, but I needed to keep my face in the public eye. Fame is fleeting.
The annoying woman organizing it had called me yesterday, wanting me to reassure her that they’d be no trouble, when she should’ve been on her knees with gratitude that I’d agreed to appear at all.
Which reminded me, I needed to check things with Oscar. I’d sent the pack out of town while this whole Demon Child thing was going on. I needed them safe, but Oscar handled the business side, and sales had been dropping.
I got to the venue and waited backstage.
The organizer popped into my dressing room. She carried a clipboard and had her hair pulled back in a bun that did nothing to suit her face.
“There you are. I hope everything is well.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” I gave her the smile that filled people half with desire and half with fear.
She recoiled. “Just checking.”
A few minutes later, I got called to the stage. The place was only half full, and the other panelists weren’t exactly entertaining. While one of them talked on and on, I wondered how Vlad was. I needed one of those video things set up so I could watch him on my phone when I went out.
“Nic?”
Someone had asked me a question? Shit, I’d lost my focus. That never looked good when you were on stage.
“Sorry, could you repeat that?” I asked.
Afterward, I walked back to the dressing room to gather up my things.
“Oh, there you are,” the organizer called to me. “Some of the other panelists want to go out for a drink. I’m sure you’d love to join us.”
That’d be hell any time, but even more so when I needed to get home.
“Sorry, I have another engagement.”
She put her head on the side, looking like she didn’t believe me. “I’m sure one drink would be okay. You must have time for that.”
“I said I didn’t have time.”
I picked up my bag. Damn annoying woman
. She obviously had no idea what it was like to be a parent. You couldn’t just do spontaneous things. Vlad had been alone for three hours. I rushed to the car park. I’d been away too long already.
I pulled up at home, then remembered I’d told Vlad I’d buy him a treat. Damn. I hoped he’d be okay about it. My main concern had been to hurry home to make sure he was still safely secured in the basement. I didn’t even know why I worried so much. He’d survived nearly 100 years on his own.
Of course he was okay. He hadn’t moved from in front of the TV.
I need a cup of tea and a rest, but he needed company.
“Watch me, pretty man.”
I sat in the armchair, watching Vlad do his tricks on the bars.
As Vlad spun in the air and landed on the mat, I clapped. That landing was beyond perfect. The grace and the beauty of it almost made me cry.
“Score?” he asked.
“Ten.”
He shook his head. “Not ten.”
“Nine?”
He grinned. The kid could be trained. He’d learned how to do all this gymnastics stuff. He obviously had discipline and skill. I needed to be patient and work harder with him. No more public speaking. People could motivate themselves for a while. Maybe from now on, instead of live appearances, I’d concentrate on the YouTube videos. I could do those from home.
If I spent the next month constantly working with Vlad with total focus, I could get him up to a basic level of vampire socialization, I just knew it.
Once that happened, he could take his place as a member of the pack.
Chapter 4 Clem: Skype
I figured I should call Nic to check in with him. He thought he needed to be alone to train the Demon Child, but that worried me. Nic thought that kid was a cute, shiny little pet, but he was much more dangerous than that. Also, ever since Nic found out that the kid had unicorn blood, he’d been way too fascinated by him.
I’d been on the Internet all night researching kitsune, but most of the sources of information weren’t fact, just story lines from anime and dramas. That didn’t help me one bit, apart from sending me down a rabbit hole of drama watching.
It didn’t help that Kisho had done a half-assed job of getting information out of the old man.
“I’m calling Nic,” I told Kisho.
I thought he’d join me on the sofa for the call, but he hovered in the background, leaning on the counter that separated the living area from the little kitchen.
I reached for the heater remote. Had Kisho turned the heating off? Even with a blanket wrapped around me, I wasn’t warm enough. I’d never realized Japan got so cold. According to the remote, the heating was turned up as high as it could go.
“I think this is broken,” I said to Kisho.
“Nope. It’s like a sauna in here.”
I shook my head. Even if he was half-human, he still had enough vampire blood not to notice the cold. I pulled the blanket tighter around me.
I got out my phone and Skyped Nic. I put the phone on speaker.
“So, how’s the Demon Child?” I asked him.
“He has a name,” Nic replied.
“He does?”
“Vlad.”
“You are totally yanking my chain, right?”
“He needed a name.”
“Vlad? O-kay.”
“And he’s fine. Totally fine.”
Nic said that, but I wasn’t so sure he was telling the truth. He sure didn’t sound convincing, and Nic always sounded convincing.
“So, you have him trained and ready to be a contributing member of society?”
Nic hesitated. “It’s not so simple. But his gymnastics have improved. He loves it. You should see him. He’s totally amazing. He does this thing where he...”
I tuned Nic out about there, since I really had zero interest in the kid’s gymnastic tricks. I had zero interest in his stupid Instagram, too. Instead, I watched Kisho. He moved as though he wanted to join me on the sofa. My heart jumped. It was a step, a huge step. But then he fidgeted and went back to leaning.
“Clem Starr, have you found that kitsune yet?”
I snapped my attention back to the phone. “Obviously not. We’ve only been here a few days. And you know what? I’ve not seen one vending machine selling used panties. That whole thing is a crock of shit.”
“You aren’t there to look for used panties. Is this some weird fetish of yours?”
“No. You just hear about it, so I wanted to see it for myself. We’ve had some awesome ramen, though.”
Kisho hadn’t moved. I’d thought he’d want to talk to Nic, but then maybe they talked in private. It wasn’t like he’d tell me if they did.
“And the kitsune?”
I sighed. “We have leads.”
We had absolutely no leads. We had nothing but a huge city where I didn’t even speak the language. The kitsune could be anywhere. I wasn’t about to tell Nic that, though. We really had no idea. Well, I did have some plans, but mostly they were to annoy Kisho rather than concrete kitsune leads. I’d found out a few facts about kitsune, like that they loved sweet foods and playing tricks.
Kisho moved. I looked at him questioningly.
“I’m popping out to get something to eat.”
I was about to ask him to get me something, then it hit me that he might mean vampire feeding. Kisho didn’t feed off humans, but usually he got food via Nic. Although that wasn’t possible here, I hadn’t thought about what he did as an alternative. I didn’t want to question him too much about it, either, just in case it involved rats or some other small animals.
“Kisho’s just gone out,” I told Nic.
I waited a few seconds to make sure he’d really gone.
“Okay, this is my plan,” I said to Nic when I was sure we were alone. “I’m going to keep annoying him until he explodes.”
Nic laughed. “How’s that working out for you? You do realize how far you’ll have to go before you get a reaction from him? It might take you years.”
“Yeah, I know, but what else can I do? I can’t handle him barely talking to me.”
I picked at my nail.
“I can’t see you, but I know you’re committing some sin against personal grooming. Stop it at once.”
Damn Nic. How did he know? Actually, I was surprised he hadn’t wanted to video call. Nic loved being seen by other people. Well, more like he loved being admired. He hadn’t even mentioned turning video on, though.
“I’m taking him to a cat café.”
“That’s nothing. He loves cats. You need to go much deeper than that.”
“Parasite museum.”
“Good one. He might throw up. He’s not good with that kind of thing. Anything like that will push him. You could take him shopping. Your taste in clothes might do the trick.”
“Bitch.”
“That doesn’t help you find the kitsune, though.”
“I know, but we really have no leads. The old man didn’t tell us anything. Well, he told me nothing, literally. He talked with Kisho for a long time, but he didn’t say much about where the kitsune hangs out or any of that.”
“Come on, you say you’re the top demon fighter. You surely must be able to work that out for yourself.”
I sighed. I needed to get a start on this somehow. Just one tiny lead, or even a demon with a blabbery mouth that I could beat up for information would be good.
“Are you sure everything is okay there?” I asked him, happy to change the subject.
“Everything is hunky-dory. Perfect.”
I bet the world could be falling into pieces and Nic wouldn’t even mention it to me.
A dog yipped in the background.
“Is that Hellhound?” I asked.
Nic had stolen that dog from me, and the poor little guy was probably being neglected while Nic gave all his attention to the Demon Child.
“Sure is. He needs to go for a walk, but I’ve been busy.”
“If you need us to come bac
k and help out, tell me. Don’t underestimate the Demon Child.”
“I doubt that I’ll ever need your help.”
I coughed. There was that little matter of escaping from the Vampire King. The entire pack would’ve been obliterated if I’d not been there to help out. Nic could so easily forget little details like that.
“Seriously, I’m on top of everything.”
“Did you get my car?”
I’d had to leave my car at the zoo after I’d tried to kill the Demon Child and ended up with an angry mob after my blood. That damn angry mob had trashed my beautiful Mustang. I wanted that car back and repaired.
“I’m a busy man. I have far more important things to do than deal with your car.”
There was nothing else I needed to discuss with Nic, but I didn’t want to end our call. I sat on the sofa, biting my nail.
“You’re doing it again. No wonder you always look so scrappy.”
As much as I hated to admit it, I found Nic’s snarkiness comforting. At least he talked to me and didn’t just freeze me out. I knew he snarked at me because that was his way of showing affection. Once I finished the call, I’d be alone again.
“I’ll send you video of Vlad doing his gymnastic tricks,” he said. “You’ll be so impressed.”
I doubted it.
The door opened. Kisho had returned. I guessed I should finish this call and actually work.
“I’m going now, but remember, if you need us back, just let us know.”
Kisho nodded in the background, but Nic had gone.
Chapter 5 Nic: The Northside Gang
I got off the phone and finally had time to myself. I made an herbal tea and put a small cake on a plate.
I’d turned my chair to face the bay window. With the window open, the sheer curtains danced in the breeze, and the moonlight glow enhanced my natural beauty. It was a shame no one was here to appreciate it. Maybe I should place my specially made mirror nearby so I could catch the occasional glimpse of myself. That always cheered me up more than anything else.