Moonlight Virgin

by Kat Cotton

  Another bark. Hellhound?

  I ran to the end of the block, then to the next block and the next. I had to find him. I ran the streets, calling to him, hoping he’d just gone out and gotten lost. Poor baby, alone and lost out there.

  “Vlad? Vlad?”

  I screamed until my voice became hoarse and my throat dried up.

  But he might be back home. If I returned, he could be waiting for me. He needed to feed, and food was at home.

  When I got home, Hellhound was sitting on the doorstep.

  They’d come home. The cold hand clenching my heart loosened. I’d been an idiot, getting into a blind panic for nothing. Of course they’d come home when it was dinner time.

  “Where’s Vlad, boy?”

  I scratched his ears, and we went inside.

  “Vlad?” I called, waiting for him to run out giggling.

  But no Vlad. Hellhound had been on his own.

  I hugged myself, not sure what to do next.

  I had to clean up that glass. Wait—the broken glass was on the outside. The window had been smashed from inside. Vlad hadn’t been stolen, he’d escaped.

  I wasn’t sure if that was better or worse.

  This was my fault. If I’d not gone out enjoying myself, he’d still be here. I was the worst unicorn father ever. I’d neglected him. After I got him back, I’d never leave him alone again.

  The guard came with Vlad’s dinner.

  “Give me a while,” I told them and went back inside.

  I needed to stop panicking. We had a bond. If I was quiet, then that connection would lead me to him. I just had to focus.

  Cake would really help with that focus. No, I didn’t need sugar. I needed to think about my bond with Vlad. I needed to clear my head.

  Instead, the phone rang.

  Clem Starr.

  I wanted to blurt out my fears for Vlad, but I couldn’t tell her. I bit my lip to keep myself silent.

  She filled me in on the kitsune thing. Once she came home, she could do all the demon fighting instead of me.

  I would not think about her boobs. I would think of none of her body parts. Damn the mayor.

  “Do you need us to come home?”

  “Nope. I’m fine.”

  I looked down to the floor, where I’d shredded every single tissue in the tissue box into tiny pieces. Maybe I wasn’t so calm.

  “If we can’t get that kid under control, we lose everything. Level with me, Nic. Things aren’t as great as you’re making out. You put on this brave face, but you can’t fool me, and you can’t fool Kisho.”

  “Maybe I could do with a little help.” The words came out all strangled. Telling someone like Clem Starr that I needed help almost killed me.

  “We’ll be home soon. Just hold on until then.”

  “Hey, Clem Starr, if you wanted information about something, like where to find someone, where would you go?”

  I sure wasn’t going to use my usual sources for this. I couldn’t ask them without admitting that the kid was lost out there somewhere. I didn’t want that kind of news getting around.

  “There’s an old man in the park. He sits near the pond feeding the ducks. Ask him.”

  Sounded crazy, but it just might work. If Vlad didn’t come home tonight, I’d go to the old man.

  “Take him some bread or cake,” Clem said before she hung up. “He’ll just feed it to the ducks, but he’ll be happy.”

  The guard rang the doorbell.

  “It doesn’t matter one way or the other to me, but we’ve been waiting two hours. Sure you want us to hang around?”

  “Of course I do!” I yelled at him. “Just wait.”

  Vlad would come back. He had to. We were family.

  Chapter 33 Nic: Runaway

  I wandered around the park, looking for the old man. Clem Starr could’ve given me more details. It was a big park. There might be a whole bunch of old dudes feeding ducks, for all I knew. I didn’t want to walk up to random old men just on the off chance. And while I wandered this park, Vlad could be out there anywhere. It was a dangerous world.

  I’d driven around the city all night, looking for likely spots Vlad would head to. Places with lots of people, although they were harder to find. It seemed the mayor had become serious about enforcing the curfew. I’d not seen Vlad. Around midnight, I’d sent the guard home with Vlad’s dinner.

  I had the radio on, waiting for reports of an attack, but there was nothing. Now it was mid-morning, and still no word.

  I’d walked almost all the way around the lake when I saw him. Well, I figured it was him. Old dude, not just feeding the ducks but chatting away like they were old friends.

  He totally had to be the guy.

  I sat down beside the old man. “Do you know Clem Starr?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  “She said you might be able to help me find something I’ve lost.”

  He nodded again. Then I remembered the cake. I got it out of my bag and gave it to him.

  “You sure you want to find him?” the old man asked. “You think you can control him, but you’re wrong.”

  I didn’t want to get into an argument with the old guy, but he was way off track. I could control Vlad, I just knew it. I’d made so much progress. Well, I had until he escaped.

  “He’ll always escape, because he needs to be free. He’s not going to be one of your domesticated vampires.” The old man sighed. “But if you want to find him, ask your friend Clem. He’s in a place he’s been before. She knows where he is.”

  I thanked the guy, then tried ringing Clem. She didn’t answer. What would she know? She’d tried to kill Vlad a few times. The zoo? Did the old man mean the zoo? Why hadn’t he just said that, then? Damn old guy being all cryptic.

  If Vlad was at the zoo, it’d be on the news, surely. He would only go there to feed. An attack at the zoo would definitely make the news reports. I got back in the car and tried Clem again.

  There was also the nightclub, but that had been shut down and boarded up. He might go there, but I doubted it.

  The warehouse on the docks!

  That seemed the most likely place. The Vampire King had hidden the kid there. Clem and Kisho had told me all about it. I had no idea which warehouse, but I’d find it. I couldn’t just sit around waiting for Clem to answer her phone.

  Only, when I got to the docks, I realized just how many deserted warehouses there were. Damn, that made it difficult. What had Clem and Kisho said? I tried to remember any defining details. Broken windows, weeds growing around. That could be any of a hundred places. Really creepy—that had been Clem’s opinion, but she was talking about a deserted warehouse. They were hardly known for their ambiance.

  I couldn’t search every single one of these places.

  They’d gotten in through a loading dock at the back. I just needed to hunt for the one that had a well-trafficked loading dock. Since most of these places hadn’t been used in years, there’d normally be no footprints, and it was kind of away from the other warehouses. That narrowed it down to three places.

  I called Clem again before I went tramping around a dusty, dirty, rat-infested warehouse.

  Still no answer. Either she was in grave danger or had forgotten to put her phone on the charger again. Bravery or stupidity, that was the Clem Starr way.

  The first place was truly deserted. Then I got to the second one. Tire tracks made it look promising. I got out of the car and walked to the loading dock. This had to be the place, unless it was a meth lab or something shady.

  I got through the hole in the corrugated iron blocking the entrance. Whoa, this place stunk. The dust stung my eyes. Would my unicorn baby prefer this place to my basement? I’d made the basement so homey. We had no rats or other vermin.

  “Vlad?” I called, my voice echoing around the cavernous room.

  He didn’t answer, but I heard a distant giggle.

  I walked in farther.

  “Catch me, pretty man.”

&nbs
p; Oh, hell. Clem had said he played this game with them, and they’d had no chance of catching him. His unicorn blood made him much stronger than any ordinary vampire. He could do this all day without tiring. There was no way I’d chase him around this dirty place.

  “Pretty man,” he called.

  I guessed if he wanted to play a little game, it would be fun for him.

  “Where are you?” I called.

  “Where am I?”

  The voice came from above me. I looked up. Vlad was swinging from some wires. Hell, were those wires connected to a power source? Surely not, after all these years. They hung from the ceiling along the length of the warehouse, just loose. In some places, florescent light fittings remained, but the bulbs had been smashed. The wires tangled all over the place.

  “Come down,” I called.

  “Catch me.”

  I sat down, even though the dusty floor would destroy my outfit. Vlad swung on the wires, doing tricks.

  “Seven,” I called out.

  “Not seven. Nine.”

  “Seven.” I crossed my arms. He hated scoring less than nine.

  He swung down the room again, leaping from wire to wire. I sat and watched him. I might have to sit there forever, but it was my only option, really.

  “Eight,” I said.

  “Nine.”

  “Eight.”

  He jumped down from the wires, standing in front of me with perfect form, and crossed his arms.

  “Nine, pretty man, nine.”

  I tried not to laugh at the seriousness on his face. “Okay, nine. Now, do you want to come home?”

  “No home,” he said, and spun off again before I could grab him.

  That killed me. We had our bond. That should be enough. Why didn’t Vlad want to be with me? I’d offered him everything. My time, food, a home, a pack. Still, he’d run away.

  Everybody loved me, but I got the feeling that maybe Vlad didn’t. He was supposed to be my unicorn baby. We were joined together in an unbreakable bond. I had no idea why it had wavered, but it’d broken enough that Vlad had decided to run away.

  “This is my home, pretty man.”

  My chest tightened.

  That cut. It really cut. This dusty, dirty old warehouse couldn’t be his home. I’d made a home for him. I’d got him everything he wanted, and he’d given it all up for a pile of rags.

  “But you have a nice room.”

  “Here is nice.”

  I couldn’t just leave him here. I had no idea what he’d do if he was left on his own. But the Vampire King had left him here, and he’d been safe. As far as I knew, he’d not even left the warehouse.

  He jumped down again. “This is my home.”

  I could force him to come home with me. Or could I? If I tried and failed, it’d be the worst thing possible. All my power would be eroded. This kid was wilder than I’d ever thought. The rest of the pack had come to me needing a home and a family. I’d given them exactly what they needed, but what did Vlad need?

  Maybe I had nothing I could give him.

  “If you come home, you can have dinner. Nice juicy dinner.”

  He didn’t answer, he just giggled.

  “And Hellhound. He misses you.”

  “Puppy?”

  Ha, that got to him. He really loved that dog.

  He jumped to the floor, and that tightness in my chest loosened. He’d come home. He’d see he was so much better off with me than in this horrible place.

  “New puppy,” he said.

  He had something cradled in his arms. He patted it and talked to it in a cooing voice.

  Where had he found a dog?

  Then the bundle gave a loud squeak and jumped to the floor. I screamed. That was no dog. That was a rat.

  I walked toward him slowly, wanting to get him out of this rat hole, but he bolted off.

  “Watch me, pretty man.”

  I had to get the upper hand here, but I’d run out of options. There was one course left to me, and I need to man up to do it.

  “I’m going now,” I called out to him.

  He’d not let me leave without him. Once he saw me actually leaving, he’d run after me. He’d beg me to take him back.

  I got up off the floor and walked through the warehouse, dusting off my clothes.

  “Bye,” I called out.

  I listened for the thud of him dropping to the floor, but there was nothing. No footsteps behind me. Just the swish of Vlad flying through the air.

  “Bye-bye,” he called. “Bye, pretty man.”

  Then he giggled.

  I paused once I got outside, hoping he’d change his mind. He’d run after me. That was what Kisho would’ve done. That was what all the pack would do.

  Even though it was filthy, I sat down on the concrete step of the loading dock. He’d come out. He’d most definitely come out. He needed his tasty, and he needed me. I rubbed the back of my neck.

  Rats scurried near me, but I ignored them. Rats could eat me alive so long as Vlad came home with me. He had to realize I was everything to him.

  I don’t know how long I sat there, but night fell. Vlad’s dinner time. He’d want his food. He could play all day, but he’d not forget about dinner. I just had to wait until he got hungry enough.

  The sky got darker and darker. Still, he didn’t come out.

  Out on the water, lights flickered, and occasionally a ship tooted. Across the bay, I could see cranes working through the night. I wrapped my jacket around me even though the coldness came from inside me.

  Then I heard a thud, and my heart skipped. That was Vlad. I peeked inside. When he got out, I’d forgive him everything. We’d go home, and I’d make sure he had a nice hot meal.

  When I looked inside, Vlad just laughed as he swung from the wires.

  I waited and I waited, but Vlad never came out.

  Chapter 34 Clem: Yamaguchi

  “I don’t really see why I need to do the purification before we can go get the money off Yamaguchi. It’s not like the money cares.”

  “Yamaguchi cares.”

  “Well, I don’t even like him that much. He’s a bit of a creeper, and he sent those goons around to threaten us. That doesn’t make him top priority in my book.”

  “He has the money. You love the money.”

  “That’s true. Okay, he is top priority.”

  I’d tried to talk to Kisho about the power. I wanted to keep it, but I also needed to control it. He’d frozen me out again, but we needed to see Yamaguchi, so at least Kisho had to talk to me. He wanted me to return to the temple and cleanse myself beforehand, though. He wasn’t full-on freezing me out, but he wasn’t best buddies with me, either. I think he realized that, even if I wanted to get rid of this energy, it wouldn’t be such a simple thing.

  The temple ritual didn’t take long, and then we were on our way to Yamaguchi’s.

  “Hey, since we have to kill a few hours before we go to the airport, can we go to karaoke? I missed out on all the singing last time on account of having to kill Hana and all that fuss.”

  “I guess so.” He looked tortured.

  “And I’d like to get one of those yummy fish things. And we haven’t even eaten any sushi. Wow, what have we been doing with our time? We could’ve maximized our sightseeing much better.”

  “We got to see a kitsune. Not many people do that.”

  “I could’ve done without that, truth be told. I never want to mess with kitsune again. They’re way too complicated. I want to dust nice simple incubi. They’re so much easier.”

  “I guess.”

  “And the parasite museum. Ninja training. Oh, and I got to stand under a freezing cold waterfall for no reason.”

  “I’ve got to buy gifts for the rest of the pack,” Kisho said. “I can’t return home empty-handed. Maybe we won’t have time for karaoke.”

  “Oh, we’ll have time. We’ll definitely have time.”

  We’d reached Yamaguchi’s place. I still didn’t see any signs of
him being rich.

  The old lady showed us in again. We waited. I didn’t drink the tea.

  “He could hurry up a bit,” I said. I hated sitting on the floor, and waiting for him cut into my singing time.

  Finally, he shuffled in.

  He sat down, and I gave him the potion. A huge grin spread over his face. He picked up the jar and stroked it. I still didn’t see how that jar was valuable. It looked like something you’d find in box of old junk at a market stall. But, hey, I thought everything in this house looked like old junk.

  The old geezer said something to Kisho.

  “He wants us to follow him.”

  I nodded, hoping he wasn’t going to do something weird. Yamaguchi seemed like the type. He’d cut our throats so he didn’t have to pay me. Or tie us up and use us as sex slaves. Maybe he’d do both.

  We went through the house to a room at the back. It seemed like a regular room until I noticed the security on it. Cameras and steel doors. Not at all flimsy like the rest of the place.

  We walked inside the room.

  The place was like some funky old museum. Shelves of random shit, and full of dust. Some of that dusty shit had to be valuable, though, or he’d not have all that security.

  “My treasures,” Yamaguchi said. “You may look around.”

  Dude suddenly decided it was okay to talk in English. I knew he could.

  “Do you have it?” Kisho asked.

  I had no idea what he was talking about. Have what? Yamaguchi knew, though. He took something from a top shelf that looked like a paper scroll.

  “Can you read it?” he asked Kisho. “It’s old.”

  “I’m old too,” Kisho said.

  He unwound the paper, running his fingers over the words. He stared as though he needed to memorize them.

  “It’s heavy,” Yamaguchi said. I didn’t think he was referring to the weight.

  Kisho nodded. He handed the scroll back to Yamaguchi.

  “It’s you,” the old man said.

  “Yes.”

  I wanted to ask what they were talking about, but I got distracted by the old lady returning with my money. The urge to get it out and count it was almost too strong to ignore, but Kisho had said that would be considered rude. Still, I had trust issues.