by Kat Cotton
The only one of the pack I’d ever seen as an alternative leader was Oscar. Now, I had to groom someone else.
“Leadership isn’t the issue,” Shelley said. “Planning is.”
“Hell, let’s just go out and fuck shit up,” Andre added. He tapped his fingers against the coffee table as though even that poor table needed to be fucked up.
“We’re not going to fuck things up, and we’re not planning anything until Kisho is with us. We’re a pack, not a punk gang like Lucio’s boys. We have to stick together now more than ever.”
Kisho would be home soon, and, frankly, that made me happier than anything. If nothing else, he always provided a buffer between Jeb and me. And he could make my coffee.
“Well, to be honest, it’s not like Kisho would actually add anything to the discussion,” Jeb said. “He’d just agree with everything you say.”
“Did you hear what I said about sticking together? Would you like it if we decided something of this much importance without you here? Would you want the pack making decisions like that and excluding you? He should be back in the next few hours. And he’ll have important information.”
“Like what?”
“Like, shut your mouth up and wait for Kisho to get here?”
Jeb’s usual annoyance had ramped up to unbearable. Maybe I should’ve sent him away on a job instead of Kisho. I endured, though, because I needed to get this discussion over with so I could get to my unicorn baby. He’d been alone way too long.
Chapter 38 Clem: Homecoming
“I’m home,” Kisho called out as Nic opened the door.
He might be home, but I wasn’t. I had no home. I had to find a place, and I had to find it fast. I hoped Nic would agree to me staying in the vampire lair with him. That would be the easiest solution. House hunting sucked worse than demon hunting, what with landlords wanting references and all that shit.
Nic rushed to Kisho. The two of them looked like they’d never stop embracing. Sometimes this whole Nic being a virgin thing seemed highly unlikely. But if the unicorn vampire picked it, it must be true. But, for reals, how could Nic and Kisho have lived together for all these centuries without doing it?
I stood to the side, waiting for them to finish.
As they drew apart, Nic nodded at me.
“Clem Starr, the world-famous demon fighter,” was all he said. He did give a little salute.
“Nic, the obnoxious vampire,” I said back.
Then he grinned, and I grinned back, and for a moment it was almost like he wanted to hug me, but we both stepped back. Hugging wasn’t something we did.
“Hey, Kisho,” someone called out.
The entire pack was here. I didn’t really know them. I’d spent about five minutes with them when they helped with the Demon Child rescue, but that was it. I didn’t even know their names. Damn, with all of them here, would Nic even have a spare room for me? That sofa looked comfy, though, and I’d slept in worse places.
Now we’d done the greetings, I just awkwardly stood near the doorway. Nic didn’t invite me in, but he didn’t tell me to go away, either.
“You really look like shit,” I said to him.
What the hell had been going on? Sure, Nic still shimmered like moonlight, but his clothes were disheveled. He always picked on me for my sloppy appearance, but he didn’t look any better, and I’d been on a ten-hour flight. Not only was his shirt creased, it had food stains on it, and his hair had obviously not been done in a while.
I wanted to mock him more, but Kisho glared at me. That was obviously a shut-up glare. I’d not forget this in a hurry, though.
“You know, Nic, a coffee would be really nice after that long journey. And maybe some cake.”
I put my hand on my hip and waited for his sassy comeback. If that was missing, I’d get really worried.
“You’re the one who went off earning the big money killing kitsune. You should’ve bought the cake. Japanese cake.”
“I’ll make the coffee,” said Kisho.
Nic grinned again. He might never say it, but he’d missed Kisho like hell. He had that look like he wanted to hold back on the happiness he showed, but that happiness squeezed through the edges.
“Where’s the kid?” I asked. “I half-expected him to bowl me over when I got here.”
“Nic lost him,” the tall pack member said.
He said it in that jokey way that’s meant to be anything but a joke. The underlying tension couldn’t be missed.
“I didn’t lose him. I know exactly where he is. Jeb is just being a bitch.”
Nic smiled at Jeb, that sarcastic smile he did when he wanted to rip your guts out. Whoa, the issues between those two cut deep.
Jeb rolled his eyes at me. “How exactly did you kill this kitsune?” he asked.
“Ah, long story.”
And one I didn’t particularly want to go into with someone I didn’t know well. I knew he’d been there when the shit went down with the Vampire King, but all that energy transfer stuff was a bit too personal. It was inside of me like some kind of metaphysical STD.
I studied Jeb’s face. Objectively, you’d say he was better-looking than Nic. Like, if you did a computer analysis on good looks, Jeb would definitely come up the winner. He had a more symmetrical face and better bone structure. But, for some reason, he looked nothing beside Nic. Even at his worst, which was pretty much now, Nic had the charisma and the shimmer. Jeb looked like the kind of guy who’d cry after sex and never leave.
Kisho set my coffee on the table. I sat down while he got out all the presents he’d bought for the pack. I’d not even noticed him buying half that stuff, but it did explain why his case had been so heavy. I could’ve bought presents for all my loved ones in this world and still had an empty bag.
I tasted my coffee. I could tell how Kisho felt about me by his coffee. This was an “I’m disappointed in you but will ignore it for now” coffee. Not delicious, but still drinkable.
“This is a great coffee,” I told him, not willing to acknowledge his feelings. “Thanks.”
Kisho finally ran out of gifts.
“Did you eat lots of sushi?” one of the pack asked.
“Nope. We were working most of the time.”
“Was the kitsune hot?” the big guy sitting on the floor asked. He seemed out of place in this pack, a bit of a meathead.
“No,” I said. Then I looked at Kisho, wanting him to back me up on that, but he seemed not to have heard me. Or he wanted me to suffer.
I waited for Nic to fill me in on what had been going on here. Why had the pack arrived? And there was one guy missing.
The other pack members all wandered off, and Nic sat on the sofa beside me. That kind of weirded me out. Nic always sat in his armchair, that wingback chair, with the light hitting him so he looked all prince-like and especially pretty. Well, not that exact chair, because this was a different place. Did he specifically rent Airbnbs with wingback chairs?
Now, even though I was sitting at one end of the sofa, he sat right beside me. Our legs almost touched. I didn’t like the way that made me feel. When it came to Nic, the things I wanted to feel were annoyance and irritation. Safe things like that.
There was much more going on than just that, though. The rest of the pack had been happy to see Kisho, but they’d acted weird with Nic. I didn’t want to go into their weird pack politics, but they definitely had some beef with Nic.
Nic seemed more relaxed without them around. “Did you find out?” he asked Kisho.
Kisho nodded.
“Find out what?” I asked.
“It’s none of your concern,” Nic said.
“Yeah, well, Nic, every time you say that about something, it does tend to be something that’s not only totally my concern but has the potential to get me killed.”
The coldness in my bones made me shiver.
“He means the prophesy,” Kisho said.
“Hey, wait a minute. How did you know about that?”
>
It seemed strange that Nic knew when he’d been in a whole different country. I’d not even known a thing about the prophesy until Kisho told me.
“What do you think this job was about?” Nic asked. He patted me on the leg. “You don’t think some mysterious man just contacted you out of the blue to offer you a job?”
I moved his hand. “That’s how it usually works. They wander in off the street or find my website, then call.”
He rolled his eyes. “We’ve been trying to get this information from Yamaguchi for a while, but he wouldn’t cooperate. So, when we found out about his kitsune issue, I made him an offer. That offer included you.”
I sat up straight and glared at him. “Yet again, you didn’t tell me.”
“Well, since you’re such a great demon fighter, I thought you’d figure it out.”
I picked up the coffee cup, then remembered how bad that coffee was and set it down again. I sat on the edge of the sofa, not sure what to say.
Finally, Kisho stood up and gathered up the cups, then took them to the kitchen.
“So, Clem Starr,” Nic said. “You’ve said hello and finished your coffee. I guess it’s time for you to hit the road. We have pack business to discuss.”
Ouch. I hated that vampire. He could go from all up in your personal space to total bitch in seconds.
“But I have nowhere to go.”
Chapter 39 Nic: Warehouse
I went to the warehouse to check on Vlad. Kisho and Shelley wanted to come with me.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
I’d had enough trouble controlling him without taking them along.
“We can help,” Kisho said. “And I want to see him. He’s so cute. I got him a present in Tokyo, too. A kitsune t-shirt.”
Yeah, good luck with that, Kisho.
In the end, I said they could come. Kisho could drive and save me the effort.
“I want to go too,” Jeb said.
“No, I think three people is enough for him to deal with.”
In the car on the way, Shelley asked if I was worried about Vlad escaping from the warehouse. “He could go anywhere.”
“Yeah,” I said, “but he doesn’t seem to. What do you think, Kisho? After all, the King had him there unguarded.”
“True. And he seemed happy enough. Maybe that place has some special connection for him. When I went to the warehouse with Clem, there was nothing at all holding him there. He had Hellhound with him, but I think that was more to warn him about people coming in rather than to stop him leaving.”
“It’s such a horrible place. And he has to leave sometime. If the pack leaves town, he needs to come with us. Hey, Shelley, when we get home, can you look into this warehouse? Who owns it, the history, that kind of thing.”
The three of us entered the warehouse.
“Vlad?”
He giggled. “Pretty man.” He ran up to me.
“He likes me to watch him do tricks,” I told the other two.
Instead of swinging off the wires, he did flips across the floor. That raised more dust than I could handle, but he’d been perfect.
“Ten,” I called out.
Shelley and Kisho looked at me.
“I have to give him a score.”
He ran off and flipped across the floor again.
“Nine,” I said.
“I’d give it an eight. He was a bit out of alignment,” Shelley said.
I glared at him.
“Not eight,” Vlad said. “Nine.”
“Nine,” I repeated.
It was definitely a nine. I wasn’t sure when Shelley had become an expert on gymnastics. There was no way Vlad had been out of alignment.
“Tasty?”
Since the kid had moved to the warehouse, he’d seemed to survive on just the bagged blood. He might’ve left the place to feed but I’d not heard reports of any attacks.
“Drink nicely,” I said.
I pulled two bags of blood out of my bag and held them up for him.
“Yuck.” He squatted down, folding his arms. And that cute pout. I couldn’t deal with that, but I couldn’t bring the mayor’s thugs here for him to feed on, either.
“You want fresh food, you come home with me.”
He stood up and snatched the bag from me.
“No, Vlad.” I turned to the guys. “He’s acting up because there are other people around.”
“Why aren’t you teaching him to hunt for himself?” Shelley asked. “Bagged blood isn’t going to work forever.”
“He can’t hunt. He’s not ready. We’re working up to that.”
“When is he going to be ready? Because, as far as I remember, none of us were ready. You just do it.”
“Remember that thing not so long ago about him going into a crazy feeding frenzy? The one where the Vampire King and the mayor wanted to use that to bring the vampires out into the open? That’s what happens when he feeds. He’s not like other vampires. He’s special. You can’t treat him the same.”
Vlad didn’t listen, he ripped into those bags. I should’ve reprimanded him for his bad manners, but I didn’t have the heart.
“Hey, Vlad,” Kisho said in his soft voice. “I’ve got something for you.”
I waited for Vlad to have a tantrum or just ignore Kisho.
But Vlad rushed over, somersaulting in the air on the way. He landed at Kisho’s feet.
Kisho held out the t-shirt. I sucked in my breath, waiting for Vlad’s reaction. I hoped Kisho wouldn’t be too devastated when Vlad ripped that t-shirt to shreds.
“It’s got a kitsune on it,” Kisho said. “I got it in Tokyo.”
“Thanks, Kisho,” Vlad said. He pulled the t-shirt on over his other clothes.
What the hell had just happened? He liked Kisho’s crappy tourist t-shirt but hated my baby bear one? That was so unfair. I bit my lip. I didn’t want Kisho or Shelley to see my reaction, but it hurt, it really hurt.
And he’d called Kisho by name. He’d never, not once, called me Nic. Just pretty man. Surely that meant he’d call Kisho something like “Not Quite as Pretty Man”?
“Let’s go,” I said. I needed to get out of this place.
“I want to watch more gymnastics,” Kisho said.
“Me too,” Shelley added.
“It’s not healthy, breathing in all this dust,” I said.
Something squeaked.
“Oh, I’d forgotten about the rats,” Kisho said.
I’d come back later on my own. That would be much better. It wasn’t good for Vlad to be around Kisho.
Chapter 40 Clem: Alone
I headed to my office, not sure what to expect. It could’ve been ransacked while I was gone. I probably had a huge backlog of messages with jobs because I’d been totally focused on the kitsune. I took a deep breath as I turned the key in the lock.
The reception area looked totally the same as I’d left it. I exhaled. Nothing odd at all. Well, it being clean and tidy always came as a shock. I wondered if I could talk Kisho into coming back to work for me.
I walked through to my main office. Again, nothing out of place. Phew. I checked the answering machine. I really should get up to date and have my business calls forwarded, but I’d never done that. I’m sure there were good reasons for my slackness.
The five messages on my machine had been left by people demanding money. That was the good reason. Sure, I owed a bit, but people could be more patient. I turned on my ancient computer, and it took forever to start up.
While I waited, I went to make a cup of tea, but the milk in the fridge had turned sour. That seemed to be the only sign that I’d ever been away at all.
I’d kept on top of my emails and things while I was gone. There was nothing else to check.
Oh, yeah, the mail. I ran down and grabbed it and flipped through it on the way back to my desk. Bills, more bills, debt collection notice.
Shit, a letter from the Demon Fighter Council. I hid that under my keyboard.
If I didn’t read it, I couldn’t be in trouble.
I checked a couple of hotel booking sites. Man, hotels cost a fortune in this city. Sure, I had all that money from Yamaguchi, but I didn’t want to waste it on something stupid like a hotel. Kisho had said I’d have trouble getting all that cash into the country, but I’d just kept it in the bottom of my handbag. No one had even questioned me. I did have to get it exchanged into real money, though.
I found a half-eaten muesli bar in my drawer and finished it off. I couldn’t remember ever buying muesli bars, but it didn’t taste too bad.
Since Nic had kicked me out of the lair, I had nothing to do. There were no urgent jobs waiting for me, no clients. I could call friends and tell them I was home, but then I remembered I had no friends.
There was Timon. He loved me even though he pretended to try to kill me every time I saw him. But he’d left town. And there were a few other people I used as business contacts. That was it. It made me wish I had a client just so I could go out and meet a nice demon or two. We could hang out a while before I killed them. Good times.
Why did I need a hotel, anyway? I had a perfectly good sofa in my reception area. It had a few lumps, but nothing I couldn’t deal with. I could definitely sleep. After the flight home and the rest of it, I most definitely could sleep.
I curled up on the sofa, punching the cushions into some kind of shape, and shut my eyes. I’d probably only sleep a few hours.
I got woken up by someone shaking me.
“Clem, wake up. What do you think you’re doing?”
Who the hell was shaking me? I’d have to open my eyes to find out, and opening my eyes seemed like too much effort.
“Go away and let me sleep.”
Where was I, anyway? Tokyo. I was in Tokyo, and it was an earthquake. No, not Tokyo. My office. Hell, I hadn’t locked the office door. It could be anyone waltzing in here.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
Portia Manchelli. She’d woken me.
“What?” I asked her.