by Kat Cotton
“Can I turn the heating up?” she asked. “It’s freezing in here. Oh, and Nic, bring back cake.”
She’d not even bitten at my awesome Pegasus joke. What was wrong with her?
Actually, I had to get to the warehouse. I still had hopes of tempting Vlad back to the house. I thought having the whole pack around would make it more appealing to him. After all, he needed brothers to train with.
I hadn’t seen him since the bond had broken. The rest of the pack had taken turns watching him. It made me nervous to think how he’d react. I’d not been able to sense what he thought or felt, but even without the bond, I adored that guy.
When I got to the warehouse, I called out to him. He didn’t answer, and I walked inside. The nest of blankets had been scattered all over the floor.
He was gone?
“Vlad?” I called again.
He jumped down from the ceiling.
“Do you want me to watch you?” I’d brought my score cards with me. I held them up to him.
He shook his head. “I have to go home.”
My heart jumped. He wanted to come home with me. I held out my hand to him.
He shook his head again. “My home,” he said.
“Here?”
“Not here. Russia.”
What the hell? The kid wanted to go home to Russia? How would he get there? I guessed I could organize something, but someone would have to travel with him, and I couldn’t really spare any of the pack at the moment. Maybe he could delay going home for a while.
He rushed up and threw his arms around me. “Thank you, Nic,” he said.
He’d called me Nic. He’d thanked me. A lump rose in my throat. I inhaled, trying to push that lump down.
I hugged him back, then ruffled his hair.
He pulled away and took one of the score cards from my hand.
He held up the ten.
“You score ten, Nic,” he said.
Vampires don’t cry, and that wasn’t a tear in my eye. Nope. Not me. But no matter what, he couldn’t leave me. I’d talk sense into him. Russia was a long way to go, and he wasn’t fully trained yet.
Before I could say a word, an iridescent shimmer appeared in front of me, wavy and beautiful. If you got really, really close to a rainbow, that shimmer was possibly what it would look like.
I had to avert my eyes. The exquisiteness became too much for me to handle. What the hell was that thing?
Vlad walked toward it. “See you later, Nic,” he said.
Something, an almost-sound, filled the warehouse. I couldn’t quite hear it, but I had a sense of it. It filled me with a sort of emptiness, like if I heard that sound completely, it would be the most amazing thing I’d ever experience, but it was out of my grasp.
Vlad gave a little wave, then he disappeared into that shimmer.
I ran toward it, but the colors dissipated.
He’d said, “See you later.” Did that mean he’d be back? I could only stand and wonder.
I wasn’t sure how long I stood staring at that nothingness in the warehouse, but I snapped back to attention when my phone rang.
The mayor.
“Nic. Buddy. I need your help. The Vampire King has struck. He’s attacked a shopping mall. What are we going to do?”
THE END
Want to read Sex Demon, the prequel to the Clem Starr series? The only way to get a copy is to join my mailing list. You also find out first about new releases, get special subscriber only bonuses and other awesome stuff.
If you want to read more in the Clem Starr: Demon Fighter series, you sure can.
Demon Child (book 1)
Vampire Prince (book 3) – release date 12 October.
Incubus – the pre-prequel short story from this series is also available on Amazon.
About me:
After writing romance under a pen name for the past few years, I decided I wanted to write something where the girl kills the guy instead of falling in love with him. I wrote the short story, Incubus, a long time ago and my sister always nagged me to write more in the same world. That’s how the Clem Starr series was born.
I write character-driven Urban Fantasy with kick ass chicks and pretty boy vampires. I also travel the world, visiting weird and macabre places.
You can connect with me on facebook or by email [email protected].