by Lissa Kasey
“You back?” Luca asked. He sat a few feet away, bruised, lips swollen, clothes torn and disheveled, bloody, and a couple spots on his neck still bled pretty fiercely. He seemed dazed, but not upset.
I sat up slowly, still blinking away the weaving vision and took in the tattered remains of his jeans. “Shit. What did I do?”
Luca chuckled. “I think you need to stop your quest for abstinence. It’s fueling your rage.”
Had I forced myself on him? I couldn’t have. I was still fully clothed. Fuck but he looked like I’d tried. “Did I…?”
“Kissed me, bit me. You were kind of rough and kinky, but I liked it. Ground me into the mat.” He glanced down at his pants—what was left of them—which were wet in front. “I don’t think I’ve come in my pants since I was a kid. It’s been a while since I’ve actually met someone who could hold me down.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.” He looked like someone beat the shit out of him. And maybe I did.
“I’m not. Come upstairs and clean up. You’re covered in blood. Any norm sees you now and they’ll think you murdered someone.” He rose to his feet and offered me a hand.
I took it and pulled him close so I could close the wound at his throat. For the first time in as long as I could remember I wasn’t hungry. How much had I taken from him? He leaned against me, breathing into my neck and returning my embrace for a minute or two before letting go and tugging me through the far door and up a set of stairs.
“Don’t worry, my dad’s not here. He’s got some new fancy loft.”
I didn’t much care about his dad. Luca weaved up the stairs somewhat drunkenly. He unlocked a door and leaned back, “Come in, Sam.”
The place was nice. Not something I expected to find in a warehouse in west St. Paul. Everything was gray and industrial, furniture large and fluffy rather than stylish. The windows loomed large over the river, but there seemed to be some sort of film over them.
“Windows are protected from daylight. You could stare at the sun through them and probably be only slightly bothered. I’ve got shutters on the outside that can close in case of emergency too.”
“You’ve been here a while. Longer than just coming to be my cibo, haven’t you?”
“Couple weeks. This was Max’s space, but he’s moved to a different building. Renovating the whole thing to create high priced condos. Has a big vision to transform the neighborhood.”
No one in this neighborhood could afford high priced condos. Where would they go next if they were priced out of the city they’d come to call home? Progress wasn’t always a good thing.
Luca turned on the light to a large bathroom and pulled out a few towels. He flipped the shower on and stripped out of the rest of his clothes without a care that I was watching every move. Or maybe that was the point. There weren’t a lot of doors, and the bathroom door was some sort of large shoji-type screen which had been pushed back to show most of the bathroom.
“You can stay the day if you want. You won. So you get to fuck me.” He stepped under the spray and presented his fine ass my way. “I clean up nice.”
No kidding. That ass was the stuff dreams were made out of. I sighed. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
He shrugged and soaped up his fine body. “Your loss then. Offer is open if you change your mind.”
The man was evil. “I should go home. Gabe will get mad.” It was almost dawn. Maybe with the bloodlust finally lulled I could sleep. Really sleep. I hadn’t felt rested since long before my change.
“He’s keeping you on a short leash. Was that your first redout?”
redout? Is that what the red haze was? “No,” I denied. But it was only a partial truth. I’d never let it completely go before, just small tastes.
“You should clean up.” He pointed to a stack of towels he’d left on the counter. “You can join me in the shower. I promise to keep my hands to myself.” He winked at me.
I sighed and went to the sink instead. Wetting a towel and washing some of the blood from my face. I looked like I murdered someone. The clothes were ruined, even Seiran probably wouldn’t be able to get all the blood out and he was the king of clean. Christ, how had I gotten any in my mouth? “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“A little lightheaded, but it will pass. I’m fine.”
He turned my way and I was hard again. His cock was a beautiful well-veined sight. I could almost taste him. Fuck. I had to go. “Sorry, Luca. I just gotta go.” He’d probably never seen a guy run from him so fast. But I was out the door and down the stairs before I could suck in another breath. There was no doubt in my mind that Luca was trouble and I’d be smart to run the other way. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure I was already addicted to him.
Chapter 5
I jumped in the first cab I could find. The driver asked if I wanted to go to the hospital or the police station. “Neither. I’m a vampire and I just came from having hot, bloody, man love with my boyfriend. Take me home, please.”
He drove a little faster to the big collection of condos that made up home. Gabe’s home, not mine, but I was pretty sure Con would freak if I walked in the door looking like I’d been to a slaughterhouse. And I had questions. Like what was a redout? Should I be having them? And if not, how did I prevent them in the future. Trouble was, I was pretty sure I’d have to own up about letting the monster out and hiding it from him. Shit this was going to be a bad day.
The sun was coming up too. I could feel it—an ache that started in my gut and worked its way outward, into my skin. Outside the building, lights flashed from several cop cars, casting an eerie glow on the predawn darkness. That wasn’t good. Had something happened to Sei again? I paid the cabbie and got out, heading into the lobby. Gabe stood off to one side talking with a couple cops. The whole place seemed to go still when I stepped inside.
Gabe glanced my way and frowned. Both cops went for their guns. “It’s okay,” Gabe assured them. “He’s not going to hurt anyone.” He crossed the room to my side. “What the hell happened to you?”
“Sparring with my cibo. That’s what you wanted right? Us to bond?”
“Is he alive?” Gabe whispered.
“Of course.”
“Mr. Mueller you’re under arrest for the murder of two St. Paul men,” one of the cops told me. He took out a pair of dull brown cuffs—a vampire specialty. The words began to sink in, but I didn’t bother to resist. Who had I killed? The three guys in the alley were all breathing when I left them. And after the monkeying I did with their heads they weren’t likely to remember much more than my red eyes.
“Gabe?” I called out to him.
“I’ve already got a lawyer on the way to the station. Cooperate please. Luca was with you all night?”
“After I left the club and work, mostly. We had coffee, sparred, kissed a little.” I went a little nuts… The cops led me out the door just as Seiran was stepping off the elevator. He looked alarmed as he rushed to Gabe’s side saying something I couldn’t hear as the door closed. My body ached with the coming sunrise. Would we get to the station before? They wouldn’t let me burn to death in the back of a police car, would they?
My heart skipped a beat. What a crappy way to go. One of the cops helped me into the back of the car and off we went. Thankfully the ride only took a few minutes. Yellow and gold tinted the edges of the horizon in warning. Fuck. The rising sun was starting to mess with my sight, and as the cop pulled me out of the car, I could barely keep my feet beneath me.
They led me to a windowless room—for which I was grateful—took some pictures, fingerprinted me, and made me strip, leaving me only with some lightweight scrubs, then sat me at a table. The sun rose. I set my head down on the table while sleep yanked at me like a persistent child. Finally I closed my eyes and let it have me. What was the worst they could do? Pick me up and drag me out into the sun? After some sleep I’d care. Maybe.
The door closing woke me some time later. I’d had long enough to begin to dream, and unl
ike my usual onslaught of past memories I dreamt of Luca in the shower. Though I was pretty sure his cock hadn’t been that big.
Someone moved a chair beside me and shook me gently. It was never easy being awake during the day. How Gabe did it at all astounded me. Maybe it was because he was so old. And perhaps working out some of the rage and bloodlust with Luca had tired me out more than usual because it took a heavy shove before I rolled my head over and tried to open my eyes. The smell of honey and clover was familiar, comforting, though I couldn’t remember why.
Someone placed blood near my nose. Good blood. Not that crap from the street punks and not Luca, but something far more tantalizing. I’d never been allowed a taste…
“Seiran?” I asked as I pried my eyes open to stare at a cup.
He guided my hands to it. “Drink please. The detectives need to ask you a few questions.”
“They think I killed someone.” I took the first sip of the still warm liquid and sighed. Okay this was why Gabe wanted him. Good looks and super powers aside, Seiran tasted amazing. “Crap you should charge for this stuff. It’s … wow!”
“Not too fast,” he grumbled at me. “Too much can make you drunk and I need you lucid not loopy.”
“I didn’t kill anyone,” I told him seriously after I took another sip. “There’s always opportunity, but I hold back, just like Gabe taught me. I’m not all fucked in the head.” Only partially.
“I don’t think you are and Gabe doesn’t think you’re to blame. Another vampire maybe, which is troubling, but not you. We can’t talk about that anyway. Your lawyer is outside talking with the police. Luca is here too. Says you were with him, which is good. If they really thought it was you, they wouldn’t have let me in, would they?”
More likely they didn’t believe some baby vampire like me could hurt the most powerful Pillar the world had seen in at least a few centuries. Some of the fog cleared from my sight as I sipped at the blood. Seiran’s wrist was bandaged. “I can try to heal that if you want.” It seemed only fair to offer.
“It’s okay. I heal fast now. It’ll be gone by midday.”
“Yeah, Father Earth and all that.”
He shrugged. “You needed blood and the police wouldn’t let Luca be alone with you. You’re both beat up pretty badly. If this is what sex equates for you, maybe you should see a therapist.”
“Don’t like it rough, Ronnie?” I teased him. He hated the nickname, and I was the only one who dared, but he still answered to it.
“Not that rough.”
“We didn’t do anything anyway. Just fought a little like when you and I spar. Only Luca’s more vampire than human, so we were pretty closely matched.” Until I had a redout. “You don’t need to babysit me. I’m not going to hurt anyone. I just wanna nap.”
“They might hurt you. I’ve been in your spot before. Wrongly accused.” He shivered then stretched out in the chair. He finger-combed his long black hair into a ponytail and secured it with a band that he’d been wearing around his uninjured wrist. I’d shaved his head once, more out of anger at myself for not being good enough, than anything he’d done. He was beautiful. More pretty than handsome. The perfect mix of his Japanese mother and European father. The slanted eyes and high cheekbones, black hair, delicate features, pale skin and luminescent eyes. I’d hated him for a long time for being so beautiful. Only now I knew how much he hated it too. “I’ll stay until your lawyer comes at least.”
“I’m a big boy,” I told him, though I was thankful for his support.
“No doubt. But you’re not a lawyer.”
“You’re too nice. You know that? You could be a real dick, but you’re still nice. I don’t get that.”
He shrugged again. “I am what I am.”
Amen to that. I suppose I should really own up in case he wanted to escape before being dragged into bad press. He was only just getting the world on board with him being the first male Pillar in history.
“I was attacked in an alley last night before I went to the club to meet Gabe. There were three guys. I fought back. When I left they were still alive. I fed on them. Broke one’s arm, another had a busted rib or two, but they were all alive when I left them.” Laws weren’t the same when it came to vampires. We were too strong and fast. Self-defense wasn’t always a valid defense, not when I could have outrun them easily.
“Self-defense then. Three against one is never good odds. Even for a vampire. They could have had weapons.”
But I’d let the monster out. Maybe my senses had been off. Maybe I’d taken too much from one of them. “Do you know what a redout is?”
“It’s something bad. A berserker-like rage that vampires can go into, uncontrollable bloodlust, usually with no memory of what happened. It’s sort of a boogeyman tale to scare young vampires into behaving and people away from them.”
Shit.
“There are some reports of actual occurrences that I read about in my Metaphysics 101 class. Usually a lot of people die. Sometimes the vampire doesn’t even feed on the blood, just shreds people. Gabe won’t talk about it. Not with me.” He paused and frowned. “Did you have a redout in the alley?” Seiran gripped my hand like he feared my answer.
“No.” Not really. I’d let the monster out, but I’d still mostly been in control. “With Luca. I remember everything from the alley. But my sight went red with Luca just before I blacked out.”
Sei relaxed in his chair. “Luca is alive and well, so that’s good.” He sighed heavily. “There’s no legal defense for redouts.”
The door opened and several people entered the room. One had to be my lawyer since he was dressed in an expensive suit. The other two were probably cops.
“Mr. Rou you’ll have to leave now,” one of the detectives told him, holding the door open for him. The cop put his hand out for my empty cup and I let him have it. He’d probably take DNA off it or something, fingerprints, whatever. I couldn’t stop it. If I killed those men, I deserved whatever they did to me. The fine line I was walking between hurting them and killing them was far too narrow. Gabe was going to rip me a new one if I made it out of this.
Seiran squeezed my hand before he left.
“Later, Ronnie,” I teased him. Everyone sat down. The suit took his place beside me and said, “Please note that I will advise him not to answer any questions that may incriminate him. He has also cooperated without resistance, so let’s make this fast so I can take my client home to bed where he belongs.”
“Understood, Mr. Janovich,” the cop said then turned to me. “I’m Detective Rice and this is Detective Moore. We just want to ask you a few questions about last night.”
“Okay,” I told him.
“Let’s start with how you got so banged up, Sam.”
“I was sparring with my friend Luca.”
“He beat you up? He looks pretty roughed up too. Maybe you both went for a little walk to find someone else to beat on? Maybe you get your kicks that way,” the other detective said.
The lawyer interrupted before I could reply, “If you don’t have any actual questions, Detective, this interview is over.”
“Is there anyone who can vouch for you other than Luca Depacio?”
Were they questioning his credibility too? “Not when we were sparring. It was just the two us, but before that we were at a coffee shop for a while.”
“Name and location of the shop?”
I rattled it off. I wondered if I should tell them about the fight in the alley. Would they automatically assume I’d killed the guys even though they’d been alive when I left? I leaned toward the lawyer who tilted his head to listen. “Three guys attacked me in an alley early last night. They had bats. I fought back, but they were all alive when I left. That was before coffee and before I met Gabe at the club.”
“What time?” He prompted.
“Eight thirty. Then I went to the club where I met up with Gabe and Luca. I worked last night too. But I’m sure Gabe told you that.”
“An
d where did this incident occur?”
I gave him the exact location. West 7th wasn’t a great place to be in broad daylight. After dark it was brutal. Just being there was bound to start something, but I kept my mouth shut about the fact that I’d been looking for a fight.
Mr. Janovich relayed the events to the detectives. “I think that settles this. Since Mr. Mueller was otherwise engaged. He has a solid alibi from after eleven p.m. Probable death for your victims was after two a.m.” I was at the bar working until just before two a.m. “He was on the other side of town working until two a.m. and then with a lover, who is out in the lobby, until early this morning. Since you have no reason to hold him, it’s time for him to go home.” He got up from his chair and I followed. I really hadn’t killed anyone?
“It’s daylight. He can’t leave anyway. And we can hold him for up to twenty-four hours without charging him.”
“You have no reason to hold him other than the fact that he’s a vampire. That would be racial profiling, Detective. Does your department want that lawsuit?”
The detectives glanced at each other. “So be it,” Rice said. “I suggest you don’t leave town, Mr. Mueller. Forensics will be combing your clothing for DNA evidence.”
“You should probably swab Luca, since it’s his blood all over my clothes,” I told them as I followed my lawyer out the door. Were they really letting me go?
Seiran and Luca waited in the entryway outside the main desk. Luca looked like he’d been hit by a bus. Face swollen and turning colors, one eye almost black. “Shit! I’m so sorry,” I told him. He hadn’t looked that bad when I left him in the shower.
He snickered. “You haven’t looked in the mirror, have you? We could be twins. I gave as good as I got. And I’m a quick healer, so no worries. I’ll be mostly normal by the time the sun sets.”
Seiran grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “Can you go home?” He glanced at the lawyer, “Can we take him home?” The man nodded. “You need sleep, Sam. You should be better healed already than what you are, especially with my blood in you.” He pulled me toward the door.