“Okay, man, you can do this,” Rio said—to himself, though Ethan tried to internalize the advice too.
Yes, the bubble of blood from each stroke of the needle made him salivate, but he wasn’t hungry or in need of blood, not so soon after feeding from Bash, and he was not out of control.
He would not be out of control.
“Relax,” Ethan said, keeping his eyes on his work and focusing on the ink more than any pooling red. “Keep talking. You’ve been waiting a long time for this, right? And it’s going to look amazing, I promise.
“Tell me, if not Bulbasaur, if you could choose any other Pokémon, who’s your favorite? For me, it has to be Jigglypuff. She’s so cute when she gets mad about putting people to sleep after her singing.”
“U-umm…. Oddish, definitely,” Rio said, taking another steadying breath. “Super cute in a tiny package and hiding a powerhouse of kickassery.”
“Sounds like he could be your spirit animal.”
“Dude.” Rio chuckled. “Do not make me laugh right now.”
Ethan smiled. He could do this, even if every time he paused to wipe away the blood, he wanted to lap at it with his tongue.
Stay calm. Focus. You are in control. Just listen. Listen and focus and breathe.
Except Ethan didn’t need to breathe. Still, he repeated the mantra in his head, his attention entirely on Rio.
Who’d stopped talking for some reason.
Pulling the needle away and looking up, Ethan saw Rio staring at him blankly, eyes glazed like he was listening to every word, even though Ethan hadn’t been talking aloud.
Oh shit. Had Ethan enthralled Rio just by thinking those things? He didn’t need to bite the person?
Ethan looked down at the blood leaking from his work so far. If Rio was enthralled, he would hardly notice if Ethan gave a simple lick.
It was so tempting. Ethan even leaned down and sniffed at the aroma of fresh blood right from the source. No wonder everyone was leery of him if vampires could render someone incapable of defending themselves with barely a thought.
Like Ethan had done to Bash. His thrall was why they’d slept together, no matter how much Bash said he let it happen.
“Rio,” Ethan said to snap them both back to attention.
Rio blinked and spoke on as if he’d never paused. “Know what I mean?”
“Sure,” Ethan said, despite not having been listening before. “Keep talking. We’ll be done before you know it.”
As Rio continued regaling Ethan with his favorite Pokémon, tips and tricks for the games, and that one time after Pokémon GO first came out when he nearly walked into the street trying to catch a Ponyta, Ethan glanced aside and noticed how close Bash, Deanna, and Siobhan all were, looking as if they’d been about to pounce.
They’d all seen him slip, all worried he’d falter, but he hadn’t.
Ethan nodded at Bash to say he was fine and returned to his work.
“So uhh… who’s the knockout?” Rio asked sometime later. He seemed to be doing better, as long as he kept talking.
Ethan realized he meant Deanna. “Another artist. I thought you were familiar with the place, being a neighbor.”
“I am! I’ve seen her before. Just never knew her name.”
“You know Bash?”
“The smoldering guy who owns the place? Sure. She’s not his wife, is she?”
“Driver. Her name’s Deanna. But fair warning, she’s a little rough around the edges.”
“She could be rough with me any day,” Rio said dreamily. “Plus, she keeps looking over here.”
Ethan didn’t have the heart to tell Rio that she was probably looking at the vampire she wanted to stake.
Only maybe she was looking at them both, because the next time Ethan stole a glance up front where Deanna and Bash had joined Siobhan, Deanna’s eyes seemed to trace over Rio more than casting any stern glares on Ethan.
“Ask her out,” Ethan said, almost surprising himself with the declaration.
“Seriously?” Rio hissed. “Just like that?”
“Why not? Life’s too short for ‘if onlys.’ Trust me.” Ethan knew firsthand after being dead—or reborn? Undead? He wasn’t sure.
“Right in front of her scary, sexy boss?”
Ethan wondered if Rio realized he’d admitted Bash’s attractiveness twice. If he did, he wasn’t trying to hide it. “I don’t know Deanna well, but I get the feeling she’d take more notice if you did ask her out in front of her boss. Be bold.”
“Bold.” Rio nodded.
“Worked for you so far today.” Ethan indicated the mini sleeve, with all its lines finished—including a small Oddish Ethan had added to a less busy section of the collage. He and Bulbasaur were both plant types, so they matched well.
“This is amazing! It’s perfect!”
“Wait ’til it’s colored,” Ethan said with a smile. He really did love tattooing. A tattoo was so personal, intimate, and said so much about a person. Getting someone to smile over a drawing was one thing, but art on their body was something they’d carry with them forever.
By the time Rio’s tattoo was finished, Siobhan was working on her own client, and Bash and Deanna looked like they’d hashed out whatever they’d been discussing, which Ethan could only assume revolved around Jay and the next steps for figuring out who Ethan’s sire might be.
He supposed he could have eavesdropped with his newly heightened hearing, but that had gotten him into enough trouble today.
Honestly, Ethan hadn’t given his sire’s identity much thought, mostly because he couldn’t imagine it was anyone he knew. Why someone would choose him for whatever this plot was, why he was special and stronger than the average vampire, just wasn’t the most important thing to him.
Which, he realized with somewhat of a drop in his stomach, might be intentional.
Could he be controlled without realizing it? He’d controlled Rio with no effort, and they’d said it would be nearly impossible for him to resist what his master wanted from him.
Shaking those thoughts from his mind, at least for now, Ethan finished his aftercare instructions with Rio and brought him up front to check out. The others gave him space, not crowding, but Ethan could tell Rio was nervous with the idea of taking Ethan up on his suggestion.
He gave Ethan a very generous tip, took a breath, then walked right over to Deanna as if Bash wasn’t looming nearby.
“Hi. You should come by sometime.” He handed Deanna a card for the flower shop with an impressively steady hand.
“Oh?” Deanna said with the shadow of a smirk, plucking the card from him with two fingers that barely missed grazing his skin.
“For uhh….” Rio glanced at the menacing brother figure Bash painted and faltered. “Flowers! For here, you know, add some greenery to the place, maybe say hello if I’m there. Since we’re neighbors.”
“I might have to do that,” Deanna conceded.
“Great! Awesome. That is… awesome.” Rio opened his mouth as if he might say more but chose to retreat to Ethan. “I was half-bold,” he whispered. “Thanks, man. I seriously love the tattoo. See you around?”
“I’ll be here.” Ethan hoped.
Deanna watched Rio leave with a widening grin, but the expression dropped when her eyes landed back on Ethan. “Cheater,” she growled.
“What did I do?”
She obviously wasn’t won over. By Rio maybe, who had an energy about him that made him all too easy to like, but not by Ethan.
“Impressive.” Bash stalked toward Ethan. “I feared we might have a problem back there. Your control is remarkable. That is going to be very necessary from here on out, understand?”
“Of course,” Ethan said, drawn into Bash’s orbit just by having him close again and taking in his smell.
“Maybe I’ll see about sprucing up this place,” Deanna said, twirling Rio’s card in her fingers.
“Um, Rio said he’s off the rest of today,” Ethan mentioned, for which
she looked at him in mild annoyance. “If that matters!”
“Deanna, take a shift to help out Siobhan,” Bash said and took Ethan’s arm to lead him toward the door.
“Boss?” Deanna questioned.
“Now that we know our vampire doesn’t need a muzzle, I’m taking him to see Nell. We’ll walk back.”
Ethan grimaced at the thought of being in the sun that long, though the house was less than a mile away.
“You have to get used to it,” Bash told him.
“I know. Thanks again for the shades, Siobhan!” Ethan called back.
She waved noncommittally, but that was better than Deanna’s dismissal, and Ethan and Bash exited into the sunshine.
Chapter 9
“YOU DON’T have any tattoos,” Ethan said after they had been walking for a few minutes.
“Your point?” Bash passed back to him.
“I just realized, since I saw you… you know.”
“Naked?”
“Y-yeah,” Ethan stammered. “Just seems strange. Siobhan and Deanna have tattoos.”
Siobhan had many, actually, beyond the visible ones on her arms and up her neck. Deanna had chosen to cover old scars with tattoos, little by little over the years, something Bash had debated, too, but never followed through on. Deanna’s ink could mostly be seen at her wrists or peeking out of her shirt collar if it was low enough.
Bash, however, had none.
“The parlor is a side business,” he reminded Ethan. “Why so surprised? You don’t have tattoos.”
“Yes, I do,” Ethan said, glancing briefly from beneath his sunglasses at Bash and then down his own body. “You just haven’t seen enough of me yet.”
The tease made Bash deeply curious now, because no, he had not seen all of Ethan, though a few opportune moments had passed by. Their rut on the floor had only been a connection below the waist, and he hadn’t snuck enough of a peek last night when they were changing for bed.
Shaking his head to focus on the task at hand, Bash reminded himself that Ethan was a tool, an asset, maybe a future pack member and ally if this didn’t turn disastrous, but he could not be a lover. Bash’s word was something he never revoked, not when he stood to gain so much from an alliance with Jay. He had to stay true to his word and not give in to temptation again.
“Why do you think you held it together so well with Mr. Hernandez?” Bash asked to shift the conversation elsewhere. It was a lovely day walking the several blocks from the tattoo parlor to the den.
Not that Ethan could enjoy it much. He winced any time he glanced too directly at the sun, though the new shades did their job.
“You know Rio?” Ethan asked, seeming surprised that Bash had caught the surname.
“I know my neighbors, human or shifter.”
“Well, um… I didn’t think you’d have a problem with your packmates dating humans, so I thought—”
“Let’s stay on topic,” Bash cut him off. He didn’t want to think about the sparkle in Deanna’s eyes at the diminutive young man trying to ask her out. She knew as well as he did that choosing a human partner, long- or short-term, required careful scrutiny.
“Part of it was just me,” Ethan said, “but also a little of you, I think. Your presence there. And maybe Rio himself. I felt more together, more assured, being around him. My dad used to have that effect on me.”
“Your father?”
“I always felt more comfortable in my own skin when he was there. You know?”
Bash did not know. He’d never had a pleasant relationship with his father.
“Some people are naturally like that, I guess. Maybe it was because Rio and I hit it off so well. I’ve never had many friends, but he made me feel like Dad used to. Same when I’m around you.”
Their eyes met as Ethan turned his head.
“Um… sorry, what were we talking about?” Ethan averted his gaze.
It was not going to be easy to deny an indulgence in Ethan. Never had Bash imagined he would want anything from a vampire, let alone so much. “You’ve recognized a few things and people that ground you. That’s good. Now let’s make sure we stay ahead of everything else.”
Leading them through the nearby gate, Bash pointed the way to their journey’s end.
“We’re back at the house?” Ethan looked about in surprise.
“Back entrance. Leads straight to Nell’s workshop.”
“Your… Shaman, right?”
“Exactly.”
The back gate had a keycode, as did the separate entrance leading to Nell’s workshop, which was sectioned off from the wine cellar and storage.
Bash knew both codes by heart, everyone in the inner circle did, and he punched in this one swiftly out of Ethan’s view. Their admittance into the workshop alerted Nell with a gentle chime and security footage broadcast below.
“Hello again.” Nell greeted them at the bottom of the stairs. She wore many of her adornments today, including bangles on her wrists and hoops in each ear. “I’m glad we get to spend more time together, Ethan. I’ve never had the pleasure of speaking with a vampire.”
“Hi,” Ethan said, accepting the hand Nell offered him. “You’ve never met a vampire before?”
“I’ve met them,” Nell said.
“But never talked?” Ethan repeated, though Nell’s stiff expression made his eyes widen as he clearly came to realize what she was implying.
“Never talked, no. Come, I’ve been expecting you.” She kept her hold on Ethan’s hand and led him farther into the workshop.
Taking up more than half the basement level, the room seamlessly mixed modern technology, runes, and potions like an apothecary out of a renaissance fair and something akin to a local magic shop on a street corner. Nell was a healer more than anything and versed in various methods to keep the pack safe, which included a hospital bed that she had Ethan sit on.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to examine you. Nothing invasive. You’re welcome to ask me anything you wish to understand what you are now and what I hope to discover.”
“Thank you,” Ethan said, relaxing under her easy bedside manner. Even Deanna was calm around Nell, which had made the decision to add her to the circle an easy one.
Bash hung back as Nell checked Ethan’s vitals and then cast a few runic spells, which had Ethan gaping in wonder.
“How are you doing that?” he asked, watching the way she drew in the air with a finger, leaving behind a hovering, glowing symbol like she was painting with fluorescent light on a pane of glass. The color the rune flashed before it dissipated told her whatever she was trying to discover.
“Some people have an affinity for magic,” she said. “Most don’t. Since I do, it merely takes intent and practice.”
“But how does it work? I have degrees in chemistry and forensic science. I’ve read Stephen Hawking’s The Grand Design. I know something can be created from nothing, but I’ve never seen anything like a person producing glowing light that floats, although Preston did make a machete.”
Machete? Bash thought wryly.
“Who says it’s something from nothing?” Nell said. “Don’t overthink. Some things don’t have an answer you can see. I could tell you that specific combinations of ingredients or force of will can tap into something quite tangible that most people can’t access. Or I could say it’s magic and you just go along with it.” She smiled.
Ethan chuckled. “Fair enough.”
It was when Ethan pulled up his sleeves for Nell to draw a sample of blood that Bash saw the first sign of tattoos, one on each forearm from wrist to elbow. Almost like black pillars, the right bore a fist holding scales in the center, while the left displayed a white skull.
Bash smirked as he recognized the images. They probably hadn’t gotten questioned in prison, but he knew their real origin—the tabletop game Warhammer. Specifically, those were the symbols for the police and secret police, respectively, within the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Ethan was a true n
erd and wore his profession as an investigator on his skin.
Bash wondered where else he might be hiding ink.
Eventually, when Nell drew a rune on Ethan’s chest, had him drink a concoction, and told him to lie back a while to allow the magic to work, Bash gestured her to him. There was one main reason he’d wanted to see her.
“I have reason to believe Ethan’s mother was a Seer,” Bash whispered. He would have worried about vampiric eavesdropping, but Ethan seemed preoccupied with the workshop.
“I caught signs of that,” Nell agreed, “as well as something else, something that isn’t usually detectable, but the lingering trail was strong enough for me to do another test, the one that’s working through him now.”
“For what?” Bash glanced at Ethan curiously.
“One parent was a Seer. His mother, you said? Then I believe his father was a Focus.”
“What?” Bash’s eyes snapped back to her. “This city hasn’t had a Focus in generations. They’re even rarer than Seers. The only thing rarer—”
“Would be a Null, I know. If the rune I placed over Ethan’s heart glows red, I’ll know I’m right. It also makes me curious.” She smiled as though not nearly as shaken by this as Bash was, but then, she rarely lost her calm. “The signs that made me try this? It’s like magical residue. I hadn’t noticed before now, but it appears to be on you as well.”
“You can’t mean….” Bash’s mother was a Seer. Which meant…. “My father was a Focus?” Someone able to bring out the most in people, though not always the best—their powers, their strengths. It could be a great tool and a terrible weapon.
“We can test that sometime soon, when I have you alone,” she said.
Bash nodded, feeling mildly numb. At least his latest prophecy made more sense now.
Mothers who saw and fathers who heightened
What of the rest?
Three with the power, but one unenlightened
That could mean Bari. He was Bash’s twin, so even though he’d never shown the same abilities, his power could just be dormant.
By the Red Moonlight Page 9