by Sarah Black
I step through and into a dingy apartment. To the side is the kitchen from this morning. Even weirder still is that this place goes further past where it should. “Know what? I can’t possibly try to understand this shit.”
“I wouldn’t. Don’t eat back here either. Bring food in, but don’t eat their food.” Joe guides me to a small living room, his hand pointing to a seat.
“Is Valentino back here?” I shovel more fries in my mouth, sad I’ve almost demolished half of them.
Joe sits comfortably on the lumpy sofa, his cap on his head and his ankle resting on his other leg. “They are outside working out their differences.”
“As long as they wash the blood off before they come in.”
“I’m going to assume you won’t stop. This is moving quickly, peanut. We can’t delay.”
“I had one hunch, Joe, and it didn’t pan out.”
“You sure about that, kiddo?” His brown eyes see right through me, demanding I think and question everything. Just as he always taught me.
“Just because someone wears a glove with five fingers doesn’t mean he has five fingers under that glove.”
I blink very slowly at him, trying to absorb the weird bullshit that just fell out of his mouth. “Don’t trust Lazarus, check.”
“Trust no one, kiddo. No one.”
“It looks like you trust Pete.”
“I’ve known Pete for a long time and his bar is neutral ground. I can meet and conduct official business here.”
I point a fry at him. “Know what I don’t get? If there is no supernatural police force, then why have a council?”
“Council is there for wartime measures only. Last supernatural war was during the dark ages. Wasn’t pretty. They like this world, they like knowing that humans are curious. Benefits them.”
“And you?”
“I keep them from getting to that point. The council will kill without a care. They will meet you and kill you because you pose a threat to them. Remember that.”
“Right, well, I’m just a water witch.” I lick my fingers, sliding my basket away from me. “What now? What do I do?”
“What do you want to do?”
I wrinkle my nose. “I feel restless, like there is something inside me that needs to get out and do something. I don’t think I’ll find my parents’ murderer just yet, and I don’t know if it’s the same person who attacked Poppy and me. But I do know that there is someone out there that knows what we are. I also know that Lazarus knew what I was and was waiting for me.”
“Well, there you go.”
“They played Aja and me, tricked us into thinking they weren’t a threat then they struck.”
“They don’t play by human rules. Look around you, Penny.” Hands wide, his eyes take in the entirety of the room. “Think of the darkest fairy tale and then drip that in dirt and blood and you have the supernatural world. No police exist, they only prevent each other from creating an all-out war. But hey, if one kills another here and there, they don’t care. They make human killers look like cartoon characters. I do my best, but I’m mortal.”
I lean back against the couch. Though his words should strike at my heart, all I feel is an obligation to change that.
I shall not cry.
What would Poppy do?
“Thirteen houses want this bounty, Penny. Not once in the decade I’ve been working supernatural cases has the council put out a bounty that high. Can’t help but wonder why.”
“You think they know something?”
He shrugs, his bottom lip turning down. “Seems odd, doesn’t it?”
“I’m going to need a car.” I stand, grabbing the empty basket.
“Did you check your pocket for keys? Poppy is out of the country, so what does she need a car for?”
My hands slap my jacket pockets, both inside then out, until one buried close to my ribs reveals a long key to Poppy’s old car. “She really tried to think of everything, didn’t she?”
“She knew things were going to get bad and fast. I don’t agree with her decision to side with a vampire house, but it will keep her alive.” His bones creak as he stands. “Come on, I’ll drive you to her car.”
“Thanks.” It’s a pitiful sentiment when everything has been set up for you to take care of something far above your paygrade.
All because my curiosity had me entering a stairwell with a moaning woman. We step out the same door Aja and I darted through hours earlier and into the afternoon light.
Lazarus rests against the building while Valentino sits on the hood of Joe’s car. “Want me to stake them?”
We both know he’s far too slow for such a feat, but I appreciate the gesture either way. “No. Lemme see what he wants.”
“Yell if you need me.” Joe walks off toward his car with a single nod toward Valentino who prowls toward me.
All around us, brick rises skyward, looming over us while one small alley leads out.
As he nears, my words spill out. “What are the odds your house still thinks I’m human?”
“For now? High.” He lays a palm on my back, guiding me to a small alcove where we can have some semblance of privacy. “Don’t shut me out, Penny.”
“I was told not to trust anyone, Valentino. Why should I trust you?” I poke his chest where his white shirt holds blood splatters.
“You intrigue me, Penny Piór. Let me protect you.”
“I’m not so sure that’s possible anymore.”
“Then allow me to fight beside you.” His fingertips pinch the leather at my hip, reminding me that I’m not invincible. “What choices do you have? Joe? Aja? Pete?”
“I’m not sure Joe can survive this,” I whisper, refusing to fear his mortality. “He needs to stay safe at all costs.”
“What happens when he grows old and dies while you age slowly?” Though quiet, his words strike as intended.
“It wasn’t a thought I’ve taken into consideration yet.”
“What are you going to do? Run around town seeking out bad guys like the goons inside?”
I cock my head at him. “You know something, don’t you?”
“Swear you’ll let me aid you.”
“Why?”
He leans in, his body hovering over mine, reminding me even in a crisis he can still tease my libido to the surface. Heat thrums through my body, waking up my nerves and sparking life into them, giving me a jolt of life I’ve been yearning to have for days.
“Because you don’t want to say no.”
I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give him that truth. My palms rest on his chest, his body searing beneath my fingertips. “We play by my rules this time, Valentino.”
His head presses against mine, his breath gusting over my ears. “I can be as submissive as you need me to be, kitten, you’ve nothing to worry about there.”
I snort, backing away at that blatant lie.
22
“Look, lay low for a while.” Joe can see the fight flashing in my eyes and the press of my lips. Holding up a hand, he gives me his usual shuttered look. “Think, plan, then react. I’ve got a mess to clean up right now, and I don’t want to be thinking about you too.”
It’s a selfish gesture. He knows it, I know it. “I’ll give you one day, Joe, then I’m going hunting.”
“And what are you going to do when you find this mystery attacker?” He grunts to himself when words fail me. “Exactly, there’s a division that can help, I’ll reach out to them.”
I’m already shaking my head before he can get the words out of his mouth. “I don’t think they will play by human law.”
He points a finger at me with a frown on his face. “A human sits on their council.” Behind us in the backseat Valentino snorts. Joe doesn’t even glance back at him. Instead, he carries on, “All I’m asking for is three days.”
“I gave you one.”
“And that, peanut, is unrealistic. Do you recall the amount of paperwork I often have? I won’t sleep fo
r a day as it is. Three days. Learn everything you can from him. Remember what you are capable of. Who better to practice on than a vampire?” The amused glint in his eyes disturbs me.
I heave out a sigh, torn between needing to find who tried to kill us and listening to Joe. Whom I trust with every fiber of my being.
“Good, now go I’ve got shit to do.” Joe turns in his seat his expression shifting from loving father to dangerous cop in two point five seconds.
“I get it.” Valentino climbs out before Joe can even express what he wants to say.
“Watch that one.”
The warning is needless, but not for the same reasons Joe has. Dismissing the thought, I lean in, surprising us both as I give Joe a kiss on the cheek. I’m not a hugger. I’m not a snuggler. And affection leaves me reeling. But when it comes to Joe, my pseudo father, really the only father I’ve ever known, I owe him more than I give him. Because if what Poppy states is true, our biological parents dropped us somewhere, and then our adoptive father was murdered.
Joe was the only one who stuck around.
“Thanks,” I whisper, before climbing out of the sedan and onto the sidewalk, slamming the door before my heart constricts any further.
“You broke him.” Valentino comes to stand beside me as I watch Joe pull into traffic. “You aren’t going to wait three days, are you?”
Ignoring him, I inhale deeply, savoring the scent of fried food wafting to me from vendors. The sun creeps leisurely into the sky as the weekday traffic slows before the evening bumper to bumper nightmare. I want to be gone by then.
I pull my duffle bag high, turning left toward the small apartment complex and the even smaller parking lot where I know Poppy’s car sits. Valentino falls into step behind me, his presence a small comfort to what looms out there somewhere.
A killer who isn’t afraid to kill in front of children.
“How’d you get rid of Lazarus?” I trudge up the hill, thankful her apartment isn’t any higher up. Her powder blue bug sits in an almost vacant parking lot.
“Are you going to wait for Joe?”
I pause, realizing this is what he does. For every question I ask, he’ll relentlessly ask the same one over and over until I finally answer him. “No. Now answer the question.”
“The blue one, correct?” He knows the answer, he saw me sitting in her car on that fateful night.
“You’re annoying, Valentino.” I stomp off to the car, not sure why I’m annoyed, but I know it has everything to do with him.
His slow chuckle grates on my nerves, especially the low timber of it that sends a flare of desire through most of my me. All but my brain where warning bells ring.
“You can deal with me for three days.” His steps pick up until I can hear his breath at my ear. When he exhales, it sends my body shivering and my muscles twitching. “Can you handle me for three days, Penny?”
No. I doubt anyone can.
I push away, skirting to the driver’s side door and unlocking it. For a few seconds, I debate climbing in and driving away without the vampire at the door.
Then I remember how many times he’s saved my ass. My feet still sting from the glass shards that sliced through them a few nights ago.
Relenting, I unlock the door and start the engine. The little car jerks as I push it into reverse, my foot pressing into the break when everything comes crashing down.
I have nowhere to go. I can’t go into Poppy’s apartment, nor mine as they have both been compromised. I can’t go to Aja’s because I won’t endanger her, and for some reason I get the feeling the shifters want nothing to do with any of this no matter how much Aja loves me. They have risked enough. Joe wants me to wait. I can’t live at the bar or the weird maze that Pete has over there.
I have only the man sitting beside me. I push the gear to park.
My eyes slide to the side, my head refusing to move as I gaze at Valentino sitting there seemingly relaxed. But his eyes dart all around us. Ever assessing, ever watching. He scares me, but not because I know he’s dangerous. But because I know he can break my heart.
I’ve kept him at a distance since first meeting him. But it was for a good reason.
“Why did you want to meet me?” I don’t know why I ask, but the words escape my mouth anyway.
He turns slowly, his seafoam green eyes assessing me. His façade is gone and in its place sits the being of legend. The one horror and romance equally portray in books and movies.
“Don’t ask questions you aren’t sure you want the answer to.”
“Why, Valentino?” I press.
“You hide that.”
My brows bunch at his statement. He’s speaking in circles again. “I hide what?”
“That spark. It flashes here and there, but only briefly before you sink back into your head. You defy me and others in one breath, then in the next you’re are nothing more than a mouse. Tell me, which of these is you?”
I swallow, my eyes looking anywhere but at him. But I don’t I force myself to stay locked onto him as he stares through me. “And you? You want the world to see you as a playboy, but you are anything but. I’ve been to your house once, and there wasn’t a single vampire other than you aside from that night. Vampires, I’m sure, won’t listen to just anyone. It has to be someone special.”
“And you’d be right.”
I wait for him to continue, but he doesn’t, he just sits there assessing me, making me shift in my seat until I break. “What do you want me to say, Valentino?” I scrub a hand down my face.
“The truth.” His voice stays hard and unyielding. It isn’t a tone that one just opens up to. It isn’t empathetic, but one that already has a suspicion of the woman I hide from the world.
“The truth,” I echo to him. “I have nowhere to go.” I do my best to ignore this entire conversation. I don’t want to feel too comfortable with him, because once I’m comfortable, that leaves me vulnerable. That isn’t a risk I can take. Not when it isn’t just my life at stake.
“Look at me.” Against my better judgment, I do, and what I see there causes pebbles to break out across my body. It’s that crack in the mask he wears, allowing me to see through. And fuck if it doesn’t make me feel comfortable, exactly what I can’t afford. “I play the game, Penny. I play the pawn, the king, the knight against supernaturals who would rather kill me. We live far longer than we should, and our feuds last centuries. Blood spills from both sides as we fight for reasons none of us can recall. The north east belongs to my house. Mine. Your attack fell into my territory. Lazarus shouldn’t even be here. The fact that he is, and that Aja knew where to find him, means I’ve become lenient.”
I close my eyes as his explanation fills so many holes. “Your interest in me is because I’m in your territory?” I try my best to keep the hurt from my voice, but it exists nonetheless.
“Yes. And I didn’t even know you were a witch until recently. Poppy slipped up while working for me. You both wanted to keep tabs on a world that runs far too deep, you watched the surface of an iceberg. So, when I caught her one night eyeing a wall as she whispered to it, I grew suspicious. Here I was thinking you two were humans, ones that could supply my house with willing blood, but you weren’t human at all, were you?” He pauses as emotion creeps into his voice, thick and full of disdain, but I know it isn’t for me, it’s for himself. “You even smell human.”
“Wait.” I hold my hand up, pressing it against an invisible wall. “You wanted to feed me to your vampires?”
“Willing donor, Penny. That’s how we survive,” he all but growls.
“You—”
“I’m moving on, you can assess that information later. Because then I dug into your past. Right there for me to gobble up,” he sneers at me. “All this time the pieces were in front of me and I missed it. There are hundreds of homicides every year in my territory and you slipped through the cracks.”
“Because there are hundreds of homicides every year, Valentino. Is it truly a wo
nder you missed my parents?” Where the hell is he even going with this?
“Not by supernaturals. We filter through all of those murders. You were missed.”
That’s when I finally understand. “It wasn’t a mistake, was it?”
“I don’t believe in coincidences nor mistakes. Every action is done for a reason. Calling it either of those is a slap to the face.” His entire body hums with fury.
“Why isn’t Lazarus supposed to be here?” I want to comfort him, but I don’t want to experience the rejection that may come with it.
“Can you at least drive while we talk?” His eyes twitch from side to side as his hands clench and unclench.
“Where to?”
“Just drive. Don’t take the expressway and drive without a pattern. In exactly forty-seven minutes I’ll give you an address.”
“Paranoid much?” I finally put the car in gear and pull out onto green lane, heading up the ridiculous hill.
Ignoring me, he grabs the rearview mirror, tilting it toward him, and then he rolls down the window, angling the side mirror before rolling it back up. “Can you drive with only one?”
“I’ll manage,” I say cautiously.
“Lazarus is complicated. Vampires are divided into two houses. Cain and Abel. Because we are too volatile toward each other, we claim territories. The northeast is my territory, the southeast is Lazarus’s. He shouldn’t be here. That alone is suspicious.”
I can understand that. Given their history. “Can you explain the houses to me?”
“To understand the houses, you need to understand the council. There are thirteen seats on the council. Each occupied by a supernatural being. Really, all it means is other than human, though a mortal sits in the thirteenth seat. There mostly for show.”
“There are thirteen supernatural races?”
“Of a kind.” He adjusts in his seat, checking the mirrors each time I turn down a new street. “The council seats are arranged in order of power and not all seats are filled. Some have died off over the years, or have weakened to the point they cannot be in the same room as the others.”