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CHAPTER THREE 
BENTLEY
I pull up outside the self-storage and park my car next to Marcus’s. We’re all in our casual clothes as we walk up since it’s eight o’clock at night and I’d been headed for a shower when the video went live. The streaming service cut the channel before we could stop them since we wanted to get a read on it. It was up and down too quickly for any of our guys to break through it, but maybe they’ll be able to pinpoint something on it.
Not long after the video was deleted, Brooks was sent another address and sure enough, as I walk inside, Briar is helping Governor White to his feet.
He gives her a kind smile. “Thank you all so much for your hard work. I was terrified of what that human wanted from me, but your quick actions scared him off. I can’t thank you enough,” he says as he grabs Briar’s hand and shakes it multiple times before turning to Marcus who just grunts at him.
“You all will be rewarded for your bravery, I’ll see to it!” the governor says.
He’s always been seen as a kind man who seems very just. He’s big on charity runs and visits schools to help promote education. So why is he being targeted? Just because he’s the governor, one of the highest-ranking vampires in the state? Or is there more to it?
I notice Finn staring down at a second chair that’d been knocked over. “We have to assume the man wrote another note; it seemed like Governor White was reading off it momentarily,” Finn says as Marcus and Briar take White out of the room.
“It did seem like that.”
“So why didn’t he leave the paper? Clearly, there was something on it he wanted White to read to everyone, so it makes no sense he’d take it,” Finn says. “I guess maybe he was afraid there were fingerprints on it?”
“Where was White when you got here?” I ask.
“Near it. So it’s possible he did something with it.”
“Beyond eating it, what could he have done with it? We can search his body and ask him,” I say.
“This whole thing is strange, but we have an abductor who claimed that if they didn’t turn themselves in, he’d start killing them. No one’s turned themselves in and no one’s died. His threats are starting to get a whole lot less threatening,” Finn says.
“Both vampires claim he’s human and he’s clearly threatening some high-class vampires. He’s going to end up dead before he knows it.”
“But why?” Finn says. “Why go to this extent?”
“We get vampire haters all the time,” Marcus says as he walks back in. “They’re lowlife humans who think vampires need to go because they make them feel weak or some shit. You haven’t been here long, but you’ll see it more and more. No matter how equal we try to pretend the footing is between vampires and humans, there will always be prejudices against both sides. If this man really had something against them, he’d be making sure everyone saw it, not alluding to it.”
Finn watches Marcus for a moment and I question if he doesn’t like the idea of humans being blamed for something like this. Sadly, though, Marcus is right. I’ve seen many vampires killed by humans just for existing and I’ve seen many humans killed by vampires because they see humans as weak or a food source.
“But why all this?” Finn asks as he waves around him.
“Attention,” Marcus says, telling me he’s set on the idea of the human being in the wrong. Marcus is a good detective, but he does have a bit of a superiority complex at times. Since being with Finn, he’s gotten much better, but he still has moments like this where he pulls out his stubborn face.
“My god, your detective work is astounding, McFangy,” Finn says. “You just automatically solved the case by using the power of prejudice!”
Marcus lets out a grumble as he folds his arms over his chest. “I am not being prejudiced. I’m just saying I’ve seen this type of case many times.”
“Uh-huh. And every single one of those cases were the exact same, right? Like super same?”
“Correct,” Marcus says stubbornly.
Finn shakes his head while looking amused. “I’m going to go discuss the case with open-minded beings while you brood over in the corner,” he says as he turns his back on Marcus and looks at me. “I think we need to ask White about the paper. I think he’s hiding something.”
“I agree.”
“Hear that, Marcus? DeGray agrees,” Finn says.
Alexei, who just walked into the area, folds his arms over his chest. “The relationship you two share is just beautiful.”
“Thanks, sweetie,” Finn says, which makes Alexei’s nose wrinkle. “You can join our Marcus-is-not-allowed discussion.”
Marcus sighs loudly just to make sure we all heard him. “I’m not saying I’m done with the case. I’m merely stating that I’ve seen similar things happen before, only to find out it was a human who was mad about something.” He throws up his hands. “I’m not going to win,” Marcus realizes. “No matter what I say, I’m not going to win when Finn is around.” Then he growls but Finn smiles lovingly at him.
“I’m glad you understand.”
“I’m glad I’m single,” Alexei says.
“No one could handle your attitude, Karsyn,” Marcus says.
“Children. Children. Let’s please focus,” Finn, the actual child of the group, says.
Marcus folds his arms over his chest but nods. “Alright, I’ll see what White says about the paper and ask to do a body check.”
“He might have stuffed it up his anus, so you need to check everywhere,” Finn says with a grin.
Marcus steps in front of him, cutting him off from us, like he’ll make him disappear. Weirdly enough, he kind of does. But even if Marcus’s body can block Finn, it can’t stop his voice.
“Don’t just ignore me, Marcus. You have to be thorough. One finger will probably be enough.”
“Can you two follow the scent again?” Marcus asks, ignoring Finn.
“Of course,” I say.
Alexei and I head outside, following that horribly thick smell of cologne again. “You think this is just some human trying to get back at vampires?” Alexei asks curiously.
I shake my head. “I mean… unless he’s wanting attention and that’s what this is all about… I don’t think so. I think something’s going on, but he just needs to report it to the police instead of doing all this. So maybe it is for the attention.”
When we reach the parking lot of a shopping center, the smell dissipates. None of the shops are open, so we’ll have to come back in the morning to check if any have cameras.
      
When I step inside the little café shop, I see River standing near a bookshelf. He must have been waiting for me because he looks up the moment I enter. He smiles, then stops smiling, then looks uncertain. It’s almost like he’s embarrassed about smiling.
But I give him a smile anyway. “Hey,” I say. “I’ve come to collect my bat slave.”
His grin returns. “Shush. Sometimes I have the absolute worst pickup lines, but I suckered you into coming back for a drink.”
I couldn’t exactly say how he suckered me back, yet here I am, and I’m not even sure why. Maybe it’s because I’ve been upset lately, and I need something to distract me? I need something good in my life, and at the moment, it doesn’t even matter what it is. “Nah, I love being compared to a bat. It’s actually a bit of a bummer I have to use my legs to get anywhere, but I’ll make do.”
River’s cute, especially when he has that mischievous look on his face. His brownish-black hair is on the longer side, falling in light waves down to the collar of his blue button-down that looks good against his golden-brown skin. His dark brown eyes seem to reflect his teasing. But he’s young, probably late twenties, and I haven’t been interested in anyone in years, so why I’m back here, I’m not sure.
“Alright, let’s get our drinks. I actually brought my wallet this time, although I thought about leaving it behind again so you’d pamper me some more,” River says as he heads up to the short line. “Now… I’ve always wondered. Doesn’t blood just taste like blood? I mean, you have a lot of choices for just… blood.”
“It has different tastes.”
“Is it like in Sweeney Todd where you can tell if it’s a poet or a priest?”
I shake my head as I grin. “No, don’t make me sound like I’m into meat pies.”
“You kind of give me a meat pie guy vibe, if I’m being honest.”
“Maybe a bit less honest, then?” I suggest. “I’d like to keep some of my dignity intact.”
He has a playful grin as he shrugs then steps up to order before moving aside for me to order as well. I do, then slip my credit card right into the lady’s hand before River can pay her.
He pauses for a moment as he processes it then looks at me. “Hold on a minute! I was returning the favor,” he says as the lady hands me the card and receipt.
“I forgot about that,” I lie. “I guess you’re still in debt to my bat.”
“Fine,” he says with a smile. “Thank you. You didn’t need to do that.”
“I know. Do you want to go for a walk or do you want to sit here?”
“This is it, isn’t it?” he asks as he watches me closely.
“What?”
“You’re fattening me up then leading me off to eat me. You wanna make me into meat pies.”
I grin at the ludicrous idea, then reach out and press my finger against his wrist. While he watches me curiously, I pick up his hand and examine it. “Hmm… How’s your red meat intake? Let me get you some spinach.”
“Are you trying to make me taste better?” he asks.
“Well… yeah, I mean if I’m going to buy you a smoothie and then take you on a walk through a highly populated park to eat you, I want to make sure it’s worth it, you know?”
River grins at me. “Fine, fine. I’ll trust you not to eat me. But I’m warning you, when I was five, I was in gymnastics for two months. And when I was seven, I was in karate. I’m well on my way to becoming Catwoman.”
“Ah, agile as a cat, then?”
He winks at me, which makes me laugh as I turn away to grab my drink that I don’t actually need. I generally drink blood a couple of times a week, not two days in a row, but here I am, sucking it down just because of some random human.
Once we both have our drinks, I follow him to the door where I slide my sunglasses on. It’s overcast enough that the sun won’t bother me too much, but my eyes are still rather sensitive.
“Now I can’t see if you’re checking me out,” he says.
“Would you rather me burn my retinas?”
“If it’s not too much to ask,” he jokes as I hang a left since the park is about a block down the street from here.
“I guess I have to, then,” I say as I pull them off.
River looks alarmed. “Oh my god. Don’t! I was joking.”
“It’s too late. I have to do what you ask. Are you happy now that my eyes are bleeding?” I blink rapidly even though the light isn’t bothering them much. “Ignore the tears. Those are just tears of joy at getting to walk beside you.”
“And you thought I was bad at pickup lines,” he teases as I slip the sunglasses back on.
“That’s true, meat pie.”
“Are you now calling me a meat pie?”
“Is that a problem?”
“It might be the most romantic thing anyone’s ever called me, bat boy. You have to be married, right?”
“No, oddly enough. The last person I called meat pie didn’t seem fond of it for some reason.”
“What a stick in the mud,” River says.
“Tell me a little something about yourself.”
“About me? So far all I know about you is that on occasion you turn into a bat, you like meat pies, and you’re into unicorn porn.”
I’ve literally never had anyone describe me so poorly in my life. “You’re an extremely perceptive person. All I know about you is that you think I’m going to just start snacking on you as we walk through the park.”
“A legit concern if I do say so myself.”
“So?” I ask, since I kind of feel like he’s avoiding the question.
“Well, my favorite color is lime green, favorite food is chocolate ice cream, and I have two men locked up in my basement. They like it though.”
“Do they?” I ask, which makes him laugh.
“You?”
“Oh… umm… different questions than I thought I’d have. Let’s see… I like red, I have to say that it’s a hard choice but blood is probably my favorite, and I don’t have anyone locked up in my basement because I don’t have one. They’re all in the attic.”
River nods like he approves. “Makes sense. Going down into the basement to feed them is always a little creepy, so I’m not a fan of it. But then you have the ghosts in the attic. Ooh, seesaw with me,” he says as he heads over to the children’s part of the playground and hops onto a seesaw.
He gives me a cocky look that weirdly makes me walk right over to the seesaw and get on. “I think this is made for children.”
“We’re all children at heart,” River says as I push off the ground. He’s a little under six feet, but he’s thin compared to me, so the seesaw isn’t too evenly balanced. He doesn’t seem to mind as he kicks his feet, searching for ground. “Quick. In all your years, what’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen?”
“The strangest? Oh man… maybe myself on this seesaw. If my buddies from work saw me right now, they’d probably laugh at me for life.”
“They sound fun but they’re probably just jealous. Are they vampires too?”
“All but one. But his personality is enough to make up for it.”
“You’re kind of weird for a vampire,” he says as he kicks off.
“How so?”
“I feel like you’re not judging me for being human.”
Ahh… I see he’s met some Marcuses in his life. “I work with a vampire like that. He’s tough and gruff and so superior to every human… but also undeniably head over heels in love with one.”
River smiles as he lifts his straw to his lips. “Really?”
“Yep.”
“I love that. Okay… next question. If you had one day left to live, what would you do?” he asks and my mind flashes to Dorothy.
“Hmm… I guess I’d spend it with the people I love and care about. I’d make them take me to Disney.”
“That’s adorable and I love it,” he says.
“You?”
He purses his lips as he thinks about it while we continue to seesaw back and forth. “I’d spend the entire day with my family and tell them I’m sorry.”
The answer is surprisingly sentimental, especially for River.
When I don’t press, he catches my eyes. “Aren’t you going to ask what I’m sorry about?”
“Sounds kind of private,” I say.
He grins as he hops off the seesaw, leaving me to crash down but my legs catch me before I do. “Nah. It’s about the ice cream incident!”
“Sounds spooky.”
“It is. I love ice cream so much that any time I’d see a tub in the freezer, I’d just hide in the bathroom and chow down on it. They took to hiding the ice cream from me whenever they got it. Literally, they kept an old fish sticks box that they stuffed it inside. I was so confused why we always had fish sticks in the freezer but never ate them. I was… what you’d call a troubled kid.”
“Like in school?”
“No, just when it came to ice cream,” he says as he walks backwards away from me. “Your turn to pick our next event.”
I look around, and I can’t help but wonder again why I’m following this strange human around a children’s playground.
When I don’t immediately pick, River says, “We could swing? Not the sexy kind, but the playground kind.”
“Ah, thank you for clearing up that confusion for me,” I joke as he plops down on a swing.
“I’m just thoughtful like that. At least, I try to be.”
I sit down next to him and start swinging.
“Did they even have swing sets when you were a kid? Did you just play with rocks?” he asks, acting honestly curious.
“We actually didn’t even have rocks. They weren’t invented yet, so we had to make do with sticks and mud.”
He laughs as he swings harder. “I’m sorry. That sounds traumatic.”
“Did you get rocks to play with?” I ask like I’m jealous.
“Even better. I got pebbles.”
I grin as he kicks his feet, swinging up higher as I start to match his pace. But just as quickly, he puts his feet down, skidding to a halt and jumping off.
“You alright?” I ask.
“Yep… just feel a bit car sick… swing sick… motion sickness! There we go. That one,” he says as he hangs on to the chain of the swing. “Will I ruin this if I throw up my smoothie everywhere? How disgusted will you be? I’d be all like ‘Hey, dude, come check out my sexy blah’ all over, ya know?”
“It’d take more than that to drive me off,” I assure him. I’ve seen far worse at work and throughout my life. Things were much more… disgusting back then with the swords and the guns and all that. “Do you need something? Want some water?”
“No, it’s passing. I’m good,” River says as he sits down in the mulch. I get off the swing and walk over to him. “You sure you’re good?”
“Yes. It’s my family tradition to get so flustered by a hot man that I just wallow around in some mulch. Is it working?” he asks with a forced grin.
“Very much. If there weren’t children around who knows what I’d be doing.”
“I mean… you can’t even take your sunglasses off because of the sun so… I’m not sure what you’re even talking about.”
I grin at him as I realize he’s quite right. “Yeah, but the heat coming off this mulch is too much for me to handle.”
When I reach out to him, he ducks back, making me hesitate. Did he think I was going to do something bad to him? Maybe vampires make him nervous. Without missing a beat, he holds his hand out to me and I carefully pull him up to his feet. We take a lap around the park, just talking about nonsense as he makes me laugh and smile. And when we make it back to the playground, River turns to me. “I really should head home, but I had fun. Maybe I can actually buy you a drink sometime.”
“I could give you my number and maybe we can go somewhere else next time?” I ask.
There’s a brief moment of hesitation, like he’s thinking about it, before he smiles. “On one condition.”
“That I don’t eat you? I’m not sure I can promise that.”
His smile instantly becomes more genuine. “It wasn’t that. The one condition is that I’m not looking for a relationship.”
I shrug, not caring myself. I hadn’t planned on looking for one and I’m still not sure what drew me to him so quickly. “That’s fine with me. We don’t need to be in a relationship for me to eat you and feed you to my bats.”
“Aw, more than one? How cute.”
I shake my head as I pull out my phone and give him my number as we walk back toward his car.
“There, I sent you my number as well, so you send me hot bod pictures of your bats.”
“I’m starting to feel like you have a bat fetish now,” I say like I’m confused.
He waggles his eyebrows. “You never know. Thanks for rolling around in the mulch with me. I had a good time. And thanks for the smoothie.”
“You’re welcome. I’m free this weekend if you’re bored,” I say.
“I might take you up on that.” River flashes me a smile before slipping into his car and driving off.
Before getting into my own car, I walk half a block to the flower shop and step inside. The florist smiles at me before reaching behind her and grabbing a vase filled with flowers.
“Hey, Bentley. I got some new flowers today that are such a lovely shade of lavender. I hope you don’t mind that I tucked one inside,” she says as she points at the large purple flower.
“No, of course not. It looks gorgeous as always,” I say as I swipe my card. With the vase weighing heavy in my hand, I head back out to my car and get onto the highway. Before long, I start seeing signs for the nearby hospital, which I follow. It’s just before the end of visiting hours, so I park the car and get out before heading inside. I have half an hour before I’ll need to be out, but it’ll be enough time. Once inside, I take the elevator up to the third floor and walk down to room number twelve. I knock gently on the door before stepping inside and looking at the woman lying on the bed.
She looks so frail and small, body wasting away because of age. She turned ninety-six this year before her body began to give up. “Hey, Dorothy.”
“Benny!” she says with a smile as she looks over at me. “Oh, what beautiful flowers! Peter brought me flowers last week.”
“Did he?” I ask, even though it was also me who brought her the flowers. Peter, her husband, passed away three years ago but she seems to forget quite often that he did and there’s no sense in reminding her.
“They were gorgeous. I miss my flower garden,” she says. “When did they say I could go home?”
“Hopefully soon,” I lie. Without the oxygen and constant care and monitoring, she wouldn’t have made it this long and that kills me. The thought of losing her hurts so fucking much. She’s my great-niece, the last blood relative in my family. After I’d been turned into a vampire, the only person from my family who knew what happened to me was my sister, who gave birth to one child. That child had Dorothy. I’d been so close to all of them that it killed me every time one left me. I wanted to change them, turn them into vampires, but my niece had died unexpectedly, leaving her young daughter behind. I helped her husband raise and care for Dorothy, but he’s been gone twenty-some years now.
I’d wanted to change Dorothy from a young age. I couldn’t handle losing one more family member, but she fell in love young and dreamed of having children. I promised I’d change her after she had as many children as she wanted to fill the house with, but she could never conceive. After a while, they gave up. Again, I insisted on changing her even though the laws forbade it, but she and her husband decided they wanted to live out their lives.
I knew it was selfish of me; I knew she didn’t want to never age as the love of her life grew old and died without her. He wanted to stay human, and she respected that.
But now, I’m left sitting here in the room of the last person I can call family, waiting for her to die. And a part of me is so sick of it that I’ve wondered more than once what it’d be like to just go with her when she goes.
“Why do you have that sad face on again, Benny?” she asks as she reaches a wrinkled hand out to me.
“Ah, just lost in thought. I have an unusual case at work.”
“Oh? I was telling my roommate that you were a crime-fighting detective. The best in the force!”
I laugh because I’m pretty sure Marcus would skin me if he thought someone had that impression. “It’s been interesting. Hopefully, we figure out who’s involved before long.”
“Oh, is this about that videographer?”
I nod. “It is. Have you seen clips?”
“I sure did! I got to watch it live! My cute little nurse showed it to me. I told him about you too. He said his wife might get jealous if I try to set you two up, though.”
I sigh, really hoping he isn’t the nurse she has today… or ever again. Then again, I’m sure they’re used to crazy talk from elderly patients. “I’m good, Dorothy. Please stop setting me up with random people.”
“But I want you to be happy!”
“I am happy,” I assure her, even though I know it’s a lie.
“You seem very lonely. And when I’m in here… I feel like you’re even more lonely. Don’t be sad.”
“I just wish you’d have let me change you,” I admit.
She holds a hand out, and I take it. She squeezes it in hers. “I know. And I hate causing you grief, but you’ll find someone to love and live for just like I did. It’s just taking you a bit longer because you’re too stubborn! Now go show that nurse you’re better than his wife!”
I shake my head because I will do no such thing. As if adding to my pain, the door opens and a female nurse comes in. She nods at me and smiles at Dorothy. “Oh!” Dorothy says. “This is my uncle I was telling you about. Isn’t he just handsome?”
Dear god. Not this again.
The nurse smiles at me. “He is. Now let’s get your medicine.”
My phone vibrates and I look down at it and see that River has sent me a message.
River: I know me wallowing around in the mulch was just too hot for you to handle, so I looked at my horribly packed calendar and think I might be able to sacrifice Friday evening for you. Thoughts?
I grin as I click on the text box.
Me: My personal assistant says that she might be able to push a few things aside for me and that’ll work. Did you have something in mind?
River: I’m honestly not sure. What do vampires do? Do we go to a restaurant and you just stare at me eating?
Me: We could. Or we could go somewhere.
River: Like a bat cave?
Me: Yes, a bat cave where I can frolic with my brethren. Honestly, I’m up for anything.
River: I’ll surprise you Friday, which means I haven’t come up with anything yet but I’m positive it’s going to be spectacular.
Me: Sounds fun.
River: I’ll pick you up so send me your address. I won’t stalk you. I promise.
“What are you so smiley about?” Dorothy asks, making me realize the nurse is already gone.
“Ah… just a friend.”
“Do your friends usually make you light up? Come on, I used to tell you all my secrets when I first met Peter. Let me hear it.”
I smile at her, remembering her teenage years when she did just that. She was more than happy to tell me about the young man in school she had her eye on. And was it crazy for her to follow him after they graduated? I told her yes and that I would hunt him down and feast from his blood if he looked at her funny. She’d just laugh.
And now those years are long gone and I’m going to be alone again. I promised myself that it was enough with the humans. I can’t go through the same thing again and again. So why am I even talking to River?
“Benny, wipe that look off your face. I thought you were going to read me a book.”
“Oh, yeah,” I say as I pull out the unicorn book River was determined had porn in it. And I begin to read. Dorothy gets a blissful look on her face as she closes her eyes and just listens.
OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER FOUR 
RIVER
When I stretch, I instantly get smacked in the face.
“What the hell was that for?” I cry as I open my eyes and look over at Banshee, the evil stray cat I’d brought into my home. Her love for me depends on the moment. Like at this moment, she wants to be evil because I didn’t wake up when she wanted me to.
I grab her in my arms and drag her over to me before pinning her against my bare chest. She’s all black and would probably be quite pretty if she wasn’t shaved. When I finally gave in to bringing her into my life, I thought I could brush the severe matting out before giving up and shaving off the clumps. The fur is finally beginning to grow out and is coming in long and silky, but the areas where it’s not make her look a bit ugly.
“That’s okay, I still like you even if you’re ugly and mean,” I tell her as she purrs. She starts kneading my chest, which consists of her digging her nails into my flesh and pulling. I swear she knows what she’s doing. “I’m sorry I called you ugly! I’m sure you’ll be pretty when you get your fluff thing back.” I just hope I’ll be around to see it.
She watches me with vibrant green eyes as I trail a finger over her cheek that she leans into.
“Are you hungry?” I ask as I push the covers back and sit up. It’s finally Friday, which means that tonight I’m picking Bentley up. “I’m being an idiot, Banshee.”
She doesn’t seem to care as long as I keep scratching her just right.
“I know I shouldn’t be meeting with him but here I am again. What’s wrong with me? And on top of all of it, he’s a vampire. But he’s nice… unless he’s just pretending to be nice to get me to lower my guard and then feast on my flesh!”
Banshee seems to think my dramatics need some work because she just stares at me, silently judging me, as she’s known to do.
I feed Banshee, which she seems grateful for, then take a shower before heading over to my laptop. The apartment I live in isn’t much. I haven’t held a job in a while, so I only have so much money to spend.
I sit down in front of the laptop and open a Word document that’s already filled with words. At the very top is: Let me start from the beginning. I don’t even know if anyone will ever read this. Maybe I’ll die with it still on my computer, but if there’s a chance I can get this out, I’m going to do it. My name is River Garza. I am twenty-eight years old and this is the story…
But I’m past that part. I know I need to just sit down and write it all, but I’ve found it harder than I ever imagined. There’s something about reliving a part of your past that you hate, even if there’s a good reason to do it.
I stare at the screen and force myself to start writing.
When I woke up, I was alone. I was confused about where I was and what had happened. I thought maybe everything had gone wrong or maybe I’d been mistaken. But when Dr. Novak stepped into the room, I knew something wasn’t right.
I tried asking him where I was, but my throat felt tight. It was like words couldn’t even escape it. My limbs were heavy, nearly impossible to lift as I was left watching him walk toward me. But the worst thing about it was the smile he wore. It was wrong. It was haunting and I realized I was scared.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet before dragging me to the door. My legs still weren’t working but he didn’t care as he stuffed something in my mouth and wrapped tape over it. That’s when a woman I didn’t recognize stepped into the room.
“What is this? Why is he awake?” she asked.
“The drugs didn’t keep him down long enough because they’re delayed. It’s fine. I’ll keep him quiet,” Dr. Novak promised as he pulled my arms behind my back and began to tape them tightly.
I wanted to kick and thrash, but my body was weak, and I was confused. I could kick myself for how I just stood there and let him tape my legs up tight. How that moment led to everything that happened. If I’d have screamed or run would everything have been okay? Would someone have saved me or helped me?
Instead, he wound me up in sheets and shoved me into what felt like a box, but I couldn’t see anything. Fear coursed through my body as I realized how wrong this situation was. A part of me questioned if I was dead. Did I die on the table? Is this all that’s left of my afterlife? What did I do to deserve this?
My throat still felt too tight and with the cloth stuffed into my mouth, it was like I couldn’t breathe. I began gasping for air, but there was none to be found wound up tight in the sheet while in the small box. I strained against my binds, I fought as hard as I could, but I couldn’t get free.
I wanted to beg for my life. Beg to go back to my parents who loved me and who would be devastated to hear what happened to me.
That was the day I died. That was the day my parents were given the news and were left to mourn for me. That was the day the vampires decided that they’d tear my life away from me, and now… now I’m going to ruin their lives. I’m going to destroy them all.
Banshee jumps onto my lap and I look down at her. She seems to always know when I’m upset. I gather her into my arms and decide that I can worry about the rest on a different day because today, I have a date with Bentley and… I don’t even know why. Not only is he a vampire but he wasn’t in my plan. He wasn’t supposed to be a part of any of this.
“I’m such a horrible planner,” I tell Banshee. “I’m the worst bad guy ever.”
She meows like she wants to agree, so I scratch her neck and lean back in my chair.
“Let’s go plot something evil.”
She seems to like the sound of that because she’s drawn to evil. But she’s cute, so I let her get away with it. Tomorrow will be the day. Tomorrow will have to go smoothly, in order for things to move forward.
I sigh because I’m a bit uncertain, but what do I have left to lose?
      
I check my phone three times as I pull into the driveway, just to make sure I got the right place. I don’t want to be the weirdo who shows up at the wrong address. I send him a text to tell him I’m here before remembering he’s a vampire and can probably hear me.
Me: Your Batmobile has arrived.
Bentley: I’ll be right out.
He steps out of his house wearing a button-down that fits him nicely and a dark pair of jeans that oddly throw me into a moment of panic.
Why am I doing this? Why am I letting myself get distracted like this? Why does he have to look so nice and act so kind? And why’s it affecting me like this?
He smiles at me and I just take all my worries, ball them up like the greedy and horrible person I am, and toss them right out the window.
“You look very nice,” he says as he slides into the passenger seat.
I glance down at my clothes that I had to buy today because I didn’t have anything decent that I hadn’t worn to a potential crime scene. “You do too. I probably should have gone to the door to get you instead of just sitting in the car peeping at you.”
“I… thought you didn’t want it to be a date?”
Shit. “Right. No dating allowed. I’d actually prefer if you really didn’t even like me all that much but I’m a bit greedy.”
He gives me a genuine smile that makes me feel things I shouldn’t want to feel. “That’s alright,” he says. “We’re all allowed to be a little greedy every now and then. So, did you decide where we were going?”
“I did!” I say as I put the car in reverse and back out of the driveaway. “It’s a secret, though. I was going to bring my blindfold to make it super secret but thought I might scare you away. You’d ask where I got the blindfold, then I’d have to explain my kinky side and who knows what would have happened then.”
“When you’ve lived as long as I have, you kind of just go along with whatever,” he admits.
“Ah, you should have told me that, I’d have brought out all my secrets day one,” I tease as I start driving. “I’m like eighty percent positive you’ll love this place. When I was thinking of you, it was the first place I thought of.”
“I’m excited and worried, but that just adds to the fun. How’d your day go?”
“Good! I played with my cat. Her name’s Banshee and she’s the ugliest cat you’ll ever see. She haunted my every step until I pulled her in off the street. Her hair was all matted and I thought I was skilled enough to just clip a few of the little mats but now she looks like she went through a woodchipper.”
“How long have you had her?”
“Just a couple of weeks. She started following me and then hanging around outside my window, which made me nervous because I was convinced she was either putting a curse on me or was going to fall off. So I opened my window and she hopped right inside. And as I lay in bed, itching the flea that’d jumped off her disgusting body and onto mine, I realized that if she could climb up to the second-floor window, she could climb down and I was a sucker.”
“Yeah, but it sounds like you like her now.”
“A bit too much, especially now that she’s flea free. What about you? Do you have pets?”
“I have my great-niece’s fish. Not real exciting but she loves the hell out of them, and now I’m stuck having no idea what to do with them. I guess I made them all sick the first week I had them because they wouldn’t stop staring at me, so I kept feeding them. Apparently you’re not supposed to overfeed fish.”
“Huh. That’s kind of the same for all animals,” I say with a grin.
“Shhh… I’m a weak man and when those tiny little beady eyes were staring at me, I just saw hunger in them. But they’re fine now! I haven’t killed any… I think. I swear there were nine but then there were eight. Then the next day there were thirty before the parents ate almost all of them, which I was horrified to find out. It was very traumatic, and I’m scarred after this experience.”
I laugh at the big bad vampire telling me fish have scarred him as I get onto the highway. “So you said your great-niece. As in blood-related?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow, that’s awesome. Most vampires don’t stay connected with their families. It’s neat that you are,” I say as I glance over at him and see something there that makes me hesitate. “Did… I say something wrong?”
He smiles at me, pushing away the look that’d been on his face. “Nope. I’ve been very lucky with my family. What about you? Are you close to your family or did they kick you out after you ate all the ice cream?”
I grin at the thought. “Nah, see, I’m just keeping them from getting too many calories. I take care of all of it for them,” I say as I rub my stomach. “It’s actually really tough on me to be so selfless.”
Bentley nods like he understands. “I’m sure. Traumatic, probably.”
“It was. But they still love me for it. They might actually love me more for my sacrifice.”
“Makes sense, really. You have siblings?”
“A brother who is older than me. You?”
“I had a sister. She was also older than me, but we weren’t as close as I was to my niece and my great-niece.”
“That’s awesome you’re close to some family, at least,” I say.
We talk about mundane things as I drive half an hour out of town before pulling up to a state park and parking my car.
“A walk?” he asks.
“Kind of!” I say as I get out of the car. “I suppose I should’ve told you to wear your walking shoes, but you’re a vampire and it probably doesn’t matter, right?”
“Yeah, I just flutter my bat wings and hover,” he teases.
I grin at him while wondering how long it’s been since I’ve felt this carefree with a person. “Makes sense.”
I meet him at the front of the car and incline my head. “Follow me to the surprise. I promise in your millions of years of life, it’ll be the best not-date ever.”
“You realize I’m not a million, right? I’m only half a million years old,” he jokes.
“And you’re still looking mighty fine.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-eight. You?”
“A hundred and sixty-two.”
“I have to ask,” I say as I head down the sloping dirt path into the trees. “So as a vampire, did it feel weird getting older but still dating people that looked similar in age to you? I mean you look like you’re in your thirties. Did you like date ninety-year-olds for a while?”
“Everyone’s different, but for me, I dated whoever I liked. Man or woman, whether they were in their thirties or fifties or whatever. For this not being a date, I sure feel like I’m getting the twenty questions date version here.”
I wave him off. “Nah, see, we’re building our relationship to acquaintances. Don’t you ask your acquaintances about their dating history without wanting to date them? Don’t you pry into their lives and pull out juicy little pieces you can scrutinize?”
“Hmm… well, if I asked Marcus, he’d probably just lob my head clean off just for fun, honestly. Alexei would snarl at me. Briar would tell me anything I want to know. And Finn would tell Marcus I’m flirting with him in the hopes he’d get to see Marcus verbally or physically abuse me.”
I just stare at this man and question what kind of lunatics he works with. “What’s wrong with them?”
Bentley seems to think about that question as we walk. “I’ve asked myself that again and again and still… it’s entertaining to be the most normal person in the room. Briar’s pretty normal too.”
I’m kind of curious about where he works, but I also know that if I start asking more and more things about his personal life, I’m going to get attached, and I can’t get attached. Not now. Not ever. This is just fun. This is something to entertain myself with and to break away from all the rest.
“In here,” I say as I jog down a rock path and slip to the left between two rock slabs. When I step inside, it’s completely dark besides the light peeking in at the far end of the mini cave. “I brought you to see your brethren!” I wave to the ceiling where there are presumedly bats, but I really have no idea.
Bentley immediately starts laughing, which disrupts a few other hikers who are wondering why this man’s laughter is echoing through the cave. “Ah. Lovely. However will I thank you, River?”
“Gosh, don’t make me blush,” I say with a grin, secretly proud of myself for amusing him. “I know sometimes I’m just too thoughtful. Can you hear them?”
“I actually can. There are quite a few wondering why we’re trying to disrupt their sleep. This was very thoughtful of you. Come on,” he says as he starts walking deeper into the cave.
“Yeah, I can’t see shit,” I say hesitantly.
“I can’t either… oh wait, my sunglasses are still on.” He reaches back and I realize he’s holding his hand out to me. And even though it’s just a hand, and he’s just planning on guiding me so I don’t fall on my face, I hesitate. Because it’s so much more than that. When he touches me, will he know that I’m not as indifferent as I pretend to be? Will he realize that I long so fucking much for just someone… anyone in my life?
I slowly set my hand in his and his fingers close around it as he gives me a gentle pull up onto a rock. His hand is warmer than I thought it’d be. I thought for sure I’d be filled with disgust at a vampire touching me, and instead, I feel warmth fill me. When I squeeze his hand without thinking, he squeezes back before guiding me after him.
“It’s not a very deep cave, I can see the end, but it’s really neat. When we get away from the other hikers, you could pull your phone out and use the flashlight to look around.”
“I’m sure you’re quite knowledgeable about the layout,” I tease.
“Yeah, but I usually don’t walk it. Most of the time, I’m fluttering through on my wings.”
I grin and as his teasing breaks the tension I was feeling, I step in line with him.
When we reach the end of the cave, he turns to me. He’s merely a shadow at this point, but I don’t mind it. He doesn’t make me nervous, even in the dark. Despite being a vampire, he makes me feel comfortable and I can’t help if it’s just because I long for someone in my life.
I flip my flashlight on and look around myself as I realize I’m still holding his hand. I don’t bother letting go as I turn and look before I wind up facing him.
“This is really neat. I can’t believe I’ve never been here. I’ve been in this area fifty years and I feel like I get hung up on doing the same thing day after day,” he says as I let go of his hand and drape my arms over his shoulders. I’m kicking myself in the ass for doing it, but I still do and I feel like if I pull back now, it’ll just be awkward.
I’m such an idiot.
I flick the flashlight off, like not being able to see him will help, even though it’s clear he can still see me. He presses into me until I feel his body against mine and I lean into him. I’ve never made a move this fast, but I feel like I have no time to lose. Who knows what’ll happen today or tomorrow or the next day?
He presses his lips against mine and I press my body harder against his as heat rises in my body. In the dark of this cave barely lit by the light streaming in, I find myself so unbearably drawn to this man. His touch and kiss draw me into him, making me push back all the guilty thoughts. The kiss is so gentle and soft until I feel his hand touch my neck and pure fear spikes through me. I rip away from him and my foot slips, causing me to fall backward.
His hand slides around my wrist and pulls me forward before I can crash against the ground. “I’m so sorry—”
“No, it’s fine!” I say, wondering why this man is so nice. He’s too nice. He’s a vampire so he shouldn’t care about me or feel bad for what happened.
“I’m really sorry. I misread the situation and I apologize. And even after you told me it wasn’t a date. I’m so sorry.”
I grab his hand that’s still on my wrist but instead of pulling it off like I’d been planning, I just hold it against me. “It… it wasn’t your fault and you didn’t misread it. I wanted to kiss you, otherwise I wouldn’t have leaned into you or kissed you back or any of that. I just…” How much do I tell this man I barely know? I strangely feel like he wouldn’t judge me, but is that even reason to tell him? “I just… have a thing about my neck being touched. I should have told you before. It’s this weird thing I have and why my hair’s longer and I always wear these stupid collared shirts. Just… if you kiss me, don’t touch my neck.”
“Were you bitten?” he asks, and the question stills me.
I don’t know if I assumed he’d just go along with it or ask why, but I didn’t expect him to ask that question. “No. I… just… shit happened.”
“I’m sorry. I promise I’ll be careful, and I don’t ever want to do anything that’ll make you feel uncomfortable.”
My hand squeezes his again. “Why are you so nice? I think you’re too nice to be a vampire. Are you sure you’re a vampire?”
He chuckles. “That or I’m really old with a strange fetish for blood.”
I can’t help but grin, thankful for the distraction. “I bet it’s that one. Want to go grab something to eat?” I ask as I hold my hand out to him. He takes it and starts leading me back through the danger zone.
“I’d love to.”
“Ooh, or you could read some of your unicorn porn to me as I drive.”
“Or that,” he teases.
OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER FIVE 
RIVER
I’ve made a mistake. I thought it’d be easy. Just walk into the club, hunt him down, and slip the drug into him. I didn’t account for two things: the loud music and the cameras watching the place.
As I watch Bo Huang lean back in his seat, surrounded by young women, I question what the hell to do now. All I seem to be able to do is hold my drink to my chest as a headache I’d acquired earlier in the day begins to rage against the music. Whose idea was it to have music this loud?
“Hey,” a pretty woman says as she hesitates at my table to see if I look at her with anything resembling interest.
I smile at her, knowing that if I refuse her, it might look a bit odd for me to be standing here in a club alone if Huang seemed to disappear sometime tonight. “Can I buy you a drink?” I ask.
She lifts her nearly full cup. “I’m good. What about a dance?”
I shrug as I keep my expression playful. “Well, that depends. Would you like to watch me embarrass myself? If so, then I’d love to.”
She laughs as she holds her hand out, which I take. Her friends are toward the middle, so it pulls me away from Huang, but if I position her just right, it should be okay.
“What’s your name?” she asks.
“Matías. You?”
“Hanna. Are you here alone?”
“I wasn’t supposed to be. My friend is supposed to meet me in, let’s see…” I pull out my phone to check the time, “thirty minutes ago. He said the game ran over, so he’ll be late.”
“Well, he can join us when he gets here. My friends won’t mind,” she says as she pulls me right into the thick of the crowd of dancers.
I wrap an arm around her waist and turn her so my eyes can stay on Huang. I don’t know the man well and I’m sure he won’t recognize me like this, but I know what he’s done. I’ve heard the stories, and I’ve seen the results of his actions.
He clearly didn’t heed my warning because now… now I’m about to ruin his life and I don’t even care. But I have to be careful because vampires are tricky. It’s not easy dealing with something stronger, faster, and more lethal than you.
I down my Coke and set it to the side as I try to dance with her while pretending I’m interested. It’s hard when Huang’s right there. So fucking close and my mind is consumed by it.
Hanna shouts something at me, but her voice is lost in the noise, so I duck my head down closer to hers. “What?”
“Do you come here often?”
I shake my head. “First time. You?”
She presses her lips close to my ear and it makes my anxiety grow even though she’s a human. I still get this tightening in my stomach because I don’t trust her and I don’t want her near. “A couple times a month. I’ve never seen you around here before which is why I asked.”
She presses into me, and I find myself wishing it was Bentley who was grinding up in my space. Then again, I should be happy it’s not because this way I don’t have to worry about embarrassing myself. I can play drunk guy looking to be laid and not bat an eye.
I still kick myself in the ass for ruining that perfectly beautiful kiss. Oh… why’d I fuck it up? And then when he wanted to part ways for the night, I got no kiss at all. In its place, I got the most awkward hug known to mankind, and instead of grabbing his face and dragging him in for the sexiest kiss he’d have ever had in his hundred and sixty years—okay, okay, I’m sure he’s had sexier kisses—my stupid conscience got in the way and I just smiled and said… wait for it… “Have a g’day, mate!”
Kill me now.
I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to face him again. Finally, finally, I have a sexy and extremely kind man interested in me and I end our third—okay, second—date with a “g’day, mate”? When did I become Australian? And do Australians even say that? Is that just a stereotype? I have no idea.
Save me from this hell. It’s no wonder why he hasn’t even messaged me today, and I’ve been too mortified to message him.
What if I just give up on everything and go crawling back to him and tell him that “Hey, I really don’t know you all that well and this might be creepy, but I want you to just instantly fall for me because I can’t get you out of my head.”
I sigh and Hanna gives me a little shake. “Matías!”
A part of me realizes that she’s been calling me for a while, but I’d forgotten my new name and I didn’t pick up on it. “Sorry, it’s so loud. What’s that?”
“You seem a bit distracted.”
“I’m drunk,” I say, blaming it on that.
“You drank a Coke.”
“On music. Drunk off the song. Yeah. That. I’m going to get a drink. You want something?”
“Sure. Could you get me a lemon drop? I’ll meet you back at the table there,” she says as she points to where some of her friends are. “I’m going to hit the bathroom!”
“Have fun!” I say before realizing that I fail at even fake flirting. “Not like… in the bathroom but you know…”
I just leave before I ruin anything else. When I step up to the bar to make my order, I notice a young man leaning in. He’s cute with brown hair and blue eyes. It may be the way he’s leaning against the bar, but it seems like he’s rather short and if my mind wasn’t currently consumed by Bentley, I might have tried my hand awkwardly talking to him for the hell of it.
“Hey,” he says, giving me a flirtatious look.
I’ve literally never had two people try to pick me up in such a short span of time. And while I’d definitely be more interested in him than Hanna, it feels more like cheating. Which is really freaking weird when Bentley and I aren’t dating.
So I just give him a sorta smile and nod before turning back to the bartender who is way on the other side of the bar and can’t save me.
“It’s taking a while. I think they’re short-staffed or just really slow,” he says. “You might as well take a seat.” He pats the seat next to him.
“Oh, I’m fine. Thank you,” I say as I give him another smile.
That’s when I notice an absolutely terrifying-looking vampire heading toward us. It instantly makes my fear spike as I take a step back. And then, when I see him glare at me, my blood runs cold. Does he recognize me? Does he know who I am? I don’t remember seeing him, but there were so many there that it’d be impossible to know them all.
“Stop glaring at him!” the young man says as he smacks the vampire’s chest.
“I told you to flirt with someone ugly and he’s not ugly,” the demon from the deepest pits of hell growls.
“Maybe I didn’t want to listen to you,” the human says as he gives the vampire a sly grin, and I wonder why he wouldn’t want to listen to him. The man is terrifying! I hate the idea of listening to a vampire as well but when the vampire looks like that, there aren’t too many choices to be made.
“Maybe I should eat you,” the vampire says and the human laughs. Laughs.
“Ah, I’d like that very much. Now get the bartender to stop flirting with those girls that are at least twenty years younger than him and get over here.”
The vampire slams his hand down on the bar and everyone around the bar draws deathly silent. “Bartender, my date would like a drink now,” he growls.
My good god. I’m glad I don’t have to go against this man. He’d likely eat me before I even got to the drugging him part. The bartender rushes over, probably terrified he’ll be eaten if he doesn’t.
I turn and slam into someone before feeling a familiar aura. “B-Bentley?” I ask in surprise.
No… no, no, no! What the hell is he doing here? What if he thinks I’m with Hanna? No, that’s not what’s important, what is important is that I had shit to do with Huang and I can’t have people here knowing who I am or placing me here.
“Hey,” he says with an instant smile. “You here with friends?”
“No…” I say before realizing that I should probably lie. It’s weird for me to be here alone and for what? “Well. I was supposed to be. My friend couldn’t make it… I think. I don’t know, he was watching some sport something, and he’s late and I was just thinking of leaving.”
“Ooh, you know this strapping young lad?” the human asks.
“He’s like one year younger than you,” Bentley says, telling me he knows the human and presumedly the terrifying vampire.
“Just a wee thing, then,” the human says to the evil vampire.
“That’s like the pot calling the kettle black. And he’s tall compared to you,” the evil vampire says.
“Aw, and I already like him more than you,” the human says, then turns to Bentley. “DeGray, are you two friends? I didn’t know you had friends beyond me and Karsyn. Karsyn looks lonely, if you know what I mean.”
The human nods over at a vampire walking this way. The way the human talked, it almost felt like there was something going on between Bentley and him. And DeGray? Is that his name? I’m so fucking lost.
“What the hell is taking so long?” the new vampire growls, Russian accent thick. “Did they need to slaughter the human first and drain him of his blood?”
These guys are clearly bad people and Bentley is friends with them. Is he actually a bad person too? Are they like vampire mobsters or something? They have to be. And this human is like their bait. Maybe he suckers humans into opening up around him and then he takes them back to the evil vampire lair where they eat them.
“Marcus nearly did. You know he has no patience,” the human says.
“I have just the right amount of patience,” the exceptionally evil one says that I now know is named Marcus.
“This is a friend,” Bentley says as he waves to me. “River, this is Finn Hayes, Marcus Church, and Alexei Karsynov. They’re my coworkers.”
Oh my god. Bentley is also in the mob. What have I gotten myself into? And is he into this annoyingly sexy Russian vampire? Why are they all so good-looking? Is it a requirement to be good-looking to be part of the vampire mob?
“It’s nice to meet you guys,” I say, not quite sure it is.
“You too!” the human—Finn—enthusiastically says.
“Is this a social gathering or what? I want to be home at a decent time,” Alexei, the Russian, says.
“Sorry, sorry. I forgot the baby’s curfew was at ten. DeGray, take the west wall at three-fifteen o’clock—” Finn says.
“What are you rattling on about?” Marcus, the evil one, says.
“He just likes to hear himself talk. I told you we should have eaten him. It’s not too late,” the Russian says.
The evil one gets ten times more evil as he turns his narrowed eyes into little slits. I’m about to witness someone get murdered and I have no idea why. Is the Russian one serious? Is that why the evil one is so angry?
Bentley seems unaffected by it all. He doesn’t even bat an eye at them, like murder is a common thing. Maybe it is.
“You want to join me at three-fifteen o’clock?” Bentley says teasingly to me.
“Uhhh… sure.” Anything to get away from the others.
“Stop fighting. Marcus… Karsyn… I think it’s time you two kissed and made up,” Finn says. “Come on, you know you want to kiss him, Karsyn.”
“Stop trying to push your fetishes onto us,” Marcus growls.
“I can push whatever I want on whoever I want,” Finn decides as he takes his drink and starts backing away. “Now let’s dance.”
“For the love of god, please don’t dance. You’ll draw attention to us,” Marcus says as if the human could possibly do anything to draw more attention to the group than the evil vampire did by ordering his drinks.
“Who is this?” Alexei says, eyes narrowed at me like I’ve done something wrong.
“A friend. We met at a bookstore.”
“It’s a human.”
“It’s also a he,” Bentley says as he nudges me. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Uh… just a Coke… please,” I say as I look at the vampire still narrowing his eyes at me.
I narrow mine right back at him, which is probably some mob vampire language for “Please murder me” but I’m taking my chances.
“He’s quieter than Hayes. I already like him more. Do you think Church would notice if we just replaced Hayes with him?” Alexei asks.
Bentley laughs. “You know as well as I do that Marcus would tear this world apart for Finn.”
“So bizarre. Do you think Hayes has hypnotized him?” Alexei asks. “Has to be it, right?”
“I’m just amazed you’d prefer to replace Finn instead of Marcus when you clearly like Finn more,” Bentley says, which results in the vampire growling and hurrying off.
“Come on,” Bentley says as he sets my Coke in my hands and leads me over to a table on what must be the three-fifteen o’clock side. At least from back here, it’s easier to talk than where the speakers are.
“Are you part of a vampiric mob?” I ask, completely deadpan.
His eyebrows knit as he gives me a look of confusion. “Not that I know of, but it sounds kind of intense. What made you ask that?”
“Because the people you surround yourself with are terrifying and a bit strange, if I’m being honest.”
Bentley looks amused. “Them? Oh, you’ve seen nothing if you think that was weird. So Finn, the human, joined and we’d never had a human in our department before so Alexei wanted to eat him and Marcus wanted to eat him but he wormed his way into both of their hearts.”
“Like a menage?”
Bentley snorts; clearly the idea of this is highly amusing. “No menage. Like friend heart for Alexei, heart heart for Marcus.”
“Uh… huh. And what do you do for work? Murder people? Terrify them? Torture?”
He gives me a look of surprise. “Have I really never told you where I work? My brain is shot, I guess. I’m a detective at the VRC.”
I stare at him, really, really wishing he were a vampire mob boss. I mean… would that be too much to ask? Could I not just have a smidge of luck in life? Only when I finally let myself live a little do I end up wanting to bump uglies with a detective from the V fucking R fucking C. The very people hunting me down.
“Is that alright? You look a bit horrified. Are you actually a criminal?” Bentley looks half teasing as he says this and half serious.
I wipe my “look of horror” off my face and plaster on what I’m sure is an extremely convincing smile. “Ha! Depends. Does it mean I’ll end up in handcuffs by the end of the night?” I ask, which was really the only thing I could get to come to my mind after realizing I’ve been canoodling with the enemy. Well… not my enemy enemy, but someone who wants me behind bars. Oh, and did I mention I currently have a highly illegal drug in my pocket that will put vampires down and out?
“I don’t know, mate, is that what you want?” he says, and I realize that the evil man is making fun of my horrific goodbye from the other night!
“No!”
His eyes get wide. “What’s that?”
“No, you are not allowed to repeat that!” How much more embarrassing could this get? Could I really not have said something cool and sexy?
“But it’s my favorite goodbye ever. And don’t get me started on the text immediately after!” Bentley says as he whips out his phone like I could have possibly forgotten what I wrote. “Let’s see… ‘Today was da bomb, bat boy.’ Da bomb. Did you hear the ‘da’ in there?”
I stab him with my finger. “Listen here, I was hacked.”
“Oh no,” he says, clearly being sarcastic. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“It was an invasion of my privacy and you’re making fun of it.”
“Man, I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks.”
“You want me to hunt the person down who would think to write up something so ridiculous like that?”
“Yes, please. I only write sexy things like ‘Yo, dude. Wanna see me shirtless?’”
“Huh. I’ve never gotten any of those.”
“The hacker, man. He took them all.”
“Took all your shirts or your shirtless pictures?”
“Both.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
I grin at him before remembering that I’m supposed to be freaking out because he’s a detective. “So… are you guys here just for fun?”
“Actually, for work and you’re currently my cover.”
“Oh? Am I going to get pulled into some special ops mission or something? I have to warn you, I have a wicked uppercut. I only broke my finger once while performing it on my brother by accident.”
“No special ops mission. We’re watching someone here just to see what he’s up to but that sounds concerning about your brother and your finger. How do you accidentally uppercut someone?”
“Easy. You trip over your own shoe and then when you fall, you strangely put your hand into a fist and drive it up into your brother’s face as he tries to catch you.”
Why does that grin of his get me every time? “Makes sense,” he says as he glances up, and I realize he’s looking in the direction of Huang. Is it him? Or someone he’s with? What if I took the man out tonight like I’d been planning and the VRC had been tailing him? Or did they figure it out already? Do they know who I’m targeting? Did someone confess and give up the names?
“So who are you stalking?” I ask nonchalantly, like he’d just give it up.
He smiles at me. “An evil vampire.”
“That one?” I ask as I point to the one named Marcus.
Bentley laughs. “Thankfully, no. That man’s a powerhouse. I’m not sure any of us would survive against him.”
I look around and try to pinpoint the vampires. It’s not always easy to tell who is what until you’re close enough to feel their aura. “The one that’s dancing there with the girl in red?”
“Nope. I’m not supposed to tell you!”
“What about that guy surrounded by all those chicks? He looks suspicious as hell.”
His eyes flicker over to Huang and he just says nothing, confirming it.
Fucking dodged a bullet, but what now? Now, I have to stop seeing Bentley. I knew it before, and I know it even more now. I can’t do this. I can’t do this to him or to myself.
“You alright?” Bentley asks.
“Yeah… no… I don’t know. Just some life stuff that sucks, but it’ll be better soon. Do you need me to leave so I don’t ruin your special ops mission?”
“You’re making me sound so much cooler than I am, but no. I’d like it if you’d stay if you want. I wish I could help you with what’s going on, but I feel kind of the same way. We could be miserable together.”
“Why are you miserable?” I ask.
“Family drama. You?”
“Same.”
“Let’s drink our worries away,” he says as he holds up his glass of blood and I hold up my Coke.
“Let’s get drunk on Coke and blood!”
He laughs as he clinks his glass against mine and takes a sip.
“He’s getting up. Are you going to like arrest him or something?” I ask hopefully. If they get him out of the picture, it’d just be one less person for me to deal with.
“Right now, we’re trying to catch him screwing up.”
“Doing what?”
He grins at me. “Secrets.”
“I hate secrets.”
“Alright. So we’re trying to catch him doing something.”
“I bet if the scary one just looked at him, he’d give up all his secrets. I’m pretty sure I almost started confessing all my wrongs when he glared at me.”
“Marcus isn’t too bad, I promise.”
That’s when I realize I never took Hanna her drink but when I look through the crowd, I see she’s talking to some other guy she’ll have much better luck with. The moment I saw Bentley, I was sucked right into forgetting about everything else.
Bentley pulls his phone out and checks it. “Okay, Alexei and Marcus are tailing him. I’m supposed to go with Finn to check out his car. I’m sorry to leave you, but I should be working. I’ll give you a call later? Our plans still good for Sunday?”
I nod even though I don’t know why. Everything about this man tells me I need to turn away. I need to stop while I’m ahead—not only to protect myself but to protect him. When did I become such a fool? Is this what loneliness does to you? Is this what it’s like when you start to give up?
Fuck.
I’ll just have to call him later and tell him I can’t.
I watch Bentley walk away, knowing it should be the last time I ever see him.