Chapter 3
Raul sat in the backseat of his Rolls Royce Cullinan as his driver chauffeured him home.
It had been a rare uneventful night. With casinos, there was always someone determined to get as much money as possible by whatever means they could.
Even with the Syndicate’s reputation for swift and vicious payback, the lure of ill-gotten riches continued to convince foolish gamblers to try their luck.
On any given day his team might catch card counters, people attempting to rig the slot machines, and duos working together to fleece high rollers.
Whenever they were caught, Raul preferred to deal with them in house.
A call to the police was a waste of his valuable time and rarely resulted in any sort of real punishment to the culprit.
But time alone with him in a locked room ensured that the cheater or thief wouldn’t show their face on a Sanguis Syndicate property ever again.
As they sped down the highway, their headlights flashed over a small blond figure in a yellow hoodie and shorts walking on the shoulder.
Something about him made Raul twist around and he caught a glimpse of the person’s face as they drove past. That single glance was enough for recognition to hit.
Ji-Su? What was he doing walking down the highway in the middle of the night?
“Stop the car!”
The driver immediately slowed down and pulled over on to the shoulder.
“Wait here.”
Raul got out of the Cullinan and started heading back to Ji-Su.
He was still walking, taking slow, unsteady steps.
Raul noticed that he wasn’t wearing any shoes.
What the hell? When they met on the shoulder, they both came to a stop.
Rage started to build in Raul’s chest when he saw the twin trails of blood on Ji-Su’s neck.
By the look of the wounds, someone had bitten him roughly and left the bites unsealed.
“Ji-Su.” When Ji-Su didn’t look up at him, he crouched down to get near the shorter man’s eye level. “What happened?” He had to raise his voice to be heard over the noise of the traffic shooting past them mere feet away.
Ji-Su blinked. “I was going for a drive to get something to eat.”
“Then why are you out of your car and walking? With no shoes? And bleeding?”
Ji-Su put a hand to his neck. It came away sticky with drying blood. “I don’t know what happened...” he said in a thin, confused voice.
Raul had seen and heard enough. Ji-Su was obviously in some sort of distress. “I’m going to take care of you, okay? I’ll take you to get some food.”
“Okay.”
At Ji-Su’s wobbly nod, Raul scooped him up into his arms and carried him back to the waiting Cullinan. As he drew close, the driver jumped out and opened the back door for him.
“Thank you, Sam.”
Raul slid into the backseat, still holding Ji-Su in his arms. They continued on to the ranch, Sam knowing without being told to get there as fast as possible. Ji-Su didn’t utter a single word during the drive. He simply sat there silent in Raul’s lap, an occasional tremor shaking his small frame.
Curiosity burned within Raul. He wondered what had happened to Ji-Su and was thankful that he’d happened to be driving by at the right moment to see him.
In his dazed condition, Ji-Su could have stumbled into traffic or someone with bad intentions could have snatched him away.
He realized that as far as Ji-Su knew, he could have bad intentions.
He was going to have to be sure and set his mind at ease as soon as he could.
After leaving the city limit of Dear Lake behind and a few minutes’ drive through a quiet, rural area, they arrived at the entrance to his estate.
They drove through the gate and up the long, winding road to the main ranch house.
Sam opened the door for him and Raul stepped out with Ji-Su still bundled up in his arms. Raul whistled sharply and two guards immediately came out to offer their assistance.
“Yes, boss?”
“Send someone to pick up his car and bring it here,” he directed. “It’s a white Kia on the north bound highway at the Mill Springs exit.” He softened his tone to speak to Ji-Su. “Do you have your car keys?”
“They’re in the ignition.”
Raul winced. The car might not be there when his guards went to retrieve it. “Okay. Let’s get you inside.”
He carried Ji-Su up the porch steps and into the house.
The sound of his boots alternated between loud clicks on polished hardwood floors and muffled steps on the carpeted runners as he went back to the great room.
Ji-Su’s weight was so negligible that it didn’t tax his strength at all as he walked.
He didn’t want to put him down, but since he needed to check him over, he gently deposited him on the couch.
Noting Ji-Su’s shivers, Raul grabbed a throw blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around his shoulders.
Quick footsteps entering the room announced the arrival of Gloria, his mayordoma. Remembering that he needed to put Ji-Su at ease, he calmly introduced them. “Gloria, this is Ji-Su. We’re going to be taking care of him for a bit. Ji-Su, this is Gloria, the ranch’s very capable mayordoma.”
Gloria smiled at Ji-Su, her small fangs white and sharp. “Welcome to the Muerdeme Mustangs ranch,” she said kindly. After greeting Ji-Su, she addressed Raul. “Sir, what does he need?”
“Water, some fruit and crackers, antiseptic ointment, bandages, and a towel to wash his feet.”
“I’ll have those for you right away, sir.”
Raul nodded his thanks but his attention never moved from Ji-Su.
He kneeled down so Ji-Su didn’t have to look up as they talked.
“Can you tell me what happened? Did Cedric hurt you?” His gaze was drawn again to the ugly, open bite marks.
If Cedric had abused him, he would kill that vampire before the sun rose.
“No. He just said some not so nice things. But it wasn’t that bad. I’m not sure why I reacted this way.” He shook himself but the move didn’t do much to remove the glassy expression from his eyes. “It’s not that bad,” he repeated. “I’ll go back.” He tensed as if to stand.
Raul lightly pressed a hand to Ji-Su’s knee to hold him in place. “No. You need to rest for a few minutes at least. And your car isn’t here, remember? My men have gone to get it for you.”
“Oh, right.” Ji-Su slumped back onto the couch cushions and closed his eyes.
Raul took the opportunity for a quick visual examination.
Other than the bite, he didn’t appear to have any other bruises or wounds on him.
But Ji-Su was unnaturally pale. Cedric had almost certainly taken more blood than he should have when he’d fed.
And leaving the bite open to lose even more blood hadn’t helped.
He didn’t sense that Ji-Su was near death or in need of a transfusion.
He hadn’t lost that much blood. But he’d lost enough to cause the disorientation that he’d experienced. That never should have happened.
Gloria returned, carrying the items Raul had requested, plus a few additional supplies, on a wood serving tray.
“Here you are, Mr. Raul.”
Raul took the tray from her and set it on the end table next to the sofa. “Thank you, Gloria.”
She nodded and left the room.
“Here.” He picked up the water glass and handed it to Ji-Su. “Drink this first. You’re dehydrated.”
“Thank you.”
Ji-Su accepted the glass and started to drink. After the first sip, he began gulping the water down.
“Slowly, sweetheart,” Raul cautioned. He didn’t want him to choke.
Ji-Su slowed down, drinking in smaller sips until he’d finished the entire glass. After he passed the empty glass back, Raul took one of the provided medicated wipes and reached up to clean his neck. But Ji-Su flinched away, his shoulders stiffening and eyes wide with fear.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Raul gently soothed him. “I’m only going to clean the blood off. See?” He showed him the little square pad. Then, he waited patiently, wipe in hand, for Ji-Su to relax and nod.
“Sorry,” he whispered.
Raul shook his head and started smoothing the wipe over the trails of dried blood. “Don’t be sorry. I understand that you’re nervous right now.”
Once all of the flaky blood was removed from his skin, Raul applied a bandage to the twin punctures.
He could have licked them to speed up the healing, but that wouldn’t have been appropriate to do without permission.
And he doubted Ji-Su wanted a strange vampire’s fangs near his throat at the moment.
Especially after his reaction a few seconds ago.
They would have to heal on their own. The hoodie he wore was stained with blood, there was nothing he could do about that.
“Okay, let’s get some food in you.” The kitchen had prepared a mini meat, cheese, and fruit platter. He held the plate up in front of Ji-Su.
Ji-Su reached out for the plate with a trembling hand.
“I can do it.”
“No, you’re shaky. I’ve got it. Just take what you want from it.”
Accepting that Raul wasn’t going to let him hold the plate, Ji-Su selected a square of honeydew instead. After that followed several deep purple grapes. When he bit down on the third grape, juice trickled onto his chin.
“Oops. Do you have a napkin?” Ji-Su softly asked.
Raul smiled. He took the napkin from the tray and wiped at the spill for him. “There you go.”
“Thank you.”
Ji-Su went back to eating. Once most of the fruit was gone, Raul set the plate on the couch to free his hands. He spread a dab of creamy cheese on a cracker and topped it with a square of smoked ham. “Try this,” he said holding it up.
Ji-Su took the cracker and bit into it. He made a little noise of appreciation as he chewed then immediately ate the other half.
“It’s good,” he said after finishing.