20. Honey-sweet and poisoned.
Chapter twenty
Honey-sweet and poisoned...
Nick
T he drive from the community center had been a blur of back roads and Luka’s shaking hands on the steering wheel. Nick remembered fragments—Luka pulling out his phone with bloodstained fingers, texting someone for another address to a safe house in the area.
When the response came back with an address, Luka drove in grim silence while Nick stared out the window, trying not to think about Haley’s body wrapped around her vampire lover’s remains.
The safe house was less of a house and more of a sad double-wide trailer that smelled like dust and old coffee, nothing like the gasoline-soaked community center they fled.
Nick checked the window locks for the fiftieth time.
His reflection stared back—hollow-eyed, jaw tight with the kind of tension that meant the hunter was still pulling the strings in his mind.
He didn’t question it when Luka handed him his cell phone, the contact already selected as he pleaded with his eyes for Nick to be his voice. Nick didn’t hesitate. Hemade the call. Luka’s hand rested on his back as he dialed Marcus Graves’s number with shaking fingers.
“We need help,”hemanaged, voice cracking on the words. When Marcus demanded to know whowascalling on his daughter’s phone, he could barely squeak out his own name.
Marcus said he would be there in an hour and hung up without another word.
You should bargain , the submissive whispered. Offer yourself in exchange for Caleb. Promise to be good.
Nick moved to the kitchen window, peering through cracked blinds at the empty field beyond. Something nagged at him—fragments of memory that felt important but stayed just out of reach.
He remembered the Society finding him after Gianmarco. Remembered being grateful for the rescue, for someone telling him the vampirehadbeen wrong to hurt him. But the details between that rescue and Henderson taking over his training...
Shaw’s face kept bleeding into Gianmarco’s in his memories. The same gentle tone when delivering pain. The same disappointed sigh when Nick failed to perform correctly.
What happened between the rescue and Shaw?
The memory gap yawned like a missing tooth he kept probing with his tongue. Therehadbeen other handlers before Henderson,hadn’tthere? Shaw trained him in more than just combat techniques...
His heart rate spiked. Cold sweat beaded along his spine as phantom pain lanced through his missing hand. The kitchen started to waver, his reality attempting to bleed away—
A cool palm pressed against his chest. Steady pressure, right over his racing heart.
Nick blinked. Luka stood close enough that Nick could smell his soap, could feel the vampire’s breath against his cheek. The contact anchored him, pulled him back from whatever dark spiralhe’dbeen tumbling toward.
“Thanks,” he whispered.
Luka nodded, but somethingwaswrong. His eyes weere rimmedwith red, dark stains tracking down his pale cheeks.
Blood. Vampires cried blood.
Nick stared, transfixed by the crimson tears. In all his time with Gianmarco,he’dnever seen the vampire cry. Even when Nick fought back, even when he managed to draw blood with desperate scratches and bites, Gianmarcohadonly laughed.
But Lukawasgrieving. For friends who died protecting humans from the very organization Nick served.
Shame twisted in his gut. Here hewas, spiraling into his own trauma while Luka suffered in silence.
Nick reached up, using his sleeve to wipe the blood from Luka’s cheek. The vampire’s eyes widened with surprise, then something warmer. Gratitude, maybe.
Luka leaned forward, then caught himself, pulling back with a quiet sniffle.
The gesturewasso small, so human. He wanted comfort but wouldn’t ask for it.
Nick didn’t hesitate. He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Luka’s shoulders, pulling him into a tight embrace.
The vampire melted against him, tension draining from his frame as if Nick’s touch unlocked somethinghe’dbeen holding rigid.
Luka’s body shuddered once, then twice, silent sobs that Nick could feel reverberating through both their bodies.
The cool press of the vampire’s skin against his ownwasstrangely comforting, like finding shelter during a storm.
Nick tightened his grip, his fingers digging into the fabric of Luka’s shirt. He’dbeen the one needing help for so long that offering comfort felt like using muscles that atrophied. But this felt right. Necessary.
Luka’s arms came up slowly, hesitantly wrapping around Nick’s waist. The gentle pressure made Nick’s breath catch, not from fear but from the strange intimacy of it.
They stood there, two broken people holding each other together, and Nick realized with startling clarity that hewasn’tafraid—not of Luka’s touch, not of his strength, not even of the grief that transformed him earlier.
They stood like that for a long moment, Nick’s head resting against Luka’s chest. The vampire’s bodywassolid and cool, grounding in its stillness.
When they separated, Luka’s eyeswereclearer. He moved to the small notebook on the kitchen counter, writing quickly, then returned to settle beside Nick on the threadbare couch.
‘Failure .’
Nick frowned. “What?”
Luka underlined the word twice, then added more: ‘ Haley + Alexei. Twin. You .’
“You didn’t fail anyone,” Nick said. “What happened to them—that wasn’t your fault.”
But Lukawasunderlining‘ you ’now, tapping his pen against the paper with increasing urgency. Fresh tears welled in his eyes as he pointed to his mouth, then his eyes.
Understanding hit like a punch to the gut. At the community center, when Luka’s grief transformed him into something predatory—Nickhadseenthe fangs, the black eyes. And Luka thoughthe’dfrightenedhim.
Luka wrote again, blood from his tears smearing across the paper:‘ Never want to scare you. Failing everyone. ‘
“You didn’t—”
“Good boys don’t argue.”
The voice emerged from the shadows, sweet and teasing, a twisted echo of Shaw’s—too soft, too affectionate. Nick’s vision blurred, phantom sensations skittering across his skin, accompanied by the haunting jingle of metal thathadalways heralded—
No .
Nick surged forward and kissed Luka, fierce and urgent. The vampire’s lipswerereal, solid, grounding. The sensation catapulted Nick back to the present, yanking him from the ghosts of Chicago and the Society’s cold facility. Here. Now.
Luka pulled back slightly, giving Nick a quizzical look. But Nick felt emboldened, his authentic self stirring stronger than ithadin years. “Can I see them?”he asked quietly.“Your fangs?”
Luka’s eyebrows rose.
“I’ve never...”Nick swallowed hard.“Everyone who showed me fangswasactively trying to hurt me.”
Luka’s expression softened in understanding, maybe. Or hope.
Luka hesitated for just a moment, the tension palpable, before allowing the transformation to begin.
Nick watched, breath held tight in his chest, as Luka’s teeth shifted and elongated, becoming eight sharp points.
His eyes darkened to an abyssal black, but the jade irises still peered through, glimmering like distant stars in a night sky.
Feeling a surge of courage, Nick moved even closer, almost reverent, as if hewereapproaching something sacred. He reached toward Luka’s face, fingers trembling with a mix of excitement and wonder. The vampire went perfectly still, a statue of trust, allowing the gentle approach.
Nick’s finger brushed the tip of one fang—sharp, smooth, and undeniably deadly. A shiver of thrill shot through him, each heartbeat loud and insistent in his ears. Then his touch trailed lower, along Luka’s soft bottom lip.
Looking at Luka’s transformed face, he felt no fear.
No, the swirling emotions within himwerefar more complex.
Only fascination, an insatiable curiosity, and a deep appreciation that Luka trusted him enough to reveal this side of himself.
Itwasa gift, a glimpse into the depths of his being, and Nick felt honored.
His lower lip quivered as he leaned in to kiss Luka again, fangs and all, the uncertainty of the moment melting away.
The kiss transformed from tentative to passionate, igniting a fire within him.
Heat coiled in Nick’s belly, intense and vibrant, similar to what he felt the night in the motel—more certain, more real.
Luka’s hand moved experimentally along Nick’s arm, touch questioning yet gentle, exploring the contours of his skin with a delicacy that sent ripples of warmth coursing through him.
Nick nodded into the kiss, giving permission, a silent promise that hewashere, fully present.
I can’t fix myself and my broken parts, he thought, the weight of his past pressing down on him like a heavy fog.
But that fog began to lift as Luka’s gentle touch filled the gaps where painhadtakenroot. But I’m less broken around you.
He pressed flush against Luka, surrendering to the moment, losing himself in the careful way those hands mapped his shoulders and back.
Each brush of Luka’s fingers felt electric, grounding him in the now.
The world outside faded away, leaving only the two of them, wrapped in a cocoon of trust and burgeoning intimacy.
A soft jingling sound drifted in through the cracks of his mind.
Nick froze, heart racing. That sound—it felt like a ghost from his past, a phantom trigger that stirred memories he couldn’t quite grasp.
But Lukaheard it too; Nick felt the tension in the air shift as the vampire’s head snapped toward the door, eyes widening with a mix of surprise and alertness.
The sound seemed to vibrate through the very walls, resonating with an unspoken urgency.
In an instant, Nick felt himself moving, weightless and unmoored, as hewasliftedand yanked away from Luka.
Strong hands gripped his shirt and hauled him backward.
The sudden pressure of the impact jolted him as his back hit the wall, and the sound of tearing fabric filled the air, crisp and harsh, as his shirt collar ripped apart like paper.
Hunter instincts kicked in, a primal reflex that surged through him like a current of electricity. Nick’s hand shot to the knife tucked into his waistband, fingers closing around the handle with fierce determination.
“Marcus, don’t!”Caleb’s voice. Nick’s hand went limp, the weapon clattering to the floor.
Marcus Graveshadhim pinned against the wall by his torn shirt collar, one hand splayed across his chest. The vampire’s amber eyes burned with protective fury, his jaw set in a hard line.
Thiswasn’tthe feral hunger Nickhadseencountless times before—thiswassomething more calculated, more personal.
Marcus Graveswalked in to see Nick on top of Luka, and his mindhadjumpedto the worst possible conclusion.
The last timethey’dbeen in the same room, Nickhadbeen helping Henderson torture Caleb. Now herewasthat same hunter, alone with one of Marcus’s oldest friends.
Luka immediately pulled Marcus back, swatting his head and signing rapidly in what looked like a string of profanities.
Marcus stepped away, surprise flickering across his features, replaced by embarrassment. His gaze darted between Luka’s agitated hands and Nick, lingering on the tattered remnants of Nick’s collar.
Nick clenched his jaw, forcing his focus beyond Marcus to the doorway—
Caleb. Standing there, framed against the dim light, his expression a complex tapestry of emotions Nick couldn’t decipher. Longing warred with caution in his brother’s face. The desperate want to come closer, held back by memory of their last encounter.
“I thought hewas—”Marcus began, then stopped himself.
Lukawasstill signing furiously, using words Nick recognized from their lessons. Definitely swearing.
But Marcuswasn’tlooking at Luka anymore. His attentionhadfixedon Nick’s throat scar, mouth agape. Then his gaze moved lower—to where Nick’s torn collarexposed the branded“G”on his collarbone.
Understanding dawned in Marcus’s amber eyes, followed by something that looked like horror.
Nick’s hand moved to cover the mark, phantom pain shooting through his missing fingers. The brand felt hot against his skin, as if itwerebeing seared into him all over again.
“No,”he whispered, his body beginning to tremble.
“Is that Gianmarco Nicoletti’s seal?”Marcus asked, his voice above a murmur, directed at Luka but cutting through Nick like a blade.
Hearing the name spoken aloud hit him like a physical blow. Nick’s knees buckled beneath him, and he slid down the wall to the floor, his hand already moving to the ground, fingers splayed.
“Again, Nicholas. Tell me again what it did to you—”
The voicewasso clear, so present. Gentle, wrapped in false comfort, but it sounded like Owen now. Shaw’s face blending with Gianmarco’s, the same disappointed smile when Nick couldn’t remember the details they wanted.
Reality bent, blurring at the edges. The trailer faded from view as his knees settled, the familiar position dragging him back to polished marble floors and floor-to-ceiling windows. The Chicago skyline glittered beyond—
“No, no, no.”His own voice, desperate and small.
But itwastoo late. Hands that never asked permission reached for him from the shadows of memory and pulled him in.
“Shh, it’s okay, kitten,”Gianmarco’s voice whispered, honey-sweet and poisoned.“There you are.”