6. Chapter Six
Chapter Six
Damyr
I took in the guy in front of me. Hands held aloft. Quick breaths. Even quicker heartbeat. The rapid thud of it was distracting, reminding me I hadn’t fed for a while. It made me edgy. Impulsive. Dangerous.
Charlie had vanished again. Slipperier than an eel, that one. But I’d find him eventually and then I’d cut him into tiny pieces for all the trouble he’d caused.
“Please don’t kill me,” he said, his voice strained.
The guy was human. I couldn’t kill him. But I couldn’t leave him here. I didn’t know if he was in league with Charlie, or if this was just the worst case of wrong place, wrong time, but there was no way I could leave him here.
I watched as his eyes flicked between the gun I was holding and the entrance of the alley. “Don’t. Please don’t.”
I was not in the mood to chase him. Not that he’d get very far, even with the bullet sitting just above my hip. The pain was manageable, but I really could do without having to move fast. I didn’t want to feel it rip apart my insides and Charlie had indeed used silver bullets. The bastard. A normal bullet wound didn’t do much damage to a vampire, but a silver one felt like I was burning from the inside out. “I’m sorry for this, but I need you to come closer.”
“Why?” he asked, his green eyes narrowing and his hands coming to rest on his hips. Feisty.
I huffed a breath. “Because I’m asking you to.”
“If you want to kill me, then you’re going to have to come closer to me,” he said, folding his arms across his chest.
Who the fuck did this guy think he was talking to? I had to admit, my curiosity was piqued. No one usually had the balls to talk to me like that. No one in my world, anyway.
“Fine,” I growled, and enjoyed the moment he flinched. Good. He should be wary.
I stepped forward into the shaft of moonlight and lowered the gun. I didn’t miss the way his eyes roved my face, or the puzzled expression that overtook his. I’d spent centuries learning to school my features to give nothing away, so he wasn’t going to get anything from me unless I offered it.
“I’m not going to kill you,” I repeated.
“Ha! Like I’m going to believe that.”
I shook my head and flicked my eyes upwards. Give me strength. “I’m not going to kill you.”
Maybe this time he’d believe me.
“Riiight,” he drawled, his eyebrows raising high above his emerald-green eyes. “And the gun is for what? Shits and giggles?”
Clearly, he did not believe me.
A flash of anger burned hot under my skin, and I could feel my restraint wearing thin. “No, but if I wanted you dead, I would have killed you the second you set foot in this alley.”
“What about Charlie?”
Yes, what about Charlie? That good for nothing, backstabbing petty thief. A snarl crawled out my throat before I could hold it back. “I will find him, torture and then watch the life bleed from his eyes.”
If Vlad were here, I’m sure he’d be giving me some cocky, sarcastic line about how stupid I was for going without feeding for so long, but there was nothing I could do about it now. It was forbidden to feed off humans without consent, or without a blood contract. And as good as this guy smelled, I wasn’t about to break the rules for him.
His sandy blonde brows pinched in an adorable little frown. “I have a question—”
“Why am I telling you all this?” I cut in, cocking my eyebrow. “Because, whilst I might not be killing you, I cannot let you go.”
“Wh-what?” His heart lurched in his chest and with it, the most wonderful scent hit my nose. Spices and fire and sex. A concoction that reminded me of long nights wrapped in sheets by an open fire. Familiar. Warm. Home .
My eyes dropped to the curve of his throat and fixated on his pulse point. His heart thudded so loudly that it was like a drum in my ears, calling to me. Interesting.
“You’ve seen too much,” I gritted out, but I wasn’t really concentrating on what I said. I just wanted him closer. “Come here. Now.”
His nostrils widened, his pupils dilated, and a subtle blush crept up his neck. Fuck. I wondered if he blushed like that everywhere.
“No. Please just let me go.”
I wanted to, but something was bursting to life in my veins. Something unquenchable. Something dark and obsessive. Something that just wanted him.
Mine.
Hmm… that couldn’t be good. Perhaps I was becoming delirious.
Not that I’d ever been delirious a day in my life.
“Please don’t kill me. I don’t want to die. I was just trying to help, and I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll just pretend I didn’t see anything. I mean, who am I going to tell? There’s only old Mrs Mickles who lives next door who has loads of cats and—”
I shot forward and slammed my hand over his mouth. God, his scent was even more powerful this close to him. I wanted to lick the length of my tongue along his neck, just to taste his skin.
I grunted. This was ridiculous. I needed to get away from him. I needed to feed and clear my head. Maybe this was just a result of malnourishment or something. Or perhaps a bad batch of blood.
Or maybe I was finding excuses.
“You talk too much.”
He whimpered, and the sound went straight to my cock.
“I know,” I said. “This won’t hurt.”
A spark of defiance flashed in his eyes, and I had to admit, there was something captivating about that little spark that burnt brightly in those green depths.
He kicked his feet out, aiming for my shins, but I blocked his hits. I thrust my knees against his thighs and slotted my hips against his, pinning him to the wall. His fingers clawed at the hand I had over his mouth, but it wasn’t enough to stop me. He was coming with me, whether he liked it or not.
One of his pretty blonde curls had fallen over his eye and I had the urge to brush it back. It was soft and silky between the pads of my fingers, and I didn’t want to let it go.
He whimpered again, and damn, that sound was delicious.
“It will all be over soon.” I carded my fingers through his hair, revelling in the feel of it beneath my hand. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this fascinated by anyone. This close, I could see golden flecks in his irises. They reminded me of a meadow caught in the sun. So bright. So full of life.
I tugged on his hair, pulling his head to one side to expose his throat.
He whimpered again and started to struggle against my hold. Fighting until the end. How noble. How deliciously defiant.
“Hush now,” I soothed, but I don’t think it had the desired effect. If anything, his efforts to escape doubled. But it didn’t matter.
My skin hummed as my darker side rose to the surface. My canines lengthened, and I lunged, sinking them into his carotid artery and getting my first taste of him.
It was beautiful.
Breathtaking.
Exquisite.
And a huge fucking mistake.
***
I stared at the man I’d stolen through the one-way window. Something uncomfortable stirred in my gut the longer that I stared at him. I didn’t understand my reaction to him. It was disconcerting, to say the least. The mouthful of blood I’d taken from the man I’d stolen was enough to quench my hunger and help heal my wound. I was also thinking more clearly, but I still didn’t understand it.
I looked down at the driver’s licence I’d pulled from his wallet. Benjamin Barrett. That was his name. The man sat unconscious in my basement, with his head bowed, sandy blonde curls tumbling forwards, was Benjamin Barrett. A med student with a sizeable chunk of debt, who lived on his own with a cat, in an apartment paid for with an inheritance he received from the death of his grandmother. So how did this normal human end up embroiled with Charlie Kent?
“Boss,” Byron said in a clipped tone as he came to stand next to me.
I’d been so focussed on my human that I didn’t even hear him come in.
“Either you’re getting better at hiding your nature, or I’m not as sharp as I used to be,” I mused.
Byron tucked his hands into his trouser pockets. “Perhaps you’re just distracted.”
Perhaps indeed. “Have you found the erstwhile Mr Kent yet?”
“No. Vlad is reaching out to a few contacts, but no one has come back with anything positive.”
Well, that was frustrating. “How is it possible that this guy can hide so well? I mean, he’s an accountant, for fuck's sake.”
“An accountant who has worked for you for the past decade,” Byron pointed out, a dark brow raised in a mocking arc.
“If you’ve not got anything helpful to say, you can fuck off.”
“Yes, sir,” he said with a wide grin. It was unsettling. I was so used to Byron having little to no expressions, that when something took over his face, I was unsure as to whether it was real or not. I wasn’t sure I was ever going to understand Byron. He was a mystery wrapped in a dense shadow. Impossible to see through and even harder to figure out.
The man could interact socially, but it was like a cloak. Superficial and unreal. The only time I knew he was feeling anything was when he killed someone. Or when he looked at his phone to stare at the live feed of his twin. I had a feeling he’d be asking for time off again soon. He was getting twitchy, and I noticed that always coincided with his need to be near his twin. I didn’t know the whole story between those two, I doubted I ever would. All I knew, was that the length of time between visits to his twin were getting shorter. Which meant it wouldn’t be long before Byron left on his own and came back with a plus one. But would it be a willing plus one?
“Huh,” Byron said thoughtfully.
“What?”
“Let me see his picture.”
“Why?”
“He looks familiar.” Byron took the ID and peered at it intently. “Well, hello, little bird.”
“What?”
“This is the guy whose memory Vlad had to wipe. I told Jimmy to keep an eye on him at the bar, but I couldn’t find him when I got back.” He smirked up at me. “Seems your little human has a bit of a hero complex. Pretty neck, too.”
A muscle twitched in my jaw at the way Bryon hummed in pleasure.
“That’s the guy you nearly killed.”
He rolled his bottom lip between his teeth and nodded.
Something in me snapped. Before I could stop myself, I had him pinned to the wall by his throat, papers from Benjamin’s file fluttering to the ground around me. My claws extended and pushed into the fragile column of his neck, and I so very much wanted to sink them into his skin. I was usually so in control, so aware of my actions, and I never did anything without reason. This man though, this Benjamin Barrett, had me all out of sync.
Byron just stared up at me, unphased. A smirk curled the corner of his mouth as he patiently waited for me to do something, as if I didn’t have the power to rip the guy limb from limb.
“Well, this all looks a bit cozy,” a voice drawled from behind us.
“Acheron,” I spat as I pushed away from Byron. “What have I told you about portalling in my house.”
“Not to do it, blah blah blah. You’re no fun, Damyr.” He wriggled his fingers, and the papers twirled themselves from the floor and back into the file. “Who’s the blonde guy sleeping off a kidnapping?”
Acheron was a wizard, and a damn powerful one too. He had a penchant for bold colours and prints that clashed, and an uncanny ability to get under my skin. After half a century working together, you’d have thought I’d gotten used to it, but nope. The guy still managed to piss me off in new and inventive ways. Today he was dressed in a neon pink shirt with orange trousers and his hair was electric blue.
“That’s Damyr’s new pet,” Byron said. “He’s pissed at me because I tried to kill him.”
“Ooh, poor you,” Acheron taunted as he perused the file. “Interesting.”
“What is?” I asked, coming to stand next to the wizard and look at Benjamin through the window again. It was as if I couldn’t keep away from him.
“He’s a medical man. I wonder if he’s related to the Brackley Barretts.” Acheron turned his silver gaze towards me, curiosity stirring in their depths. “I’m going to research his family tree.”
The silver in his eyes turned molten as he drew on his magic. “Don’t—”
Acheron snapped his fingers and disappeared with a grin.
“—portal in my house! Dammit Acheron!” It was only then I realised he’d stolen the file Roxie had put together. For fucks sake. I had no idea where Acheron went to most of the time. If I couldn’t see him in the room, he could be anywhere in the world. I’d never find him unless he wanted to be found.
I dragged my phone out of my pocket and sent a text over to Roxie.
ME
The wizard stole my file. Send me another one.
ROXIE
Coming right up. Don’t know why you didn’t want a digital copy in the first place.
Because I was incredibly old school. I had lived with paper a lot longer than I had with technology and, whilst I got on with modern technology, I still enjoyed having a physical copy of something over a damn email.
“I’m going to wake him up. Byron, go and find Vlad and make yourself useful.”
“Yes, Boss,” Byron said, a dark chuckle following him out of the room.
I took a moment to drink in the sight of Benjamin. I couldn’t figure out what it was about him that kept drawing me in. I wanted to own him. The desire was so twisted into my very core that I wanted to burrow him under my skin. I didn’t just want to be close to him. I wanted him to be mine, in all ways. I wanted to break him. To pull all the pieces of him apart and keep the shards to myself.
I dragged a hand down my face. What the fuck was wrong with me? I was never this out of control. Never this close to losing my grip on reality.
Benjamin groaned and rolled his head back. He was starting to come around.
It was time to find out what made Benjamin Barrett tick.