Chapter 12
That damn wedding cocktail became the bane of my existence. James and I thought that a single drink would make it easier on the bartender and simplify ordering. We were bartenders, if anyone could come up with a drink, it was us. Right?
Jack and Coke? Too simple.
Any sort of martini? Too difficult and too subjective to taste.
The Vampire’s Kiss? Too predictable.
Every cocktail we served that night only offered another option for us—and another one that we couldn’t agree on. By the time we closed that night, I was exhausted, both physically and mentally. I barely made it home to collapse into bed.
The next afternoon, I woke up alone. It wasn’t uncommon when James needed to be at the bar before me, so I rolled out of bed to get ready.
Once I’d showered and dressed myself, I realized that in my exhausted state, I hadn’t taken my wallet out of my pocket the night before.
Thankfully, James hadn’t tossed them in the laundry yet.
I picked my jeans up and fished out my wallet, but something else in the pockets rattled—and my heart dropped into my stomach when that damn chain fell to the floor.
Shit… I’d been so tired last night that bringing it up to James had entirely slipped my mind. He was spending the first part of his shift observing Kian, who was nearly ready to work unsupervised.
I stood there longer than I should have and stared at the piece of jewelry in my hand. There was one surefire way to know if it belonged to hunters, and with both James and Kian busy, this might be my only chance. I winced. James wouldn’t approve.
I needed to visit Luke.
Not the Luke I wanted to visit. Kian’s brother had been a source of contention between James and I since I first got into town.
He’d never hidden his feelings for me, and the fact that I’d jumped into bed with him after James ended things only made our relationship with the man more complicated.
Add in that he was Kian’s adopted brother? That gave me a headache.
So, why was I going to see him? Because I had to get the idea out of my head that he was responsible for the strange piece of jewelry appearing outside my car.
Sure, it was just a cross necklace and could’ve belonged to anyone, but I would recognize that specific cross anywhere.
It had been burned into my nightmares for months.
After Luke showed up at the hospital when Kian almost died, he decided that he was done running.
He was ready to work on mending relationships with the people he’d hurt, including me.
Since Luke had betrayed the team of hunters he’d been working for by saving my life, James and Gabriel were offering Luke protection in return.
I wasn’t privy to all of the details, but I knew where Luke was staying.
I made the decision and jumped in my car. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right?
As I stepped up to Luke’s doorstep and knocked, I shoved my hands in my pockets—only to snatch them free again the second I touched the chain.
Christ, I needed to get it together.
The door opened, and my heart thundered against my ribcage. I felt James pressing against the bond, worried. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I fired off a text that I was fine, and that seemed to be enough to settle him—for now.
“Ryder?”
“Hi.”
Luke stood there, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and scrubbing at his damp hair with a towel. The wind blew, and he shivered. “Get inside; it’s freezing.”
He disappeared, leaving the door ajar. I stepped into the house, welcoming the heat as I shut myself inside.
I heard him fumbling around in what I assumed to be his bedroom, but I could have mistaken the room for a closet.
The apartment was almost as small as my studio in Vegas, and nowhere near as nice.
The walls were dingy, to the point where they’d need more than a good scrub to bring them back to life.
The carpet had once been white but had deepened to a stomach-churning beige, and I didn’t want to know what the stain by the entertainment center was.
A used couch sat in the corner, and it looked like it hadn’t seen the light of day since Hannah was born.
“What are you doing here?” Luke reappeared, having pulled on a sweater. “Is Kian okay?”
“He’s fine—my son-in-law isn’t the reason I’m here.”
Luke smiled, but it faded quickly. “Guess we’re truly family now.”
I crooked a brow. “I’d rather not think about that given our history.” Luke scoffed, dropping onto the couch. “So this is where you’re living now?”
“It was all I could get on short notice. Did you come here just to inspect my apartment?”
Oh, how I wish I had. “Actually, I came here to ask if you knew of any hunters in the area.”
Luke stilled, then his dark green eyes hardened. “How would I know? You know that I left them.”
“I know,” I said, reaching into my pocket and withdrawing the necklace. “But I found this on the ground by my car. It’s one of theirs, isn’t it?”
Luke took the chain from me, flipping on a lamp.
He turned the cross over and inspected it under the light.
“Yeah, it’s one of theirs. See that?” I leaned in, uncomfortable with how close we were.
But Luke didn’t seem bothered, so I tried to focus on what he was showing me, squinting to see the tiny lines etched in the silver. Memento vivere.
“What’s it mean?”
“It’s Latin for ‘remember to live.’ Their trademark—a reminder of what they’re fighting for.”
“Who’s ‘they?’”
“Virtus. The society I worked for.”
Luke dropped the necklace on the table in front of him in disgust and took a step away from it. He looked… scared of it.
“Luke, can they track us through that thing?”
“No,” he said, and some of the tension faded. “It just…”
“Gives you the creeps,” I finished for him.
I grabbed the necklace and returned it to my pocket.
It reminded me of what it felt like to be near those cursed diamonds last year.
In the end, I had to be the one to dispose of the silver so Gabriel could touch them.
I never wanted to feel that kind of fear again.
I ran the chain over my fingers in my pocket, mulling over my next move.
“Like I’ve told James, I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” Luke said. “I just don’t want to get involved. If anyone can take these guys out, it’s the two of you, but I don’t want to be killed in the process. Not before Kian’s forgiven me.”
Well punch me right in the heart, why don’t you? “What do they want?”
Luke let out a long breath. “They hunt monsters to preserve humanity. The only motive they have is to save the human race.” As he spoke, his attention trailed down to my neck. “He turned you, didn’t he?”
I stiffened. “Why would you ask that?”
“That’s a nasty mark on your neck. One I’ve only seen on vampires. And I’ve never seen anyone survive two of them.”
I hesitated, unsure how much information I wanted to trust Luke with.
Unfortunately, he read right through the move. “Keep your secrets,” he said with a shrug. “But I’ve never seen a human survive two bites. So either you’re a vampire, or…”
This was clearly my cue to leave. “I should go,” I said, a little too quickly. “We have, um, wedding planning to do.”
“Ah, wedding planning.” Luke smirked. “Kian mentioned you got engaged. Congratulations.”
I muttered my thanks, told him that I’d be in touch, and hightailed it out of there. I guess Luke Cavanagh still had the ability to make me squirm. Luckily, it wasn’t for the same reasons as before.
“Ryder?” I spun with my hand on the doorknob. “Tell that vampire friend of yours to quit following me around. It’s creepy.”
I snickered, wondering if he knew why Gabriel wouldn’t leave him alone. “Something tells me he already knows.”
As I drove to Liz’s, I thought over the events of the last year—ever since I’d moved to Salem. Twice we thought we’d shaken those hunters by now, and still they returned.
I groaned, sinking down in my seat at a red light.
My chest was starting to get tight again.
Sitting there, I began to rub my chest, and I’d never wished more than I did in that moment that I had vampire speed.
The light turned, and my foot sank down on the pedal.
The closer I got to Liz’s, the more that tightness in my chest faded and warmth took its place.
When I parked, James was already watching the door. His restraint was evident, as if it was taking everything he had not to run to me.
I got out of the car and stuck my hands in my pockets to keep them warm. The silver weighed heavily there. I felt sick as I approached the front door. For God’s sake, I didn’t want to go through this again. We’d beaten those damn hunters—twice. How many times was it going to take?
James caught Shiloh’s attention the moment the door shut behind me. “Can you take over here? Kian’s still new to espresso martinis.”
“Sure.” Shi tossed me a smile, one I forced myself to return because it was impossible not to. Their smile, along with James’s arm around me, did wonders to calm me.
“What’s the matter, love?” James asked in my ear. “You look like you’re about to cry or be sick, and I don’t know which one of those things would be worse.”
“I just visited Luke,” I admitted.
James crooked a brow. “Oh?”
Swallowing against the bile rising in my throat, I pulled the chain from my pocket and showed it to him. “We need to talk.”
He didn’t say a word, only took my arm and guided me toward the hallway, to the office, and shut the door behind us. “He’s doing it again?”
I blinked in surprise. “What? No! He said he left them, and I believe him. You should have seen his face when he looked at this thing. He went almost as pale as you are.”
James shot me a deadpan look. “Okay, I would have believed you without the jab.”
I forced a grin, skirting around him to drop the chain on his desk. “I use humor when I’m nervous—sue me.”
With my back to him, James stalked across the room and wrapped his arms around me. He pressed a kiss to his mark, which tingled and sent jolts of pleasure through my skin.
“I’m afraid I’m not following, then. What’s got you nervous, love?”
“I thought we were through with it this time,” I admitted. “I know we’ve beaten them before, but they nearly killed you—twice.”
“I’ll call Gabriel,” James said.
“Doesn’t he have his hands full with Dani already? And how do we know she isn’t involved?” When I was met with silence, I turned to look over my shoulder. James stared at me, his thumb having slipped beneath the hem of my shirt to stroke the soft skin of my stomach. “What?”
“Since when do you care about Gabriel?”
“Shut up—ah!” James’s fingers dug into my ribcage, and I squirmed and wriggled to get away from him. “Isn’t he going to be like my cousin-in-law or something once I turn?”
James chuckled. “We’re not all related, you know.”
I spun in his grip, letting him back me against the desk. “You know I snark when I’m stressed,” I countered, but I’d lost my sense of dread.
James brushed a stray lock of hair from my eyes. After my impulsive cut, it was starting to grow back and was just the right length to be annoying. “Before I call him, is there anything I can do for you to ease your nerves?”
“Yeah,” I said confidently, knocking him backward so I had room to move. “That martini sounds pretty good right about now. Since I’m off the clock, you can make me a drink.”
James bit his lip. Uh oh… “I have a better idea.”