Chapter 6
Ji-Su walked up to Sal’s with Raul at his side, the vampire’s big hand lightly pressed to the small of his back. When they reached the door, Raul held it open for him.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Raul smiled that wonderful smile that made something tingle low in his belly. Flustered, Ji-Su turned away from him. He took a step toward the seating area, but Raul caught him and gently turned him the other way.
“You order at the counter here.”
“Oh, right.”
They went up to the counter where a woman with a smooth, olive complexion and brown hair covered by a hair net greeted them with a smile.
“Hello! Welcome to Sal’s. Mr. Raul, it’s good to see you. Would you like your usual?”
“Yes. Thank you, Mia. Ji-Su, what would you like?”
Ji-Su looked over the menu. As he read the choices, he breathed in deeply. The delicious smell of fresh baked bread and spices made his mouth water. He quickly decided on a Porchetta sandwich and orange cream soda.
“We’ll have those out to you in a few minutes.”
Raul paid and they went to sit at a round top pine table with mismatched chairs. Ji-Su was thanking Raul again for the Target shopping trip when Raul’s phone rang.
“Excuse me,” Raul said at the interruption. He took the phone from his pocket and looked at the screen. “This is your agency,” he informed Ji-Su before answering. “Hello?”
Ji-Su quietly listened to Raul’s side of the conversation.
“Yes. Good. Thank you. Yes, he’s right here.” Raul held the phone out to Ji-Su. “This is Sandra, the agency supervisor. She would like to talk to you.”
Ji-Su accepted the phone. “Hello?”
“Ji-Su, how are you?”
“I’m fine, thank you.”
“I hope you are recovering after your ordeal.”
“I am. I’m sorry to have caused your agency trouble.”
“This wasn’t your fault. It all rests on the shoulders of Cedric. He will be evaluated to determine if he will simply be on probation or blacklisted completely from our services.”
“That’s fair.”
“I’m told that you will be remaining with Mr. Raul. Are you certain that’s what you want to do?”
Ji-Su quickly glanced at Raul before he looked down at the table. “Yes, I am.”
“Okay then. He transferred one million dollars to your former blood patron to nullify that contract. For your new contract—.”
“Wait. One million dollars?” He snapped his head back up, staring at Raul in shock. “That wasn’t the remaining amount on my contract.” The comment had been directed to Raul but Sandra answered.
“No, it was not. However, Cedric requested that amount and Mr. Raul paid it in order to expedite the process.”
“Oh my God,” Ji-Su whispered. That amount of money... It almost made him light-headed.
“Are you okay?”
Ji-Su shook off his shock over the amount of money that Raul had given Cedric. “Yes. Yes, I’m fine.”
“As I was saying. Your new contract is for two hundred thousand. Monthly payments will be deposited into your account on the same schedule as before. Which means it will be a couple of weeks before you receive your first payout.”
“Why am I being paid when Mr. Raul has already spent so much?”
“We can’t allow you to stay there without compensation. You will be providing a service to Mr. Raul and must be paid for that service.”
“Right.”
“We have vetted Mr. Raul as well. His career might have some... shady undertones. But that’s not unusual for vampires in this area.
More importantly, for him personally, I found no instances of abuse or neglect with any partners—human or vampire.
I spoke with several of his former blood pets both contracted and casual and they all gave him glowing recommendations.
It looks as though you should be in good hands with Mr. Raul. ”
Ji-Su’s shoulders relaxed, releasing the tension he didn’t even realize they were carrying. “That’s good.” He would have hated to learn something negative about Raul after the way he’d saved him and the kindness he’d shown thus far.
“Do you have any other questions?”
“No.”
“Since this is an unusual set of circumstances, I’m giving you my direct number. Please call me if there are any issues.”
Ji-Su took out his phone and stored the number Sandra gave him in his contacts.
“Goodbye, Ji-Su. I hope this next partnership works out better for you.”
“Thank you, Sandra.”
After ending the call, he passed the phone back to Raul. Their meals had arrived toward the end of his conversation, but neither of them moved to eat. They silently stared at each before Ji-Su gave voice to the three words hanging between them.
“One million dollars?”
Raul nodded. “Yes,” he said without breaking eye contact.
“Why so much? Why pay him at all?”
“I gave him the money because it was one option to solve the problem of getting you away from Cedric.”
“What was the other option?”
The briefest flash of a dark look passed over Raul’s face before it was gone.
“It doesn’t matter. I simply wanted to resolve the issue with both speed and your safety in mind. Paying Cedric the amount he requested was the best way to do that.”
“Yes, but... Now I’m in debt to you for an amount I can’t even begin to think about paying back. And counting my service as a blood pet no longer works since you’re paying me for that too.”
Raul reached across the table and laid his large, hand atop his smaller one.
“You didn’t ask me to pay Cedric. I did it because I wanted to. That means that you do not owe me. You are not in debt to me. Consider that payment a gift from a very rich vampire who has more money than he can spend in several human lifetimes. Can you do that?”
Ji-Su quietly considered it for a moment.
What Raul said was true. He hadn’t asked him to give Cedric that exorbitant amount of money.
And Raul wasn’t holding it over his head.
Still, it was odd. This entire situation was odd.
But he trusted Raul and he wanted to stay with him.
Ji-Su finally answered. “I can do that.”
“No debt,” Raul said.
Ji-Su repeated after him. “No debt.”
Raul smiled and squeezed his hand. “Good.”
RAUL COULD TELL THAT Ji-Su was uncomfortable with the price he’d paid Cedric to back off and leave him alone. He almost wished he’d thought to tell Sandra not to mention it. But what was done was done. Besides, it was probably for the best that Ji-Su knew now rather than learning of it later.
When they walked in to the house, Raul carrying their shopping bags after returning from lunch, Jason was waiting for him.
Like Ji-Su, he was Korean American but that was where the similarities ended.
Jason was tall, dark haired, and muscular.
He was dressed in the black suit that most of the Syndicate’s guards wore. And he was a vampire.
“I have the info you requested,” he said holding up a black folder. “Is now a good time?”
Raul set the bags down on the bench in the entry way. “Yes. Now is fine. This is Ji-Su, my new blood pet and the reason for the request. Ji-Su this is Jason Choi, head of security where I work.”
Ji-Su bowed. “Hello, Mr. Choi. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Jason bowed in return. “You as well.”
“Let’s talk in private,” Raul suggested.
The three of them went into his office. He led Ji-Su to one of the chairs in front of his desk and gestured for Jason to take the other seat. Raul leaned against the desk and crossed his legs at the ankles.
“What did you find out?”
“On the surface, Cedric looks harmless. Turned forty years ago by a high-ranking member of the LaMonte family. He was originally intended to become one of the family’s business leaders.
But they made a bad choice with him. After turning, he didn’t want to work and saw being a vampire as a never-ending life of riches and decadence.
He has expensive taste in cars, clothes, and food.
Wants the best of everything as long as it’s handed to him.
When the family realized Cedric didn’t have the head to become a key player in business, they set him up with a trust and a place to live and let him be. ”
“That sounds like Cedric,” Ji-Su chimed in. “He spends all night watching vampire movies and talking about how much power he has. But that’s really all he does.”
“He does a little more than that unfortunately. My people had to dig, but they found some of his more unsavory habits. With the well-known blood pet services and blood brothels he’s been on his best behavior.
However, there are shadier places he frequents where he’s drained several humans near to the point of death.
They all survived with emergency transfusions.
The LaMonte family paid out large sums of the money to the donors and the club owners to keep them quiet.
But one day, Cedric is going to cross the line. ”
Raul nodded grimly. “He’s working his way up to it. But he definitely wants to know what it’s like to kill.”
At an alarmed noise from Ji-Su, Raul immediately straightened and went over to him. His eyes were wide and full of fear.
“Do you think he was going to kill me last night?” he asked in a whisper.
Raul kneeled in front of him and took Ji-Su’s hands between his own. “We can’t know that, but don’t worry. I won’t ever let him harm you again. You’re safe now.”
A tremor went through Ji-Su before he pulled in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I’m glad I got out of there.”
“So am I.” Raul rubbed a thumb over the back of Ji-Su’s hand. “Like I said before. You were right to listen to your instincts.”
“I take it something happened between them,” Jason said quietly.
“Yes.” Raul kept Ji-Su’s hands tucked between his own while he gave Jason a quick rundown of the past two night’s events.
“That sounds...” Jason cleared his throat and started over. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, Ji-Su.”
“Thank you. I’m glad Mr. Raul was there to help me.”
“He’s a good man. And he’s right. You’ll be safe with him.”
Jason stood and laid the folder on the desk. “Everything I reported is there in more detail.”
“Thank you for bringing it to me personally. I’ll show you out.” He squeezed Ji-Su’s hands once before he let him go and rose to his feet. “Wait for me here.” After Ji-Su’s nod, Raul walked Jason to the front door. They spoke quietly.
“It’s not our job to control the members of another family. But now that I know what Cedric is up to, I won’t stand by and let it happen.”
Jason nodded in agreement. “I’ll put someone on him and give them specific instructions on what to do if he attempts to pull a deep drain on a human again.”
“Thank you, Jason.” Raul clapped the other vampire on the shoulder, certain that one of Jason’s specialists would permanently take care of Cedric if it became necessary. The vampire left and Raul went back into his office where Ji-Su was waiting for him.
Ji-Su watched him as he returned to sitting on the edge of the desk.
“This has all been a lot to accept.”
“It has. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Good. Your contract should arrive by messenger soon and we can go over it together before we sign. Everything should settle down after that.”
“Okay. Thank you again Mr. Raul.”
“Like I said, it was no problem to help. But I need you to do me one favor.”
“Of course. Whatever you need.”
“Stop calling me Mr. Raul. Just Raul is fine.” He’d had blood pets call him Mr. Raul before—usually the ones he hired through a service. But he didn’t want that layer of boss-employee separation between him and Ji-Su.
“Oh. Sure, just Raul. I’ll try to remember.” He smiled, his dimples making a quick appearance.
Raul wanted to spend time talking to Ji-Su, getting to know him and hopefully hearing his pretty laugh again.
But he figured Ji-Su probably needed some time to himself.
“Go ahead and put your purchases away upstairs in your room. If you need to charge your phone, there should be spare chargers in the nightstand that Gloria stores there for guests. Make calls, then rest if you need to. I’ll see you later at dinner. ”
Ji-Su looked relieved. Raul had been right in thinking he needed to catch his breath.
“I appreciate that Mr.—I mean Raul.” He stood up from his chair. “See you at dinner.”
Raul watched him go. Cedric had hurt him—come dangerously close to killing him.
The relief he felt that Ji-Su had managed to escape nearly made him light-headed.
Yes, Ji-Su was his blood pet now. But that wasn’t his concern.
Right now, Ji-Su’s safety was the only thing he cared about.
And he vowed to himself that no matter what, he would keep Ji-Su safe.