Chapter 15
Peter Fenton
A mad giggle came out of my throat again.
I wasn’t sure how the hell I was still alive after biting Fallon.
The second my starved fangs had found their home in her skin, I’d been certain she’d come at me with a stake.
Instead she’d…come even harder? I was taking way too much dark delight in the memory.
It was sick, of course, because I’d lost control, but the act of getting away with it made it hard to feel as bad as I should have.
I pulled my fingers out of my mouth. The tips were pruned.
The taste of Fallon was long gone, and her scent only just lingered, but I’d burned most of the day’s sunlight enjoying her lingering presence on my fingers, my tongue, my dick.
God, her blood had tasted so good. Tasted like what love feels like, and having Fallon inside me like that only made me throb harder with want.
I was so hard even after tugging myself raw throughout the day that the only relief came from the mildly disturbing thought of Fallon gnawing on my prick like it was a chew toy.
I knew she’d only let me touch her because she was lonely and scared and needed a rest from carrying so much weight on her shoulders.
She was long gone now, but all day I’d tossed and turned listening to the memories of her hot, shallow breaths, the heat of her skin, the sharp smell of her arousal, her hot inner muscles that didn’t want to let go of me.
It was enough to feed my fantasies for another decade.
That evil voice in the back of my head was telling me sweet lies, and with nothing else to do, I indulged in them.
There had been love in her eyes, and she’d think of me every moment she was gone, just as I’d do with her, and when she returned, she’d let me drink from her body again.
I daydreamed our entire lives together in the hours when I should have been sleeping, and it was sweeter than rest.
The Hopes had left me alone all day, and thank Christ for that.
I waited around for the sun to set, then watched over the house until the front porch lamp went out.
The lights in the garage were next, and then one by one, the windows went dark.
They were all safe and tucked into their beds where no vampire could reach them, not even me.
That fantasy danced in my head, too — being invited into Fallon’s home, being led by her hand up to her bedroom, and it would smell so much like her I’d be hard the moment I stepped in, and she’d giggle and pull me into her cute little bed, and we’d have to choke back the music of our ecstasy so we didn’t wake the others, lying face to face and pawing at each other like teenagers.
The real world awaited me, though, so I pushed the fantasies off until later.
I had more to do than babysit some humans.
I rolled my bike far enough away so that it didn’t wake anyone in the house, then headed for my first destination in town, Plath’s.
I parked my motorcycle a few streets away and walked the rest of the way.
On Third Street, a little hand reached out for my arm to stop me.
“Hey,” she said in her baby bird voice. Her heart picked up steadily like a song, not frightened but prepared.
I shot a look up and down the street. Despite what humans thought, the vampire quarter of Cibola wasn’t the most dangerous place in town, but I didn’t like the odds of a sweet treat like this lurking alone in the shadows and startling vampires.
“What’s a little thing like you doing in a place like this?” When she stepped out into the light, my hand flew up to the side of her face, landing there with butterfly-soft restraint, brushing my thumb over the nasty bruise.
“I know who you are,” she said. I mesmerized her.
“Peter,” I whispered, then pulled my hand away from her. She’d been touched enough. Her pretty lips were swollen around her soft words. I leashed my rage for her benefit.
“I’m…Jane,” she lied. “I need you to…” She backed away, choking on the request.
“What’s his name?” I was good. Friendly.
“He’s in my apartment…” She folded in on herself. “He won’t leave.”
I dipped into the shadows with her to rest my shoulder against the building.
I had things to do tonight, but I could put off the bit of fun at Plath’s.
Only question was if Jane would make this quick and divulge.
It often took days, sometimes weeks, in my experience.
Pure, kind hearts were a heavy burden. It was hard for them to want even evil bastards dead.
If she really knew who I was, she’d know what it meant for this guy.
“Invite me in, doll. I’ll do it. Make it quick, clean. You won’t have to see a thing.”
“I want to see it. I need to see it.” Her fierce eyes surprised me.
“Then let’s go.”
She wrapped her thin arms around herself and nodded, convinced of her decision. I followed her away from Plath’s, saying a silent goodbye to the drinks and laughs I’d been looking forward to.
* * *
Peter Fenton
I lifted the body onto my shoulder. It was always little, scrawny men that were the worst. I left little Jane to cry and wail alone. I’d have liked to comfort her, tell her one day it wouldn’t be so bad, but I couldn’t stay. I didn’t even bother with goodbye.
I dumped the sad little man’s body behind the dumpster, covered with a few cardboard boxes, then called Guero, apologizing for bothering him.
I told him where to find the body, and despite his curt questions, he assured me that he’d take care of it.
I owed him one, and as always, I’d pay up.
Luckily, all it took to even the scales for Guero was a bottle of High Desert Tequila that I could grab tonight from Plath’s for double what it would cost for humans who could walk in the sun and go to High Desert Distillery themselves.
Guero was a true professional, a part of the Reyes network, so it was a laughably small price to pay.
I got back on my original path to the bar, full on blood that left my mouth parched and sour.
The guy had tasted like stale fast food grease and meth, and I laughed to myself when I remembered that must have been what Santos Reyes tasted when he turned me.
Hell, that night I’d been full of piss and vinegar, too, fighting him off like I stood a chance.
It was no wonder he couldn’t finish me off.
At Plath’s, I skipped the line outside and went straight for the bar.
I offered a hundred to the bartender, Millie, and instructed her to get that bottle of Tequila to Guero tonight, however she could.
The usual girls were clinging to me for attention, and I had to slip myself out of their greedy little hands.
I had work to do, and my last meal sat heavy in my stomach.
With my debts repaid and my admirers gently rebuffed, I strolled a few streets over and flipped off the police station where the pathetic fucking vampire boy worked before I went into Lazaro’s office.
“Hey there, Perla,” I said to his assistant, leaning on her desk. I chatted her up like usual, asking about her cute little friends I hadn’t seen in a spell and getting her to laugh before I got to business. “Is the boss man ready to see me?”
“He’s with Ms. Castillo,” she said, picking up the phone to call Lazaro.
“Perfect.” I slapped a beat on her desk before heading up the stairs, ignoring her futile attempt at stopping me. So what if Laz and Selena were fucking in his office? I wouldn’t have minded a look. Wouldn’t have minded more than a look.
I was nice enough to tap the office door before I went in. Lazaro sighed his thanks into the phone before setting it down, while Selena twisted her body around where she sat on Laz’s desk, favoring me with an amused smile.
“Who’d you kill tonight, Peter?” Lazaro asked.
I crossed his oversized office space and took Selena’s hand to kiss it. Of course, the killing I’d done less than an hour ago was already on Laz’s radar.
“Didn’t ask for a name.” I shrugged.
“Peter,” Laz said, then rubbed his forehead like he had a headache.
Could vampires get headaches? I’d never had one.
Neat. If anything were to give me one, though, it would be Lazaro reminding me of the proper protocol for killing and disposing of humans.
He lectured me, but it was hard to listen when Selena’s body was reacting the way it was to him.
She actually found this side of Lazzy hot.
“Peter!” Lazaro snapped.
“What do you want from me, man? Some cute little human woman braves Third to find me and ask me to kill an abusive bastard, and I’m not supposed to do it?” That caught Selena’s attention. Found that pretty hot, too, didn’t she?
“I’m just saying we have ways of doing this that reduce risk. Call me next time before you do it.”
“Petey likes playing the hero, though,” Selena said. I liked the way she teased me.
“You know, I am kind of a hero, aren’t I?
” I sat in the guest chair across from Laz and admired the back of Selena’s dress, sheer black mesh that showed off her delicious spine.
I’d spent the whole day with my hand barely giving my cock a break, but I still wasn’t satisfied. Fucking vampire puberty.
“Hero,” Laz muttered sarcastically. “And what do you call the one who cleans up the hero’s messes and keeps him out of prison?”
Selena’s giggle was a symphony. She pressed a hot kiss to Laz’s cheek. “A prince?”
“Almost fit for a queen,” I added.
Laz snorted. “Peter, I’ve changed my mind after tonight. I’m putting you on Guero’s team for the month so you can really appreciate what you ask him to do for you.”
“No kidding? Should’ve told me earlier, I had a gift for the guy.” It hadn’t been the bitching and moaning that Lazaro had expected from his punishment. He didn’t hide his disappointment when he gave me the address to report to tomorrow night after sundown.
“I’ve got a side gig going on for my girl, though. Can’t show up until that’s finished.”
“Your girl?” she asked, snapping her head back to her man.
“Don’t ask me,” Laz groaned. His suffering at my hands always made me grin. He took it all way too serious.
An actual fucking giggle emerged from my delirious mouth. I’d have blamed the dirty blood that was trudging through my system. Laz rubbed at his fake headache again.
“Still with the Hunter?” Selena asked. “Don’t tell me you’re doing the star-crossed thing, Petey. What’s her name? When was she born?”
Laz’s phone rang again, so he answered it.
He was quiet for a while, the muscles in his jaw drawn taut, and Selena was getting all horny watching him again.
I lifted my fingers to my nose, but Fallon’s scent was already gone.
The ache in the center of my chest knocked me out of reality.
She’d been gone for twelve hours, and already I couldn’t stand it.
“Hey,” I said when Laz hung up. “Any idea where the Hunter’s home base is?”
I looked back and forth between the stares of the lovely couple, one deeply annoyed, one a sunrise of understanding.
“Peter,” Selena began slowly, and her smile was gorgeous and wild, “She’s a Hunter.”
“She’s so much more than a Hunter. She’s…everything.”
Selena laughed, and it wasn’t so pretty when it was directed at me. “Forget star-crossed. You’ve found yourself in a Greek tragedy, Peter.”
I shrugged and looked away. “Do you know where the Hunters hide out?”
“Believe it or not, the secretive group of vampire hunters doesn’t advertise to our kind,” Lazaro said. His gaze drifted all the way up Selena’s body. “This one might know.”
“How’s that?” I sat up straighter. “Magic?”
Selena shook her head, and I didn’t like the frown on her lips.
“Maria Lucero took in one of our daughters before the Hunters fled Santa Fe. Back when the vampires were terrorizing the place.” She shoved at Lazaro’s shoulder, as if he’d been at fault.
Hell, maybe he had been, I didn’t know shit about any of this history.
Lazaro was amused, though. “That was when Vicente was running things alone, before Santos cleaned up his act.”
At least I’d heard of Vicente, who I’d gathered was the Santos Reyes of Santa Fe even now. I didn’t care about him or his story, though.
“You know where the Hunters are?” I asked Selena again.
Her dark eyes cut me open and searched my insides, and I couldn’t help the little gasp pulled out by her sudden turn. I gripped the cold metal chair arms and let her slice me into as many layers as she needed. There was only one thing she’d find in me.
“I only know the story. They followed the river south and the setting sun west to nameless mountains covered in trees that hide a spiraling staircase to Hell. That energy calls to your kind and draws them in for the slaughter. If they still have witches among them, it’s a dangerous place. You wouldn’t survive.”
“Thanks for the warning,” I said, not sounding half as cheeky as I’d hoped, and even if I had, it wouldn’t have cut through the tension.
Mountains southwest of Santa Fe, huh? I was imagining it like my feet were already there.