Chapter 8
Eight
“Having doubts is normal,” Carl said with a wide, reassuring grin.
Ethan placed a glass of ice water on the coffee table in front of Carl and forced a quick smile that he really didn’t feel.
If he felt anything, it was a tangled mess. There was a little voice in his head screaming that he should never have left Marcus on his own with those two people.
No, two vampires.
Well, at least the woman. There was something about her that made his skin crawl. She had to be a vampire. The silent black man who towered over all of them like some kind of mobile mountain could have been one, but Ethan wasn’t completely sure.
Fuck, both of them felt more vampirish than Marcus did.
Leaving Marcus’s house when he did had put a sick queasiness in the pit of his stomach. The people who appeared on the doorstep just before the rain started were not welcome guests, but intruders. But for some reason, Marcus couldn’t turn them away.
And even with the danger tingling in the air, Ethan was stunned by how Marcus attempted to protect him. He could see it in the way he positioned his body between Ethan and the two intruders, and the way he’d tried to distract them from Ethan.
His new posh apartment might only be a quick ten-minute walk from Marcus’s town house, but he was thoroughly drenched when he squeaked his way through the marble entrance to the elevator. The walk and cooling rain didn’t help him clear his head when it came to Marcus.
When he’d agreed to the assignment, his instructions were relatively simple.
Gather any and all information on Marcus Varik and any vampires he associated with.
They needed addresses, habits, favorite haunts, anything.
Considering the way Marcus reacted to the woman, Ethan felt confident she was a vampire, but he had nothing more than a name and a physical description to give about her.
The job didn’t require Ethan to try and be friends with Marcus.
But he found himself wanting to be, and he’d been sure that such a thing would never be possible.
This was a mess. He closed his eyes and conjured up the memory of that night. The screams and cries of his family. The smell of the blood. The laughter and the voices of the vampires who slaughtered his family.
He tried to imagine Marcus as one of them, walking through his house.
But where Marcus should have been laughing and blood-drenched, he saw only a horrified look on Marcus’s handsome face.
He could more easily imagine Marcus gathering up young Ethan and tucking him against his chest, carrying him to safety from that nightmare, promising to take care of him.
A fucking mess. This was a fucking mess.
He hadn’t thought too much about Marcus during the first few days of the job.
On his first day of work, Marcus had been stiff and incredibly reserved as if he didn’t quite know what to say or how to act around Ethan.
When Ethan didn’t see him again over the next few days, he’d been sure such a thing would become the norm.
Any information would have to be gained through snooping through his personal belongings.
Luckily, it was his job to pack up those items.
But that text from Rafe changed everything. He never expected to be looking at what was essentially porn with his boss. It was only worse because his boss’s brother was in the pic. Of course, Ethan had to make the moment more awkward by opening his mouth.
It wasn’t like he’d fantasized about the hotness of his boss. Of course, Marcus was a freaking wet dream. Given that his brother looked that mouthwatering, Ethan could only imagine the stunning body hiding under Marcus’s suits.
As painfully awkward as it was, that picture broke the ice between them. They’d talked for more than an hour, and Ethan had enjoyed every moment of it except for when he was reminded of his murdered family.
What kind of a person was he to keep forgetting about his family every time Marcus flashed that unsure smile in his direction?
With a heavy sigh, Ethan flopped down in the middle of the couch and rubbed his hands over his face. When he lowered his hands, he inwardly cringed at the way Carl was closely watching him.
The man looked to be in his late forties, maybe early fifties with salt-and-pepper scruff on his chin and jawline.
More gray was creeping into his dark hair while lines were digging deep furrows in his narrow face.
His dark eyes reminded him of a rodent’s, quick and sharp, as they took in every movement. He’d never felt easy around Carl.
When Carl approached him, it had been reassuring that he finally had someone who understood what Ethan had seen so many years ago.
There had been no gunshots. No animals tearing at people’s throats.
There had only been dark voices and a blood-covered woman with fangs.
He had talked about getting justice for the dead, and Ethan had been in.
But Carl kept wanting to be this father figure to him, and Ethan wasn’t buying it.
He’d survived foster homes and boys’ group homes.
There had been some bad places and some okay places along the way.
The key was that he’d learned to get by on his own.
He didn’t need some pseudo-father coming in when Ethan knew deep down that Carl only wanted him to help take down the vamps. Any vamps.
He had said it more than once. The only good vamp was a staked one.
“You have to remember, Ethan, that vampires are crafty. They want to seduce us and mind-fuck us. They want you to trust them so that you let your guard down,” Carl continued.
“Yeah, but what if all that stuff we’ve seen in movies and books is bullshit?
I mean, some of the people in the group think vamps can’t walk around while the sun is up.
I’m telling you, on my first day I had a meeting with Varik at ten a.m. We had food together today.
Real, actual food. I watched him eat it. ”
“Are you sure? How do you know it wasn’t an illusion? It could have been a trick.”
Ethan barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. That was Carl’s answer to everything Ethan said that contradicted what he believed. It was a mind-fuck. A hallucination. An illusion.
He was starting to regret a lot of shit when it came to Carl, starting with agreeing to even let him come over to his apartment.
It felt like a serious betrayal of Marcus…
not like working for the man wasn’t a massive betrayal as well.
But Carl had called to check on him as he got home, catching him when he was feeling weak and his mind was all fucked up.
Since the first day on the job, he’d been getting calls from Carl demanding to know if he’d seen Marcus’s fangs or where he slept during the day or if there were extra coffins in the basement.
As more time passed, Carl was starting to seem like a crazed zealot.
Probably more dangerous than Marcus could ever be.
But if he left Carl and the League, where did that leave Ethan? He wanted justice for his parents and sisters, but not at the cost of hurting innocent people.
And right now, there was zero proof that Marcus had anything to do with the death of his family.
Marcus’s mother…maybe.
What would his own mother say? She was a sweet, compassionate woman. She’d want Ethan to be happy and to move on with his life. To do something positive and bring joy to other people. Not wallow in pain and blood for a memory.
And damn it, did he really have any proof that Marcus was a vampire? Had Marcus done anything to threaten or scare him? His family might be a little crazy and Marcus was a touch eccentric, but that didn’t make him a bloodsucker. Just…interesting.
A loud knocking on the front door stopped Ethan’s heart for a breath. He jerked his head up and stared in the direction of the noise. Marcus and Janice were the only other people who knew where he lived. And that did not sound like a Janice knock.
Holy shit. Marcus was at his front door and Carl, the crazy vampire hunter, was sitting in his living room.
Jumping to his feet, Ethan pointed at Carl. “Don’t move a muscle. He can’t see you here,” he hissed.
“Is that…” Carl whispered, his voice drifting off as if he was afraid Marcus could hear him through the door. Ethan nodded and Carl practically vibrated in his seat. He had to get Marcus away from the apartment. He didn’t trust Carl to keep his butt in the chair.
Ethan jogged through the apartment and paused only long enough to peer through the peephole to confirm that it was Marcus on the other side. His boss had been particularly concerned about a potential threat from Meryl, but Ethan was doubtful that she’d be able to locate him so quickly.
Even through the weird fisheye lens, he could see Marcus’s worried expression.
His black hair was wild and standing up in different directions as if he’d been endlessly threading his fingers through it or pulling at it.
Something in his heart softened and turned a little mushy, leaving Ethan longing to shake himself.
If Marcus was a big, bad vampire, he certainly didn’t need some little nobody wanting to wrap him up and take care of him.
Good God, it was amazing Marcus hired him in the first place.
Pulling open the door, Ethan slipped outside before Marcus could take a step forward and smiled stiffly at him.
“Hey, Boss!” Ethan said a little louder than he meant to as he tried to force cheerfulness in his tone. Luckily, Marcus appeared too distracted to notice. “Do you need me to run an errand?”
“Ethan! Are you all right? Did you have any problems getting home?” Marcus quickly demanded. He put both hands on Ethan’s shoulders, holding him in place, but there was a feeling that Marcus wanted to drag him tight against him. And Ethan found he was disappointed that Marcus didn’t.