Page 12 of Absolution
“Of course.”
“Mr. Mueller you’re under arrest for the murder of two St. Paul men,” one of the cops told me. He took out a pair of dull brown cuffs—a vampire specialty. The words began to sink in, but I didn’t bother to resist. Who had I killed? The three guys in the alley were all breathing when I left them. And after the monkeying I did with their heads they weren’t likely to remember much more than my red eyes.
“Gabe?” I called out to him.
“I’ve already got a lawyer on the way to the station. Cooperate please. Luca was with you all night?”
“After I left the club and work, mostly. We had coffee, sparred, kissed a little.” I went a little nuts… The cops led me out the door just as Seiran was stepping off the elevator. He looked alarmed as he rushed to Gabe’s side saying something I couldn’t hear as the door closed. My body ached with the coming sunrise. Would we get to the station before? They wouldn’t let me burn to death in the back of a police car, would they?
My heart skipped a beat. What a crappy way to go. One of the cops helped me into the back of the car and off we went. Thankfully the ride only took a few minutes. Yellow and gold tinted the edges of the horizon in warning. Fuck. The rising sun was starting to mess with my sight, and as the cop pulled me out of the car, I could barely keep my feet beneath me.
They led me to a windowless room—for which I was grateful—took some pictures, fingerprinted me, and made me strip, leaving me only with some lightweight scrubs, then sat me at a table. The sun rose. I set my head down on the table while sleep yanked at me like a persistent child. Finally I closed my eyes and let it have me. What was the worst they could do? Pick me up and drag me out into the sun? After some sleep I’d care. Maybe.
The door closing woke me some time later. I’d had long enough to begin to dream, and unlike my usual onslaught of past memories I dreamt of Luca in the shower. Though I was pretty sure his cock hadn’t been that big.
Someone moved a chair beside me and shook me gently. It was never easy being awake during the day. How Gabe did it at all astounded me. Maybe it was because he was so old. And perhaps working out some of the rage and bloodlust with Luca had tired me out more than usual because it took a heavy shove before I rolled my head over and tried to open my eyes. The smell of honey and clover was familiar, comforting, though I couldn’t remember why.
Someone placed blood near my nose. Good blood. Not that crap from the street punks and not Luca, but something far more tantalizing. I’d never been allowed a taste…
“Seiran?” I asked as I pried my eyes open to stare at a cup.
He guided my hands to it. “Drink please. The detectives need to ask you a few questions.”
“They think I killed someone.” I took the first sip of the still warm liquid and sighed. Okay this was why Gabe wanted him. Good looks and super powers aside, Seiran tasted amazing. “Crap you should charge for this stuff. It’s … wow!”
“Not too fast,” he grumbled at me. “Too much can make you drunk and I need you lucid not loopy.”
“I didn’t kill anyone,” I told him seriously after I took another sip. “There’s always opportunity, but I hold back, just like Gabe taught me. I’m not all fucked in the head.” Only partially.
“I don’t think you are and Gabe doesn’t think you’re to blame. Another vampire maybe, which is troubling, but not you. We can’t talk about that anyway. Your lawyer is outside talking with the police. Luca is here too. Says you were with him, which is good. If they really thought it was you, they wouldn’t have let me in, would they?”
More likely they didn’t believe some baby vampire like me could hurt the most powerful Pillar the world had seen in at least a few centuries. Some of the fog cleared from my sight as I sipped at the blood. Seiran’s wrist was bandaged. “I can try to heal that if you want.” It seemed only fair to offer.
“It’s okay. I heal fast now. It’ll be gone by midday.”
“Yeah, Father Earth and all that.”
He shrugged. “You needed blood and the police wouldn’t let Luca be alone with you. You’re both beat up pretty badly. If this is what sex equates for you, maybe you should see a therapist.”
“Don’t like it rough, Ronnie?” I teased him. He hated the nickname, and I was the only one who dared, but he still answered to it.
“Not that rough.”
“We didn’t do anything anyway. Just fought a little like when you and I spar. Only Luca’s more vampire than human, so we were pretty closely matched.” Until I had a redout. “You don’t need to babysit me. I’m not going to hurt anyone. I just wanna nap.”
“They might hurt you. I’ve been in your spot before. Wrongly accused.” He shivered then stretched out in the chair. He finger-combed his long black hair into a ponytail and secured it with a band that he’d been wearing around his uninjured wrist. I’d shaved his head once, more out of anger at myself for not being good enough, than anything he’d done. He was beautiful. More pretty than handsome. The perfect mix of his Japanese mother and European father. The slanted eyes and high cheekbones, black hair, delicate features, pale skin and luminescent eyes. I’d hated him for a long time for being so beautiful. Only now I knew how much he hated it too. “I’ll stay until your lawyer comes at least.”
“I’m a big boy,” I told him, though I was thankful for his support.
“No doubt. But you’re not a lawyer.”
“You’re too nice. You know that? You could be a real dick, but you’re still nice. I don’t get that.”
He shrugged again. “I am what I am.”
Amen to that. I suppose I should really own up in case he wanted to escape before being dragged into bad press. He was only just getting the world on board with him being the first male Pillar in history.
“I was attacked in an alley last night before I went to the club to meet Gabe. There were three guys. I fought back. When I left they were still alive. I fed on them. Broke one’s arm, another had a busted rib or two, but they were all alive when I left them.” Laws weren’t the same when it came to vampires. We were too strong and fast. Self-defense wasn’t always a valid defense, not when I could have outrun them easily.