Page 38 of Missing Piece (Neon Scars #2)

S ilence engulfed the car as they headed into town, though that didn’t seem like such a bad thing at the moment.

Vincent had been quiet and distant since their conversation following Adam’s White Girl Wasted cry-and-bone blunder, and it was starting to gnaw at him.

The silence at least afforded him the chance to stew further on his own doubts.

Like maybe Vincent felt bad about how much he revealed about himself in that moment?

Or maybe he was having second thoughts about wanting a so-called “do-over”? Did he not measure up to that last guy?

Why do you care how you measure up? He could decide tomorrow he’d rather chain you back up and poke needles in your eyes. He’s. A. Monster.

He pressed his forehead against the window, gazing at the overcast night sky.

Stop …The situation with Vincent was already perplexing enough for him.

Now he had to come to terms with the fact that Vincent had experienced something similar in the past, or at least, that’s how Adam interpreted it.

Vincent hadn’t exactly delved into the specifics of his past sexual encounters with his deceased trial.

He shouldn’t linger on it. He knew that.

It’s not like he ever cared what partners someone had in the past, because generally concerning himself with someone’s sexual history wasn’t at the forefront of his mind for his prior hazy hookups.

But now it was, thanks to being painfully sober and hyperaware of how his body felt.

Is this jealousy? Am I jealous of a dead guy?

He didn’t even notice the country road becoming a proper street or the fields giving way to houses until the car turned down an avenue near the courthouse that they were already back in the city.

He shrank down in his seat, just in case they passed any cops on the way to wherever Ophelia’s dad lived.

Vincent had mentioned that they would spend the night at Ophelia’s place for an important meeting concerning vampire stuff.

He really should have asked more questions about what exactly he was being dragged to, especially since he already felt uneasy about encountering more vampires, but there was a lingering fear in the back of his mind that he might be left behind in the farmhouse. Alone. Again.

He cried literal tears of blood, shouldn’t that be enough to make you want to run? You don’t even know if he was being honest about the danger. It could all be a game to him. Haha, look at the dumb junkie, he’ll believe anything.

“We’re here,” Vincent announced, nodding toward the neon sign ahead of them on the right before turning into the alley between the buildings.

“This is Club Euphoria,” Adam observed, somewhat bewildered while glancing behind them to make sure they weren’t being followed. He unbuckled his seatbelt, scrambling to open the door as Vincent got out and walked around to his side.

“Marcus lives above the club,” Vincent explained as he helped Adam to his feet .

Adam barely had time to regain his balance before the door on the side of the building swung open like someone had kicked it. He jumped as he tried to take a step back.

“Vincent, you old bastard, get in here!” a handsome man with a smile that could replace a lighthouse beacon exclaimed, his arms held wide, like he was waiting for a hug.

He wore glowstick necklaces around his neck that lit up his dark beard and features in a way that made him seem more like he had come from a rave than inside a small Midwestern nightclub.

“Nice to see you too, Tariq,” Vincent replied, pulling Adam’s arm over his shoulders and steadying him with a palm on his waist.

Adam was too distracted by the thumping of the bass and the weirdly jovial glowstick man in front of him to bother being embarrassed about the fact Vincent was practically carrying him again as they moved into what appeared to be the emergency stairwell of the club.

“You must be Adam!” Tariq exclaimed as he wrapped them in a bear hug that lifted them both clear off the ground.

“Ow ow ow,” Adam wheezed as pain shot through his ribs. At least his back was still mostly numb from another round of lidocaine injections courtesy of Luka, but there was a slight sting there letting him know the feeling would return soon.

“He’s injured,” Vincent chided as Tariq released them.

“Shit, I’m sorry, I got too excited.” Tariq flashed another brilliant smile in Adam’s direction, his thick black eyebrows upturned in apology.

“It’s been forever since you’ve been in here.

You know we still keep your room in back free just in case you do drop in?

You never come in anymore. Is it because Adam keeps you busy? I have so many questions.”

“No shit,” Vincent responded with a light chuckle. “Where’s Graves?”

“He’s on bar duty tonight because Ophelia had a thing. I’m gonna get you guys settled upstairs, okay?” Tariq winked in Adam’s direction before he strode over to the elevator. “Where are the twins and Petrov?”

“Petrov is at the diner. The twins went to do something, and don’t ask me, because I don’t know what, but they’ll be here on time tomorrow,” Vincent replied.

“A Matteo thing?”

Vincent nodded, his mouth a thin line as though he didn’t want to speculate further.

The doors dinged open and Tariq gestured for them to step inside. Adam leaned closer to Vincent and whispered as quietly as he could, “How does he know my name?”

“Ophelia told me,” Tariq announced as he joined them in the elevator.

Adam’s stare widened. “Are you—?”

“Yup!”

He fell silent as he let the two vampires lead him out of the elevator when it reached the third floor to a door at the end of a short hallway.

Tariq fumbled with a key chain that had enough keys on it to make a janitor jealous, muttering under his breath in a foreign language as he tried a few of them only to discover they didn’t turn.

He should be nervous, right? New vampire, new environment, more things to be wary of.

But he was tired despite only being awake for a few hours and his mind kept wanting to fixate on the last human Vincent cared for.

Was that why Vincent had been so weird towards him in those early days?

Was he worried he and Adam would develop some sort of relationship ?

“Got it!” Tariq cried as the next key turned in the lock. He pushed the door open for them. “Go on in, the boss said he’d be up at some point to meet you both.”

The bearded man was a whirlwind of chatter, talking constantly as he led them inside the open-spaced penthouse, flicking on lights and pointing out mundane things like ‘the boss’s’ book collection, his neatly organized movies, a new range hood over the stove.

“Ophelia caught something on fire while trying to cook again, so Marcus decided a bigger one was warranted.”

“I don’t understand why he still lets her try to cook,” Vincent chuckled.

He glanced at his watch as he led Adam over to a recliner in the living room.

“I’m going to move my car before the parking police get it towed.

Will you be okay here with Tariq for a few minutes? He’s an old friend and I trust him.”

Adam slumped down into the recliner with a sigh of relief, sinking deep into the soft cushions.

“I’ll be okay,” he managed, the corners of his mouth twitching as he forced himself to smile reassuringly.

Discomfort radiated through his torso, but he tried his best to ignore it.

He didn’t want to be seen as weak or vulnerable in front of a new vampire.

“Are you sure?”

Adam sat up a little straighter. “I’m fine.”

Vincent’s lips slightly parted as though he wanted to ask again, before he gave Adam’s fingers a gentle squeeze and made his way towards the door.

Despite what he said, Adam couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease as Vincent disappeared from view. What if he didn’t come back?

I don’t want to be alone again .

He was broken from his thoughts by Tariq.

“I spent today digging through some of the lost and found after ‘Phelia told me your ankle was injured,” he called as he disappeared down the hallway. When he returned, he held a single crutch under one arm and some sort of black cloth with straps on it. He set the crutch against the wall and kneeled down in front of Adam, pointing at his unlaced sneaker. “Can I take your shoe off? I’ll see if this brace fits. If not, duct tape is always a decent alternative to stabilize the joint.”

Adam nodded as Tariq continued to talk about the things in the lost and found, gripping the arms of the recliner as he tried not to show how much it hurt to have his shoe removed and his ankle maneuvered into the brace.

Breathe. Just breathe.

Once Tariq finished with his makeshift medical care, he stood up and dusted imaginary dust off his palms. “There, that should help you walk a bit better.”

Adam looked down at his ankle and wiggled it experimentally. This whole thing is fucking crazy. “Thank you.”

Tariq studied him for a moment. “No problem, has Luka been helping you with the pain? You look like you’re hurting.

Well, and your heart rate is really high too, which means you’re either in pain or nervous.

Are you nervous? You don’t have to be nervous around me, I won’t fuck with you, if that’s what you’re worried about. ”

“He has been giving me numbing shots if that’s what you mean,” Adam responded, unsure of how to respond to Tariq’s stream-of-consciousness comments.

“Oh no, I meant like has he used his ability on you? He told me it can last like twelve hours sometimes, but if Vin is being over possessive or something, which, let’s be honest, he probably is, then maybe he hasn’t been able to help you today?”

Adam just stared at Tariq. What the Hell was he talking about?

Tariq brought a hand to his mouth. “Oh shit…he hasn’t…told you yet?”

“I am very confused now,” Adam stated flatly. Was this vampire high?

“Let’s get you something to eat. You look like you could eat.” Tariq jumped to his feet and clapped a palm on Adam’s shoulder.

Adam grabbed his arm. “No, I think I need to know what you were talking about,” he insisted, glaring at him.

He was already flying blind, and after being used as a chew toy by a monster child, he wasn’t afraid of being bit again.

There was no way he was letting Tariq just pretend he hadn’t just said that.

Tariq hesitated for a moment, looking down at Adam’s grip on his arm before he took a deep breath.

“Okay, okay. So, I don’t know how much Vincent has told you about our kind, and if he asks, I wasn’t the one that told you, but we have…

abilities. Like, a special gift. Luka can take away pain,” he explained.

“Why hasn’t Vincent mentioned this to me?” Adam demanded.

Tariq shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t want to freak you out or maybe he’s just being overprotective. He doesn’t like people touching his stuff,” he added quickly, “Not that I’m saying you’re, like, an object or something. But you know what I mean?”

Adam let go of Tariq’s arm as he thought back to his experience with Beth in the blood-soaked farmhouse. She had grabbed him and said he wasn’t allowed to lie to her, and when he did answer her, it felt like he wasn’t in control of his own mouth. Like some kind of fucked up lie detector.

So if she could make people tell the truth and Luka could make people not feel pain, what other things could they do?

Adam pushed himself up from the recliner, grabbing onto the swaying back to steady himself as Tariq opened every single cabinet in the kitchen, scratching his head as though he didn’t know where the food was hiding. “What other abilities do you guys have?”

Tariq stroked his beard, looking up at the ceiling as though he were considering if he should answer that question honestly.

He then shrugged. “Well, Matteo can lock the muscles in someone’s jaw and keep them from speaking or screaming.

Petrov can compel people to do what he wants, but it only works in his native tongue for some reason, so it’s really useless here.

Marcus is like a walking bottle of Xanax, but he’s real shit at controlling it.

Oh! And I can make you feel like you just smoked an absolutely mind-melting amount of weed. ”

“How is that last one helpful?” Adam scoffed.

“It isn’t,” Tariq laughed. “But hey, it’s great if you are having a panic attack.

Well, unless you are one of those people who has panic attacks from being high.

Then it’s not very helpful.” He pulled a container of leftovers out of the fridge and sniffed the contents, jerking back as he did.

“Yeah, that one doesn’t qualify as food. ”

“What’s Vincent’s?”

Tariq’s dark eyes widened, his smile turning nervous like a child who had been caught lying about their dog eating their homework. “So…um, about that…”

Adam narrowed his focus at Tariq. He knew there was something the vampire wasn’t telling him, and he wasn’t going to let it go so easily. “What about it?” he pressed.

“I don’t think…well…” Tariq glanced around the kitchen before settling on the time clock display on the stove.

He slapped his thigh. “Would you look at the time! I have to get back down to the club, the place can’t DJ itself all night.

The guest room is set up, two doors down on the right.

Don’t get blood on the sheets. It was really nice meeting you, Adam! ”

Before Adam could protest further, the front door was slamming shut, followed by the sound of keys outside the door and more swearing. He still can’t find the right key to lock the door.

Adam stared at the open cabinets and the fridge and sat back down on the armrest of the recliner.

He was lost in the haunted woods of a dark fairy tale, but instead of being surrounded by wolves pretending to be little old ladies or witches, he was surrounded by blood sucking monsters who, at least on occasion, looked like they just came from a rave.

What the fuck is my life right now?