Page 49 of Missing Piece (Neon Scars #2)

I can’t see. I’m blind. Vincent gasped as he sat up, slapping at his arms as the feeling of the flames stuck to his skin, his nerve endings still alight.

He could hear the sound of a chair being pushed out near him, and he could smell Petrov in the room, but he couldn’t see him.

Vincent clawed at his face, trying to see if he even still had eyes, but his fingers found thick fabric instead, covering his entire face. I don’t have time for this game.

He found the bottom of the face cover and ripped it off, looking around bewildered at the room.

Wood paneling. Ugly carpet. A chain still pooled at the end of the bed with an open cuff.

Some of the panic subsided as he realized he was in the downstairs guest room, with Petrov standing near a metal folding chair by the door, his face stoic as he watched Vincent throw back the covers on the bed.

“Why the fuck was there a bag over my head?” Vincent demanded as he stood up, rolling his neck, the muscles tight as he did.

Waking up from an ‘involuntary nap’, as the brothers often jokingly called it, was always unpleasant.

Torn muscles and cracked bones snapping themselves into place sometimes had strange results, like resulting in a bone healing a few millimeters off from where it needed to be.

The only way to fix it was to either wait it out or re-break the bones and hope for a better alignment.

“It is how you calm down bird when they get into house,” Petrov shrugged as if it were the most commonsense solution.

“Do I look like a damn bird?” Vincent asked incredulously as he removed his suit vest and tossed it on the bed.

“Last night, yes. A angry bird. Like the red one,” Petrov said, squinting as he spoke the words carefully and then nodded in approval of his own statement.

Vincent’s eyes lingered on the sheets for a moment as the smell of Adam hit him.

Normally human sweat was unpleasant, but even after days of Adam not being chained in that room, it still smelled of him, and it made his stomach knot.

Christ, what have I done? He snapped back to Petrov, marching towards the door as his mind flooded with a play by play of what he had done in that private room in Marcus’s club.

He needed to find his human and apologize.

If he hasn’t left already.

Petrov stepped in front of the door, his arms crossed over his chest as he narrowed his eyes at Vincent. “I do not let you leave until it safe,” he said sternly.

Vincent scrubbed his hand over his face, a flash of anger ticking his jaw as his beast whispered to him to snap Petrov’s neck. “What is that supposed to mean?” Vincent probed.

Petrov rolled his eyes. “You know.” The man maintained his stance in front of the door, legs wide and face defiant in a way that Vincent hadn’t seen in years.

“You lost control in the club. Marcus is pissed. I spent hour on phone with him explaining what pet told us, but he say we are all banned for one month.”

Of course Marcus would ban us for something we couldn’t control. “I don’t give a fuck,” Vincent grumbled. “Now get out of the way.”

The big man shook his head. “Explain. Then I move.”

Vincent licked his dry lips, searching for the right words.

He could probably take Petrov one on one in better circumstances, but it was as if his mind wasn’t fully connected to his body yet.

And what was the point of trying to make things sound right?

They had been around him under worse conditions.

Compared to what they did in the past, last night would have been such a nonevent he doubted they would have collectively remembered it the next day.

“The cult leader was the man you saw enter the backroom. His name is Richard LeBlanc,” Vincent said.

“Why you no say something? We could kill him then and be done with it.”

“Graves would have been pissed, and I didn’t think he would try anything.

I was wrong. He has some ability I’ve never encountered.

” Vincent shook his head. It still didn’t make sense to him.

He was conscious, somewhere in the back of his mind, watching himself act with no ability to step in and take the reins again.

“He can make you believe and do whatever he wants. Like it locks you away in your mind and you remain in a cage. I’ve never heard of anyone with this ability to compel other vampires. Not even with the old ones.”

Petrov stroked his chin, nodding as he glanced up at the ceiling. “And it worked on you?”

Another strange feeling hit him, burning his cheeks. Shame. Something he didn’t think he was still capable of. “Yes.”

“Back in old country, I heard rumor of vampires with such ability. They were abominations. You need a hunter and a witch to kill them,” Petrov said, his body relaxing as his dark eyes met Vincent’s.

Vincent let himself relax too. At least Petrov believed him. “Witches aren’t a thing, Petrov,” he said with a faint smile. “What you’re thinking of is young ladies who like pretty rocks and incense.”

Petrov waved his hand to dismiss Vincent’s words. “Agree to disagree. If you feel that your mind is okay, I let you out. Are you…un-Inception-ed?”

“I’m too impatient to explain to you why what you just said is incorrect. I am fine, okay? I don’t have the urge to do the things we used to do right now, but if you don’t move aside and let me out, I am going to paint this room with your insides,” Vincent threatened.

Petrov cracked a smile and clapped his hand on Vincent’s shoulder. “Good. You are back. Now go check on pet,” Petrov said as he moved to the side, allowing Vincent to access the door. “He is in your room with Luka.”

“He’s not a pet, his name is Adam,” Vincent mumbled.

His gut told him to run straight for his bedroom, but Vincent forced himself to take a breath at the bottom of the stairs.

What would he say? What if his human was still frightened of him?

Just the memory of the look in those brown eyes when they saw each other in his dream hurt, and the unsteady feeling he woke up with lingered over him, breathing down his neck as though it were a premonition and not some wildly firing chemicals in his mind.

“Go, he asks about you every five minutes,” Petrov said from behind him.

For some reason, that does not make me feel better.

Vincent tried flexing each of his muscles as he moved silently up the stairs, gradually releasing the tension before moving onto the next group to make the panic fade from his body.

He needed to be relaxed before he saw his human.

If he was stiff and wound up, it could frighten the man, or make him think that Vincent was still under Richard’s control.

Vincent paused as he reached his open door, listening to the rustling of small movements inside the room and the whispering, popping sound that was typical for when Luka was communicating with someone.

His stomach ached, irritated by the sensation of hunger and the flutter of insect wings.

I’m nervous? The fluttering made him want to laugh. He didn’t get nervous. Never.

Peering inside the room, a calm washed over him as he saw that his human was sitting upright on the end of the bed with Luka seated on the dresser across from him.

The bruising on that beautiful face didn’t look any worse than it had before, so at least that part of his hellish dream had been false (it didn’t look much better either, but in the grand scheme of concerns, superficial bruising and swelling was the least of Vincent’s worries).

More importantly, the man didn’t seem scared.

?Okay, no talking now.? Luka signed to Adam before leaning his body towards the door, letting Vincent know that he knew they were being observed.

?O-K.? Adam signed slowly with a nod.

?Do you want food?? Luka signed.

?No,? Adam signed. He pointed to himself, shaking his head, before forming a C shape with his hand and running it up and down his chest, probably intending to say that he wasn’t hungry.

Luka started laughing his breathless laugh, burying his face in his hands. “What?” Adam asked, sounding somewhere between shocked and amused. “Did I do it wrong?”

Oh, he’s adorable. Vincent couldn’t help himself.

He stepped into the doorway, trying to ignore the shock on the human’s face as he turned to see who was coming into the room, and demonstrated the sign that Adam had just done at Luka.

“You told him you’re not horny,” Vincent said, unable to hide the smile that seemed determined to remain on his face whenever he saw his beautiful human.

“Vincent,” Adam gasped, scrambling off the bed as a smile took over his face as well. The man held onto the footboard of the bed as he struggled to find his own balance, bouncing on his prosthetic as though he were gearing up to leap across the room. “You’re awake.”

Luka hopped down from the dresser and made his way past Vincent, pausing for a moment to mouth, “He’s okay” before disappearing down the hallway. I owe all of them an apology, Vincent thought before turning his attention back to his human.

“Is it okay if I come in?” Vincent asked, resisting the urge to sheepishly shove his hands in his pockets. The man would probably want to keep an eye on his hands, after all. Vincent needed to be careful. Anything for him to never look at me like a monster again.

Adam gave him a weak smile, his eyes already brimmed with tears. “It’s your room. Come on,” he said, gesturing towards the bed with his free hand.