Page 51 of Missing Piece (Neon Scars #2)

A dam stepped between the rows of dried soy from the property line, looking up at the night sky and suddenly found himself feeling like a kid again.

Just being out here, in the quiet country without the lights of every car dealership in town to pollute the sky, but the moon looked beautiful, orangish with just a smattering of clouds around it.

He hadn’t approached the topic of how long he would be allowed to stay with Vincent yet, but he could see himself doing this for a long time.

Just walking outside and looking up at the sky, maybe with a cup of coffee or a hot toddy in the winter, and just listening to the gentle nothingness.

He had been through long periods of quiet before, but the imposed silence of his house, or rehab, or his parents was always somehow loud at the same time.

It grated on his nerves and made him feel like he was losing his mind.

But this was peaceful. He could get used to peaceful.

“Admiring the Hunter’s Moon?” Vincent asked from behind him.

Adam smiled to himself as he stuffed his hands in his hoodie pocket. “I thought that was the Harvest Moon,” he said, not bothering to turn around. He could hear Vincent moving closer, brushing against the dry soy.

“Nah, the Harvest Moon was last month. Every four years the Hunter’s Moon comes up in November instead of October,” Vincent said.

“Why is it called that? Vampires everywhere need to watch their backs extra this month or something?” Adam asked.

Vincent had stopped moving towards him, but he didn’t turn around to look at him yet.

What he really wanted was Vincent to hug him from behind, to wrap his strong arms around him and hold him close.

Vincent gave a soft laugh. “No, not quite. It’s called the Hunter’s Moon because it was traditionally the time when people would hunt and gather food to prepare for winter.

At least that’s what Matoskah told me once.

He’s native, so I suppose he could have just been messing with me, but I like to think he was telling the truth. ”

Adam heard him step closer, making his stomach flutter.

Touch me. Please. Touch me. “That’s one of your friends from the meeting, right?

The guy with white hair and a sheriff’s department badge?

” Adam asked. He had meant to ask about it before all the chaos ensued that night, mostly because he wanted to know how bad things would get for him when he went back into town. If he went back into town.

Though now that idea seemed so solemn and far away, it hardly mattered.

Vincent stepped up beside him, close enough that their shoulders brushed together.

Adam couldn’t help but shiver at the contact, his body responding to Vincent’s nearness like it always did.

He tried to play it cool, though, keeping his face neutral as he continued looking up at the moon.

“Yeah, Matoskah. He hates my fucking guts right now, but he’s solid.

I called in a favor with him recently, and he’s the one who let us know something was going on with the deaths out here.

” There was a long pause, like Vincent was searching for the right words, and Adam glanced back at him.

He stood a few feet away, his hands shoved deep in his pockets.

The orange light from the moon gave his face an otherworldly appearance.

“Do you think that guy, Richard, is going to hurt more people?” Adam asked quietly.

He didn’t want to bring it up yet, but his foot was ever determined to go directly into his mouth.

It wasn’t that the mention of the other vampire’s name bothered him (it did, a little bit), but it was more like saying his name meant shifting the mood.

In the days since they came back to the farm, Vincent had been so quiet and careful, measuring his words before he spoke them to Adam.

It made Adam miss that snarkier side of Vincent, the side that poked and prodded the boundaries of what was acceptable to say aloud.

“I don’t know, but probably, yes. Richard is unpredictable, and it’s like he has something to prove.

There are few things more dangerous in this world than a vampire with something to prove.

” He paused, his voice lowering. “I’ll take care of it.

I already have a few friends tracking him down. I won’t let him hurt you again.”

Adam nodded as a weight settled on his chest. He didn’t want to think about Richard or any of the other vampires out there, preying on innocent humans. He just wanted to be here, with Vincent, safe and protected from the madness of the world. “Why is he so determined to hurt you?”

Vincent’s expression shifted, but it wasn’t the usual anger or agitation that crossed his features when that happened. He looked ashamed. “Let’s go sit down for this conversation,” he said, holding his hand out.

“I can limp like a champ without the crutch now.” He rolled his eyes at the offer, but he definitely wanted to take Vincent’s hand.

His hand started to move away from his hoodie pocket before he realized what he was doing and stuffed it back inside.

He wanted to show that getting better. Being a liability will make him eventually not want you around.

No one wants someone around they have to take care of twenty-four-seven.

Vincent wrapped an arm over his shoulders as he made his way back into the grass. “What if I just wanted to hold your hand?” he asked, his tone equal parts teasing and reluctant.

Adam smiled at Vincent’s words as warmth spread through his chest. He leaned into Vincent’s side, relishing the feel of his arm around him. “You’re getting soft.”

“So I’ve been told,” Vincent said with a huff.

They reached the porch and Vincent gestured for him to sit down on the top step while he took a seat beside him.

Adam glanced back at the bench they sat on their first time outside the house.

When he desperately tried to convince himself that he was just in survival mode and not some horny mess of confusion.

It all seemed so clear now. He had been attracted to the vampire beside him since the first moment they met, like a moth fatally drawn to a flame.

And yet, for some reason, it didn’t feel near as destructive as his past urges and callings.

Being around Vincent wasn’t helping him bury things—no, it was the opposite.

It was cutting him open and exposing everything that he had tried to hide from himself for years.

It was as if the constant poking and prodding, while initially unpleasant, was making him feel.

Really feel. In a way that sucked and was liberating at the same time.

Vincent’s hand found Adam’s, their fingers intertwining.

It was ridiculous how much he craved this simple touch from Vincent, but he couldn’t help it.

He squeezed Vincent’s hand and leaned against him as they both stared out at the silhouette of the tree in the field.

“I told you the other night that I was once a trial,” Vincent began softly.

“He always reminded me what a pain in the ass I was for never breaking, so he brought someone else in after eight months of me spitting in his face.”

Adam just nodded a little, squeezing Vincent’s hand. He didn’t want to think about the things human-Vincent had gone through at the hands of a 300-year-old former Puritan turned vampire.

“We were somewhere in the South, Louisiana, I think, when he found some very drunk professor getting kicked out of a speakeasy. Do you know how drunk you had to be in the ‘20s to get kicked out of a bar? By the time he was done with his fits and seizing, he was in a cage next to me, confused and scared. He prayed a lot,” Vincent said. “I didn’t talk to him much. I just told him not to give in to whatever Solomon offered him, but all it took was three days of torture and a pint of bathtub whiskey to make him agree to whatever the old bastard wanted.”

It was as if he was reliving the memories again, digging them up from wherever he had hidden them. “But you didn’t,” Adam interjected, hoping to provide some comfort. “You didn’t break.”

“No, but that just made me more interesting to Solomon. And that sad, broken professor wasn’t good enough to be his creation…” Vincent paused, glancing at Adam as shame fl ashed across his face again. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be dumping this baggage into your lap.”

Adam shook his head, squeezing Vincent’s hand again. “I want to know what happened.”

Vincent let out another sigh and looked away. “I think he planned to kill us both.”

Adam listened intently as Vincent recounted the past. Apparently terrible parental figures came in many forms: male, female, and undead. “Did it hurt?” he asked, finally mustering the courage to say something.

Vincent shrugged. “That part I don’t really remember.

It’s probably some defense mechanism after the change.

I just remember being unbearably hungry with an angry beast in my head when I woke up.

And Solomon had locked me in the cage with the professor, and he just waited to see what I would do.

” He stayed silent for a long time, so still, he resembled a statue in the orange moonlight.

“It felt like I was fighting the beast and hunger for days, but it was probably just a few hours. I snapped. And that sad, sobbing broken man—Richard—became my first meal.”