Page 6 of Missing Piece (Neon Scars #2)

O ne of the things Vincent learned early on after living with Luka and Matteo Jovanovska was, that despite them both being mostly silent, they were incredibly noisy roommates.

He would have thought Luka would be more mindful of cabinet doors seeing as he could still hear, but it seemed like he did nearly everything the same as his deaf twin brother.

He should have gotten used to it after the first decade they lived together, but even after all these years, it still irritated his sensitive eardrums.

He winced as another cabinet door slammed shut in the kitchen.

Perhaps if I cover everything in pool noodles they’ll get the picture.

He wandered into the den, eyeing the old fireplace that was ablaze for the first time in years.

The wood stove beside it was also lit, a pile of freshly chopped wood right beside it. “Who got the wood?” he called to Luka.

He dumped Adam’s clothing and shoes on the coffee table that sat in the middle of the room, raising a layer of dust from its surface.

It had been a while since any of them did more than pass through the den on the way to the kitchen and the room desperately needed upkeep.

They had a house cleaner for a little while, but after Matteo had one of his episodes, she refused to set foot back in the house .

Vincent pulled up the crumpled t-shirt Adam had been wearing. It was still damp from how long Vincent left him on the ground while he debated with himself on whether he should bring the human back to his farmhouse. It had been years since he did this. He nearly talked himself out of it, too.

It was too soon.

But that boldness, the cocky attitude that so efficiently veiled Adam’s fear, it was fascinating.

He’d be lying to himself if he said it didn’t make his heart beat just a little bit harder.

And he smelled divine, even under the stench of alcohol and cigarettes that stuck to his skin. It reminded him of peaches.

He licked his lower lip, wishing he had even a smear of the human’s blood left there.

He moved over to the fireplace and hung Adam’s t-shirt over a hook that looked like it was left over from the previous owner’s Christmas decorations. It only seemed right to dry the young man’s clothes.

Vincent turned around as Luka and Matteo walked into the den together with brows raised at him.

Matteo cocked his head at the pile of Adam’s belongings on the coffee table as he set down two rocks glasses, both filled with rakija and a layer of blood at the bottom of the glass.

Vincent crinkled his nose at the smell of the rakija.

If he wanted fermented plums, he’d just have wine, but he didn’t make a habit of turning down the brothers when they offered him some of their country’s alcohol.

?I cut the wood,? Matteo signed. ?Humans get cold in this weather.

? He ran his hand over his clean-shaven face as he looked down at the clothing, looking like he wanted to rifle through the items. Matteo and Luka were mirror images of each other, even down to the eyelid with the extra fold on one side, but Matteo kept his face shaved at all times, and his reddish-brown hair in a neat undercut and a bit longer in the front, but nothing like Luka’s mess of hair that was almost long enough to put in a ponytail.

?I would have gotten to it,? Vincent said as he grabbed Adam’s jeans off the coffee table and shook them upside-down.

A wallet, set of keys, phone, and a large coin clanked onto the table.

The pants were damp too. He took them back over to the fireplace, glancing back to see if either brother was signing.

?Probably in two days after the kid almost froze to death.? Luka laughed. The sound was hoarse and breathy when he laughed, as if the wind had a sense of humor. It was oddly endearing.

Matteo held the large coin up as Vincent joined them, falling back against the L-shaped sectional before reaching out for the glass of rakija. ?3-0 D-A-Y-S,? Matteo fingerspelled. ?What is this thing??

Vincent gave him an incredulous look. ?You run a kitchen and you’ve never seen a S-O-B-R-I-E-T-Y chip??

Matteo held his hand up vertically, his palm facing to the side with his thumb tucked in before he motioned out in a line. “Sober,” he mouthed. ?So he’s a drunk? I smelled liquor when I came in. Is he not sober??

Luka shook his head. ?No, apparently his problem was pills. Painkillers.?

Matteo frowned. ?Did you two fuck that up with the shot?? His emerald eyes glanced back down at the coin in his hands, concern written across his face.

Vincent smiled. Matteo was such a kind soul, despite his propensity to push himself into volatile and violent outbursts that had often required more than a handful of his friends to stop. It was one of the reasons he liked keeping the brothers close after all these years.

That and the fact that when Luka, Matteo, and their towering brother Petrov needed to get something done, they were unstoppable.

?The shot isn’t a painkiller. He should be fine,? Vincent said before he took a sip of the overly sweet liquor.

?He is very quiet. Why no screaming?? Luka asked.

Matteo nodded at his twin. ?I was wondering why the air was so still. No screaming??

Vincent shook his head. ?No. New approach this time,? he said. He took another sip of the rakija, hoping to hide the uncertainty on his face behind the glass.

He must have done a poor job of it, because Matteo and Luka were looking at each other silently, seemingly communicating with only their eyes.

He hated it when they did that like he wasn’t in the room.

When he first met them, that was the only way they communicated, occasionally taking the time to write a note to their older brother so he would know what was going on.

Vincent hoped that learning American Sign Language would help with the creepy psychic twin vibe they exuded, but it hadn’t gotten better in the slightest.

Matteo’s eyes widened dramatically when he looked back at Vincent. ?Different? How so??

“Not like that,” Vincent said aloud. He set his drink down so he could sign the words at Matteo. ?I wasn’t even planning on bringing him here. It just happened.?

Luka rolled his eyes. ?He was eye-fucking the guy even before he sat down at the club.?

“I was not,” Vincent said as he signed. “He just had this look on his face like he was absolutely miserable before he even walked in. Have you ever seen a man look that grumpy coming into a club full of topless women?”

?Maybe he doesn’t like women?? Luka asked, raising an eyebrow at Vincent.

?Depending on how you want this to go, that could be interesting.? Matteo nodded at his brother before looking back at Vincent. ?How long has it been for you??

We’re not having this conversation today. Vincent poured the remains of his drink down his throat, suppressing a small shudder as the bittersweet liquid assaulted his senses. ?How long has it been for you?? he asked Matteo, pointing sharply at him for emphasis.

Luka let out another breathy laugh. ?He’s got you there.?

Matteo shoved Luka with half a grin. ?You have no room to talk,? he said. They stared at each other again, the only sound in the room occupied by the crackling in the fireplace and the wood stove.

Vincent stared at the waning fire, allowing his eyes to unfocus as the twins continued their silent conversation with each other.

If this situation fell in his lap ten years ago, then Matteo would be correct in his assumption that it could be interesting, but things were different now.

He was different. He couldn’t even convince himself that he was going to go through with trialing the human.

From the moment he put Adam in his car, he was just going through the motions.

If it wasn’t for his beast egging him on, he probably would have just left the human there on the pavement next to a puddle of his own vomit.

But even that had been different. He was used to it having a one-track mind that revolved around feeding— whether that be on blood or fear or some mix of the two, and generally he agreed with it.

But the damn thing must have been poking around his subconscious, because it wanted something more, and he vowed to himself he wouldn’t even entertain the idea of that.

But you’re already thinking about it. How soft his skin is.

How good he tastes. What kind of fun fights he might put up with that body and mouth.

Vincent squeezed the empty rocks glass in his hand, paying no mind as it cracked beneath his fingers and the shards dug into his flesh.

He set the glass down, or at least what remained of it, shaking the shards out of his hand as the wound began to close.

“We have other issues that need attention, more than my house guest,” Vincent said, signing the translation absentmindedly while he continued to stare at the dying fire. ?Notepad??

Matteo eyed the broken glass as he fished for the small notepad and pen he used to communicate at his restaurant from his back pocket. He slid it across the coffee table. ?Those were imported.?

Vincent rolled his eyes as he wrote the name Beth gave him before sliding it back towards Matteo. ?I’ll buy you new ones.?

He watched Matteo mouth the foreign words, his brow furrowed and his lips pursed. ?‘The Order of the New Sun’? What the fuck is that? Hunters??

Luka shook his head. ?They’re like us. A cult maybe.

They sent a spy,? he said. He grabbed his glass of bloody alcohol and threw it back.

A faint smile on his face formed as he shook out the shock of the sweet liquor like a wet dog.

?Vin broke her neck, so she’s out in a field near the old Mitchell farm. ?

?Why not kill her?? Matteo glanced between them.

?It didn’t seem fair. She was starving. I have no idea why they sent her. She seemed too new for espionage.? Vincent looked down as both sets of emerald eyes settled on him.

?He’s growing compassionate,? Luka said with a grin.

?Go fuck yourself.? Vincent buried his face in his hands as they both laughed.

They were right though. He was becoming softer.

Maybe it was his age. Fifty years ago, he would have had a field day with a new human to play with in his home.

He had spent hours, sometimes days, extracting every bit of blood and fear he could out of some silly human who got too close to him, like a game of cat and mouse where he could taste their terror in the air.

Now that just sounded exhausting.

So why the fuck did I bring the human here? I should have just had Luka leave him in the field with Beth as a reward snack if she gets back up. What am I doing?

He picked up Adam’s vomit-smeared shoe with the prosthetic still sticking out, running his hand over the top of the socket.

It looked like it had been well cared for, unlike the tattered sneaker the device sat in.

Adam said he didn’t have any money, but this device did not look like something someone without money would own.

He could ask his niece to investigate who he actually had in his guest room.

She would probably roll her eyes and complain, but ultimately, she would help him out.

?He’s missing a limb and you took it?? Matteo asked, wobbling his head back and forth as though he were evaluating his own opinion on that matter. ?Interesting. If you’re going to trial him, that would be a good bargaining chip.?

Vincent had thought about that when he was stripping Adam, but for some reason, he hesitated to remove it.

At first, it seemed unkind. But then he remembered he never cared about these things in the past. Luka was right.

He was developing a conscience. He spent too much time getting close to humans and caring about what they thought.

?I’m going to bed,? Vincent said, grabbing Adam’s other shoe off the coffee table. ?I need one of you to take him to the bathroom when he wakes up and feed him.?

He turned his back to them before either could protest, still looking down at the prosthetic.

Maybe having the human here would be good for all of them.

The four of them were becoming too comfortable and complacent and out of touch with what they once were.

A fighter like Adam could reignite a desire for something exciting. Something bloody.

But something about that idea gnawed at him as he reached the stairs. A selfish, burning in his gut he hadn’t felt in years.

He didn’t want to share the human with his friends like a plate of appetizers.

He wanted to keep Adam all to himself.