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CHAPTER EIGHT

CHANEL

A s we stepped out of the police station, the chill of the night air enveloped me like a shroud. I pulled my coat tighter around myself, feeling the weight of the day’s events pressing down on me. Lonzo was dead, and I had just endured an incredibly tense interrogation with the detectives. My mind raced with questions, fears, and a desperate need to talk to Morgan. I didn’t know what I wanted to say to her, but I had to come clean about some things going on in my life.

“Zand,” I said as we climbed into his black 1967 Chevy Impala. “I need to go see Morgan. I just, I need to talk to her.”

“Of course,” Zand replied, his amber eyes filled with concern. He started the car, and the rumble of the engine seemed to echo how I was feeling.“Is she at your apartment?”

“Yeah, she’s still there. She’s working remote but I think she should be done for the day. It’s late. I think she’s off the clock.”

Zand looked at the dashboard clock. “It’s a little after seven.”

I leaned back in the seat, trying to steady my racing heart. The car pulled away from the curb, leaving the police station behind in the distance.

Zand’s presence was comforting. He offered me a sense of safety that I desperately needed right now.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Zand asked gently, glancing over at me.

“I’m okay, but I think talking to Morgan will make me feel better.” I admitted, twirling a strand of my hair nervously.

“I understand.”

“She’s always been there for me, even when things were terrible.”

“Friendship is a powerful thing,” Zand observed, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly as we navigated the streets of Chicago.

“What about the bond you share when you make someone a vampire?” I asked, still curious about how this vampire stuff worked.

“It’s similar. It just depends on the person.”

“I’m shocked you made Donté a vampire. Why him?”

“When I went to the hospital to see you, my emotions were high. I let my feelings take over. I knew he hadn’t been dead for long. I just wanted to save his life.”

“But he can’t go back to his old life. He can’t see his family.”

“Yes, but he has a new family now. I wanted to give him a second chance at life.”

My thoughts drifted to the triple murder I witnessed and the sound of Lonzo’s gun firing. This had to be what PTSD felt like. Even with Lonzo dead, I couldn’t shake that initial feeling of panic.

“Coming to Chicago was a second chance for me.” I explained. “I just wanted to get my life back. Now that he’s gone, I’m hoping things can go back to normal, whatever that means now.”

“Normal is relative.” Zand replied. “The only thing that matters is that he’s dead. Things will go back to normal in due time.”

As we approached the apartment complex, I took a deep breath. Gathering my courage, I tried to steady my breathing.

“Thank you for bringing me here.” I whispered as we pulled into the parking lot. “For everything, really.”

“I would do anything for you.”

I believed him. He killed someone for me. That was next level.

As we went into the vacant parking spot, I couldn’t help but feel a wave of nostalgia wash over me. This was the place where I met Zand. This was the place we exchanged our secret notes. To me, Zand would always be my dear Mr. Vampire.

“Let’s go to my place first. I want to pick up a few things and then I’ll walk you upstairs.” Zand offered.

“Okay.”

We both stepped out of the car and made our way across the parking lot, walking hand in hand.Zand opened the door for me, and we took the elevator down.

We entered his basement apartment. He went right into the kitchen and removed two small bottles of wine. After a millisecond of thought, I believed they were bottles of blood. I didn’t want to ask.It seemed rude.

Zand lifted one of the bottles and looked at it closely. “Huh, I thought this was full. I don’t remember drinking from it. I’m going to get my leather jacket from the bedroom. Wait, do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

Whispering, he said, “I think someone’s here. Fuck! I forgot about him. Natasha must have given him a key.”

“Who?” I whispered back.

Zand shook his head as he crept toward the bedroom. “My brother.”

“Your vampire brother?” I asked.

“Yes, Harlen. He must have a human here. I warned him. I hear human breathing.”

Even while holding my breath, I didn’t hear anything, but I followed a few steps behind him.Zand’s temper was turning up.

As we turned the corner to the doorway of the bedroom. My eyes widened at the sight before us. Harlen, his brother, was sprawled across his bed, tangled up in the black silk sheets with my best friend Morgan nestled against his chest.

The floor held a messy mix of clothing sprawled about, making it clear what had transpired between them. My mouth hung open, and I had to think to close it.

“Damn it, Harlen!” Zand yelled out, a bit too loud for my human ears.

I stood there, too confused to do anything until I could find my voice.It came quicker than I thought it would.

“Zand?” My voice drifted from the doorway.

Zand’s bark rattled the unlikely pair. A disheveled Morgan and a groggy Harlen were sitting up in bed, staring at us.

“Harlen,” Zand called out sharply, his voice just loud enough to wake the dead. “What the fuck? What’s going on?”

“You told me I could stay here.” Harlen mumbled groggily.

“Coco.” Morgan spoke up. “I know this looks bad, but I can explain.”

Morgan really didn’t know what she was getting herself into when it came to Harlen. I didn’t even know him. Was he safe? I just knew he was a vampire.Was he the kind of vamp that killed people? I really didn’t know. I knew his character was questionable.

“Look,” Harlen said. “We’re all adults.”

“You’re an adult. You’re a fucking moron.” Zand didn’t have any problem expressing himself.

“What did you do to her?” I asked, piggy backing off of Zand’s attack.

Harlen looked puzzled, but ignored me. “Calm down, brother. I had consen?—”

“Bullshit!” I don’t know why I said that. Morgan wasn’t crying and screaming.

“Chanel, please, let me handle this,” Zand interrupted Harlen’s response to me before he could get a word out. Zand motioned toward the door. “Take Morgan upstairs. I need to talk to Harlen.”

“Come on, Morgan,” I said as I started picking my friends’ belongings off the floor and out of the chair. I slung her purse over my shoulder and didn’t watch as she wrapped herself in the heavy duvet.

After a second or two, I glared at her and told her to hurry her ass up with my eyes. I roughly guided my friend away from the tense situation.I couldn’t let her see two vampires fighting. What did that even look like? I wanted to get her as far away from the brothers as possible.

As soon as we were outside the apartment and in the hallway of the complex, I rolled my eyes at my friend. I prayed no one would run into us. It would be my luck if Miss Hampton in apartment 1B was going for a walk and bumped into us.I couldn’t explain this walk of shame if my life depended on it.

I climbed the steps, with Morgan trailing behind me. We made it to my apartment door without incident. Fishing my keys out of my purse, I fumbled with them for a second before unlocking the door. I sighed when I was able to get us both inside the apartment without any of the tenants seeing or hearing anything scandalous.

“Morgan, what are you doing with him? Yuck!”

“Ah fucking.” She spoke to me like I was slow.

I squinted my eyes at her. “Seriously? Why? What are you doing?”

“Coco, I know it looks bad.”Morgan walked into my bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed.

I followed her into the bedroom. “It looks like you fucked some random stranger.”

“Well, yes, that is technically what happened, but?—”

“But what?”

“I was just lonely. So, it’s whatever. It’s just dick.” She shrugged.

“You could’ve just stayed at the loft with me and Zand.”

“Third wheel? I’m not that kind of lonely.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I’m not going to be hanging with you and your man twenty-four seven.”

“What are you even talking about?”

“It’s not an excuse, but I miss Craig, and Harlen was coming on to me. I just wanted to forget everything bad for just a little while. I’m tired of being sad and depressed.”

“You’re depressed?” This was news to me.

She shrugged. “I know it’s too soon to be laid up with some man, but I’m tired of crying. I’m tired of being down bad.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling like this?”

“Because you have your own problems. Lonzo isn’t in jail, and he could be anywhere. Criminals know how to get out of ankle monitors.” That was a good guess and exactly what happened. “They can do anything if they put their criminal minds to it. Craig’s car accident didn’t seem like a car accident. I just don’t know. What if Lonzo comes after you? What if I was the one that led him here to Chicago?”

“Wait. Lonzo is not your fault. He’s not coming after me.”

“How do you know that?” Morgan was really concerned.

“I know. I went to talk to the detectives today.”

“You went back to Minnesota?”

“No, they came here.”

“Why?”

“Because Lonzo had got out of his ankle monitor and disappeared. They have footage of him at a tollbooth in Wisconsin and another tollbooth close to the Illinois border. They came here to warn me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this?”

“I just found out today when I talked to the detectives.”

“I knew he wouldn’t stay put when he bonded out. He’s not going back to prison.” She added.

“They came to Chicago to tell me to be careful because he’s out here somewhere?”

“Did they give you protection?”

“I asked them not to.”

“Why?”

“I don’t need it.”

“Bullshit. You got a whole psycho coming after you.”

“He’s not coming after me.” I tried to sound convincing.

“You don’t know that.” She pressed.

“Yes.” I stared into her sad gray eyes. “Morgan, I know he’s not coming after me or anyone.”

“Why?” She asked.

“Because I know he’s not coming!” My voice raised an octave.

“How do you know?” Morgan quietly examined me. “He’s dead.” She said it and she didn’t ask it. I couldn’t say the words out loud. I just shrugged. “Fuck! And you wasn’t going to tell me anything.”

“There’s nothing to tell. I don’t have to worry about him, and you don’t either.”

“It’s over.” Morgan breathed in a sigh of relief.

“You shouldn’t be with Harlen.” I quickly changed the subject.

“Why not? It’s just sex.”

“I just met him myself and Zand doesn’t have good things to say about him.”

“Well, it’s his brother, so I wouldn’t expect that.”

“No, for real. Harlen is dangerous.”

“What does that mean?” Morgan frowned and wiped her eyes.

“I can’t explain it.”

“Does he have a criminal record or something?”

“I don’t know.”

“So, what are you talking about? Like, give me some real information chick, cause you sound crazy.”

“I don’t know him. I’m just going off what Zand told me.”

“Okay, but what did Zand tell you?”

This was hard to put into words. I had to be delicate. Shouting Harlen is a vampire wasn’t an option. “I don’t know much about Harlen, but I know there were some issues Zand had with him over a woman.”

“Girl, what the fuck does that have to do with me?”

“Nothing. I guess I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’m grown.” She countered.

“I can’t tell you what to do. I just want to warn you.”

“Warn me about what? You haven’t told me anything.”

“Well, girl, I know that. I just want you to be careful.”

“I will. I had sex with the guy one time. We’re not getting married.”

“Okay, just be careful.” I cautioned.

“I will. I need to take a shower. I smell like Ba-dah-ussy.”

I hadn’t heard that word in ages. But I had to agree. She did smell like balls, dick, and pussy. “Please, shower.”

From what I could see, there weren’t any bite marks on my friend. I hoped Zand checked his brother because I know how to kill a vampire.