Page 39 of The Vampire Kingpin

She blinked rapidly. “Sorry, sir. I won’t do it again. I was on my way back, anyway.”

“Walk with me,” I invited.

She gulped, but fell in with me. I slowed my pace to accommodate her. A human couldn’t navigate the uneven terrain of cracked concrete and bent tracks at my speed.

“So how are things?” I asked.

A wary look. “What d’you mean?”

“You’ve been with us what—six months, now? You’re settling in?”

“Yeah, absolutely. Everyone’s been good to me. And everything’s going great. Just great.”

“Okay.” I slanted her a look, wondering why her enthusiasm seemed forced. “You’d tell me if there was a problem, right? Or Velma.”

“I would, yeah.” She nodded several times.

We reached the lair door. I entered the combination and waved a hand for her to enter before me.

DeeDee hesitated, biting her lip.

“What?” I asked.

“I just wanna say thanks—for everything. I feel like I should be paying you something. I’ve got some money saved from my bartending gig and?—”

“Keep it,” I interrupted. “And you do contribute. You cook and clean, and we can always use an extra human to feed from. So as far as I’m concerned, we’re good.”

“Right. Sure.” Ducking her head, she hurried into the Cavern, veering off toward the passage that led to her bedroom.

I watched her go, my brows knitted together, then shrugged. I wasn’t a goddamn counselor.

I caught sight of Lark, laughing on the couch with Zayne, and forgot all about DeeDee. I strode toward her, pulled by an invisible magnet, barely noticing the people between us until Bliss stopped me with a question. I bit back a sigh and heard her out because, with both of her parents gone, the blue-haired teenager had glommed on to me as a father figure. But after I dealt with her, I went straight to Lark.

10

Lark

Spider stalked into the lair, his lean, athletic form in a black T-shirt and Army-green tactical pants, and zeroed in on me.

I straightened and ran a hand down my hair, forgetting what I’d been about to say to Zayne, who was lounging on the couch beside me.

Zayne followed my gaze. “He always knows exactly where you are, doesn’t he?”

“You think?”

“You haven’t noticed?”

I shrugged, my gaze glued to his as he headed in my direction, jaw set, oblivious to the people edging out of his way. Until Bliss stopped him. Then he set down the duffel bag in his hand so he could put an arm around her, giving her his entire focus until she was done. He squeezed her shoulders and slipped her some cash, and I felt a little piece of my heart break off and fall at his feet.

The hard-ass kingpin had a soft spot for Bliss, the weakest member of his crew other than DeeDee. I respected the hell out of him for that.

But damn, he was making it hard for me to keep my distance.

Bliss gave him a shy hug back, then took off, and Spider continued to me. He had that set look about him again, like he was pissed off about something.

“This is for you.” He dropped the duffel bag at my feet like a big cat showing off its prey.

I blinked up at him, feeling kinda raw. “For me?”