Page 115

Jamie

J amie’s hands were shaking as he filled his water glass at the kitchen sink. How strange.

He really, really wished it were a beer instead, but he had a feeling he should probably keep his wits about him. He may never have come across a dead body before, but he was pretty sure they were usually a stepping stone to a whole bunch of drama.

Luc had dropped him off at home and gone to “deal with the issue.” Jamie didn’t know exactly what that entailed, but seeing as how they weren’t in the fucking Mafia, more than likely that meant just tossing it into the desert?

Luc himself hadn’t seemed very sure. Apparently he usually left his dead bodies out in the open, a flamboyant trail of carnage (he’d managed to look a little sheepish, sharing that information with Jamie).

But then, Luc didn’t usually stay in one place this long.

At least, not long enough for his corpses to haunt him.

Fuck. Corpses. Jamie had never seen one in real life before.

It—or should he be saying “she”?—had looked like it had been mauled by some sort of wild animal, all torn clothes and ripped flesh.

But Luc had been positive it’d been drained and that it had been a vampire’s doing. He’d claimed he knew the signs well.

Because duh, he had done the same thing to other…corpses.

Jamie knew he should be repulsed by the thought, but he just couldn’t find it in himself to care.

Did that make him a horrible human being?

Probably. But Luc killed bad people—despicable humans who hurt other humans for greed or pleasure.

Jamie had a hard time mustering up the proper sympathy for their plight.

Jamie’s real worry at the moment was their creepy twin friends. If they found out a body had been drained…if they came for Luc. Jamie hadn’t seen any warning vision of them attacking, but he hadn’t seen a vision of this dead fucking body either. What was the point of his visions at all?

Frustration overtook him again over his useless gift. He couldn’t control what he saw. He couldn’t control the outcomes, couldn’t protect his friends, couldn’t prevent catastrophes.

What was the fucking point ?

He drained his water and slammed the glass down, wincing as it cracked in his hand. Oops. Maybe Luc wasn’t the only one with anger issues.

He was just tossing the ruined glass into the trash when the doorbell rang.

Jamie paused, hand outstretched over the garbage.

He considered not answering, but it wasn’t like the vampire twins would be ringing his doorbell before seeking justice.

They’d certainly been comfortable enough waltzing into his house uninvited the first time.

Jamie opened the front door to find two incredibly good-looking men standing on his doorstep.

Like, damn .

The one nearest the door was handsome in an imposing way—tall, black hair, freakishly bright blue eyes.

He was also wearing a goddamn suit in the heat of an Arizona September, so that was something.

The smaller guy next to him was handsome in a softer way, almost pretty.

Big brown doe eyes and a mess of dark-brown curls.

He was smiling warmly at Jamie, and as the smile grew steadily wider, Jamie realized he was just standing there, like an idiot, staring at them with his mouth open.

He cleared his throat, trying to cover up his embarrassment. “Hey there. Um—can I help you?”

The suit said nothing, but Doe Eyes gave him a little wave. “Hello. We’re looking for someone we thought might be here. Lucien? Luc? Is he, um—is he here?”

Oh. Oh fuck. Luc would have told Jamie if he was expecting visitors, wouldn’t he? Also, Jamie was 90 percent sure his vampire didn’t actually have any friends. Could these be some weird, handsome goons sent by the vampire twins?

Maybe there was a vampire Mafia…

Jamie forced himself to lean casually against the doorjamb, willing his fingers not to start tapping and betray his nervousness. “Never heard of him, sorry.”

“Do not lie to us,” the suit growled, those bright-blue eyes flashing with ice.

Doe Eyes shot his companion a scolding look. “ Roman. ” He turned back to Jamie, smiling apologetically. “Don’t mind him. It’s just…um, we know he’s here. We’ve been tracking his phone.”

Well, that didn’t make any sense. Luc and his phone were out in the desert, disposing of pesky corpses. Unless…

Jamie dug into his pocket, taking a look at his own phone.

Well, fuck. Not his phone. He and Luc must have somehow switched when they’d gotten dressed back at the pool.

How fucking ridiculous. And incredibly inconvenient.

Now these strange— Oh, wait just a fucking minute . Doe Eyes had called the suit Roman.

Jamie recognized that name.

He took another look at the guy’s stern, handsome face. “Roman?” he asked. “ The Roman?”

Doe Eyes cocked his head. “Luc told you about him?”

Jamie was too busy processing this turn of events to answer him. The legendary Mr. Drove-Luc-to-Insanity Roman was at his doorstep. Which must make this other guy Danny, Roman’s mate.

Maybe that should scare him a bit—two vampires with a bad history with Luc, probably not so inclined to be friendly with his newfound mate—but from everything Luc had said, these two weren’t the type to take retaliation out on the innocent.

And Jamie counted as innocent, right?

Jamie stepped back from the door. “Maybe you should come in. There are some other vamps in town who don’t like visitors very much.”

Probably-Danny hesitated, his eyes searching Jamie’s face for something, but eventually he nodded hesitantly. “All right. But we’ve got one more with us.” He turned his head and called out behind him. “Jay!”

Jamie craned his head around the door until he spotted him—a little guy standing by a black compact car parked out on the street. “Human or vampire?” Jamie asked.

“Oh, he’s one of us,” Danny said. “But don’t worry. He’s a total doll.”

As the newcomer walked up, Jamie thought the phrase might have been used literally. The petite vampire—Jay, apparently—was slender, barely topping five feet five, with a button nose and Cupid’s bow lips. Pretty and delicate, like a porcelain doll come to life.

Jay smiled timidly and waved when he got to the door. “Hello, I’m Jay. Are you Luc? You’re a lot less scary than I thought you’d be.”

That had Roman rolling his eyes, while Danny gave a choked laugh.

“No, sweetie. This isn’t Luc. This is—” Danny paused, looking to Jamie, raising a dark brow in question.

“I’m Jamie. Luc’s mate.” Jamie figured it was better to get it all out in the open. No secrets between old frenemies, as the saying probably went somewhere.

Danny’s big eyes widened slightly, and Roman’s perma-glare deepened. “Oh. Oh man,” Danny breathed. “So he’s told you all of it.”

“I’ve told him all of what ,” Luc’s growly voice rang out from behind Jamie, causing Jamie to jump about a foot in the air, which was not helping his cool-guy image in front of these new vampires one bit. He held a hand to his racing heart, turning to glare at his vampire.

What the actual hell ? Had Luc snuck in through the back door?

Then a lot of things happened at once. Jamie found himself behind Luc’s back, his vampire using his own body like a furious, living shield once again.

From the sound of it, Roman had done the same to Danny, because the lovely vampire was making a lot of grumbled complaints about “high-handed, overprotective, bossy mates.”

And then the two ex-friends were getting all growly and yelling at each other.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Eyes off Danny or I’ll rip them out of your head.”

“ You brought him here, you broody fucking fusspot.”

“Because you contacted us .”

“I contacted Soren —”

“ Hey !” Oh boy. Danny could get real loud when he wanted to. “Can you two alpha males shut the hell up for two seconds so we can get inside and discuss all this like the rational huma—um, rational beings we are?”

That shut the other two hulking vampires up for a minute. Long enough for Jamie to realize Luc was doing that vibrating-with-anger thing again. That was probably something Jamie should nip in the bud sooner rather than later, unless these three newcomers wanted a real show once they got inside.

“It’s okay, monster,” Jamie soothed, running his hands along Luc’s broad back. “They’ve been real nice to me so far. I’m not in any danger. You can chill, I promise.”

Slowly—so slowly Jamie feared at first his calming technique wasn’t working—Luc’s body released its tension, the vibrating stuttering to a stop under Jamie’s hands.

He peered out from behind his vampire’s head to see that Roman and Danny were staring at them, wearing matching shocked expressions on their faces.

“You actually calmed him.” There was a strange note in Roman’s deep voice. Disbelief? Jealousy?

Luc growled softly, and Jamie started petting him again, making comforting little shushing sounds as he did so.

An awkward silence reigned after that, tension thick enough to chew on.

Then Jay’s melodic voice rang out as he gave another little wave, this time directed at Luc. “So you’re Luc. Yes, I see. You’re just as scary as I thought you’d be.”

So this was what the phrase “you could cut the tension with a knife” felt like in real life. Jamie was not a fan.

Although, it was kind of funny, these two big, bad vampires glaring across the room at each other.

Luc sat on the couch next to Jamie, tense as all hell.

He wasn’t vibrating with angry energy anymore, so that was a plus, but he wasn’t exactly relaxed either.

Roman was sprawled in the facing armchair, legs spread like in some kind of dominance display, with Danny standing at his side, a placating hand on his arm, as if to stop him from leaping up and tackling his ex-friend.