Page 122

Lucien

L uc wasn’t sure why, in the splitting of the groups, he’d been stuck with the identical, obnoxious assholes.

He was sure it had something to do with their lack of trust in him.

Keep your enemies closer and all that. Or maybe they sensed the tension and didn’t quite trust him and Roman not to come to blows when left together.

Either way, he was now studying a surprisingly decrepit little house in the neighborhood where he’d first had to abort his hunt for the elderly human murderer.

He wrinkled his nose at the peeled ocher paint, the porch swing with its ratty, dusty cushion.

The twins hadn’t invited him in, so he had no idea—perhaps the inside was shockingly modern and pristine. Luc somehow doubted it.

Fox and Dane were sitting together on the porch swing, sprawled in identical positions on either side, like burly ginger bookends. “Sure did. We’re lucky none of our neighbors saw it.”

“When they were coming over to borrow a cup of sugar, perhaps?”

“It’s been known to happen,” Dane said. “The little old lady across the street loves us.”

Fox sneered. “Pretty sure she has a twin fetish.” He yelped as his brother gave him a swat across the chest.

Luc decided to ignore both that little disturbing tidbit as well as the roughhousing.

“Are you sure this isn’t a vengeance issue?

” he asked, crouching down to sniff at the bloodstain.

It had a strange tinge to it, a rotting element that didn’t sit well with Luc’s monster.

“Another vampire trying to cause trouble for you, perhaps run you out of town?” Luc didn’t share the fact that he was very familiar with that tactic, seeing as how it was the way in which he’d played with Roman for decades: drain his victims, leave them in Roman’s path, force him to abandon whatever temporary home he’d set up.

Luc smirked a little at the thought of it. He knew he should feel bad about it, but it had been an awfully fun way to pass the time.

Ah well. Now he had Jamie and didn’t need to play silly little games, not even if they made Roman so delectably furious.

Except he was being forced into this current game of cat and mouse, of course.

It would have been just fantastic if the twins were willing to pull up their big boy pants and hunt this rogue vampire on their own, but they seemed determined to have Luc’s unwilling help.

He could tell them to fuck off for eternity and try to fight his way out of it, but that had its own risks.

A truce seemed a necessary evil to bring them all a little peace.

And for the first time in a very, very long time, Luc wanted that peace. He wanted time and space to focus on his mate, to bring him into the vampire fold in a way that wouldn’t be horribly traumatic for his bright, playful human.

Unconditional love doesn’t exist.

Luc mulled Jamie’s words over while he circled the house, trying to suss out any scents that didn’t belong.

He wasn’t so sure of the truth of it. Perhaps Jamie had his limits where love was concerned—as he should, being a human with connections and love and other things worth keeping in his life—but there was nothing in this world Jamie could do to stop Luc’s own adoration for his human.

Jamie could leave, yes. He could abandon Luc like Roman once had.

And that would hurt like a blade to the chest, no doubt.

But Luc knew his monster wouldn’t turn on Jamie, even for that.

Luc and his monster would only follow eagerly behind him, like some tragic, lost two-headed puppy.

They would find Jamie, wherever he tried to hide, and they would still love him. Beyond reason. Beyond hope.

Until the day they left this world for good.

But Jamie had promised not to leave. Even if Jamie’s love turned to hatred, even if Luc ruined it all with his anger and his viciousness, Jamie had promised to stay. He would torment Luc with his hatred. Perhaps even kill him.

How wonderful. How delicious.

How twisted was Luc’s soul that the thought of it was like a balm?

Jamie would never, ever leave.

Luc returned to the front of the house, no closer to any answers on the feral vampire front, and tried to pull himself out of his obsessive thoughts and focus. “I simply don’t see the point in dropping a body at your door if it isn’t personal.”

Dane swung his legs to start the porch swing rocking, drawing a scowl from his brother.

“It’s a feral vamp thing. If they smell another vampire in what they’ve decided is their territory, they’ll try to push them out with these little…

gifts. It’s like a dominance display. Very animal kingdom, if you think about it. ”

Luc hummed in thought. “What about the body in the pool house? Who was that for? I hadn’t been there before that night. Had you?”

Dane and Fox shrugged in unison. “Maybe he hadn’t scented us yet. Maybe that was just his sorry attempt to hide his kill,” Dane supplied.

“Enough questions,” Fox scolded. “Just fucking focus. We need a fresh nose on the place, and we don’t want to have to spend any more time with you than necessary.”

Luc’s fists clenched, but he bit back the growl that threatened to come out. He agreed with the basic sentiment. He’d rather get this over with than pick a fight. He closed his eyes and focused again on the scents around him.

There was Jamie’s cinnamon essence clinging to his clothes, leftover from when they’d last embraced. The twins, with their oddly similar but subtly different earthy scents.

And….there. Again. A scent that was off .

Rancid, in a way. Luc crouched over the bloodstain again, starting from the center and moving outward, along the edges.

There were the usual metallic notes, layered over with an unpleasant tinge, one that didn’t seem localized to the darkened wood.

Luc realized that the bloodstain itself wasn’t the source. It was a scent left on the blood.

Interesting. Luc hadn’t known you could smell the feral on someone.

“Does my scent have that—?” He’d asked the question before he could think better of it.

He prepared himself for some berating comment, but Dane only gave him a small, sympathetic smile, the first time he’d seen either of the twins look remotely sincere.

“No. You don’t have the feral rot. At least not yet. ”

“That’s part of why we haven’t offed you,” Fox chimed in. “Against our better judgment, I might add.”

Luc allowed the faintest hint of relief to course through him. He knew he had some control over himself (however slight that control may have become over the decades), but he also didn’t want Jamie to turn for him only to find out Luc had an aura of decay they couldn’t shake.

They followed the scent down the road, now that the three of them had locked onto it.

They were lucky the feral vampire hadn’t driven, Luc supposed.

But then again, it was highly possible their quarry had forgotten how, if their monster was running the show completely.

Feral vampires didn’t have the greatest luck with technology, depending on when they’d been turned and how ingrained it was in their nature.

As they approached the edge of town, Luc started to feel…

itchy. Unsettled under his skin, with his monster twisting restlessly inside him.

This whole hunt—the rotting scent, the knowledge he’d be putting one of his own down at the end of it—was a reminder of how lucky he was to have found Jamie when he had.

Luc had been so close to reaching this state himself.

He had felt the pull for what felt like endless years—the monster’s seduction, its plea to take over completely.

Its promise that Luc didn’t have to think anymore if he didn’t want to, that he didn’t even have to feel .

All he had to do was let go. He could just slide right into it, give in to his baser urges, leave his humanity behind.

And then Jamie had appeared, full of brightness and light, with that beautiful fucking smile that had made Luc feel warm and whole for the first time in his entire existence.

And the monster had just…fallen into line.

Like time had run backward and he and it were able to go back to how it had been before, the monster a part of Luc but not consuming him.

Would it improve even more after Jamie turned? Jamie had seen Luc’s human face the other night. He’d asked, and he’d received, if only for a moment.

I’d like to see Lucien’s eyes, monster. Will you let me?

How could it be that that was all it took? Jamie wanted, and the monster gave.

It was as baffling to Luc as the easy forgiveness Danny offered, the kind Luc knew came only once in a lifetime, even a lifetime as long as his own. What would it be like to be so forgiving? Luc couldn’t even begin to imagine.

He had a moment of sympathy for Roman, even as a smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. Such a pissy, moody bastard—it must drive him crazy that Danny wouldn’t let him take it out on the world around him.

As they left the outskirts of town, venturing into the desert, the strange, putrid scent began to grow stronger. Fresher.

Away from prying human eyes, they would be able to move much more quickly, traverse miles in mere minutes. They might even overtake the feral vampire soon.

They stopped to strategize at Dane’s insistence.

Luc wasn’t sure how much finesse really went into it, but perhaps they knew better.

“How many times have you two done this?” he asked, eyeing the two of them critically. The twins looked strong enough, but that didn’t always mean much in the vampire world. Age added strength even as it took away control.

Dane raised a brow. “Taken out a feral vamp? Twice before.”

“And you’ve only been here two decades? That seems a high number for such a relatively short amount of time.”

The twins shared an unreadable glance. Dane cleared his throat. “We’re pretty sure some places attract our kind more than others. Not exactly sure why though.”

That wasn’t a theory Luc had ever heard before. “Seems counterintuitive to our very nature. Most vampires I’ve met don’t like sharing territory, your charming selves included.”

Dane rubbed his chin with one hand, considering. “Well, sure, unbonded vamps don’t.”

At Luc’s expression, Fox let out an exasperated groan, one that made it clear exactly how much of an idiot he believed Luc to be. “Are you fucking kidding me? Were you and your friends raised by goddamn wolves ?”

Luc ignored him and looked to Dane, who gave a sigh, then launched into his explanation.

“Bonded vamps are inherently more stable. They tend to get along with one another. A lot of them even form dens. Like, whole communities of bonded vampires living together. Although, den size tends to be limited by the size of the city they’re in—only so much food to go around without raising suspicion.

There’re even examples of single, unbonded vamps joining dens like that, to help stabilize them while they search for their own tethered souls. ”

This was all fucking news to Luc.

Were he and Roman that cut off from their own world? Or were these twins just particularly knowledgeable about vampire society? “Why aren’t you two in a community like that, if you know so much about it?”

“We were. But—” Dane looked to his twin, at a momentary loss for words.

“It can be tough, seeing everyone so lovey-dovey.” Fox’s voice was softer than usual, but he hardened it in the next second. “Not that I want a romantic mate. Boning one person for all time? No fucking thank you.”

Luc thought the vampire doth protest too much, but he didn’t say anything. He personally had absolutely no issue with the idea of fucking Jamie for all eternity. He relished the idea of exploring every inch of that perfect, tawny body.

Speaking of… Luc reached for his phone, wondering if his mate had tried to contact him and he’d missed the ding in the focus of the hunt. He wasn’t used to paying much attention to them, before Jamie.

He stared down at a black screen.

In his worry over Jamie the night before, he’d apparently forgotten to charge the damn thing, because it was completely dead.

He was turning to ask Fox to borrow his, when a woman’s scream tore through the air.

Fox and Dane took off in an instant, Luc quick on their heels.

Except, a few minutes later, Luc heard a much more terrifying sound.

He heard Jamie.

He heard Jamie screaming.