Forget About Midnight (23 page)

Having been with Kale so recently, I couldn’t simply pretend none of that had happened. Even if Arys was willing to overlook it or pass it off as newbie vampire mania, I couldn’t do that.

“I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t fucking kill me that you’ve been with him. But we belong together, Alexa. It’s what we are.” Arys slumped in his chair and rubbed a hand over his face as if he couldn’t decide how to get through to me.

“Arys, I’ve spent so much of myself being torn between who I belong with, who my wolf wants, and who lets me forget the world exists, that I’m losing myself. Every night I feel crazier than the last, like I’m losing my damn mind. I need some time to adjust.” My constant plea for time was wearing on him. I could see it in his eyes, the weariness that I couldn’t stand to look at.

He gestured to the unconscious woman on the bed. “Don’t tell me you didn’t feel how good we are together. We are a perfect fit. You were always meant to be a vampire. Part of you knows it. And part of you hates it. I can see that. But please, just don’t shut me out. I can’t take it.”

Again we’d reached an impasse. We both needed something from the other that we weren’t going to get without a fight.

“You’re right. I do hate it. It makes me hate myself. That’s not something that’s going to change overnight.” A surge of emotion choked off my words.

Arys stared at me. I stared at the floor. Finally, his voice husky and strained, he asked, “Will you ever be able to forgive me?”

My heart seized at the raw pain in that question. I didn’t want to hurt him. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. The part of me that belonged to Arys wanted to throw myself on the floor at his feet and promise him that this wouldn’t divide us forever, that I would get over it. The part of me that was all wolf hated him, hated what he’d done to me, hated that I’d allowed it. It wasn’t just Arys and I that were divided. It was me.

“I want to,” I said, dragging my gaze up to meet his. “I know it’s not your fault, Arys. You’re a victim of circumstance as much as I am. But I need to learn how to forgive myself. And I’m not sure things will ever be what they were before.”

Arys stood up quickly, his hands clenched like he wasn’t sure what to do with them. “I don’t want it to be. I want it to be better. It can be. It will be.”

On impulse I threw myself into his arms, hugging him tight. “I want to believe that. I do. Please, just give me time.” Before he could respond, my phone buzzed with an annoyed text from Jez. “Shit. Jez is here looking for me. She’s coming with me tonight. I have to go.”

Arys nodded and motioned to the door. “I guess you’re taking Kale too.” At my puzzled expression he added, “I can feel him. He’s here. It’s like you magnify his presence or something.”

When I concentrated on the vampire energy in the building, I was able to detect Kale’s honey-sweet vibe among them. “Yeah, I’m taking him. For Jez. She’s not taking his leaving so well.” It wasn’t a lie. So why did it feel like one?

“Well, don’t keep them waiting. When you’re ready, you know how to find me.” With a warm hand Arys pushed my hair back and kissed my forehead before turning away.

I lingered, wondering if I should say something. I was torn, wanting to offer him some kind of reassurance and needing to just walk away. There was nothing I could say to fix this. It would have to come in its own time.

I left the room without a backward glance, but it wasn’t easy. I was all kinds of confused. Emotion plagued me like a virus that I needed to exterminate. Unfortunately, the only way to be free of it was to lose myself in the kill. Lucky for me, I was off to do just that.

I rushed Kale and Jez out of The Wicked Kiss with little explanation. There was no way I could stand to witness another confrontation between Arys and Kale, especially not on Kale’s last night in town.

The three of us piled into Jez’s beat up Jeep Liberty. It was a good vehicle for blending in, better than my bright-red Charger. I held tight to the door handle as we careened around corners and jerked to stops at red lights. Being much harder to kill did give me some additional comfort.

We headed for a sketchy area on the north side of the city. The address Brinley had given me wasn’t in the worst part of town, but it was far from a safe, family-friendly neighborhood.

“I knew a dealer who lived over here.” Jez peered out the window at a ramshackle convenience store on a corner. “He told the craziest stories about the weird shit that went on. It never ceases to amaze me how fucked up humans really are.”

“It was Arrow, wasn’t it?” I quipped. “He looks exactly like the kind of guy who would live around here.”

She rolled her eyes and gave me a look. “Arrow drives a BMW and lives nowhere near here. It was not him.”

“Figures.”

It didn’t surprise me that Jez’s drug dealer was rolling in the dough. He was a nephilim, a dark one I’d learned, which was pretty much a demon, albeit one with human weaknesses. My first impression of him had been terrible. He was bad news. Jez could have died that night because of the drugs he supplied her. The slimy little fucker had had the nerve to offer some to me.

Kale sat quietly in the backseat, listening to us banter back and forth. It was awkward, having him so close, wanting so badly to touch him and to beg him not to leave, having to smile through the pain and pretend all was well. It fucking sucked.

We pulled up a few doors down from the address I’d been given but close enough to see the place. It was a small house, older and dimly lit. Curtains hid the interior from view. It was just as ramshackle as the store we’d passed on the way.

“I guess pimping out young girls doesn’t fetch a lot of money in these parts,” I mused. Anticipation sparked in my stomach and flowed throughout me until I was giddy and unable to sit still.

“So how are we doing this?” Kale asked, leaning forward between the front seats. “Good cop, bad cop, and crazy-ass vampire?”

Jez scoffed. “Which one of you is the crazy-ass vampire?”

“He is,” I said at the same time Kale said, “She is.”

Jez’s laughter filled the Jeep. “Oh man, I’m gonna miss this. Ok, you two can decide who gets to be good cop and who gets to be the crazy-ass vampire. Bad cop is all mine.”

I turned in my seat to meet Kale’s enchanting eyes. It took great effort to keep from staring a little too long. “I’ll be the vampire. I need to get it out of my system anyway.”

“Then I guess I’m good cop. Someone has to keep you two in line,” Kale mused. “You guys go first. A couple of knockout females shouldn’t have a hard time getting the guy to open the door. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Especially, Lex. She’s starting to look like a working girl herself.” Jez’s quip started a slap war between us that bordered on childish.

I held up both hands to ward off another smack from the feisty cat. “This is the red lipstick that you made me buy, Jez. You can’t judge me for wearing it.”

She leaned down to adjust the small dagger in her boot, and I took the opportunity to flick her hard on the arm. “Ow, dammit,” she cursed. “I’m not judging. Just observing. You’re not yourself these days, Lex.”

“Gee,” I muttered, tossing the Dragon Claw on the floor at my feet, then kicking it under the seat. I wouldn’t be needing it here. “I hadn’t noticed.”

Kale regarded us both with a neutral expression that revealed nothing of what he was really thinking. I was pretty sure that it had something to do with how damn ridiculous we were, but he was too nice to say so.

Jez and I got out of the Jeep and headed for the house. I gave my hair a toss and affected my best sexy smile.

“The guy’s name is Ben, and we’re looking for a girl named Allie. I hope she’s here.” My pace quickened, and I had to make a conscious effort to slow down. I was eager to wrap my hands around this guy’s throat.

“This is definitely a change of pace from hunting down rogue vamps and shifters,” Jez said. Her boot heels clicked loud on the pavement as we walked. “I can’t imagine it will be as much of a challenge, but it should still be fun.”

“Oh, it’ll be fun all right.”

Jez eyed me; her watchful cat gaze didn’t miss anything. “You’re totally getting off on the idea of tearing this guy apart, aren’t you? Never mind, don’t answer that. The evil glint in your eye says it all.”

“Trust me, Jez. I need this.”

We walked across the yellow, patchy lawn to the front door. Reaching out mentally to assess the area, I could feel three or four humans inside. I pulled open the screen door, wincing as it squealed. Then I knocked, and we waited.

Muffled voices could be heard as two men argued over who would answer the door. Finally one of them lost, and footsteps approached. The door opened slowly, just a crack at first. A disheveled-looking man with a beard peered out at us.

“We’re here to see Ben,” Jez said with a bright smile.

The guy looked us over, clearly suspicious. “Got a name?”

The masculine scent of human men wafted from the house. It was tainted with the odor of booze, pizza, and cheap cologne. Beneath all that was the telltale scent of fear. Allie had to be in there. Somebody in need of help was.

I’d planned to play the game a little longer, but both my hunger for death and my curiosity drove me to toss that plan. I slammed the door open with enough force to send him stumbling back. We strode inside, entering a dank little hallway.

“So much for playing it cool,” Jez muttered but followed my lead.

“What the fuck—?” the guy began, but I cut him off by grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against the wall.

“Are you Ben?” I growled into his face, ensuring he saw my fangs.

His confusion and irritation gave way to fear. The stench of it was enticing, encouraging me to make short work of him and leave him in unrecognizable pieces. He shook his head the best he could and pointed toward the living room behind me.

“I’m Ben,” a man said, his cocky tone drawing my interest his way. “You ladies looking for some work? Bet I can fetch a pretty penny for the two of you.”

Forgetting Beard Guy entirely, I let him go and spun to face Ben. He was tall and lanky with long, greasy hair and a face that looked like old, worn leather. Right away I could smell the drugs in his system. Hard stuff. Bummer. I wasn’t too keen on drinking tainted blood. Though it wouldn’t cause me much harm, drugs and alcohol in a blood source could still have an effect on me.

“Aren’t we a little old?” I asked, gliding forward with the grace of the undead that I used to envy so much. “I hear underage girls are more your thing.” Before Ben could speak again, I slammed him with a psi ball that dropped him to his knees before me. I grabbed hold of his jaw and forced him to meet my eyes. “Where’s Allie?”

I was vaguely aware of the other man seated on the couch. He watched the scene play out with alarm written all over his face. Jez put herself in front of the door, preventing potential escape.

Ben glared up at me, his teeth clenched in pain. “Allie’s not accepting visitors right now.”

“Is that so?” I hit him hard enough to knock him over. Then I grabbed him by both shoulders and slammed him down on the wooden coffee table in the center of the living room. “Do I have to ask you again?”

In my peripheral vision, I saw Beard Guy try to make a run for it. Jez shoved him back with a fierceness that had her green eyes blazing. She didn’t stop until he stayed down on the floor where she put him.

Ben blinked at me through bleary eyes and smiled as if I were a product of his drug-clouded imagination. “Man, what are you? This is a fucking trip.”

What are you?
Ah, that question. I was so sick of hearing it. “It doesn’t matter what I am. You’re not going to live long enough to think twice about it anyway. Tell me where Allie is.” I slammed him against the table a few more times, sending glasses, remote controls, and an ashtray to the floor.

The man on the couch wrung his hands. He stared at me with wide eyes while mumbling expletives to himself.

“Well, goddamn, if you aren’t a vampire,” Ben rambled on. “And here I thought the stories about this city were bullshit. I guess that means you’re going to kill me.”

Kale entered the house then, taking everything in with a glance. He and Jez exchanged words, though I was focused only on the pathetic excuse for a human being splayed on the table.

“Oh, I’m definitely going to kill you,” I snarled. “It’s up to you how fast or slow that happens.”

Kale took over Jez’s position in the front hall while she ran from room to room looking for the girl. I could feel him watching me. His presence poured fuel on the flames of my blood-hungry fury.

“Kane sent you, didn’t he? I knew he was up to something, but I guess he really got the drop on me this time.” Ben’s cackle conveyed to me that he wasn’t taking his impending death seriously enough.

Unable to control my sudden rage, I slammed Ben’s head several times against the table, stopping only when I saw blood stain the wood beneath. The guy on the couch came undone. He leapt up with a yelp, glancing around for escape. Not on my watch.

I pointed a claw-tipped finger at him. “Sit down. Now. What are you doing here? The truth.”

His ass hit the couch before I could tell him again. Nervous energy poured from him. He was clean though, no drugs in his system that I could detect. I just found my prized prey for the evening.

“I came by to pay Ben some money I owed him. That’s all. I don’t want any part of this.” He held both hands up as if that would help. His clean-cut, average, everyday guy appearance didn’t fit how I imagined a child predator to look. Of course I didn’t quite fit the description of the average inhuman serial killer either.

“Owed him money for what?” Kale asked, drawing both our gazes to where he leaned in the doorway. Beard Guy was still sitting on the floor where Jez had put him.

The guy on the couch stared at each of us in turn. I waited for him to tell a lie so I could pound the truth out of him, but he chose to fess up. “I had to give him his cut from what I made off some of his girls. He couldn’t keep up with the demand so I took some of the girls off his hands.”