When they parked in a near-empty lot, the sky had lost that pastel gradient and was well on its way to the color of dark blue ink, dissolving and shifting to pure black dusted with starlight.
“What if he doesn’t show?”Theo asked as Peter took his hand on the way down a winding path.
Peter had felt the pricking of eyes on him when they’d gotten into the car, so he wasn’t concerned.
“He’ll show.You don’t have to worry about that.”
On their right, a set of illuminated sculptures created a beach scene.There was a glowing palm tree, a set of shimmering waves, and a lit-up deck chair.The light was all white rather than multicolored, but Peter could see why this made a nice, touristy photo spot.
Their path wound onward around one of the artificial lakes, which featured another installation where plastic orbs were filled with blue and white lights.There were dozens of them, each a bit larger than a basketball, and they were piled along the shore and between a few rocks like the spawn of a massive amphibian.Some of the orbs had been positioned to look as if they were floating out across the lake.
Peter liked this one far better than the beach scene, and from the way he craned his neck, so did Theo.
“What’s with all the lights?”
“Light sculptures.It’s basically a path of light all over the city that you can spend a night following.Didn’t you hear about it?”
Theo looked up at Peter, his black hair shimmering in the faint glow.“There’s always something going on in this city, and I don’t have the luxury of following all of it.Besides, I work nights,” he added, looking at the ground.
“Theodore.Worked?”
Theo took a deep breath.“Worked.”
He said it quietly, the word colored with disbelief.I’ll accept this as an offering.
Before Peter could say anything else, the scent of an unfamiliar vampire tickled his nose.Instead of speaking, he squeezed Theo’s hand, hard.
“Isn’t this just like in a real fairy tale?”said the douchebag vampire, Bernard, having done a poor job of sneaking up on them through the shadows.He stood just off the path, behind them on Peter’s side.
Theo froze.Peter saw fear grapple with Theo’s spirit and bring it down.No, not if I have any say in the matter.
Peter turned to face Bernard.
“I believe I told you to leave my client alone.”
Peter could see why Theo had been so afraid that Bernard might prevail in a physical altercation.He had unimpressive brown hair, but he had a bouncer’s intimidating physique—meaty arms, meaty legs, and likely a meaty head where brain cells should have thrived.
“Client?”Bernard cackled.“Smells more like you’rehisclient.He’s a good lay, isn’t he?Did he give you a discount?”
Peter extricated his hand from Theo’s, even if Theo was holding on to Peter with a death grip.
“Bernard, was it?”Peter walked toward the other vampire.Theo gasped behind him, a strangled, desperate noise.“I do believe we have some common ground.”
Bernard grinned and showed some teeth.Unseemly.Vile.
“You realize you broke my arm when you stole my property from me.This better be some pretty great common ground.”He shrugged.“Then again, we can work out a payment plan.”He crossed his arms in front of his chest and jerked his chin toward Theo.“You’ve sampled the goods, and no hard feelings about that.It’s not like I can control myself when I see a nice piece of ass like that.But Theo here still belongs to me, and if you want to keep stuffing—”
Bless Bernard’s heart, but his blabbering had exceeded the limits of Peter’s patience, and the sharp right hook Peter delivered at top speed put the vampire right on his ass and on the ground.Theo squealed, but he was too scared for the noise to have any volume.
“Oh, oops.”Peter shook out his hand.“Involuntary muscle spasm.I’m ever so sorry.”
Damnation.Why did I not bring a knife?I need one for the blood eagle…or do I?
Bernard pulled his face out of the grass.
“Motherfucker.I’ll make you sorry for—”
Peter stepped forward, raised his leg, and kicked.It wasn’t his strong suit, and he knew it.He still got a few of Bernard’s ribs to crack with a satisfying crunch though, and that felt nice.Makes the blood eagle a definite maybe if I can get Theodore on board.
