Takoma flashed him a smile, fangs a jagged line between his lips before disappearing. “They screamed a lot.”
Spencer shook his head. “No, don’t tell me that. I like deniability.”
“No one will find what’s left of the bodies.”
“Shh. You aren’t helping my deniability defense.”
Takoma shrugged, brushing his knuckles over Spencer’s collarbone. “Let’s get you into bed.”
Spencer followed Takoma out of the bathroom, shivering a little from the coolness of the condo. He hadn’t turned on the heat before leaving, but Takoma rectified that for him as he dug a pair of sweatpants out of the dresser drawer. He dropped the towel, wincing as he bent over to drag them on.
When he straightened, he found Takoma standing in the bedroom doorway, watching him. Spencer hadn’t heard him arrive and was too tired to be embarrassed about the last half hour or so of being naked in front of the master vampire. It wasn’t like he minded; he just wished it was under better circumstances. He’d probably be dressed down for wanting that if people found out he’d let Takoma inside.
Spencer knew he was blurring the line here, endangering the case in a way his superiors wouldn’t appreciate, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that Takoma had tracked him down and hadn’t hesitated to intervene with the hunters. It felt like a continuation of Manhattan, and he hadn’t minded Takoma’s hands on him back then either.
“If you want me as your confidential informant, it’s a two-way street,” Takoma said after a moment.
“The government won’t see it that way.” Spencer held up his hand before Takoma could respond. “I know you think those laws don’t apply to you, but they apply to me. I need to take that into account.”
“You have to know the second your government no longer finds you useful is when they’ll arrest you and throw you in a cell so warded you’ll never step foot out of it until you’re dead.”
Spencer refused to flinch in the face of an old nightmare Takoma had somehow picked up on so easily. “I can’t walk away.”
“They’d never find you if you did.”
The statement wasn’t said with malice, wasn’t meant as a threat. The steady, knowing look in Takoma’s gaze came with a promise Spencer reminded himself he couldn’t ask for. “Running wouldn’t help, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not running.”
“No, you’re just doing their bidding. Your government always breaks its promises. You should have a way out.”
“And you’re going to help with that?”
He meant it as a joke, but Takoma didn’t take it as such. “The offer will always be there.”
Spencer stared at him. “What?”
Takoma closed the distance between them, eyes unblinking as he met Spencer’s gaze. Spencer didn’t flinch when the master vampire reached for him, a cool hand settling against the side of his neck, thumb pressed beneath the hinge of his jaw.
“You helped at the end of the world. You stood by my mother’s side at the risk of your own life. Your government would wipe the record of your existence from every database on earth if it thought it could get away with such a thing, and I would consider that a pity.”
Spencer swallowed thickly, mouth suddenly dry. “Would you?”
Takoma’s lips tipped up at the corners, fangs hidden away. “You’re interesting. I like interesting.”
“I thought you said I was entertaining.”
“That too.” Takoma leaned in, lips ghosting over Spencer’s as he spoke. “Unlike your government, I’d appreciate someone like you. If you ever want a way out of the chains they have you in, I would show you to freedom.”
“And be indebted to you?”
“I don’t keep slaves like colonizers do.”
Whatever Spencer might have said, it got swallowed up by the deep, languid kiss Takoma pulled him into. Spencer let Takoma lick past his teeth, the cool feel of his lips and tongue so different from someone who had a beating heart. He tilted his head fractionally to the side, leaning into Takoma’s grip, those fingers pressing harder against his throat. He gasped softly at the pressure, tongue snaking out to flick against jagged fangs.
When Takoma eventually pulled back, Spencer’s lips felt swollen, and a faintly coppery taste lingered on his tongue that hadn’t been there prior to the kiss. He wanted so badly to shove Takoma onto the bed and have his wicked way with him, but Spencer was honestly too damn tired to get it up.
Takoma seemed to understand that because he didn’t initiate anything more, merely took Spencer by the hand and led him over to the bed. He dragged the covers back, but before Spencer could lie down on his stomach, Takoma pressed a small glass bottle into his hand. “Drink this.”
Spencer squinted down at the violet-colored, cloudy liquid sloshing around inside it. “What’s this potion?”
