“I…I needed herbs.To work magic.They let me go to the market for them, and Diana saw, and she said if I was in trouble, you would help.”His voice was a mess, all staccato, as if he had been standing in the cold long enough to make his teeth chatter.He felt so silly.Who would help him?Not this lawyer.Not someone living this life.
The vampire sighed.“Help a person once, and they make you out to be some regular do-gooder.The bother.”He walked past Will and turned on the lights in a room farther into the house.“Well?Are you coming?”
Will kept his head down and followed.The vampire was commanding.He wasn’t a wolf, but he was more alpha than anyone Will had ever met, including real wolf alphas.
The room the vampire was leading Will to was a kitchen—pristine, just like everything here was pristine.Will wondered why a vampire needed such a big kitchen, but he wasn’t about to ask.
“I’m making you hot chocolate.You can have it with chocolate on the side.That’s about all the food I have in the house.”
“Okay.”Will wasn’t sure what to do.He knew he was filthy.He knew what scents were on him underneath the sweat.He did not belong in a nice place like this, not anymore.
“Go sit at the table,” the vampire said as he started pulling out a pot, bags of chocolate, and some milk from a near-empty fridge.
“Okay.”Will went over to the table and pulled out a chair.
“No, I sit there.”
Will quickly went to the next chair.He was still trembling.He braced for something to come flying at his head, but the vampire just went about pouring things into a pot and heating it up on the stove.Will had never seen a vampire stir a pot on a stove.
Will tried to sit up straight.Ed had been rough tonight, after that thing with the beer, and it hurt.He tried to hide the pain and stiffness that was creeping over him after the run to get here.The vampire was chopping up chocolate with a knife that seemed both too sharp and too big for the activity before stirring the chunks into the milk that was heating on the stove.
“Do you need medical attention?”the vampire asked without preamble.
So much for hiding the pain.“No, I’m fine.”
“I doubt that.What’s your name?”
“Will.William Albright.”
“You’re a werewolf running from loups-garous.How did that happen?And be concise.”The vampire came over to the table and put a saucer down in front of Will with a few chunks of chocolate on it, then went back to the stove.Will wasn’t really sure whether he was hungry or not.It felt wrong to eat anyway, what with the vampire still cooking.You didn’t eat while the alpha was working, not unless the alpha told you to.“And eat the chocolate,” the vampire added, almost as if he’d heard Will’s thoughts.“You look about ready to pass out, and I don’t care for that.Dealing with unconscious people is one of my least favorite activities.”
Will stuffed some of the chocolate into his mouth while the vampire went back to the stove.It was so good.Not too sweet, but so rich, with the kind of deep flavor you didn’t get from the cheap stuff.Will couldn’t remember the last time he’d had anything this good.
“I… The loups-garous came into my pack’s territory.They didn’t want to stay there, I don’t think, but they weren’t going to leave without the pack paying them.”Will swallowed.He hadn’t been prepared for this, hadn’t been prepared to tell this story, but then it had been such a long time ago.It shouldn’t have hurt anymore, but it did.“My grandfather is the alpha.It’s not a rich pack, but we’re known for, you know, breeding witch wolves.”
The vampire mumbled something under his breath then poured a steaming cup of hot chocolate, turned off the stove, and sat down across from Will.“Here, drink this.And when I say concise, I really do mean I don’t care about the minutiae of the situation.You were given to the loups-garous as payment, is that it?”
Will nodded.He eyed the hot chocolate.It was right in front of him, but just taking it without permission was wrong.
“Go ahead and drink,” the vampire said, so Will did.
It tasted just as good in liquid form as it did in solid, and it was warm.But it didn’t mean anything.It didn’t mean the vampire would help him.It didn’t mean he was safe.
“And you are a witch?”the vampire went on.Will nodded.“Why not kill them yourself then?I’m sure a witch could manage.”
Will put the mug down.“I’m not…I can do little stuff.My parents died when I was little, and my grandfather never taught me much.I helped them—the loups-garous, I mean—helped them hide and stuff.But I can’t do murder spells or whatever.”
“Murder spells?Aren’t you a precious pup.”The vampire stood.“The rules are as follows.You stay out of the basement and stay inside the house.Take the guest room on the second floor, first room to the left of the staircase.There are clothes in there.Use them, because there are holes in what you’re wearing.I’ll look into this tomorrow, and then I’ll see what the best course of action is.What are the names of the loups-garous?”
“Ed.That’s the pack leader.Jeff, Harry, and Oz.I don’t know their last names.”
“And where do they live?”
“225 Lorraine Avenue.It’s a dump, and I don’t think it’s theirs, but I’m not sure.”
The vampire rolled his eyes.“Why did they form a pack?Loups-garous tend to be solitary.”
Will shrugged.He’d wondered that himself.“I guess they knew each other?From before they got bit, I mean.But I don’t really know.”
