“Dude. It’s weird.” I can hear her moving around the lab in the background. “So, official cause of death is blood loss. Looks like he’s been slowly bleeding for a week. The puncture wounds on his neck are all in various stages of healing. They’re bite marks, and we got different hits on human saliva. If I didn’t know better, I’d say someone took fang-banging a little too far.”
“What about the bones?”
“You mean the lack thereof? That’s even weirder. They were chewed from his arms. The flesh was cut along his inner arm, a relatively clean cut, but not clean enough to make me think it was done by a surgeon or anything. The skin was peeled back, muscles and tendons torn. And the teeth marks on the bone: human.”
I’m not surprised, because I knew that’s how vampires work. “We’ve gone past weird to fucked up,” I say.
“Right? I don’t even know where to start with this one.”
I do, and I already have a good idea where to go next. “Yeah, it’s a mess.”
“You’re telling me. I’m going to run some tests on the newest vic and see if I can get any DNA matches. I’ll call you if I get a match.”
“Thanks, Samantha.” I hang up and close my eyes again. Images from the dream flash before me. “Stop it, Ace,” I mutter to myself. I need a shower. A cold one. Or maybe a hot bath, take care of myself and get it out of my system.
Unless that makes it worse.
* * *
I plungemy hands into the warm soapy water and scrub a plate. The old estate doesn’t have a dishwasher, and though the dishes in the cabinets looked clean, they’ve been collecting dust for years. While I’m not a clean-freak by any means, giving the dishes a quick wash before I use them is a must.
Leaving a stack of clean dishes to dry on the counter, I check the time on my phone. It’s seven-fifteen, minutes away from sunset. I rushed to get here in time and arrived not long ago. Feeling restless, I needed to do something productive other than sit around and wait for the sun to go down.
Plus, my mind kept drifting back to that stupid dream. Which is all it was: a dream. I’ve had my fair share of sex dreams. They’re usually about celebrities or some fictional guy I read about in a book. I wake up hot and bothered, reach into my nightstand drawer and pull out the trusty B.O.B., and give myself a quick orgasm—or two, if I’m being honest—then go back to sleep.
I dry my hands and go onto the porch, walking up and down the path in front of the old house, feeling a bit anxious and nervous. I know next to nothing about these creatures, yet here I am, waiting for them to awaken. My gun is loaded and strapped to my hip, just in case, but I don’t think I’ll need it.
They helped me last night when they didn’t have to. And I feel…something. Something I can’t explain. A bond? It’s stupid and doesn’t make sense. Though nothing about this makes sense.
I spend my time waiting for the sun to set searching through social media, using hashtags commonly associated with the Delirium crowds. I scroll past selfie after selfie, sighing. If Bryan was at Delirium on Wednesday, he’s not in the background of any of these pictures.
A timer goes off on my phone, letting me know it’s officially sunset. I stand in front of the porch steps, staring at Gilbert and Thomas.
Nothing happens.
“Guys?” I ask, and raise my arm, reaching for Thomas. The energy in the air shifts the moment my fingers make contact with the smooth stone. It’s warm again, like human flesh. An electric spark jolts me, and I jerk my hand back.
A tiny crack in the stone starts to form in the center of his chest, webbing out with impressive speed. A piece of rock crumbles to the ground, disappearing in a cloud of dust as soon as it lands.
I stand back, watching with wide eyes as the rest of the rock crumbles, giving way to the man behind the stone. The hideous, demonic sneer on his face falls apart, revealing Thomas’s handsome face. He blinks dust from his eyes and stands tall to stretch.
“Acelina,” he says, and my name rolls off his tongue like velvet. He jumps down, wings opening to slow the landing. “Wasn’t sure if you’d be back.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
He gives me that famous cocky grin and shrugs. “I thought maybe you’d find us too grotesque.”
Gilbert jumps down next to him and brushes dust from his dirty blond hair. I look each brother over slowly.
“Actually, you aren’t.” I narrow my eyes. “You look more…more human than yesterday.”
Thomas turns to Gilbert. “You don’t look any different to me. Still ugly. Maybe you can get a pity fuck from the blind whores at the brothel.”
“Shut up, we both know I’ve always been the pretty one,” Gilbert quips.
“There are no brothels anymore,” I tell them. “And most people get cured from chlamydia before they go blind. I thought Templar Knights took vows of chastity.”
“Oh, we did.” Thomas gives me that grin again and dammit, it’s doing bad things to me right now. “Doesn’t mean we upheld them.” He takes another step toward me, biting his bottom lip. He knows exactly what he’s doing and how good he looks doing it. “How’s your head?”
