He hadn’t made a move to fondle me, like I’d watched him do to the other dancers who’d come by. His hands on my skin were respectful and gentle. He really did want to pretend I was his dead spouse.
I didn’t understand how someone who sold blood slaves for a living could hold so much affection for another person. Did he think his wife mattered, and all the other lives he ruined didn’t?
“Do you mind if I call you Mabel?” Lorenzo asked. “Just for tonight.”
This was going way too far, but he’d opened up to me, so this could be my way in. “You can call me whatever you’d like. Do you want a private room, so we can talk more… personally?”
“I’d love that, Mabel,” Lorenzo said. “You don’t know how much it means to have you back.”
I was doing grief therapy in a strip club for a known supernatural trafficker. Not how I expected to spend my evening.
Lorenzo followed me to the back of the club, where the private rooms were. The sounds of sex were everywhere behind these doors. One of the bouncers opened up a private space for us, and Lorenzo paid him before the door slammed shut, locking me in with the vampire.
Lorenzo sighed. “Here we are. Alone at last.”
He took a seat on a plush couch within the room. “It was a very hard day, Mabel. Would you mind rubbing my shoulders? You know I love your backrubs.”
This guy was certifiably off his rocker. But he wasn’t asking me to screw him, at least not yet, so I pulled myself onto the couch and sat beside him to rub his shoulders.
Massaging a vampire was like trying to knead a stone. It made my fingers ache.
“Any interesting jobs lately?” I asked. Maybe I could get this guy to spill without resorting to darker methods.
“A few, here and there, but I dislike talking about work when you’re around,” Lorenzo replied. “There are more interesting things to discuss.”
I wasn’t giving in. “Did the boss have you steal a special item, or?—”
“Enough talking, Mabel.” Lorenzo turned to face me, then grabbed the back of my neck. “Let us feed like we used to,mi amore. Just a drop.”
I saw his fangs elongate as he leaned in. My side of our bond flared in alarm, and the door burst open. Lorenzo reeled back as Charlie forced himself into the room, holding up his pistol.
Lorenzo staggered to his feet as he looked at me, but I already had a ball of Fire in my hand. “Hands up, fuckface.”
He did as he was told. His expression didn’t reveal any betrayal, merely acceptance, as if he knew this was going to happen.
“You stole a valuable key in Paris over a hundred years ago, and killed Frank Coffrey afterward. We know you were the one who took the key, and we know you gave it to Salvatore Bianchi,” I said coldly. “Tell us where it is, and we’ll let you live.”
Lorenzo let out a cold laugh. “And betray my boss?”
“We can hide you. We have the resources,” Charlie added.
“There is nowhere I can hide from my past. That is something I will never escape,” Lorenzo said lowly.
His eyes locked on mine. “Thank you, whoever you are. You gave me five more minutes with her. That’s all I wanted in the world.”
He dropped his hands, and one fumbled in his pocket.
“No!” I cried out, but it was too late. Lorenzo had opened his mouth and popped something in before we could stop him.
Charlie rushed forward and yanked his mouth open, but Lorenzo had already swallowed. The vampire began to gag as a dark foam sputtered out of his mouth, and he instantly collapsed on the floor.
A sour smell filled the room, like burning sulfur, and the vampire gasped in pain. Then Lorenzo twitched twice before he went still.
“Fuck!” Charlie yelled. I immediately got to the floor and put a hand to Lorenzo’s chest, to see if I could save him.
My healing magic recoiled inside of me as it surveyed Lorenzo’s body. He was already dead. There was a massive cavity in his chest where his heart used to be.
I let out a frustrated sigh. “It was a death potion capsule. The components were made of Fire magic. Once he swallowed the pill, it combusted in his chest and turned his heart to ash. The pill was probably something Salvatore had him carry, in case there was a risk he got captured and interrogated.”
