Daniel
My front door creaked like some sort of horror movie. I hadn’t been spending a lot of time at my place, but this was a bit much. I’d have to grease the hinges. Geez. On top of that, something in here was really stinking up the place. Funny I hadn’t noticed it last night while getting ready for my date with Emma.
It was amazing what having a good woman in my life did for me. I started cleaning up my place with a smile on my face, and before I knew it, I was whistling as I washed the few dishes that I’d accumulated on my quick trips in and out of the house. Soon I had a load of laundry going and all the trash out in the bins. Looking around my place, I felt a strange wave of pride. I liked my little cabin in the woods, but would Emma want to live with me here one day? Would we live at her place and keep this as a getaway? I didn't know. But before, this place was all I had. Now, it was just another nice thing in my life.
My life. Nice. I smiled to myself. It'd been years since I really felt like my life was a happy one. It had just felt like there was no other choice. I had to get through each day. I had to help the town and my community as much as I could. But I’d felt empty inside.
Now, I was full. Full of Emma's scent, Emma's touch, Emma's voice, and even Emma's love. I felt like the luckiest damned man in the world. So if the consequence of having a good life was that this place might get a bit grimy. Well, grime away!
As I opened the back door to sweep the kitchen dirt out to the back porch, a scent I didn’t really expect came in with the breeze. I knew within a split second that it was a vampire. Vampires had the worst smell imaginable, like an animal that had died days ago and was covered in maggots and who knew what else. Their smell wasn't the main reason my kind didn't like them, although it didn't help. Vampires just seemed to be the opposite of us. Something unnatural in a world where we lived seamlessly with the natural. Whereas we liked to preserve things, they seemed hell-bent on destroying anything and everything they could.
Although I had met a few exceptions to the rules in my time. Not many though.
A growl rolled through my chest, and my bear stood up straighter within me. I inhaled slowly and carefully, focusing on the scent. It was Vance Acheron. I’d recognize his undead smell anywhere. Vance was one of the vampires I didn't like. Not because he was cruel like some of the worst of them. I'd never actually heard stories about him taking a human's blood by force or Turning a human that didn't want to be Turned. Which were two of the cardinal sins when it came to vampire jerks. He just rubbed me wrong. I didn’t truly think he’d hurt Emma, or I would be at that dinner, come hell or high water. It was more of a personality thing.
He belonged to Clan Scarlet. Again, not a group of trouble-making vampires. Most were so ridiculously wealthy they just sat back in their mansions, with willing humans to feed off of, or blood they'd purchased, and move about town like they owned the place. Their noses were always fairly permanently stuck straight in the air, and Vance was no exception. The only way he differed from the others was that he had become a detective. Apparently, mostly out of boredom, and because he preferred that Mystic Hollow stay peaceful and out of the news.
The thing was, the vampire had never been on my land before. Nor would I have encouraged him to come here. If he were any other vampire, I'd already have gone bear and chased him off of my land. With us technically working together, I couldn't do that.
Even if my bear really wanted to.
Abandoning my broom, I ambled out the back door and sat down in the rocker on my back porch. Waiting. Knowing that the man would be smart enough to approach me directly on my land. But while waiting, I let my thoughts wander. At least his sensitive olfactory senses wouldn't pick up the trash and dishes smell my place had an hour earlier. I wasn’t fussy about it being clean, but neither did I want to be seen as a slob. Vampires already treated shifters like we were several classes below them. The last thing I'd want to do was give him a reason to think his view had any validity. Not that mess equaled class, I just knew how those snobs thought.
It didn’t take long for Vance to appear in my backyard. He paused at the edge of the trees and looked at me. He wore a jogging suit, but even that looked expensive. His hair was styled too, combed back from his face. He, like most vampires, had an inhuman beauty about him, like a pretty snake.
But did Emma see him that way?
The thought made me stiffen. Women found men like Vance attractive. They were drawn to them. And this guy, he seemed to be far too interested in my Emma. Normally I wouldn't care what man found my girlfriend attractive because she had chosen to be with me. But Vance was nearly my polar opposite, trim, cultured-looking. Sophisticated. What if, despite what Emma said, some part of her liked him?
Darn it. I really didn’t need another reason to hate this man.
When I didn’t approach him, Vance came forward slowly, watching me with just an edge of caution. Which was smart. Vampires might be strong, but my bear could rip this twig of a man in half.
I simply kept rocking, waiting until he drew close enough for us to hear one another. “‘Lo,” I said quietly, marking his movements with my eyes. By making him come up to the porch, I was showing my dominance. He was on my turf, and he knew it.
He ambled up the yard, trying to look nonchalant, but I knew the man. He was on high alert, every sense in his body aware of any possible threat, especially the big bear shifter in the rocking chair. “Have a seat,” I signaled to the other chair on the porch. “What brings you out here?”
I wouldn't have minded letting my hand shift and taken a good swipe of his throat, but that probably would’ve been crossing the line.
It was nice to think about, though.
"Hello, Daniel. Sorry to sneak in like this. I was out for a run and thought I’d stop by and discuss a few things with you."
"Vance." I nodded slowly as he stepped forward.
"It's been a while since a case drew us together." His voice held no emotion, not even the typical charm he liked to shove down my throat. But then, no one else was here to put on a show for.
"Yes, quite a while," I drawled out slowly.
"I'm sure you've heard by now about my time spent with Karma." Now, there was a touch of emotion in his voice. A cockiness that told me just how aware he was that contacting Emma would piss me off.
"Her name is Emma, not Karma," I told him, trying not to sound as pissed as I felt. "And, yes, she told me about it. In bed last night."
Okay, that was unnecessary, but you couldn't take the bear out of a bear shifter. And my inner-animal wanted to stake my claim on Emma. My inner-animal wanted to make it known to this twig of a man that Emma was mine, and that I was hers. He could play all the games he wanted, but he wouldn't ruin things with us.
"I'm glad. I wouldn't want any of this to be happening behind your back." But I didn’t believe a single word he said.
“I gotta admit, I’m not happy about this dinner.” I stared at him as he sat in the rocking chair opposite me, keeping my tone light, even if my hands were gripping the arms on my chair a little too tight. “I would prefer to be there too.”
Vance held up one hand. “I'm sorry, but it won’t work unless she appears to be my date.”
Date? My bear roared inside me, and Vance cocked his head. Could he sense my animal’s discontent at the idea of Emma being his date? Who knew what the blood-suckers could do or not? But if he could sense my bear, he should know he was walking a very thin line right now. We might not technically be enemies, but I'd be glad to take a chunk out of him if he kept connecting Emma with the word date.
He smiled smoothly. “I’m not out to steal your girl, shifter. I only want to figure out who is killing my vampires. She can help me do that. We’ll feign a bit of interest in one another and then go on about our business.” He arched an eyebrow, almost a challenge. “Think you can handle that?”
Handle that? I could handle anything. Still, I hated that this man knew just how much this bothered me. Just the idea of Emma on a "date" with this blood-sucker wanted me to tear his twiggy, little limbs off and beat him with them. But when I thought about her in my arms, I had to remind myself that it took two to tango, and I trusted Emma with my whole heart.
Not that that was the kind of thing one man said to another.
“As long as you fully understand that Emma is taken,” I retorted, choosing the manly route to this conversation. “She is mine.”
His eyebrows flew up this time. “You’ve claimed her?”
Damn. He knew shifter ways too well. Technically, a woman wasn't officially claimed by a shifter until he bit her. But Emma and I had everything but the bite already. In all ways that mattered to this vampire, he should see her as my woman.
If he knew what was good for him.
“Not yet. But it’s only a matter of time.”
That seemed to be good enough for him for now. “The vampire on the beach sometimes did things we didn’t approve of. He’d make friends with the locals, then convince them to join his coven when they turned eighteen.”
“That sounds like it was the kids’ choice,” I said, although that wasn't what I'd heard about the man.
Vance shrugged. “Maybe. Technically the only rule is that the initiate has to be eighteen and able to make their own decisions. But there were rumors about some sort of loophole. And while it’s legal in our world to Turn a freshly adulted human, it’s ridiculous to expect a child of eighteen to make such enormous decisions as to whether or not to potentially live forever, especially if they spent the months prior to their birthday being brainwashed by an intelligent and powerful vampire.”
His words surprised me a bit. I knew there weren't a bunch of vampire children running around, but outside of that, I didn't pay much attention to what the vampires did or didn't do, as long as no one ended up missing or dead. It was nice to hear they actually had rules in place to protect kids from being Turned, and that although they considered eighteen an adult, like we shifters, they wouldn't ever consider an eighteen-year-old "adult" enough to make life or death decisions.
At eighteen, humans, shifters, or vampires, it didn't matter... they just weren't "fully cooked." Heck, if I did everything I wanted to do at eighteen, I'd have a bunch of tattoos dedicated to bands and garbage that I didn't care the least bit about now. I'd also probably have a garage full of motorcycles.
So, as much as I didn't like him, or most vampires, I was glad that Turning eighteen years olds was still considered bad form. Although I wondered if there was more to it than that. Vampires, traditionally, didn't seem to care all that much about what was morally right.
“Aren’t young vampires more volatile?” I asked, thinking that might explain it.
Vance nodded again. “They can be. And now their leader is gone. I’m worried about things in town getting… bloody. The seconds will be fighting for leadership of the coven.”
"The seconds?"
Vance lifted an arrogant brow. "I forgot how little you shifters know about our workings." He sighed. "Quillan Laire was the head of the Clan Dusk. Every vampire he Turned became a part of his coven. Unlike Clan Scarlet, my clan, Quillan really liked to bring in more vampires. While Clan Scarlet is known for being small, wealthy, and powerful, Clan Dusk is known for... having many members. For pushing the line about what is allowed to do, or what breaks our rules. They're not poor by any means, but they also aren't particularly respected by Clan Scarlet or Clan Descent."
"Clan Descent is the other clan in Mystic Hollow, correct?" I wasn’t sure how such a small town hosted three vampire covens. They must’ve been getting their blood from out of town.
Vance looked surprised. "So you are somewhat aware of vampire culture?"
"You can't work with supernaturals in Mystic Hollow before learning a bit about every group, including the vampires," I told him. The thing is, the last thing I wanted was for Vance to have a real sense of how much I know or don't know about his people. Knowledge is power, and this man doesn't need a drop more power than he already has.
After a second of staring at me, he nodded his head. "Now we just must wait to see which of his seconds fight for the position. Some of them... well, it won't matter much. They'll run things much the same as Quillan, and the young vampires will be brought back in line before too much trouble comes to our little town. The others, well, we'll cross that bridge if we have to."
Blood. Death. Vampire fights. None of this sounded good. But I guess there was no use worrying about what could happen when so much was already happening.
I sighed and nodded. “I do appreciate the heads up, about all of this. Is that why you came out here?”
He stood and nodded once. “It is. And to make sure you hadn’t claimed Emma yet.”
My hair stood on end and my bear, if I’d been shifted, would’ve been pacing the yard. He was not happy about this vampire being near Emma. Vance knew if I’d already claimed her, I never could’ve allowed her to go to that dinner. Not that I wanted to forbid it, but I wouldn't have been able to let her go into such a dangerous situation alone, my bear wouldn't allow it. And like the vamp had said, it would’ve defeated the purpose to have me along since Emma and I would both obviously be there for the investigation.
"Just remember," I tell him, my voice a low growl in my throat. "She's still mine."
He started to walk away from me, then stopped in the middle of the yard and turned back to give me a single nod. “Seems like a retired cop might have a hard time keeping up with Karma.” Then the jerk used his preternatural speed to essentially disappear from the yard.
My bear roared inside me, his instinct to let nothing step between his woman and himself making him angry and possessive. But I knew better, and I gently reassured my bear of the truth. No matter what this man said, Emma cared for me. She wanted to be with me. Vance could puff out his chest and strut around all he wanted, it wouldn’t affect our relationship.
No, I wouldn't forbid Emma from going, couldn't, but I could count the seconds until she was back. Then remind her, very thoroughly, that I had far more to offer her than this vampire.