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PACING BACK AND FORTH in the small living room of his apartment, Greyson felt nervous for the first time in longer than he could remember. In his mind, scenarios of how his conversation with Alex would go played over and over again. Each ended with her either screaming a string of curse words at him or hurling an object at him. All other variations were subtle. No matter which way it played out, he was sure the end result would be the same: she’d hate him.
“She’s going to hate me,” he said to no one.
Saying the words out loud caused a distinct and stabbing pain to originate in the vicinity of his heart. Though he couldn’t be sure why, exactly, he felt physical pain at the thought of Alex hating him, he could certainly understand why she’d hate him.
He raked a hand through the front of his hair and inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself and steel his nerve. Night had fallen a short while ago. His plan was to go to her house and tell her everything. It wasn’t an elaborate plan but it was the only plan he had. But as he gathered his keys and jammed his arms through his coat sleeves, a thought occurred to him. What if she wasn’t home when he got to her house? What if she was at work?
Work.
Guilt slammed into him with the force of a sledgehammer. Alex wouldn’t be able to keep her job. She’d never manage to make it through a dayshift. And even if she switched to nightshifts only, with daylight hours lengthening gradually since the winter solstice, the days would only continue to grow longer through spring and summer. Days during the summer months were particularly challenging for vampires. Extended daylight hours and a sun that never seemed to budge meant they fed less frequently and left the confines of their dark lair far less. She’d be unable to work the night shift. She’d be unable to work period. And without her job, how would she pay for college? Not that college even mattered any longer. She wouldn’t be able to attend.
Nausea swirled in Greyson’s gut, clenching it as the realization that he’d taken a wrecking ball to her life landed like a prize fighter’s blow. Stripping her of a soul and an eternal paradise in her afterlife was the big-picture atrocity he’d committed. But the immediate cruelty of his act came in the form of the ways in which her life would suffer beyond the obvious craving for human blood. It came by way of her losing her job and being forced to give up school. It came in the form of normal, happy interactions with others she’d enjoyed that she’d be denied. And all thanks to him.
Muttering a swearword, he zipped his coat and turned up his collar. He started to cross the room to leave, but a sudden knock at his door caused Greyson to stop mid-stride. Frozen and with every sense on high alert, his brain spun dizzyingly. In all the time he’d lived in this apartment, no one had ever knocked on his door. No one. He didn’t have any friends and no one knew where he lived. Who could it be? A delivery person with the wrong address? Somehow he didn’t think so.
That feeling was confirmed when knocking sounded again, louder and more insistent, followed by a voice calling out his name. “Greyson.” The male voice stated rather than asked.
Gripping the door handle and turning it, Greyson yanked the door toward him only to find Dario Ambrose filling the frame. “What the hell are you doing here?” Greyson lowered his brow and demanded.
Clad from head to toe in fitted black clothing, Dario couldn’t have looked more cliché if he’d tried. All that was missing was a cape. “Hello to you, too,” Dario replied without his usual panache, a fact that served to further surprise Greyson. “I need to speak to you.” He didn’t try to brush past Greyson and sweep into his apartment. Instead, he gestured inside simply, waiting to be invited in. When Greyson didn’t invite him in, Dario asked, “Can I come in?”
Greyson held up a hand to ward him off. “I don’t know. Legend has it you’re not supposed to invite a vampire into your home,” he half-joked, not the least bit interested in hearing anything Dario had to say either inside his apartment, outside of it or in the doorway of it.
Dario didn’t laugh at his snarky humor. He didn’t smile either. And he didn’t seem to appreciate Greyson’s less-than-welcoming attitude. His brow lowered and his lips twisted to form a frown. “Very funny,” he said without the slightest trace of humor. “This isn’t a social call, trust me.”
Greyson couldn’t help but notice that everything about Dario’s demeanor was off. Even his sly, I’m-better-than-you smirk was noticeably absent, replaced by a sullen grimace. Against his better judgment, Greyson stepped aside. “Come in,” he said and allowed Dario to enter.
Dario stepped over the threshold and stopped. His dark gaze cursorily scanned the cramped space Greyson called a living room. “Wow, this place is really a dump” he commented. But even his insult lacked bravado—the curled upper lip, the sweeping gesture of an arm and the rolling of his eyes. Everything about Dario’s behavior was uncharacteristic. Including appearing out of nowhere on his doorstep. What could he possibly want from Greyson when Greyson was nothing more than a lone wolf to him? Whatever was bothering Dario couldn’t be that serious if it brought him to Greyson.
“I thought you needed to talk about something, not insult my home.” Greyson had enough problems at the moment. Whatever Dario deemed worthy of his seriousness and worthy of counsel with him was likely little more than a trifling matter. Like a shortage of Scythe. Or a deadly outbreak of blood infections splashed across headlines that affected exactly three humans and threatened to cause maybe one vampire in that particular region to feed cautiously. Or feed in a neighboring county. The horror! Greyson mocked in his head. Both were hardly problems worthy of discussion, much less the gloom-and-doom nature of his mood. But both were typical of Dario.
“Sorry.” Dario offered an unprecedented apology and cleared his throat. “I do have an urgent matter I need to discuss with you.” He paused. Greyson assumed it was for dramatic effect.
“Which is?” He rolled his hand forward to encourage Dario to keep going. He had his own pressing matters to attend to. He needed to get to Alex. At the very least, she deserved to know what the heck was happening to her and how it would impact her life.
“Shall we sit?” Dario asked and looked around for a place to sit. His eyes settled on the lumpy, mustard-colored couch in the living room, and he crinkled his nose. Feeling the angry press of Greyson’s gaze, he said, “Or we can stand. Standing is fine.”
“Get to the point already, Dario. I have somewhere I need to be.” Greyson folded his arms across his chest.
“Wherever you go, be careful. Be vigilant.” His words were as intense as his dark eyes when they met Greyson’s.
“I always am,” Greyson replied.
“Yes, but now more than ever...” Dario started but allowed his voice to trail off. He rubbed his forehead, his fingers working the worried lines scrawled there.
“Why? Why now more than ever?” Alarm niggled at the back of Greyson’s brain. The same alarm he’d felt when he’d left Inferno and found a pair of people who’d looked human lurking near his car.
“We have a problem. All of us,” Dario said.
“All of who?” A strong, foreboding presentiment struck Greyson.
“All of our kind. All vampires,” he answered.
The ominous feeling within Greyson grew.
“Something is hunting us,” Dario continued. “Killing us off.”
Engulfed in a wash of goosebumps, Greyson’s scalp tightened and tingled. The couple from the back alley by Inferno flashed in his mind’s eye. Their scent had been off. Their response had been unnatural. Nothing about them had seemed right. They hadn’t feared him. They hadn’t seemed human. “What?” The room spun and a fine sheen of sweat gathered at the small of his back. “What happened?”
“I just left Garret, Heidi and Liam’s house over in Pennsylvania.” He pushed his fingers though the front of his frosted, floppy hair and squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them, a pained expression claimed his features. “Their house was burned to the ground. They were murdered.”
“Murdered? How do you know? A fire wouldn’t kill a vampire. Even in broad daylight,” Greyson tried to reason but deep down, he knew Dario was right.
“I saw ashes.” Dario’s words echoed like the toll of a bell. “In the woods behind the house. I saw them, Greyson. The ashes of our kind.” He shook his head, his gaze distant and unfocused. “Firefighters were there. I slipped past them, unseen and went to the rear of what used to be their house. I went to warn them. I was too late.”
Greyson’s mouth went dry and his heart began to pound. “All three of them are gone?” His voice was a hoarse whisper. He’d met them. Once. But he’d still met them. The thought of all three of them being found seemed impossible. The thought of them being found, targeted, and killed was inconceivable. “Why? Who would do that? One of us?”
“No,” Dario shook his head, adamantly rejecting the possibility that a vampire would murder another vampire. “Our kind do not kill one another. Not usually, at least.”
A laugh slipped from Greyson, inappropriate and foreign to his own ears. “Humans are okay to murder, but fellow vampires, not so much.” He bobbed his head. “At least there’s a code of conduct, right?” he asked sarcastically. “Usually,” he added for good measure.
Dario stared at him blankly. “Greyson, that’s not what this is about. Vampires didn’t kill Garret, Heidi and Liam. And they didn’t kill all of the patrons at Inferno in Boston either.”
“Inferno in Boston?” Every ounce of sarcasm seeped from Greyson. “I was just there the other night.” Dread filled him.
“You were?” Dario asked and didn’t mask his shock.
But Greyson ignored his tone. He was too busy reliving the unparalleled fear he’d felt in the presence of the couple. “I know who did it. I saw them outside in the alleyway just outside Inferno.” He closed his eyes and saw them as clearly as he would had they been standing before him now. Despite their immaculate appearances, their flawlessness features and expensive clothes, they emanated a singular attitude. The mindset of a predator. An adversary. Greyson had been in their scopes but hadn’t been their intended target. Inferno and all those who’d dwelled inside had been. Greyson opened his eyes. “I don’t know what they were but they seemed to know what I am. And they wanted me dead. I saw it in their eyes.”
Dario’s face drained of color. “My God,” he breathed. He scrubbed his hands down his face. “I’ve seen one, too.” He paused, composing himself. “What you said just now, about the look in their eyes, I saw it, too. I saw their hatred for us.”
Greyson’s blood ran cold. “What are they?”
“I have no idea.” Dario shook his head slowly. “But whatever they are, there are more out there than the three that we’ve seen.” He gestured over his shoulder toward the door. “Our kind are being killed off all over the country. Word is that vampires are being targeted and killed both here, in this country, and in others, as well.”
Dario’s words settled over Greyson’s skin like a shroud of ice, causing a chill to permeate his very marrow. “What are you planning to do?”
Dario pinched the bridge of his nose. “No plans have been made yet, but word has traveled fast and a meeting has been set. Every vampire in the country will unite. We’re uniting against whatever these things are,” he spat the word “things” with such disdain, such resolve, Greyson almost lost sight of the irony of the situation. Vampires, a species that had been hunting humans for centuries and held that they were the absolute top of the food chain, had moved from being hunter to hunted. “And we’ll exterminate them like the cockroaches they are.”
“Okay,” Greyson answered simply.
“Okay?” Dario asked. Confused, Greyson nodded. Dario repeated the word incredulously, “Okay? That’s your answer to your species being targeted and hunted down like...like...”
“Humans?” Greyson cocked his head to one side and asked in a tone so pleasant it was cloying.
“Yes!” Dario erupted, balling his fists at his side as if he were on the verge of a temper tantrum. “Greyson, this is not the time to get on your soap box and whine. We are what we are. We can’t apologize for it. Humans don’t apologize to cows before they eat them, do they?”
Greyson held up a hand to silence Dario. “Please, no cow analogies tonight.” He couldn’t hack another long-winded, misguided comparison between humans and a large domesticated animal raised for its meat and milk. Livestock and humans were not a fair comparison in Greyson’s mind. And while he didn’t support or advocate the unfair or unethical treatment of any creature, now was certainly not the time to debate Dario, a man with as much compassion and caring as a brick.
Throwing his hands in the air, Dario said, “Whatever! Fine, I won’t try to enlighten you. But come. Come with me and unite with your kind. This is serious. We are being hunted!” He enunciated each word while raising his voice substantially to highlight his point.
Greyson shook his head as tension gathered between his shoulder blades. “I-I can’t now.” Alex’s face appeared in his mind. Now, not only had he ruined her life by robbing her of basically everything, he’d also placed her in harm’s way. Now, she, and every other vampire, had a giant bull’s eye on their backs.
“You can’t now?” Dario shouted. “What could possibly be more important than this?”
Greyson couldn’t explain it to Dario. Dario would never understand. “I have something I need to take care of,” he offered vaguely. “Besides, I have no desire to gather with our kind.”
“Nothing that you have to take care of is as important as this, Greyson!” Dario thundered. “You are a vampire. You are one of us. You are one of our kind! And you, like every one of us, are at risk!”
Greyson looked directly at Dario. In a level voice, he said, “I’m not coming with you.”
Dario held his gaze for several beats. He was sure Dario had plenty to say. Plenty of criticism intended to goad him into going. But Greyson also knew that others were aware of how he was and how he chose to live. They knew he never compromised his principles, his values. They knew he stood for what he believed in. He stood for what he believed was right. Even though that meant standing alone. Dario knew it, and Greyson was sure he saw it in the unwavering resolve of his gaze. “Fine, Greyson,” Dario said exasperatedly. “You win. Don’t come. Be whatever it is you think you are. Say whatever you want about our kind. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Thank you for warning me,” Greyson said sincerely. “Keep me updated, and I’ll let you know if I see anything, as well.”
Dario dipped his chin to his chest and bowed slightly. “As you wish.” When he raised his head, he looked upon Greyson in a way he’d never regarded him. With an almost fatherly expression and tone, he said, “I think you’re making a terrible mistake not coming.”
Greyson took a deep breath to calm himself. Dario had offered his opinion. And now Greyson would offer his. “Am I really?” he asked. “Think about it. The bar is where groups of vampires gather. And that’s where they were killed. Garret, Heidi and Liam lived as a group. A small group, but a group nonetheless.”
“What’s your point?” Dario asked.
“My point is this: it seems rounding us up for slaughter is what they want. They’re clearly not stupid and they’re clearly watching our every move. If they get wind of this meeting you’re planning, don’t you think that would be an excellent place for them to strike?” Greyson held Dario’s gaze and watched as his jaw fell slack. “They could kill a mother lode of vampires in the U.S. in one shot.”
“B-but there’s strength in numbers,” Dario said as if trying to convince himself more than Greyson. He paused a moment, as if weighing each side of the argument. Then, in a far more self-assured voice, he said, “There is strength in numbers, for sure. All of us together could easily take any amount of any creatures.”
It was on the tip of Greyson’s tongue to point out that he thought Dario was overconfident and grossly overestimating their position, but he knew it’d be a waste of time. Dario didn’t know what else to do. Vampires being hunted by an unidentified and potentially more cunning species was an unprecedented occurrence. He’d never be persuaded by anyone, much less Greyson, so he decided to shift the course of the discussion to the question that lingered in his mind. “Dario, why do you think we’re being targeted? Why do you think they’re killing us?”
Dario scratched the back of his head and paced back and forth for several moments. “Oh I think that’s the simple part of all of this,” he said.
“You do?” Greyson asked, truly curious to hear Dario’s take on the subject of their intended extinction by an unknown adversary. “What is it then?”
Dario stopped pacing and pinned his gaze on Greyson. “Because we can see them.”
Greyson froze in place for the second time that night.
“No one but us can sense them. Humans can’t even sense us. They’re easily influenced by the seductive glamor we emanate. They’re willing participants. They want to be bewitched by us. By anyone. And they’d be the ones to see these others if they could. But clearly they don’t, which means the others blend more seamlessly than we do.”
He knew Dario was right, for he had known it the moment he’d seen the couple in the alley outside of Inferno. On the surface, they’d appeared as any other humans would. But beyond the superficial, when he looked just a bit closer, he saw that many things didn’t add up. Many things betrayed them. He’d seen how their eyes glittered with hatred for him, how they’d been devoid of fear, and how their watchful, hate-filled gazes had studied him with the keen intensity and patience of skilled predators. Greyson had known the moment their gazes had clashed with his that he’d been marked for death.
The need to warn Alex blasted through him like cannon fire. A war had been waged. And she was in line of fire. He didn’t have a moment to spare. Greyson shouldered past Dario and out his front door. He needed to save Alex Lockhart.