It’s probably for the best anyway.
The morning sunshine falls over my skin and makes me shiver. If I spend too much time in it, I’ll do more than just redden up with an itchy sunburn. No, my skin will start to bubble with blisters that pop and ooze blood, and my vision will get blurry and splotchy. I’ll start to feel dizzy and lightheaded until eventually, I pass out. And then, if I spend long enough in the sun, I’ll die and I’ll come back as something awful, an unnatural scourge with no self-control and a penchant for destruction.
Vampires can die and come back stronger, more powerful, and completely in control. Dhampirs...can’t. When we die, our human half stays dead, leaving us in a terrifying state of purgatory. I’ve seen a few strigoi and they are not pretty. Cut my head off, please, if I ever turn into one of those.
But a few minutes or hell, even a few hours in the sunshine isn’t a big deal. Even for a pureblood vamp, some stray rays of sun aren’t going to light them up like the Fourth of July. They won’t spend a significant amount of time in it, and they sure as shit won’t ever go spend a day at the beach, but it doesn’t kill them outright.
I start down the block and hate myself a little for actually heading in the direction of Velvet Tempers, the stupidly overpriced vamp bar that Wolfe snidely suggested. Just go home, Cam, I tell myself, but if I don’t heal these wounds and wind up on some other crazy mission tomorrow, it’ll be me getting dumped in the cemetery for the ghouls to eat.
My heeled boots are loud against the pavement, the early morning sounds of humans getting up and preparing for work a backdrop that’s as insignificant to me as the songs of birds are to them. We all live in the same world, but clearly there’s one species that rules the other. Humans might not know it, but the vamps control everything: business, religion, politics, war. It’s all a game for them. There are few species that can even compete: a few types of powerful fae, angels, demons, dragons and...uh. Yeah, no, that’s basically it. Even then, the power struggle is currently tipped in the vampires’ favor. Our Family Houses—the vamp versions of governments and countries—are so well organized and coordinated in their efforts that nobody stands against them.
The biggest threat to vampires is...other vampires.
I hear the set of double footsteps behind me before my pursuers realize I do. Shit, they probably think they’re moving on silent wings. Vampires always underestimate dhamps, for fuck’s sake.
In the blink of an eye, I take off across the road and run up the side of a building, grabbing onto the roof with my fingers and throwing my body over. I roll for a split-second, but manage to get myself up in a flash, sprinting over to the edge of the roof and vaulting onto the next. I manage to stay ahead for about three buildings’ worth before a body tackles mine and sends us both crashing across the graveled surface and into a brick chimney.
“Whoa, cool it, Cam,” Sorrow whispers, straddling me and pinning my arms above my head. “How did you know we were following you?”
I smirk up at him, at the slight roundness of his face, just enough to trick an onlooker into thinking he’s harmless. But then those full, luscious lips curve back over shiny white fangs and the whole illusion is shattered to pieces.
“That’s for me to know and you to never find out,” I quip, using a technique I learned over the years. It’s a special secret called...kick ‘em right in the nuts. Slamming my knee up and into Sorrow’s crotch, I make him groan, but for once, it actually doesn’t get a guy to let me go. Instead, he pushes me down even harder against the roof’s surface, grinding my skin into the gravel. He settles his hips down, too, until our pelvises are pressed together and I have no way to kick him again. “What do you want anyway?” I ask as he curses under his breath and scowls at me.
“We came to take you up on your offer,” Vyce says, surprising me. I’d known he was following me, but I hadn’t heard him join Sorrow and me on this particular roof. Turning my head slightly, I spot him sitting on the small retaining wall with one knee propped up, arms wrapped around it as he watches us with a curious expression. “For sex and blood.”
“Is that so?” I ask as Sorrow releases me and backs up, his tight white tee stretched over pale skin, his red leather motorcycle jacket hanging over his broad shoulders. I sit up and rub at the back of my head. It already hurts like hell, so getting tackled into a hard gravel roof wasn’t exactly helpful. “Changed your minds, huh?”
“Well, you managed to piss Wolfe off so badly that he stormed off.” Vyce shrugs. “Sorrow and I now have the rest of the morning free.” He hooks a sharp smile at me, sunlight catching on the myriad blues, greens, and purples in his hair.
“Both of you, huh?” I ask as Sorrow holds out his pale hand, and I take it, admiring the red and black striped paint on his nails. He’s got this...shall I say Final Fantasy VII look to him that I quite like. Reminds me of my childhood. Video games gave me an escape into another world, a gateway to something better than the constant fear and horror of the life we led.
And all because of a grandfather I’d never met and an asshole vampire named Rumpel Stiltz. Yet, here I was, about to sleep with at least one Stiltz kin. There’re dozens of them, all taken from bogus bargains that stole away firstborn children. None of them are actually related, just raised by Rumpel and trained in magic, politics...and certain other skills. And by skills, I mean murdering people. They’re all trained assassins.
“Are you a Stiltz brother, too?” I ask and Sorrow raises two pale brows at me before glancing over at Vyce.
“I gave her my card,” he says with a loose shrug of his shoulders, eyes gleaming. “She looked like she might need it.” I frown at that because I can’t decide if he’s insinuating I’d come to him for sex in the future...or if he’s actually implying I might be a potential client. Huh. “And yes, this is my...‘brother’, Sorrow.” Vyce makes little quotes with his fingers and then smirks, before rising to his feet like a shadow stretched out by the sun.
Hmm.
Two of Rumpel Stiltz’ kin?
If Mom were still alive, she would totally kill me. She’d tell me to stay as far away from these men as possible. But one quick tumble in bed shouldn’t hurt, right? I mean, Vyce drank my blood and he clearly has no idea that I’m quite literally the one that got away, the one Stiltz bargain never paid in full.
“You want to take us home?” Sorrow asks, wiggling his brows at me and then flashing another dangerous grin.
I have to think for a second, and the boys exchange a look. It’s clear they’re not often—if ever—turned down.
“I live in a shitty apartment above a Chinese food restaurant,” I say, gesturing with my chin in the direction of Dog Town. “It perpetually smells like fried rice and sweet and sour chicken.” I pause and frown. “Which honestly, could be sweet and sour Chihuahua for all I know. The owner is always out in the back alley trying to catch stray dogs.”
“Sounds appealing,” Sorrow says, tossing an arm over my shoulders, the scent of vampire wafting over me and making me shudder. Shit, I think I’m addicted to it. It reminds me of all the things I’m not and...maybe secretly wish I could be?
Ugh, Mom would be fucking disappointed in me.
If she hadn’t been executed in cold blood, maybe I’d get to find out.
“Follow me, boys,” I say, refusing to admit that bringing back two Stiltz boys to my apartment is a bad idea. If I get caught, if Rumpel gets a hold of me...I’ll be his forever.
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