He shuts me out of his head. He’s angry or disappointed. Maybe both. I can’t tell. But the result is the same. I give in with a sigh. “Sorry. You are my friend. I should have been in touch sooner.”
I glance around the bar. It’s almost empty this early on a Sunday morning. There are a couple of vamps sitting with two human women. The snatches of thought I catch from the vamps are that they’re well fed and well sexed and are looking for a way to leave gracefully without offending the female hosts. They may want a repeat performance down the line. The vibes the females give off tell me they wouldn’t object. I watch them a few moments until Culebra is back in my head.
You’re stalling.
I’m granted another reprieve when my host appears at the door. He grins at me with a look calculated to let anyone watching think I’d sucked more than his neck. I’m tempted to make a snarky remark, but don’t. I simply let him swagger over to the other table. The females greet him, and in another moment, all five leave with a parting wave to Culebra.
We’re now alone.
Culebra waves his bottle in the direction of the door. “I assume that look was a bit of bravado for the benefit of his friends.”
I laugh. “You’ll need to change those sheets.”
The moment passes. I feel the intenseness of Culebra’s eyes as he waits. I release a breath. “What have you heard?”
“The challenge. What happened with Lance. The way you handled Chael. Sounds like you did well for yourself.”
Did I? What I didn’t tell Frey, what I’m hiding from Culebra now, is that nothing was settled. Not really. Chael is still intent on pursuing his own course. A course designed to elevate vampires to the top of the food chain and relegate humans to nothing more than fodder, an expendable food source whose only existence would be to serve their vampire masters.
Culebra’s voice breaks through my dark thoughts.
“What are you hiding from me, Anna?”
“Nothing.” Everything.
His thoughts are like a laser, trying to bore into mine. I know you better than that. What aren’t you telling me?
I raise the beer bottle to my lips, drain it. Rise. “Have to go, my friend. I’ll be in touch soon.”
Culebra doesn’t answer. I feel the heat of his frustration as I start to leave.
“Wait.”
I half turn, pause.
“I had a visitor yesterday. He left you a message.”
“Who would leave a message for me here?”
Culebra crosses to the bar, reaches behind it for a folded piece of paper. “Somebody who is afraid you wouldn’t return his calls if he tried to reach you directly.”
He holds the note out to me. As soon as I see the signature, I understand why he’d go through Culebra. He’s right. I wouldn’t have returned his calls.
The note is from Max.
Culebra feels the anger build as I stare down at the note. Max is an ex-boyfriend. Human. Couldn’t take off fast enough when he found out what I am, even though it’s because of what I am that he’s alive today. To make matters worse, he decided that sex with a vampire while acting as a host was a pretty damned good way to get his rocks off. So he comes here to enjoy fucking vampires. Anonymous vampires. It’s me he doesn’t want to fuck anymore.
My hand curls into a fist, crushing the note. “Why would you take this? You know how I feel about Max and his new hobby.”
Culebra holds up a hand in defense. “Max hasn’t come here to be a host for some time. Whatever he needed to get out of his system, he seems to have succeeded.”
“You mean me, right? He needed to get me out of his system.”
Culebra shakes his head. “Read the damn note, will you?”
I drag my eyes back to the note, open my hand, smooth the paper against my thigh. I can’t imagine being interested in anything Max has to say to me. The bastard left without saying good-bye.
The handwriting is cramped, uneven. As if he wrote the note in a hurry.
Anna. I need your help. Call me. Max.
“Wow.” I wave the note toward Culebra. “This makes me want to drop everything and ring him right up. He doesn’t even say please. Christ. Why would I want to help him?”