“The distribution center has cameras inside their building,” he says, and I realize where this is going.
“Ah shit.”
He nods. “Yeah. You know you’re not allowed to bite humans.”
Please don’t let this become a mess. “I’m very aware.”
“You should have just said something instead of trying to hide it,” Brooks says as he starts playing the video, like I don’t know what I did and how I shouldn’t have done it. “I didn’t understand the extent of how wounded you were. Church, you could barely function, and you said nothing about this to us. Was it just to hide that you fed on Hayes? If they have weapons to put a man like you down, then this is very concerning.”
He watches the me on the screen, but what I’m watching is Finn fighting off three vampires. Three. He’s a human. How is he even following them?
The Finn on screen fires his gun as the vampire is running so quickly the security camera makes him look like a blur. He comes back into focus as his head snaps back from the bullet.
Brooks seems to notice what I’m looking at and reaches for the mouse, but I push his rolling chair out of my way and stare at the screen.
“What is this?” I ask. “Is he a dhampir like his sister? He doesn’t feel or act like it, though. He’s human, right? But then… how is he following them?” I rewind it and watch the precision of his shots closely.
“He’s human, of course. So we’ll need a written statement from you and Finn—”
“Stop ignoring me. What is that?” I ask as I jab a finger at the screen.
That’s when the door opens, and Finn literally slides in and throws his arms up into the air. “I have two arms!”
Brooks laughs. “Ah! You finally got your arm back! I thought you might murder something if you didn’t get it back soon. I saw you opening that pop can yesterday.”
Finn’s eyes narrow. “You are no longer my favorite. It’s not my fault it was the can from hell. So… what’s up?”
What’s up is that you are hiding something from me, and I want to know what it is. A human does not have the ability to track a vampire like that.
Finn seems to notice me scrutinizing him. “Church, why are you staring at me like that? Do I look super handsome today, or something? Maybe like super arm-y, perhaps? Since I’ve got two arms.”
“Or something,” I grumble. “There were cameras in the building; they know I bit you.”
He hesitates. “Oh… I think we can write that off as a required instance, right? We would have died if Marcus didn’t heal. It was one hundred percent my idea, so if anyone gets in trouble for it, it’d be me.”
“Perfect, just write that down for me, and we’ll clear it,” Brooks says.
When he excuses us, I follow Finn through the door before catching his arm. “Can we talk?”
“Of course. Are you going to ask me on a date? Blackmail me into dating you? Spoiler alert, I’ll say yes.”
“No. Come on.”
“I already have my date outfit planned. Thong. That’s it. Not the cute kind either. The one with like the penis sling in the shape of some strange object. Maybe an ice cream cone. Do you like ice cream?”
“You do realize we work in a place filled with vampires who can probably hear you harassing me?”
“Nah, they’re not listening,” he says as I direct him away from them and into a quiet area where we won’t be overheard.
“Quiet room, hot vampire… oh, what are you up to, Nippy?”
I groan. How can I let this human treat me like this? “First thing, we need to talk about these… names.”
“Which ones?” Finn asks, like he doesn’t understand it.
“The Mr. Biteyface or whatever.”
He’s trying his hardest not to grin, but there’s that look of pure joy on his face. “I would never call you something like that.”
I stare at him as he gives me a gorgeous smile filled with affection.
He lets out a horrible sigh like I’ve broken his heart. “Fine. Second order of business?”
“Okay, I have a question—” I start, but I’m honestly not sure how to ask it in a way that he’ll tell me. He’s clearly trying his hardest to keep everything a secret from me.
“They’re blue,” he says, to fill up the silence.
“What?”
“My underwear… or weren’t you going to ask what color my underwear is?”
My eyes narrow because I’m now thinking of his blue underwear. “No.”
“I’m sorry, please continue.” He doesn’t look sorry, and now I’m thinking about him in an ice cream thong with blue underwear over it. I am a very old man. The mention of underwear should not affect me.
Focus, Marcus, focus. “How did you shoot the vampires? I watched the security tape of you.”
He cocks his head in that annoying way that tells me he knows exactly what I’m talking about but he’s going to play dumb. “With my gun.” He makes a finger gun and points it at me. “Pow!”
“No pow. Be straight with me.”
“Then I wouldn’t want you as much as I do now.”
I narrow my eyes, he smiles innocently. He’s trying so damn hard to distract me. Now he’s biting his lip and giving me a boyish grin. “Stop,” I growl.
His eyes get extra wide but the “cute” attack will not work on me. “Stop what?” Finn asks.
“Stop trying to distract me. I’m going to get you to explain this.”
“How? Gonna spank me first?”
I stare at him and the cocky expression deflates.
“Fine.”
“Honest?” I ask because who really knows what I’m going to get out of him.
“Yes.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
“Remember the accident where I lost my arm and leg?”
I’m not sure I could forget. “Yes.”
“So obviously you can’t lose an arm and a leg like that without nearly bleeding to death. Like I was close, super close to bleeding out. They thought I was going to die, and they needed to do a blood transfusion. I’m a rare type and so they used my sister’s blood.”
“They used a dhampir’s blood on you?” I ask in disbelief. I didn’t even know they could do that.
“Yeah… I don’t know if that’s what caused it… I was in so much pain during that time that it’s hard for me to remember specifics, but I assume that’s what it was. Obviously, she can’t turn me into a vampire, but I swear it heightened some of my senses. I’m not positive since I wasn’t a marksman as a child or anything, but I’m assuming that’s what it is. That’s why I wear the sunglasses outside. You know, the glasses you make fun of me for wearing? Because my eyes are sensitive to the light like yours are,” he says. “Remember? Remember making fun of me even though the bright light hurts my eyes?”
I grumble. “I remember.”
“You wanted to burn my eyes.”
“I did not! You were making fun of us!”
He grins. “Maybe.”
“Do others know about this?” I ask curiously.