“So you think he might know something?”
I shrug. “It’s strange for him to be in contact with so many of them and not be involved.”
“I take it we’re headed back to the club tonight.”
I grin at him. “Where I get to show you some more wickedly sexy moves.”
“More? You act like you showed me at least one last time,” he says. I turn to glare at him, but he acts like the look doesn’t affect him in any way.
I pat his cheek since I’m not allowed to kiss him or fondle him. “I’m going to head home and get a shower and change. I’ll meet you back here at like… six?”
“Wait, what?” he asks as he grabs my arm when I start to get up. “You’re not going home.”
“I’m… not? Ooh, are you planning on keeping me captive until you can steal my heart? Tying me up and proclaiming your raging love to me? Spoiler, you already have it.”
He looks at me like I’m crazy, which kind of confuses me. It’s just a shower. “No, you’re not allowed to just waltz off while that fucking freak is watching you,” he growls.
I stiffen. “Two things. One, this has been going on for a long time. Two, I have a date for lunch I need to get ready for.”
He stares at me, trying to decide if I’m lying or not. “Excuse me? I have already decided you won’t be alone anymore.”
“I won’t be. I’ll be with my date.”
“Yeah, well, guess what? You’re not going or I’m going with you.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Ooh, threesome. Alright, sure! Get ready then, if you’re going to follow me everywhere. I need to stop at home and get my sexy clothes on.”
“Or you could wear what you have on.”
I look down at his clothes that hang on me. “It’s like… you’re a dog that has a bone and you really don’t want the bone. You won’t lick the bone or nibble on it, but you don’t want anyone else to have the bone because it’s your bone.”
“Correct. You’re mine and I can do with you as I want.”
I sigh and get up. “I’m going to take a shower. Make sure you don’t peep on me. Or if you do, make sure you let me know so I can give you a show.”
“Don’t fret.”
“I’ll leave the door cracked just in case.”
“You really don’t need to.”
I head into the bathroom and turn the shower on. I quickly find that I have a peeper, just not the peeper I wanted. “Hey, puppers,” I say as Artie watches me undress.
I slide into the seat across from Orin. “Hey! I brought my leech with me; I hope you don’t mind.”
Orin raises an eyebrow. “Finny, you really need to work on your flirting. They’re called pet names, not degrading names.”
“Oh…” I look over at Marcus. “He does like it when I call him McFangyface.”
“Good, then I’ll call him that too,” Orin says.
Marcus sighs. “You didn’t tell me we were meeting Orin.”
“Of course I did.”
“You said you had a date.”
Orin snickers. “Does Marcus usually join you on your dates?”
“Um… well,” I turn to look at Marcus who’s got the stoic I’m-a-badass-vampire-don’t-fuck-with-me look going on, “he’s got this thing wrong with his brain where he thinks he’s my master but he refuses to touch me. It’s really kinky, and at first—I’ll admit—I wasn’t sure I was a fan, but now! He’s all ‘You ain’t going on a date alone!’ with that grumbly thing he does, and I find it kind of cute.”
Orin nods like he understands. “My wife was like that.”
“Grumbly?”
“Yeah. Real deep voice.”
“Which one?”
“The… fifth one.”
“Ah, yes, the one that tried cutting your head off, right?”
Orin smacks his leg like he thinks this is hilarious. “Yes! She was a vampire hunter back in the eighteen hundreds! Gosh, I miss that woman.”.
“I’m sorry you lost her,” Marcus says.
Orin waves him off. “Oh no, no, she’s still alive. I changed her. We get together every now and then, have a little fun, and part ways again. I think we’re still married.” He shrugs.
“They’re really strange,” I inform Marcus.
“I see…”
“She’d come in like a fucking tornado. I remember thinking how much cooler she was than Orin. She’d come home and bring me these presents. She bought me a machete, a broadaxe, nunchucks, and a kitten. Orin took all but the kitten and hid them from me.”
“You were twelve and they weren’t fake. They were historical pieces of weaponry that’d really been used to kill people,” Orin says.
“I was abused as a child,” I say as I look at Marcus. “Pity me.”
“You were abused because your adoptive father wouldn’t let you have a broadaxe at twelve? Could you even pick it up? It probably weighed more than your body.”
“It still does!” Orin adds.
I glare at the atrocity I have just witnessed. “Excuse me? No. Orin, you’re supposed to take my side. You’re supposed to be like the dad that threatens and grumbles at the potential love interest.”
“Yeah, but Finn… in those movies and books there are multiple choices for the child and the parent wants what’s best. This is your only option and honestly, he’s too good for you,” Orin says.
My glare could probably cut steel. “That’s it. You two can eat lunch together, and I’ll eat lunch alone and still make you pay,” I grumble, but I’m not sure it can be heard with them laughing with each other like they’re old pals. So I continue glaring at them.
“When he gets that pouty angry look, I always gave him whatever he wanted as a kid,” Orin says. “It’s like a feisty kitten.”
I groan in case they aren’t aware that I’m not enjoying this. “This was a horrible idea. Orin, how about we talk about something else, like… can you help us?”
“Depends. If you need love advice, I’m definitely your man.”
“You’ve had five wives,” Marcus says.
Orin doesn’t look deterred. “Yes, but I’m very old.”
Marcus looks amused. “And I’m just as old!”
Orin thinks about it for a moment. “I can tell you guys what not to do.”
I wave him off. “You don’t need to worry. Marcus is scared of my humanness.”
“Ah, it is difficult caring for a human,” Orin says.
“Wait, what? Now you don’t love me?” I ask.
He starts laughing. “I love you very much, that’s why it’s difficult. I hate how fast you’re growing up.”
“I’m twenty-nine. It’s not that fast.”
“It is to me. So what do you need?”
“You’re very well-known in the vampire community. I want you to see if you can dig up anything on a vampire who recently attacked us.”
“The lady you were working with?” he asks.