“Did I mention he was a car thief in his past life?” I asked, reaching for the fence.
She grunted. “No,” she denied. “I think you forgot to mention that.”
I laughed, then turned my back on her and walked back inside.
CHAPTER 9
Stalkers - is it technically called stalking when your stalker is aware that you’re there?
-Asking for a friend
ACADIA
I was stalking the poor man.
But was he, technically, a man? Was a vampire, a man that was dead for all intents and purposes, classified as a man?
Though he had a cock and it got hard—which technically would make him a man—at least in my book.
“He sees you, you know,” Keisha said as she popped more popcorn into her mouth.
“How do you know?” I asked, turning away from the man that kept drawing my eyes.
Her smile was evil.
“Because every time you turn around, his eyes come to you like he knows you were looking at him, and he’s done it not just once, but over ten times. It’s getting comical how much each of you are actively trying to stay away from each other,” she drawled.
I smacked my forehead with my hand.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
She took another handful of popcorn and slowly started to pop it, piece by piece, into her mouth. Her eyes were on something over my shoulder, and I knew she was watching him.
“Who is that lovely shade of male specimen beside him?”
I chanced a glance, and my heart started to pound.
“That is Abraham,” I murmured, turning back around once the other male’s eyes released mine. “He’s Constantine’s right-hand man.”
“And what about the man on his left?”
I didn’t have to turn to know who that was.
“That is his left-hand man.” I snickered.
She threw a piece of popcorn at me.
“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” she grunted. “But really. What’s his name?”
“Pavlov, I believe,” I admitted. “Though, nobody is actually sure since we can’t get any more info on him.”
“Who is we?” Keisha asked, scooting in closer, sensing a juicy story.
“Me and my brother, Nash,” I answered. “We did research on the vampires in the city once he realized he was going to make the move over to represent them. He didn’t want to be caught off guard, nor be around any of them by himself if they were completely dangerous.”
“Ahh.” Keisha nodded in understanding. “That makes a whole lot of sense.”
It did. My brother was always prepared, no matter what. Though, that had a lot more to do with his Army Ranger skills than anything else. He was a badass in a suit.
Though, as I turned around, I realized my brother wasn’t the only badass that could pull off a suit. Each of Constantine’s men, including him, could pull off the badass suit thing.
Constantine, however, held all of my attention. Demanding it and expecting me to obey.
I wasn’t sure he even realized what he was doing—calling me with his looks.
Which sounded completely stupid when I thought about it, but it was there. Every time he moved, my eyes went to him, whether I wanted them to or not. It was like I had an attention problem or something.
My phone vibrated, and I looked down at my watch, cursing under my breath when I read the message I’d just received.
“Fuck, I gotta go,” I grumbled, looking at my watch. “I’m needed at work.”
Keisha waved goodbye with her frou-frou champagne glass full of popcorn—not that I thought that was what the glass was supposed to be used for. Keisha just didn’t give a shit. She wanted popcorn, and the little baby cups that the event organizer had provided weren’t nearly big enough.
My heels clicked as I made my way across the dance floor, deftly avoiding some overly excited dancers that were twirling and dipping like they were listening to a salsa song instead of a freakin’ slow one.
But whatever. If that’s how they wanted to dance, then who was I to tell them differently?
I’d just made it to the edge of the dance floor when I realized I’d be passing directly by Constantine and his friends.
I didn’t speak as I passed, but I knew he knew I was there.
I could practically feel his caress as I skirted by him, and I shivered.
“Where are you going?”
My brows furrowed, and I realized that what had just been said, hadn’t been uttered aloud.
It’d been in my brain.
I looked around, my eyes wide, and found him.
Constantine.
He was standing among his friends, exactly where I’d left him. He was nodding his head to something the men were saying to him, but his eyes were zeroed in on me.
Thinking he would be able to hear me if I thought the words at him, I waved and headed out, all the while explaining exactly what I was doing in my head.
When work calls, I go.
His growl of understanding was just as sexy in my head as it was in real life.
Be careful.
• • •
“Don’t fucking do it again,” I snapped at the rookie police officer. “I don’t give a flying fucking turd if the victim was a vamp whore,” I snarled. “She is worthy of my time, attention, and skills just like any fucking person on this earth is—living or dead.”
Swear to Christ.
They—the police officers of this town—thought that they could treat this as nothing seeing as the woman was a willing ‘vamp whore’ as everyone liked to call the ladies and gentlemen that willingly allowed vampires to feed from them.
But they couldn’t.
Not on my watch.
And my brother, despite his obvious discomfort when it came to vampires, wouldn’t be very happy when this came to light.
“Now, get the fuck out of my scene before I kick you out.” I paused. “In case you’re curious, I’m wearing heels, and they hurt when I put force into my kick.”
The little shithead cop walked off looking as if he’d just been chastised by an annoying teacher and not someone that had the clout to get him canned.
But I would get him fired if he ever fucked up like this again.
“Was just fed on,” Grady murmured. “The puncture wounds are still red.”
I pointed at the blood on the ground that was congealing to something the same consistency as gravy.
“If it was a vampire that did this, she wouldn’t have any blood left,” I informed Grady. “And that one isn’t bitten.”
I pointed to the man—at least I assumed it was a young man based on the clothes he was wearing—and gestured to the guy’s face which had clearly been blown apart with a shotgun blast to the head.
Grady grunted. “Just seems suspicious is all.”
I rolled my eyes. Everything was suspicious to Grady.
He was damn good at his job, but he was wary of freakin’ everything. Everything could be explained away—and not in a good way. In a suspicious way.
In Grady’s world, the door to the elevator opened too quickly—must be a ghost in the hotel.
Food arrived from the kitchen minutes after we placed the order—they must’ve stolen someone else’s food to serve to him and he didn’t need the bad karma that would bestow upon him.