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“Can you tell me where he is?”
Krow raised a pristine eyebrow. “On what grounds?”
“On the grounds of my late father, Steven Navarro.”
The vampires flanking Krow gasped at once. Krow appeared less amused now, his expression drooping as his eyes cast down at the table. He tapped it rhythmically with his manicured nail—well, it was more like a dagger than a nail, probably consistently sharpened for feeding use.
But I tried not to think about that right now.
“The old man is dead, eh?” Krow stated blandly. “Shame. Your family has helped us many times.” His eyes flashed pearlescent as he looked at me. “Allow me to set up a meeting. There’s an old factory just behind my establishment where we can rendezvous at midnight.”
I bowed my head. “I appreciate it deeply.”
“Do tell me if you need anything while you’re in town, Mistress.” His smile grew to such distinct points that it was like it dug into his face. “After all, we vampires do like to entertain.”
Chapter 9 - Eric
Drip was the kind of place that made me want to shift into my wolf form, soak up some pond water, and wander inside to shake it off on everybody nearby. Uptight fangs like Krow were the same ones who would taunt me and my troop during heavy battles—and usually, they could whip out some greater supernatural ability that overrode whatever we were capable of accomplishing at the time.
I could shift, sprint, and chomp with four times the strength of a typical beast. Vampires were similar with such strength, and on many occasions, displayed healing abilities that went beyond other typical fangs. Magic played a huge part in the war, and our side was often overwhelmed because of it.
That was all I could think about this morning. Despite the glorious sun illuminating a darling backyard with a stone path leading to a small white gazebo, despite the hot tub bubbling beside me, regardless of the curvy goddess swaying in my direction with a mug of freshly made coffee—I just didn’t feel right. About anything.
Last night was a mess. We went into Drip with a half-assed plan and walked out of there with enough fangs sniffing after us to cause my inner wolf to panic. We were just two people against an entire club of teeth—and we would have lost that fight easily.
Regina leaned toward me with a lopsided grin. “Black tourmaline for your thoughts?”
I stared blankly at her while accepting the mug. “Is that some kind of code for something?”
“No, it’s a stone that’s said to absorb negativity and dark thoughts.” She reached into the pocket of her patchwork pants and procured a flat, dark stone with sanded edges polished to shimmering perfection. “I just like saying that when people look worried.”
I huffed. “Do I look worried to you?”
“You definitely looked preoccupied.”
“Yeah, well…” I turned the stone around between my fingers, savoring its smooth surface. Already, I felt a bit better. But whether that was because the stone worked was unclear to me. Maybe it was just Regina and her assuring presence. “Vampires.”
“Vampires, indeed.”
I sighed and lowered the stone to my knee. My palm started sweating from holding the hot mug, but I wasn’t entirely concerned about getting burned.
Maybe in different ways. But not from hot coffee.
I sipped the coffee. Tart with a dash of oat milk, maybe brown sugar. It was perfect. “We need to treat this meeting like a trap.”
She gaped at me for a second, then broke into giggles. “Eric, you’re paranoid.”
“I’m not kidding, GG. I’m ex-Marines, remember?”
“That doesn’t mean we’re going to get ambushed.”
I took another sip. “Never assume you won’t get jumped. That’s rule number one.”
“And what’s rule number two?”
“Wear black. Always.”
She snorted as she giggled, covering her mouth with her free hand as she balanced her coffee in the other hand. Watching the joy light up her star-silver eyes made my heart flutter. Goddess, was that all it took to make her laugh?
