I blinked, next to her. “What?”
Folding her arms under her breasts, she pushed them up, like an offering. I wondered if she did it on purpose to distract me. The need to lick and suck at the ample swells already caused me to harden. My hunger for her was insatiable.
But I needed to focus. To help with that, I took a step back and leaned against the elevator railing. “Tell me what happened,” I demanded in a low voice.
She ran her fingers through her hair, still openly agitated. “I went to the jumper’s apartment. His name was Kyle Smith, and I figured maybe I could get some clues about who he’d been worshiping.”
“And did you?” I asked carefully.
“No.” She stomped her heeled foot as the lift opened.
Taking her arm, I led her forward. Lights flashed as people mobbed us with cell phones and cameras. My jaw tightened as I navigated Vivien through the throng of people. Miranda had also sent a few of her guards to keep the crowd at bay.
I was already a celebrity in the eyes of the public, though they could not understand their attraction to me. The truth was that they all carried a death wish, and it drew them to me like moths to a flame. Nearby, a gang of women, and even a couple men, bounced up and down in T-shirts with my face printed on them. Across their chests in big pink letters were the words “Grim’s Groupies.” I recognized the name. It was a popular online fan group.
I was used to the rubbernecking when I walked into a room. But with Vivien at my side, especially in one of her provocative outfits, people couldn’t take their eyes off us.
“What are the scratch marks from? Is he hurting you?” a paparazzo yelled out.
Another jumped on the line of questioning. “Is it from your adventurous sex life?”
I usually never responded, but my temper flared at the questions. If they wanted to run my name through blatant falsehoods to sell a couple of entertaining magazines, that was one thing. But to drag Vivien down into their petty muck…
The man who asked if I’d hurt Vivien lowered his camera, and I locked eyes with him. My death mask flickered through. Nothing but a skull and black sucking darkness. I sunk my power into him, overwhelming him with the sensation of his own oblivion.
The whites of his eyes widened, and his lips trembled as he stood, struck under my influence.
I wanted him to feel exactly how small and insignificant he was in comparison to the universe. How transient his life was. I could taste the taint on his soul, like a sour patina. It was not yet determined if he deserved entry into the afterlife, but if he continued on the path of disregard of others, he’d certainly earn a spot in Amit’s belly.
A groan of pain and fear slipped from between his lips.
Vivien dropped her arm to interlace her fingers with mine. “Down boy,” she mumbled. I pulled her closer to me, her spikes pressing into my suit. The pressure points soothed me, somehow.
She broke my attention from the man, so we left him a trembling, groaning mess. No one took note of his state as the crowd continued to hound us.
Vivien chose to smile at the flashing cameras. Or more like, bared her teeth at them. I half-expected her fangs to elongate. But instead, she flipped them the bird.
The valet opened the door to my black Bugatti Chiron, and I gave Vivien a hand in. Vivien had resisted my gentlemanly mannerisms for a while, until I explained I was the most old-fashioned person she’d met. And it was a small way I enjoyed showing respect for her, as well as using the excuse to touch her. After that, she stopped making a fuss about being able to open doors on her own.
I strode around the car, getting in the driver’s seat. Vivien had already punched in the directions for the ride. I closed the door, and the live wire that was Vegas nightlife, silenced. The engine came alive with a velvet purr, and I pulled away from the flashing camera lights. I waited to continue my questioning until we’d merged onto the interstate. “Tell me about the catfight. Who was it with?”
“I didn’t catch the name,” she seethed. “He wasn’t wearing a collar.”
“You’re serious,” I said, still not believing it. “You literally fought a cat.”
“Yeah, it was this massive Maine Coon cat. It was the biggest, fluffiest, most ornery feline I’d ever met.”
I struggled to keep a straight face.
She cast her glower at me. “It’s not funny.”
“I’d think a vampire would be faster and stronger than a cat. We’d best not let it get out that your kryptonite is a domestic animal.” I bit the inside of my cheek.
She punched me in the shoulder. “Hey, that thing was anything but domesticated. I didn’t use my super vampire abilities because I didn’t want to hurt him. He probably wasn’t used to intruders, but the little monster legit attacked me. No matter what I or Cupcake did, the fluffy beast would fly at my face, claws stretched out. Eventually, Cupcake and I managed to lock him in a closet. Poor Cupcake took a few blows too.”
“We’ll make sure Cupcake gets extra attention when we get back.” The pup enjoyed belly scratches, and I planned to spend ample time rewarding Cupcake’s bravery. Then I asked, “So you found nothing in the man’s apartment?”
Vivien’s eyes turned down, and she shrugged. “Not really. I found out he had a normal life as of two weeks ago. He changed when that damn sword got posted online. He worked as a bag boy at a grocery store. Then suddenly, poof, he goes off the radar. He doesn’t show up at work, doesn’t answer his phone, stops talking to his friends or family. I was hoping to turn up some kind of evidence of a payoff from one of the gods.”
