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“You mean they’re feeding from these people you give them? You’re giving them victims to feed from?” Nolan’s brain had completely stopped working. These Sandor vampires had turned him into some kind of twisted Renfield, finding their victims each night.
“Get over yourself! Most of the time, the people I find are these stupid young girls who are practically begging me for an introduction to these vampires. They think they’re all hot and sexy. I’m doing them a favor.”
Nolan’s fingers tightened on the phone until his knuckles ached. “And do these girls truly understand what they’re agreeing to? Is it a one-time thing and they can go home? Or are they being drained to death?”
“Fuck if I know. That’s none of my business. But I ain’t heard of a dead body popping up yet, so whatever.”
With his empty hand, Nolan rubbed his eyes, the anger and frustration draining out of him. He didn’t know what to do. There was a part of him that wanted to leave his brother to this mess he’d made. If these people he handed to the vampires were getting hurt, Owen deserved whatever he got. But maybe he was overreacting. Maybe the vampires weren’t killing the young girls. They couldn’t kill everyone they drank from, right? Otherwise, how would they have stayed hidden from humans all this time?
“So, what happened? You finally tire of it?”
“No. They wanted something…different. I said I could deliver, but I can’t. They’re being unreasonable. I’ve given them more than enough to repay my debt, but they won’t let me go. Now that I can’t deliver, they want my head. You’ve got to come get me! I need to get the fuck out of town!”
Nolan swallowed a sigh and clenched his teeth. It was probably the smartest thing. If he could get Owen safely out of town, he could work on getting this debt officially cleared so the vampires wouldn’t harass him.
“Fine. Where are you?”
Owen spit out an address and Nolan hurried to his desk so he could write it on the first piece of scrap paper he found. He glanced up at the large clock hanging on the wall of his office and cringed. It was after four, and the address Owen had given him was in Hartford. Thankfully, it was Saturday, and they didn’t have to worry about rush-hour traffic as they made their way into the city, but it was better if he left now. No reason to cut this close.
“I’ll be leaving in five.”
“Hurry!” Owen snarled and hung up the phone.
Nolan wanted to snap at his useless brother, but a fresh problem popped into his brain. He didn’t have a car. Sky had driven him home last night. His car was still in the parking lot he’d found a few blocks from the nightclub, assuming the lot operator hadn’t towed it already. More likely, the city had booted it.
He had no way to hurry into town. Fuck! A rideshare at this hour was going to cost a small fortune. There was no choice. He had to beg a ride off Sky. It also didn’t hurt that he liked the idea of having someone who understood this world at his back.
Swearing a blue streak at his brother for disrupting his life once again, Nolan ran into his bedroom, changed clothes into something that was at least clean, washed up as best he could in two minutes, and was out the door after grabbing his wallet, phone, keys, and the slip of paper with the address. He charged up the front stairs and raised his hand to knock when the door opened to Sky’s smiling face. Nolan’s heart leaped into his throat and stayed there for a second. This magic shit was too weird.
“Hey!” Sky greeted cheerfully. “You look like you got some sleep!”
“My brother called me,” Nolan blurted out.
The joy lifting the corners of Sky’s lips evaporated, and he became serious in a flash. “How is he? Did he tell you what’s going on?” Sky inquired as he retreated, inviting Nolan into his home.
“He doesn’t sound good. Panicked. Terrified. He needs me to come get him, but—”
“Your car is still stuck in town,” Sky finished with a nod. “Got it. Let me get my keys, and we can go.”
“Sky…” The necromancer’s name escaped him as a pained whisper, stopping Sky in his tracks as he turned into his house. He didn’t even hesitate or ask where Owen was hiding. He was willing to go wherever he needed to go to help Nolan. What was he supposed to do with that? Even Jennifer, one of his oldest and most trusted friends, would spend at least a moment bitching about his worthless brother and how Nolan needed to let him stew in the mess he’d made.
Why hadn’t he thought to call Jennifer for a ride? She would have helped him if she could, and it usually took only fifteen minutes for her to reach his place.
