Page 5 of Face

I furrowed my brow. “What is it?”

She chewed her lip and answered, “He said she’s somewhat, ah, shady—but good. Works for cash only, and… get this… will only meet at night.”

I lifted my right eyebrow. “Vampire?”

She shrugged one shoulder. “Could be, but I couldn’t exactly ask him that, ya know? I set up a meeting with her for tomorrow night.”

“Okay… and her credentials? I mean, what makes your friend think she can help us?”

Jemini’s lips twitched. “She’s apparently a very skilled hacker.”

I thought about this and realized we didn’t have much to lose. If she was indeed a vampire, that would make things easier. I hoped. “Okay, well, we can just hope for the best, I guess.”

“Gabe and I are headed out to the Devil’s Den for a bite. You coming with?”

I looked at the computer screens, realizing how much work I had to do, but also remembering I hadn’t eaten today. The last sustenance I’d had was that mug yesterday before the gym. I hated that I needed to feed more often than my older brothers, but Jemini understood since she was an even newer vampire than me. She and her boyfriend Phoenix, another lieutenant here, frequented the vampire bar more often than not. “Sure, let’s go.”

Jemini held onto Phoenix as they weaved their way through the streets of New Orleans with me trailing behind on my Harley. Once we reached the small, dark club, we parked our bikes out back and wandered inside.

The couple ordered whiskey, but I rarely drank and didn’t see any reason to start now. As a vampire, the alcohol metabolized too quickly to catch any kind of buzz. In college, I’d done enough drinking to last me the rest of my existence.

“Club soda, man,” I said to the bartender.

I looked around and saw all the blood whores and fellow vampires, and wondered how this place even stayed in business. They didn’t serve food and the cocktails weren’t very expensive. I assumed it was the humans who drank to relax before they got their life force sucked out by a preternatural creature such as myself.

It hadn’t taken Phoenix and Jemini long to find themselves a donor. As the human blonde sat on Phoenix’s lap with his mouth to her neck, Jemini suckled at the woman’s wrist with her eyes closed. I looked away and quickly spotted a woman in the darkest corner of the bar. She had long black hair and an exotic look to her. Her lips tipped up in a smile, and when she held her drink up to me, I knew that was a cue that she was available.

“I’m Parker,” I said, taking the empty chair across from her.

“Angel,” she replied with a smile. “You hungry, gorgeous?”

I nodded. “Yes, babe. Come have a seat.” I patted my lap. No use in pleasantries or small talk. We both only wanted one thing.

Setting her drink down, she grinned before slinking into my lap and wrapping her slender arms around my neck. Then, she leaned in and kissed me on the mouth as I ran my hand down her back and squeezed her ass. I kissed my way down to her jugular, the throbbing vein begging me to bite into it. Angel moved her sleek black hair to the side and seemed to push her neck out to me. Licking my lips, I felt my fangs descend and then quickly inserted them into her jugular. The blood flowed perfectly as I swallowed it down.

Angel moaned in my ear. “Yes. God, yes.”

My dick was stiff like it always was when I fed, and as I sucked down more of her deliciously sweet blood, I tried to remember the last time I got laid. It had been weeks if not months. Another blood whore.

Concentrate, Parker!

I listened to her heartbeat, which was still fairly strong, but told myself to stop feeding. Reluctantly, I pulled my teeth from her neck and then licked the wound slowly. I felt Angel shudder in my arms.

“Holy shit, I’m so horny,” she whispered in my ear. “Wanna get out of here and continue this elsewhere, gorgeous?”

Definitely couldn’t say no to that. “Lead the way, babe.”

As Angel dragged me by the hand, I waved at Phoenix, who was ordering another drink from the server at the table, and walked out the door of the bar with this blood whore to release some pent-up frustration. Her blow job in the alley behind the bar did not disappoint.

Chapter 3

Cloak & Dagger

“I feel like I’m in a spy movie,” Jemini said, looking around the dark alley as she crossed her arms over her black tank top. Lights from the mouth of the alley reflected off her black leather pants.

I glanced around. “You’re not wrong. This is weird as hell.”

She checked her phone. “It’s five past midnight. Where is she?”