Page 57 of Spooks & Specters

“Move that ass for me.” Raven ran his hands over the writhing form in front of him. “What’s your name, sexy?”

“Stu.” The human backed up, his ass rubbing against Raven’s crotch. “Wanna dance?”

Raven let his body do the talking, brushing against Stu’s swaying form. That was answer enough, wasn’t it? Settling his hands on the lean hips in front of him, he pulled the human closer, letting him feel the raging need that strained against his zipper.

The guy in his arms gasped.

The thumping bass swept through Raven’s body, edging his already tense mood toward dangerous. He had no idea why, but his temper had been extremely short lately. There was a restlessness deep inside Raven that was driving him nuts.

And he had no idea what was causing it.

He brushed Stu’s hair back, angled his body closer, and nuzzled the moist skin of the human’s neck. Damn. He smelled good. Like, really good. Fantastic, even. Raven’s fangs itched, threatening to drop, which surprised him because that was not something he normally experienced. Then the body under his hands trembled, and a small smile crossed his lips.

Obviously his response was due to the pheromones this human was pumping out. And he was—almost overwhelmingly so. The guy was hot to trot and was as good as his.

Pleased, he maneuvered a hand under Stu’s loose, flimsy shirt and tweaked a nipple to hardness while his other slipped down and lightly caressed the bulge he found.

“Like that? Want more?” Raven squeezed the hard cock under his hand. “Tell me.”

“Fuck yes!”

It was pretty obvious to Raven that this guy had come here tonight with one thing on his mind, and Raven was going to give it to him. He let a couple more songs pass, testing the human’s boundaries. Pretty much nothing was off-limits.

From the way Stu panted and whined, he was sure he could have this guy right on the floor or up against the nearest wall. Why not have a little midnight bite?

Raven brushed his lips across the other man’s ear. “Want to come upstairs to my office with me?”

The human licked his lips suggestively, then leaned in close. “My best friend is a bobcat. His name is Martin Ingalls, and he’s a waiter at Embers. He’s a member of the daemon clan here in town.”

Raven almost grimaced but caught himself. Kage. This little human was talking about Kage’s clan. The same clan elder that Raven had managed to piss off not too long ago.

He almost walked away right then and there. Did he really want to get involved with that?

“I know who and what you are, and I’m willing.”

And that statement answered absolutely nothing. Willing? Willing to what? To feed Raven? To have sex with him? Both? Something else? And what did the human mean about knowing who and what Raven was? Obviously he knew he was a vampire, but did he know he was the Master of the City?

“Come with me,” Raven demanded, dragging Stu to the back room behind the main bar.

They needed to talk, and it needed to be done away from other humans and the pounding music.

“I’m not to be disturbed,” Raven said to the bartender as he pulled the human along behind him.

His bartender raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Yeah, this wasn’t something Raven normally did—not there at least. He did have an office, after all. But Stu’s words sat heavily between them.

The human interested him—he smelled delicious, but caution was needed, especially if this human was known to the daemon Elder. So before anything else happened, Raven had questions that needed to be answered.

When he opened the door, the light came on immediately, illuminating the space. Raven pulled the human into the storage room, then shut the door. He didn’t lock it so the human wouldn’t panic. Not that a locked door was truly the threat in the situation—that would be Raven. If Stu knew what Raven was, he should understand that.

“Huh. This is neither upstairs nor your office. At least I hope this isn’t your office. I was expecting something a little bit… more. More black. More dark. More Goth. I don’t know, more… bloodsucking stereotypic vampireness, I guess? Kind of a disappointment, honestly.”

This was either an incredibly brave human or an incredibly stupid one. “Sassy, aren’t you?”

“Why, thank you. Sassy was exactly what I was going for.”

Raven suppressed the small smile that teased his lips. “Then I would say you succeeded.”

“Awesome.” Stu leaned up against a couple of lockers. “So? Why are we here and not in the aforementioned office?”

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