Page 125 of By the Pint

“You may kiss the bride,” Dima added.

“It’s not a wedding — Oh, fine, you win. You may now kiss the vampire.”

And with that, Dima leapt into my arms, flung his legs around my waist, and brought his lips down to mine. His fingers threaded into my hair and his tongue slid across mine, eliciting a whine from the back of my throat, and causing my cock to stir in my suit trousers.

Nina ahem-ed, and eventually we pulled apart. Jason the Sullied and Yelena the Realist pulled party-poppers, exploding confetti and gunpowder towards our faces.

“Congratulations, Casey. I’m so proud of you,” Nina said. She silently swiped tears from her cheeks. “Let’s get this party started!” She knelt down, placed her lips against the end of a straw, and sucked blood from the blood bowl. “Ohhhh, that’s the good stuff. Imported from the South-West human realms. It’s spiced.”

Soon everyone had joined in on the suck-fest, including Dima. Jason leant over the bent back of Yelena, shoved his hand into the inside pocket of his overcoat, and passed me an unopened glass bottle of imported AB pos in a ziplock bag. Anda stainless-steel straw in another ziplock bag inside of the first ziplock bag.

I did say he was my favourite, didn’t I? I flashed him a wink and mouthed “Thank you.”

Vlad the Wrangler was the first to duck out of the celebrations, claiming he had a newly turned vampire under his care that needed almost constant surveillance. And then, one by one, the others left to get back to their shifts, except Vlad the Substitute, who wasn’t on duty that day, and apparently couldn’t read the room or realise he was no longer wanted.

“You wanna take a little stroll around your rooms? Say goodbye?”I have something I need to tell you, Nina said into both my head and Dima’s.

We walked into the bedroom together. It used to house a horrid hospital gurney type bed, but it now bore a single, plushly lined coffin in the centre. I had the option of having it propped up or laid flat. I went with flat, based on nothing more than vibes.

Dima had been waxing lyrical for an entire year about how beds were far superior to coffins.“You just wait until I get you in a bed, Moonflower. You’re going to love it.”

So,Nina began, shooting a glance to the door, even though all three of us could hear Vlad’s thoughts. He was reading the Assembly issued luggage tags on my suitcases, not paying us a stitch of attention.That mirror I gave you …

I fished it out of my jacket and flipped it over to look at the eye pattern.

I have one for Dima, too. Here.Nina pulled an identical mirror from her other butt-pocket and handed it to Dima.One side is a direct scrying line to the Assembly. And the other, this will connect you to a very exclusive … club. Of sorts.

We both stared at her.

What sort of club?Dima asked.

Telepathy club. But to outsiders, we call it Stitch ‘n’ Bitch.

Dima’s eyes lit up.

On the first Thursday of every month, we all try to meet in a pre-approved location, and sew, and mentally converse.Nina turned to me.You don’t have to sew. Most of us don’t know how to sew. I usually take a puzzle book. Tyler will take a pocket-games-console.

Tyler?!Dima grabbed my bicep.You mean the hacker from the interrogation with Killian?

Of course,said Nina.Remember when I said there were no coincidences? As soon as I saw Killian’s name on that application form, I assigned myself to the case. I knew Casey would inherit telepathy. Didn’t realise he would already be telepathic as a human. Or that the vampire to sire him would actually turn out to be a completely different unregistered telepath. But I couldn’t risk it being discovered by the wrong hacker.

So, was Killian in this club?Dima asked.

We often hold the gatherings at his house. Held them, I should say. That way, we didn’t have to worry about bumping into anyone we shouldn’t and having to explain ourselves.

Why didn’t he say anything to me about it? At the interrogation? Or since, like during any of the times I’ve visited him in gaol?

Nina straightened her lanyard and looked down at her feet.I told him not to. I just needed to make sure I could trust you both.

I looked at Dima, who was staring opened mouthed at me. Of course, I remembered nothing about Killian. We’d spoken by scrying mirror a few times, and I’d seen him in Dima’s memories. Dima had filled me in on everything that had been erased from my mine.

He visited Killian at the City of the Undead’s county gaol once a month. Always using the underground entrances and timing his visits for around midday, just to be as disruptive as possible to Killian. Even still, Killian had given us the keys to his mansion, and told us to live there until we found another place we preferred, or until he got out of gaol.

“And if you want to stay, when I get out, and all live together like one big, happy family clan, that would be lit,”Killian had said.

“We will absolutely leave before then,”Dima said, when he’d relayed the information.“But we might as well make the most of an empty, rent-free mansion.”

“What about your flatmates in Remy?”I asked.

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