Page 80 of Lucien

Even sick with worry, Jamie found that pretty fucking cool.

Jamie did his best to wait more or less patiently, pacing in circles around the little signpost. He wasn’t so much worried for Jay—for all his odd sweetness, the little guy seemed to have his fair share of life experience—as he was nervous for Luc’s arrival. Dusk was fast approaching, and there was still no sign of his vampire.

Jamie checked his phone again, tried ringing Luc even though he already knew the end result.

It took him longer than it should have to realize he was being watched.

He was so keyed up with worry and adrenaline his skin barely felt like it fit over his body as it was. So the prickly feeling took a few minutes too long to register. But once it had…

Jamie held himself as still as he could and scanned the horizon. He couldn’t see anyone or anything out of the ordinary.

But he could still feel it. Something watching him. He had a brief irrational moment were he thought,Mountain lion.

They could be found in the desert hills around Tucson, and once, when he’d been hiking with his mom as a kid, she’d stopped him on a trail, gently hushing his childish babbling. He’d been too young to realize what was going on, but he’d…felt it. A presence. She’d raised her arms, started yelling, and used her foot to urge Jamie to back away slowly with her.

He’d found out later she’d seen one of the big cats up on a cliff ledge in the distance. They’d been close to the start of the trail and had made it back just fine, notifying a ranger of what they’d seen. But Jamie had never forgotten that feeling.

He felt the same thing now.

But the simplest explanation was usually the right one, and Jamie was waist-deep in vampire bullshit, so…was he being watched by another vampire?

Fucking fuck.Fuck.

He wanted to tell himself it was Luc toying with him. But for one, Luc would never joke about Jamie’s safety, not even for a bit of primal play.

Ohh, that was a thought.

No. Focus.

For two, Jamie had never felt this creeping danger with Luc. Not once. Sure, there was an underlying air of violence wherever his big, strong vampire went, this sense of barely contained force. But that violence had never, ever been directed at Jamie.

Whereas right now he felt…hunted. The densely packed saguaros and desert shrubbery he’d loved all his life now felt like nothing more than potential hiding spots for whatever was creeping on him in the fading daylight.

And he was just now realizing what a colossal fucking idiot he was. Letting himself be left alone with a rampaging, murderous vampire out and about? Jamie had been so focused on Luc—on the horrifying sight of his beloved monster being taken down—that he hadn’t had any spare energy to worry about himself.

But now—nowhe was worried.

So the question was…to scream or not to scream?

Someone out there really needed to update wilderness survival guides. They taught people what to do with mountain lions (yell loudly, stand tall, and never run) and grizzly bears (play dead until they lose interest), but where were the classes in predatory vampires stalking you?

Screaming would bring a better chance of Jay’s quick return, but would it also set off the vampire watching him? Jamie at least had a gut feeling that running wasnota good idea. Especially after seeing how fast Jay could move.

Jamie took stock. He was about a hundred yards from his parked car. If he went slowly, could he get there in time? It seemed like a good enough moment to try. Just standing there wasn’t helping him any. And maybe he’d find out he was just being super paranoid and silly and laugh later about how neurotic he’d become.

He started stepping down the trail and then—oh shit. There it was. Not paranoia at all. Sneaking out from behind a saguaro, five hundred feet or so away.

It was definitely the vampire from Jamie’s vision. Unkempt light-brown hair. Shorter than Jamie but definitely packing more muscle. And—Oh.

Jamie stumbled back, just narrowly avoiding pressing up against a cactus, as the vampire suddenly appeared much, much closer. Less than a hundred feet away now. Jamie could make out his black eyes—a look that was much hotter on Luc, in Jamie’s humble opinion—and fingernails caked with…dirt? Blood?

The vampire didn’t speak, only stared. Jamie considered for a hot second trying to talk it down like he did with Luc.Hello, monster. I know I look like a delicious treat, but I’m actually a vampire ally, and I would prefer not to be eaten at this time.

But he knew it wouldn’t amount to anything. Luc’s monster listened to Jamie because…well, because he loved Jamie. Wanted to please him, the man and the beast underneath both. This creature though…

This creature feltwrong.Rotten. On a different plane of existence entirely.

Jamie would almost feel sorry for it if he weren’t very certain he was about to become that thing’s dinner.

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