Page 201 of White Wolf

“Alexei, we need to find Chad before he turns someone else. Will you help us?”

The young vampire stared down into his vodka glass, utterly defeated. “Yes, I will help you.”

~*~

Nikita stood outside on the sidewalk, hands jammed in his pockets, cigarette on his lip, glaring at everyone who walked past.

“You’ll scare all the customers away,” Sasha said as he approached.

Nikita snorted a plume of smoke.

They were mostly alone, no one in line, pedestrian traffic slow, so Sasha moved to stand beside him, mirroring his pose, following his line of sight across the street toward the dive bar that emitted a tumble of laughter and music every time the door opened.

“It’s not his fault, you know,” Sasha said.

Nikita reached to take the cigarette between his fingers. “Yeah.”

“He was a victim, too.”

Nikita made an unhappy noise. “You sound like a shrink.”

Sasha grinned. “I do watch a lot ofLaw & Orderreruns.”

Nikita sucked down the rest of the cig in one long drag, then dropped it to the sidewalk and ground it under his boot.

“Don’t litter.”

Nikita ignored him. “Why now?” he asked, turning to him with eyes that blazed against the dark backdrop of the benighted street. “He crawled out of that grave in 1918. Why are we just finding him now? In New York? Connected to murders that Trina’s investigating?”

Sasha sighed. “I think–”

“Don’t say Val, damn it.”

“Alright, I won’t. I don’t think it’s got shit to do with him. He’s been around my whole life. It’s his brother.”

“What about him?”

“Someone woke him up.” And that someone must have been a wolf. Sasha shivered a little inside every time he thought about meeting more of his own kind; he couldn’t tell if it was excitement or dread that stirred in his belly. “And it’s like…it’s like the whole immortal world woke up, too.” He made a motion with his hand that mimicked an explosion, or maybe lights turning on. “Can’t you feel it?”

The way Nikita rubbed the back of his neck was answer enough. Surprisingly, he added, “Kind of.”

A car rolled by, slow, full of young people that craned their necks to look at the unremarkable façade of the club, the neon letters the only sign that anything worthwhile lay inside. They moved on without stopping; Sasha could tell they weren’t dressed right to get in anyway.

Nikita surprised him again. “Are you lonely?” It was just a whisper; anyone without Sasha’s hearing would have missed it.

“Lonely? No. I have you.” He knocked their shoulders together.

“You know what I mean.” Nikita wouldn’t look at him, then, staring vacantly across the street.

And after all this time, Sasha did know, just like he knew that Nikita wouldn’t be able to put it into words. He was a well-spoken man, but emotions always got stuck in his throat like chicken bones.

“I’m curious to meet other wolves. And vampires, too. I’m mostly a dog these days, it is in my nature,” he said with a grin, then grew serious. “But I’m not lonely. You’re my favorite person in the world.”

Nikita snorted, but it sounded choked. So did his voice when he said, “Not a person.”

“Myperson,” Sasha insisted. “My brother. I’m not lonely, and you won’t ever have to be. I promise you that.”

Nikita’s smile was wistful, but he leaned in so their shoulders were touching again.

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