Page 30 of Bullets and Blood
“I’ll ensorcell his pants off, and he’ll be thanking me for stopping and cuffing him to the fence.”
The way Nix said it, as though he was sure it would work, made Lance take his eyes off the road.“You’ve done that, haven’t you?”
“Maybe…but if it happened, I would’ve also gotten into huge trouble at home and had to promise never to cuff a cop to a fence again.”
“And if you had allegedly done that, what was the punishment?”Lance closed his eyes as they swept around a blind corner.
“Relax, my reflexes are so much faster than yours,” Nix said with a laugh.
“How much faster?”
“You know when a ball is coming toward you, and you need to catch it?It’s more like the ball is landing in my hand.”
“You’re also very good at changing the topic.”
“Clearly not that good.Vampires heal fast, so punishments were physical.I put the family in danger.I learned my lesson.I also had to apologize to the cop.”
“Oh God…was your mother trying to put you in prison?”
“No, she just wanted me to realize I couldn’t treat humans like toys.It worked out fine.I dated the cop for nearly a year, much to my mother’s chagrin.”
“Did he not realize who you were?Did you keep him ensorcelled?”
“There’s plenty of non-vampire Hadleys.And no.I don’t like my lovers ensorcelled; I’d much rather them be open about what they want instead of having to trick it out of them.”Nix swerved to avoid a snake making its way across the road.“I ended it with him after the Flinders Street Station incident.”
“Because he knew?”
Nix shook his head.“Because I liked him, really liked him.But that evening, I was in the war room, dealing with the fallout, and he’s messaging me the things he’s going to do to me when I get over.”He smiled.“Penalties for being late.And I realized that I would destroy him.He was a good cop, honest, and the system hadn’t gotten to him.But being involved with my family would make him dirty, and I couldn’t do that.”
“What happened?”
“I went around there and let him keep his promises, and then kissed him goodbye.I told him I was one ofthoseHadleys.The look in his eyes…” His voice caught, and the car fell silent.
Lance didn’t know what to say at Nix’s obvious heartbreak.He’d never tried to date a human—but he hooked up with plenty.Blooded vampires didn’t associate with the unblooded in his family, and even then, he didn’t want to be dicking around with distant cousins.“I can’t believe you dated a human, a cop.It was him you made forget.”
“It was too long for him to forget.I just muddied some of the memories.My mother was right, but she had the grace not to tell me until I was acting as though I’d put my heart back together.”Nix took his eyes off the road for three terrifying seconds.“Not in your file?”
Lance shook his head.So much was missing from Nix’s dossier, or at least the one he had access to.While Nix had verified some of the information, he hadn’t volunteered much extra.In contrast, the Hadley dossier on him was accurate.But then, there wasn’t much to tell.“Where are we heading?”
“The maze, like we planned.”Nix glanced at him and grinned, fangs out.“I’m going to give you a five-minute head start.I think it’s my turn to chase you.”
“And when you catch me?”Lance’s heartbeat quickened.
“I’ll show you what I did to the cop while he was cuffed to the fence.”Nix grinned, the tips of his fangs visible.
Lance could already imagine.“You know there’s no incentive for me to actually get away.”
“The longer it takes me to find you, the longer it will last.”
“Just so we’re clear, there’s no pain involved?”
“My cop enjoyed himself very much—he’d fantasized about someone wanting to get out of a ticket in that way for a while.Not that he’d ever planned to go through with it.”Nix’s fangs glinted in the sunlight.“Deal, or do you not want to get blown in public?”
Lance’s heart stopped.He did, and he liked the idea of Nix chasing him a little too much.“You’re trying to get us both arrested, aren’t you?”
“You’re not going to get arrested.I promise.”He pulled into the car park and reverse-parked at a speed that suggested he couldn’t wait to get the game started.Nix turned off the car.“I need to put on sunscreen.So why don’t you go in, buy my ticket, and leave it for me to collect, and I’ll meet you in there?”
Lance looked at him.“I know what you’re doing.”
