Page 66 of How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager
It was Vincent’s house now.
His house, which felt like home and smelled like Wesley. As the last of his anxiety drained into his fatigue, it seemed to wrap him up, snuggling him deeper into the couch beneath a blanket with furry edges and a kiss in his hair.
25
WESLEY
Wesley pressed his lips to Vincent’s head as the vampire slept. The moment the news confirmed that Vitalis-Barron’s vampires had escaped, his eyes had practically rolled back in his skull. He deserved the sleep. With the last few days he’d had, he probably needed it far more than he’d let on.
Wesley wished he could join Vincent, literally and physically. He wanted nothing more than to scoot beneath the vampire’s blanket and curl his head into the crook of Vincent’s neck and drift off to the slow, steady rhythm of his heart. But while Vincent’s part of their deal was finished, Wes still had a day of work ahead of him. He closed the living room blinds and moved to the office—his mother’s old space, which he’d sealed up like she might come back if he didn’t disturb anything—where he plugged his external hard drive to her laptop. He resaved the folder he’d taken from Vitalis-Barron in every external drive he could find, then printed out the spreadsheet that compiled all the vampire’s names.
As the first light of dawn peeked through the window, he snapped a picture of it and sent it to the woman who’d followed up with him after his successful interview.
Taylor,
Maybe what you’re doing isn’t technically illegal because the people you’re harming are vampires instead of humans, but I bet that somewhere on this list is a vampire with humans who loved them enough that, should they realize what you did, they wouldn’t stop screaming it from the rooftops until the whole country turned against you. If you don’t want to risk that, then I suggest you stay away from Vincent Barnes and myself. No hunters, no lawyers, no police, nothing. In exchange, we will stay away from you.
Also, in case it’s unclear, I won’t be coming to onboarding. It turns out I have a soul, unlike some humans in your employment.
Wesley Smith Garcia
P.S. Technology is incredible these days. So if you’re thinking that a good solution to this problem involves two body bags, that may very well trigger the release of all your dirty secrets...
He sent the email. Exactly thirteen minutes and twenty seconds later, he received his response.
Wesley,
Due to recent events, we must inform you that we are terminating our offer of employment. No further contact will be necessary. We wish you and your partner the best in your future endeavors.
Dr. Viktoria M. Blood
Executive Research Director
Vitalis-Barron Pharmaceuticals
It felt like a failure instead of a success. Another version of himself might have been noble enough to release the stolen files despite the consequences, sacrificing his own safety in the hopes that someone else would take down Vitalis-Barron once he was gone. But if he did, he wouldn’t be the only one the company would come for in retribution. As he passed the couch where Vincent slept, expression so loose and peaceful that it made Wes’s chest ache, he knew this was the right choice: to protect Vincent. To keep one vampire safe and happy, even if he couldn’t give that to all of them.
This would have to be enough. For now.
Wes texted a few of his queer high school friends about a couch to crash on, chugged two energy drinks, and stuffed half a reheated burrito into his mouth before throwing himself into packing with a vengeance. He shoved the contents of his drawers into suitcases and his closet into boxes and his shower supplies into grocery bags. When he went to add some of his mother’s favorite things to the growing collection, he ended up with just the stuffed dragon that sat between her pillows and an old picture of her in the kitchen from when he’d been small. It seemed like not enough, but there would neverbeenough without her.
“I wish she’d told me she’d been turned.” Wes set the last box into the van, his phone pinched against his shoulder. He’d told Kendall everything, talking at her for so long that his headphones had died and he wasn’t sure where he’d packed his extra pair. “I know why she’d have wanted to do it in person, but I still wish…”
“It’s a conversation you won’t get to have now. It’s only natural to be frustrated.”
“Did she think that I’d see her differently?” He slumped onto the lip of the van. “Did she die believing that maybe I wouldn’t have been there for her, loved her, taken care of her?”
“I don’t know, Wes.” The softness of Kendall’s voice made him crave her presence, the way they’d sit back-to-back playing their own games in their tiny college apartment and talking about things they couldn’t say face to face with anyone. “But she loved you. And she wouldn’t have wanted you to tear yourself up over this. I know that’s easier said than believed, but it’s true.”
“What if I tear myself up today, then put myself back together tomorrow?”
“If that’s what you need. Tomorrow, or whenever you’re ready. I promise I’ll try not to push you this time, if you promise that next time you’lltell mewhen you think someone you loved wasmurdered.”
“Kendall, if there’s a next time for that, I quit.” He didn’t know what he was threatening to quit, exactly. Not love. Not life. Civility, maybe? The little moral voice in the back of his head that told him not to track down every one of Vitals-Barron’s hunters and smash their heads open brick by brick?
“What about Vincent?” Kendall asked.
Wes rubbed the front of his face and groaned. “What about him?”
