Page 68 of Lore and Lust
“What… language are you speaking?”
“What about TV shows, anime and movies?” Nino presses. “Star Trek,Doctor Who…Cowboy Bebop—Amelie,Kill Bill,Spirited Away?”
Folding his arms, Haruka sits back. “You are making these things up.”
“Jesus, Haru,” Nino laughs. “I am not.”
“I do not watch television or movies because the motion of it bothers my eyes. We have talked about this. The light of the smartphone you bought me as well. I’m glad that you are here and I no longer need to use it.”
Haughty, Haruka shifts his gaze away from Nino. At his mate’s silence, he looks back toward him. He’s smiling. In a surprise move, he smoothly leans into Haruka and sneaks a quick kiss upside his nose, making Haruka wince.
“I’m glad that I’m here too,” Nino says. “I love you, Haru.”
Haruka smiles, feeling an undeniable flash of warmth in his chest. “I loveyou. Please do not insist that I watch strange things.”
Nino shrugs. “It’s your loss.”
There is a knock at the bedroom door. Haruka calls out and Asao peeks his head inside. He frowns. “I’m not going to ask why your bedroom looks the way it does. Whatever the reason, I hope we don’t make this a habit?”
Nino looks away in a stifled laugh. Haruka straightens from the headboard. “I apologize, Asao. No, it will not be a habit. At least, I don’t think it will.”
Asao shakes his head before he calls out, “Nino.”
Nino lifts his chin in the manservant’s direction. Asao’s face softens, warm and kind. “Welcome to the family.”
“Thank you, Asao.” Nino beams.
Asao steps into the room. “We have a lot to talk about. Arrangements, formal announcements, combining finances. We need to think about hiring more staff for the house as well.”
“Agreed,” Haruka says. They have much work ahead of them. His mind is bending around his new circumstance. Little by little, it doesn’t seem nearly as daunting as it had an hour earlier.
Asao continues, “Also, you haven’t seen the paper this morning, but apparently Ladislao is gone. Poof. Vanished without a trace.”
Haruka draws back, his chest tight. Nino’s face also wears a look of panic. Is the Vanishing truly happening again? And what about the purebred he’d briefly sensed in the woods? Is he part of this, somehow? The confounding mystery of the Vanishing is that purebred vampires shouldnotbe capable of simply disappearing. The innate strength of their auras always makes them discernable to someone, somewhere—especially if they are mated.
“Anyway, I’m not trying to spook you,” Asao says, moving back out the door. “I just thought you should know. Let’s try not to let this news dampen our exciting morning. I’ll start breakfast.”
Haruka’s brain is already scanning and flipping through all the historical accounts, research and data he’s read and studied about the Great Vanishing. Nino’s voice breaks his concentration.
“Alright…” he breathes. “Am I allowed to panic now?”
Late April
Thirty-Nine
Nino loves the train in Japan. Especially when he misses rush hour on his way back home and it’s easy for him to get a window seat. Something about it—the quiet atmosphere, only disturbed by the muffled, smooth sound of the wheels against the train tracks, and the peaceful monotony of watching traditional houses interspersed with green rice fields, cement buildings, bright convenience stores and pedestrians and bikers zipping by like short clips from a movie reel—it gives him a sense of calm. A sense of wonder.
His phone rings. He looks around before discreetly answering the call and bringing the phone to his ear. “Thank God, she’s alive.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Cellina snarks. “Don’t be a brat.”
“Are they holding you captive in Greece somewhere? Why don’t you ever answer your phone, Lina?”
“Because I’m busy,” she says. “The museum has some exciting projects going on and I have a lot of responsibility. Everything is alright, isn’t it? Are you and Haruka okay?”
“Yeah,” Nino whispers. “We’re great—I just miss talking to you.”
Ever since Nino became bonded a month earlier, Cellina is even harder to get ahold of. He would never say it, but it suddenly feels as if his best friend is a fed-up nanny. She’s finally off duty and she’s washed her hands of him.
