Page 25 of Forever Midnight

Syn frowns. “That complicates things.”

“Greatly. Obviously, he doesn’t know what we are, and I’m not interested in him finding out.”

Eros, Thorn, and Raphael appear, handing us each a glass of blood-tinged wine. I’m thankful for the drink, knowing the blood will clear my thoughts.

“Why don’t we use compulsion?” Eros asks so quietly a mortal would never hear it.

“He hands over the evidence, then we tear his heart out of his chest,” Thorn says, smiling as if we’re talking about what dishes to make for dinner.

“Not a bad idea,” Raphael says. “And we can compel without revealing ourselves.”

I nod, dragging a hand through my hair. “It could work. We find the group, focus on Vinni, compel him to hand over the goods, then tear any members apart.”

“But not in a vampire way,” Bowie says, approaching behind Syn.

“Where is Tru?”

“Bathroom. Relax, vampire,” Bowie says, smiling. “You gotta kill in a human way.”

“Boring,” Thorn complains.

“But accurate,” Eros says, nodding at Bowie. “Unless, of course, Midnight whisks the mortal away and the rest of us deal with the leftovers.”

“Negative,” I say. “Tru insists on being involved.”

“Why do I feel like I’m the subject of this conversation?” Tru says, returning from the bathroom. Fortunately for us, his presence was easily detected before we said anything we couldn’t retract.

“Just strategizing,” I answer, gazing at the pretty man.

His face lights up. “I have some ideas.”

“Do you now?” I grin.

“Well, yeah. If I have people to help.”

The group of us move to the leather sectional near the windows, where we all settle in. Tru sits cross legged but turned in my direction next to me.

“Okay, so here’s what I know about Malice. They don’t give a shit about gender. They’ll fuck anyone. They fuck for pleasure, but mostly, they fuck to sample the goods before they traffic the person. Everyone thinks drugs are their big business, but they’re not. Ever since they hooked up with this dude from South America, that part of their business has been booming.”

“We didn’t know that,” Syn says. “We mostly ignored the gang because their actions didn’t intersect with ours.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not shocked they stayed under your radar,” Tru says. “They mostly go after people who won’t be missed too quickly. You know, runaways, drug addicts, that sort of thing, but Lucia, my sister, she did hear them talking about going after ‘premium product’ as they call it. People from the burbs, classy, virgins. That kind of shit.”

“Fucking disgusting,” Eros murmurs.

“No doubt,” Tru says. “That’s how they got to my sister. Fuck knows if they’ve targeted anyone else high profile, but my guess is they will. They got a million bucks from my family already.”

“Sadly, it’s a profitable business,” Raphael says.

“Malice is no joke,” Bowie adds. “I spent many nights avoiding them.”

My throat tightens with concealed rage, and I drop my head to avoid Tru seeing the features pushing their way to the surface. Memories of the night we first found Tru, naked and vulnerable, flash through my mind again. The thought of someone touching him against his will, ofsellinghis body, riles the beast within me.

Calm yourself, brother.

Yves’s unspoken words reach me, which means I’m radiating too much emotion if he can sense them from within his home. I blow out a breath, hiding my beast away.

“We need to deal with those fuckers.” I look up. “Now.”

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