Page 5 of Forever Midnight

Henry tries to punch me, but I easily avoid the blow. “Answer the question, Henry.”

“Is this…Are you here because of my wife?”

Wife? Interesting. I have no idea who our client is though.

“Did you do something to your wife? Something that would make her want you dead?” I ask.

Henry, sensing he has some kind of upper hand, smirks at me. “I beat her ass. Finally put her in her place for always talking back to me.”

“You hit a woman?” Eros asks, eyes glowing. Unfortunately for Henry, violence against women is a huge trigger for Eros.

“She fucking deserved it, that whore.”

“Sounds like a good enough reason to me to kill this piece of shit,” Eros says, cracking his knuckles.

“I agree. Only weak men hit women.”

“Weakpeople,” Eros clarifies. “He’s not a man.”

Reeking of fear, Henry seems to be catching on to what’s going to happen. “I got, um, got some money and other shit I could give you,” he offers. “I got pictures too. You can use them, you know, to get money.”

Bingo. I bet this is why we’re here.

“What kind of pictures, Henry?”

He chuckles, lowering his guard for a few seconds. “Ever heard of Carlton Werner?”

Carlton Werner. He owns half of New Onyx through his real estate development company. He’s well respected and supposedly a fair boss. He’s also a pillar of society, active in his church and other philanthropic ventures.

“What about him?” I ask.

“Old Carlton has a massive addiction to being fucked by boys. And I mean just on the cusp of being legal. That whole internship program he started for disadvantaged college graduates? Yeah, he uses the applicant list to find young guys to fuck him.”

I shrug. It’s not illegal as long as there’s consent, even if the dude is fucking sixty or something. “Not my problem,” I answer.

“Yeah, well, it’s not mine either. But he hooked up with the wrong dude. An acquaintance of mine bragged about it, I arranged a tiny photo shoot, and boom, instant income stream.”

“And it didn’t dawn on you at all that Werner might go to extreme measures to protect his secret?” Eros asks in a bored voice. “So you’re as stupid as you look.”

Henry doesn’t miss a beat. “If you let me go, I’ll split the money with you. We can go upstairs right now.”

“How much did you get?” I ask.

“A cool million. All cash. Whatcha say?”

I’d say Veil Protection is probably getting paid more than that. Not that it matters to me or Henry. I wouldn’t take a bribe no matter what. Besides, I’d do this job for free.

“I have a better idea,” I reply, blowing out a breath as my fangs release. “How about we kill you?”

“I like that plan,” Eros says. “Wife beater, blackmailer, probably some other dirty deeds in there.”

“Yeah, nobody will miss this loser.”

Henry kicks his feet, yelling for help, while I just laugh. I let him go, knowing he’s going to run, which will antagonize the predator within me.

Eros nudges me with his arm. “It’s too easy sometimes.”

“I know. I was hoping he’d be a little harder than this. Ah well. I’m hungry. You?”

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