Page 73 of Wounded Soul
“Well, there kind of is, but we’re supposed to register with the VLCD. They have to go investigate how the human came to know about vampires in the first place. Make sure the human hasn’t had their mind messed with, hasn’t been coerced in any way, and actually knows what it is they’re asking for.” He paused, reaching down to take Jesse’s hand again. “When they ask you how you came to be aware that vampires exist, what are you going to say?”
“That Blake...fuck.” Ian wanted to kick himself for being so stupid. “He’d lose his job, wouldn’t he?”
“At the bare minimum. VLCD officers sign all sorts of NDAs. He must have told you that?”
“Yeah, he did.” And yet Ian had still badgered Blake to tell them as much as he could get away with. When in reality he shouldn’t have told them anything at all. “But,” he added as a thought occurred to him, “me and Blake also overheard his dad and uncle discussing the VLCD years ago. And there’s a fuckton of books out there.” Ian wasn’t about to say he’d been googling all sorts of folklore since Blake had told them. None of that mattered now he had first-hand experience. “Wouldn’t that convince them?”
Jesse frowned. “Loads of people read about vampires, doesn’t mean they think they’re real or know how to find one. When they realise you’ve been friends with Blake for years, there’s only one conclusion they’re going to draw.”
“Arse. So if I try and get you out of trouble, I land my best friend in it?”
“Pretty much.” Jesse smiled. “We’ll find another way.”
Would they though? There were only so many ways to explain that Ian was now a vampire. Either he asked for it or he didn’t. Either way, someone was going to be in the shit.
“Maybe I can suggest another way that I discovered vampires?”
One that didn’t include either Blake or Jesse telling him. Or Blake’s uncle for that matter.
Jesse looked sceptical. “Can you think of one?”
“Maybe you gave yourself away...” Ian pressed his thumb gently against Jesse’s mouth, a thrill running through him when Jesse parted his lips and let his fangs drop down. Touching the tips of them with the pad of his thumb, Ian wondered what they’d feel like pressing into him, and he had a sudden, visceral longing that it had been Jesse who’d drank his blood and not Peter.
The thought sent a shiver through him, his body lighting up inside like he’d been flooded with energy. A bark of laughter escaped him. At Jesse’s curious expression, he whispered, “I’m dead, yet at this moment I’ve never felt so alive.” He grinned. “I’m lying here wondering what it would be like to feel your teeth in me.” Jesse’s eyes darkened, spurring him on. “To have you feed from me while we fuck, if such a thing’s possible. I want you so bad right now, but my body isn’t reacting the way it should. I feel none of the things I used to, and yet I feel everything. Does that make sense?”
Caught up in his excitement, Jesse smiled back, pressing a soft kiss to Ian’s thumb. “Makes perfect sense. It’ll take some getting used to, I won’t lie, but you’ll get there.” His smiled turned dirty, and Ian felt the phantom beat of his heart race. “There’s something to be said for not needing to come up for air.” He winked. “What was it you said? Endless possibilities.”
Ian’s mind was full of all the things they could do, but one thing seemed to drown out all the others. He swallowed again, his throat a little dry. “I’m hungry,” he whispered, a strange mix of ashamed and turned on. “Is that normal?”
“Yes.” Jesse’s eyes remained dark, intense, and full of a promise for something Ian craved but didn’t fully understand. “I’ll get Lys to drop off some lunch.”
He slipped his phone out of his back pocket and typed the quickest text Ian had ever seen, fingers flying over the keyboard. The reply was almost instantaneous.
Jesse’s sudden frown caused a trickle of unease to creep into Ian’s carefully conducted bubble of contentment.
“Something wrong?”
“Maybe.” Jesse continued to stare at the phone screen, seeming miles away. “Lys said Raph’s back and has been asking after me. She suggested I go show my face so that he doesn’t come looking for me.”
The thought of the coven leader coming to see them filled Ian with dread. That wouldn’t be a good thing, surely? “You should go.”
“I know. We can’t risk Raph coming anywhere near here.” Jesse sat up. “We’re going to have to tell him at some point, but I’d rather it was later, when hopefully we’ve got some sort of plan.”
A knock at the door ended their conversation.
“That’ll be Lys.”
Ian rolled his eyes as Jesse got up to go and let her in. “Your replacement?”
“It’s not you I don’t trust, Ian.” Jesse opened the door and moved aside to let Lys enter. Then he was gone, shutting the door quietly behind him.
Lys glanced from the door to Ian’s slightly confused face. “He’s still worried Peter might bring his two idiots and try to kill you.”
“Oh. I guess it would be the easier option. Objectively speaking,” he added, not wanting Lys to think he was on board with that plan.
“It would,” she said, then laughed at the shocked look on his face. “But easiest isn’t always best. Relax. Nothing’s going to happen to you while me and Jesse are here.” But how long would that be for?
He didn’t ask and Lys didn’t say anything else.
