Page 36 of Dark Stars
"Shall we go get lover boy?" Harolddrawled.
"Let him sleep for now," Bobby said. "We'llfetch the backstabber and bring him here for a little chat."
The question was: backstabber first,cultists first, or divide and conquer? Damn it, he'd just wanted toenjoy the rest of the day before getting back to work. Ah, well.Sooner done, sooner finished.
Chapter Fourteen
"You get the backstabber, we'll round up thecultists, bring everybody here for a come to Jesus meeting. Thoughless with the Jesus and more with the primordial dark."
Bobby laughed. "Sounds good, but don't thinkI don't know you just want to spend more time with the bloodmateyou've been carefully not looking at all this time."
"Shut the fuck up," Jones hissed, eyesglowing for the barest moment before he stormed out, door slammingbehind him.
"Don't say another word about it," Haroldsaid with a sigh as Bobby slid a glance his way, then headed outthe same door, though he closed it quietly behind him.
Pulling on jeans and t-shirt, Bobby droppeda kiss on Alejo's mouth, snickering fondly when all that got himwas sleepy mumbles before he rolled over and burrowed into Bobby'spillow.
He jotted a quick note, left it on thenightstand where Alejo would hopefully see it, and left.
Outside, he snaked tendrils deep, deep intothe ground, letting them spread, connecting to the whole of thislittle town he called home, seeking out interlopers.
The cultists were easy enough, but the othertwo didn't need his help in that regard. Certainly a possessive,territorial vampire didn't, especially when he had a brand newbloodmate to protect, even though Harold would knock his fangs outfor trying to pull any of that protective crap on him.
Man, he'd known they were into each other,but he had completely missed the real strength of their bond. Mosthilarious plot-twist ever.
There.
Amusing thoughts of his friends broke off ashe found the unmistakable presence of a demon-touched. The lake.Why was he all the way out there? Leviathan had strong ties towater…surely the stupid bastard wasn't going to try and repeat thesummon that had started this whole mess?
Jaw tight, an urgency in his blood now,Bobby sank down into the dark, moving through it like an eelthrough water, traveling swiftly across town to the far westernedge.
He emerged from the shadows by the south endof the lake, riddled with picnic areas that by day often werefilled with birthday parties, weekend barbeques, sporting eventafter-parties, and so forth. There was an artificial island in themiddle of the lake that kids loved to swim to as proof of theircapabilities or to race for bragging rights. Paddle boats, floats,other assorted water equipment that could be borrowed orrented.
It was a charming area, and the greatserpent that lived at the bottom made for great company somenights.
Bobby sent out a gentle pulse of power, asoft request. Company would be nice, but it wasn't required, so heleft it to his beloved fireflies to decide whether or not to showup.
They drifted in slowly, in two and three,until he had dozens of them flickering about his space, trailingalong idly, a few clinging to his hair and clothes as they madetheir way around the lake looking for something—someone—that didn'tbelong.
The fireflies found him first, but only by amatter of seconds. Once Bobby turned the bend in a walking paththat looped around the lake, the man was hard to miss. He was oneof those frosty blonds: pale hair, pale skin, pale blue eyes.Beneath the moonlight he practically glowed, looked more like astory book ghost than a living, breathing person.
He was achingly beautiful, Bobby would givehim that. He wouldn't look out of place as a prince on a throne,beloved of those he kept in power, hated by actual people who couldsee the rot beneath the surface.
And this boy, this fragile, pathetic child,definitely smelled of rot.
Bobby approached silently, only the gentleflickering of his beloved fireflies to herald his arrival. Onewould think a witch, a hunter, would have more situationalawareness, but to be fair, when Bobby didn't want to be seen, hewasn't seen.
"Little human," he said when he was five orso feet away, "you are far from home and wandering into places youshould not be."
The man whipped around, eyes wide and darkwith a fear quickly masked by that petulant anger all rich,entitled brats seemed to master by the time they were ten. "Who areyou?"
"You are the intruder, you tell me whoyouare," Bobby replied coolly. It said a lot that in all ofthis, Alejo had never once told him the name of his old,backstabbing friend.
"I don't hand my name out to strangers,especially not fucking weirdos skulking in the woods. Tell me whothe fuck you are, or you'll find out real fucking fast that I'm notto be trifled with."
Bobby laughed, letting some of his powertrickle into the sound. "Little child of thin wiccan blood, youwouldn't even be a snack to me. I don't need your name to break youinto pieces, reduce you to a drooling shell locked away where yourparents can pretend you never existed in the first place."
"Who the fuck are you?" the man repeated ashe took a step back, and then another, the fear returning sharply,as pungent as fresh spilled gasoline.
