Page 57 of Missing Piece
“Oh no, I meant like has he used his ability on you? He told me it can last like twelve hours sometimes, but if Vin is being over possessive or something, which, let’s be honest,he probably is, then maybe he hasn’t been able to help you today?”
Adam just stared at Tariq. What the Hell was he talking about?
Tariq brought a hand to his mouth. “Oh shit…he hasn’t…told you yet?”
“I am very confused now,” Adam stated flatly. Was this vampire high?
“Let’s get you something to eat. You look like you could eat.” Tariq jumped to his feet and clapped a palm on Adam’s shoulder.
Adam grabbed his arm. “No, I think I need to know what you were talking about,” he insisted, glaring at him. He was already flying blind, and after being used as a chew toy by a monster child, he wasn’t afraid of being bit again. There was no way he was letting Tariq just pretend he hadn’t just said that.
Tariq hesitated for a moment, looking down at Adam’s grip on his arm before he took a deep breath. “Okay, okay. So, I don’t know how much Vincent has told you about our kind, and if he asks, I wasn’t the one that told you, but we have…abilities. Like, a special gift. Luka can take away pain,” he explained.
“Why hasn’t Vincent mentioned this to me?” Adam demanded.
Tariq shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t want to freak you out or maybe he’s just being overprotective. He doesn’t like people touching his stuff,” he added quickly, “Not that I’m saying you’re, like, an object or something. But you know what I mean?”
Adam let go of Tariq’s arm as he thought back to hisexperience with Beth in the blood-soaked farmhouse. She had grabbed him and said he wasn’t allowed to lie to her, and when he did answer her, it felt like he wasn’t in control of his own mouth. Like some kind of fucked up lie detector.
So if she could make people tell the truth and Luka could make people not feel pain, what other things could they do?
Adam pushed himself up from the recliner, grabbing onto the swaying back to steady himself as Tariq opened every single cabinet in the kitchen, scratching his head as though he didn’t know where the food was hiding. “What other abilities do you guys have?”
Tariq stroked his beard, looking up at the ceiling as though he were considering if he should answer that question honestly. He then shrugged. “Well, Matteo can lock the muscles in someone’s jaw and keep them from speaking or screaming. Petrov can compel people to do what he wants, but it only works in his native tongue for some reason, so it’s really useless here. Marcus is like a walking bottle of Xanax, but he’s real shit at controlling it. Oh! And I can make you feel like you just smoked an absolutely mind-melting amount of weed.”
“How is that last one helpful?” Adam scoffed.
“It isn’t,” Tariq laughed. “But hey, it’s great if you are having a panic attack. Well, unless you are one of those people who has panic attacks from being high. Then it’s not very helpful.” He pulled a container of leftovers out of the fridge and sniffed the contents, jerking back as he did. “Yeah, that one doesn’t qualify as food.”
“What’s Vincent’s?”
Tariq’s dark eyes widened, his smile turning nervous like a child who had been caught lying about their dog eating theirhomework. “So…um, about that…”
Adam narrowed his focus at Tariq. He knew there was something the vampire wasn’t telling him, and he wasn’t going to let it go so easily. “What about it?” he pressed.
“I don’t think…well…” Tariq glanced around the kitchen before settling on the time clock display on the stove. He slapped his thigh. “Would you look at the time! I have to get back down to the club, the place can’t DJ itself all night. The guest room is set up, two doors down on the right. Don’t get blood on the sheets. It was really nice meeting you, Adam!”
Before Adam could protest further, the front door was slamming shut, followed by the sound of keys outside the door and more swearing.He still can’t find the right key to lock the door.
Adam stared at the open cabinets and the fridge and sat back down on the armrest of the recliner. He was lost in the haunted woods of a dark fairy tale, but instead of being surrounded by wolves pretending to be little old ladies or witches, he was surrounded by blood sucking monsters who, at least on occasion, looked like they just came from a rave.
What the fuck is my life right now?
Chapter Twenty-One - Adam
He didn’t like the crutch. It reminded him too much of physical therapy and made all those feelings of inadequacy come rushing back to him. Sometimes his dad would stay to watch his progress and not-so-subtly clear his throat when he thought Adam wasn’t giving it his best, and after six months he just stopped showing up. He’d say he had court or client meetings, but Adam knew he just didn’t want to watch his crippled son struggle through another hydrotherapy session or bitch about being tired.
Adam forced the memories from his mind as he moved up and down the hallway, finding his stride with the crutch. It was nice to be able to move a little faster and know he wouldn’t have to rely on Vincent or the brothers for help. It’d probably be hard to manage the stairs at Vincent’s house, but it was definitely better than being carried like a chihuahua.
His thoughts shifted to the reason they were there. What the hell was he walking into tomorrow? Meeting Vincent’s entire vampire family felt surreal enough without adding his own complicated feelings about where he fit into all of it.
Was he Vincent’s boyfriend? His talking blood bag? Some weird hybrid of both? He stopped mid-stride as he heard the deadbolt turn on the front door again. Vincent stepped intoview and smiled at him. It wasn’t a full, toothy smile, but he had that warm haze again. Like he was happy to see him.
Adam tried really hard not to, but the smile was already on his face as he urged the muscles in his face to remain motionless. The anxiety about tomorrow melted away at the sight of him. “Nice to see you’ve found your sea legs,” Vincent said.
“Between my prosthetic and the clicking of the crutch, I sound like I’m just taking apart a series of large guns,” Adam muttered.
“I don’t know if they make silencers for that,” Vincent said, stopping a few feet in front of Adam. He dug his hands deeper into his pockets.
