Page 62 of Missing Piece
“Ngabo, you might have a contact in the south, correct?” Vincent asked, drawing their attention towards him.
Ngabo, a disturbingly delicate-looking man with warm umber skin and what appeared to be a brand new sequin eyepatch, leaned forward from his seat, his one visible eye engulfed in blackness since he refused to ‘wear the appearance of a human’. “I am in touch with a good man in Alabama willing to supplement us as needed. We are in the process of reaching an agreement,” he said, his accent thicker than Petrov’s.
“Thank God, I was about to tell you all to go fuck yourselves if you think I’m messing with the hospital supply again,” Jae said.
“Wouldn’t dream of it, Jae-Jae,” Vincent smirked.
“Call me that again, watch what happens,” Jae snapped, balling his fists at his sides.
Vincent held up his hands in a faux surrender, just shrugging. Jae wouldn’t try to hit him without a gallon of handsanitizer to bathe in afterwards, and even if he had that, Matoskah would stop him before he got very far. Those two were more codependent than Luka and Matteo.
He looked towards Marcus, half expecting to see the older vampire glaring at him, but Marcus was transfixed on the glass behind Vincent, his amber eyes wide as though he were under some horrible spell. Vincent checked over his shoulder, just catching as someone turned away from the help wanted poster fixed to the outside of the window. “You good?” he asked as he turned back to Marcus, watching the man blink several times as though the spell was broken.
Adam’s sharp intake of breath cut through Vincent’s wandering thoughts. Adam had gone rigid, his face draining of color.Something is wrong with him.
“Adam?” Vincent called out.
«Bathroom,» Luka signed to him urgently. «We’re going to take him.»
Matoskah moved closer, his pale gray eyes fixed on Vincent with familiar wariness. The vampire’s expression suggested he’d rather be anywhere else than dealing with Vincent’s human problem. There was still tension between them from all those years Vincent had used his abilities for cleanup work.
Vincent started towards them as Marcus cleared his throat to continue speaking, but Ophelia tapped a glass on the counter and motioned for him to come over. He hesitated, watching the twins guide a pale, shaky Adam towards the bathrooms.Don’t worry, Luka is there. He’ll be fine.
“What?” Vincent asked as he approached the bar, though his attention remained divided.
“Luka and Matteo got it,” she said as she set the glass below the bar top. “Your pet will befine.”
“He’s not a pet,” Vincent mumbled, wringing his hands as his gaze kept drifting toward the bathroom. “What’s with Marcus?”
“Subtle way to change the subject, but whatever. He’s…not doing well. He’s stressed, not sleeping, not eating ‘cause he’s trying to make sure everyone has enough. In another two weeks, he’ll probably start getting real snippy. He’s been on the blood bags for over a year, and now he’s getting nothing,” Ophelia said. “I give it a month tops before he pulls a Matteo and starts biting people in the club.”
Vincent sighed.Of course Marcus would starve himself to make sure the others had enough. He was always trying to set an example for Ophelia on what the right thing to do was, even to his own detriment. Fatherhood certainly had a way of neutering a man.“He has no interest in a warm meal these days?” Vincent asked, running his finger over the lip of the bar.
Vincent caught the distant sound of retching, the awful noise of someone being violently sick.
Adam was vomiting.
He pushed away the desire to run into the bathroom to check on him.He’s just a human throwing up. He’ll be fine,Vincent told himself.
Unless he’s sick. Is he sick? Jae’s a nurse, he could take a look at him. Well, no, I pissed Jae off already today. Shit.
Ophelia waved her hand in front of his face. “Follow me,” she said, not waiting for his response before she turned on her heel and headed for the swinging double doors behind her bar that led to the employee access hallways.
He didn’t want to follow her. He wanted to go wait outside the bathroom for Adam to finish so he could walk him back to the table, or take him backupstairs so he could rest. He was still recovering, and if he was being honest with himself, he shouldn’t have dragged Adam into their meeting anyway. But he was feeling oddly territorial, and his beast fed into it, urging him to parade Adam about in a way that let the others know that this grumpy, scowly, beautiful human was his and his alone.
But he resisted the urge and followed his niece instead. She was elbow deep in the ice machine, digging around with her tongue peeking out of her mouth. “We have this new barback named Andrew that cannot put the ice scooper back in the fucking holder for the life of him, and I’m going to wring his neck when he comes in tonight,” she declared as she pulled the large scoop out. She put it back in the holder on the side of the machine and wiped her arm on her oversized hoodie before she turned to face him, her eyes narrowed. “I know Marcus is being a bit of a fuckhead, but what about you? What’s going on with you and your pet—er, Adam?”
“That’s a bit invasive,” Vincent said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He didn’t want to have this conversation with himself, let alone a nosy sixteen-year-old who would probably never experience emotions the same way their kind did. She couldn’t even process emotions the same way humans did, how would she understand the intensity that vampires felt?
Ophelia raised an eyebrow. “I’m not asking for all the gory details, Uncle Vinny. I need to know if what we’re doing in town is going to be affected by the out-of-town stuff,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “As far as Marcus knows, you’re still working on dealing with the cult, and superglue can only cover these fucking bite wounds in my side for so long before he starts to wonder why I smelllike glue all the time. I’m not going to pretend I’m super into huffing to cover your ass.”
“I’m not the one who told your dad you wanted to spend the night at the farm just to ‘hang out’,” Vincent pointed out.
She shrugged. “Yeah, but you also let me borrow Petrov’s truck to go check it out with a human you were keeping chained up in your house, so I’m sure the only ass getting kicked if it comes out is yours,” she said. “I just want to make sure you’re good. Because at this rate, the next human we hire here is going to be the least smelly homeless person with a resume on a napkin so Dad can feed, so I can’t be worrying about whether or not you and your human are too distracted playing grabass to deal with the Cajun Cunts or whatever they’re called.”
He knew she had a point, but he also couldn’t deny that he was distracted by Adam. Adam was unlike anyone he had ever met before, and the emotions he stirred in Vincent were…something he thought he had buried years ago. They were painful, even the pleasant ones. The little part of his barely beating heart that knotted up when he heard Adam’s real laugh or saw a genuine smile. He had promised himself he would never let another human get close enough to harm him.
And then he did something no vampire his age ever did…he invited his own destruction into his home.
