Page 51 of Love Bites
"So, what about that human? He any good?" Aldrich did a thing with his eyebrows that would have put any saucy auntie fishing for details to shame.
"I doubt that's any of your concern."
"Aw, so you're not going to share?"
Talon glared at him.
"Chillax, man. I'm joking. Didn't know you were so possessive."
"Chillax?"
"That's how people speak today. Gotta keep up with the lingo, old man." Aldrich looked at his phone again. "There's this dictionary I can link you."
"No need." Talon glanced down at the cafe across the street, wondering how much time they had left before their target would move again. "Could you be serious for a second?"
To Aldrich's credit, he put his phone aside without further prompting. "What's up?"
"The human bears the mark."
Aldrich's eyes narrowed. "You mean the mark that's usually on our victims?"
"Exactly that. I've found out that it means he has witch blood in him."
"You're fucking a witch?" Aldrich whistled through his teeth. "Fraternizing with the enemy. Nice! Didn't think you had it in you."
"Of course that's what you take away from that." Talon wasn't one to roll his eyes easily, but he did then. "He's not a witch, he has witch blood in him. Everyone with that mark does."
"No wonder Zenon wants them all dead," Aldrich mused. It was true that their sire was no fan of witches. There was a lot of bad blood between their species. Not that the witches were alone in hating vampires. Many of the other paranormals did.
Talon couldn't blame them.
"Considering we're living in a time of peace, doesn't it seem weird to you that we're being sent out to kill witches?"
"You just said they weren't witches," Aldrich pointed out. "I guess Zenon is going by that same definition. The witches don't seem too upset about what we're doing either. At least, I've never heard one complain about it to me. You'd think they'd take offense if they thought we were murdering their kind."
"Do you talk to witches a lot?"
"Sometimes I do." Aldrich shrugged. "You know I'll talk to anyone. If there's a witch sitting next to me at the bar I don't see why I shouldn't buy them a drink or two. Whatever happened in the past between witches and vamps's got nothing to do with me."
Talon nodded. "Is there a witch that you trust? Someone who seems knowledgeable?"
Aldrich studied Talon for a long moment. "You're planning to dig deeper into this?"
"Aren't you curious?" Talon gave back.
"I'm always curious, but curious enough to risk my butt by snooping around in matters Zenon clearly doesn't want us to know about?"
"You don't have to risk anything. You only have to introduce me." Talon would do all the rest himself. There was no reason to draw Aldrich into this mess.
Aldrich raised a finger. "I'll do it on one condition."
"Name it."
"You tell me why it's worth the risk. You know Zenon is going to have your ass if he finds you going behind his back and hiding one of those pseudo-witches. Hell, he might even kill you for that."
Talon touched his scar once more. Killing him wasn't the worst thing Zenon could do. "I don't care if I die if I'm dying for the right reason."
"Wow, that kid's really got you wrapped around his finger."
