Page 300 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

“Sorry!” he choked out quickly, knowing from experience it was better to fold immediately. Dom didn't relent. He waved his hands. “I apologize! I'm sorry!” He could feel his face turning red and his vision was starting to swim before Dom let go.

It was the original Darth Vader move. How George Lucas had ever seen it wasn't clear, but it was certainly an ancient vampire trick. It was a way that older vampires held power, controlling the bodies of younger ones this way.

He coughed a few times, rubbing his neck. “Do you even know what you're doing with that?” he complained bitterly. “One of these days you're going to accidentally kill me.”

“You can't choke a vampire to death,” Dom said in a bored voice. But then he looked up with a serious face. “I apologize. For the drama queen crack.” Then Dom looked back to his laptop as if the subject were closed. From Dom, that was as good as it got.

He sighed. “Look, Dom. I'm really concerned about this.” He raised his voice to reach the kitchen. “Stella, don't you think this is something to worry about?”

Stella appeared in the doorway again and leaned against it. She looked as hot as always, her long, shapely legs set off by short shorts. She shrugged. “Well, I'm glad you're monitoring it. But it definitely isn't cause for worry yet. If something happens in the U.S., then we need to take note.”

“Yeah, but if something were to happen in the U.S., it would be with Dom. He's the oldest fang in the country. We won't have time to react.”

Stella looked from him to Dom for a moment. “Dom, what is your sense about this?”

Jesus, hadn't he just asked that? Sometimes they were so like a nuclear family it was funny. He was the kid who had to petition mommy to talk to daddy for him. But that was how it had always been.

Dom sighed and met Stella's eye. They'd known each other so long they often didn't use words to communicate, which drove Fox absolutely crazy. “Roxanna Vagomir has always been a royal bitch. I would not be surprised to learn that she was behind anything. That said, I don't know why she would want or need to kill and drain older vampires.” Dom shut his computer and turned to him, as if he were conceding something. “See if you can find out more about why or how the vampires are giving up their businesses to her. If we know what the game is, we'll have more to go on.”

He nodded, happy he'd finally been given marching orders and turned to email Randolph, a former lover he'd met in the sixties when they lived in Chicago. Randolph had returned to his native England, but since rediscovering each other in the nineties through the internet, they'd been tight on a cyber basis.

He was relieved that Dom had finally engaged on the topic of Roxanna. He had a bad feeling about it all. And if his bad feeling played out, Dom and Roxanna would go toe-to-toe—and only one vampire would walk away.

Chapter Four

“No Return,” Dom answered the phone, feeling a blast of emotion run through his entire body. There was a hesitation, then he heard Kate's voice and he immediately understood why his emotions had gone haywire. He felt fear and trauma from her and it made every cell in his body come alert.

“Hi Dom. Is Fox there yet? He's not answering his cell.” Something was very wrong. She was upset in a frizzed-out sort of way. Pure adrenaline was pumping through his body now.

“What happened? Are you alright?” he asked sharply.

“Um,” she squeaked a little, as if she were trying not to cry, “there was a car accident.”

“Where are you?” he barked.

“Is Fox—”

“Where?”

“Speedway and Euclid.”

He hung up the phone and walked into the kitchen to dematerialize where no one could see him. He thought of the intersection and couldn't think of much seclusion. Fuck it—if anyone saw him, they would just have to think they missed him standing there before. He materialized right behind where she stood next to her crumpled car. The car that had rear-ended her was still jackknifed in the middle of the intersection with a cop car and an emergency rescue vehicle in front of and behind it. She still had her phone pressed to her ear. “Dom? Is Fox around?”

“Kate.”

She whirled around, jumping.

“Are you all right? Come here, bambina,” he said, drawing her to him and wrapping her up in his arms, stroking her hair as she pressed her face into his chest. She was trembling and he could feel his shirt dampening with her tears. She seemed unharmed.

He cupped the nape of her neck and held it, thinking about whiplash and its delayed onset. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” came her muffled reply.

“Good,” he said softly, kissing the top of her head. “What happened?”

“The light turned red and I stopped, but the guy behind me didn't.” She looked at her wrecked car mournfully.

He texted Fox and Stella to get one of them to pick them up. “Have you called for a tow yet?”

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