Chapter 2

Maybe he should cut down on the garlic, Augustin mused as he tossed onto his stomach and stared at the wall. He kept waking up, and there was a niggling in his mind, a teasing glimpse of weird dreams that he couldn’t quite bring into focus.

It was probably due to the stupid vampire dating site. He thought there was a hint of fangs and glowing red eyes in his dreams. Then again, he could just be making shit up as he went along. Sleep usually wasn’t an issue for him—Augustin was out of it ten seconds after his head hit the pillow. A sleepless night was going to throw him all out of whack.

Work was going to suck big time. He had an account to go through, a tedious task that he sometimes enjoyed but more often hated. This particular client was a cranky business owner who had fired his last accountancy company because he’d had to pay more in taxes than he’d liked.

So far, Augustin had found nothing that proved that his tax amount had been incorrect. He wasn’t looking forward to presenting his results once he’d finished his audit.

But that wasn’t what was interfering with his sleep. Augustin huffed and closed his eyes. “Meditate,” he mumbled, as if that would happen magically just from saying the word.

Well, it didn’t. He thought about the account, about the stupid dating site, about his bills and where he wanted to go on vacation and all the places he’d never be able to afford to visit.

He thought about getting a cat, or a dog, or both. A boyfriend would be preferable, but…

Augustin rolled onto his back and blinked his eyes open. He could see a little in his room. It wasn’t pitch-black, thanks to the laptop light that was flashing and the printer light that was doing the same. Plus, he’d left the bathroom light on in case he woke up at crap o’clock and had to pee. It happened sometimes.

Which he did—have to pee. Grumbling, he tossed the sheet back. It was warmer in his room than he liked it to be, but he was trying to cut down on his electric bill and carbon footprint and all of that. Trying to be environmentally responsible meant he hadn’t yet lowered the thermostat so the air conditioning wouldn’t kick on until the temperature hit eighty. It was strange that even though he was hot, when he put his feet on the floor, he shivered as a thought flashed through his mind—something with long, dark claws grabbing his ankles. He’d always been worried about a monster under his bed as a kid, and sometimes as an adult the idea came back to life. Usually in the middle of the night when he had to get up to pee.

“Whatever.” Augustin stood and stretched. His back popped and he almost purred because it felt so good. He ran a hand down his chest to his belly. That was still soft and bigger than he’d like, but it was getting smaller. He shuffled to the bathroom, bumping his hip on the corner of the dresser.

“Ow, ow, ow, what the fuck,” he muttered. It wasn’t like he didn’t know the dresser was there. It’d been in the same spot since he’d moved into the house five years ago.

Just before he left the bedroom, a chill went down his spine. He blinked, suddenly very awake and close to being scared. Augustin wanted to scoff at himself, but his heart raced and the urge to run was nearly overwhelming.

Don’t turn around. Don’t be stupid. There’s nothing there. He wouldn’t give in to his screwy brain’s paranoia.

A scratching sound started up on the window, or at least he thought it was the window. Another shiver hit him, and he whimpered before slapping a hand over his mouth.

He couldn’t even tell himself it was a branch scratching at the glass as the sound got louder. There were no trees on that side of the house. And he was on the second floor.

Oh my God, it’s like ’Salem’s Lot! If I turn around and there’s a floating dead guy or a kid tapping at the window, I’ll drop dead of a heart attack!

The sound grew louder.

Augustin’s flight stomped the shit out of his fight, and he ran.

* * * *

“He seemed very persistent,” Claude said, staring at the computer. “Who did you send to see if the guy was legit?”

Tony buffed one fang on his shirtsleeve. He almost moaned. Fangs were definitely an erotic hotspot for him. Normally he wouldn’t have messed with them while around anyone else, but he’d thought he had a speck of blood still on it.

“Radney,” Tony answered when Claude turned to give him an aggrieved look.

“Radney?” Claude repeated, that look turning into a scowl. “Why the hell did you send him? You know he gets his rocks off on scaring humans!”

Tony shrugged. “Yeah, well, that human tried to join the site looking for men, then women, then he changed his name and stats. I don’t think he’s interested, I think he’s nosy as fuck, and I hate nosy people. They aren’t good for us.”

Claude’s heavy eyebrows came down until his eyes were almost totally overshadowed by them. “Tony…” he growled. “Has Radney had his supply this week?”

Tony would have paled had he not already been as white as possible. “Er, I…um. I don’t know.” He cringed and ducked when Claude threw a paperweight at him. “Hey! That would have hurt!”

“Like it’d kill you.” Claude hissed, as if to emphasize his irritation. “You’re already dead! Although if I could kill you again…”

Tony sniffed and turned his nose up. “Killing me once was enough.”

“Well, it was me or that illness you had,” Claude said.

Tony’s pique faded. “Yeah, it was, so thanks for that. I wouldn’t have been alive much longer.” And the dying part before Claude had shown up and killed him, that had been pretty agonizing.

“Yes, well.” Claude turned back to the computer. He never did handle thanks well. “Anyway, Radney is also a bit of an asshole about anyone who isn’t straight. Did you think of that when you sent him off after this…this human?”

Tony sighed. “Yeah, okay, I did actually. Since the guy tried to sign up as male for male, then male for female, then female for female, then female for… Well, I didn’t think he was gay. I thought he was just sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.”

“And you were willing to bet on being right about that?” Claude tapped on the keyboard. “When Radney hasn’t had blood for a few days, he’s unstable, and he’s a bigot? Granted, he’s a few hundred years old and set in his ways, but—”

“Shit.” Tony rubbed his face. “I fucked up, didn’t I?”

“You think?” Claude retorted sharply. “What would you rate Radney’s impulse control at?”

“He hasn’t done anything crazy that I know of,” Tony offered in defense of his actions. “He only cracks the occasional comment about me now since I took him out back and whipped his ass.”

Claude shook his head. “Tony, Tony, Tony. I thought I’d raised you better than that. Not the whipping part, but the being stupid part. Radney’s likely been waiting to release some pent-up rage from getting his ass kicked by a gay, thirty-year-old vampire.”

Tony was already getting his coat on. “Shit. I’ll fix it.”

“You bet you will. I’ll be right beside you to make sure of it.”