Last Rites (Darkling Mage 6)

Sterling was posing with the hammer and flexing. Even from where we stood I could hear his leather jacket squeaking each time he tried to make a bicep. As he slid into each pose, he grunted, and the more impressionable girls standing around him gave little squeals.

I nudged my way through the crowd, coughing politely and repeating “Excuse me” through gritted teeth. Here I was trying to make sure the Boneyard boys maintained a low profile, but no, Sterling had to go around flaunting his superior vampire strength. I was going to wring his neck.

“Come on,” I growled. “Fun’s over. Time to go.”

“Don’t be a spoil sport, Dust.” Sterling squeaked as he flexed both his arms. “I can’t help that I’m so strong.” Some of the girls tittered. I frowned.

“Okay, cool, we can move on now, everybody knows you’re strong.”

“Super strong.” Squeak.

“I get it.”

“Say it,” Sterling said, handing the hammer back to the operator and grunting as he flexed. “Say I’m super strong.”

“Sir,” I said to the operator. “Could we get my friend’s prize? We have somewhere to be.”

The man handed me an enormous pink teddy bear, so huge that I had to carry it in both arms. I frowned even harder.

“I can take that,” Sterling said, finally willing to leave the high striker game to lowly mortals. “You don’t have to carry it for me, Dust. I’m so strong.”

“For the love of – will you shut the fuck up, Sterling?”

Sterling grabbed the teddy bear with a wounded pout. “What’s up his butt?”

“I don’t know, man,” Asher said. He lifted a bag to Sterling’s face. “Jelly bean?”

“Sure,” Sterling said, popping a handful in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. “That must be it,” he mumbled. “Dust is jelly. Super jelly. Of my super strength.”

“Sterling, I swear, one of these days I’m going to sneak into your room while you’re sleeping and pull your mattress out into the sunlight and – ”

“And of the fact that he’s the only one who doesn’t have a prize.”

I scoffed. “What? I am not. I don’t care about those things.”

“Look,” Asher said, nodding at another stall. “Even Gil is killing it.”

I watched as Gil expertly handled a fake rifle, blasting with inhuman precision at a series of moving targets. Cardboard ducks quacked each time one of the rubber pellets tore through their tiny yellow bodies. Gil’s enhanced werewolf senses and reflexes were giving him a distinct advantage, judging from the pile of stuffed animals Prudence was holding in her arms like a litter of puppies. And she just stood there grinning, cheering Gil on as he unerringly struck every target.

Et tu, Prudence?

Chapter 2

“Oh man,” Sterling said, his cheek bulging comically from the lollipop stuck in his mouth. “Look at all those prizes he won for Prudence.” He gave me a taunting, sidelong glance, his eyes glinting with silent laughter. “Aren’t you going to get one for Herald, Dust?”

I blushed instantly, the blood rushing to my cheeks, and suddenly the evening wasn’t so cool anymore.

“Ooh, now you got him,” Asher said, speaking around his own mouthful of lollipop. “Yeah Dust. Get him one of those puppy things.”

I folded my arms and stamped my foot. “You’re both children,” I grunted, complaining so unconvincingly because I knew everyone could tell I was as red as a tomato, even under the carnival lights. “You’re being silly.”

My body went stock-still as Sterling draped an arm over me, as hard and as cold as marble. “Dust, listen. Speaking as your friend, you’re being just as fun as a hemorrhoid right now. Lighten up. Go play a damn game. Eat a corndog, win a prize.” He paused, biting the edge of his lower lip with his fangs, waggling his eyebrows. “Be naughty. Live a little.”

Carpe noctem, I almost heard him say. Seize the night. That was what we all had in common at the Boneyard. We worked so well in the darkness. But it didn’t always have to be all about work. Why not have a little fun, too? I shook my head, then chuckled.

“Okay, fine. You guys are right. I just didn’t want anyone getting into trouble is all.”

Asher’s lips made a little pop as he abruptly pulled the lollipop out of his mouth. “Hello. Look around you. Carnival. What trouble are you even talking about?”