Royal Pains (Vampire Kings 2)

“What did you end up doing with your life?” He asked the question as the waitress poured them coffee.

“I’m married,” Candy said. “I’ve got kids with my husband. I have a family.” She fidgeted with the edge of a paper placemat. She was nervous. He wondered why. She hadn’t seemed nervous when she shoved a fucking gun in his face. But that was easy. Hostility was always easier than trying to have a nice conversation with the guy who ruined your life.

“And none of them know what you are. Or what you do. And you’re tired of it.”

“I’m not bored.”

“I think you are. I think you’re bored with the vampire, even. He’s not as much fun as I was,” Ivan winked.

“Whaddyas want?” They were interrupted by a waitress who was wearing her lack of fucks on her sleeve.

He looked at the woman. She was the perfect type. Fleshy and soft but obviously toned from a very physical job. Her ass in particular was absolutely stunning. Could feed a family of four for….

“Don’t, Ivan,” Candy said sharply. “If you even think about it, I swear I will shoot you.”

“I have to eat something,” he said.

“We’ll both have pancakes. With bacon,” Candy said to the waitress. “Thank you.”

The woman went on her way, too tired and too over the general weirdness of NYC to be concerned about their weird conversations. Ivan did not like New York. It was too busy. There were too many people and they were all cynical. There was a lot of food, though.

“You still eat people food, Ivan?” Lora asked the question with a hint of sass.

“If there’s nothing tastier on the menu.”

She looked at him. “Nostalgia usually makes you look back at things more fondly than they deserve. I have hated you for two decades. I blamed you for what I did. Now I look at you and I see a broken monster, someone to be pitied more than feared.”

“I think I can still give you a reason or two to fear me,” Ivan grinned, reaching out to a passing plate being carried by a waitress to another table. He snagged a piece of bacon from it and put it into his mouth. If the waitress noticed, she didn’t do anything about it, she just carried on her way.

“Now that," he said, indicating the woman with the remnant of the bacon strip, “is what broken looks like. I’ve never been less broken. I have a son.”

“Who turned you into the cops within a day of meeting you.”

“I don’t know how to be a good dad yet. I’ll work on it. Maybe I’ll ask your husband for some tips.”

“Don't you come anywhere fucking near my family," she said, her eyes flaring with emotion. “Keep them out of whatever happens.”

“Why do you think something is going to happen?”

“Because you’re here, Ivan. And I know you're uncontrollable, even if Maddox thinks you can be controlled.”

“I’d say he knows better by now,” Ivan smiled to himself. He’d gotten flesh into Will. It was his own flesh, true, but flesh was flesh. Lora had given him a bandage to put over his hand to stop him from bleeding all over her cruiser. She'd always tried to make him more accessible to others, and had ever since they were small.

“We’ve known one another too long to hate each other," she said. “But you left me, when…”

“Yeah.”

“And now there's a…”

“Yeah.”

Ivan didn’t bother trying to deny anything. He knew what he was. He was an animal, same as any other predator. He had done some shitty, awful things in his life and he was, in all likelihood, going to do many more. Pretending otherwise would do him and everyone around him a disservice.

“So you’re really not going to tell William who you are,” he said. “William! What kind of name is that.”

“I don’t know, I think it’s nice,” Lora said. “And no. I’m not. It would just confuse him…”

“And how would you tell the hubby and kids about your bastard wolf baby?”

“Shut up, Ivan.”

“Got two pancakes,” the waitress droned, appearing next to them with two plates that were somehow already lukewarm.

“Who did you end up marrying, then?” Ivan asked the question as they ate.

“Chuck Bremmer.” She named the school geek, pretty much the complete opposite of Ivan, he had probably been an appealing and safe option after the trauma of having a teenage baby alone.

“No! Specs!”

“He got contacts,” Lora said. “And he’s a software engineer now, so.”

“Uh huh. Sounds sexy.” Ivan was enjoying teasing her. He’d thought about Lora from time to time over the years. She'd been the first of many, so many he couldn’t hope to remember most of them, but there was always something special about the first.

“He’s a good man.”

“Good for you,” Ivan said, finishing the food on his plate. It tasted fine. “I got to get going.”