Lover Reborn (Black Dagger Brotherhood 10)

She'd never heard of females doing the bonding thing. But as usual, that didn't mean she wasn't an outlier. And bottom line, without John by her side, everything seemed to be just a big, resounding meh.

A quick check of her watch told her there was one hour left of true darkness. Man, she wished she'd come in on her bike so she could can the headlight and roll through the shadows at ridiculous speeds. The Ducati was locked up tight in her garage, however.

She wondered if there was a rule against shellans riding.

Probably not. . . As long as she was sidesaddle, dressed in armor plating, and had a helmet made of reinforced, skid-resistant Kevlar, they'd probably let her go a few circles around the fountain in front of the house.

Vroom-vroom. Fucking wheeeeeeee.

Leaving her office, she locked the thing up with her mind so she didn't have to worry about keys -

"Hey, Trez," she said as her boss emerged from the ladies' locker room. "I was just coming to look for you. "

The Shadow was tucking his crisp white shirt into his black slacks, and looking a little more relaxed than usual. A second later, one of the working girls came out from behind the door with a glow on her like she'd been hand-polished.

Which was probably not far from the truth.

At least her clueless expression told Xhex that Trez was keeping things on the DL. But still. . . you shouldn't feed where you worked. Complications could arise.

"I'll see you tomorrow night," the woman said with a loopy smile. "I'm late. Meeting friends. "

After the girl went out the back, Xhex looked at Trez. "You should use other sources. "

"It's convenient and I'm careful. "

"Not safe. Besides, you could scramble her mind. "

"I never use the same one twice. " Trez put an arm around her. "But enough about me. You off?"

"Yeah. "

Together, they ambled down to the door the woman had used. God. . . it was old times all over again, as if nothing had happened since the last time they'd closed up together. And yet Lash had happened. John had happened. The mating had -

"I'm not going to insult you by offering to escort you home," Trez murmured.

"So you like your legs right where they are, huh. "

"Yup. They fill out my pants just fine. " He did open the door for her, the cold air rushing in like it was trying to get away from itself. "What do you want me to tell him if he hits me up. "

"That I'm fine. "

"Good thing lying isn't a problem for me. " When she went to argue, the Shadow just rolled his eyes. "Don't waste your breath or my time. Go home and get some sleep. Maybe things will be better tomorrow. "

By manner of reply, she gave him a quick hug, and stepped into the darkness.

Instead of dematerializing north, she wandered along Trade Street. Everyone was in closing mode: the clubs were spitting out their last few patrons - who looked about as attractive as masticated gum; the tat shop was clicking off its neon sign; the Tex-Mex restaurant had already battened down its hatches.

Shit grew seedier as she kept going, everything getting gloomier and grungier until she arrived at the blocks-long stretch of abandoned buildings. With the downturn in the economy, businesses were drying up like roadkill, and lessees were fewer and farther between -

Xhex stopped. Sniffed the air. Looked to the left.

The unmistakable scent of male vampire wafted over from a deserted walk-up.

BBFO, or Before Brotherhood Freak-out, she would have pursued it - gone in, checked to see if any of them needed help, found out what the Brothers were doing.

Now she just kept going, walking onward with her head held high. They didn't want her help - no, that probably wasn't accurate. They'd seemed fine with her until John had had issues. It was more like they no longer felt comfortable with her -

Up ahead about two blocks, a massive figure stepped out into her path.