Find the jinn, p.21
Find the Jinn, page 21
part #1 of Wilde Contracts Series
“From what I can tell via the internet, it’s literally just a smattering of white islands in the middle of the ocean.”
Zane hummed. “So, another dead end.”
“It’s not great.” I rubbed the frustration from my eyes. “I’m not sure if he’s planning on coming back. What with the dead girlfriend and everything.”
“Some random islands that no one has heard of is a smart hideout if you’ve murdered someone.”
“Lucky asshole.” I watched as Kevin passed through some of his rings and slipped into a floating log he adored, enjoying his freedom while I bitched about my day. He poked his little face out of one side and spit out a bubble.
“What else happened?”
I blinked at the vampire watching me from the sink. “What?”
“While you were out. What else happened?” His tone was just sharp enough to poke me the wrong way.
“You keep tabs on me now? You tongue fuck my hand one time and we’re dating?”
Zane’s mouth twisted into an ugly frown. “You don’t have to be dramatic, hunter. It was a question.”
“None of your business. How about that?” I looked at Kevin. “This is why I don’t date.”
Kevin blew another bubble and swam around to the other end of the log again. He was also a bachelor by choice, so he understood.
That and he would kill anyone I put into the tank.
Kevin had a dark side we didn’t talk about.
Zane did his long, suffering sigh through his nose that I was beginning to learn meant that he had something to say. I was correct.
“I know you had a moment of being extremely uncomfortable or stressed,” he said with forced calmness. “Sort of like the museum or when you got healed.”
I wiggled my newly healed hand and narrowed my eyes.
“Wait. How did you know that? Are you having me followed?” I grabbed my wrist and looked at my healed palm in horror. “Did you slip a tracking device in my hand?”
Zane’s face couldn’t land on an emotion; instead it oscillated between angry and confused.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Vampire, if you bugged my jack-off hand—”
“Goddess help me, I’m going to kill you myself if you don’t stop.” Zane placed both of his palms over his eyes and rubbed them in slow circles. “I didn’t bug your hand. I’ve already told you that I can always find you.”
“But you’ve been here all day annoying the crap out of Barnaby. So how did you know I had a ‘moment of stress’?”
Zane dropped his eyes and looked very tired. “First off, I saw that your hand wasn’t wrapped anymore, genius, so I assumed that’s what happened. But since you were far away, the spike of stress I felt was muddy and hard to read, so I wasn’t sure if that’s all that happened.”
“Spike of stress,” I repeated slowly. “You can feel…when I have spikes of stress?”
“Yes.”
“Only stress…?” I lifted my eyebrows, worried about the answer. When he sighed again, I felt heat rush to my cheeks. “Oh. No.”
“It’s all spikes. In every direction. Fear, anxiety…” He trailed off suspiciously.
“So…” I winced, my stomach shriveling as I recounted all the various emotions I’d had over the past few days. “The museum.”
“Yes.”
“Even in the…”
“Yes.”
I shut my eyes tight to try and disappear. “And when you were…and I, uh…”
Another deep, Zane sigh. “It’s how the bond works, hunter.”
“I’m going to drown myself in Kevin’s tank.” I ran my nails over my scalp as I tried to cope with the swarm of embarrassment butterflies eating me alive from inside of my stomach. The flutter of bitterness fermented into a nice boiling rage, and I used that fuel to drown the butterflies in anger. “Why in the HELL didn’t you say something about this? Did you know about what would happen with the blood? Do you feel…do you feel what I feel or…you know what? I’m going to stab you.”
“You haven’t exactly been excited about the fact that you have a vampire bound to you, hunter. You really think you’ve handled the information better had I led with that?” Zane crossed his arms, leaning on the kitchen counter.
“So, what? You were going to just keep that to yourself?”
“I’m telling you now.”
“After I fucked a dude! Had I known you could feel it, I would have…”
Zane leveled me with a stony look. “Bullshit.”
“Okay, fair. That’s fair, I wouldn’t have lasted long on that one, but the other thing…the blood thing.” I pointed my dagger at him after I pulled it from the wall. “That’s fucked and you’re getting stabbed.”
One dark brow lifted on his pale face. “You know if you stab me, I’d need blood again.”
“Or I could let you bleed. That sounds pretty good.” I flipped the knife in my hand and jumped over the counter, slashing him across the chest. Or I tried to. The fucker moved in a blink and grabbed my wrist, twisting it to force me to drop it. I kicked him in the thigh and tried to punch his throat, but my back slammed into my fridge and knocked some magnets down.
“I didn’t know what would happen with the ritual,” Zane huffed, walking back a step to dodge a magnet I aimed at his head.
“You expect me to believe that shit?”
“When I fed from my previous masters, it wasn’t like that.” He ducked from a spinning magnet in the shape of a tiny pizza. The next few magnets missed wildly, arching in broad trajectories away from the vampire’s head. My mounting frustration from not being able to hit him cracked something loose, and I felt a wave of fear rush through the roaring anger.
“I didn’t want this!” I yelled at the living corpse in my kitchen, who was somehow dodging all of my magnet attacks. “I don’t want to have this magic in me. I don’t want a vampire following me around, and I don’t want whatever is in my goddamn chest. I hate necromancers. I hate them. I hate you and your goddamn disgusting monster siblings that infect this world. I’ve spent my life hunting down creatures like you and Esdras and wiping them off this planet, and now I’m the same vile thing I’m trying to erase.”
I couldn’t get my breathing right. It stuck in my throat, barely reaching my lungs.
Zane’s blood-colored eyes watched me, unblinking, never leaving me as he spoke.
“I know you hate me, hunter. I’ve felt that the moment we were bonded. Each time you look at me, I feel that thread of hate tug like a dog pulling at a leash, lunging forward to bite.” He broke eye contact just long enough to bend down and scoop up the banana magnet that skittered off the cabinet and landed by his feet. “I know given the chance, you’d kill me without hesitation. I’d do the same if I wasn’t tied to your existence. Sadly, we don’t have that option.”
I swallowed, a bitter taste lingering on the back of my tongue.
“I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
Zane held out the magnet for me, his pale palm dwarfing the small plastic mold with a scuff across the top. I stared at the small thing for too long, trying to remember when I’d even acquired such a weird, bright yellow banana to put on my fridge. My chest hurt from the awkwardness of my breathing and the raw scrape of sharp vulnerability I let slip out.
I saw the olive branch for what it was and was ready to snatch it up and throw it back into his face when he spoke again.
“I should have told you about the bond. I’m sorry.”
The boiling feeling in my stomach settled into a mild simmer, but I kept my glare.
“And the blood thing?” I mumbled after a moment of finding my mental footing.
“I was telling the truth. I wasn’t expecting that reaction.”
My arms crossed over my chest to keep me from trying to rub at the phantom stick scraping against my sternum.
“What else haven’t you told me about?”
“I can always sense where you are and what you’re feeling. The further away you are from me, the muddier that sensation is. Your blood is the only thing that can help me heal and regain any energy I expend while turning into breath, moving quickly, fighting, or being in the sunlight, which means we will inevitably have to do it again.” He rolled the banana in his palm, feeling the scuff with his thumb. “I don’t know what that stick thing is in your chest, but I’ll help you figure it out, because honestly…it freaks me out. If you got it from Esdras like you said, then it’s not something good.”
I scraped my nails over my arm absently, appreciating the sting of something familiar.
“That it?” I asked.
Zane nodded. “We’re all caught up now.”
I tried to will the plastic banana to explode in his hand, but my mind was too preoccupied with all the truths that had surfaced so quickly. Zane pulled his hand away as I snatched the stupid thing from his grip, brows creasing as I pointed it at him as a threat.
“You’re still an asshole,” I assured him with my whole heart. “And I know you know I mean it.”
“Without question.”
The vampire traveled away from me, taking down a bottle of pills from one of my cabinets. He rattled a few blood-red pills into his hand and began snapping them open into a small dish, the smell of fish wafting over to the fridge as I was reassembling the magnet collection.
“What are you doing?”
“A project.” Zane set the bottle aside. “Do humans really take these?”
“Supplements? Yeah. They’re good for your heart or something.” I spun the bottle around to look at the supposed benefits. “Says here it’s good for your heart. Do you have a heartbeat?”
Zane tried to stab me with his eyes, and I sliced my own back at him.
“Don’t give me the evil vampire eyes. I’m immune to that.”
“This is the ‘you’re stupid’ vampire eyes.”
“You’re the jackass who is breaking smelly pills in my kitchen. Did you see the price tag on this? You could sling those on the black market and make a quick buck. I pay less for actual drugs.” I rolled the bottle in my hand, nearly gagging from the combination of smell and the numbers printed on the price tag.
“Hm. Didn’t the yoga instructor say these were big business?” Zane asked.
“Yeah. It’s a billion-dollar industry. People pay good money for the promise of health and—shit.”
“And what?” Zane scrunched his nose, looking uncomfortable. It would have been hilarious if my brain wasn’t spinning all of the puzzle pieces in place.
“Omar is at the retreat.” The pill bottle rattled like a plastic maraca as I shook it furiously. “Those stupid rock islands is where they have their super-secret, invite-only retreat.”
“That makes sense,” Zane admitted cautiously. “But we still can’t get to them.”
“Rich people can!” I slapped the banana on the fridge and snagged my phone, dialing Sias’s private cell. It was a burner phone that only took my calls, an extra safety measure since our business dealings are highly frowned upon legally.
The phone rang a few times, the chimes cut off by a long pause.
“Dallas.”
I leaned on the counter to ease the weakness in my knees. I swear to the gods this guy could charm me over the phone somehow. Zane made a noise.
“You’re a rich guy with influence,” I said to Sias’s sexy voice. “What do you know about ReNew?”
“The vitamin company?” Genuine surprise colored his voice. “I like their ginseng tablets. Why?”
“Have you ever been invited to their super-secret, kinda-crazy-sounding retreat?”
Sias hummed, low and amused. “No, I haven’t. I’m not someone who’s willing to shell out half a million to be painted in mud and go without my phone for a month. Is there a reason you’re asking, Dallas? Do you need some rest and relaxation?”
“Being slathered in mud doesn’t sound like my idea of a good time. Well,” I paused, considering the options, “maybe if I was wrestling someone and we were naked.”
Zane looked at me like I was currently doing said activity and he did not approve.
“Vampire judgment eyes don’t work, either,” I whispered, covering the phone.
“They’re still the ‘you’re stupid’ ones.”
“If you don’t have anything of value to this line of questioning, Wilde, I’m going to hang up,” Sias warned.
“I need an invite.” I dove back into our conversation before he could disconnect. “Omar is at that retreat.”
“Of course he is,” Sias grumbled.
“Do you know anyone who could get me one? Or if they don’t just pass them out, who should I pay a visit to in order to ask for one politely with knives?”
“I’ll arrange a dinner tonight. I’ll text you a time. I know who we need to convince. You need to be here fresh and well dressed.”
I looked down at my clothing, then winced. “Well dressed, got it.”
Zane snorted, and I flipped him off.
“Dallas.” Sias’s deep voice snapped me back to attention, knees trying to wobble again.
“Mm-hm?”
“Do not be late.”
“You should probably send a car,” I said. “Because you know I can’t promise that.”
“I’ll see you tonight.”
The phone went dead, and I exhaled.
“Are you going to wear your ‘World’s Best Grandma’ shirt for the occasion?” Zane droned, looking very underwhelmed by all the amazing progress I had just made.
“I’m saving that for my wedding day. Stop playing with fish oil. We have a dinner date. Omar Shusteri is as good as mine.”
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
I didn’t appreciate that the undead guy looked better than me.
Zane wore Marthas’s stolen leather jacket over a crisp button-down and fitted jeans, messy hair somehow more stylish than mine even though I had tons of decently priced products in it, and his skin wasn’t as deathly pale as usual.
He looked not terrible.
My only real “classy” clothing I had was getting a bit tight in the shoulders, but that was to be expected from a designer jacket I stole off a dead guy two years ago. The slacks fit well, though I knew they didn’t have much time left without ripping with how badly I treated them. The shoes were scuffed, but I was hoping the restaurant I was instructed to be at would be too dark for anyone to notice.
“What are you going to do while everyone else is eating?” I asked my vampire date as we rode together in the car provided by Sias. The driver politely ignored us as he weaved through traffic.
“Order some water and say I’m not hungry.” Zane watched out of the window at the passing buildings. “This isn’t my first time hanging out with mortals, you know.”
“You could have just stayed back at the apartment.” I plucked some lint off my jacket. “I don’t know why you were being so damn pushy.”
“When I’m further away from you, I get anxious.” He side-eyed me. “If that wasn’t apparent from the mass polishing I did.”
“Right. Forgot you’re a neurotic dead person.”
“I think I’d be more prone to relax when you’re not in my sight, if you hadn’t already gotten into two brawls since I’ve known you.” Zane smoothed his shirt down absently. “You forget that if you die, I die. I have a little more at stake with your idiocy.”
“If I die, wouldn’t that mean you just go live with a new necromancer mommy or daddy?” I shot back victoriously. “I think you “dying” is a little overdramatic.”
Zane rolled his eyes before cutting me with them.
“I only transfer if you die with life magic. If you die by say…getting beaten to death in a club after fucking someone’s boyfriend in a bathroom stall—”
“It happened one time—”
“Then,” Zane hissed, cutting me off. “Your death is unremarkable to the Goddess, and I am returned to the void.”
“Excuse me?” I snorted around a laugh. “Any death besides being exorcised by life magic is “unremarkable” to your Goddess? What a b—”
“Your soul is marked now, hunter,” Zane growled, warning dripping from his tone. “The dark magic that you control is touched by a void, which gives you a place within the Goddess’s harem. When you are destroyed by the only magic powerful enough to erase you from this plane, you take your place at her side and I serve who bested you. But if you die like a mortal, slain by the mundane circumstance, then we both return to the void.”
“That’s fucking intense,” I mumbled, feeling a little bit like I was hired for a job I was drastically underqualified for. “I’ve never been in a harem to a goddess before. Does she know I’m very gay?”
“Every time you speak, I get a migraine.”
“I will do my very best not to die in a mundane, shitty way, so you don’t have to go back to the void. So,” I turned in my seat, fascinated by my sudden onslaught of burning questions. “What happens if you die? Do I get a different harem option?”
“If I’m killed by life magic, it doesn’t affect you,” Zane answered, bored. “My existence is of no consequence to you.”
“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t seem super fair.”
“I’m a servant of the void, hunter. I serve my necromancer until I’m allowed to return to the nothingness from which I was born.” Zane lifted his eyebrows, exhausted. “It’s not complicated.”
“You don’t get a harem? Do you want a harem?”
“I want you to stop talking.”
“Well, that’s not happening. You think I’m going to get into a fistfight at dinner with Sias?”
“I would never dare assume you wouldn’t.” Zane pulled his attention from the sprawling skyline to give me a look hovering between amused and annoyed. “Though I think you’d actually try to be on your best behavior for Sias.”
“Well, yeah. He’s like my sugar daddy and best client.”
Zane hummed, knowingly.
“What do you mean, ‘Hmm’? What’s that tone?”
“I can read your emotions, hunter,” he said coolly.
“And?”
“We’re here,” the driver said as the car came to an easy stop. Zane unfastened his seat belt and let it slither away, escaping the car before I could interrogate him further.
