Royce glanced over his shoulder, then straightened and turned, wary. While the vampire was somewhat muscular from a life of toil when he was human, he was dwarfed by the Were looming behind him. The guy’s muscles strained against what should have been loose sweats, his features ruggedly handsome, sporting artfully curly dark brown locks and narrowed brown eyes that met the vampire’s gaze with a challenging stare.
“I don’t know that it’s any of your business,” Royce said, keeping his visage calm and unperturbed. He didn’t want to encourage the Were’s rude behavior to tip into a physical confrontation, but he wasn’t about to let the dog think he could get away with anything either. “Excuse me.”
The Were didn’t move as Royce tried to get past him to get to the cashier. Instead, one thickly muscled arm covered loosely in an oversized flannel jacket shot out, blocking his way.
“Hold on a minute. Is that the last of the cookies-and-cream?”
“Yes. Get out of my way, cur.”
The Were’s eyes glinted, anger surfacing at the insult. “You can’t eat it, worm-bait. Don’t know what kind of kinky games you’re thinking of using it for, but you can pick another flavor. Hand it over.”
“Not today,” Royce said. “Try your luck somewhere else.”
As enjoyable as it would have been to teach the dog a lesson, Royce didn’t want to risk making a scene in so public a place. The security cameras blinking in the corners would catch the whole thing and would undoubtedly make the morning news, sparking yet another round of unwanted bad press for Others in the city. Instead of forcibly introducing the guy’s head to his ass, Royce used a touch of his unnatural swiftness and grace to duck under that outstretched arm and then resumed strolling toward the counter.
The Were whirled, startled at the vampire’s show of speed. His brown eyes now glittered a pale, feral golden hue, dainty upper and lower fangs extending as his adrenaline spiked, moreso when the vamp turned his back on him.
“I said give it here!”
When a heavy hand came down on his shoulder, Royce decided he’d had enough. Pivoting on a booted heel, his palm connected with the Were’s chest, using a touch of the massive amounts of kinetic force he could summon to send the bigger man sliding over the linoleum until his back crashed into the wall next to the ice cream freezer. Royce studied the slight dent in the wall with a critical eye as the Were slumped to the floor. Pleased with his handiwork—that he’d stunned the Were without causing much property damage—Royce once again headed to the counter.
The clerk finally looked up from his dirty mag, frowning as he stared in the vamp’s direction. “What the hell is going on over there? Don’t make me call the cops, man.”
“Just a little disagreement. All settled now.”
“Don’t count on it,” came a deep, rumbling voice, followed by a sudden heavy pressure as the Were grabbed Royce from behind, yanking him back. The vamp might have retaliated or twisted away if not for the fangs sinking into his shoulder.
It wasn’t the blissful, achingly sweet slide into ecstasy of a vampire bite, laced with a heavy cocktail of neurotoxins in the saliva to stimulate the nerves and make the victim feel pleasure rather than pain. A delightful evolutionary trick designed to keep prey coming back for more so that the vamp would have a ready and willing source of food in the future.
No, this wasn’t like that at all. This was sharp, pointy objects piercing the skin, followed by the bone-breaking pressure behind the Were’s bite. It hurt—and the mangy beast was getting blood all over his shirt.
He snarled and flailed in an effort to dislodge the fangs.
Others in general, and Weres in particular, were usually much more discreet than this. Though vampires and Weres had never gotten along well, Weres were rarely the aggressors when it came to battle between the two supernatural races. Even after the incident on 9-11, where the Others proclaimed their existence to the rest of the world by helping clean up the mess and look for survivors in the rubble of the Twin Towers, they tended to avoid each other. Though they had initially worked together to help rebuild a world shattered by terrorism and the sudden appearance of nightmare creatures out of fairytales come to say they’ve been your co-workers and janitors and congressmen for the last God-alone knew how many years,