BLOOD SONG

BY
PANDORA PINE

A COLD CASE PSYCHIC SPIN OFF NOVELLA

 Blood Song
Copyright © Pandora Pine 2018
All Rights Reserved

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any
manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the copyright
owner except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work
of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, places, events, business
establishments or locales is entirely coincidental.
First Digital Edition: October 2018
 PROLOGUE
Luca
I didn’t get the placebo…
Hitting the flush valve on the dorm toilet for the second time in the last half
hour, those five words kept spinning through college junior, Luca
Pennington’s head like the chunks of cheesy chicken burrito that were
swirling around the porcelain bowl before disappearing down into the lair of
Pennywise the clown.
This all started thanks to Salem State University raising their tuition rates
higher than the scholarship from his podunk hometown back in western
Pennsylvania would cover, combined with his douchebag organic chem
professor changing the edition of all the textbooks required for the fall
semester.
Everyone knew the only difference between editions three and four were a
handful of words sprinkled throughout the damn textbook. If there had been
any breakthroughs in the flashy world of organic chemistry, they would have
been broadcast on the news, or announced on the school’s Facebook page, or
some shit like that.
Groaning, Luca tried to stand up, but his legs weren’t ready to cooperate.
Thankfully, it was the second week of May and the campus was almost
completely abandoned, with the exception of summer session students like
himself. At least there weren’t any other students on his floor to see him like
this. The charity student, who couldn’t get off the shithouse floor because
he’d used himself as a fucking human guinea pig to pay tuition.
This must have been the reason the medical study was offering one thousand
dollars cash for participation in the program. All he’d had to do was fill out a
brief medical history, sign a consent form, and go through a quick physical,
which included getting his blood pressure taken and having that probe shoved
up his nose and into his ears. Then, before he could ask what the hell was in
the syringe, it was being plunged into his left bicep. The hunky grad student
in the white lab coat handed him a plain envelope with ten crisp one hundred
dollar bills in it and warned him to report back if he had any unusual
symptoms over the next few days.
It wasn’t until Luca had been walking out of the Salem Five Bank on Essex
Street with his deposit slip in hand, that it occurred to him he hadn’t asked
the lab coat-wearing stud what kind of symptoms counted as unusual. He’d
been too busy staring at Doctor Hottie’s tight ass to hear much more than,
“unusual symptoms,” and that some participants would only be getting a
placebo in their syringe. Luca most definitely did not get the placebo.
“Maybe it was food poisoning?” Luca mumbled, successfully making it back
to his feet. There had been a lot of stories on the news lately about Chipotle
and their issues with e. Coli contamination. Shit, that was the last thing he
needed, a week spent with the porcelain god as a roommate, trying to
prioritize between shitting his brains out or puking his guts up. Good times…
He didn’t have time for either option. Running back to his dorm room, Luca
stripped out of his sweats and Metallica tee shirt. He needed to get ready for
his night shift at Spellbound. He loved working the bar at the gay club. The
guys who came in were always hot as fuck and usually tipped well. Just not
well enough to cover the tuition hike at school.
The medical study funds would keep him in boxed mac and cheese and away
from placing an ad on Backpage or another more nefarious website in order
pay for the fall semester. He’d be damned if he went back to that dirt-poor,
blue-collar suburb outside of Pittsburgh with nothing to show for his time in
Massachusetts but his dick in his hand and criminal record. Like the rest of
my family…
Tucking in his black tank, with the word Spellbound in red glitter across his
chest, into his jeans that were so tight his liver ached by the end of his shift,
Luca checked himself in the mirror. His dark hair was still perfectly tousled,
even after blowing chucks twice. His blue eyes were sparkling in a way he’d
never seen before.
If he were an English major like his prof from last semester thought he
should be, he’d almost say they were glowing from within as if his soul set
them ablaze with icy fire. Looking at himself on the whole, there was this
shimmer to him, like the auras he’d see when he got a migraine.
Shit! He hoped to fuck whatever the hell was in that needle wasn’t bringing
on one of those headaches. Since it was Friday night, the music at Spellbound
would be loud enough to register on the Richter scale. He couldn’t afford to
be sidelined by a headache.
Running into the bathroom he brushed his teeth on the off-chance he got
lucky tonight and applied some black eyeliner which he knew made his baby-
blues pop. Luca’s stomach turned when he caught a whiff of regurgitated
burrito. He hoped to fuck it had all gone down the bowl. There wasn’t time
now to check.
On his way through the dorm building, it smelled like the food court at the
mall. He could pick out sausage and bacon pizza from Greek Life, nachos
from Taco Bell, boxed mac and cheese- the cheap stuff, and something from
Lotus Blossom, sesame chicken, maybe. Luca’s stomach pitched again. How
the hell was he smelling all this in the friggen stairwell? There was no one in
it but him and so far as he knew, only five other kids were even in the
building.

Stepping outside the dorm, Luca noticed the sky had gotten more overcast
since he’d been out earlier in the day. He hoped it wasn’t going to rain. That
would mean fewer people in the club and fewer tips to go toward those damn
chemistry books.
As he got closer to the center of the quad, several teenagers were gathered
around a kid who was lying on the ground.
“You okay Gordo?” one of them called out. “That was an epic fail, dude!”
“Yeah, just scraped my arm. I’m fine,” the injured boy called back.
The kid had done more than scrape his arm. Luca could smell the blood from
twenty feet away. It had a sweet aroma and he could almost hear it beckoning
to him, like those Sirens sang to Odysseus in The Odyssey. Which was
ridiculous, right? He must just be having a whimsical day. Maybe there was
something in that syringe that was going to turn him into the next
Shakespeare or Homer.
Luca found himself walking over to the boy just to make sure he was okay. It
certainly wasn’t because the blood was calling to him like the smell of
grilling burgers at a cookout. “That looks pretty nasty,” Luca said when he
got a look at the injury. Bright red blood was dripping from the scrape to
puddle on the concrete. Oddly enough, Luca could hear each drop as it
splashed down.
He caught himself leaning down, closer to the boy and his dripping wound.
As he got nearer, the call of the blood got louder, encouraging him to take a
sip. To drink. To feed.
Shaking his head, Luca started to run. He had no idea what was going on
here, but he was definitely going to be calling Paul or Parker or whatever the
fuck the lab coat hottie’s name had been, because craving human blood like
he sometimes craved chocolate was definitely an unusual symptom.
When he was far enough away from the injured skateboarder that he couldn’t
hear the blood’s call anymore, he stopped to catch his breath. Christ, he
couldn’t show up at Spellbound sweating and smelling like he’d fucked his
way through the Salem State football team.
As his breath started to calm, Luca was feeling hotter than he should have
been feeling. Looking up, he could see the sun had come back out and was
shining straight down on him. His skin was red and blisters were coming up
where the rays was directly hitting him. It almost felt as if the sun were
burning him like a flame.
What the fuck was going on? Luca moved under the shade of a nearby elm
tree. He looked over what he could see of his bare arms and they looked
sunburned to hell, like he’d been in the sun for the entire day instead of the
ten minutes he’d been out of the dorm.
He needed to gather evidence and look at things like the scientist he was
studying to be. He’d thrown up all remnants of actual food. His senses all
seemed to be heightened. Blood appeared to be his new prime rib, and the
sun burned him like fire.
Holy motherfucking shit! Whatever it was in that syringe was absolutely not
the placebo. Luca had seen a lot of stupid B movies in his day and if he were
going to diagnose himself based on those flicks alone, he was ticking all the
boxes for Dracula, Nosferatu, Lestat, and Edward fucking Cullen.
Oh no! No, no, no, no! Luca couldn’t be a vampire. He was a college
student. A bartender. He’d only had sex with like two other guys. Who the
fuck would want him now that he was a freak? A child of darkness. Luca sat
down under the shade of the tree. Only one thought repeated in his head now.

I’m a vampire…

1
Cisco
June…
Salem Police Chief Francisco Jackson was dead on his feet. Departmental
budget cuts meant that he hadn’t been able to hire the five additional officers
the Charlie shift needed, so here he was, back in his patrol vehicle at 4am,
covering this shift for free.
His mother always told him being the boss came with consequences, but
Cisco hadn’t cared when they’d promoted him to chief. He’d been the first
Latino police chief in the history of Salem, Massachusetts. All of the long
hours, bad cups of coffee, and racial slurs had all been worth it the day he’d
been sworn in.
Now, sitting in his SUV, working his second shift of the day, he had to admit
his mother had a point. There had been other officers willing to work unpaid
shifts, but the union wouldn’t allow that kind of nonsense. Cisco had moved
bodies around the best he could, but at the end of the day, he was still the one
in charge and would do whatever was necessary to make sure the streets of
Salem were safe even if it came at a cost to his personal life.
“Personal life? What personal life?” Cisco laughed. The sound was hollow in
the empty cab of his unmarked police SUV. He hadn’t been out on a date in a
dog’s age. Probably five years at least. It had been longer than that since the
last time a handsome man had wrapped his lips around Cisco’s thick-
The police radio crackled to life, “Chief, we’ve got a 10-62 at the Darwin
Sciences Building on the Salem State campus. Lafayette Street is the closest
entrance to the disturbance. You want me to send Dixon out on that?”
“I’m closer. I’ll take it. Jackson out.” Setting the radio back down, Cisco
sighed. A 10-62 was a breaking and entering. He hated call-outs to the
campus. Some employee or summer work-study student probably left a door
open or someone’s roommate stole a door keycard.
Calls like this were usually just drunk kids out pulling pranks. Too stupid or
too high to understand the severity of the trouble they’d gotten themselves
into, until they woke up in protective custody hours later, crying out for their
mommy. Cisco had no doubt that’s exactly what this call had in store for him.
Turning into the Lafayette Street parking lot, he killed the engine and
climbed out of the SUV. There didn’t seem to be anything out of place from
street level. He didn’t see any broken windows or lights turned on in the
building. “Hey, Michele?” Cisco keyed the mike. “You got anything more
specific on this? I’m 10-23 and I’m not seeing anything here.”
“Report said there was someone up on the third floor on the Lafayette side of
the building. Nothing more specific than that, chief,” Michele replied.
“10-4.” Cisco sighed. This is what he got for taking the call in the first place.
Another epic cluster. Now he’d be stuck going from classroom to classroom
or lab to lab looking for some idiot who probably thought he’d be able to
figure out how to make blue meth after watching an episode of Breaking Bad
on Netflix.
Cisco pushed through the right-most door of the building, the one you needed
a keycard to swipe through. He shouldn’t have been able to do that without a
properly programmed card. “Awesome,” he muttered under his breath.
Pulling his flashlight out of his belt, he hit the button to turn it on and made
his way up the stairs to the third floor. By the look of things, this is where the
labs where housed. He could hear a bit of a commotion going on down the
hall to the left. Cisco stopped outside the lab marked Biohazard.
“Fan-fricken-tastic!” he muttered. So, it wasn’t a dumbass trying to make
drugs after watching a fictional television show. It was some genius trying to
infect the entire campus with Ebola or something equally as deadly.
Slipping his gun out of its holster, he flipped off the safety and used the heel
of his hand slowly depress the door handle. Cisco peered inside when the
door was cracked open enough for him to get a clear look.
The room was dimly illuminated by the light of an open industrial-sized
refrigerator. There were several other closed units like the one that was open.
Standing inside the open fridge appeared to be a young man drinking from a
bag of dark liquid.
What the hell was wrong with kids today? Looking to get high off of only
God knew what from a biohazard fridge. “Salem Police, turn around slowly,
kid, and put your hands in the air.” Cisco’s heart was pounding in his chest.
He had no idea what the hell the kid’s next move was going to be. Would he
obey? Would he be cognizant enough of the situation to be able to obey?
The kid squeaked and jumped a mile. One hand came up instantly while the
other hand held the bag to his mouth. “Ith tuck oo eye yangs,” he said.
Cisco felt the beginnings of a gold medal winning ulcer forming in the pit of
his stomach. “Turn around kid and if your other hand so much as moves I’ll
shoot you. Got it?”

“Yon’t oot!” The boy pled, turning around as Cisco asked. The only problem
was that he’d moved out of the way of the refrigerator door which
extinguished the only light in the room when it closed with a mechanized
whoosh.
Cisco moved closer to the kid, who he could now see wasn’t really a kid, but
looked more like he was in his early twenties and was most likely a student at
the university. The bag of whatever it was he was drinking, looked like it was
stuck to his teeth, which now that he thought about it, was what the kid had
probably been trying to tell him. “It’s stuck to my… yangs?” Jesus Christ,
was the last word he’d been trying to say “fangs?” He shined the flashlight
beam directly on the bag and to his eye the remaining liquid looked like
blood. The kid was drinking blood?
“A, Eye?” the kid asked, using the index finger of the hand he was holding in
the air to point to the almost empty bag.
May, I? Is that what he was asking. “Yeah, kid, take it off.”
Lowering his hand, the kid used it to give the bag a couple of tugs and then it
was free. He held it in his left hand which instantly went back up into the air.

Cisco watched, stunned, as what appeared to be fangs retracted into the boy’s
mouth. One lone drop of blood sat in the right-side corner of his mouth. His
tongue slid out to lick it up. He moaned obscenely as if it were the best thing
he’d ever tasted. “What the…?”
“AB negative,” the kid giggled nervously. “Best stuff on earth.”
Cisco shivered uncontrollably. His blood type was AB negative. While he
was thinking about it, that voice sounded familiar. He pulled the beam back
from the kid’s mouth so he could see the entire face of the young man
standing before him. “Jesus Christ, Luca?” He shook his head. “Luca
Pennington? Is that you?”

The young man nodded. “Hi, Chief Jackson. Long time, no see.” He waggled
his fingers, which were still held up at either side of his head, at the cop.
“You want to explain this to me, kid?” This should be one hell of a story,
considering the fact that Cisco had a permanent hard-on for this kid since
they’d met under bizarre circumstances, in the dead of night, a few weeks
back in the Salem Towne Forest.
Luca sighed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “Not
particularly, but since you caught me red-handed, no pun intended, I don’t
think I’ve got much of a choice, do I?”
“Are you high, kid?” Cisco shined the light at and then away from Luca’s
eyes to see if they were reactive to the beam. They were.
Luca shook his head no.
“Drunk?” Cisco didn’t think this was the case either.
“Not technically.” The left side of Luca’s lips quirked into a smile.
What the heck did that mean? “Stupid?”
“Oh, yes, chief, very, very, stupid.” Luca put his hands down and took three
steps forward to close the distance between them. “Your blood is singing to
me, Cisco. It has been since the night we met in the woods. I haven’t been
able to keep you out of my mind.” His fingers reached out to touch the pulse
points in Cisco’s neck. “The sweetest blood song of them all…” Luca
whispered, leaning up on tiptoes to press the tip of his hot tongue against the
chief’s neck.
Cisco should stop this right now. He was on-duty and the man licking a
torturously slow path up his neck was guilty of breaking and entering,
larceny, and probably a host of other crimes that he was too turned on to
think of at the moment.
His hands came up to grip Luca’s slim hips, they slid down over the globes of
his ass, digging into the flesh as he pulled their bodies flush against each
other. Cisco moaned when Luca’s erection, hot and heavy, brushed against
his own.
Who the hell was this kid? One touch of his sinful tongue was all it had taken
for his dick to be rock-hard and leaking in his pants. That one lick was all it
had taken for him to know he wanted more. He wanted all this kid had to
offer and then some.
Two sharp pricks against the side of his neck fractured the fantasy he’d been
weaving of screwing this kid into next week against the lab bench behind
him. He’d never been one for biting and, unless he missed his guess, Luca’s
teeth were grazing against his right jugular. “Luca, stop.”
“Just one taste. Please, Cisco. I need to feel your blood song in my soul.”
Luca licked his way up Cisco’s neck, dropping little nibbles as he went.
Luca’s voice was the sexiest damn thing he’d ever heard in all of his thirty-
eight years, but it wasn’t the pure sex dripping from every syllable that drew
him up short. It was the words. Taste. Blood.
When he’d walked into this room, Luca had been sucking down a bag full of
blood like he’d seen teenagers drink bottles of Gatorade after football
practice down at Greek Life. Luca wanted to bite him, wanted to taste him.
Wanted to drink his blood.
Taking a step back from the young man, he tried to catch his breath. It all
made sense now. “Jesus Christ, Luca, you’re a vampire. Aren’t you?”
Luca gave a short nod before bowing his head and staring at his feet.
“How is that possible?” Cisco’s voice was barely above a whisper.
Looking the chief up and down, Luca sighed. “I’ll tell you, but not here. The
sun will be up soon and with my allergy to it, I need to be inside.”
Cisco snorted and started to laugh. “Allergy to the sun? Are you kidding
me?”
Luca shrugged and grinned at the chief.

“Come on. I’ll take you home with me. I’ve got those blackout shades in my
bedroom.” Cisco couldn’t believe he was offering to take this kid home with
him.
“Is that an invitation to finish what we started, Chief Jackson?” That sexy
tone full of promise and endless orgasms was back in Luca’s voice.
“It’s an invitation to get you out of the sun so you don’t end up looking like
something my ex-wife cooked for dinner. Now are you coming with me or
staying here?” Cisco didn’t even want to think about the possibility of this
man, twenty years his junior at the very least, in his bed.
“Oh, I’m definitely coming, chief. The question is, will you be joining me?”
Luca smirked, his blue eyes blazed with desire.
“Jesus Christ.” Cisco shook his head. He grabbed the mike and shot Luca a
look that warned him to shut up if he knew what was good for him. “Michele,
it’s Jackson. The location is secure. I’m 10-42.”
“It’s about damn time, chief. Good night.” Michele keyed off her mike.
“Let’s go.” Cisco turned and headed for the door to the lab. He could hear the
slap of Luca’s shoes on the floor behind him. What the hell had he just gotten
himself into?
 2
Luca
Chief Jackson’s house wasn’t what he expected for bachelor cop who was on
the verge of working himself into an early grave. The house was neat as a pin
and decorated tastefully with leather furniture in the living room, which had
Luca wondering if that décor continued into the bedroom.
“Can I get you something to drink? Shit,” Cisco muttered. “Do you drink
human things anymore? Are you even human?” He shook his head. “Do I
sound like a bigoted asshole?”
Luca snorted. “You’re fine, chief. I do okay with water but all other kinds of
food and drinks don’t sit well with my sensitive stomach.” He shrugged.
“Sensitive stomach? Sun allergy? Are those the terms you’re using to avoid
stating the obvious?” Cisco raised a sardonic eyebrow.
“Chief, I don’t-”
“Look, kid, call me Cisco, would you? I hear that word and I think I’m still at
work. Fuck knows I’ve been there long enough today. That’s for sure.” Cisco
walked into the dining room and took off his gun belt, quickly securing the
weapon in a safe in the wall behind a reproduction print by Kandinsky, which
impressed the hell out of Luca. Next, he unbuttoned his uniform shirt and
after slipping out of it, hung it on the back of a chair. Lastly, he toed out of
his work boots and pulled off his socks, leaving him only in his navy work
pants and a white V-neck tee-shirt that Luca would have paid money to watch
the sexy police chief slowly remove.

It was no matter at the moment, there was plenty of Cisco’s caramel skin on
display now that hadn’t been before. He watched as the obviously exhausted
cop padded barefoot across the living room and sat down into one of the
leather armchairs.
“I want to hear this story from the beginning. Don’t leave anything out.”
Cisco commanded, sounding every bit like the cop he was.

Nodding, Luca took a seat on the leather sofa opposite Cisco. The leather was
soft and buttery under his hands. He wondered if the chief’s skin would be
that soft when he finally got his hands on it.
“Luca!” Cisco half-shouted.
He let out a very unmanly squeal. His eyes went instantly to Cisco’s mouth.
Damn all the things that mouth could be doing, and instead it was scaring the
ever-loving fuck out of him. Talk about a waste of time and resources.
“I’ve been up for nearly twenty-four hours straight. You can daydream later.
Talk!” Cisco barked.
Luca took a deep breath. He tried to organize his thoughts so he could tell the
story in the most concise way possible. “I’m a biology major at Salem State
and my scholarship isn’t enough to cover all of my expenses, so I work nights
bartending at Spellbound. I was just getting by when I got a letter back in
April that tuition was going up for the fall semester. The sponsor of my
scholarship says there isn’t any additional money to cover inflation, so I was
on my own to cover the difference. Even with all of the hours I was putting in
at the club, salary plus tips wouldn’t be enough to pay for the hike in tuition,
plus the new books I need for organic chem. I needed another way to make
more money.”
Cisco sat forward in his chair, bracing his elbows on his knees. “Please tell
me you didn’t turn to Backpage or Craigslist or streetwalking.” His dark eyes
held a sadness to them.
Luca shook his head. “No. I didn’t go that route, although, I wish now that I
had.”
Cisco’s hands balled into fists. “What the hell do you mean you wish now
that you had?” His booming voice echoed off the ceiling.

“Just that I don’t think I would have caught a raging case of the vampires
from sucking cock. Now, do you want to hear the rest of the story or do want
to yell at me some more for something I didn’t do?” Luca ran a hand over his
face.
Cisco waved a hand in the air. “Keep going.”
“There was an ad on the biology department bulletin board for a medical trial
that was paying a thousand dollars in cash. All I had to do was fill out a
medical history form and take a short physical.”
“That’s not all you had to do for a thousand dollars, Luca!” Cisco was yelling
again. He took a deep breath in an obvious attempt to calm himself down.
“What else happened?”
“They gave me a shot in the arm.” Luca tapped his left bicep. “The guy in the
white lab coat said some people would get the real thing and some people
would get the placebo.”
Cisco groaned. He leaned back in the chair, rubbing his fists over his eyes.
“Did the guy in the lab coat say what this trial was for? A cure for pollen
allergies? An Ebola vaccine? Something to cure erectile dysfunction?”
“I don’t have trouble with that last one, chief. Do you?” Luca leered at the
cop. “I felt your cock digging against my stomach a little earlier, so I’m
guessing that isn’t an issue for you.” He felt himself getting hard all over
again just thinking about the way Cisco’s thick dick had been insistently
pressing against him as if it were itching to burrow itself inside him.
“Jesus Christ, Luca! Can we get back to the issue at hand? Did you ask what
was in the syringe?” Cisco’s voice was filled with frustration.
He was just giving Cisco the business about his dick because he knew this
question was coming and he didn’t want to admit how fucking stupid he was
and how that stupidity had cost him everything. Luca shook his head no. He
could feel his emotions bubbling to the surface, but he’d be damned if he was
going to cry in front of the cop who only seemed interested in yelling at him.
He shut his eyes and willed the tears to subside.
“Finish the story.” Cisco’s voice was much closer this time.
When Luca opened his eyes, he saw the tall chief of police standing next to
him. He cleared his throat, willing himself some control. “Later that
afternoon, I started getting sick. I couldn’t keep real food down and my
senses got sharper. I could see and hear better. I could feel the pull of blood.
On the way to work, I saw a kid who’d hurt himself and was bleeding. I
needed to drink it, like I’d been wandering in the desert and had found an
oasis. Then the last piece of the puzzle was the sun burning my skin as if it
were on fire. I’ve seen enough shitty vamp movies to know that I was
probably one of them.”
Cisco sat next Luca on the couch. “How long ago was this?”
“Second week of May,” Luca whispered.
“When you helped out Ronan O’Mara with the Salem Witches that night in
the forest, you’d already gone through the change?”
“It isn’t fucking menopause, Cisco!” Christ, he sounded like a bitch. “I’m a
vampire. There must have been something in the syringe that turned me.”

Cisco held his hands out in placating gesture. “Okay, I’m sorry. How have
you been surviving since you were turned?”
“I’ve been stealing blood. Just like you caught me doing tonight. I’ve never
bitten anyone. I’ve never wanted to until tonight when…” Luca moved
forward, closer to Cisco.

“Until what?” Cisco asked breathlessly.

“Until I heard your blood singing to me. All I wanted was one taste of you.
To see what would happen.” It scared Luca to think of what would happen if
he got that one taste.
“What do you think will happen?”
“You don’t want to know.” Luca had a feeling it would be something similar
to that fated mates thing he’d read about in those werewolf shifter books he
loved. If that was the case, he didn’t want to be bound to a mate who didn’t
want to be bound to him. No fucking thank you.
There was so much vampire legend out there. Who the hell knew what was
fact and what was fiction. The only way to find out was to live it. Luca
wasn’t sure he was brave enough to go through a trial by fire. Although, he
was patient zero, figuring out how to survive through that had been pretty
fucking brave if he did say so himself.
“I have a million questions here.” Cisco shook his head.
From this close, Luca could see how tired the chief looked. He hadn’t been
kidding when he said he hadn’t slept in nearly twenty-four hours.
“Why don’t you start with the most important one and then we can pick this
up after you get some sleep?” His hand was halfway to brushing the soft-
looking strands of dark hair off Cisco’s brow. Oh Christ! That sounded like
something one of those fated mate fuckers would say in those damn novels.
Cisco scrubbed a hand over his face. “With the exception of me, who knows
about your condition?”
“That’s it. Just you. Ronan O’Mara and his friends know something is up
with me, but I never called him after that night in the Salem Towne Forest.”
Cisco thought about Ronan’s business card sitting in a deep pocket of his
wallet, untouched since the night he’d stuck it back there.
Cisco’s dark, tired eyes narrowed on Luca. “What do you mean?”
Luca held his hands up like he was being robbed. “Look, I don’t want to stir
the shit here…”
“Talk, kid. I’m just about at the end of my patience. Nothing you tell me
about Ronan and Tennyson and their group of merry men will surprise me.”
Cisco’s lips twisted into something resembling a grimace.
“I was walking through the woods after my shift at Spellbound. Being that
close to so many hot, sweaty men who want me, makes it hard to say no to
the blood’s call, so I need to find a way to calm down before I can think
clearly again and find a place to steal blood.”
Cisco opened his mouth, but closed it again without speaking.
“I could hear some kind of disturbance in the woods and that’s when I saw
three men suspended in midair and another being held at knifepoint. There
was a man in a hooded cloak yelling at Tennyson, threatening to kill him and
the others, so without thinking, I rescued the suspended man who was having
the most trouble breathing. It was like someone was somehow suffocating
him.”
Cisco blinked a couple of times, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was
hearing. “How high up in the air were these men?”

Luca shrugged. “Twenty feet. Maybe thirty. All hell broke loose after that.”
“You were able to jump thirty feet in the air and break whatever spell the
witch had put on Ronan?” Cisco asked carefully.
“I, um, have abilities I didn’t have before. Tennyson and his friends saw
those things that night,” Luca admitted.
“Okay.” Cisco leaned back against the sofa, looking more worn out than he
had five minutes ago. “But they’re the only ones who know about you?”
“Yes. The guy in the lab coat who gave me the shot told me to report back if I
had any unusual symptoms, but I never did. I was too scared. Something
inside me told me I needed to protect myself.” Luca tapped a hand against his
heart.
“Good decision.” Cisco nodded. He stood up and stretched his arms up
toward the ceiling. “Do you need to sleep in the cellar or something? I’m
afraid I don’t have a coffin to offer you.” The chief grinned.
Luca laughed. “Christ, not all of the vampire myths you see in the movies or
on television are real. I can sleep in a bed so long as the room is dark.”
Cisco’s grin faded. “You’re not going to suck me dry in my sleep. Are you?”
From his spot on the couch, Luca could see the chief was not sporting a bulge
in his pants. Pity. He’d hoped that was the kind of sucking Cisco had been
asking about. His heart pinched in his chest. “No, chief. I can control my
urges. Since I’ve, um, eaten already, the blood song isn’t that strong.”
“Okay. How about if I show you where you can grab a shower and sleep?”
Without waiting for an answer, Cisco turned and walked away.
Luca was lying through his fangs. The blood song was like Mozart being
blasted through the sound system at Spellbound. He could feel each note
trilling through every cell in his body.
He’d always outwardly snorted and rolled his eyes at the mention of fated
mates in those stupid books he read, but deep down in that secret place in his
heart, the one he didn’t like to admit was there, those books were his favorite.
He wished for a fated mate when he was alone in the dark and there was no
one to quash his silly dreams. Maybe the universe had heard and answered
him.
What was that old saying? Blood tells? Not in this case. Cisco’s blood sang a
melody Luca was sure was only meant for his heart.

3
Cisco
Every little sound kept waking Cisco up. A bird chirping. The house settling.
A neighbor starting his car. Everything woke him up with his heart pounding
in his throat, which his hands immediately flew to, expecting to find Luca’s
fangs embedded there. They weren’t. Not once.
Finally throwing in the towel around noon, Cisco got out of bed and padded
down the hall where the door to the spare room was still closed. He set his
left ear against it and didn’t hear any sounds coming from within. Well, at
least Luca was getting some sleep.
Sighing, Cisco headed into the kitchen where he quickly made himself a cup
of coffee. Thankfully, he was off today. It would give him some time to
figure out what the hell to do about Luca. A vampire! In Salem! He supposed
he shouldn’t be surprised.
His hometown had always been open to people who didn’t quite fit in
anywhere else. Well, at least it had been since that one ugly incident back in
the seventeenth century. That was the one thing that made Salem stand out in
his mind. It had a scarred past, but had since made up for it by becoming a
city of inclusion.
Salem was a city that now hosted a thriving LGBTQ community. The Salem
Witches were revered as a treasure and as a tourist attraction and Salem was
known worldwide for the Halloween party it threw every year. There was a
large community of psychics, everyday citizens, and now one vampire. Cisco
shivered. He wondered what else came out to play when the sun went down.
Maybe he was better off not knowing. He had enough on his hands as it was
dealing with Luca.
First things first, Luca couldn’t keep stealing blood. Last night was the first
incident he’d heard of, which made him wonder where Luca had been getting
take-out from over the past month. He’d believed the young man when he’d
said he hadn’t bitten any people. Incidents like that would have been in the
news and reported to the police. Which begged the question again, where was
he getting his blood?
Cisco snorted. He never imagined in his wildest dreams having to puzzle out
this scenario.
“Something funny, chief?” Luca asked from the kitchen door. He was
grinning, his arms crossed over his bare chest.
Cisco sputtered. His dark eyes had gotten a good look at the nearly naked
vampire who was standing in his kitchen. Luca stood about 5’9” tall and was
slim but solidly built, without an ounce of fat on him. His abs were clearly
defined with a dark treasure trail disappearing into his black boxer briefs
where a large bulge twitched as if it knew Cisco was staring.
“Uh, Cisco? My fangs are up here!” Luca chuckled. He was waggling his
fingers in a wave when Cisco finally looked up again.
“Yes. Yes, they are.” Cisco had just gotten up and he already sounded
exhausted. “Where are your clothes?”
Luca frowned. “I heard you laughing so I thought I’d come see what that was
all about. I had no idea breakfast was so formal in the Jackson casa.” He
rolled his eyes and turned back toward the door.
“I’m an asshole! Luca, wait!” The last thing he wanted was for the beautiful,
nearly naked boy to go put some clothes on, but at the same time, drooling
over his creamy white skin did make him feel like a dirty old man. Not that
thirty-eight was old, but damn, this kid couldn’t be more than twenty-two. “I
was laughing because I was trying to figure out how to feed you without you
having to steal and then the thought crossed my mind that this wasn’t
something they covered in the police manual.”

“Making friends and influencing vampires isn’t a chapter? I’m shocked!”

Luca’s right hand fluttered to his heart in mock outrage.
“I’m not going to hold this against you, kid, but where are you getting
your…” Cisco trailed off. How the hell did he ask this without sounding
insensitive? “Your, you know…?”
“My kibbles and bits?” Luca laughed. “Mostly around campus. I never knew
there were that many labs that used human blood.”
Cisco frowned. “How is that possible? Until last night we hadn’t gotten any
calls about breaking and entering or missing blood.”
“It’s summer break.” Luca shrugged. “No one’s really here right now.”
“Jesus Christ, kid.” Cisco shook his head. He could feel a headache coming
on. “What was your plan for when school was back in session and professors
and TA’s were here to check inventory and started notice their stock was
missing?”
Luca nibbled his bottom lip. “I hadn’t really thought that far ahead.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Cisco boomed.
Luca backed up a few steps. He stopped when he hit the kitchen doorway and
seemed frozen in place like a deer in the headlights.
“This is a matter of life and death here and you hadn’t thought that far
ahead?” Cisco could see spittle flying from his lips. “What would have
happened to you if I’d sent Dixon last night? What if he’d found you instead
of me?” Only an inch separated them.
Luca’s blue eyes darkened. He straightened his spine and looked up at Cisco
who was panting as if he’d run a marathon. “I would have escaped.”
“How? Dixon would have been armed like I was. He wouldn’t have hesitated
to shoot you.” Like I did… Cisco left unsaid.
“How?” A slight smile curled Luca’s full lips.
It all happened in half a second. Before Cisco knew what was going on, he
was flat on his back on the kitchen floor with Luca’s right hand resting on his
chest. The vampire smiled down at him. His fangs sparkled in the early
afternoon light streaming through the kitchen window. “Any more questions,
chief?”
He hadn’t seen Luca move. Hadn’t had time to react. Wouldn’t have had time
to get a shot off even if he had seen the vamp move or had a split-second
reaction time.

“You’re thinking how lucky you are that I’m not a criminal, huh?” Luca’s
lips were only an inch or so above Cisco’s.
Cisco hadn’t been thinking about the criminal element at all. He couldn’t help
wondering in this moment if his blood was singing to Luca. What the hell did
that even sound like anyway? Did everyone’s blood sing to him? Was it the
same melody? Was his song more alluring than the others? The chief gave his
head a small shake. “I want you to eat me, Luca.”
The vampire’s pink tongue came out to lick across Cisco’s thick bottom lip.
“Do you now, chief?”
Feeling his eyes roll back in his head, Cisco moaned. “Yes, can’t have you
stealing blood off the streets like some common criminal.” Just like that,
Luca was gone. Cisco opened his eyes to find the young man all the way
across the room. “Luca, what?” He struggled to sit up, his back stinging in
protest.
“No fucking thank you, Joan of Arc!” Luca had his arms crossed over his
chest.

Cisco, for his part, had no idea what he’d said to offend the vampire. He
climbed gingerly back to his feet, thrilled that nothing ached too badly.
“Okay, obviously I’ve said something wrong. You want to explain it to me?
I’m offering you my fucking life force for breakfast and you’re turning me
down like I gave you month-old eggs and moldy toast.”
“More of your ex-wife’s fare, chief?” Luca’s voice was pure queen.
“She was my high school sweetheart. The best meals we ever had were the
ones she called out for.” Cisco shook his head. “But that’s not important.
Why isn’t my blood good enough for you, but some refrigerated shit out of a
bag is?” He couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. How had
this become his life?
Luca’s eyes narrowed on the chief. “You ever watch vampire movies or
shows on tv?”
Cisco shrugged. “Maybe?” Christ, he had no idea if he had or not and why
the hell was it important now? The kid needed to eat. He was food. What the
fuck was the problem?
“I’ll be fine on my own, Cisco, but thanks for the offer.” Luca started back
toward the bedroom.
“If I catch you stealing blood again, I’ll arrest you, Luca!” Cisco bellowed.
“You’ll have to catch me first, Chief Jackson!” Luca shouted back.
“Motherfucker,” Cisco muttered to his now empty kitchen. His right hand
moved to the small of his aching back. The kid had given him a first-hand
lesson of what a task that would be.

4
Luca
Hours later, Luca was still seeing red. Not the kind of red that tasted like a
lobster dinner in his old life, but the kind of red that made him want to go
Hulk SMASH. The problem was that since he’d become a vampire, he was
absolutely capable of the smash part.
Who the hell did Chief Cisco Jackson think he was, offering himself up like a
three-course meal? And why the hell was Luca so pissed off about it? He
should have been grateful. He should have been down on his knees thanking
the man for offering to help him, but instead he was angrier than a dragon
trying to blow out his own birthday candles.
He’d spent the afternoon pacing around his tiny dorm room trying to sort out
his feelings. All he’d wanted to do when he’d had Cisco down on the floor
was ride him like one of those mechanical bulls and drink him down like the
finest ambrosia.
So why hadn’t he? That’s what Cisco was offering. Wasn’t he?
Luca shook his head. No. The chief was offering to be his meal ticket. Not his
Happy Meal. The hunky cop didn’t seem interested in a friends with benefits
situation. That’s not what Luca wanted either, but it was a lot easier to start
out with that sort of arrangement than it was to have to explain the whole
fated mates thing to a near-total stranger.
Maybe Luca was just plain crazy. Maybe that was one of the unusual
symptoms the white lab coat hottie had been talking about, thinking fated
mates were an actual thing.

To be honest, it was the reason Luca hadn’t bitten anyone yet. He wanted the
first person he bit to be special.
Rolling his eyes, he threw himself down on his narrow dorm mattress. He
wished he’d been as careful with his virginity, which was probably the reason
he was being so careful with his v-card. Luca snorted as his own clever pun.
His first time had been back home in his tiny town of Whitehall,
Pennsylvania. Some guy had been giving him the eye in his sophomore year
trig class and had slipped Luca a note to meet him in the parking lot after
school. The blowjob had lasted all of twelve seconds before the guy had been
busting a nut down his throat and he hadn’t been in the mood to return the
favor. Luca couldn’t even remember his name and doubted if the guy
remembered him either.
This was going to be different. He wasn’t going to go around just biting and
drinking from whoever he could get his fangs on. He’d heard Cisco’s blood
song. It called to him. That was the end of the story.
Unfortunately, Cisco had brought up a good point. What the fuck was he
going to do in a few weeks when everyone was back on campus and they
realized their blood supplies had been stolen? How was he going to eat then?
Was he going to be stuck breaking into hospitals? Blood banks? Morgues?
Could he drink the blood of the dead? Fuck. Would he even want to?
What the hell else was left to him if all of those options failed him? Animals?
No fucking way? He wasn’t going to do that. He remembered they did that in
Twilight. He also remembered Renfield eating flies in the Bela Lugosi
version of Dracula and he was nuttier than a shithouse rat. Animals were
definitely out.
What Luca was smart enough to know was that he didn’t know anything
more than movie myths and internet suppositions. He needed help here. Real
help. There was only one person he could think of who might be able to lend
a hand.
Grabbing his phone, he hit the contact he’d stored for Salem psychic,
Tennyson Grimm, and prayed there was something he could do to help.
 5
Cisco
The police chief’s hand shook as he reached out to ring Cold Case Detective
Ronan O’Mara’s doorbell. The last time Cisco had been here, things hadn’t
gone so well, for him or for Ronan. He whispered a quick prayer that things
would be different this time around.

“Hey, Cisco!’ Ronan greeted. He was holding a tiny white and black dog in
his arms who was barking its fool head off. “Dixie, the police chief is our
friend this time, remember?”
Cisco, usually a dog lover, scooted past the tiny menace and into the house.
“Hi, chief!” Tennyson Grimm called out. He was carrying a tray filled with
finger sandwiches. “Lunch is in the kitchen if you want to follow me.”
Trailing along behind the psychic, Cisco was surprised to see the sandwiches
were only part of the spread the couple had set out for his visit. There was
also a huge garden salad and a tray of what looked like homemade
empanadas. “How did you know these are my favorites?”
“Psychic, remember?” Tennyson laughed.
Cisco felt his eyes bug out of his head.
“Seriously, Ten?” Ronan slapped a hand on Cisco’s shoulder. “Cassie Craig
mentioned something about it yesterday after you called. She said you asked
if she had a recipe for these Spanish hand pies. Cassie said if you like them,
she’ll try them out in West Side Sweets.”
That touched Cisco’s heart. Cassie Craig was about to deliver her second
child in a few weeks now and there she was offering to add a new menu item
to her shop if he liked it.

“Help yourself, man.” Ronan offered a plate. “I’m curious to see what you
wanted to talk to us about.”
Cisco had spent the last two days trying figure out just how he wanted to say
it. He’d barely gotten any sleep. He’d either been working or monitoring the
police band radio for calls about break-ins at the college. There had been
none. He couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Loading his
plate up, Cisco took a seat at the kitchen table and waited for Tennyson and
Ronan to join him.
In the month or so since he’d met the couple, Cisco had taken some time to
do a bit of research on them. Ronan O’Mara was a detective with the Cold
Case Unit of the Boston Police Department. A little over a year ago, he’d
been working a missing child case and had sought out Tennyson when he’d
reached a dead end. It was an unfortunate, but true metaphor. Sparks had
flown and Tennyson had been working cold cases with Ronan ever since. The
two had gotten married last November.
Tennyson worked at West Side Magick, a psychic shop down on Conant
Street. The shop was owned by brothers Carson and Cole Craig, who’d
brought Ten in as their third partner.
“I’m curious too.” Tennyson sat across from Cisco and reached for a napkin.
“Don’t you already know?” Cisco shot Ten a confused look. He was psychic.
Didn’t he know everything?
“No.” Ten shook his head. “I have an iron-clad rule that I don’t read anyone
without their permission.”
That sounded fair enough to Cisco and besides, if Tennyson knew what he
was here to talk about, he wouldn’t be sitting there so calmly eating an egg
salad sandwich. “You guys remember Luca Pennington, right?”
Ronan and Tennyson exchanged a wordless look. They both turned back to
Cisco and nodded.
This was it. Cisco took a deep breath. “He’s a vampire.” There. He’d said it.
All he had to do now was sit back and wait for the gasps and shocked looks.
Ronan slapped a hand down on the table. “I knew it!”
“Son-of-a-bitch!” Ten shook his head. “Why did I pick werewolf?”

“You owe me ten bucks!” Ronan crowed. “Pay up, babe!”

What the hell was going on? Cisco felt like he was in The Twilight Zone here.
“Can’t I just take it out in trade?” Tennyson winked.
“Hold on just a minute!” Cisco shouted. “You knew?”
“You didn’t?” Ronan snickered. “You’re the chief of police. You were there
that night.”
“But not until after the dust settled.” Cisco shook his head. All that he’d been
concerned with was the fact that Tennyson had a dagger sticking in his left
shoulder and there was a suspect to arrest. He’d seen Luca that night long
enough to question why he’d been in the woods and when there wasn’t really
anything suspicious in his answer, he’d sent the kid on his way after warning
him to keep quiet about what he’d seen.
“It doesn’t matter so much that we know,” Ten said. “How did you find out?”
Cisco poked around at the salad on his plate. “Got called out to a breaking
and entering at the college the other night. When I got there, Luca was in one
of the labs drinking blood out of an I.V. bags.”
Tennyson’s mouth hung open. He turned to look at Ronan who was wearing
a similar look on his face. “Well, at least he’s not out there biting people,
right?”

Ronan rolled his eyes. “But he can’t be stealing from the college either, Ten.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you guys about. I offered him a solution to
both problems and he turned me down.” Cisco sighed.
“Both problems being stealing blood and biting random people, right?” Ten
asked.
“Yeah.” Cisco blew out a harsh breath.
“What was the solution?” Ronan asked.
“I told him he could bite me. Luca said AB neg was his favorite blood type
and that’s what I am, so I figured it would be perfect for him. He wouldn’t be
out biting strangers and he wouldn’t be a criminal anymore.”
Ten groaned, sinking his face into his hands. “Let me guess,” he said lifting
his face. “That’s how you presented the idea to him?”
“Well…”
“Christ, chief, even I know better than to have put it like that!” Ronan shook
his head and reached for the Italian dressing.
“Fine, asshole! How would you have put it?” Cisco crossed his arms over his
chest.
“In all of the vampire movies I’ve ever watched, there’s this homoerotic
element to them, right? I mean Dracula was like the first gay lit I ever
remember reading. The biting and the sucking and the release that those
things brought, right? I imagine Luca’s read that book too and watched the
Twilight movies. There’s a certain romanticism to vampires in our culture,
Cisco, and what you offered him was kind of like a friends with benefits
situation when maybe he wasn’t looking for that.”
“Huh?” Cisco felt his mouth drop open. He understood the words Ronan was
saying, just not what he was driving toward.
“I think what my husband is trying to say is that maybe Luca doesn’t want to
bite you because you’re a tasty meal in the right flavor, Cisco. Maybe he
wants to bite you because you’re you. There is a sexual component to the
feeding if the myth is true…”

“What do you mean if the myth is true?” Cisco’s head was spinning.
“Just because Luca is a vampire doesn’t mean he has all of the answers
either. It’s not like he got a vampire manual in the mail after he was turned.
He’s got to sort fact from fiction all by himself. Luca needs someone he can
trust to help him figure this all out. I would imagine there are a lot of
confusing new sensations and feelings that have come along with this change.
He needs someone on his side, Cisco. Someone who’s more than just fast
food.” Ten shrugged.
“He said my blood sings to him. Do you have any idea what that means?”
Cisco wasn’t sure if he should share that with Tennyson or not, but to be
honest, who the hell else could he share it with?

The psychic closed his eyes. The fingers of his left hand trembled, as if they
were warming up to play the piano. Tennyson’s face broke into a grin before
his eyes opened. “Yes, I have an idea what that means. What you need to do
is find out for yourself.”
“Jesus, Ten.” Ronan sighed. “Can’t you give him something?”
“Listen to the words, Cisco. Luca says your blood sings to him. That sounds
like a special kind of bond to me.”
Ronan opened his mouth as if he were going to chime in with something, but
a stern look from Tennyson had him shutting it with a snap.

“Damn, I’m such an asshole.” Cisco sighed. He wasn’t sure he completely

understood what Tennyson meant about his singing blood, but Tennyson had
a good point that Luca might not understand it all either and might need his
help to figure it out.
“The good news is that it’s not too late. Call Luca and invite him over. Ask
him how you can help him. Apologize for being an asshole and go from
there.” Ten grinned at his guest. “Eat up. I have a feeling you’re going to
need your strength.”
“Now you’re reading me.” Cisco laughed. He didn’t mind that one bit.
“As lovely as this is, there’s one other thing we need to talk about.” Ronan
lifted a brow. He was all business now.
“How this happened to Luca, right?” Cisco had a feeling this topic was going
to come up.
Ronan nodded. “I have a feeling he wasn’t born this way How was he
turned?”
Cisco took a deep breath. He and Ronan had met a month or so ago because
Ronan was sticking his nose into Salem Police business, which was clearly
out of his jurisdiction. It had gotten the rogue cop suspended. Cisco couldn’t
help thinking he’d want a man like Ronan on his side for this particular fight.
“You aren’t going to like this story.”
“I had a feeling this was how it was going to go.” Ronan shook his head.
“What happened? Did some fanger bite him?”
“No. Luca needed money for tuition and participated in some kind of medical
trial at Salem State. He said he filled out a form with his medical history, had
a physical, and then got a shot in the arm. All for a thousand dollars in cash.”

“Oh my God!” Tennyson’s mouth hung open. “Luca sold his body to science
for tuition?”
Cisco nodded.
“Aside from figuring out how to feed the boy without draining Salem dry or
stealing from the Red Cross, you know we need to find the fucker who did
this to him, right?” Ronan’s blue eyes bore into the chief.
“We?” Cisco laughed. “You lose your job, Ronan? Last time I checked you
still worked for the Boston Police Department.”
“I could go rogue again, chief.” Ronan bounced his eyebrows.
“Or, you could deputize him like in those John Wayne westerns.” Ten rolled
his eyes. “The last thing we need is you going rogue. I still haven’t recovered
from the last time.” Ten touched his left shoulder where he’d been impaled
by the dagger.
Cisco thought he’d heard the psychic had gotten over one hundred stitches,
which bore the question, if he was psychic, how did he not know the dagger
was going to be thrown at him?
“I was too busy wondering what your vampire bat had done with my husband
after he’d flown off with him in a flash of color, chief!” Tennyson raised a
don’t-fuck-with-me eyebrow at Cisco.
Cisco burst out laughing. Well, that answered that question. “I’ll call Luca
and talk to him about all of this. Once we settle how to feed him and how to
keep him in school and out of the sun, we’ll talk about finding the
motherfucker who did this to him. Deal?”
“Deal!” Ronan agreed.

6
Luca
When Luca reached out to Tennyson Grimm for help, he hadn’t expected it to
come in the form of Greeley Fitzgibbon. Greeley had been one of the people
Luca had rescued in the Salem Towne Forest a month ago. According to
Tennyson, Greeley was a freshman at Salem State University and was the
kind of guy who would understand his situation in more ways than one.
It was the phrase, “in more ways than one,” that had Luca’s curiosity abuzz
as he parked his car in front of Greek Life. Luca could see the teen waving to
him from the back booth when he stepped inside the restaurant. “Thanks for
meeting me after dark.” He grinned at Greeley as he slid into the booth.
“No prob. Uncle Ten confirmed what I already knew about your situation.”
Greeley’s voice was pitched low, so that only Luca could hear him.
The sub shop and college hang out was packed with patrons, but Luca
appreciated Greeley’s discretion. Luca raised an eyebrow. “What you
already knew?”
Greeley leaned closer to Luca. “You snatched me away from a maniac who
was holding me at knifepoint so fast that it made my head spin. That’s not
something the average hundred-and fifty-pound guy can do. I worked the rest
of it out from there. You were out walking at night. Blue eyes that glowed in
the dark.” Greeley’s grin was back. “Oh, and then there were the fangs.”

“You saw those?” Luca felt himself blushing.

“They seemed to make their appearance when Cisco Jackson showed up.”
Greeley looked around surreptitiously. “Made me think about being back in
high school and popping wood when the quarterback of the football team
would walk past me in the hallway.” He shrugged and sat back in his seat. He
seemed to be studying Luca for his reaction.

Luca had noticed the same thing. Sighing, he looked down at his hands. He’d
never been good at making friends. He liked Greeley. What was more,
Greeley seemed to like him. He knew he could trust Tennyson Grimm’s
judgement. He’d asked for help and Ten had sent it in the form of Greeley.
“Have you ever heard of fated mates?”
Greeley’s green eyes popped wide open. “I’ve read about them in cheesy
romance novels. Are they real? I mean, is there really one waiting for me?”
Luca burst out laughing. He couldn’t believe his good fortune. Tennyson
really had come through for him. He saw the confused look on Greeley’s face
and tried to pull himself back together. “I wasn’t laughing at your answer…”
Luca trailed off. He could feel all of his emotions colliding at once. “I just
can’t believe this is happening to me. I kind of hope there’s a fated mate
waiting for all of us.”
“I know this isn’t easy for you. You want to go for a walk?” Without waiting
for an answer, Greeley dug out his wallet and was leaving cash on the table
for the waitress.
Seconds later, Greeley was escorting him out of the booth and then out of the
restaurant. Who the hell was this guy? It was almost as if he was reading
Luca’s mind. He didn’t really want to talk about all of this stuff in the middle
of a pizza joint, but how did you ask to meet someone for the first time in a
dark alley?

Sucking in a deep lungful of air, Luca tried to find his center. He walked in
companionable silence next to Greeley as he tried to get his thoughts in order
about fated mates. He’d first read about them in those shifter romance novels
Greeley had mentioned. “I think Cisco is my fated mate.” Luca hadn’t meant
to blurt it out like that, but he somehow felt like he could just say it to
Greeley and everything would be okay.
“I think so too.” Greeley nodded.
“You do?” Luca was stunned. They’d only been talking for ten minutes. How
the hell had he figured it out so quickly? Luca had been agonizing over it for
days now.
“Well, like I said, your fangs came out when Cisco showed up that night in
the forest. I didn’t see them when you rescued me and Uncle Ronan didn’t
report seeing them at all that night. Plus, I’m not seeing them at all now.”
Greeley shrugged.
“What do you mean you’re not seeing them now? How does that factor into
your hypothesis?” Greeley was right. His fangs weren’t out now, but what
did that have to do with Cisco being his fated mate?
“Bio major, huh?” Greeley snorted.
“How’d you guess?” Luca laughed along with him.
“You asking about my fang hypothesis for one. That, and the way I can see
the wheels spinning in your mind.” Greeley pointed to a set of benches near a
fountain. “Here, let’s sit.”
Luca took a seat and turned towards Greeley. He was fascinated by the young
man who was obviously thoughtful and not at all phased by him and what
he’d somehow become. “Tell me about your fang hypothesis.”

Greeley’s green eyes glowed with seeming enthusiasm. “The one thing that
all of the vampire myths seem to have in common is the sexual component,
right?”
Luca nodded.
“It makes sense to me that your fangs are like your dick right now.” Greeley
shot him a smirk.
“My fangs are like my dick?” Luca’s mouth hung open. He wasn’t quite sure
what to do with that statement.
“They know what they want and aren’t afraid to ask for it. I mean, I’m a
handsome guy. I’m also food, right? Your fangs aren’t coming out for me.”
Greeley shrugged and started to laugh. “Just saying…”
Luca thought about what Greeley was proposing. Greeley was a good-
looking guy, someone he would have been into before he’d met Cisco
Jackson. Greeley was also food. Luca moved a bit closer to the teenager and
gave him a sniff. “AB neg, right?”
Greeley stiffened a bit and nodded. “Yeah. How’d you know?”
“I can hear your blood calling, but it isn’t singing to me. AB neg is my
favorite. I can smell it through your skin.” He could feel himself blushing
again, but knew Greeley wouldn’t hold it against him.
“Cisco’s blood sings to you?” Greeley had a wistful look on his face. “Do
you think that happens with all fated mates? Like with Uncle Ten and Ronan?
And they don’t have super-sensitive hearing like you do to hear it?”
“I hadn’t thought about it like that before. I assumed it was just because…”
Luca trailed off.

“You thought it was just a vamp thing?” Greeley snorted. “I hope the hell it
isn’t. I’d like to be lucky enough someday to find the man whose blood sings
to me. Or who can hear my blood song.” He sighed and stared up at the
moon.
“You’re serious?” Luca couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“We’re all on our own unique journey, Luca. You just happen to be
navigating your new normal as a vampire. I’m a former teenage prostitute
turned criminal justice major. Life is full of vicious curveballs. What matters
is that we swing at them. Some will be strikes, but others will be home runs.”
“Cisco offered himself up as dinner so I don’t have to keep stealing blood.”
Luca felt himself sinking back into that old thought pattern of Cisco only
being interested in keeping him out of trouble.
“I think that’s a good first step, but you don’t. Why?” Greeley looked like he
was studying Luca again.
“Man, your intuition is off the hook.” Luca shook his head. He hadn’t seen
Cisco’s offer as a first step. He’d seen it as a rejection.
“That’s my gift, according to Uncle Tennyson. Here’s how I see things. Our
friendship is off with a bang, right? I mean we’ve been talking for half an
hour and I feel like I’ve known you my whole life.”
Luca nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“Friendships can work like that, but, do you want it to be like that with your
fated mate? Do you want that relationship to come all at once and ruin the joy
of getting to know Cisco body and soul? Or do you want it to come bit by
bit? Do you want the waterfall rush or one drop at a time so you can savor
him?”

Damn. Greeley made a good point. Luca would like to get to know Cisco
drop by drop.
Greeley laughed. “I can see you’re working it out for yourself.”
“Cisco offering to feed me is pretty intimate, don’t you think?” Now that
Luca was going over it from Greeley’s point of view, he could see the appeal.
Instead of jumping in to this huge relationship and offering Cisco this all or
nothing ultimatum like a child, they could go slow and let it evolve.
“Sounds pretty intimate to me. Like in those romantic movies when you see
the guy feed his date from his fork. Don’t you just swoon?” Greeley sighed.
Luca laughed. “Only a little, because the hunk is usually feeding some girl.
Wouldn’t you love to see Chris Evans feeding Chris Pratt? We need more
movies like that.”
Greeley sighed. “Yeah, well first things first, Dracula. You need to have a
talk with Cisco.”
Luca slumped in his seat. “I do owe him an apology.”
“For what?” Greeley grinned.
“He threatened to arrest me if he caught me stealing blood again and I told
him he’d have to catch me first.” Luca shook his head. He still couldn’t
believe he was ballsy enough to have said that to the chief of police.
“Handcuffs could be fun, but only in an unofficial way. That would be one
hell of a first date story to tell your kids about someday, that Daddy took
Vampire Daddy to jail.” Greeley started to laugh.
“Do you think that’s possible?” Luca could barely catch his breath.
“What spending your first date at the station house? Absolutely! Chief
Jackson doesn’t play around.” Greeley shook his head. “He nearly arrested
Uncle Ronan last month.”
Luca shook his head. “No, I mean the other thing. Being Vampire Daddy…”
It was almost too much for Luca to consider.
“I don’t know, Luca, and neither will you until you go and talk to Cisco like
adults. Without the bars of a cell between you.”

7
Cisco
It had been a long night on patrol. This insane plan of working two shifts to
cover for the staffing shortage was starting to take its toll on Cisco. He felt
like he could sleep for a month. Unfortunately, he had to be back in the office
at noon, which was only seven short hours away.
Pulling into his driveway, he saw what he thought was a person sitting in one
of the Adirondack chairs on his front porch. Who the hell would be crazy
enough to be sitting on his porch at 5am? Someone with a death wish, that
was for damn sure. Getting out of the SUV, Cisco had a hand on his holstered
gun.
As he got closer to the house, the answer to his question curled his lips into a
smile: Luca Pennington. “I could arrest you for trespassing,” Cisco said as he
climbed the front steps.
“You could, chief, but then you’d never know what brought me here.” Luca’s
fangs gleamed in the moonlight.
“I know why you’re here.” Cisco walked right past him and unlocked the
door.
“You do?” Luca squawked.
“Night, Luca!” Cisco called cheerfully, shutting and locking the door behind
him. He had to admit it was a bit of a surprise seeing the vampire sitting on
his front porch like that. That didn’t mean he was going to immediately cave
to the little brat’s demands though.
Cisco had spent an inordinate amount of time over the last few days checking
to make sure there hadn’t been any reports of break-ins at the college. So far,
there hadn’t been any. That left him with two conclusions, either Luca was
getting better at breaking and entering and he was here to gloat over his
success or the kid was starving to death. Cisco had a feeling the saucy
vampire was about to tell him which of the two was the right answer.
“Okay, well, I’ll just take my apology home with me then. Good talk, chief!”
Luca called out from the porch.
Apology? That wasn’t one of the two options Cisco thought Luca was here to
discuss. Cisco rushed to the front door, yanking it open in time to see the
vampire sauntering down the stairs. “Wait!”
“Nope!” Luca shook his head as continued down the front walk. “I’m a busy
man. Got places to go. People to bite.” The vampire shrugged.
“What?” Cisco roared. He tore down the front steps like the hounds of hell
were chasing him. He grabbed the vamp by the elbow, spinning him around
so they were face to fangs.

“I believe you just assaulted me, chief. Would it be a conflict of interest to

report the crime to you?” Luca raised an eyebrow.
“You little minx. I ought to…” Cisco shut his mouth with a clack of his teeth.
The next words he’d been about to say were ones that could get him slapped
with a sexual harassment lawsuit.
Luca took a step forward, bringing their bodies together. “You ought to what,
chief? Hmm?” He licked slowly across his lower lip, his tongue lingering
along the point of his right fang.
Cisco felt like he was mesmerized. He knew that was part of the vampire
lore, being mesmerized into doing their will, but he knew Luca wasn’t
exercising mind control, it was his own gaze unable to break away from
Luca. Cisco shook his head. “You said something about an apology?” Yeah,
that was it. The kid said he wanted to apologize. He took a step backward
feeling like he’d broken the spell Luca had woven over him.
“That’s right. I did say that.” Luca looked over his shoulder at the house.
“Don’t you want to invite me inside, Cisco?”

“Isn’t that a vampire thing?” Cisco lifted a curious eyebrow. “Don’t I have to
invite you inside or you can’t come in?”
“Seriously?” Luca sighed. “That’s just a myth.”
“Isn’t that just what you’d say if you were trying to trick me into letting you
inside my house?” Cisco’s head was spinning. Between Luca looking at him
like he was prime rib and trying to sort vampire fact from fiction, he didn’t
know if he was coming or going. He’d much rather be coming.
Rolling his eyes dramatically, Luca zipped away in a flash and waved from
inside the front door of the house before zipping back to Cisco’s side. “Myth
busted. Can we go inside now? I know you’re getting chilly.”

He was getting cold, but how did Luca know that? “You wanna tell me how
you know that, Kreskin?” Was Luca psychic in addition to being a creature of
the night?
“You’re Dominican and it’s forty degrees out here. I don’t need to be a
genius or a psychic.” Luca shrugged. “I heard it in your blood.”

That brought Cisco up short. “My blood told you I was cold?”
Luca nodded. “Your blood tells me everything. If your hot, cold, hungry,
tired, horny.” He leaned closer, brushing his nose against Cisco’s neck,
giving a delicate sniff. “Definitely horny.”
“Perpetually horny.” He’d been in that state from the minute he’d met Luca.
“The front yard isn’t exactly the best place to be discussing that. Come on.”
Setting his hand in the small of Luca’s back, he led the young man toward the
front door. He half-expected Luca to speed forward liked he’d done moments
ago, but was pleasantly surprised when he walked at Cisco’s side.
“I’d ask if I could offer you something, but what do you offer a vampire?”
Cisco shut and locked the door behind them. He half wondered if the answer
to that question was his jugular, but he kept his mouth shut.
“How about a seat in the living room?” Luca offered a shy smile, which was
a complete departure from the overly flirty young man who’d been here a few
days before, daring Cisco to catch him if he could.
“I have to admit I’m curious about this apology, Luca.” Cisco led him to a
comfy armchair, while he sat in the chair across from him. He needed as
much space as he could get from him while they spoke about things so that
his mind could process the words. After, when it was time to let their bodies
do the talking, Cisco would be all for the little minx getting up close and
personal.

“Curious about what kind of mayhem I’ve left in my wake?” Luca’s blue
eyes danced with mischief.
Cisco knew there was no mayhem. “Come on, I know you better than that.”
“You mean you know the police scanner better than that.” Luca offered him a
toothy grin. “If I’d been up to no good you would have heard about it before I
could have come clean.”
“Not necessarily. If you were a good criminal I might not know at all.” Cisco
raised an eyebrow in challenge.
Luca sighed. “Fine. I have to apologize for several things then. Happy?”
“No. I’m not happy. Not one bit.” Rising from his chair, Cisco crossed the
room to take a seat on the soft leather ottoman in front of Luca. “I have an
apology of my own to make. I was a jackass the other day offering myself to
you like turkey on a Thanksgiving platter, like I was some kind of an asshole
martyr or something. Then when you turned down my dickhead offer,
threatening to arrest you if I caught you stealing food. Shit, then to walk past
you like I did when you came here to apologize to me?” Cisco snorted. “I’m
lucky you’re speaking to me at all.”
Luca smirked. “You are a bit of a fuck trumpet, blowing your own horn like
you did. I’ll give you that. You’re lucky I’m in a forgiving mood.”
“Oh? You’re in a forgiving mood?” Cisco offered Luca his hand. He was
amazed when the kid took it. “Guess it’s a good thing that I am too. I’m sorry
I treated you the way I did, Luca. The only excuse I had is that I had no idea
what else to do.”
Luca appeared to be studying their joined hands as if were trying to figure out
where one man started and the other man ended. “Yeah, well, we’re both sort
of rookies in this game. Aren’t we? I’m sorry that I dared you to come and
find me.”
Cisco reached out to touch the side of Luca’s face. “Are you okay? Have you
been eating?”
Luca shut his eyes, leaning into Cisco’s hand.

In all of his years, Cisco had never seen anything like this before. It reminded
him of a cat leaning into his touch. He half expected Luca to purr. Cisco
couldn’t help wondering if Luca was listening to his blood song.
“Yes, I’ve been eating,” Luca whispered. “Although, I’ve been trying to cut
down. I learned something new.” Luca’s blue eyes opened to lock with
Cisco’s dark ones.
“Oh, yeah? What did you learn?” Cisco found himself leaning closer,
wanting to hear Luca’s words sooner than if he’d been six inches further
back.
“Vampires don’t get hangry. We just get weak and bitchy.” Luca shut his
eyes and relaxed back into Cisco’s touch.
Cisco snorted. He couldn’t help himself. “You were trying to cut down so
you wouldn’t have to steal as much blood?”
Luca nodded against the palm of Cisco’s hand. He sighed contentedly.
“What do you propose we do about that? Even if you did agree to let me be
your buffet, I can’t imagine I’m enough to satisfy you.” Nutritionally… Cisco
added in his head. He might have been twice Luca’s age, but even still, he
had no doubt he could satisfy Luca’s more carnal needs.
Luca’s eyes snapped open. Cisco watched in amazement as they dilated with
arousal, the blue shrinking dramatically. “Oh, you’re more than enough to
satisfy me, chief.” Luca licked out at Cisco’s palm. “But if I had my fill of
you, you’re the one who’d end up weak and bitchy and then who would
protect Salem from the likes of me?”
“We both know Salem has nothing to fear from the likes of you. Other, less
scrupulous vamps would be eating out all over the place, but you’ve shown
enormous restraint. Care to fill me in on why?” Cisco jolted when Luca’s
fangs came out. The tip of one grazed against the palm of his hand.
Luca sighed and pulled himself away from Cisco’s hand. He pressed a chaste
kiss to their joined flesh before detangling their fingers. “I haven’t tested out
my theory yet, but I think biting and sex are linked.”
“Okay.” Cisco felt like he did the other day, where he wasn’t sure what the
hell to do or say with the information Luca was giving him. He was going to
do now what he failed to do before. He was going to shut the hell up and let
the kid tell his story. They’d figure things out together at the end.
“It’s in all the vampire legends, right? Plus, it’s something I can feel in my
own instincts now.” Luca ducked his head. “I wasn’t very discriminating
when it came to choosing lovers. I don’t want to be like that this time around.
When I was turned, it felt sort of like being reborn, like I’m a new person.
That’s why I haven’t bitten anyone. Does that make sense?”
Those were about the last words Cisco had been expecting to hear from Luca.
He could absolutely understand how being turned into a vampire could make
Luca feel like a new person, what he was absolutely amazed by was the
young man’s new take on life. He could imagine some less thoughtful man
taking a more hedonistic approach to life, but not his Luca. His Luca? Where
had that come from?
“Then there’s the blood song.” Luca’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“I still don’t understand what that means.” How was it possible for blood to
sing? Cisco was a bona fide lobster junkie, but he had never once heard the
spiny crustacean sing to him. Not even when it landed on his taste buds,
drenched in clarified butter for the first time after a long, cold New England
winter.
“I don’t understand it all myself.” Luca shrugged. “I guess you could say it’s
another level of attraction. Since I was turned all of my senses are
heightened, so it could just be that the blood song is just a function of that.”
Cisco frowned. “But didn’t you say my blood is the only blood you hear
singing?”
“Right. You’re the only one.” Luca’s lips quirked into a quick smile that
seemed to shoot arrows at Cisco’s heart.
Cisco’s dark eyes narrowed on the vampire. There had to be another
explanation for the song. Maybe Luca was hermiting himself away and
hadn’t really seen any other handsome guys aside from himself. “But I can’t
be the only man you’ve come across that you’re attracted to? Right? I mean
you must have seen another good-looking guy in the last few weeks since this
odyssey started.”
“Well, yeah, there have been cute guys. Or even guys I would have thought
about asking out in my old life, but this is different. You’re different. You’re
my-” Luca slapped both hands over his mouth and hopped out of his seat like
his ass was on fire.
That was interesting. Cisco followed Luca around the living room as the boy
started to pace. He was content to stay where he was and let Luca settle. He
had all night. Any thoughts he had of sleeping had fled the minute he
recognized who was sitting on his porch.

“Look,” Cisco started. “Don’t for one minute think I don’t see that there’s
something bigger going on here.”
“Something bigger?” Luca asked on a laugh.
Cisco nodded. “I’m not just some older guy who’s interested in getting into
your pants and you’re not some kid looking for a Sugar Daddy. Am I right?”
Luca nodded.

“Whatever this blood song is, it signifies something bigger, a deeper

connection, a soul bond even. Am I close? Is that what turned you into a
bitchy queen and sent you out the door the other day? The fact that I didn’t
understand the gravity of our situation.” This had been buzzing around
Cisco’s lust-addled brain ever since his chat with Tennyson and Ronan the
other day. In his mind it had been a shot in the dark, but judging by the look
on the vampire’s face, maybe not.
Luca’s mouth dropped open. He looked like he didn’t know how to answer
any of Cisco’s questions. “That’s it exactly, Cisco. There’s a term for what I
think this thing is, only I didn’t want to say it out loud because I was afraid.”
“Afraid it would scare me off? Or afraid it would reel me in?” Cisco already
felt reeled in, like a trout on a hook.
“Yes!” Luca burst out laughing. The sound looked like it startled him.
“Say it, Luca. Say the words.” Cisco felt his heart beating faster in his chest.
This moment felt weighted. So heavy with promise.
Luca walked back to Cisco, resuming his original seat. His blue eyes locked
and held Cisco’s, looking like they were searching his for any signs of
deception. “Fated mates,” Luca said simply.
Cisco had never heard that term before. He sat with the words for a few
seconds, turning them over in his mind. “Fated mates. Is it like being soul
mates?”
“Similar,” Luca agreed. “But for the ‘fated’ part. If you believe in this
phenomenon, for lack of a better term, then you believe that out of all of the
souls in the universe, fate chose you for me.”
“And chose me for you.” Cisco’s voice was awed. He barely recognized it as
his own. His head was back to spinning again over the infinite impossibility
that they found each other.
Luca nodded. He looked like he was holding his breath, waiting for Cisco to
come down on one side of the issue or the other.
“I’m so old. Like twice your age. What if you’re immortal? What if you
always look like your twenty-two and I keep getting older and older?” Cisco
felt his heart beating faster and faster. People would probably think he was
Luca’s father now. What the hell would they think in twenty years? That he
was Luca’s grandfather?
“Hey, it’s okay.” Luca climbed into Cisco’s lap, resting his face against the
chief’s. “How about we take this one step at a time? Huh? I don’t know if I’m
immortal and I’m not in the mood to find out right now. I just want to enjoy
this moment here with you. Can we do that?”
Cisco wrapped his arms around Luca’s back, holding on tight. He could smell
the kid’s Ivory soap and the fresh scent of his aftershave. He loved the solid
weight of him resting against his chest and the way Luca’s ass was grinding
against his dick, which had gone instantly hard the second the younger man
had landed in his lap. “Yeah, we can just enjoy this moment.” His eyes
sliding shut, he breathed Luca in and prayed his blood was singing loud and
clear.

8
Luca
They’d been sitting together with Luca in the chief’s lap for so long that Luca
was afraid Cisco’s legs were going to fall asleep. “You okay?”
“Better than okay. I’ve got you.” Cisco nuzzled the side of Luca’s neck.
“Question is, what are you going to do with me?” Luca couldn’t help snorting
at the look of surprise on Cisco’s face.
“I want to take you to bed and have my wicked way with you, but you’re
looking a bit peckish.” Concern lit the chief’s dark eyes.
Luca felt himself blushing. “Yeah, I could eat.” What a choice, having to pick
between sex and food. Maybe not so hard when his potential lover was his
food.

“Are you gonna be able to get enough to eat and leave me with enough blood
so I can go to work in the morning?” Cisco wore a guilty look. “All I want to
do is take care of you, but at the same time…”
“You have your own responsibilities. I know that.” Guilt swamped Luca. He
had no idea how much would satisfy him. When he was drinking bags of
blood from the university fridge, he knew two bags were his limit, but how
did he measure that with Cisco?
“And what about the bite marks? I can’t go into work looking like…” Cisco
trailed off, biting his lower lip.

“Looking like you got bit by a vampire?” Luca laughed.

“Yeah. I mean on True Blood the vamps just used their spit and the bite
marks were healed. Does that really work?” Cisco nibbled his bottom lip, a
dubious look in his eyes.
“You watched True Blood?” Luca couldn’t help laughing.
“And all five Twilight movies and the original Dracula and Nosferatu and
some other internet shit you don’t even want to know about.” Cisco shook his
head as if he couldn’t believe it himself.
“I don’t know if that works, I’ve never tried it. I don’t even know if I heal
like television and movie vamps. I mean I’ve got speed and strength, but I
haven’t used myself as a human guinea pig.” Luca had been afraid of his own
newly acquired powers and wasn’t all that keen on testing out the limits of
his new and improved body.
“Do you think you should?” Cisco sounded curious.
“Maybe,” Luca agreed. In the time since he’d been turned, he hadn’t really
done a lot to check out his new powers for fear of what he’d learn about
himself. He was the new and improved Luca Pennington, he just didn’t want
to find out what that meant yet. “All I’ve wanted to do since this happened
was go back to my old life, which was so boring and ordinary, but I would
have given anything to just go back to living it.”
“What about now?” Cisco’s hand carded through Luca’s hair.
“I wouldn’t give you up for anything, chief.” Luca grinned, his tongue curled
around his fangs.
“Why are those always out when we’re together?” Cisco wore a teasing
smirk.

“Greeley has a theory about that…” Luca was interested to hear Cisco’s take
on it.
“Does that mean you took him into your confidence about what’s going on
with you?”
“I reached out to Tennyson Grimm after our little disagreement. He suggested
that I talk to Greeley. We’re almost the same age. He’s a good guy. Had a lot
of good advice.” Luca had been texting back and forth with Greeley non-stop
since their meeting the other night.
“I met him back during that situation with Ronan and the Salem Witches.
Was part of his advice for the two of us to sit down and talk like adults?”
Cisco’s hand slipped down to Luca’s neck.
Luca nodded. “He thinks my fangs act like my pubescent dick.” The more
Luca had thought about it, the more he’d thought Luca was right.
Cisco burst out laughing. “You mean you pop fangs when a cute boy is
around?”
“Something like that.” Cisco’s laugh was amazing, full and rich like peak
foliage color in New England. Luca felt himself blushing. He wasn’t quite
ready to tell the gorgeous cop that phenomenon only seemed to happen when
he was around.
“Smart kid. I like him already.” Cisco tightened his hold on Luca.
“He said I should enjoy our journey together and not want to rush into
everything. Take my time getting to know you drop by drop, was how he put
it.” Even now, saying those words out loud excited Luca to the very core of
his being.
“Well, now that’s an interesting metaphor.” Cisco grinned. He cupped both
sides of Luca’s face with his large hands.

“I thought so too. Are you interested in that, Cisco? A long, slow burn?”
Luca mentally crossed his fingers.
Cisco growled low in his throat. “I’ve been burning for you since that night
we met in the forest. I’m not sure how much longer I can wait to taste you.”
“You don’t have to wait to taste me. That’s one of the drops.” Luca wanted
nothing more than to taste the sexy cop in return.
“In that case…” Cisco brushed their lips together. His breath caught in his
throat when Luca kissed him back.
Luca’s hands buried themselves in Cisco’s thick dark hair. He could feel the
cop’s hands tighten against the side of his face. He’d waited so long for Cisco
to kiss him and now that he was, Luca never wanted him to stop. His lips
were hard and demanding, but Luca was up to the challenge.
Increased pressure against the side of his jaw told Luca that Cisco wanted in.
He was lashing his tongue against Luca’s lips, but he wasn’t sure what would
happen when he unleashed the raw passion inside of him. Would he devour
Cisco whole? Or would he continue to let the chief take the lead?
Opening up to Cisco, Luca felt his tongue surge inside. It scraped past his
fangs drawing a drop of blood, giving Luca his first exquisite taste. It was
indescribable. Gone was any sense of hunger he’d been feeling. Raw need
and desire were driving him now. He’d had a tiny taste of Cisco and now he
wanted to feast.
Terror replaced lust in a heartbeat. His fangs retracted in a snap. If he started
to feed, would he be able to stop? Would he drain Cisco like a bottle of water
after a hard workout or would he take dainty sips like ladies at a formal tea?
Not immediately knowing the answer scared the fuck out of him.
Luca pushed back from Cisco, sending the larger man sprawling backward
onto the living room floor. “Jesus, Luca! Are you okay? What happened?”
Pacing around the living room, Luca had no idea what came next. “I’m okay,
just scared. Are you all right?”
Cisco looked stunned. He was still lying on his back in the middle of the
navy-blue throw rug. “You didn’t answer my question. What happened?”
Luca shoveled his hands through his dark hair. “You shoved your tongue in
my mouth so hard that it scraped past my fang and you bled a tiny bit. I tasted
it. Tasted you.” He sucked in a ragged breath. “I had this irresistible urge to
taste all of you. So, I shoved you away. I didn’t want to give in to that need.
That bloodlust. What happens if I can’t stop?”
Cisco picked himself up off the floor. He pulled Luca into his arms. “The fact
that you pushed me away is proof that you can stop. Don’t you think?”
“What if I get into a frenzy like a shark?” Luca loved watching those Shark
Week documentaries and they always showed feeding frenzies where sharks
just bite and feed indiscriminately because they’ve got bloodlust. He knew
what that felt like now. He knew what it was like to taste Cisco and need
more.
Snorting, Cisco pulled Luca closer. “You’re not a shark.”
“But I have this superhuman strength. You won’t be able to stop me.” Luca
pushed back weekly against Cisco.
“I won’t have to stop you. Look at that little push you just gave me. You
could have sent me across the room but you didn’t because you have control
of yourself.” Cisco pressed a kiss to Luca’s worried brow.
“What do you mean?” None of what the chief was saying made any sense.
Cisco cupped the side of Luca’s face. “You said my blood sings to you. I
can’t imagine that if we have this special bond that you’d ever be able to do
anything to hurt me. I don’t believe the bond would let you.”
Luca hadn’t thought about it like that before. “What, you mean like a
failsafe?”
Nodding, Cisco grinned. “If you want to think about it like that, yeah. How
could the universe possibly have given you this incredible gift like me and
also have given you the power to destroy it.”
It was Luca’s turn to laugh. “Oh, so you’re my incredible gift?”
“There are better, more descriptive words I could have chosen, but I went
with incredible gift. The point I’m trying to make is that I trust you, Luca.
You’re not going to hurt me. I think we should try it. I want us to try it.”
Cisco rubbed a thumb against Luca’s bottom lip.
Luca was touched by Cisco’s words and by his faith in him. Was it really that
simple? “You think we should just try it? What, like a new recipe?”
Cisco shrugged. “Unless you don’t want to? Maybe I don’t smell as good
anymore or my blood is singing the wrong song, like it’s playing country and
you prefer rap?”
Luca huffed a rough laugh. “Oh, I want to. I’m just a little scared is all.”
Brushing a quick kiss against Luca’s lips, Cisco took his hand and led him
toward the hall.
Luca knew where Cisco was taking him. The hall led toward the bedrooms.
“Are you sure about this?”
“I’m sure that I’ve been working since sometime yesterday and I need a
shower. I’m also sure that you’re a rookie vampire and might not know how
to feed yourself yet. What better place to test the waters?” Cisco raised a
skeptical eyebrow before grinning like a fool. “Two birds, one stone, right?”
There was so much trust in Cisco’s dark eyes. If Cisco trusted him to feed
responsibly then couldn’t he trust himself. Just a little? “Do I get to scrub
your back?”
“I’d like that. You taking care of me before you make a meal out of me.”
Cisco pushed Luca against the wall and kissed him.
Cisco’s gun was digging into Luca’s stomach. It was hot and heavy and ready
to go. How could he possibly say no to this offer?

9
Cisco
Cisco might have sounded brave on the outside, but he was scared shitless.
This virgin vamp was about to sink his fangs into some main artery and drink
his fill. Could Luca stop? Who the hell knew? It wasn’t like there was some
reliable database either of them could turn to for actual facts rather than
hundreds of years of myth and conjecture.
It had been a wild stab in the dark when Cisco suggested that there had to be
a mechanism in the fated mate thing that would keep Luca from killing him
during his feeding frenzy. That was just his gut instinct talking. Only the
universe knew if it was true or not. Shit, he was risking his life on his
intuition.

He did that every day when he walked out of the house with his gun strapped
to his hip. Was this really that big of a departure from his everyday life?
Cisco shook his internal head. It wasn’t. Not really. The only difference here
was that he felt a connection to Luca, one that he wanted to nurture and feed
like the kindling flames of a bonfire.
Quickly stripping, he stepped into his marble tiled walk-in shower and turned
on the jets. He’d had the bathroom remodeled last year and this shower was
his sanctuary. He’d known there would never be a second wife who’d want
one of those king-sized bathtubs, so he’d been free to customize the bathroom
to his desires.
His ill-fated first marriage to his high school sweetheart had been an attempt
to live the kind of life he knew his mother wanted for him. He’d truly loved
Marcella, but they’d wanted different things from the start, and that was
leaving Cisco’s desire for dick out of the equation. He’d wanted to be a cop
since he was five years old and Marci had wanted to drink and party with her
friends. Her repeated OUI arrests had made divorcing her so much easier.
Irreconcilable differences had gone down on the divorce papers and Cisco
had been free to lead his own life.
Not that there had been much of a social life for him over the last fifteen
years since his divorce. There had been a few dates and more than one
friends-with-benefits arrangements, but this burgeoning thing with Luca was
on the cusp of becoming something else entirely. If he survived their first
encounter.
“Can I join the party?” Luca asked from behind him.
Cisco lost his breath at what he saw through the glass shower door. Luca was
naked but for the shy smile on his lips. The vampire was about 5’9” tall, with
a slight build that was all muscle. There was strength and power in him that
hadn’t been visible when he was dressed. He nodded, opening the door to
Luca.
“I took your breath away?” Luca asked.
“Yeah,” Cisco grinned, reaching out to run his fingers up Luca’s bare arms.
He could feel goose bumps rising at his touch. Luca was so young and fresh
and unbelievably his. He’d never been with a guy nearly half his age. It
didn’t seem to phase Luca, so he wasn’t going to worry about it either.
Luca pressed a kiss against Cisco’s heart. “You would have done the same to
me, but I was too busy drooling over all this skin. That morning I woke up
here, you were totally dressed.” Luca licked the droplets of water leading to
Cisco’s left nipple before taking the hardened nub between his teeth. “All I
got to see of you was your bare arms.” Luca looked up at Cisco. “But now
look at you. All of this skin on display for me to touch and taste.” He lifted
up to his tiptoes to drop a series of kisses up Cisco’s chest to the side of his
neck.
Cisco had been with his fair share of men over his life, but none of them
compared to the way Luca’s kisses felt against his lips or the way his tongue
felt against Cisco’s wet skin. Every base instinct in Cisco’s lizard brain told
him to take Luca, take him now, but every cell in his body told him to ignore
those urges and treat this man like the treasure that he was.
He wasn’t prepared, a moment later for Luca to pull away from him. Cisco
felt suddenly cold without Luca’s warm body nestled next to him.
“It’s been a long day, hasn’t it, chief?” Luca cooed from behind him.
“It’s been a long week,” Cisco admitted. It had been filled with double shifts
and triple the worry over Luca. A second later, Luca’s hands were in his hair,
the flowery scent of his shampoo filled his nose. “All I could do was worry
about you.”
Luca pressed a hot kiss against the back of his neck. “I’m sorry I put you
through that. I was so angry at you for offering to be my Dominican Food
Truck. I should have acted like a grown man instead of a teenager who
needed an attitude adjustment.”
“You’re here and you’re safe. That’s all that matters now.” Cisco felt like he
was going to melt under Luca’s care. The way he was gently scrubbing his
scalp and working the shampoo through seemingly every strand of hair on his
head was pure heaven. Cisco couldn’t help moaning.
“You like this, chief? Hmm? Like me taking care of you like this?” Luca
tugged on Cisco’s left earlobe with the tip of his fang.
Cisco felt like his knees were going to go out from under him if Luca kept
this up for much longer. He’d never been one for the kinky shit, but he had to
admit the tiny hint of pain from Luca’s fang was exquisite. Is that what it
would feel like when Luca sank both of them into his vein? Would that tiny
rush of pleasure increase exponentially?

“Guess we’re gonna find out together. Aren’t we, Cisco?” Luca whispered,
before gently turning him to rinse the shampoo from his hair.
“Are you reading my mind?” Cisco asked when Luca pulled him out from
under the spray.
“No,” Luca laughed from behind him, “but, I could feel the pleasure coursing
through your blood when my fang grazed your ear. I want to know if your
body will vibrate with pleasure when I bite you too. We’re in sync like that,
so I can see where you think I’m reading your mind. Like now, you’re
wishing I’d shut the fuck up and suck your cock. Right?” Luca’s right hand
slid down Cisco’s chest and over his flat abs, past his treasure trail until he
reached the chief’s fat dick. His deft fingers curled around it, giving it a few
short strokes. “That better?”
“Jesus, Luca, yes!” Cisco rested his head back against the vampire’s
shoulder, giving himself over to the sensations coursing through his whole
body. He’d never experienced anything like that before where he could feel
Luca’s touch everywhere, instead of just along the length of his erection.
“Mind if I have a taste?” Luca slipped around so he was facing Cisco.
Winking at the cop, he didn’t wait for an answer, instead he hit his knees and
looked up at his soon-to-be-lover and buffet. Luca licked his lips.
Cisco was feeling mesmerized again, as if Luca had cast some spell over him,
which in a way, Cisco supposed he had. Not trusting himself to speak without
begging, he nodded down at the beautiful young man down on his knees
before him, sinking a hand into his soaking wet locks and urging him
forward. The last thought that passed through his mind before Luca licked out
at the drop of pre-come leaking from his slit was to wonder if Luca would
bite his dick and how much he’d enjoy it.
That wasn’t to be. Luca simply licked Cisco’s erection like a cat would lick
from a saucer of milk, delicate little licks up and down his shaft, while Luca’s
hands worked his balls. One finger swiped past his hole and Cisco moaned
out loud. No man had ever dared touch him there. Luca was the first. He had
a feeling Luca was going to be the first to do a lot of things.
Cisco watched in amazement as Luca’s mouth moved from his cock to his
balls. His right hand stayed on his shaft, keeping him on edge and within a
stroke or two of coming. His fingers tightened in Luca’s hair as he suckled on
one then the other tender sac. One fang grazed his skin, but did not break it.
Luca was dropping a small line of kisses against his groin, trailing down the
side of his right leg. Cisco knew exactly what his destination was. His
femoral artery. A shiver tore through his body. During his first year on the
job, he’d been to a crime scene where a man had been stabbed in the femoral
artery. He’d bled to death in a matter of minutes.
Straightening his spine, Cisco took a deep breath. That wasn’t going to
happen with Luca. Just then, his fangs grazed against the skin, bringing
Cisco’s attention back to the present and the untested rookie vampire
kneeling at his feet.
“Cisco?” Luca asked gently. He sounded uncertain of himself.
Nodding, Cisco caressed Luca’s head. “I trust you. We’re fated to be
together, right?”
Luca smiled up at him. “I wish you could hear the melody.” His eyes slipped
shut while his hand traced the path of the artery on Cisco’s thigh. He was like
a cartographer, mapping it out.
“Do it, Luca. Bite me,” Cisco urged. There was no doubt in him at all. He
knew this was right. He knew Luca was meant to do this. Was meant to be
his.

Luca’s blue eyes flew open. They’d darkened to near black. He turned back
to Cisco’s leg, pressing a gentle kiss against the wet skin, before opening his
mouth wide.
The low lights from the shower gleamed off Luca’s fangs as they were poised
over Cisco’s thigh. He took a deep breath as Luca’s fangs penetrated his skin.
There were twin pinches as his skin was broken and his blood began to flow
into Luca.
An almost electric sensation traveled through his veins, reminding Cisco of
the one time he’d been changing a lightbulb with the light switch turned on.
A warm, fuzzy sensation buzzed through him but didn’t cause any pain. It
almost reminded him of being wrapped in a warm blanket while drinking hot
chocolate. Cisco’s brain wondered if this was all there was to the fated mates
connection.
That exquisite pain-pleasure sensation started at the site of the bite and started
to radiate outward like ripples in a calm pond when a stone is dropped in it.
He could feel the waves of pleasure coursing through his body, building
stronger as they traveled through him.
Once those sensations coursed through his body, the bolt of lightning struck.
Crying out, Cisco’s hand tightened in Luca’s hair. Sparks of electricity fired
off through his body. He felt like a lightning rod, almost expecting his cock
to be firing off thunderbolts like an angry Zeus from Mount Olympus.
Cisco opened his eyes to see Luca cradling his leg with one hand and jerking
him off with the other. His fangs buried deep in his thigh. It was the single
most erotic thing he’d ever witnessed in his entire life. He could feel his balls
tightening and knew he was about to come.
In the back of his mind, there was a sound Cisco couldn’t quite identify. A
low melody seemed to be vibrating, humming, actually. A crazy thought
occurred to him now that Luca had bitten him and sealed their bond as fated
mates. Since Cisco was giving his life force to Luca, what if Luca’s gift to
him in return was to be able to hear his blood song?
 10
Luca
The moment his fangs sank into Cisco’s artery, Luca knew everything he’d
ever read about fated mates was one hundred percent fact. He also knew all
of his fears about going into a frenzy and killing Cisco were for naught. Luca
was in complete control.
The first drop of blood from the gush brought him a moment of clarity like
none he’d ever known before. Luca could feel everything slow down like
he’d hit the slow-motion button on his iPhone. In his mind’s eye, Luca could
see a perfect image of himself with Cisco. A golden halo of light surrounded
them.
Cisco’s blood song played in his ears like no melody he’d ever heard before.
Luca could feel it’s notes reverberating in every cell of his body. In addition
to that tune, he could also hear Cisco moaning. He’d half-forgotten that he
was still stroking Cisco’s erection which was hot and hard in his right hand.
Moving his left hand down, he starting stroking his own cock in time with his
other hand.
He had this crazy idea that if he let go, he and Cisco would be able to come
from the power of their connection alone. Not wanting to test that hypothesis
out, Luca moved his hands a bit faster and was rewarded with Cisco crying
out his name. The warm, sticky wetness of Cisco’s release coated his hand.
He followed behind seconds later, his hot come splashing against his stomach
and chest.
When the last drop of release was wrung from Cisco’s softening cock, Luca
knew instinctively that it was time to pull back his fangs. He gently retracted
them, expecting his own feeling of euphoria to end, but for whatever reason,
it grew stronger. Looking up at Cisco, he could see the same look he knew
was in his eyes, mirrored back at him in Cisco’s. It was amazement mixed
with something deeper Luca wasn’t quite ready to examine at the moment.
“You okay?” His voice sounded hoarse.
Cisco grinned. “On top of the world. You?” He held a hand down to help
Luca back to his feet.
“Same.” Luca ignored Cisco’s hand, looking instead at the twin gaping
wounds in Cisco’s thigh. They weren’t oozing blood, but were ugly all the
same. “Sorry about that.” He hooked his thumb at the marks.
“Why don’t you kiss it and make it all better?” Cisco suggested, still smiling
down at the vampire.
Why not? Luca thought to himself. He pressed a kiss over one fang mark then
the other, wishing that each mark would heal quickly before looking up at
Cisco. The words, “I love you” were sitting on the tip of his tongue, but he
knew now was not the moment to let them slip past his lips. There would be
time for that later.
“Holy fucking shit!” Cisco yelled. His voice echoed in the shower chamber.
Those weren’t exactly the tender words of love Luca was hoping to hear
either. “What’s wrong?”
“Not wrong. Look!” Cisco moved his hand to the thigh Luca had been
snacking on.
Holy fucking shit was right! Where the bite marks had been only moments
ago now was perfect, unbroken skin. It was as if Luca had never bitten Cisco
at all.
“How did you know kissing the marks would work?” Luca sounded giddy.
“I didn’t.” Cisco laughed, tilting his head. “I mean the thought just came into
my head. Maybe it was through our bond.”

“Our bond?” Is that what was going on between them now. Were they
bonded? Mated? Luca didn’t care so long as they were together. He pressed
another kiss to Cisco’s healed flesh and climbed back to his feet to shut off
the now cold water flowing out of the shower jets.
“Towels are on the rack next to the door.” Cisco pointed.
Luca opened the door, letting all of the steam escape in a billowing cloud
around him. He grabbed a fluffy towel from the rack and brought it back to
Cisco, shaking it out and setting it on top of his head to dry his short, dark
hair before quickly drying the rest of him off. Lastly, he tied it around
Cisco’s middle before grabbing a second towel for himself.
“Why don’t we get you into bed?” Luca grabbed Cisco’s hand and half-
dragged him toward the master bedroom.
“I can tuck myself in, you know.” Cisco frowned. “Not that I don’t like being
pampered like this.”
Luca turned back to his lover, his mate, taking his face in his water-wrinkled
fingers. “I just drank your essence, Cisco. Let me take care of you. Do you
have juice and cookies in the kitchen?”
Cisco snorted. “What, like when you give blood?”
“Well if it works for the Red Cross it should work for vampire Meals on
Wheels, right?” Luca pulled Cisco into the bedroom and got him situated in
bed. He turned to leave the room when Cisco grabbed his hand.
“I’m not the kind of guy to make a big deal out of this kind of thing, but I can
feel that bond you were talking about. That fated mates thing. I think it’s real.
I think your mine.” Cisco shrugged as if what he was saying wasn’t really a
big deal.

Luca felt a grin spread across his face. “I think your mine too, chief. Rest
while I find you a snack.” Luca smacked a kiss to his cheek and had to keep
himself from sprinting out the bedroom door. He didn’t want Cisco to see his
excitement. He’d save his happy dance for the kitchen where his fated mate
couldn’t see him.

11
Cisco
Cisco wiped his sweating palms against the thighs of his uniform pants when
he saw Ronan O’Mara walk into Lobster Charlie’s. He stuck a hand in the air
to flag him down. He wasn’t exactly sure how this conversation was going to
go. The last time Ronan had come to him with a work matter, Cisco hadn’t
been very accommodating. It wouldn’t surprise him if Ronan returned the
favor.
“Wow, twice in one week, chief. You must have missed my sunny
personality.” Ronan grinned as he slid into the booth and reached for a
plastic-encased menu.
“Bite me, O’Mara.” Cisco laughed. Of course, Ronan was starting things off
with a bang.
“Isn’t that Luca’s job? Or are the two of you still playing hide-and-go-seek?
The kids’ version, I mean.” Ronan snorted.
“Why are we friends?” Cisco pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel a
headache coming on. He hoped to hell there was aspirin in the cruiser. From
all accounts, Ronan was a brilliant detective, but in order to get to that, you
had to put up with his snark and sense of humor. Cisco had no idea how his
boss and friends put up with him.
“Are we friends?” Ronan shot him a sarcastic smirk. “I thought you just
pumped me for information when the situation suited you.”
Well, that was true enough. Cisco frowned. “I need your help. I can’t go to
any of my guys with this, Ronan.”
“Ah, so it was a problem when I went rogue in your city before, but now it’s
okay because you need my help?” Ronan nodded as if he was trying to figure
out how it all worked.
“How has Tennyson not killed you in your sleep yet?” Cisco shook his head,
trying to hold on to his temper. He needed Ronan’s help here.
“I have a big dick and a winning personality.” Ronan waggled his eyebrows
at the frustrated police chief. “How can I help, Cisco?” The Boston detective
leaned forward in his seat. “Just so long as what you need won’t get my
husband riled up… Again!”

“Well, that remains to be seen.” Cisco shook his head. What he needed from
the veteran detective was likely to get Ronan’s husband, not to mention his
captain, riled up. That was for certain. “I need to talk to you about Luca.”
Ronan’s brow knit together. “Ten and I gave you some good advice about
him the other day. Has he got you on the run?”
“No, nothing like that. We’ve got our act together thanks to the two of you
and Greeley Fitzgibbon. Thank Tennyson for hooking them up.” Cisco was
thrilled to pieces that Luca had a friend his age that he could talk to about his
situation.
“Greeley’s a good kid. He needs someone like Luca in his life.” Ronan’s
attitude was sincere for the first time since he sat in the booth.

“What, a vampire?” Cisco whispered.

Ronan snorted. “No, a good kid with a solid head on his shoulders. You
wouldn’t be interested in Luca if he weren’t both of those things, right?”
Cisco nodded. Ronan had him there. Luca was a good kid with a clean
criminal record. He couldn’t help doing a little background check, off the
books, of course, after their first encounter in the Salem Towne Forest. He’d
also put in a call to Salem State. Luca was also a straight A student.
“So, if things are good between you and Luca, what do you need my help
with?” Ronan had his game face on now.
“Finding the motherfucker who did this to him.” Anger churned in Cisco’s
gut. He’d love to drive a wooden stake into that bastard’s heart.
“Ah.” Ronan reached back into his jeans and pulled out a notebook and a
pen. “What do you know about this whole situation so far?”
Cisco loved this version of Ronan O’Mara. He could take or leave the
sarcastic bastard, but the no-nonsense cop who stopped at nothing until he
solved the case, this was the man he wanted to have his back and Luca’s too.
“Not much, I’m afraid. Luca answered an ad for some medical study at the
college.”
“What, you mean like some flyer? Do you think he still has it?” Ronan was
jotting down notes on a blank page of his pad.
“I don’t know, but I’ll ask him.” Cisco opened the notes app in his phone and
typed that in. It amazed him how old-school Ronan was, while he, on the
other hand, couldn’t survive without his iPhone.
“What else do you know about the day he was injected?” Ronan looked up
from his notebook.

“Again, not much. Some young guy in a lab coat examined him and gave him
a shot. Told him to get back in touch if he had any weird side effects.”
Ronan rolled his eyes. “Oh, you mean like craving blood and igniting like
kindling wood in the sunshine? Jesus Christ, when I get my hands on this
guy…”

“Yeah.” Cisco shook his head. He understood that the college could raise its
tuition whenever it damn well wanted to, but Luca going the easy route for
that tuition money could have cost him his life.
“I know what you’re thinking, Cisco. Don’t go down that ‘what-if’ rabbit
hole. All it will do is drive you crazy. Luca’s safe. That’s all that matters.”
“I know it is, but we have to find this asshole who was experimenting on
college kids like this.” He could already be off at another college planning to
do this all over again. Cisco shivered. Hell, he could have white lab-coated
minions spread out all over the Northeast doing that very thing as he and
Ronan sat here calmly discussing things.

“Have there been any other reports of vampire kids? Any werewolf sightings
in the Salem Towne Forest? Krakens in Pickering Wharf? Dragons in the sky
over Essex Street?” Ronan’s blue eyes looked up from his notepad.
“Fucking seriously, Ronan? God, you’re an asshole sometimes.” Cisco would
love to punch him in the throat if he didn’t need his help so badly.
Ronan laughed. “Yes, I am, but I wasn’t being an asshole this time. There
was something in Luca’s syringe that turned him into a vampire, right? It’s
not out of the realm of possibility that this modern-day Dr. Frankenstein
created more than one monster, right?”
Shit, Cisco hadn’t considered that before. Was it possible there were other
creatures in Salem? He looked up at Ronan in alarm. “No, there haven’t been
reports of anything like those things to come into the department. Doesn’t
mean the ER over at North Shore Medical Center hasn’t gotten any unusual
cases.”
Ronan’s eyes narrowed on Cisco. “Do you know anyone over there? Anyone
you could trust who could look into this for us? Someone who’d keep their
mouth shut once you started poking around?”
Cisco nodded. “Yeah, and you know him too.”
“I do?” Ronan looked surprised.
“Doctor Walker Harmon. He was the doctor on duty when Lyric Vaughn was
brought in after her car accident.” Lyric was a member of the Salem Witches
and had been injured back in May. She was also a member of the Boston
Police Department working in the DNA Lab. She and Ronan were old
friends. “I can get with him and see if there have been any eyebrow-raising
injuries in the ER.”
“Regardless of his answer, we’re going to need to get Luca to show us where
that ad was placed on campus and then where he met this mysterious guy in
the lab coat.” Ronan’s voice was gentle. “Maybe get him with someone with
art skills who could draw a picture of the fucker.”
“He’s been through enough, Ronan. Having his life turned upside down like
this.” Cisco shivered again at the thought of Luca having to describe this
fucker to an artist.
“I hear you, Cisco, but we can’t leave this Dr. Jekyll-type mad scientist out
there to experiment on more kids like this. Only God knows how many other
students he did this to prior to Luca and how many more he has on his hit list.
If you were just a cop here and not the boy’s lover, you know you’d already
have done these things yourself.”

Ronan had a point. He was only trying to keep Luca safe, but in doing so, he
may have been putting other kids at risk. Luca said he had to fill out a
medical questionnaire. Other kids would have had to do the same. “Shit, I
hate it when you talk sense.”
“I talk sense all the time. It’s you who don’t always want to listen to sound
reason. If you’d listened to me about that whole situation with the Salem
Witches, things might have turned out differently instead of us all ending up
in the Salem Towne Forest in the dead of night.” Ronan rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, but then I wouldn’t have met Luca.” Cisco clamped his lips shut. He
hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
Ronan laughed. “If he’s your fated mate like Ten thinks he is, then the two of
you would have met somehow, some other way.”
Cisco had to admit Ronan had a point. The more time he’d had to sit and
think about this fated mate business, it all made more sense. He and Luca
really were destined to be together. “There doesn’t seem like enough of us to
help with this thing. Me and you…”

“There are more than you think.” Ronan’s face burst into a grin. “Luca has to
be in the middle of this somewhere. He’s got the strength of ten men, so don’t
count him out. Then there’s Ten and his psychic friends network. You know
he’ll be there to do anything he can to help you. Now that my boss, Kevin
Fitzgibbon, is back on my side, you know he’ll be there for you, my friend
Jude Byrne is always up for a fight, and then there’s Hunter Conroy. That
man’s good in a fight too.”
“Is he now?” Cisco studied the funny look on Ronan’s face when he
mentioned the owner of Witch City Towing. He and Hunter had been friends
for years, but he’d never seen anything that would make Hunter seem like the
kind of guy to throw in to a fight that wasn’t his.
“He was the one who found the evidence that sewed up the witch case,
wasn’t he?” Ronan held his hands out. “Hunter’s your friend. I’m just saying.
He might be handy to have around in this situation where you can’t or don’t
want to involve members of the Salem Police. Lastly, there’s the Salem
Witches themselves. They owe me a favor or two…”
“You think all of these people would stand up for me and Luca?” Cisco
shook his head. All of the people Ronan named off seemed like an unlikely
band of allies; witches, mechanics, psychics, cops.
“No, chief. I don’t think they would. I know they would. You and I may not
have gotten off to the best start, but we’re in this together now. My friends
are yours. I know that for a fact too.” The look in Ronan’s eyes was serious.
No bullshit.
“Okay. I’ll talk to Luca and see where to start. He might not want to
cooperate.” Cisco had a feeling that he could talk the vampire into just about
anything.

“Come on, chief. Use your powers of persuasion and if that doesn’t work,
threaten to lock him up! It worked with me!” Ronan burst out laughing.
As much as Cisco hated to admit it, that tactic had worked with Ronan. He
was hoping he wasn’t going to have to pull that particular weapon out of his
arsenal with Luca. Only time would tell.
 12
Luca
Waking up in Cisco’s bed had been heavenly. Waking up alone, not so much.
Luca vaguely remembered Cisco kissing him goodbye when he left for work,
but waking up around 4pm alone in a house that was silent and not his own
was a bit unnerving.

Getting out of bed, he walked into the kitchen and found a note from Cisco
on the table. It told him to make himself at home and to text him when he
woke up. He’d left his cell number at the bottom of the note. Cisco had even
signed the note with a little heart. For a man who didn’t like to talk about
things like fated mates, a little heart on his note seemed like a nice touch.
Luca grabbed his phone and sent off a quick note to Cisco. [Awake now.
How are you feeling?]
Figuring it would be a while until his lover got back to him, Luca walked into
the bathroom and got ready for a shower. He noticed Cisco had cleaned up
the room from last night. Their wet towels were in the hamper and fresh ones
had been left out for him. He was about to start the water when he heard his
phone ding from the kitchen. Luca tried not to run to pick up the message.
[Feel awesome. Need to talk to you about that day at school. Be home in 30.]
His heart sinking, Luca headed back to the bathroom. Luca had a feeling
Cisco was going to want to get to the bottom of what happened to him from
an official capacity. He just didn’t think it would be this soon into their
honeymoon phase.
Hurrying quickly through his shower, Luca rummaged through Cisco’s closet
until he found an old Salem Police Department tee that looked small enough
to fit him and a pair of grey drawstring sweats that he could tighten so they
wouldn’t slip off his slim hips. He’d have to do some laundry or head back to
the dorm for clean clothes later.
When Cisco burst through the door ten minutes later, Luca was sitting at the
dining room table waiting for him. “Hey, Cisco.” Luca wasn’t sure if he
should run to the door and greet him like June Cleaver or if he should just
play it cool. He chose to play it cool.
“Hi, Cisco? That’s all I get?” Cisco grinned.
“For now.” Luca pouted. “You said you wanted to talk about the day I was
turned.” Luca knew he sounded like a complete brat, but he couldn’t help it.
This was the last thing he wanted to talk about on the day after he and Cisco
had become lovers and mates or whatever the hell his drinking from Cisco
made them. Suckers?
Grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge, Cisco took the seat opposite
Luca at the kitchen table. “Fair enough. I get that this might be a hard thing
for you to talk about, but Ronan O’Mara brought something up to me today
that I hadn’t considered before.”
“You talked to Ronan?” That got Luca’s attention. If there was anyone who
could help out in this situation, it was Ronan. He’d followed all of Ronan’s
cases through the news. He stood up for people who weren’t strong enough to
fight for themselves and was a huge LGBTQ advocate. Ronan was his hero.
Not that he’d admit that out loud.
Cisco nodded. “He asked me if there were any reports of werewolves or
dragons or krakens. I thought he was just being his usual charming asshole
self, but he was being serious. His point was that if some mad scientist had
made one monster…”
“He could have made more,” Luca concluded. “I hadn’t thought of that
either.” Luca looked up at Cisco with alarm in his blue eyes. “Ronan isn’t the
asshole, Cisco. I am.” Luca shook his head. “What can I do to help?”
“Ronan wanted to know if you had the flyer from the university? The one
that advertised the medical study and had the contact information you used to
get in touch with them to set up your appointment.”
Luca thought back to the day on campus when he’d seen the advertisement
on the bulletin board in the biology building. He thought that thousand
dollars in cash had been the answer to his prayers, but after, it had been the
beginning of his waking nightmare. “I saw it on the board in the lobby of the
bio building. It was The Darwin Building where you caught me that first
night. The board is used for things like students looking for study partners or
help with labs, but there are always ads for roommates or people wanting to
sell a futon, you know, shit like that. Then there are flyers for parties and for
the occasional ways to make extra money. I don’t need futons and was never
interested in parties, but I was in need of cash for books or tuition or a friggen
meal that wasn’t from the school cafeteria or wasn’t a store brand box of mac
and cheese.” Luca shrugged.

“So, you checked the board looking for money-making opportunities?

There’s no shame in that, Luca. You’re a hard-working guy trying to make
ends meet and finish your degree.” Cisco reached out a hand, setting his
larger one on top of Luca’s.
“Yeah, well, that work ethic got me turned into a monster, didn’t it?” Luca
hated the sulky tone in his voice.
“Oh, Luca.” Cisco was out of his seat and pulling him into his arms before
Luca could even think to protest.
“I never thought of myself as a monster until you said the word. It’s true
though. I am. You’re not enough to keep me fed, Cisco. What am I going to
do? The thought of hunting and eating helpless animals is out of the question
and you said I can’t steal blood anymore. I would never do anything that
would make you have to choose between me and your job, so I don’t know
where that leaves me, aside from being hungry.” Luca managed a small smile
before he buried his face in Cisco’s broad chest.
“Walker Harmon!” Cisco muttered.
“What?” Luca looked up at his lover, whose eyes were dancing. “What’s
that?”
Cisco snorted. “It’s not a what. Walker is a who. He’s an ER doc at North
Shore Medical Center. He’s a friend of mine. We go way back.”
“The kind of way back that includes your lubed dick hitting his prostate?”
Luca asked with a knowing grin.
Cisco blushed so hard Luca was afraid he was going to spontaneously
combust.
Luca brushed a kiss against the dip in Cisco’s collarbone. “I don’t mean to be
a wet blanket, but why would your former lover want to help your current
one?”
“Let’s just say he owes me a favor. Several of them in fact.” Cisco smirked.
“Do I want to know why?” Of course, Luca wanted to know why. He wanted
to know why the good doctor owed Cisco more than he wanted his next drop
of blood, but he didn’t want Cisco to know that.
“I wasn’t Walker’s only lover. He had a side piece who liked making home
movies without telling him about it.” Cisco shrugged.
“No shit! Walker was a porn star?” Luca couldn’t believe his ears.
“An unwilling one,” Cisco agreed. “He came to me crying about it one dark
and stormy night, begging me to get the tapes back before the other lover
used them to ruin his career or blackmail him into bankruptcy.”
“And you did it? For a price.” Luca could see from the look in Cisco’s dark
eyes that the price was much greater than a couple of I.O.U. favors to be
called in at a later date.

Cisco nodded. “I was falling for the guy. It was like being gut-punched, you
know?” Cisco shrugged. “I did a little digging on the dirtbag lover and turned
out he had a thing for underaged guys, so it wasn’t hard getting a search
warrant for his house. I found Walker’s tapes along with so many others it
made my head spin. The dumbass actually labeled them. It was the only time
in my career that I stole potential evidence from a scene.”
“Holy shit! What did you do?” Luca couldn’t imagine Cisco doing anything
to put his career at risk.
“Gave the evidence back to Walker and broke things off with him. We stayed
friends over the years. Had to. We see each other every so often when work
intersects. I don’t have feelings for him anymore.”

“I know that.” Luca rolled his eyes. “After you saw me that night in the
forest, it was all over for you.”
“Maybe,” Cisco grudgingly admitted. “Anyway, we’ll get Walker to
diagnose you as a hemophiliac or something like that and set up regular blood
deliveries of AB negative to the house. Then you can snack on me on special
occasions.” Cisco waggled his eyebrows.
“I like the sound of that.” Luca licked a stripe up the side of Cisco’s neck.
“Hold on there a second, Hot Pants.” Cisco took a step back from Luca.
“We’re not done talking yet. You can lick me like your human lollipop when
we’re done talking business.”
“Asshole,” Luca sighed, throwing himself into his chair at the table.
“You can lick my asshole if that floats your boat, but I need to finish grilling
you first.” Cisco grinned, crossing his arms over his chest, making his biceps
look impossibly bigger.

“You have my attention now and thanks to you I have an enormous fucking
boner. Talk. Fast.” There was nothing worse, in Luca’s mind that an
untouchable erection. Thank fucking God he was in sweats and not tight-
fitting jeans or he’d be busting out like a pissed off Incredible Hulk.
Cisco grinned like the cat who was about to eat the canary. “Had you ever
seen the guy in the white lab coat before?”
Luca shook his head. “And I haven’t seen him since that day.”
“You said that he wanted you to contact him if you had any unusual side
effects, right? How were you supposed to do that?”
“I had a card with his contact info on it.” Luca knew exactly where he’d left
it too.
Cisco’s eyes narrowed on him. “Do you still have it?”
“It’s in my wallet. I never got back in touch with him. I was afraid that if I
did, I’d become a target and get locked in a cage like some lab rat.” He was
so glad he’d listened to his instincts.
Cisco shivered in the warm room. His hands came up to warm himself. “That
decision might just have saved your life.”
“Why do you think he did this?” Luca hated the scared tone in his voice.
“I don’t know. I spent a lot of my afternoon thinking about that very thing. I
thought maybe he was a vampire too and was trying to reproduce. Or maybe
it’s bigger than that, like Ronan suggested and it’s like a supernatural Jurassic
Park where someone is trying to create all kinds of supes.”
“Supes?” Luca laughed. “Someone’s been doing online research.”
Cisco got up and pulled Luca back into his arms. “All that matters to me right
now is you. I know I should be worried about the bigger picture, but right
now you are my main focus. Ronan has a bunch of friends who are willing to
come in and help us out, but in order to do that I need your help. I know this
is a touchy subject for you for a lot of reasons, but you’re the only one who
saw the guy in the lab coat. He might not be the modern Jekyllstein, but he’s
all we’ve got to start with.”
“Jekyllstein?” Luca laughed. “You trying to be hip and make a ‘ship name,
chief?”
“Ronan mentioned Doctors Jekyll and Frankenstein and it sounded to me that
this mad scientist was a combination of both.” Cisco held him tighter, as if he
were afraid Luca would slip through his fingers.
“I’ll help in any way I can.” Luca pressed his ear against Cisco’s chest. The
slow, steady beat of his heart was soothing. “We both know there are other
students out there like me, who are scrimping and saving for every penny
they can get their hands on for school. This easy cash is the perfect lure.”
“That’s what scares me.”
“Call Ronan, tell him I’ll be ready to start the hunt at first thing tomorrow
morning.” Luca’s voice was strong with his determination to keep others
from ending up like him.
“What?” Cisco boomed. “You said you start frying the minute you step out
into the sun. I can’t let you risk yourself like that.”
“Then you need to get a shopping basket full of SPF 50 and slather me up
like you would with butter on a Thanksgiving turkey. I’ll wear a hat and a
heavy sweatshirt and long pants. You’d also better get a hold of your friend
Walker and get him to have some AB neg on standby. I’ll need the blood to
heal myself in case the shit hits the fan.”
Cisco nodded. “We’ll do all of that tomorrow, but right now, I have plans to
slather you in something else.”
Luca felt himself shiver for an entirely different reason this time. “Oh yeah,
what’s that?”
“Lube. Now get your happy ass into my bedroom. Now!” Cisco’s expression
was dead serious.
Luca moved so fast, he was already in the bedroom when he heard the chair
he knocked into crash to the kitchen floor.

13
Cisco
Cisco unbuttoned his uniform shirt and hauled off his tee on the way to the
bedroom. He could feel his cock pressing against the zipper of his trousers.
The sound of the chair crashing against the tile floor had made his cock
harder than a witch’s heart. He’d never been with a lover before who’d been
that excited to be in his bed.
He’d enjoyed the time he’d spent with Walker Harmon, but neither one of
them had ever raced off to the bedroom in anticipation of fucking the other.
Even when he’d started having romantic feelings for the ER doctor they were
more along the lines of, isn’t this the next logical step? Rather than that giddy
can’t-wait-to-see-you kind of rush he’d felt when he’d been breaking the
speed limit to get home to Luca tonight even though they were only going to
be having a difficult heart to heart conversation Cisco knew would be hard on
the vampire.
Reaching down to undo the fly of his pants, Cisco imagined what he’d see
when he popped his head around the bedroom door. Would Luca be naked
and waiting for him? Or would he be fully dressed, wanting Cisco to peel his
clothes off? He couldn’t wait to find out.
Cisco let his pants drop to the floor and stepped out of them, leaving him
only in his boxers. When he poked his head around the bedroom door, Cisco
wasn’t prepared for what he saw. Luca was gloriously naked, spread-eagle on
the bed, fisting his cock with his right hand, while the first two fingers of his
left were scissoring open his hole. “Fuck me.”
Luca shook his head. “You’ve got it backward, chief. It’s going to be you
fucking me with that enormous bulge in your shorts.”
Cisco felt his lips quirk into a grin as he stalked toward the bed. Thank Christ
he’d thought to stock up on condoms and lube. “What did I do to get this
lucky?” He bent to take off his boxers knowing he wasn’t going to need them
now.
“Well, you didn’t arrest me for a start.” Luca grinned.
Cisco yanked open the nightstand drawer, plucking out the new bottle of lube
and a strip of condoms. His hands were shaking as he tried to take off the
safety seal. It wasn’t like him to be this edgy.
“Need a little help?” Luca asked. “I’ve never seen you nervous before.”
“This is a big moment, don’t you think?” He’d never been nervous about sex
before. Not even when he’d lost his virginity to both sexes. Cisco had just
been raring to bury his dick inside his lovers. This was different. It was
headier, with more gravity behind it than any other encounter he’d been a
part of in his life.
Luca sat up and reached around Cisco from behind. His fingers deftly
unwrapped the bottle and flipped open the lid. “Every moment is a big
moment with you.” His lips brushed across the back of Cisco’s neck.
“Oh no!” Cisco turned quickly, tossing Luca onto his back again. “Last night
was all about me. Tonight, is your turn.”
“But, I want…”
Cisco kissed him hard, stopping whatever Luca wanted in its tracks. He’d
been content last night to let Luca explore him and satisfy his needs while
feeding, but now, Cisco wanted to get to know every inch of Luca’s skin.
“Mine,” he whispered, before tugging lightly on Luca’s earlobe.
“Yours,” Luca agreed, his hands sinking into Cisco’s hair.
Nipping and licking his way down Luca’s neck, Cisco let his hands lead the
way. He needed to touch and explore every inch of Luca’s creamy skin. He
stopped to bite each raised nipple before sucking a bruise against the skin
over Luca’s pounding heart. Call him crazy, but the hickey almost looked
heart-shaped.
“Faster, Cisco,” Luca urged. “I need your mouth on me.” Luca sounded like
he was in physical pain.
Cisco smirked. “You sound like you’ll die if I don’t taste you.”
“Feels that way.” Luca squirmed on the bed, trying to get his dick closer to
Cisco’s mouth.

Turning back to Luca’s torso, he could see his lover’s drooling dick
beckoning to him. What the hell was he waiting for? There was a puddle of
pre-come gathered on Luca’s abdomen, Cisco noisily slurped it up before
enveloping the head of Luca’s cock in his mouth and sucking him down to
the root. Being twenty-two years old, Cisco knew it wasn’t going to take
much to have him shooting off down his throat.
“Shit, Cisco! That mouth. Oh, fuck!” Luca fisted his hands into the bed
sheets, his knuckles going instantly white.
Cisco smiled around his mouthful and got to work rubbing a finger against
Luca’s loosened hole with one hand while resting his other hand against
Luca’s neck, holding him in place.
Luca moaned under Cisco’s touch, his hips hitching upward, driving his cock
deeper into his lover’s mouth.
In that moment, Cisco was lost. He could feel all of Luca’s need pounding
through his own body as if it were his own. The faint taste of Luca on his
tongue was urging him on to his full reward. His finger slipped inside Luca’s
passage, scraping past his prostate. Cisco could feel the sparks of electricity
that set off in Luca and knew the vampire was about to come.
“Fuck, Cisco! I’m coming!” Luca shouted at the top of his voice. He cried
out for Cisco, his voice cracking, as his back arched and the first jet of come
blasted into Cisco’s waiting mouth.
Swallowing as fast as he could, there was no way Cisco could keep up with
the flow. He let it build in his mouth, enjoying the salty tang of Luca on his
tongue before swallowing again. Some of the release escaped out the sides of
his mouth. He could feel the sticky fluid on his lips, could see it pooling on
Luca’s abdomen. Cisco pulled back so the last few week pulses would hit his
lips, his face, knowing, somehow, that would drive Luca wild.
“Holy fucking shit!” Luca panted, his body weakly sinking back into the
mattress. “You’re covered in my jizz. It’s the hottest fucking thing ever. And
your hand on my throat? Motherfucker, I swear that made me come so hard
my dick hurts!” Luca started to laugh.
Cisco reared back on his knees. “Laugh while you can, kid. We’re just
getting started.” Cisco swiped his right hand over his come-slicked mouth,
not really caring if he got it all or not. He reached for a condom, wasting no
time suiting up and slicking his cock with the nearby bottle of lube. “You
ready to go for a ride or is it past your bedtime?”
Luca’s laughter died in his throat. “Ride or die. Isn’t that the saying?” His
eyes blazed with need and desire. Unbelievably, his slumbering cock was
showing signs of reawakening.
Well, that was a twenty-two-year-old vampire for you. Cisco bit his lip to
keep from laughing. He drizzled more of the lube on his fingers, which
slipped easily inside Luca’s hole. “Someone prepped before I got home,
hmm?”
Luca nodded, his right fang catching on his lower lip. The little brat looked
pleased with himself.
“Why don’t you get up here then?” Cisco pointed to his cock, which was so
hard, it ached. He’d heard of blue balls before, but never felt anything like
this in his life. It was a bone-deep need for Luca. Ride or die felt accurate.
Like a mission statement. If Luca didn’t impale himself on his cock in the
next ten seconds, Cisco felt like the wait would kill him.
Luca didn’t waste a second, positioning himself over Cisco’s cock before
brining himself down until his hole touched the tip of Cisco’s dick. He
brushed a kiss over Cisco’s blow job swollen lips. “Love you,” he whispered,
before letting his ass sink slowly down Cisco’s shaft.
Cisco barely had the presence of mind to grab Luca’s hips after that
confession. The shock of those words was so great, he almost didn’t know
what to do when gravity stopped Luca’s descent. Thankfully, his lizard brain
knew exactly what came next.
Pulling his cock back, Cisco surged deeply. Luca cried out for him, wrapping
his arms around Cisco’s neck. He could feel a frenzy of his own coming on.
His body was pushing him to take everything he could from his young lover,
but there was something stopping him from doing that very thing. He almost
thought it was the bond. He’d told Luca last night that the bond would stop
Luca from draining every last drop of his lifeforce, maybe the bond was also
stopping him from being a selfish bastard lover?
Giving Luca a few more hard surges, Cisco slowed down and let the bond
lead him. His eyes had somehow slipped shut while he’d allowed his own
selfish base instincts to take over. When he opened them, he saw Luca
peering up at him with the all of the love he’d just confessed sparkling in his
blue eyes.
His lips curved into a smile. “Hungry?” Cisco whispered. He could see the
need and desire he felt from Luca through the bond reflect at him in Luca’s
eyes.
Luca’s eyes rolled back in his head. “You mean here? Now?”
Cisco nodded. “Seems only fair for you to penetrate me while I’m doing the
same to you.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, I’m gonna come just from thinking about that.” Luca
moaned, his cock surging against Cisco’s flat abs.

“You better not.” Cisco laughed against the hot skin of Luca’s neck. “I have a
feeling you’re gonna want to do that fangs-deep inside of me.”
Before Cisco knew what was happening Luca’s left hand was cupping the
back of his head, baring the side of his neck to Luca’s fangs. Twin pinpricks
of ecstasy told him Luca was in. If he hadn’t already known, the rainbow-
burst of color behind his eyes would have been his second clue. He clung
tighter to his vampire, feeling his release slow down, but intensify at the same
time. “Luca!” Cisco manage to cry out.
“I’ve got you,” Luca said inside his head.
Cisco didn’t know how telepathy was possible, but he wasn’t going to
question it either. “Love you,” he answered back, hoping the telepathic link
was a two-way system. He didn’t have time for more chatter or think about
how any of this was possible.
Luca was crying out for him inside his head. At the moment Cisco felt a hot
gust of fluids between their bodies, his own cock pulsed deep within Luca’s
passage. His body contracted with what felt like his release and Luca’s. He
was somehow experiencing both orgasms. Shouting Luca’s name, he
tightened his hold on his lover and rode out the storm.
After his dick gave one last weak twitch, he felt Luca’s fangs retract and the
vampire pressed kisses to the fang marks. The last thing Cisco remembered
before collapsing to the mattress with Luca still in his arms, was his lover’s
whispered taunt, “I said it first.”
 14
Luca
Luca wasn’t expecting Doctor Walker Harmon to be such a drop-dead
gorgeous hottie or such a fucking dick either. Usually that was the way of the
world. The hot guys were always assholes, well, with the exception of Cisco.
“What the hell do you mean you can’t help us out here, Walker?” Cisco
asked, sounding like he was just barely hanging on to his last shred of
patience.
“You’re saying you want me to diagnose your boy-toy here as a hemophiliac
just so you can have blood delivered to your house as vampire take-out?”
Harmon rubbed a hand against the back of his bald head.
“I’ve explained the situation twice now, Harm. I’m glad you understand the
gist of it.” Cisco rolled his eyes.
“People need that blood to survive, Cisco!” Harmon shot back.
“Luca is one of those people! Or are you being one of those racist
motherfuckers who don’t think vampires are people?” Cisco’s face was beet-
red. Luca thought he was about to stroke out.
“In case you haven’t noticed, dickhead, I’m black!” Harmon shouted. “How
the hell can I be racist! I’m the fucking reason that word exists!”
Luca held his hands up like a boxing referee. “Okay, everyone, calm the fuck
down before someone calls the police.”
“I am the police!” Cisco angry whispered.
“Yeah, and how fucking embarrassing would that be for one of your own
guys to show up here? You wanted to keep this whole thing on the DL.
Shouting at each other like this is an episode of Jerry Springer isn’t keeping
things on the down low.” Luca took a deep breath. He hadn’t expected the
conversation between the ex-lovers to get this ugly this fast. He couldn’t help
wondering if Doctor Sexy still had feelings for Cisco. Luca also couldn’t help
wondering why Cisco hadn’t thrown the you-owe-me-a-favor-for-rescuing-
your-sex-tapes card yet. “I know this is an unusual request here, Doctor
Harmon, but I’m an unusual case and I think we might be able to help each
other out.”

Walker looked over at Luca with interest in his hazel eyes. “What are you
saying?”
Luca watched as Cisco dialed in on Walker’s interest in him. “Yeah, Luca,
what are you saying?”
“We don’t know what was in the syringe that Jekyllstein gave me. Let’s call
it the X-factor. We don’t know how this X-factor turned me into a vampire.
We don’t know if it can be cured.” Luca shrugged as if what he was saying
wasn’t very important. “But, maybe you could figure it out?” Luca hopped
off the exam table and reached for his faded Captain America tee. He was
halfway to shrugging back into it when he heard Walker’s sharp intake of
breath.
“Are you asking me to study you?” Walker asked sounding breathless and
giddy at the same time.
“I’m asking you to help me in whatever form that happens to take.” Luca
wore a pleading look. “Yeah, I was the dumbass who signed my name on the
dotted line of a medical trial I knew nothing about, but you have an
opportunity to do some real good here, Walker. I know things didn’t end so
well with you and Cisco, but maybe you could put that aside for the oath you
swore?”
Walker looked away from the vampire. His eyes cast down to the floor.
Luca knew he’d scored a point or two in his favor with his mention of the
Hippocratic Oath. “The one thing about this that I hadn’t thought about
before was that there were other kids in the office the day I was injected.
Maybe five different students who were filling out the forms to take part in
the medical trial. Whatever they shot me up with turned me into a vampire. I
was too scared of what I’d become to go back and report this to them. What if
the others were too? What if there are more vamps like me?” Luca could feel
his emotions rising to the surface, but he’d be damned if he let Cisco’s ex-
lover see him cry.
“There were others?” Walker asked, sounding embarrassed. His hazel eyes
flickered off the floor to briefly meet with Luca’s.
“We don’t know how many more kids in total,” Cisco added. “Ronan
O’Mara and I are going to dig into that today. We wanted to come see you
first. He also floated the theory that whoever this guy is might not have
stopped at creating vamps.”
“Shit,” Walker muttered. “You think he might have been trying to make other
monster movie-type creatures too?” The doctor shuddered. “Sorry, Luca, I
didn’t mean to say you were a monster. Talking about this makes me think
about those old Universal Monster movies like The Wolfman, Dracula, The
Creature from the Black Lagoon. What other kinds of beings could there be?”
“Ronan mentioned things like dragons, griffins and krakens, but he might
have been in a wistful mood. A supernatural Jurassic Park is how I believe
he put it.” Cisco shook his head.
“I don’t know much about those other kinds of beings, Walker,” Luca said
quietly, “but their mythology doesn’t indicate anything about them being on
any kind of a restricted diet like I am.”
“Restricted diet?” Walker snorted. “You’re a goddamned vampire not a
fucking vegan!”
“Be that as it may, this goddamned vampire needs to eat.” Cisco slipped an
arm around Luca’s waist. “If you don’t help us, we’ll have to find someone
else who can.” Cisco turned to Luca. “Ronan has a friend, Lyric Vaughn. She
works in the DNA lab at the Boston Police Department. She owes Ronan a
favor after he solved that little situation with the Salem Witches.”
Walker’s expression darkened. “Lyric was my patient. I saved her life! You
leave her out of this! She was only released from the hospital a few weeks
ago.” The doctor grabbed his tiny laptop from the nearby counter and started
pounding away on the keyboard with his large hands, which looked
enormous on the small machine. “Don’t move!” He ordered before leaving
the room.
“What do you think he did?” Luca asked Cisco. He rested his face against the
cop’s heart. The rhythm it was pounding out was so fast it sounded like the
beats were double-time.
“I don’t know. Walker was never a good one for taking orders. Good job at
telling the story the way you did and coming at him through the back door.”
“Just like you used to do?” Luca snickered.
Cisco snorted and started laughing. The two of them were laughing like loons
a minute later when Walker came back into the room carrying a stack of
paper.
“What the hell is so funny?” He looked back and forth between them, a
suspicious look in his hazel eyes.
“Vampire jokes!” Luca managed between giggles.
“Vampire jokes?” Walker sounded dumbfounded.
Luca nodded trying to catch his breath. “What’s a vampire’s favorite type of
person to bite?”
Walker frowned. He shot a confused look at Cisco.
“Red necks!” Luca howled “Get it? Red…necks!” Luca slapped a hand on
his jean-clad thigh.

“Hilarious,” Walker deadpanned. He thrust the paperwork he was carrying at

Luca. “Congratulations, you’re a hemophiliac. There are instructions in the
packet on how to order blood and the supplies you’ll need for transfusions.
I’ll be the doctor signing off on your home care appointments. Do you have
health insurance?”
“Wait! What?” Luca looked over at Cisco. “I thought all we’d need is for him
to sign the papers on the diagnosis.” This sounded more complicated than he
imagined.
“Listen, kid, I’m not about to risk my medical license for you. We do this my
way, which is by the book, or not at all. Got it?” Walker looked back and
forth between Cisco and Luca. “I might owe Cisco for saving my ass but I
don’t owe him so much that it costs me my career. That’s what I needed
Cisco to save in the first place and it ended up costing me our relationship…”
Luca opened his mouth to agree to Walker’s terms but Cisco squeezing his
hand stopped him.
“I would never ask you to risk your career for me or Luca, Harm. We’ll
follow whatever rules you set here. As for what that little home video scam
cost you…” Cisco sighed. “We weren’t meant to be forever. You know that.
Did you ever once speed home from the hospital to get to me? Did you ever
wake me up in the middle of the night so you could tell me you loved me one
last time? Don’t feel bad answering no. I can’t say yes either.”
Walker nodded. He cleared his throat before he looked up at Luca. “There are
lab orders in there. Get the blood work done ASAP. There’s also an
appointment in there for next week. Keep it. Don’t make me chase you. It
won’t be pretty.” He turned to Cisco. “Guess this makes me part of the squad
now, huh? Heard you’re hooked up with some interesting people, psychics,
witches, and a P.I. from the wrong side of the tracks. Know anyone’s
who’s…?”
Cisco snorted. “Are you asking if I know anyone I can hook you up with?”
“Not a hook-up, but maybe something like this.” Walker pointed back and
forth between Cisco and Luca.
“Maybe,” Cisco answered mysteriously. “I’ve got one more favor to ask.”
“Jesus Christ, Cisco!” Walker fisted his hands on his hips. “I’m not checking
out fang marks on your dick!”
“Funny.” There was no hint of humor in Cisco’s voice. “I need you to take a
look through the ER cases from the last two weeks. See if there’s anything
unusual that pops out at you.”
Walker sucked in a harsh breath. “You mean like wolf bites or crazy drunks
who swear they saw a dragon flying over downtown?”
“Yeah, stuff like that. I know I don’t have to tell you to keep this between
us.” The serious cop-tone was back in Cisco’s voice.
Walker arched an elegant brow. “You know you can trust me.”
“That goes for you too.” Cisco nodded.
“Thanks, Walker.” Luca held out his hand.
Walker didn’t hesitate to shake it. “Just take care of him, huh?”
Luca nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He wanted to throw his arms
around the ER doctor and thank him for not being good enough for his Cisco.
And also for agreeing to have meals delivered to Cisco’s house. Yeah, for
that too.

15
Cisco
After a bit of a rough start with Walker Harmon, Cisco had to admit things
turned out better than he thought they would. He wasn’t thrilled with the idea
of Luca offering himself up as a lab rat, but on the other hand he trusted
Harm not to take advantage of the vampire.
Luca, for his part, hadn’t said a word since they’d gotten back into the car.
With his biggest worry out of the way, Cisco would have thought he would
have been bouncing around like a Jack Russell Terrier on Mountain Dew.
“Why so glum, cat got your fangs?”
Luca snorted. “More vampire jokes?”
“You were so quiet, I had to do something to lighten the mood.” Cisco
reached out a hand, but Luca didn’t take it.
Luca looked over at Cisco. A world of pain was swimming in his blue eyes.
“This thing we’ve been doing has been fun, but you’re going to want more
from a partner than what I can give you.”

Of all the things Luca could have said to him, this was the last thing he
expected to hear. “What?” Cisco’s brain was scrambling to keep up. Was
Luca breaking up with him? Their fledgling relationship was barely out of the
coffin.
“I can’t go to the beach or to barbecues with our friends. You had to slather
me in an entire bottle of SPF 70 just to go from the house to the car and the
car to the ER, and even with all that, I can feel myself sizzling like a grilled
cheese sandwich on a griddle. How can we build a life together when I can
only live mine at night?” Luca pulled his hat down further over his eyes and
turned away from Cisco.
Cisco had to admit Luca made very good points, but they were all bullshit.
“None of those things matter, with the exception of you feeling like you
could be served up at a diner with a pickle on the side. I can work Bravo shift
so that I’m home every night by 9pm, just in time to have supper with you.
We can have friends over for late dinners like the Europeans do and we can
go to the beach by moonlight.” Cisco took a deep breath. He looked over at
Luca, who was still staring out the window. “Are you bringing this up
because you want to end things between us or because these are real concerns
for you?”
Luca shrugged wordlessly.
Flipping on his blinker, Cisco turned into the Lafayette Street parking lot for
the Darwin Building. He couldn’t help smiling as this was the scene of
Luca’s original crime. He could see Ronan and Captain Kevin Fitzgibbon
talking to Hunter Conroy. Tennyson Grimm was there too, along with
Greeley Fitzgibbon and the P.I. Walker had mentioned earlier, Jude Byrne.
“I’m sorry we don’t have more time to talk about this. Whatever insecurities
you’re feeling right now are things we can work through together. I know it
was kind of a dick move last night for me to confess my feelings for you
through our penetration telepathy, but I meant those words, Luca. I love you.
It’s not just this fated mates thing or the way I can hear your blood song
when you’re drinking from me. It’s all the little things that add up to make
you, you and that make us, us. Please think about that before you make a
decision that could rip us apart.” Cisco picked up Luca’s hand and pressed a
kiss to the back of it before hopping out of the police SUV.
“Hey, guys.” Cisco held up a hand to wave. He noticed Greeley go
immediately to Luca’s side of the SUV and hurry him off into the safety of
the building along with the P.I. Damn! He should have been the one to do
that.
“He’s going to be okay,” Tennyson offered. “Greeley and Jude will take good
care of him for the time being.”
Cisco couldn’t help wondering if that was Tennyson just trying to reassure
him or the psychic giving him additional information. He shook his head.
None of that mattered now. “Luca’s going to lead us to the room where the
flyer directed him to go for the medical trial.”
“He didn’t have the flyer?” Ronan asked.
“No, only the business card the man in the white lab coat gave him.” Cisco
went back to the SUV to grab it from where he’d left it. He handed it to
Ronan, still stored in its plastic evidence bag. Dark fingerprint powder
marked it.
“So, you processed it for prints. Any hits? How about touch DNA?” Ronan
was obviously in cop-mode.
“I don’t know.” Cisco shook his head. “Since this isn’t an official case yet, I
can’t submit the prints or the swabs I took for possible DNA.”

“Explain that to me,” Hunter Conroy chimed in, rubbing a hand through his
blond curls. “I’m just a tow truck driver. I don’t know anything about police
work aside from what I see on TV. Why can’t you just run the prints through
the computer like they do on CSI?”
“Every time I enter something into the fingerprint or DNA databases I need a
case number to reference. These safeguards are in place so that no one in the
Salem P.D. can use those resources for their own personal devices. Otherwise
we’d have people running DNA to check to see who their baby daddy is or to
find out whose fingerprints are in their house.”
Ronan frowned. “You think people would be pulling a Maury Povich with
CODIS?”
“Don’t you?” Cisco shot Ronan an are-you-shitting-me look.
“I know who my baby’s daddy is…” Ronan trailed off.
“What’s the plan here, Cisco?” Fitzgibbon asked, sounding frustrated.
“You’re the only one out of all of us with any jurisdiction in Salem.”
“We’re just here for an informal chat. I need Luca to identify the guy in the
white lab coat who gave him the injection and then we ask to see the
paperwork for the clinical trial.”
“Why is that important?” Hunter asked.
“The doctors who run these trials have hoops they have to jump through
before they can be approved to experiment on human beings,” Cisco
explained. “They can’t just open up shop in some college town and use kids
as test subjects.”
“Makes sense,” Hunter mumbled.
“If they don’t have their documentation in order, that’s how we’ll get them.
We have Luca as our witness and we can arrest them on charges of assault
and battery.” Cisco knew how flimsy this all sounded.
“I don’t mean to stir the shit here,” Fitzgibbon started, “but Luca signed up
for this. Literally signed his name on the bottom line and agreed to have some
foreign substance injected into his body. He was paid for his trouble, just like
the flyer said he would be. I don’t see how you can bring those charges when
Luca agreed to this.”
Cisco sighed. “Attempted murder? False advertising?”
“False advertising?” Ronan asked, shaking his head. “Shit, Cisco, maybe.”
“The flyer didn’t mention anything about potential side effects being an
allergy to the sun and a fucking craving for human blood. You hear those
drug commercials on TV all the time naming off their side effects; explosive
diarrhea, erectile dysfunction, leprosy, blindness.”
“Shit, sign me up for that.” Hunter snorted. “Speaking of explosive diarrhea,
can we get a move on with this. I don’t think I’m built for this Cagney and
Lacey gig.”
Cisco eyed the tow truck driver, wondering, not for the first time, why Ronan
thought he should be in on this. “I’ll do the talking,” Cisco said. “You hear
me, Ronan?” He took off for the front door of the building where he could
see Jude waiting to let him in.
“Why the hell am I even here then?” The Boston detective grumped.
“We’re going to lunch after this, babe, remember?” Ten patted his arm.
Cisco rolled his eyes. Is this what fated mate bliss had in store for him and
Luca? If he and Luca stayed together, that was… Cisco wasn’t going to think
about that. He had a dirtbag to catch. Maybe several of them.

Jude pushed open the door to the Darwin Building to let everyone in. “He’s
better now,” Jude said softly enough so that only Cisco could hear him.
What the hell did that mean? Better, how? Cisco found Luca standing at the
Biology Bulletin Board with Greeley. He’d shed all of the heavy protective
clothing he’d been wearing and his skin didn’t look quite as red as it had
when they were in the car. How was that possible? Did the vampirism also
give him the power to heal like those vamps on True Blood? Luca’s kisses
certainly had the power to heal his little love bites, but Cisco had been wistful
enough to think that had been part of the power of the blood bond.
“I don’t see the flyer here anymore.” Luca sighed. “It was two weeks ago.
They might have gotten all of the volunteers they needed.”
“Victims you mean,” Hunter said under his breath.
“Where was it you met with him?” Cisco went to reach for Luca’s hand, but
changed his mind at the last minute, remembering how Luca rejected his
touch the last time.

“Second floor. Office 245. The main door opens to a waiting room then
there’s an exam room. I’m not sure what’s beyond that, but there was a door
in the exam room that probably leads somewhere else.”
“There’s a private office beyond that,” Tennyson chimed in. It has a door that
leads to the back stairs which empty onto the College Drive side of the
building.
Cisco looked around at his team. He wanted Ronan and Tennyson with him
for sure. Luca wasn’t leaving his side and he wanted Greeley to have Luca’s
back in case he and Ronan had to give chase. That left him with Fitzgibbon,
Jude and Hunter. “Hunter, stay down here in case anyone escapes this way.
Stop them any way you can. Got it?”

“Got it!” Hunter grinned, looking less likely to have an attack of explosive
diarrhea than he did a few minutes ago.
“Jude, use your phone to pull up a map of the Darwin building. It should
show you where the door to the College Drive stairs opens. Wait there and
don’t let anyone escape.”

Jude nodded. He cracked his knuckles and set about checking the Rambo
knife strapped to his thigh.
Christ, Cisco was glad Jude was on his side. “Greeley, you stick with Luca. I
might need to be in the thick of things and I need to know he’s safe.
Everyone else with me.” He headed toward the staircase near the elevator
bank.
“You do know I’m a vampire, right? Super human strength, faster than a
speeding bullet?” Luca snorted.
“Yes, Super Vamp, I know that. Just wanted you to know I was thinking of
you. Even though you want to dump me,” Cisco muttered low enough so only
the vampire could hear him. He started climbing the stairs.
Luca rushed forward to join him. “I didn’t say I was dumping you. I just
asked how such a bright light could possibly want to live his life in the dark?”
Those words stopped Cisco in his tracks. “You light up my entire world with
your love, Luca. It doesn’t matter if we live under the moon or the sun. I just
want to live my life with you.” He cupped the side of Luca’s face, kissing
him as if his life depended on it.
“Damn,” Fitzgibbon muttered. “I’m writing that shit down.”
“Get your head in the game, Jackson. The one with two eyes. We might only
get one shot at this.” Ronan sighed from the back of the pack.

“Why did I bring him?” Cisco muttered against Luca’s lips.

“Ronan kicks ass!” Luca grinned, kissing Cisco’s pouting lips one last time.
Ronan did kick ass, but Cisco would be damned if he was going to say that
out loud. He climbed the rest of the stairs to the second floor, motioning
everyone to follow him. It wasn’t like this was a SWAT operation. No one
knew they were coming.
Following the numbered offices down the hall Cisco stopped when he got to
the one marked 245. “Fitzgibbon, I want you to stay in the waiting area with
Greeley and Luca. Ronan and I will go back to the exam room and office if
we need to, okay?”
“Got it. I’m armed, but won’t pull it out unless someone draws on me or the
kids first.” Fitzgibbon lifted his shirt to reveal his sidearm.
Luca rolled his eyes, but stayed silent.
Fitzgibbon appeared to be close to fifty, so Cisco would forgive him for
calling Luca a kid. His vampire was closer to Greeley’s age which he
supposed also bought the veteran police captain a pass. From the look on
Luca’s face, he wasn’t giving the captain any leeway. “Nice and easy
everyone, like we’re just here for a friendly chat.”
Cisco opened the door to the 245 and stepped inside. The waiting room was
empty. Ducking his head back out into the hallway, he waved Ronan and the
others forward. “What have we got, Tennyson?”
“Someone is working in the office.” Ten pointed in the direction of the closed
door.
“Only one person, Ten?” Ronan asked. He was rubbing the back of his neck.
The psychic nodded. “That’s all I’m getting.”
“Might be better to get him in here,” Fitzgibbon suggested. “It’s a bigger
room and it would be easier to contain someone in this space.”
Cisco nodded. He had a plan. Not one he liked very much, but it was all he
could come up with on such short notice. “Luca, I hate to ask this, but…”
“What do you need me to do?” Luca walked to Cisco.

“Go stand in the sunlight streaming in through the windows in the hallway
for a few seconds, just enough for you to sizzle a bit and then burst in here
screaming for help. The rest of us will stay where we are so that we’ll be
ready for whoever is in the office to come running in here to help you.” Shit,
it sounded like a worse plan saying the words out loud than it did in his head.
Luca nodded. “Okay.”
“I promised I would never do anything to hurt you and here I am putting you
in harm’s way.” It felt like an icy fist was squeezing Cisco’s heart.
“I’ll be okay.” Luca nodded.
“I’m coming with.” Greeley grinned at Luca before holding the door open for
him.
“Jesus Christ, Ten. Tell me this is going to be okay.” Cisco shoved a hand
through his hair.
Ten patted his shoulder in response.
Cisco wasn’t prepared for Luca’s scream. It tore through him like he was the
one being burned.
“HELP!” Luca screamed! The office door slammed open. “I’m burning!”
Luca winked at Cisco before falling to his knees and shrieking as if he really
were on fire.

His heart slowed by a few measures when he saw Luca’s skin was only
reddened a bit as if he had a bad sunburn. There were no blisters so far as he
could tell. The bloodcurdling screams were really selling it. “Get ready,
everyone.” Cisco hoped to hell whoever was in the office wasn’t wearing
headphones and blasting Post Malone.
A door banged open from inside the office. Cisco could hear hurried footfalls
coming toward them.
“What’s going on?” a blond man asked as he burst into the room.
“That’s him. That’s the guy who injected me.” Luca pointed from his knees.
Cisco grabbed his elbow. “You want to tell me who the hell you are, pal?”
“Take you fucking hands off me! Just who the hell do you think you are?” the
blond shouted in an outraged tone. “You send your Daddy after me, kid? You
signed the release form and I paid you for your time. I told you to report any
unusual side effects and we never heard from you within the treatment
window.”
“Treatment window?” Ronan asked from behind the man.
“Read the fucking fine print, asshole! There was a seven-day treatment
window. He was supposed to call the number on the card if he broke out in a
rash or was more susceptible to sunburn and we had meds we could have
prescribed for him at no cost, but since he’s past the treatment window, he’s
going to have to see his own doctor.” The man yanked his arm out of Cisco’s
grasp. “Now if you’ll excuse me? I’ve got work to do.”
“Not so fast. I asked for your name.” Cisco wasn’t backing down. So, this
dick had a good story about the fine print of a contract. That didn’t mean
what he was doing here was above board.

“I’m Pete Smith. Grad student in molecular biology. Who the fuck are you,
Pops?” he scoffed.
Pulling out his badge, Cisco grinned. “Chief Jackson of the Salem Police
Department.”
“Fucking seriously?” Pete sighed.
“I need to see all the paperwork you have for this trial allowing you to
experiment on humans.” Cisco fisted his hands on his hips.
“You got a warrant for that? I’m not showing you shit without a search
warrant. You can’t just bust in here and steal my research. I know my rights.”
Pete’s tone was defiant.
“Don’t need one. I’ve got a victim here who claims he was injected with an
unknown substance. He doesn’t have a rash or sunburn. Whatever was in that
needle turned him into a fucking vampire!” Cisco’s voice boomed.
“Obviously you’re not testing vitamin supplements or a vaccine for some
foreign virus. It’s my theory you knew what you were doing here.”
“Holy shit! It worked? You’re a vampire? Let me see your fangs!” Pete ran to
Luca grabbing his lips and pulling them open like a psychopathic dentist.
“Take you hands off me!” Luca shoved Pete, sending him across the room
straight into Ronan.
“You knew this would happen?” Cisco asked, his voice dark and full of
menace.
Pete pushed away from Ronan. Wait until I tell…” His mouth snapped shut.
“Wait until you tell who?” Cisco reached behind him for the handcuff he’d
slipped into his back pocket. “Pete Smith, you’re under arrest for-”
Before Cisco could finish reading Pete his Miranda Warning, the suspect
pulled a round device out of his pocket which he dropped to the floor.
“Byeeee, Chief Jackson!” Pete waggled his fingers in a little wave and bolted
toward the door, slamming it shut behind him.
Cisco took a step toward the little puke when the entire building rocked
beneath his feet. The sound of glass shattering reached his ears as his hands
came up to shield his head. He felt himself hit the floor. The next thing he
knew, the fire alarm was going off and he was soaking wet.
Luca… Rolling to his side, Cisco could see everyone in the room was on the
floor, struggling to get up. They all looked okay for the most part. “Luca?”
“I’m okay. Go get the bastard!” Luca urged. “I’ll help everyone else.”
Picking himself up off the floor, Cisco did a quick check. The only thing that
hurt was the left side of his face. He lifted a hand to touch his skin which
came away bloody. There was nothing to be done about that now. “See what
you can find in the office, Ronan,” he called over his shoulder.
Tearing out of the office, he saw Greeley Fitzgibbon down on his knees,
holding his head. “You okay, kid?”
“Yeah, fine.” He staggered to his feet, stumbling a bit before catching his
balance. “He bolted down the stairs. I couldn’t get him.”
That was good enough for Cisco. He took off down the hall toward the stairs.
His feet slapped loudly against the concrete as he pounded toward the first
floor. The only thing that stood between Pete Smith and freedom was Hunter
Conroy. So far as Cisco knew the tow truck driver wasn’t armed with
anything sharper than his wits.
“Look what I found!” Hunter crowed triumphantly when Cisco burst into the
lobby. Lying on the ground in a bloody heap was Pete Smith. Attending to
the unconscious dirtbag was none other than Walker Harmon.
“Harm? What the hell are you doing here?” Cisco felt his lips curve into a
grin.
“You made me an honorary member of The Avengers, so I answered the call
to assemble. You said you were coming here to question the guy in the white
lab coat, so I figured it might be handy to have a doctor on hand to help you
muddle through the jargon.” He turned back to Pete Smith who was just
starting to come around.
“Get him away from me!” Pete shrieked, pointing at Hunter. He started crab-
walking backward on his ass. “He’s a fucking sideshow freak! Keep him
away from me!”
Hunter wore a “who-me?” look on his face. “You told me to stop him from
escaping by any means necessary.
“I’m guessing that’s what you did?” Cisco tried to hide the grin he knew was
shining in his eyes.

“He’s a fucking monster!” Pete screamed, scuttling backward until he hit the
closed elevator door. “Like something out a horror movie!”
Cisco turned to look at Hunter, who shrugged his shoulders. There wasn’t a
curly hair out of place on the man’s head. He wasn’t breathing heavy and
didn’t have a scratch on him. Pete, meanwhile looked like he’d gone ten
rounds with Muhammad Ali in his prime.
“Wanna tell me what the hell happened here, Hunter. And enough with the
innocent act. There wasn’t a scratch on him when he ran away from us like a
fucking coward.” Cisco turned back to Pete who was huddled against the
elevator, shaking like he’d seen a ghost.
“When he came through the doors to the staircase, I tried to stop him with my
bulk. When that didn’t work, I had to get rough with him. I did warn him
though, didn’t I, Pete?” Hunter took half a step toward the cowering man,
raising his right hand, his fingers outstretched, as he turned.
“NO!” Pete howled, his arms coming up to shield his face. “He’s like one of
the fucking X-Men! Used some kind of hand-powers or some shit to throw
me across the lobby like a rag doll!”
Ronan snorted from behind them.
“Am I missing something, Detective O’Mara?” Cisco rolled his eyes. He
couldn’t wait to hear this story. Now that he thought about it, Hunter had
been one of the men in the woods with Ronan and the gang that night. He’d
bet now that Ronan had known something about Hunter that he hadn’t
revealed.
“Oh, that’s right,” Ronan snickered. “You missed Hunter’s part of the show
in the Salem Towne Forest last month. Maybe this is something the two of
you should talk about when the suspect can’t hear you?”

Ronan had a point. “You’re saying our mild-mannered tow truck driver,
Hunter Conroy, has hand-powers, Pete? You sound like some kind of a
lunatic. Stuff like that could get you put on a psych hold at North Shore
Medical Center, couldn’t it, Doctor Harmon?”
“It could, indeed.” Walker nodded.
“Come on, asshole.” Cisco dragged Pete to his feet. “You’re under arrest for
trying to kill all of us, destruction of public property, and anything else I can
think of between here and the station.” He slapped the cuffs closed with a
satisfying click of metal. “We aren’t done talking.” Cisco grinned at Hunter
on the way past.
“Neither are we,” Walker half-whispered to the tow truck driver as Cisco
walked past them both.
Maybe Cisco wasn’t going to have to look too far to find someone to set
Walker Harmon up with after all…

16
Luca
It was déjà vu all over again. Luca was sitting in the same emergency room
bay with Cisco that he’d been in hours earlier, only this time Cisco was the
patient.
“Jesus Christ, ouch!” Cisco barked.
“You were injured in a sonic blast with flying glass, you big baby. I have to
make sure I got all of the shards out before I can get the plastic surgeon in
here to stitch you back up.” Walker sighed. “Luca, can you come hold his
hand or something, so I can do my work?”
Grinning, Luca obeyed. “Sure thing, doc.” Cisco settled down the second
Luca linked their fingers together. “So, you’re interested in Hunter?”
Walker frowned, but stayed silent.
“It doesn’t get any better than that, Harm.” Cisco winced, but managed to
stay still.
“Better than what? Almost getting your ass blown up in a percussion wave?”
Walker shot Cisco an angry look before getting back to cleaning the wound
on the side of the cop’s face.

“I’m fine. Your Doctor Frankenstein will stitch me up and I’ll be good as
new. You said yourself my eardrums aren’t damaged and there’s nothing else
wrong with me.”
“Aside from being low on iron.” Walker lifted an eyebrow at Luca. “If you’re
going to be part of his restricted diet, I’m putting you on iron pills. They’ll
turn your shit black as night, but you’re getting your dick sucked by a
vampire so who cares?”
Luca burst out laughing. He wondered what Walker thought the big deal was
with vampire blow jobs, but wasn’t about to ask.
“Stop changing the subject, Doctor Harmon.” Cisco turned to Luca. “World
Champion subject-changer. If they gave out gold medals, this one here would
have so many he’d walk stooped over from the weight- Ouch, asshole!”
“Butterfingers.” Walker shrugged.
“As I was saying,” Cisco huffed. “It doesn’t get any better than asking to be
set up with someone and then a few hours later, meeting the man of your
dreams.”
“Man of my dreams?” Walker scoffed. “I met some weird dude with hand-
powers at a crime scene. It was hardly Bogart and Bacall.”
“You want to clue me in, Luca?” Cisco asked, sounding positively giddy.
“Maybe Walker should talk to Hunter about that himself.” Luca wasn’t sure
he should tell either man about Hunter Conroy. It wasn’t really his story to
tell.
“For Christ’s sake!” Walker moved away from Cisco to pin Luca with his
hazel glare. “That man hurled Pete Smith across the lobby of the Darwin
Building with his hands, but never physically touched him! Do you hear what
I’m saying? Smith might have sounded like a raving lunatic when he was
telling Cisco what happened to him, but he wasn’t far off when he said the
guy was like something out of the X-Men. Now, before I let him suck my
dick and end up glowing in the dark like Peter fucking Parker, can you please
tell me what in hell his deal is?”
Luca bit his bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud. Walker looked so
serious in his worry about Hunter. “Uh, Peter Parker was bitten by a
radioactive spider, Spiderman doesn’t actually glow in the dark.” Luca
shrugged, looking back and forth between Cisco and the doctor. Walker
looked like he was about ten seconds away from going nuclear himself.
“Okay, okay.” Luca held up his hands. “Hunter has a supernatural side to
him. I really think he should be telling you this, but he’s a gargoyle.”
Walker and Cisco’s mouths dropped open. Both men looked at each other
before looking back at Luca. Each man wore matching looks that said they
though Luca was shitting them.
“It’s true. I saw him use his powers in the Salem Towne Forest the night I
met Cisco for the first time. I was busy rescuing Greeley from the person
holding him at knifepoint, while Hunter was stopping Gideon Black from
force-choking Ronan and the others. Hunter sent him back to hell or
wherever demonic seventeenth century spirit-assholes go. Gargoyles have the
power to banish evil spirits.” Luca shrugged.
“Force-choking?” Walker asked, sounding completely lost.
Luca nodded his head. “Yeah, you know like Darth Vader did to Peter
Cushing’s character in Star Wars? He used the force to choke him and never
laid a hand on him. You really should talk to Hunter about all of this. Hey,
it’s great stuff to chat about over chowder and drinks at Lobster Charlie’s,
right?”

“Is it?” Walker still sounded totally confused.

Cisco pushed himself up from the hospital bed. “Put it this way, there aren’t
that many people who know Hunter’s secret. I bet he needs a good guy who’s
willing to listen. You were one hell of a listener, Harm.” Cisco nudged his
shoulder against the doctor’s. “We’ve all got shit going on in our lives.
You’re the personal physician to the town’s resident vampire. He’s a
gargoyle. Besides, he was practically drooling over your ass in those jeans.
There’s your common ground. Buy him a drink. Listen. Go from there.”
“I’ll think about it.” Walker shook his head. “I’ve done all I can do for you.
Gonna go grab Doctor Frankenstein. Shit! Now you’ve got me saying it!
Doctor Francoeur. Don’t fucking call her that! She’s the best plastic surgeon
on the North Shore. You’ll never know you were cut when she’s done with
you.” Walker headed out of the room.
“Are you okay?” Cisco reached out for Luca’s hand.
“I’m fine.” Luca hopped up on the hospital bed. He set his head against
Cisco’s shoulder. “That was fucking terrifying back at the school though. Is
that what it’s like for you every day at work?”

“Not every day.” Cisco pressed a kiss Luca’s head.

“So, umm, about what I said earlier about us.” Luca had been a complete
asshole bringing his concerns up to Cisco the way he’d done and just before
they were about to confront Pete Smith, no less.
“Yeah?” Cisco took a deep breath in, but didn’t let it out.
“I just don’t want you to wake up in ten years and regret that you spent them
with me. Living our lives upside down won’t be easy, you know.” Luca
wasn’t overly fond of sleeping during the day and he was the one following
his body’s needs.

“Why? Are you gonna sleep dangling from your toes like a bat?” Cisco
snorted. “There’s nothing upside down about it. We’ll go to what events we
can and skip what we can’t. I don’t care about missing cookouts and birthday
parties so long as you fall asleep in my arms every night.”
“And this fated mates thing? You’re on board with it?” It was so forever.
Permanent. Luca would understand if Cisco needed more time to let things
between them develop.
“I love you, Luca. I’m riding the fated mate train all the way to the last stop.”
Cisco leaned over to press their lips together.
“What’s the last stop, chief?” Luca grinned.
“I don’t know. What do you say we find out together?” Cisco held out his
hand.
Luca took his hand, pressing a kiss against the side of Cisco’s face. “Yeah,
I’m in.” He had no idea where this journey was going to lead, but with
Cisco’s hand in his, Luca was going to enjoy every single step.

EPILOGUE
Cisco
One month later…
The last month of Salem Police Chief Francisco Jackson’s life had gone by in
a flash. Cisco had been so busy with work and with settling Luca into his
house that before he’d known it, the Fourth of July was here.

Luca had been busy planning the party to be held at their house, since the 4th
was one of the few holidays that was actually celebrated at night. In between
taking his online summer session classes and working nights at Spellbound,
Luca had been looking up party recipes online.
After what started out as a promising case against Pete Smith was now
bogged down thanks to lawyers. Cisco had managed to get one interview
with the grad student before some high-priced Boston attorney had shown up
to shut the whole thing down. Now, Pete was out on bail and his fancy
attorney was arguing motion after motion to get every piece of evidence
Cisco had against him thrown out.
Pete Smith was just a tiny guppy to Cisco, what he was after was the shark.
He wanted the mad scientist bastard behind the test-tube. Smith was meant to
be the fall guy in all of this. After speaking with him that one time, Cisco was
sure he only had a very basic understanding of what was going on here. All
he needed was a way to go after this Jekyllstein, as Ronan had nicknamed
him. As of this moment, they were dead in the water.
Knowing this eventuality was a distinct possibility, Cisco had made copies of
everything Ronan had recovered from Smith’s office in the Darwin Building
that had been salvageable. There hadn’t been very much that the sprinkler
system hadn’t destroyed. The most valuable piece being a flash drive that
Ronan had found in locked drawer of Pete Smith’s desk.
The drive contained a spreadsheet of names. Cisco had assumed they were
other clinical trial subjects like Luca. All that was listed was basic
information. Name, date, and a number/letter designation that Ronan had
suggested was batch number for whatever they’d been injected with. It
wasn’t a lot to go on. In actuality, it was next to nothing.

He’d been spending every spare moment of his time trying to track down the
names on the spreadsheet. Cisco wasn’t really getting anywhere with that
either.
“Cisco? Our friends are starting to arrive!” Luca popped his head around the
corner of the spare bedroom door. “Oh. At it again?”

Cisco shut the monitor off and turned to his vampire. “Sorry. I know you
want me to give this a rest, but I can’t help but wondering what college town
this fucker is setting up in now. Who will be the next victim in his web?”
“Will you walk into my parlor, said the spider to the fly,” Luca quoted. “I
love that you’re trying to look out for other dumb kids like me, but Walker’s
working on a cure for this thing.”
Cisco pulled Luca into his arms. Walker had found something in Luca’s
bloodwork that was unique to him, but he hadn’t elaborated further on it. He
wasn’t naïve, Cisco knew it could take years for Walker to figure this thing
out or he might never find a way to cure his vampire.

“Hey guys!” Ronan O’Mara’s voice boomed from the living room. “You
need to get out here now!”
“Shit, maybe I forgot to put out the nacho chips for the seven-layer dip.”
Luca sighed. “Now that I don’t eat people food anymore, I don’t think of
stuff like that.”
Cisco snorted. “Now you just eat people.”
“Funny. Come on, let’s go see what he’s bellyaching about.”
Walker had been true to his word getting Luca set up with weekly blood
deliveries and showing up for their weekly medical appointments. Those
“appointments” were just dinner with Luca cooking meals for them. Cisco
was going to have to start thinking about popping the question. Luca had his
medical insurance through the college and it wasn’t covering all the costs
associated with his “hemophilia.” Not that Cisco didn’t want to make Luca
his lawfully wedded vampire regardless of the additional cash required to
cover the expenses. “What is it Ronan? The sparklers? You know they’re
legal in Massachusetts, right? Luca checked the website.” Cisco snorted.

“It’s not the fucking sparklers, it’s this.” Ronan was holding up a manila
envelope with an orange spiderweb-printed napkin.
“What the hell is that?” Cisco rushed past the detective and into the kitchen
where he kept a spare police kit, which he brought with him into the living
room.
“There was a knock at the door and when I went to see who it was, I saw this
envelope sitting on the welcome mat. I knew better than to touch it, so I
grabbed Ronan,” Walker Harmon offered.
“Good thinking, Harm.” Cisco set the kit down on the living room sofa, since
the tables were all covered in platters serving finger foods. He grabbed a set
of latex gloves and snapped them on before pulling a letter opener from the
box, which he used to slice open the top of the envelope. A single sheet of
paper slid out into his hand.
“Fuck me!” Ronan shook his head. “It’s one of those old-fashioned ransom
notes with letters cut out of a magazines and newspapers.”
“Stop the search or prepare for a battle you will not win.” Cisco turned to
Ronan who was frowning.
“Come on, Cisco. Any third-grader could have made that with a stack of
People magazines and a glue stick.” Ronan shook his head.

Cisco wasn’t so sure. Whoever created this letter did so with the intention of
not revealing who they were. Postmarks, printer paper, ink and typography
could all be traced, but this low-tech type of communication was virtually
untraceable unless the sender left DNA or fingerprints, which he was sure he
wasn’t going to find.
A loud boom startled Cisco. Jesus, he was a jumpy bastard.

“It’s the start of the fireworks!” Hunter Conroy, tugged on Walker’s shirt
sleeve. “Let’s go!”
Luca took Cisco’s hand and led him out into the front yard where he’d set
down blankets.
Cisco allowed himself to be led. He was still feeling uneasy about this letter
and whoever delivered it. Luca rested his head on Cisco’s chest once they
were settled on their blanket.
“I hear it, you know,” Luca whispered.
“What, the fireworks blasting off from Salem Harbor?” Cisco smiled against
the vampire’s soft hair.

Luca laughed. “No, your blood song. Even though you’re worried about the
letter and finding the author, your blood is singing a different tune.”
“What tune is that?” Cisco asked.
“Eternal love,” Luca whispered, pressing a kiss against Cisco’s heart.
“That’s true enough. I love you endlessly, Luca Pennington.”
“I love you to infinity, Cisco Jackson.”
“Oh, yeah?” Cisco flipped them over so that he was gazing down into his
vampire’s blue eyes. “Do you love me enough to make me your husband?”
“What? It’s only been six weeks!” Luca’s eyes were practically bulging out
of his head.
“I’m not saying we run away to Antarctica tomorrow and elope. I’m just
asking if you’d say yes?” Cisco grinned down at him. He was feeling just
crazy enough to ask for real and mean every word. He had plenty of vacation
time and enough money in the bank to fly away tomorrow.

“Antarctica? It’s colder than a witch’s tit in a brass bra there. Why would you
want to go there?” Luca was looking at Cisco as if he thought the chief was a
donut shy of a dozen.
Cisco grinned. “It’s summer here, which means it’s winter there. Six months
of darkness…”
Luca sniffled once and burst into tears. He wrapped his body around Cisco
and hung on for dear life.
“Shit, chief! What the fuck did you do?” Ronan growled.
“He asked me to marry him in Antarctica!” Luca bawled.
“In the cold with the fucking penguins?” Ronan challenged. “You’re a real
charmer, Jackson!”
“In the dark, under a blanket of glittering stars.” Luca sounded enchanted
with the idea.
“Is that a yes? I didn’t hear a yes in there anywhere. I heard penguins and
stars and darkness, but no yes.” Cisco was more enamored with the idea by
the second.
“Yes,” Luca whispered against Cisco’s ear. “You say when, chief, and I’ll be
there waiting for you with a bouquet of sparklers.”
Cisco was half-tempted to say tomorrow just to see Luca’s reaction. He
relaxed back and watched the fireworks light up the July sky in a rainbow of
colors, content to hold his forever love in his arms.
The hunt for the letter writer would start tomorrow.

IF YOU ENJOYED MEETING COLD CASE DETECTIVE RONAN

O’MARA AND PSYCHIC TENNYSON GRIMM, GO BACK TO
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN WITH BOOK ONE IN THE COLD CASE
PSYCHIC SERIES WITH DEAD SPEAK!
Demoted to the cold case squad after shooting a suspect in the line of duty,
Detective Ronan O’Mara knows that his career with the Boston Police
Department is hanging by a thread. His first assignment is the case of
Michael Frye, a five-year-old boy who has been missing for seven years.
With no new leads or witnesses to interview, Ronan has to start from scratch
to solve this mystery. When he sees a handsome local psychic on television,
Ronan figures he’s got nothing to lose in enlisting the man’s help to find
Michael.
Psychic Tennyson Grimm is riding high after helping South Shore cops find a
missing child. He’s even being courted by the Reality Show Network about a
program showcasing his abilities. He has no idea that
his midday appointment with a customer, who instead turns out to be a police
detective, is going to change the course of his life and his career.
With the blessing of the BPD, which badly needs an image make-over,
Ronan is allowed to bring Tennyson in to assist with the Frye case. Being
thrown together in front of cameras is never easy, but add in an emotional
missing person’s investigation, a tight-lipped spirit, and a cop who’s a
skeptic, and it definitely puts a strain on both men and their working
relationship.
When the child’s body is found, the work to identify his killer begins. As
Ronan and Tennyson get closer to solving the case, the initial attraction they
feel for one another explodes into a passion neither man can contain.
Will working together to bring Michael’s killer to justice seal their fledgling
bond, or will unexpected revelations in the case tear them apart forever?

Dead Speak is available in eBook, Paperback or Audio Book format!

https://amazon.com/Dead-Speak-Cold-Case-Psychic-
ebook/dp/B07769VFJR/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-
text&ie=UTF8&qid=1533403817&sr=1-
1&keywords=dead+speak+pandora+pine

THAT OLD MAGIC, CAPTAIN KEVIN FITZGIBBON’S LONG-

AWAITED SPIN OFF IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!
GRAB YOUR COPY TODAY!
Boston Police Captain, Kevin Fitzgibbon thought he’d found the missing
piece of his heart when psychic Madam Aurora prophesied the love of his life
was philanthropist, Jace Lincoln. After spending months as on-again, off-
again boyfriends, the pair are off again, perhaps for good, leaving Kevin
distraught and grumpy.
Jace Lincoln is still trying to put his life back together after Fitz dumped him
on Valentine’s Day. While getting back into the swing of things with a new
man, a drunk Fitzgibbon barges in on their date like Godzilla destroying
Tokyo. Listening to Fitz carry on about how much he misses what they had
together makes Jace wonder if they still have enough of that old magic left to
try one last time.
Through a series of dates ranging from ridiculous to right on the money, Fitz
and Jace reconnect and find that the things keeping them apart might not be
so insurmountable after all. Deciding to give their relationship another try,
they start planning a bright future together.
That future is stopped dead in its tracks when tragedy strikes at a party
celebrating the tenth anniversary of Jace’s homeless shelter. Will Kevin and
Jace survive to begin a new life together or have they lost their last chance at
happiness for good this time?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JB2G376/ref=sr_1_1?
ie=UTF8&qid=1539298094&sr=8-
1&keywords=that+Old+magic+pandora+pine

IF YOU ENJOYED MEETING ER DOC WALKER HARMON AND

GARGOYLE HUNTER CONROY, CHECK OUT THEIR STORY IN
HUNTER’S CURSE! AVAILABLE NOW FOR PRE-ORDER
1418, Wales: Hunter Conroy, the youngest in a family of powerful demon
slayers, is captured by the evil warlock Osian. Young Hunter is given a
choice: join forces with his enemy and kill his own family, or be cursed to
live through the ages as a stone gargoyle. Once a century, Hunter is released
from his prison, and tempted with the chance to build a life for himself. At
the end of a decade of freedom, if Hunter does not choose to become one of
Osian’s minions, he is again remanded to the cold, lonely rock.
Fast forward six hundred years, and Hunter finds himself in Salem,
Massachusetts. He has forged a quiet life, knowing that at the end of this
latest cycle, Osian will once again return, and Hunter will decline his offer.
He is content to live out the last few months of this round alone, until he
meets Walker Harmon.
ER Doctor Walker Harmon had expected to be married with children by now,
but so far has been unable to find the man of his dreams. Hunter Conroy
sparks his interest until he sees the handsome tow truck driver throw a man
across the room without even touching him. When Hunter reveals the source
of his powers, telling Walker that his days in Salem are numbered, it’s a story
beyond belief. Realizing he’s in love with this cursed man, Walker is willing
to risk everything to fight for Hunter.
With time running out, Hunter amasses a dream team of witches, psychics,
and a mysterious wizard to help him break the warlock’s curse. Will their
combined powers be enough to free Hunter, or will the gargoyle reclaim him
for another century?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JKQTYVC/ref=sr_1_1?
ie=UTF8&qid=1540058196&sr=8-
1&keywords=Hunter%27s+Curse+pandora+pine
IF YOU’RE A REGULAR FOLLOWER OF THE COLD CASE
PSYCHIC SERIES, BOOK EIGHT, DEAD OF NIGHT, IS
AVAILABLE NOW! GRAB YOUR COPY TODAY!
No one is more surprised than Cold Case Detective, Ronan O’Mara when he
answers his doorbell one night to see members of Salem’s Wiccan
community standing on his doorstep with an unbelievable story to tell.
According to them, members of their coven are being murdered in a modern-
day witch hunt and they want Ronan to look into the matter for them.
Psychic, Tennyson Grimm is skeptical of the witches’ claims. After the initial
investigation turns up ordinary deaths in car accidents, house fires, and by
suicide, Ten feels that the witches’ suspicions, are just that: suspicions. His
sixth sense is not giving him any clues that these are anything but untimely
and tragic deaths.
When another witch dies mysteriously, Ronan turns up the heat on the Salem
Police Department to investigate and finds himself in an unusual position: in
hot water with Fitzgibbon and his husband. Suspended from the Boston
Police Department and abandoned by his family and friends, Ronan goes
rogue, conducting the investigation on his own.
Uncovering an insidious plot with roots reaching back to the Salem Witch
Trials, Ronan must battle a force so evil, it has managed to stay hidden for
centuries. Without the power of his badge or the backing of Tennyson, does
Ronan have the strength to survive something that hunts in the dead of night?
https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Night-Cold-Case-Psychic-
ebook/dp/B07GZ9R9J7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537746042&sr=8-
1&keywords=dead+of+night+pandora+pine

TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS COLD CASE PSYCHIC, JOIN MY

NEWSLETTER!
http://eepurl.com/dEc4-5
 Books by Pandora Pine
Cold Case Psychic Series
Vision of Love
Dead Speak
Dead Reckoning
Dead Silent
Dead Weight
Dead to Me
Dead Ringer
Dead in the Water
Dead of Night
Dead Man Walking
Cold Case Psychic Spin Offs
Beyond the Grave
Spellbound
Blood Song
That Old Magic
Hunter’s Curse
Merry and Bright
Coming Soon: Tiny Dancer

Haunted Souls
Ghost of Himself

Sand Dollar Shoal Series

Undercurrent
Riptide
Deep Blue
Storm Surge
Reading, Writing, and Romance Series
 A Little Love
A Little Lesson
A Little Luck
On The Radio Series
Pillow Talk
Double Talk
Country Talk
Student Bodies Series
Like the Knight
In the Shade
Do No Harm
Brick and Mortar
All Fall Down
Ties That Bind
Third and Long
Across the Pond
Happily Ever After

Find all of my books here: https://www.amazon.com/Pandora-

Pine/e/B013BSSBX0/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1538324516&sr=8-2-ent