Half-Moon Blood

Chapter 13

What was I doing? Skipping school? That wasn't me. Maybe Lynx was— No. I stopped my own thoughts. Lynx wasn't right. This was what I had to do. I had to figure out who I was. I climbed into Ronin's car and grimaced. Takeaway wrappers littered the floor on the passenger side. I nudge them out of the way with my toe as I slid my backpack onto my lap. 

"Sorry about the mess," Ronin said. His face remained cool and collected. He tucked his head and I thought that if he was human he might have been blushing with shame. But vampires didn't blush, did they? Ronin reached down, brushing his arm against my leg as he snatched up the garbage and tossed it into the backseat. My heart thundered. For one second our bodies were so close that all I could smell was him. He scent was like campfire and rainwater. The smell soaked through me. I wanted to press myself closer to Ronin, to breathe it in deep. But I couldn't. I shouldn't. I kept tight hold on my bag instead, willing my mind to focus on the task at hand. 

Across the street, a familiar red school jacket caught my eye. Shawn was heading up the school steps, his face grim and determined. My heart twisted at the memory of the moment we'd shared last week. Shawn had actually held my hand. My body rebounded from my attraction to Ronin to my attraction to Shawn. How was he doing? It was impossible to tell from that distance, and Shawn didn't appear to see me before he ducked into the school. That was where I should be going. 

"What's the plan?" I asked Ronin as he turned the engine. As Ronin pulled away from the curb, my stomach leaped with the finality of my decision . There's no going back now.

"First, I'm going to make sure you know what you're getting into. And then, if you're still cool with it all—if you're really going to commit—then I can take to our headquarters."

"Oh, vampire headquarters, sounds fun," I said.

Ronin tilted his head to the right, wincing. "Maybe not so much fun for a human," he said. 

I swallowed. I had no desire to be turned into liquid lunch. "Are there many humans in The Vus?"

"None," Ronin answered me. "Only in certain cases do we allow them to enter. The Vus is purely vampire territory. We guard the Deep, trying our hardest to keep the dangerous demons where they belong, but there's always some fucking idiot letting them out."

I grimaced a bit at the roughness in Ronin's voice. At least he took his job seriously. "Isn't that a good thing for you, though?" I said. "I mean, job security and all."

Ronin turned his head and smiled at me. "I do love my job," he answered. "But, no, seriously. The Vus isn't for humans. If you stay there too long it will tear you apart. There's a strict rule about letting humans know the location of any entrances to The Vus. That's why I need to know you're committed, that you can really handle this. If you agree to help us, you'll have to sign a pretty hefty contract."

I bristled, but tried not to show it. "I thought you guys needed me."

Ronin shrugged. "We do. But we need a committed you. If you can't handle it, you need to tell us, because if we need to look for another half-blood witch then we need to start now, before this situation gets too out of control. With three deaths already—"

"Three?" I cut in. "Who died? Not Liz..."

"Liz?" Ronin asked, momentarily puzzled. "Your classmate? No, she's okay. But two homeless men were found dead over the weekend, and, well, did you hear about that suspected homicide over on the east side of the city?"

I shook my head. "I don't listen to the news much."

"Well, she was the third. Demon. All of them. Though the police think two deaths were from natural causes. The last one is considered a suspicious death, but the police think the murderer is human. So not only is a woman dead, but likely some innocent bloke's going to go to jail for her death."