Page 51 of Blood and Bone
When Eoghan finished typing, Ari watched him hit speed dial on the phone and then listened to Eoghan’s half of the conversation with the chief as he told her about the text exchange with Two Trees.
“Yes, ma’am. Send us the coordinates for the reception and we’ll be there.” He paused and glanced up at him, nodding as if replying to whatever she said even though she couldn’t seehim. “We’ll do that.” He paused before going on. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll text you as soon as we drop him off. Bye.” He hung up. “Okay, so we’re on for the vampire job.” He checked his watch. “We’d better get going. We need to pick him up at Folsom at six. It’s a two-and-a-half-hour drive…maybe a little less but it will depend on traffic.”
“Okay.” Ari stood and stepped closer to Eoghan, pulling him into a gentle kiss before stepping back and smiling at him.
“What was that for?”
“Trusting me to keep things together with the vampire job,” he replied. “It’s important to me that you know I’ll have your back in all circumstances.”
Eoghan smiled sweetly. “I think you know that I’ve trusted you ever since we walked into the Broad modern art museum.”
“So, you didn’t see how I nearly peed my pants the second I saw Derwin?” Ari asked.
Eoghan laughed. “No, I must have missed that.”
Ari chuckled and then walked into the bathroom before shoving his toothbrush and the trimmer for his beard into his shaving kit. He spun around and met Eoghan who’d come in to perform a similar task. Eoghan caught him around the waist and tugged him close before brushing his hand over Ari’s beard.
“I love this.”
“My beard?”
“Yeah, it’s so fucking silky. I love touching it.” He leaned in and rubbed the side of his jaw against it like a cat. “I love how soft it feels against my skin.” He leaned back and glanced up into Ari’s eyes. “Every time you give me head and I feel it on the insides of my thighs, it sends a thrill through me.”
Ari felt his cock throb as it grew inside his pants. “Don’t make me horny or we’re gonna be late picking up that vamp.”When Eoghan stepped back out of his personal space, he was certain the loss he felt was tangible. He patted his lover on the ass and went back into the room to finish packing his duffel. Five minutes later, they were on the road with the route to Folsom prison plugged into the GPS.
They stopped for coffee before getting on the freeway and then hit the open road, arriving at the prison just before six. Indeed, it had taken them exactly two hours and forty minutes, a little longer than Eoghan had predicted which was perfect timing for them. It would take them at least an hour and a half to meet with Beauregard Champayne, the vampire they were escorting, and go over all the ground rules regarding how he was expected to behave. On the drive to Folsom, Eoghan went over his own set of rules with Ari.
“When we get to the prison, we’re going to proceed with a united front,” Eoghan said. “I know you know not to contradict me or to question me in front of him. Remember that vampires have incredible hearing and they’ll hear everything. They can hear your heartbeat and trust me when I say this, Champayne is going to look at us like we’re food.”
“Got it,” Ari said. “Did the chief say why this vampire is at Folsom? What did he do?”
“Priest didn’t say. When we get to the prison, we’ll read his file and talk to the warden because we’re sure as hell not going to take anything Champayne says as gospel.”
Ari’s eyes widened. “Wait a minute. Are you telling me that the warden of Folsom prison knows about the paranormals and the I.S.R. and aliens and whatnot?”
Eoghan nodded. “We have only two prisons that house our particular brand of inmate, one on the west coast, the other on the east. The west coast prison happens to be Folsom. We’ve taken these two wardens into our confidence, so theshort answer is yes, they know. They are given a TS/SCI clearance, a matter of national security.”
Ari’s whistled. “Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information was the clearance I had for most jobs while I was in the Rangers. So, revealing sensitive information is paramount to treason.”
Eoghan shrugged. “The I.S.R. treats all civilian contractors, which we have to bring into our confidence the same way,” he said. “We have to rely on them at times…can’t get around it.”
“That makes sense. Okay, so I guess we wait to see what this vampire has done. Do you think he drained people?” Ari felt slightly queasy at the thought.
Eoghan glanced over at him before quickly returning his eyes to the road. “I don’t know. Normally, we never need to jail vampires.”
“Why?”
“Because their clans inevitably take care of the problem internally,” Eoghan replied.
“Dare I ask how?” Ari already thought he knew.
“Basically, the way John Townsend was treated, that’s how.”
Ari swallowed hard. “That’s what I figured. I wonder why this Beauregard dude wasn’t chained into a coffin and left to starve.”
“If we caught him, we wouldn’t have done that. It’s excruciatingly painful to be left to starve to death and causing any kind of deliberate cruelty isn’t the I.S.R.’s mandate. If he had drained someone, we would have probably given him back to the clan to face tribal justice but it’s neither here nor there.” He pointed out the windshield and Ari looked over to see the sign they were passing, announcing that they were one mile from Folsom State Prison. “We’re about to find out.”
They stopped at the east gate at the end of Prison Road and after showing their badges to the guards, were allowed to drive into the parking lot before the gates closed behind them. Ari had been to prisons many times during his time with the U.S. Marshals Service but not since he’d joined the I.S.R. He had to admit to himself that the very thought of seeing this special cellblock where paranormals were being kept intrigued him just a little bit. Once inside, they checked their guns and waited to see the warden who’d been expecting them since the chief had called ahead.