Page 57 of Blood and Bone
“Nothing for you to worry your beautiful, sweet heart about, my angel. Go back to your mate. He’s a very nice man.” He glanced over at Gilroy who smiled and waved at them. Ari watched the exchange, wondering whether he could hear them from where he stood all the way across the parking lot. “I didn’t mean to clear the party out early, my treasure,” Champayne said as she let go and leaned back. She reached up and framed his cheeks with both hands.
“You didn’t, Daddy. We were just getting ready to leave.” Peg let out a little sob, pausing for a moment. “I wish I could see you more often.” She turned and glared at him and Eoghan as if it was their fault her father was incarcerated. When he heard a low growl coming from her, Ari felt a chill go down his spine.
“Now, now, my precious, stop growling,” Champayne chided gently. “These are very nice marshals. They’re only here, doing the job their paid to do, and it was very nice of them to bring me here tonight. They didn’t have to.”
“But, Daddy,” she whined, dropping her hands.
“Go back to your mate, my darling. Don’t you worry about me. I’ll be just fine. These marshals are going to take me back to jail and—” She started growling again and Ari rested his hand on the weapon he wore on his belt. “Stop that, Peg!” Champayne demanded. “Behave yourself and go back to your mate now.” He offered her an encouraging smile. “I’ll see you when you come out to visit me next month.”
She stopped growling, glaring at them each once more before returning her attention to her sire. She leaned in and kissed him on both cheeks before flashing back across the parking lot to where Gilroy waited, holding open the door to a stretch limousine. He and Eoghan stood watching until they got inside and drove off. As they turned to walk across the parking lot to the Charger, Ari was surprised to see several vampires from each clan keeping vigil. He wondered what Beauregard Champayne’s clan members—at least the few who knew why he was incarcerated—had told the others.
“Marshal Sapphire?” Champayne asked.
“Yes?”
“What will happen to dear Anthony?”
“Anthony?” Ari asked, frowning. Suddenly, what the vampire was talking about, dawned on him. “Oh, is that the man in the restroom?”
“Yes,” he sobbed. “The poor dear.”
“He’ll be fine,” Eoghan replied. “He should wake up in about an hour or so. The dart contained a formulation which typically knocks out a vampire. It is totally harmless with no noticeable side effects. He’ll wake up with a hell of a headacheand after feeding, he’ll feel back to normal. Don’t worry about him.”
“Good. That’s a big relief,” Champayne said with a sigh. Ari could tell that the vampire was emotionally drained.
Eoghan unlocked the car and put their prisoner in the back before they both got in.
“Did you know him before tonight?” Ari asked.
“A little…and what I did know about him, was utterly charming to me.”
“How did you…” Ari paused, not knowing how to ask the question.
“Are you asking how I knew he shared my affinities?” the vampire asked with a bashful smile.
Ari couldn’t help but return the smile. “Yes, how did you know you had similar tastes?” The moment he said it, he wished there was a way to put the words back in his mouth. He was relieved when Champayne simply chuckled.
“Oh, dear Marshal Brown, you do charm me,” Champayne said. “Like I told you, I knew him long ago, but I haven’t seen him in almost three hundred and fifty years.”
“What?” Eoghan asked, lifting his chin as he looked at their prisoner in the rearview mirror. “Where did you see him?”
“Back in England. You see, my boy, we were both young vampires then, eager to explore this whole new reality for the first time. We were turned by the same sire.”
“You’re…brothers?”
“I suppose, by human standards…yes. Not before we were turned but afterward, yes, I guess that’d be accurate.”
“That doesn’t explain how or why you share the same—what did you call it—an affinity?” Ari asked.
“Did I mention we were sired by the same man?”
“Yes, but I—” Ari stopped, then lifted both hands and scrubbed them over his face. “Oh, man…are you telling me your father taught you both—oh, jeez.”
Champayne chuckled. “He wasn’t human and he never treated either of us as a human father would, so you can’t think of the intimacy I shared with him to be anything incestuous at all. And vampires have a very different view of their sire. Often, vampires and their sires have sex with each other. After all, under most circumstances, an attraction must exist between a sire and his progeny, otherwise there wouldn’t be a reason to turn him. Of course, this is not always the case, but it is more often than not, the truth. And…dare I say, my little affinity wasn’t a problem back then either. Toe sucking, though, an acquired…ah, shall we say…taste…isn’t for everyone, but it can be an intoxicating experience for those who like a little kink with their masculine endeavors. I should think the result of my encounter with Anthony stands as witness to that.”
“If you say so,” Ari said. He thought it was definitely kinky but considering he liked sucking Eoghan’s balls through lacy underthings while they both jacked off, he really wasn’t one to talk. To each his own. He looked away from the vampire and glanced over at Eoghan who shot him a knowing smirk. He spent the rest of the car ride to the prison in silence.
After delivering their prisoner back to his cell, they stood in the corridor, watching Champayne change back into prison orange from the suit he’d worn at the mating ceremony. He handed it to Smith who nodded at him and then stepped out into the corridor with them before locking the door. Ari walked up to the wall of ballistic glass with Eoghan at his side. He felt inexplicably sad to be leaving such a nice guy locked up like this. It felt so unfair now that he knew Champayne would be spending even more time incarcerated after tonight’s crimes.As he stood there watching the kind vampire say his final goodbyes to Eoghan, an idea formed in his mind. He began smiling, knowing he probably looked like a complete idiot as the thought fleshed out in his imagination. By the time Eoghan turned to look at him, he was grinning.