Page 22 of Always Eros
“Damn. Anyone noteworthy?”
“Not really. Yves gave me a little nugget to fuel my rage that he abuses women, but the rage is left unsatisfied.” He huffs. “I was thinking about hunting for a while to see if I could find some trouble.”
“I’ll go with you. Nothing happening here.”
Raph leaps from the building, waiting as I join him. “How’s your bloodlust?”
I shrug. “It’s under control at the moment. I’m afraid a different kind of lust is ruling me.”
“Your find in the woods?”
Chuckling, I nod. Raphael knows me so well. “Yep. I visited him earlier. He’s doing well.”
“Did you take a taste?”
“No. He’s traumatized. The last thing I should do is take advantage. Besides, you know how I feel about mortals and sex.”
Raph shoves my arm with his as we stalk down the alleyway. “I don’t know how you haven’t gotten over that yet. Who else are you gonna fuck, Eros? Vampires? Which ones?”
I blow out a frustrated breath. He’s right, but damn. “I don’t need sex.”
He laughs loudly at that, twisting around to face me as he walks backward. “A vampire who doesn’t need sex? Next you’ll tell me you’re becoming a vegan.”
“You don’t have a lot of sex.”
“We all know I can feed differently.”
“Yes, I’m very jealous of that ability.”
Facing forward again, he hooks his arm through mine. “Remember the old days in Paris? The orgies and bloodbaths? What a time that was.”
“I remember. That was all before Marcello ruined Yves.”
“Right. At the time I was so happy for Yves.”
I nod. “We all were, but he broke Yves and, honestly, the rest of us too in some ways. We could never go back to what we were before him.”
“A shame, really. None of us have been the same.”
“Yes. Well, now two of us have mates.” Raphael’s wide, rarely seen smile spreads across his pretty face. “Maybe you’re next.”
“Maybe you are.”
His smile dims slightly. “If anyone is next, I hope it’s Yves. He wants it the most.”
“True, although it would be amazing to see Thorn fall. He wants it the least.”
We both laugh at that.
“Maybe fate will shine on all of us,” Raphael says, squeezing my arm a bit. “We’ve certainly earned a little bit of joy by now, haven’t we?”
“You’d think. Mother Teresa we’re not, but we’ve cleansed the earth of more than a few bad actors.”
“That we have. Speaking of…” He points straight ahead where it looks like a young kid is getting harassed by some older kids. “Not enough to shed blood, but enough to scare the shit out of someone.”
“Works for me.”
We descend on the group, finding them to be just a bunch of young teenagers bullying a smaller one. The tallest boy is holding the smaller one by the neck of his t-shirt with his fist ready to make contact.