Page 6 of Always Eros
“You’re threatening me?”
“Uh, yeah,” Thorn says. “I promise you, you don’t have any idea what you’re fucking with right now.”
I grin, crossing my arms over my chest. “I wouldn’t poke this particular bear if I were you.”
The three men glance nervously at each other, while the two obviously smarter ones start to back away.
“One,” Thorn says, taking a step forward.
The mouthy one pulls a knife from his back pocket, which only makes me laugh. “Always a knife. So silly.”
Thorn chuckles. “Two. You should probably run now.”
“I don’t fucking run, man.”
His two friends are up on the sidewalk now, but I move behind them in a flash, blocking their departure. Maybe if they see what fucking with us results in, they’ll think twice about messing with anyone else. You never know what lurks around New Onyx at night.
The dumbass with the knife actually lunges at Thorn, swiping the air with the knife. Thorn wraps his hand around the man’s neck while I grab his friends by their collars, lifting them up just enough that they kick their legs in an attempt to get free.
“Shh,” I whisper. “This is what happens when you do bad deeds.”
“H-he made us, man,” one of them stutters.
“If you’re quiet and don’t annoy me, I might let you live. Now, watch the master work.”
Thorn lifts his victim into the air, then body slams him to the ground. Not hard enough to kill him, but enough to know shit is about to get real.
A smile spreads over my face as Thorn lets the man get to his feet and run, catching up with him in the blink of an eye and tossing him in the air to land on the hood of the car.
“Thought you said you didn’t run,” Thorn taunts.
“Get the fuck off me!” the man screams, gasping for breath.
“Three,” Thorn says, then bites into the man’s neck. His screams pierce the night, and one of the men I’m holding faints in my grasp. The other is a whimpering mess. Ah, so big and mighty when they are taking advantage of the defenseless. Or at least those they think are defenseless.
Thorn looks up at me, his grin wild as blood drips from his chin. “Pretty tasty. Want some?”
“No. Enjoy. I’ll grab something later.”
“What the fuck, man?” my captive screams. “What are you?”
“Vampires. Obviously,” I answer, only mildly amused.
His friend stirs, but once he focuses on me, he starts hyperventilating again.
“Stop.”
He holds his breath while the other man stares at me with wide eyes. “I’m going to let you go. When you wake up in the morning, you’re going to turn over a new leaf. You’re going to get the help you need and be productive members of society.”
Both nod, clearly under my compulsion.
“You’re lucky tonight. I sense good in you. Your friend couldn’t turn you completely. Now go away and forget anything you saw tonight. You have no idea what happened to your friend, and vampires don’t exist. Now tell me what I said.”
The two men repeat my suggestions word for word. I set them down, turning them in the opposite direction of us and watching them walk off. By the time I look around again, Thorn is wiping his face with a wet wipe he keeps in his car. He’s tossed the body across the street, over a fence in the abandoned parking lot that’s now overgrown with tall weeds. The coyotes who roam the area will take care of the rest.
“Ready?” he asks, unlocking the passenger side for me.
Chuckling, I slide into the car. “Ready.”