Hitman's Creed - 45

 

Glenn leaned back as he watched the man sift through what Glenn had brought him. Finally the man looked up with a small smile on his face. "Excellent. You did well."

"Thanks." Glenn nodded but stayed seated. "You have something for me, I believe."

"Indeed. You can pick it up when you leave. I also have another job for you."

"Details?" Glenn replied succinctly.

For the next few minutes the man explained precisely what he needed Glenn to do. When he'd finished Glenn nodded. Only then did he stand. "Usual payment?"

"Of course."

Glenn nodded sharply, turned and left the office. On his way out the woman at the front desk gave him an envelope which he pocketed.

"Another city, another hotel," he muttered as he waited for the elevator.

Two days later he was indeed in another city, in another anonymous hotel. His personal security system was set up, the case holding the tools of his trade was hidden behind the headboard of one of the single beds, and he was hungry and restless.

After he'd dressed in a casual shirt and a pair of jeans, Glenn left the hotel. This was a city he had been to before and he knew just where he wanted to eat. The diner was small, barely a hole in the wall, the meals simple but excellently prepared. He ordered then leaned back in the booth as he watched the passing foot traffic through the plate-glass window.

'Pissed at her boyfriend,' he thought as one young woman walked by, keeping a good distance for the man beside her. 'Took something from a shop up the street,' was his opinion when a teen moved hurriedly down the street with one hand in his pocket, his eyes darting around as if he expected a cop to pull up beside him at any second. When he reached an alley he darted down it and disappeared from sight.

As he thought of cops it immediately brought Joey to mind. Glenn briefly smiled to himself as he remembered the last time he'd seen him. He realized what he was doing and firmly pushed that to the back of his mind. Or at least he tried to. Unfortunately that was easier said than done. He pictured his house, the one he'd lived in for such a brief time, and Joey sitting at the table across from him that first, snowy night, wearing Glenn's sweats because his own clothes were soaking wet. From there his thoughts went to the last night at the house and Joey staring at him as Glenn sat on the edge of the tub, naked, in pain and still wanting the young man even though he was well aware he shouldn't. One look at Joey's face that night and Glenn knew he would have given in to his desires if it had been possible.

Glenn sighed deeply and scrubbed a hand through his hair. The arrival of the waitress with his dinner helped to bring him out of his suddenly melancholy mood. He smiled, thanked her, and put all his concentration into eating. 'After all,' he thought, 'dwelling on what never could have been is stupid. I've moved on and so has he. Deal.'

Hitman's Creed - 44

"Welcome home," the police chief said and held out his hand.

Joey shook it as he responded, "It's good to be home. I've missed it."

When they both were seated the chief continued, "I understand you're not planning on living at your mother's place."

"You've been talking to Uncle Harv I take it," Joey replied with a brief chuckle. "And no I'm not. I have a small apartment now, just off of Main Street within easy walking distance of here."

"Excellent. I'd offer to show you around the station house but as it hasn't changed all that much in the last twenty-some years I suspect you know it just about as well as I do."

"Probably. God knows I spent enough time here as a kid."

The two men continued to chat, the chief filling Joey in on what was going on around the town and telling him his schedule for the next few weeks. "Once you get totally acclimated you'll be on your own but for now I'm putting you with Eck Paulis. You remember him?"

"Yes. He was two years ahead of me in high school." He smiled a bit. "Luckily that's the only way I know him. He never had to arrest me."

"I suspect if he had, your mother would have made your life living hell for a while in her own way."

"Oh yeah," Joey agreed.

"I never did understand why she stayed with that bastard so long," the chief mused, "a strong woman like her. At least he hasn't shown his face around here since he escaped, not that he would."

Joey nodded. "Not if he's smart." He flashed briefly on that saga and hoped it didn't show in his face before he said, "At least Mary found us."

The story that Joey's mother had given out after Mary came into their lives followed reality up to a point. According to what she told anyone who asked, Mary had run away from her foster home just as the authorities surmised. The twist was that Mary had decided to come look for them because Joey was the only blood kin she had other than her father, who of course she wanted nothing to do with after he'd murdered her mother. When she finally found him, Joey's mother had taken her in. End of story. It worked, no one questioned it.

"She's a lucky young woman," the chief acknowledged as he stood. "Now I have things to do. I'll see you in the morning, Joey."

"Yes, sir. I'll be here with bells on."

The chief laughed. "I think the uniform will be sufficient."

 

Hitman's Creed - 43

 

"Mr. Talbot, it's a pleasure to meet you."

The man held out his hand and Glenn shook as he said, "Please just call me Grant, Mr. Talbot is so formal."

"Grant it is then." The man sat again and looked across the desk at Glenn. "You know what is needed?"

"Indeed." Glenn sat as well, stroking the mustache that for the moment adorned his upper lip. "However before I do what you've hired me for I need to see proof that you have what I asked for as payment."

The man frowned deeply. "You saw the photographs, isn't that enough proof?"

"Photographs can be doctored," was Glenn's rather pointed reply.

It was apparent the man was not happy as his mouth tightened. Nonetheless he stood to cross the room to a large file cabinet. Instead of opening a drawer he pressed one corner and the entire front swung out to reveal a safe. He spun the dial, opened the safe to take out a metal box that he brought back to hand to Glenn.

Glenn checked the contents, smiled, and lifted the hand that had been resting in his lap. The pistol he held spat twice, virtually silently, and the man fell forward. After he re-holstered the gun Glenn moved around the desk to lift the man's body and put it on the sofa along one wall. He arranged it, stepped back and nodded in approval. Anyone taking a cursory glance would think the man was resting.

With that done Glenn put the contents of the box into his pockets, replaced it in the safe and closed it and the fake front that hid it. Then he looked around to make certain he hadn't missed anything before he went into the front office where he stopped long enough to inform the secretary that the man had felt ill, was now resting, and asked not to be disturbed. Then he left the office suite.

On his way down the hall to the elevators he stripped off the mustache and wig he'd been wearing. As he waited for the elevator he removed the contact lenses that had turned his hazel eyes to a dark green then took off his jacket. When he arrived at the ground floor of the office building he appeared to be an entirely different man than the one who had entered half an hour earlier. Grant Talbot was no more. Glenn Tanner caught a cab and returned to his hotel room.

 

Hitman's Creed - 42

 

Glenn watched in silence from the shadows at the back of the auditorium. It had been almost two years since he'd cut and run, leaving his second life behind just as he had the first one. Only this time he'd left more than just his new life, he'd left the one person he'd ever truly cared about since the death of his parents eighteen years previously. Now, at the age of thirty-six and counting, he was once again wondering if he'd made the right choice.

He smiled to himself when he saw Joey standing with the rest of the police academy graduates, head bowed for the ceremony's opening invocation. Glenn's heart beat a little faster when the invocation was finished and Joey glanced around for a brief moment, undoubtedly looking for his family who were seated three rows back among all the other friends and families of the graduates.

Joey had matured during the last two years. Now he was definitely a young man, not the kid that Glenn had considered him to be when they'd first met. But then he knew that already. He had followed Joey's progress from afar. For a while the young man had seemed to bury himself in the town and the coffeehouse after Glenn's departure.

'Departure my ass, I ran like the hounds of Hell were after me.' Glenn though, angry at himself when he once again tried to blunt what he'd done, as he always did. 'It was for the best, but I was still a coward.'

He pulled his attention back to the proceedings, smiling with pride when Joey's name was called and he walked forward to get his diploma and shake the commissioner's hand. "You'll be a damned good cop," he whispered, and grinned when Mary jumped up to cheer. Apparently she agreed with him.

Then, silently, he slipped out of the auditorium. He had things to take care of which meant there was a plane to catch. A quick check told him he didn't have much time so he was glad when a cab appeared to drop off a passenger. He grabbed it, gave his destination, then rested his head back and closed his eyes.

* * * *

Joey shook his head in amusement when he heard Mary's voice above the applause. He dearly loved his half-sister but there were times when she seemed to do her best to embarrass him. She had definitely come out of her shell in the last two years. It had taken time and his mother's wholehearted attention but slowly and surely Mary had been able to put the past, and the terrible things that their father had done to her, into perspective now that the man was dead and buried; buried by Joey after Glenn's inexplicable disappearance.

With his heart in pieces, Joey had transferred his despair into action. No matter what, no matter how much he hated Glenn in the days that followed his disappearance, Joey still had to follow through and bring a final end to the bastard who had been his father. He’d gone out to the farm late the following night and put all his pain and rage into digging a grave to hide his father's body. When he dragged the corpse from where Glenn had secreted it and dumped it into the grave he imagined there were two bodies, his father's and Glenn's. That was how deep his anguish and pain went.

Now, two years later, he had come to accept that Glenn was no longer. Not literally, he was certain the man was somewhere in the world, doing… actually he had no idea. Perhaps the security work he had given up when he moved to Joey's hometown, if that really was what he had done before. Joey finally believed that he'd never see Glenn again and had moved on. Now he had become what he'd always dreamed of being, a police officer. Not only that but he would be one in the town where he'd grown up. He needed that; he needed to be with the family who loved him.

Life was perfect. Almost. He shoved the almost back where it belonged, deep in his mind where all his emotions were buried.

'Life IS perfect!' he told himself as he walked over to where his mother and Mary, and the rest of his family were waiting.

 

Hitman's Creed - 41

 

The rest of the day Joey's thoughts were more on Glenn than the job. Several times his mother cautioned him with a slight smile to get his mind back where it belonged.

Finally, the day ended. Mary, who’d been helping out as much as she could, seemed a bit put out at the idea they were going to spend another night at Glenn's even though she understood why. So she asked Joey's mother, "Can't Joey go up there to take care of him? Do we all need to?"

"I do need to check up on him," Joey's mother replied, "but then I guess you and I can come back here, or you can wait at our house if you want to."

Mary practically glowed with happiness. "Please. I'd like that."

"Then that's how we'll do it."

"You know," Joey said quietly when Mary went into the kitchen to get ready to leave, "she's hoping that you'll let her live with us."

"I know, and it's something I've been considering. However I'm not going to make a decision until I've talked with Harv, and you of course." She saw Harv pull up in front of the coffeehouse and added, "And now is not the time for it."

Twenty minutes later, Mary was happily ensconced in their house. She'd been given permission to explore as long as she stayed out of their bedrooms, and then to  get supper started while Harv was driving Joey and his mother up to Glenn's house.

Harv commented as they turned onto the side road, "Glenn must be feeling a bit better. I saw him late this afternoon in Johnny's cab. Or at least I think it was him."

"I doubt it," Joey's mother said. "Even with the crutches he's hardly mobile enough to be out and about yet."

"Yeah, it was probably just some tourist or someone visiting family." He turned up the lane to Glenn's house and parked in front of it a couple of minutes later. Then, while Joey and his mother went up to knock on the front door, he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and waited. He turned in surprise when Joey opened the truck door and asked if he had something that he could use to pry open one of the windows.

"He's not answering," Joey said when Harv asked. "Something must have happened; maybe he started bleeding out or something and…" Panic limned Joey's face.

Harv jumped out, grabbed a pry-bar from the back of the truck and followed Joey back to the house. It was obvious from what he could see through a couple of windows that Glenn was not downstairs. "He might be sleeping, you know," he pointed out to his sister.

"If he is, we'll deal with his being upset that we broke in," she told him as she watched him leverage the front window open. They all jumped in surprise when the security system's alarms started blaring. That didn't stop Joey, followed by the others, from climbing into the living room.

"If he was sleeping, he's not anymore," Harv said over the noise.

When Glenn didn't appear they began to search, certain that something must have gone wrong. It was Joey's mother who first concluded he wasn't there when she entered Glenn's bedroom and saw the closet standing open, the bar bare of clothes. A quick check showed her that he'd packed up whatever personal items were in the bathroom, as well as the clothes in the dresser. She walked quickly to the hall in time to see Joey going into another room. He returned moments later frowning deeply.

"His… he had some things in a closet. They're not there now."

Joey's mom sighed deeply. "I'm afraid he's gone."

"He can't be!" Joey exclaimed angrily. "He wouldn't…" he whispered.

Without a word she wrapped her arms around him, feeling him shudder. "For whatever reason, and we may never know what it was, he did."

Hitman's Creed - 40

 

In the morning Miriam deemed Glenn well enough to spend the day on his own as long as he remained on the sofa. When he pointed out that he might actually need to get off it occasionally to use the downstairs bathroom, she called Harv to bring the pair of crutches he had from when he'd broken his leg a few years ago. After Harv brought them he took Joey, Miriam, and Mary back to town with him. He promised to bring them back in his tow truck once the coffeehouse was closed for the day, and take Glenn's car to the garage so he could repair it.

Left to his own devices, Glenn tried to read but after fifteen minutes he realized his mind wasn't on it. Television held no appeal to him, 'and I don't knit,' he thought with a rueful chuckle.

That left thinking about what was uppermost in his mind, Joey and whether there was a chance in hell of there being anything meaningful between the two of them. He was aware that given half a chance they could have a sexual relationship that would relieve their physical needs. And in a time well past, Glenn would have settled for that and moved on without a qualm.

'What the hell is it about this kid that makes that a no-go as an option?'

First he supposed he had to stop thinking about Joey as a kid. He was a young man, emphasis on the young but still a man in every way, not a kid anymore.

'Do I find him interesting because he is the only one around here who might be willing to return my interest? Am I so damned alone that I'll jump on any chance to have someone to keep me company? Damn I hope I'm not that shallow.'

But he wondered if he was so shallow that he'd use Joey for his own purposes because he knew Joey was infatuated with him—if it was just infatuation. And that still begged the question about his own feelings. He really did care for Joey, more than he had for anyone else he could remember.

'But you don't fall for someone after what, a few days, a couple of weeks?'

"I've just been without for too long. I need to find someone to fuck and get it out of my system," he muttered.

'But if that's true why haven't I taken advantage of what he seems to be offering? Because that's not what he's offering, stupid. At least I don't think it is but then how the hell would I know, I never asked. Well that ends this evening when he gets back here. If he comes back, which he might not. He'll have time to think about everything today, especially about what I did to his father, and how I did it. Hell he might just run the other direction now. Better for him if he does. Better for me.'

Glenn stared up at the ceiling. 'Or I run before we both get hurt.'

* * * *

Joey was doing his own thinking between bouts of waiting on customers. He wanted nothing more than to return to Glenn's house, the sooner the better, and was chafing under the need to be here and working. His mother had looked at him a few times with raised eyebrows and he'd just shrugged and gone back to what he had to do. But he couldn't get his mind off of Glenn.

'I do care for him, and I don't give a damn what he was before he moved here. That's in the past. He's a good man with a good heart or he wouldn't have helped us. I just have to make him see that I want him and want to be with him.' He smiled slightly at that. 'In more ways than one.'

With a shake of his head to clear it of the memories of his dreams involving Glenn that rose unbidden to the top of his mind, he returned his attention to the customer on the other side of the counter when they asked if he was out of whatever it was they wanted because he'd shaken his head.

Hitman's Creed - 39

 

When Glenn finished washing up as best he could he dried off and wrapped the towel around him. Then he tried to stand. He managed to get up but by that time his leg hurt so badly he sat down on the toilet seat, swearing under his breath.

"Joey, Miriam, I need…"

"Help?" Joey's mother asked as she opened the bathroom door.

"Yes, please."

She nodded, coming in with a pair of sweatpants in her hand. After she took another look at the wound in his thigh and re-bandaged it, he managed to get the sweats on and she helped him to his bed.

"Did we lose Joey?" he asked as he lay back.

"I sent him downstairs to get your pills." She chuckled. "He seemed a bit discombobulated when he came out of the bathroom."

Glenn snorted. "He wasn't the only one."

"I figured as much." She turned when the bedroom door opened, smiling at Mary who stood there with a glass of milk and the bottle of pills. "He sent you with them," she said, stating the obvious.

"Yes. He said, well actually he didn't say anything, just handed them to me." She looked at Glenn with a shake of her head. "He likes you. Do you like him?"

"Umm, well…" Glenn said, somewhat nonplussed.

"Sorry, I know it's none of my business and all." She blushed, handed Joey's mother the glass and the pills and hurried out of the room.

Miriam took them over to him, waited until he'd taken two pills and gulped down some of the milk, then asked, "Are you going to do anything about it?"

He understood what she meant and shook his head. "I'm not sure. I honestly have no idea. He's a good kid, well young man I guess, and before you ask yet again, yes I like him, a lot more than I should." He smiled slightly. "I have a lot of thinking to do before I can make any decision."

"Don't you think he should have some say in things, since he's involved?"

Glenn sighed. "Probably, maybe, but…" He looked up at her. "Just, please, give me time to think. Then I'll talk with him."

"Glenn, you can take all the time you need as long as you do talk to him when you've made a decision. So help me, if you don't I will make your life miserable."

He nodded. "Believe me I have a feeling you'd do just that." Then he yawned hard.

"Get some sleep, you need it."

"Somehow I don't think I have a choice in the matter," he murmured as his eyes closed.

Hitman's Creed - 38

 

Joey's mother broke in before the conversation could go any further to say she had to check Glenn's wound again. "While I'm doing that the two of you can get supper started," she added with a look at Joey and Mary that brooked no argument, smiling when they both obeyed without questioning her.

After supper, which they ate picnic style in the living room to keep Glenn company, Joey and his mother helped Glenn up to his bedroom. Once there he stubbornly refused to get into bed until he had a chance to finally get the dirt and sweat off of him that Joey's mom hadn't sponged off when she tried to clean him up some the previous evening.

"You are not to get that bandage wet," she admonished him sternly.

"Yes ma'am. I wasn't planning on anything more than sitting on the edge of the tub with a wet rag and scrubbing down, without the shower on."

"All right. Joey, help him in. He's in no condition to walk far on that leg whether he believes it or not."

"Miriam," Glenn growled.

"Shush. He's helping you in there, not helping you wash up."

"Mom!"

"Just get him in there. Men, honestly."

Glenn put an arm around Joey's shoulders, using him as a makeshift crutch, and hobbled into the bathroom. After he helped Glenn sit on the edge of the tub with his good leg inside, the bad one stretched outside, Joey leaned over to turn the water on and handed Glenn the soap and a wet washrag, leaving a towel on the edge of the tub.

"Do you need anything else?" he asked as he wished Glenn would ask him to wash his back or something.

"No, I'm good. Or not." He realized he still had the shorts on. "Out, kid, I need to get these off." He began to unbutton the shorts. When Joey hesitated, Glenn shook his head. "I mean it, out. I've been undressing myself since I was a kid in diapers; I think I can handle this."

"In diapers?" Joey snorted.

"Okay, so maybe not quite that young," Glenn admitted with amusement. When Joey headed to the door Glenn pulled the zipper down and tried to leverage himself up so he get the shorts off. It wasn't as easy as he'd thought it would be and he swore in frustration.

Joey turned around, shook his head, and went back to help.

"Eyes up," Glenn growled.

"As if."

"Joey!"

"I'm not going to attack you, but…" He studied Glenn for a long moment, liking what he saw… a lot. "Okay, now I have the right image for my fantasies."

"Kid, damn."

Joey smiled sweetly as he turned away. "Just saying."

Unfortunately his 'just saying', plus the look on his face, had Glenn thinking things he rather wished he hadn't. Things like what would happen if he took Joey’s face in his hands and devoured those smiling lips until the young man begged for more than just the kisses. His cock started to harden and he growled, "Out, now."

"Going." Joey took one more glance, licked his lips, and left, closing the bathroom door behind him.

Hitman's Creed - 37

 

"And that's how I ended up getting shot," Glenn told the others late that afternoon.

He’d eaten the light meal Miriam prepared, put on the cutoff shorts she had Joey dig out of his dresser, slept some more, and awakened to find Joey sitting beside him again. This time it was Joey who helped him sit up and take his pills. Glenn felt well enough that he'd refused to lie back down again. With Joey's help he moved to the corner of the sofa and leaned back with one of the blankets covering him, muttering as he did, "I need to get more than these shorts on sometime."

"You need a shower sometime too," Joey replied as he wrinkled his nose, although he liked seeing Glenn like that, in just shorts and the blanket that was now down around his waist. That earned him a lifted middle finger and a chuckle from Glenn.

Joey's mother and Mary appeared a few minutes later, the former wanting to know all the details now that Glenn was feeling somewhat better.

"I was on such an adrenaline rush at that point I was able to get Fairburn's body into a corner of the barn where there was a large pile of rotten hay. That's where he is, at least for now. Before I got him under it I stripped him of any ID as well as his shirt and belt because by then I knew I was bleeding too much. I fixed up a compression bandage of sorts then made my way from the barn back to my car."

"I'm amazed you made it that far," Joey's mother commented.

"It wasn't easy but I really had no choice. The drive from there to here was, shall we say, interesting. I had to fight to keep from passing out and I was damned glad the car is an automatic not stick as I could only use my left leg. I'd just turned onto the lane to here when I really did pass out for a few minutes." He shook his head. "The car's front bumper is resting against a tree trunk, or in it, I didn't really check. I'm glad I was wearing my seat belt and going slow. Anyway, I came to, crawled out of the car and made it the rest of the way back here. The stair railing helped me get onto the porch and I staggered to the door. The rest you know."

"At least you made it back," Joey said quietly. He shrugged a shoulder when Glenn looked at him. "I knew you would, of course."

Glenn chuckled. "Uh huh, then why did you act like you'd seen a ghost when I got here?"

"I did not!" Joey protested. "I was just… you looked like death warmed over as mom says. So anyway, umm, what now? What happens when someone finds the body?"

"With luck that won't happen until he's unrecognizable."

"But if he is? They, the police will figure out who he is and that someone shot him and when that happens you know they'll come to see us." He glanced at his mother. "If they do, I'm going to take the blame."

"Why can't Glenn?" Mary asked, puzzled. "I mean, well, wasn't it self-defense?"

"He can't, that's all there is to it," Joey said adamantly without looking at Glenn. "I can claim it was, and that I was afraid because… because I'd followed him when I saw him in town. I was going to find out where he was staying and, well, we ended up at that farm and he attacked me. Yeah, that would work."

"Joey," Glenn said firmly before anyone else could talk, "that is not going to happen. I'm not going to see you ruin your life and your dreams."

"It's my choice," Joey replied just as firmly.

"No, it's mine." Glenn put a hand on Joey's arm. "Actually, once I'm up and mobile again I'll find somewhere better to dispose of the body. That was just a stopgap measure after all, now that I think about it."

Joey opened his mouth to protest that going back there wasn't safe, and then closed it again when Glenn shook his head. "All right," he said instead, "I'll go with you."

"Damn it, what am I going to do with you?" Glenn growled. "That was a rhetorical question by the way so don't answer."

Release day for 'Vampires Have Lives, Too - Box Set'

 Vampires Have Lives, Too

Box Set

 

https://www.jms-books.com/edward-kendrick-c-224_229/vampires-have-lives-too-box-set-p-5408.html

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F43828GV/ 

 

 

GENRE: Gay Paranormal Spicy Romance Box Set
LENGTH: 176,315 words
RATING:

Five stories about vampires who, just like their human counterparts, live life to its fullest. They can be happy lives, sad or lonely ones, or ones full of anger. Vampires can have families, and most importantly, they can and do fall in love. Contains the stories:

Lonely Vampire: Vampire Armand knows what it means to be lonely. Then he catches Tino, a new vampire in town, playing Robin Hood and points out that he's not giving to the poor. So the pair band together to create shelters for the homeless. Has Armand finally found the one man who will make his life complete? Or will a rogue vampire who preys on the homeless destroy any hope of happiness for the lonely vampire?

I Hunt by Night: My name is Lucas. I was human, once. Now, I'm a vampire and I detest humans. I will do all I can to eliminate them. I'll be declared rogue if I'm not careful. I thought I was until Axel appeared. He's a vampire, sexy as hell, and he's been watching me. Luckily he detests humans too. The attraction is there, and our shared desire to destroy humans. Can we, without being caught? Only time will tell.

The Family Martell: Vampires Dorian and Cecily adopt three human children, who agree to be turned when they come of age. They join the family business and Griff falls in lust with Nolan, his parents' human partner. Margie, their daughter, loves Wayne, a human doctor. Brad is bi, so when he meets vampire Ewan, and his Sire, Alexia, it causes problems that will take the entire Martell family to solve if they can.

The Midnight Detective: When Wyn's young daughter and her mother, Marianne, disappear, he hires Christoph, a private detective, to find them even though he knows Christoph is a vampire. They are drawn to each other once Christoph leans that Wyn is unrepentantly bi. Can Christoph find Wyn's daughter? And how will the two men handle the fact they've become lovers when one is human and the other definitely is not?

Burke and the Vampire: What would you do if you discovered you could sense vampires? Burke didn't believe they existed until it happened to him. Horrified, he vows to eliminate them. Vampire Reynaud must find the slayer dubbed The Hunter. It turns out to be easier than anticipated when events transpire to reveal it's his new friend, Burke. Can opposites attract, or will their differences destroy the possibility of love?

EXCERPT FROM "Lonely Vampire"
Note: may contain sexually explicit scenes of a homoerotic nature.

"Again?" Armand murmured when he sensed the presence of the vampire who had been down by the creek two weeks ago. Apparently he wasn't just passing through town.

After shielding and going invisible, he homed in on the vampire's location -- in the alley behind the club. He moved silently forward until he saw the male.

Handsome, in a rakish way.

As he watched, the vampire approached a young man, saying something to him. The young man nodded, gesturing to a darkened doorway, then took what Armand presumed was money. At that point, the pair disappeared into the alcove.

A few moments later, the vampire reappeared. Armand was waiting for him, visible but still shielding. "You are trespassing on my territory," he said with quiet ferocity.

The vampire merely smiled, asking, "Do you own the whole city?"

"Not all of it. My territory spreads west through all of downtown -- as well as south to the Creek, where I first saw you."

"Not a small area." The vampire paced, keeping his eye on Armand. "Can I ask who you are?"

Armand nodded.

"Well," the vampire said, lifting an eyebrow.

Armand chuckled. "You wanted to know if you can ask -- which is obviously possible since you speak."

"Word games? All right, I'll be direct. Who are you? Will that get me an answer?"

"Armand Lyon. And you are?"

"Constantino Verona. Tino, to those who know me personally."

"Italian, I presume."

Tino chuckled. "Way back in the mists of the past. Armand is French. Right?"

"Correct. Although it has been over well over two hundred years since I last lived in the country of my birth."

Tino stopped pacing to lean against the alley wall, smiling when the young man he'd fed from appeared, scurrying away toward the sidewalk at the far end of the alley. "Sorry for intruding on your territory," he said to Armand. "But I'm new to the city, so ..." He spread his hands.

"From where?" Armand asked.

"Most recently, Philadelphia. I decided it was time to leave, for the usual reasons."

"Not aging."

"Exactly. How long have you been here?"

"Almost one hundred years," Armand told him. "Under various aliases."

Tino nodded. "So you're the grandson, grandnephew, or what have you of who you were when you first arrived. I've done that a time or two, in the last thousand years, when I had something to keep me in one particular place. Then wanderlust would hit, and I'd take off again."

"Well, if you decide to remain here, I suggest you find somewhere else to feed."

"Third time in your territory is not the charm, I take it."

"Not if I catch you at it."

"Duly noted.” Tino gave Armand a mocking salute. "Hopefully, we won't meet again. Arrivederci."

"Adieu," Armand replied -- a moment too late, as Tino had vanished. He may be, according to him, over one thousand, but he acts like one of the punks who hang out along the 16th Street Mall.

 

 

Hitman's Creed - 36

 

Glenn woke to pain so intense he had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. A quiet voice told him to stay still while a hand brushed his hair back from his forehead. He turned his head just enough to see Joey seated on a chair beside him. "How long…?" Glenn asked.

"Have you been out? About five hours." Joey pulled the blankets up to cover him.

"No. How long have you been sitting there?"

"About five hours," Joey admitted with a small smile.

Glenn looked at him and growled, "Idiot, you should be sleeping."

"I did, on and off."

"Joey, damn…" Glenn's eyes closed again. "You don't have to…" His words faded away.

"Yeah I do," Joey said quietly.

Three hours later Glenn woke again. This time when the pain made him groan deeply Joey's mother was the one to respond.

"I have some painkillers I found in the first aid kit but you'll have to sit up a bit if you don't want the water to soak you. Do you think you can handle that?"

Glenn nodded and with her help he raised up enough to drink from the glass of water once she'd given him the pills. "Where's Joey?" he asked when he'd finished.

"I told him if he didn't get upstairs and sleep I'd tie him to the bed," she told him with a smile. "I guess he believed me because he went up about half an hour ago."

"Stupid kid," Glenn muttered.

"Concerned young man, Glenn. Don't fault him for that. He cares." Once he was prone again she pulled back the blanket so she could check the wound in his thigh. He gritted his teeth hard while she cleaned it again and dosed it with more antibiotic cream. After she'd rewrapped it, she let him know that so far it wasn't infected. "But I will be keeping an eye on it and as soon as Joey's awake we'll get you upstairs so you can have a real bed to recuperate in." She stared hard at him for a long moment then asked, "Where is the body?"

"Safely hidden away. No one will find it unless they know it’s there. Well," he smiled tightly, "at least not unless someone goes into the barn while it's decomposing, which is unlikely since the place looks like it's been deserted for quite a while now."

"Where is it?" she asked. When he told her, she nodded her head. "Mr. Grant died two years ago. He had no heirs so it's been sitting vacant. Occasionally someone goes by to look at it since it's on the market but," she chuckled low. "It's rumored that he haunts it because he doesn't want anyone there. He was a very reclusive man who hated almost everyone, so most people around here wouldn't be in the least surprised if his ghost really did hang out there."

"So Fairburn picked a good place to hide out." Glenn glanced around before asking, "Where's Mary by the way?"

"Still asleep as far as I can tell. Or not," she added when they heard footsteps on the stairs.

Mary came to stand shyly by Glenn. "Thank you," she whispered.

"I don't bite," he told her with a smile. "And you're welcome." He turned to look at Miriam. "I don't suppose I could have something to eat?"

"Of course. Mary, come with me and help."

When the two females disappeared into the kitchen Glenn closed his eyes. He wasn't certain how he felt about the fact that Joey spent most of the night at his side watching over him. On the one hand he liked the idea, much more than he knew he should. A great deal more. On the other hand he knew that he had to quell any hopes Joey had that there could be something between them. 'It would never work,' he thought with some remorse. He liked the kid, more than he should, but last night's episode with Fairburn brought it home to him that they were from two different worlds. 'So now how do I handle that?' He sighed deeply. He had no idea but he knew that he'd have to, somehow.

Hitman's Creed - 35

 

"Not quite the greeting I was hoping for," Glenn said, pain filling his voice as he leaned against the wall next to the front door.

Joey took another shocked look then quickly wrapped an arm around him to help him into the house. Joey's mother was beside them in an instant to help get Glenn to the sofa. His right pants leg wasn't white any more, it was soaked with blood, and the rest of his clothes were stained with blood and dirt.

"It's probably not as bad as it looks," Glenn said through clenched teeth. Joey's mother shook her head then sent Mary to the kitchen to find scissors or a sharp knife. The girl came back almost immediately with a paring knife. Glenn managed a tight chuckle. "Under my sleeve."

Joey pulled the sleeve up, not in the least surprised to find a knife in a sheath. He took it out and handed it to his mother. She knelt beside Glenn and proceeded to slice open the snow and blood soaked sweatpants from the waistband down the front to the knee as she muttered, "It's a wonder you haven't bled to death." She discovered why he hadn't when she found a thickly folded piece of cotton lashed over the wound with a belt.

"My husband's?" she asked and received a slight nod in return. "Dead?" She got another nod from Glenn. "Pity. I'd have liked to have had a few words with him first." As she talked she gently removed the makeshift bandage. "Nasty," she pronounced.

Joey had to agree. It looked horrible, a gaping wound on the outer edge of Glenn's thigh that began bleeding again as soon as the bandage was removed.

"I hope to hell you've got a first aid kit here," she said as she pressed the cloth back onto the wound.

"Kitchen. Bottom cupboard."

Joey dashed to find it, returning moments later. He opened it and set it on the floor next to his mother. She nodded in approval when she saw the contents then sent Mary back to the kitchen to fetch a pan of water and whatever clean towels she could find. When the girl returned with them, Joey's mother started to warn Glenn that cleaning the wound would hurt but realized he had passed out.

"Did it hit an artery or bone?" Joey asked as he helped his mother.

"If it hit an artery he'd be dead now," she told him. "I don't think it hit bone but I can't swear to it."

Mary asked as she took a blood soaked towel Joey handed her, "Shouldn't we call an ambulance?"

Joey's mother glanced up at her with a shake of her head. "If he'd wanted that kind of help he'd have taken himself to the hospital. Until he says otherwise we'll deal with this here unless things worsen."

"How do you know what to do?" Mary wanted to know.

"I was a nurse before I met Steven. That was a long time ago but some things you don't forget."

By the time Joey's mother finished with the wound and re-bandaged it, it was closing in on midnight. Glenn was still unconscious and very pale and she decided that moving him would not be a good idea. She told Joey to get some blankets while she and Mary cleaned up. He returned with three that he’d found in a closet. Before covering Glenn, he and his mother carefully removed the rest of Glenn's clothes, and the two sheathes, but not his shorts which neither of them wanted to take off him despite the fact that they were very bloodstained.

As he laid the blankets over Glenn, Joey paused for a moment to admire the man's well-defined chest. Then he blushed as he realized what he'd done.

His mother chuckled and patted his shoulder. "If you hadn't I'd have wondered about you," she told him, which made him blush an even deeper shade of red. She laughed softly before pronouncing it time for all of them to get some sleep. "I have the feeling we'll have a long day ahead of us tomorrow," she said as she led the way up the stairs to the second floor.