Just A Kiss | BOOK 2 The Night Lords Series

4. To Deal or Not to Deal

Jacques

"We're like sitting ducks in this place," I grumble, picking at the dirt beneath my nails.

Eldric pays me no mind, once again ignoring my complaints as he stared hard and long at the casino across the street. Without the brilliant lights that once gave this place a reputation that had people flocking to get into those doors, the vacant gambling den has become but a hollow, dark version of itself. Those same doors stared back at us, reflecting the silvery moonlight that couldn't seem to penetrate the darkness within. I once took the time to enjoy the spoils of this sinful city. Back when vampires were still hiding from the world, of course. Personally, if not for the plethora of willing bodies I'd come across that eventful weekend, I'd say this place was a dump, glory or not.

I examine my nails, not entirely satisfied. The endless supply of dust in this godforsaken desert made it impossible to keep them clean. With a sigh, my gaze flits over to the casino and back to Eldric.

"If you don't say something I'm going to throw you." I snap.

Turquoise eyes shift towards me, glinting with amusement. "You're still mad about the boy."

"Of course I am!" My lip curls as I snarl. "The pompous ass shoved me into a pit of moles!" The memory of those blackened gums and bloody fingers reaching, reaching for me while I'd lain on that concrete floor caused a shudder to run down my spine. "I barely managed to get out of there alive. He's lucky I didn't drag him back there to feed him to those infernal creatures as soon as I caught up to them."

Eldric arches a dark brow. "She'd have your head if you did that."

"Not before I tear his off first."

His eyes trail back to the casino. "I wonder why she brought him along." It seems as though he were muttering more to himself than to me but I respond anyway.

"Companionship," I scoff. "Heaven forbid if she had to endure this whole arduous ordeal with us alone." Even as the words left my mouth I knew I was only speaking out of spite. I, too, wondered about Isabelle's insistence on bringing along the brooding male. I let the thought tumble about in my head before a smirk tugs on the corner of my lips. "Perhaps she likes him. She might just want him around to satisfy her romantic feelings."

Eldric grimaces. "No. Something tells me there's more to it."

I frown. "What do you mean?"

He at last steps back, turning to rest his shoulder against the wall of the alley we've been loitering in for the past half hour. "Isabelle may be drawn to him, yes, but I feel like there's more to this Leon than he lets on." He runs a hand through his brown locks, a bit dusty from sitting out here for so long. "We all have our secrets, Jacques. Who's to say he's not hiding some of his own?"

I open my mouth to counter his words but end up closing it a second after. Aside from the girl wanting to free the human boy for reasons I hardly cared to know, Eldric had a point. It had been a rash decision, an act without careful consideration or questioning on either of our parts when we'd dragged the boy from that mess and tossed him through the portal. He was just a human, though. A slave who'd been nothing, meant nothing ever since we took the world for our own.

"So..." I let the word hang in the air for a moment, my head tilting as I gave him a questioning look. "What are you suggesting? That it's no coincidence he's here? That he's... what?" My hand flutters through the air. "This past week he's acted as if Isabelle is his Holy Grail, refuses to speak unless it's to spit out some nasty remark, and glowers at us as if we plan to kill him in his sleep."