Cameron Haley - Mob rules

I just didn't know him well enough to make a read. Some people will remain loyal to a friend or family member no matter what they do. Even if he wasn't thrilled with Fred, that didn't mean he'd be okay with me taking him out. He might tell me to get lost. What I was most worried about, even though I didn't want to admit it, was that he wanted something from the vampire. Adan didn't have the juice to be a sorcerer, and he felt trapped between two worlds as a result. Maybe he saw vampirism as a solution to his identity crisis and he wanted Fred to turn him.

I didn't believe that, but I couldn't be sure. And again, I had to figure the spirit into this, whether it was responsible for the Adan-Fred connection or not. I didn't know all the details of how this thing worked, but it was a fair bet the spirit knew everything Adan did, even when it wasn't actively possessing him. It'd have to. I didn't like it, and I didn't blame him for it, but there was no way I could completely trust Adan, even if he would line up with me against Fred.

I couldn't read his mind, either, as I had with Honey. Even without his father's wards protecting him, I'd like to think I wouldn't have done it. Maybe it was even true.

"Are you going to kill him, Domino?" Adan asked. "Don't lie to me."

"No," I lied, "not unless you want me to. You had it right last night-I'm not really in a position to judge him."

He nodded, but I couldn't tell if he was relieved or disappointed. "I don't like what he does. It disgusts me. But he says he's a different species, that it's natural for his kind to prey on humans just like it's natural for us to eat cattle."

"Do you buy that?"

"No. I understand why he sees it that way, but I don't think it's the same thing."

"It's not," I said. "He's a monster. There's nothing natural about him."

Adan smiled an uneasy smile. "I told him the exact same thing once."

"What did he say?"

"He said cattle would have the same opinion of butchers."

I grunted. It was chilling, but it wasn't a big stretch for me to look at the world the way the vampire did. Maybe when I wasn't paying attention I did look at it the same way. I was a hell of a lot closer to human than Fred was, but I had to admit I usually didn't think of myself as one. Maybe it was the gangster thing, or the power magic gave me, but the same rules just didn't seem to apply. I was an outsider, and we made our own rules.

My attention turned from halfhearted moral angst to how I was going to search Adan's apartment without him noticing. He might make a move on me, and I was pretty sure I wanted him to. If I could get him in bed, there might be a shower later or he might fall asleep, and that would give me my chance.

I wasn't real comfortable with that approach. I've done much worse things, but the idea of trying to seduce Adan for any other reason than the honest one didn't sit right. I also had a feeling sex might bring the spirit back out to play, and I wasn't ready to risk my skin just to get laid.

It occurred to me that I might be more clever if I didn't always rely on magic to do anything remotely complicated. I finally gave up and decided I'd have to leave. Once he was safely tucked in bed, I could break in, find what I was looking for and get out with him none the wiser. It would have been a lot easier without having to break in, but I was sure I had the spells I'd need to do it without waking him up.

I stayed for another hour so it wouldn't look suspicious. We went into the living room and turned on the TV, cuddling up on one corner of his large sectional. Maybe I'd get lucky and he'd fall asleep, but he didn't really seem to be in the mood for channel surfing. The cuddling led to kissing, things started warming up and I had to keep my eyes open to see if Adan's went black.

The first real break in the action, I checked my watch and sighed. "I have to go to work, Adan."

"Now? It's after midnight."

"Gangster," I said and shrugged.

"Oh, yeah." He laughed. "Okay, that's cool, if you really have to go." We got up and he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Yeah, I really do. Sorry. I mean, really sorry."

He smiled down at me and kissed the tip of my nose. "Thanks for coming over. This was nice."

"Yeah, it was," I said, kissing him again, and then I gently disengaged. He walked me to the door and a long kiss good-night bought my way to freedom.

I sat in my car until the lights went out, first in the living room and then in his bedroom about twenty minutes later. I waited another hour just to be sure. Then I spun my wallflower and nightvision spells, got out of the car and walked back down the street to his building.

"Security is mostly a superstition," I said, and my B amp;E spell took down the alarm system and unlocked the door. I went in, shut the door behind me and climbed the stairs.

I stood outside his door for a few minutes and used a little juice to amplify my hearing. The open ductwork in the loft thrummed softly, and I remembered how silent it had been in the machineless world of the Between. I heard Adan in his bedroom loft, his breathing deep and even. I spun the B amp;E again, opened the door and slipped inside. As in the Between, Rashan's wards recognized me and let me pass.

I started on my left and systematically searched the large, open loft. I checked the pockets of the jackets hanging on the tree by the front door. I searched under the sectional and between the cushions. I rummaged through the DVDs in the rack under the flat-screen TV, and I searched every drawer and cabinet in the kitchen. Nothing.

I made my way over to the stairs leading up to the loft. I didn't like the idea of going up there with Adan sleeping, but not because I was afraid of being caught. I was pretty sure the wallflower would hold. It was too passive for Adan's wards to pick it up. I also knew his father hadn't given him a true seeing charm, or he'd have been able to see the ocean spirits on the beach. No, I didn't like the idea of going up to his bedroom loft because I felt like a fucking stalker.

I climbed the stairs slowly, treading as lightly as I could. The wallflower spell doesn't suppress sound, it just makes it easy to ignore, and I could hear the stairs groan and creak beneath my weight.

I found Adan snuggled in his queen-size bed, lying on his side with the flannel sheets drawn up to his chin like a little boy. He was sleeping deeply, peacefully, and his breathing was the only sound or movement.

I walked toward the bathroom, thinking to begin my search there, and then changed my mind. Even if he wouldn't know I was there, I didn't want to be in the bathroom if Adan woke up and decided to use it. That would push the creepy stalker vibe beyond tolerable limits, and I decided to stay out of there unless I had no other choice.

I crept back across the loft to the desk on the other side of Adan's bed. In the last drawer I checked, at the very back, I found the Vampire Fred's personal card. It proclaimed him Manfred von Hauptman, Proprietor, The Cannibal Club.

I used my witch sight to look at the card and found it dripping with the vampire's black juice. The scent should be strong enough for Moon Dog.

When I turned around, Adan was standing behind me wearing black boxer-briefs. His eyes were black and he was holding an expensive, titanium kitchen knife at his side.

I jumped back, banging into the desk, and fumbled the forty-five out of its holster. Adan just stood there, a flat smile doing ugly things to his face.

"Have you come to give me your skin, lover?" he asked in the same graveyard voice I'd heard the day before.

I brought the heavy gun up and sighted between those empty black, shark eyes. I willed juice and resolve into my arm to hold it steady. The eyes fixed on the stainless-steel barrel, and the motherfucker took a step back.