Changes

Chapter 30

Z's POV

I walked down the dark and damp alley,  the stench of piss and alcohol thick in the air. I made my way down to the iron door with the dim flickering bulb, clinging to what little life it had remaining. I didn't bother with knocking, they knew to expect me. The door swung open quickly the moment I stepped before it. The man who opened the door was covered head to toe in tattoos meant to protect him from dark magic. However there is only so many places you can tattoo before you run out of skin. Dark magic was an addictive thing. Humans were foolish for even dipping curiousity into such things.

"She is in her office," he informed me. He tried to hold me stare, but like all men and things, unable to hold it. I smiled cruelly at his submission. There has only been one who has been able to hold my stare, and I have gladly submitted to her piercing gaze. I made my way through the narrow hallway. Through the various doors, I could hear many enjoying the various pleasures this place offers. Talia Turk, a sorceress who enjoys feeding on the youth of others to stay young and immortal. The dark tattoo between her breasts, protecting her from the consequences of it. I have seen that mark more times than I will admit. I once didn't mind seeing it, but now the thought is more revolting than eating a man who has been decomposing in a hot warehouse for a week.

I didn't bother with knocking on her door before entering. Never have. Never will. I enjoy throwing my prey off guard. "You could knock you know," Talia said, glancing at me over her shoulder. She enjoyed pretending she had a spine. I do my best to not shatter that glass illusion, due to her usefulness. "You said you have something for me," I said, cutting straight to the chase. The sooner I leave, the less pissed my mate will be.

She turned in her computer chair, and pulled a red file from her desk. "My payment," she asked as her eyes trailed over me. I growled threateningly, holding out a check, with the hand that shows the ring my mate gifted to me before leaving. Her eyes stared hard at the ring, jealousy swimming deep in the depths of them. "What's she like," She asked, taking the check from me. "She must be a rarity if you were ensnared by her." I gave her a cruel smile, "She is a possessive woman who doesn't bat an eye at shedding blood." I snatched the file and opened it.

I scanned over the contents. They were documents and photo of a man making several deals. "Lucas Hernandez. He is on almost everyone's most wanted list for making a vast array of replicas and selling them to the highest bidder. Many replicas he has made have been of items, that were supposed to be locked under high tech lock and key that no one should have seen. No one has been able to find out how he does it, but I'm sure you can Mr. Z," she told me. I closed the file and turned on my heel, readying to leave.

I stopped as I opened the door and looked at her over my shoulder, "And to clear things up, I submitted willingly to her." Her eyes widened as she realized my mate must truly be something. I chuckled coldly as I walked out of her office. The man at the door wasn't expecting me to be so ready to leave. Usually our meeting and payment arrangements take a couple of hours. No longer will that be the case.

I left the alley and made my way to the streets of NOLA. Vlad stood looking in a department store window at one of their arrangements. I held out the file, "I want to know his movements." He took it and opened the file. He looked it over and nodded, "Will do." I heard some low growls and looked over my shoulder, and saw some vampires on the other side of the street, glaring at Vlad. He simply ignored them as he closed the file.

His phone buzzed and he pulled it out. Whatever was on the screen made him smile softly despite the usually cold exterior he has had. It was his mate. Love surely did strange things to men. I once thought myself immune to it. Until I met a mouthy woman who I got addicted to after one taste.

Vlad left to carry out the task I had assigned and I looked at rge window he had been looking at. It was a window of a book store, advertising the next book in some romance series. I had seen his mate lounging in various places in the house reading books with similar covers. I began to wonder about my mate's own reading preferences. What we had was better than some silly romance book. Whatever love sick human put down on paper about us wouldn't be able to do us just. She was the wind to my internal fire, keeping me alive and blazing brightly.

Many may say she was my gasoline, but that is not true. Gasoline makes a fire uncontrollable, but with her I'm very much under control. Wind also chooses the direction in which that fire goes, and if that wind dies out, so can the flames. She holds my reins and leads me, and the nature of our relationship, in any direction she desires. I shook my head at the display and began walking until I felt my phone vibrate.

My Queen: Beignets? Plz?

Me: as you wish.

My Queen: Hot Chocolate too???

Me: of course

Beignets and hot chocolate is one of her more normal cravings. Other times it's been pickles with mashed potatoes and jalapeno flavored chips. Of course normal foods have never appealed to me so I can't be one to judge on what is considered normal and not normal. I returned home with my mate's request and found her in our bathroom enjoying a bubble bath. "So how did it go," she asked me as I put on the tray that went across the bathtub, gribbing the sides. "She found the man who made the replica. I sent Vlad out to follow him," I informed her. She nodded, "Do you think it will lead to anything worth our while?" I shrugged, "I do not know. I do know that we need to exhaust our options before it's too late." "And when will that be," she asked before taking a drink of her hot chocolate. "That I do not know," I confessed and I wished I did. The things coming through the Tears were screwing with everything we sacrificed ourselves to put in to place. This was my world, and I refuse to see it crumble.