How could Cas enjoy fucking anyone when it could result in some other male fucking Mirceo?
Jealousy scored him. He shot to his feet and rammed his aching horns into the wall, adding new holes to go with the other ones peppering the room. "Should kill him for this!" That vampire had him so twisted up inside.
Sensual, laughing Mirceo. With his mocking gray eyes and devil-may-care attitude.
Cas rubbed the heel of his palm down his hard shaft. His skin felt tight all over, his limbs heavy. Realization hit him: Mirceo's two feedings had set off changes in Cas's body, prompting it to produce more blood--to adapt to a vampire's hungers. Cas's veins were brimming. Such an excess meant his cock remained stiff as a titanium rod.
I'm a fucking host. Another outcome he'd had no control over! With a yell, he punched the wall, adding yet another hole.
Claustrophobia surged, his throat tightening. Need a job. Anything to distract me. Cas snatched on a coat and his sword belt, then traced to the Red Flag, a tavern in New Orleans that catered to bounty hunters. He recognized several of those inside.
A group of lion shifters and a berserker played dice in the back. A few smoke demons relaxed in front of the fire.
On the way to the bar, Cas passed an extended wall covered with bounty postings. Whenever someone offered a reward anywhere in the Lore, a copy would mystically appear here and at other similar establishments. If a hunter took down a poster, it disappeared from all locations, and he was bound to complete the task, upon penalty of death.
Varying in terms of payout and difficulty, the jobs ranged from something as simple as finding an inanimate object to the most extreme--apprehending a sorcerer from his impenetrable fortress on Poly.
Before Cas left here tonight, he would select a challenging hunt--but not too challenging, not until he got his mind in order.
Taking a seat at the bar, he recalled his start in this business, the fateful MISSING poster he'd come across when he was twelve. He hadn't been able to make out the words, but he'd overheard some other kids reading it aloud. A nobledemon had lost his miniature hellhound, a stray Cas had noticed sniffing around the slums.
Easy enough. Cas had delivered the hellhound to its owner, collecting more money than he'd ever seen. He'd discovered he had a talent for finding lost mementos and pets. In two years, he'd grown such a reputation--his name of Beggar replaced by Tracker--that other hunters had traced him to this tavern, to the "big leagues." Bounty hunting. . . .
Now the tavern's grizzled demon barkeep shuffled over. "Been wondering when you'd show." Leyak, a retired hunter and Cas's de facto mentor, was as much a fixture in this place as the wall of postings. "Brew, son?" Unlike most immortals, the gray-haired Leyak continued to slowly age past his prime, his face weathered and horns scuffed. He must have a human ancestor somewhere in his line.
"Always." When Leyak poured an expensive vintage, Cas said, "Are we celebrating something?"
The demon rolled his eyes. "I figure you got gold aplenty now."
"How's that?"
"Almost every bounty posting connected to Poly disappeared from that wall in seconds. I suspected you were raking it in."
True. Lorean dregs often hid out in that dimension. A squalid hunter's bar there had provided Cas with new notices. Like a spider on a web, he'd collected them one by one.
"Nothing gets past you." All those years ago, the eagle-eyed hunter had realized Cas couldn't read the posters. Instead of ridiculing him, Leyak had read several aloud, as if commenting on them, never letting the other hunters know.
Leyak had been the only one who'd believed a fourteen-year-old like Cas could collect on the first live bounty he'd chosen. Afterward, the old demon had said, "You stalked that trail like a Caspion tiger, son!"
Cas had liked the name, and so he'd claimed it. . . .
"Surely you're not looking for a job," Leyak said now. "See, son, when folks make a heap of money, they do this thing called retiring."
"Trying to keep busy." Cas sampled his drink, his thoughts returning to Mirceo. What if additional Forbearers stalked the vampire? Mirceo traveled outside Dacia more than any others in that family--aside from Trehan, who was far too powerful for turned humans to challenge.
The Forbearers had known where to look for Mirceo. Their order would send out another force. And another one. Mirceo would never be safe. What if he'd already been captured?
Could I ever find him? Cas's instinct to hunt burned--
"A fellow mentioned you by name last night," Leyak said. "A vampire."
Cas cursed the surge of excitement that the demon's words roused. "Oh?"
"A clear-eyed one. Quite charming for a leech."
Did Mirceo plan to infiltrate all parts of his life? When Cas's claws shot even longer, he sank them into his palms. The bite of pain made him ache for the vampire to feed, to empty him of all this excess blood. "Can't say this is a surprise. He's been searching for me."
Leyak blinked. "He didn't ask after your whereabouts. Just used your name to get in the door here."
A chill swept over Cas. "Are you saying he took a job?"
Leyak's gaze shifted to the poster wall, where one ancient notice was conspicuously absent. "I'm saying he took the job."
FIFTEEN
"What the hell, vampire?" The demon shoved Mirceo outside of the Red Flag a nanosecond after he'd arrived.
"Is there a problem, sweetheart?" Mirceo had made sure enough of these hunters knew he was returning tonight.
Caspion released him. "You have no idea what you've done!"
Mirceo adjusted his trench coat. "You look tense." An understatement.
The demon's muscles were knotted, his teeth gritted. His member was semihard and growing. "Tense? Tense???"
"Indeed." But Caspion's face was weary. These four days apart haven't been difficult for me alone. Mirceo had been choking down cups of non-Caspion blood just to maintain his weight. At his young age, a missed feeding hit hard. "If you'd like to take a moment to compose yourself, I have business to attend to inside."
Caspion cast him a mystified look. "You're not going anywhere."
"Am I not?"
"Did you know you are obligated to complete any bounty you take from that wall? If you fail, the other hunters will all come after you. To kill you."
"Someone might've alluded to that." After Mirceo had yanked down the parchment. Funny, gentlemen, realllll funny.
Caspion scrubbed his hand over his face. "How did you even know to come to this tavern?"
"You mentioned it once." He'd described it as a meeting place and exchange for hunters. Since Mirceo had possessed zero alternatives for finding Caspion, he'd laid a trap of his own.
"Let's see the job." The demon snapped his fingers. "Now."
"No need to be a churlish lout." Mirceo pulled the poster from his trench, unfolding it. "Allow me to read it for--"
Caspion snatched the parchment. "I can read now."
"My brilliant mate." Caspion did a double-take at Mirceo's sudden smile. "You fill me with pride. I told you all those books would be read by you. Only I had thought to teach you."
Pulling at his collar, he said in a gruff tone, "Taught myself."
Mirceo sighed. "Haven't I always complimented you on your considerable intellect?"
The demon scowled. "Can we get back to this?" Then he read:
WANTED!
Dead or alive
Adham "Silt" Harea, the Sorceri King of Sand Murderer, cannibal, oath breaker, invoker of dark rites, and fugitive from the law Last seen: The Plane of Lost Years
Reward: Forty dragon-gold coins Offered by the Gaolers
Caspion's lips parted. "How could you have . . . why did you pick this one?"
It had looked like an ideal job with lots of money, which the demon had always been concerned about. At least in the past. "Because I'm keen to visit the Poly." To see where his mate had lived--away from me--for so long.
"Just Poly," Caspion corrected. "You don't know
the first thing about tracking down a bounty."
"That's true. If only I had a scry crystal." He tapped his chin. "Oh, wait . . ."
"You deserved that and more."
Shrug. "Since you robbed me of the crystal's use, you should show me the ropes. We could split the huge payout on this one. Do you know how valuable dragon gold is?"
"I don't need money, leechling! I made plenty on Poly."
"Exactly--you know the terrain there."
"There's a reason this job still posted," Caspion said, sounding exasperated. "It is impossible."
"If we work together, I'm sure we can find a random sorcerer." Besides, Mirceo was chafing for the chance to prove himself to his mate.
"I can already find him. You think I spent centuries in that place unaware of the most coveted bounty in the realm?"
"Then why haven't you claimed it?"
"Did you even read the poster before you took it down?"
"Sure." He'd noted the reward and the location.