Amy Blankenship - Blood Rain стр 5.

“A shape shifter… really,” Vincent asked, feeling like he was suddenly in a paranormal candy store with all kinds of exotic flavors. He understood true shape shifters weren’t fables but the demons in the thievery ring had searched for one forever and never been successful in locating such an enigma.

“You’re going to put him with Chad,” Ren asked, though he wasn't really against the idea if it got the other man away from Lacey.

“Think about it… they both seem to have the same affliction,” Storm pointed out helpfully knowing Ren would catch the hidden meaning.

“You mean he has a fetish for dying?” Vincent made a face since that was the affliction Storm had rightfully accused him of having. He ignored the sharp glare Lacey was suddenly giving him. She hated it when he talked about dying as if it was no big deal. “If you were going to put me with a demon, then why didn’t you just leave me with the demons I was already used to?”

“Chad is one hundred percent human but Storm is right. He was murdered recently… stabbed in the heart.” Ren paused, seeing a warning look from Storm and secretly tapped into Storm's inner voice only to find out he wasn't to say a single word about the Fallen… neither Kriss nor Dean. He had to concentrate to keep a straight face as he connected the dots.

Returning his full attention to Vincent, Ren continued. “Chad is back up walking around and still just as human as you are. So far, Chad’s only died once and that was against his will, so I wouldn’t call it a fetish.”

“The next time he dies he could stay dead… or not,” Storm offered. “Either way, I’m not allowed to tell spoilers.”

“Yeah right,” Vincent said, feeling his sarcasm kick back in.

“He’s not lying,” Lacey insisted, stepping closer to Storm. “If he tells someone what’s going to happen in the future or even hints at it, he starts to bleed from injuries we can’t even see.”

She turned to gaze up at Storm and reached out to tenderly touch his upper arm. “I’ve seen it happen,” she said sadly. “You broke the rule and bled for me. Those horrible things went all of the way through me tonight. I would be dead right now if you hadn’t warned Ren of what was coming.”

Storm tried to keep the love from shining in his eyes as he stared down at Lacey and felt her gentle touch… but he did love her dearly, so it was hard. “You being here right now made it worth every drop,” he said honestly, before lifting his gaze to lock with Ren's. “Besides, the consequences of you dying seriously sucked and that’s not a spoiler since it didn’t happen.”

“But it obviously did happen and you erased it.” Lacey gave him an adoring smile before pressing herself against him and giving him a heartfelt hug. “You and Ren chose to save me,” she amended before backing away to look at Vincent. “If Storm wants you with Chad, then there’s probably a very good reason for it.”

Vincent sobered, suddenly getting it. These two powerful men could protect Lacey way better than he ever could… they’d already proven that fact. Who was he to take that kind of safety away from her?

Sighing dramatically, he fluttered his eyelashes at her. “Fine, you’ve sold me. We can both be fan girls of the Time Walker.” He purposely left Ren's name off the fan list because he wasn’t sold on the big guy being her boyfriend… just a damn good bodyguard.

Ren ignored the fact that he could hear Vincent’s inner thoughts loud and clear. As far as he was concerned, he’d already won the war for the mere fact that Lacey hadn’t begged to be Vincent’s partner.

“So, you agree to be teamed up with Chad,” Lacey asked with a happy smile. She couldn’t stay mad at Vincent if someone paid her… not when she adored him so much. She flinched when the screen of the huge monitor on the wall to her right suddenly cracked loudly and sent sparks cascading down to the floor.

Ren rubbed the bridge of his nose before glaring at the broken monitor long enough to use his powers to quickly fix the damage he’d just done to it.

Vincent sent a suspicious glance in Ren's direction before returning Lacey's smile. “Sure, for all I know, Chad was scratched by a demon’s pet cat and now has nine lives… oops, eight lives,” He corrected and shrugged. “I guess I can show him the ropes.”

He strode right up to Lacey and fearlessly placed his arm around her shoulders before turning them to face Storm. “So what exactly does Chad do for PIT?”

“Chad’s a high ranking cop, though he’s one of the only human cops left in the city. With a lot of the 911 calls coming in being more than a little on the strange side, we’ve had to fill the city with paranormal police officers, along with infiltrating the rescue workers, hospitals, and fire departments,” Storm answered.

“That’s understandable,” Vincent nodded, silently doing the math of just how many paranormals it would take to pull a citywide trick like that off. “After the stampede I witnessed tonight outside the Witches Brew, it’s a wonder the humans aren’t dropping like flies.”

Storm was becoming drained from flickering in and out of the room so fast that no one would catch on to what he was doing. Thankfully, Ren was too busy to notice his weakening state, since he was concentrating on the fact that Vincent was once again touching Lacey.

Focusing back on the topic, Storm continued. “It’s because of PIT’s combined efforts that the human casualties have been kept to a minimum, but even that amount has the city morgues overflowing. The demons are trying to stay off our radar but don’t get me wrong… it’s a very dangerous job and right up your alley.”

“Yeah, the worst thing that could happen is you get painfully killed… constantly,” Ren agreed, making it sound like the best thing in the world. Who knew he could be so petty.

“Ooh… I think I just got one whole goose bump… try harder,” Vincent responded to the barb in his most bored tone.

Storm interrupted their verbal war before it escalated into Vincent’s first painful death as an official PIT member. “With your expertise on the different types of demons and what their weaknesses might be, you’d be a lot of help. And don’t worry… you will have an arsenal of weapons and I’m not talking about standard police issue… we have the kind that tends to ruin a demon’s day.”

Lacey glanced at Ren when Storm mentioned weapons. The truth was… she was looking at their best weapon, yet after what happened back at the Witch’s Brew, she understood that he was also the unstable fuck-bomb that could take them all out if he lost control. Remembering just how she’d given him that control back, she blushed and looked away.

“But don’t forget,” Storm reminded Vincent, “your number one job is to keep Chad safe until Trevor comes out of hiding. If you get careless and taken out by a demon, that leaves Chad without true backup until you revive.”

”Speaking of weapons,” Vincent said and gave Storm a slow smile. “Once the babysitting job is done, I suggest me and you team up and go retrieve some very unique items I know of… things the demons have hidden away.”

“You honestly think you’re going to be teamed up with Storm,” Ren asked, with an arched eyebrow, again feeling an overpowering need to rip Vincent to shreds.