Cronin's Key (23 page)

Cronin turned to Eiji, but waved his hand at Alec. “See? It’s not my fault. He does
that
and I can’t help it.”

Eiji laughed at Cronin’s facial expression, and Alec laughed too. He swung his leg back over so both feet were on the floor and picked up the forgotten book. “I’m hardly to blame,” he said, giving Cronin a fake glare. “
You’re
the reason I have to do that. Just sitting there, all Scottish and sexy as hell.”

Eiji looked up at the ceiling and groaned. “The others are heading out now to feed—and to get some fresh air away from you two, if you know what I mean. That leaves just me and Jodis here with you, and it is too difficult to protect you, Alec, when we are so distracted.”

“Maybe Cronin and I could go check out how Campbell is doing with my bullet order,” Alec suggested. “That’ll leave you and Jodis here
alone,
if you know what I mean.” Alec waggled his eyebrows. “You can be distracted all you like.”

Cronin stood and held out his hand to Alec, which he took quickly and stood beside him. Cronin was fighting a smile. “Should you call him first?”

Before Alec could answer, Eiji spoke. “Jodis and I will go with you also. I think Alec should have full protection wherever he goes. Cronin, I make no judgment on your ability to protect him. I know you’re capable.” The smaller Japanese vampire looked to Alec, his usual smile gone. “I know you don’t like it, but, Alec, it’s not worth the risk of being caught unprepared.”

Alec thought Cronin might object, but after a long second, he gave a nod. “Thank you.”

Eiji left, Alec assumed he went to get Jodis, and Alec pulled out the cell phone he used to call Campbell on. He hit Call, and while he waited for Campbell to answer, he whispered to Cronin, “What was that about?”

Cronin gave him a sad smile. “Eiji’s doing it for both our sakes. If you were to die, it would mean certain death for me also, and that is something he’d rather not suffer through.”

Oh.

The cell phone in Alec’s hand clicked when Campbell answered the call. “Hello?”

Alec blinked a few times and slowly put the phone to his ear. “Campbell? It’s MacAidan. You alone?”

“Yeah.”

“Up for a visit?”

“Have I got a choice?”

“No.”

Campbell’s reaction to having people suddenly appear in front of him the second time was no better than it was the first time. Maybe it was worse because four people unexpectedly materialized in his small living room. Maybe it was because, as was clear from the dark circles under his eyes, he hadn’t slept. Maybe it was the way both Jodis and Eiji spread out in a tactical formation to maximize coverage and minimize their collective target mass; Alec had seen SWAT teams do similar moves.

Campbell dropped a box of bullet casings, sending them clinking and scattering to the floor. “Jesus!” he cried. His eyes were wide as he looked between the four intruders, his eyes finally stopping on Alec. Then he clutched his heart with shaking hands. “Fuck. Can you not knock on the fucking door like a normal person?”

Alec smiled at him, and not even bothering with introductions, he said, “How’re my bullets coming along?”

Campbell’s hands were still shaking, and he closed and opened his fists a few times, warily looking at Eiji and then Jodis. “Yeah, they’re good… I mean, I’m on track… I think.” He looked at Cronin and slinked back into himself, very obviously afraid of him. He swallowed hard. “W-would… you wanna see ’em?”

Alec smiled at him, trying to make him relax a bit. At this rate Campbell was gonna have a heart attack before he finished the job. “Sure.”

Campbell led them through the small house, the kitchen and hall just as grimy and dirty as the living room, and he stopped in the laundry room. Clearly agitated and looking over his shoulder nervously, he rolled back the linoleum to reveal a door in the floor. He lifted the trapdoor and stood back, waving his hand at the dark space.

Jodis shook her head. “You first.”

Campbell nodded quickly and scampered to get down through the hole. The only stairs were a ladder that descended straight down. When he’d disappeared into the darkness, Cronin grinned and disappeared also. Lights flickered to life in the underground room, and then Campbell screamed out like a small child. “Stop doing that!”

Cronin laughed. “The room is clear.”

Alec rolled his eyes and started to climb down the ladder. “You’re gonna give him a coronary,” he said.

“Yeah,” Campbell quickly agreed.

When Alec was at the bottom, he found himself in what looked like an old bomb shelter. There was a shelf along one wall filled with all kinds of metal-pressing tools, vises, and trays of different hand tools and metals.
Weapon-making tools
, Alec corrected himself. It was quite the setup.

Jodis and Eiji were suddenly beside Alec, though he was used to vampires and their sudden, fluid movements. Campbell obviously wasn’t. He shivered violently and Alec thought for a moment that Campbell was going to be sick.

In the center of the room was a workbench where Alec saw a tray of neatly arranged wooden and brass bullets. He picked up one and inspected it. It was exactly what he’d asked for. A half jacket, wooden tip, perfectly carved and smoothed.

Campbell spoke quickly. “I’ve only done about fifty so far, but it was hard in the beginnin’ with the wood and all. I know what I’m doing now, so it’s easier. I should have the rest done no problem.”

Alec was still looking at the bullet he was holding. “Beautiful work,” he said softly, marveling at the darker wood against the bright brass of the casing. Alec finally smiled at Campbell. “You’re very good at this. I never really appreciated your ballistics skills as a craft before.”

“’Cause you was always tryin’ to bust my ass,” he mumbled, obviously without really thinking about it, because his eyes flashed to Cronin and his hands went up. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Ya know, bein’ a cop and all.”

Cronin hadn’t even moved, but he fought a smile at Campbell’s reaction. Alec sighed. “Well, I’m not a cop anymore,” he said, putting the bullet back in its place on the tray. “You’ve tested them, I assume? I’d like to see for myself.”

Campbell hesitated, eyeing Cronin first, then Eiji and Jodis. “Well, I had to see if they was gonna get out of the chamber before I went an’ made a few hundred of ’em, didn’t I?”

“Exactly,” Alec agreed. Then he held out his hand. “So? Your 9mm?”

Campbell reluctantly reached to his back and pulled his pistol from his waistband. He handed over the Glock, which Alec took. Then Alec extended his other hand. “And the silencer.”

Campbell huffed but obviously knew arguing was not a wise thing to do. He pulled the very illegal sound suppressor from his jeans pocket and handed it over too. With a familiar ease, Alec screwed on the silencer, pulled the slide on the handgun back, and fed one bullet directly into the chamber.

Now he just needed something to fire the bullet into. He looked around the room.

“Jesus!” Campbell cried. “You’re not gonna fire that in here, are ya?” Then his eyes went wider still. “You’re not gonna shoot
me
in here, are ya?”

Alec snorted out a laugh. “Campbell, I thought we were friends. I don’t shoot my friends.” The truth was, Alec hadn’t shot anybody before. He’d raised his weapon plenty of times but never fired it with intent to maim or hinder.

“Shoot at the wall,” Eiji said, nodding his head toward the wall he stood next to.

“You can’t just be shootin’ up my momma’s house, man.” Campbell said.

Alec ignored Campbell and raised the gun to shoot the wall. He felt the cool resistance against his trigger finger and squeezed.

Campbell fell back a step, the three vampires didn’t appear to move, but the bullet never hit the wall.

“What the…?” Campbell whispered. He looked at the wall, then at the three non-humans in the room. He finally looked at Alec, more scared than before. “What th’ hell, man? Bullets don’t just disappear!”

Eiji held up his fist and turned his hand, palm facing upward, to reveal the bullet.

Knowing he must have caught it, much like when he’d bent the bullet’s trajectory years ago from hitting him in the head, Alec grinned at him. “Show-off.”

“It fired well,” Eiji said, putting the wooden slug, still in perfect condition, back on the table.

Campbell was stunned into silence, his jaw slack, his eyes wide. Alec smiled at him. “Perfect,” he said, clapping the man on the back. “Good job.”

All the poor guy could do was nod.

“Another twenty-four hours, yeah?” Alec reminded him.

He nodded again.

“Take a breath for me,” Alec said. Campbell finally inhaled and took a few quick breaths. “You good?”

Campbell looked at Alec and nodded quickly. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Alec gave him a full-on grin. “Good. We’ll be back tomorrow.”

“I, uh…” Campbell started to say. “I, um, I could just leave the bullets here—” He swallowed hard. “—when I’m done making all I can. I’ll message you. You come get ’em, leave the cash here. Message me when you’re done. I ain’t bullshittin’ ya, man. But I don’t think I’m up for another visit.”

He truthfully didn’t look too well. “Fine,” Alec agreed. “Send me a text when you’re done, twenty-four hours from now, with a total number of bullets. We’ll… drop in… and leave payment. I’ll message you when we’re gone.”

Campbell looked relieved; he nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, man. Yeah, let’s do that.”

“You won’t tell anyone what you’ve seen tonight, will you,” Cronin said quietly. It wasn’t a question.

Campbell paled again and shook his head vehemently. “No. No, man, I swear.”

“Good boy,” Jodis said. “I’d hate to have to come back.” She ran her finger down Campbell’s arm, leaving a trail of cold gooseflesh in her wake.

Campbell recoiled immediately, walking back into the shelf along the wall, and Alec knew it was time to give the poor guy a break. He turned to Cronin. “You ready?”

Cronin gave a nod and moved at vampire speed to Alec’s side, where he fit just right, his arm around Alec’s waist. He simply held his other hand out to Eiji, who in turn held his hand out to Jodis, and they leapt.

* * * *

The apartment was empty when they arrived except for Sammy, who was curled up asleep on the sofa. Eiji and Jodis disappeared quickly enough, and Cronin nudged Alec’s jaw with his nose. “You don’t feel the effects of leaping so much anymore,” he said softly.

“Guess I’m used to it. I’m getting used to this too,” he said, sliding his hand down Cronin’s back and over the swell of his ass.

“We do have some alone time, it would seem,” Cronin whispered, his breath warm on the skin under Alec’s ear. It made him shiver.

Alec suddenly found himself leaping again, this time landing on his back in the middle of Cronin’s soft bed, his thighs spread wide with Cronin lying between them. The bathroom light was on, leaving a diffused light across the otherwise darkened room.

Alec shivered again, not from leaping but from the onslaught of desire. “We could have walked in here.”

Cronin’s eyes were impossibly black, his fangs glinted in the soft light. “Why waste precious seconds walking when I could have you in here like this already?”

Alec laughed, a throaty sound. He raised his hips off the bed, seeking Cronin’s. “I’m beginning to see your point.”

Cronin was apparently done talking. He lay his full weight on Alec, his hips squarely lined up with Alec’s, their hardness pressing against each other. Cronin covered Alec’s mouth with his own, running his hands the length of Alec’s arms to his hands, which he held and slowly lifted them above Alec’s head, pinning them to the mattress.

The groan Alec made would have been embarrassing if he cared. He was totally caught by desire, his need to submit to Cronin like nothing he’d ever felt. His thighs fell open, his pelvis tilted and even completely dressed, he offered himself to Cronin.

Cronin growled as he kissed him, a purring rumble sounding deep within his chest, spurring on Alec’s want and need. And he’d wanted nothing more. He wanted to touch him, to feel him, to pull him close and grind against him—he needed it—yet Cronin held his hands fast to the bed.

Alec made a whining noise that was half frustration, half begging. He pulled his mouth from Cronin’s and ground out a warning. “Cronin.”

The vampire pulled back just enough so Alec could see his face. His eyes were blazing black, his lips swollen, and his tongue swept across his fanged teeth; he truly was sex personified. Alec was so turned-on, frustrated to the point of tears. “I need to touch you, please.”

Cronin slowly released Alec’s hands, only to touch the side of Alec’s face. His look of lust and heat quickly became one of concern. “Are you hurt?”

Alec shook his head, bringing his hands first to Cronin’s hair, then his face, his jaw. Down to his chest, then to his back and his ass, touching everywhere he could reach. He pulled Cronin’s hips harder against his. “I need you,” he whispered. “Like nothing else.”

Then Alec forced his hands between them to undo Cronin’s jeans, fumbling, failing, his frustration growing into desperation.

“Slow down,” Cronin whispered in his ear.

“No,” Alec said, pulling Cronin’s shirt over his head instead.

“You’ll bring my self-control undone,” Cronin growled. “I can barely contain it as it is.”

“I want you to let go,” Alec said. “Show me the real you.”

Cronin pulled away then to sit on the side of the bed, his eyes downcast, his smile not a happy one. “Alec, I cannot. I’ve told you, it would result in the end of your human life.”

Alec scampered to his knees on the bed. “We’ve fooled around before and look!” He thumped his chest. “Still human! We did just fine before. We did better than fine before. It was hot as hell.”

“You want more…”

“Of course I do!” Alec said.

“I cannot give you what you desire.”

Alec whispered, “I want you to be yourself. I want the vampire in you to be, well, vampire.”

Cronin smiled at that. “Vampires bite, Alec.”

“You won’t bite me,” Alec said adamantly. “You don’t have my permission.”