Silence reigned in the room for several seconds. I glanced at Dusk Reaper and saw a glimmer of doubt in his eye, but he noticed me staring and quickly covered it.

“So be it,” he said. “We will find this―”

“There is no we,” Sally interrupted. “This will be a contest between the two of you.”

Oh, I could tell Dusk Reaper didn’t like that one bit, but he was in too deep to back down now. “Very well, but how do I know this isn’t another trick?”

To my surprise, Sally crossed the room to where he stood. I found myself hoping she was gonna give him the mother of all cock punches, but instead she stood upon her tiptoes and leaned in to his ear. She whispered something, too low for even my hearing to pick up.

When she stepped back, he was smiling. “Rejoice, for soon we shall once again own the night!”

Goddamn, the formal speech he used when trying to sound important really irked me… almost as much as Douche Reaper himself. I didn’t know what Sally told him, but I had to trust it was good… maybe a free blowjob or something. That sure as shit would’ve convinced me.

Regardless, this was workable. I could still salvage Tom’s plan and end this in my favor.

But first I would need to teach Dusk Reaper a lesson.

♦ ♦ ♦

Okay, first, I needed to have a little word with Sally. It was getting late… or early; I still didn’t have my brain wrapped around vamp hours. Either way, not much would be happening this night. I mean, Dusk Reaper could start his hunt whenever the fuck he wanted to. Hell, if I so chose, he could stand out on a street corner for the next week trying to ambush our so-called stalker. The truth was, nothing was going to happen until I put my costume on and made an appearance. The only way Dusk Reaper could try winning otherwise was if he decided to start killing random dudes dressed in black and then pass them off as me―which, knowing the idiot, he might. Ugh, I so despised being master over such a group of vacuous dipshits.

The coven appeared mollified by our competition, which was apparently as good as I was destined to get. After I short while, I slipped away, managing to catch up with Sally as she walked back toward the Office.

I casually sauntered up to her. “Nice night.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Yep.”

“Heading back to the Office?”

“Still plenty of work to be done there,” she replied in a matter of fact tone.

“So… what did you say to Reaper?”

“And why is it any of your business?”

“As coven master, I could order you to divulge.”

“You could. And as your partner, I could tell you to take a flying fuck off the nearest building.”

“True enough,” I replied, continuing our leisurely pace through the city streets. “But, I’m gonna ask anyway.”

“It’s simple,” she said, turning to face me. “I told him what he wanted to hear. I stroked his ego a bit, dangled the carrot of coven leadership in front of his face. Think about it. It’s a tantalizing prize for a self-absorbed asshole like him. This way he also doesn’t have to face you in fair combat.”

I considered what that could entail. Vampires had a pretty fucked up concept of fair. “He’d probably win.”

“Yes, but he doesn’t know that. He has just enough doubt to be a fly in the ointment, but not quite enough to man up and grow a set on his own.”

“But he agreed to this hunt.”

She turned with a grin and continued walking. “Of course. Nobody said this hunt had to be even remotely fair, did they?”

Using that logic, it would be best for me to watch the skies for the inevitable nuclear strike.

We walked for a few more minutes in relative silence then, just for argument’s sake, I decided to test the waters a bit. “But what if he wins?”

“That would suck.”

“It would...”

“For him.”

“Huh? How?”

“Do you honestly think the rest of this group is going to tolerate that asshole being in charge for long? I’d give him a month tops before he ends up dust in the wind. Hell, I might even do it myself if it came down to that, but it won’t.”

“It won’t?”

“Nope, because you’re going to win.”

“How do you know?”

“I was standing at the door listening for a few moments. I heard you. You weren’t afraid.”

Uh oh. I needed to play this coy. Unlike the rest, Sally was sharp―sharper than any blade I’d ever seen. “Maybe I’m too stupid to be.”

“I leave that as a distinct possibility, but I prefer to think that maybe you’re starting to get the hint of how things work. I think maybe, just maybe, you’re beginning to believe in yourself as a vampire.” She glanced my way and smiled, for once not displaying her normal shark-like attitude. “If that’s the case, then I should too.”

“Really?”

“I mean it.”

I was touched. Holy shit. This was a side of Sally I hadn’t seen before.

I’d been planning on spilling my guts to her about the vigilante as well as the plan my roommates and I had concocted, but now I hesitated. Who would it really hurt to play out this ruse? Well, Dusk Reaper for sure, but fuck him.

The thing was, Sally actually had a little faith in me―even when I didn’t. I hadn’t a clue why. Hell, I wasn’t even sure it was possible. Nevertheless, a part of me didn’t want to let her down. Everything I was doing was bullshit, an act meant to save my own ass, but maybe her belief in me could inspire me to become more. Maybe in time I could be the person she believed me to be… assuming that person wasn’t a cold-blooded murderer of course.

I moved closer and made to put my arm around her shoulder, but a quick sidelong glare told me we weren’t quite at that level yet. Oh well. I’d work on that one.

For now, hopefully it was enough for me to say, “I won’t let you down.”