Dark Moon Boys (Love, Lust & Magic #2)

Uriah

tucked his phone into his pocket before falling back onto his living room couch, stretching out his arms, and letting out a long sigh. “Guess I better check in on the old man,” he decided.

One hand in his joggers from the night before, the vampire rose and made his way into the kitchen. Pulling open the refrigerator door, he fumbled through its content. “Another day, another blood bag,” he muttered to himself as he grabbed a small handheld cooler out from the bottom shelf.

He made his way to the end of the kitchen, stopping in front of a locked and bolted door. “You awake down there, Apollo?” he said with a tap on the door.

No response.

channeled his super-speed to quickly undo all three of the door’s locks before opening it to reveal a set of basement stairs. “Prof? Look, I know I was always late for class as your student—and that I’ve also been late on feeding you literally every day since you moved in, but I’m sure we can still figure out this whole friends thing.”

Only silence.

In a flash, was down the stairs and fumbling with a pull-string chain above him. Finally, fluorescent lights filled the room and revealed a large jail cell in the back corner of the vampire’s fairly pristine basement. Someone was huddled in the far corner of the cell—just the someone was looking for.

As the vampire made his way to the jail bars, he passed an intricate layout of band equipment—a drum set, two guitars, and several microphone stands with various Five Fangs branding. He grabbed up a drumstick before making his way to the corner.

“Hey, you got me all worried.” ran the wooden mallet along each bar in a noisy, obnoxious fashion. “Here I thought you might have up and moved out in the middle of the night, maybe even found your own place, and then who would I keep around for my entertainment?”

“What is it you want now, vampire?” Quinn finally replied, angst in his voice.

“Now, now,” began . “Is that any way to talk to the vampire that has single-handedly kept you employed by compelling every university bigwig in town to believe you’re on a paid sabbatical?”

“You wouldn’t have to do that if you didn’t turn me,” Quinn said solemnly.

“ Me turn you ?” dramatically threw his free hand over his mouth as he let out an over-the-top gasp. “Why, I never .”

Quinn remained silent.

“Come on, how many times have we been over this?” sighed, tossing the mallet from hand to hand. “This is entry-level stuff, prof. Think of it as Vampire 101 . I didn’t turn you. Big bad witch woman wanted you dead, I selflessly gave you some of my all-healing blood, and then the human she possessed—who, actually, unknown to us at the time was also a vampire—killed you while it was still in your system.”

Reaching the far wall, pulled down a retractable whiteboard complete with stick figures, text, and arrows. “I mean, come on, I even made a flow chart.” Amongst the drawings was a small stick figure with long hair labeled Odessa , another stick figure labeled Ada , and two more with the names and Quinn above them. had even found a red marker to show blood pooling around a scene of Quinn’s lifeless stick figure.

Quinn rose to his feet. “I-I can’t live like this, .” Although still the ruggedly handsome man he was before being turned, he appeared disheartened, depressed, and distraught. “End it for me now.”

“Unh-uh-uh,” shook his head. “You didn’t say the magic word.”

“Please.” Quinn grabbed at the metal bars of his confinement. “I can’t imagine life as— as a monster.”

“Not genuine enough, prof,” teased, coming face-to-face with his new progeny. “But definitely some brownie points for calling me a monster.”

“Drinking blood, only coming out at night, no reflection . Why would anyone want to live like this?”

“Well, the no reflection thing is just a myth. You can’t possibly believe I just wake up this sexy. And by the looks of it, you could use a mirror. And a hair brush. And a shower.” Quinn didn’t reply, so continued. “ Oh, and funny choice of words, by the way, considering we are anything but alive.”

“That’s my point, . Show me a merciful death. Just fucking kill me.”

“Hmm, a little better,” tilted his head in thought. He reached through the bars and grabbed Quinn’s nearest shoulder, pulling him close. With his free hand, he used the drum stick to trace the features of the professor’s sunken face.

“Kill me,” Quinn repeated.

tapped the professor’s nose with the tip of the mallet. “Boop.”

“After all, that’s what vampires do, isn’t it? All they do? Kill? ”

“You’re not wrong about that, Doc. It is technically Doc, right? Maybe I could even start calling you witch doctor,” chuckled, amused at his own ramblings. “But see, killing? Well, that’s not even a big deal. Killing is the easy part of being a vampire.”

“And what’s the hard part?”

plunged the wooden stick into Quinn’s chest. “ Dying .”

Quinn let out an agonizing groan, stepping back in shock as his hands wrapped around the stick. Mustering up his strength, he pulled the mallet out of his flesh, letting it fall to the floor in a pool of blood.

“Y-you missed,” Quinn sighed as he clutched his wound, looking up at .

The senior vampire shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”

Quinn shook his head, looking down at the open gash as it started to heal. “I’ve been taught that everywhere vampires go, people get hurt. That everything they touch is soiled. I’ve seen it.”

“Again, all of those things? Easy peasy, Doc.”

“Then what’s the point?”

“The point? Well, that’s something you might want to ask your witchy ancestors. After all, they’re the ones who created me, this curse, and by extension, your own unalived status.”

“No,” Quinn stuttered between groans as he took a seat on the simple cot that had provided him. “I mean, what’s the point of going on?”

“That’s what you want to know?” asked, surprised by the line of questioning.

“Yes,” Quinn heaved. “What stopped you from ending it the moment you realized you could?”

Hand on his chin, gave the question some thought. Flashes of fire, of the original ritual that cursed him, of his first time making love to Pruitt danced through his head. Hmm…

The vibration of his phone in his pocket broke ’s train of thought. He fished it out of his fitted jeans and saw that he had a new text message. A contact photo showed just below the name on the screen: Griff. “Love,” he finally said aloud, his eyes glued to the screen. A few moments passed before he tucked the phone away and produced a set of keys from another pocket.

Surprised by ’s response, Quinn looked up in confusion. had already unlocked the door, sliding in the cooler full of blood before slamming it shut.

“I’ll leave this unlocked once I can trust you not to hurt yourself or others,” mumbled before turning and heading toward the steps he came from. “So endeth the lesson, Doc.”