Waning Moon (4 page)

“I’ll sleep on the couch,” Gabriel said as Tony slumped in his arms and began to snore. “Correction, both of us will sleep on the couch then.”

He positioned himself so that Tony was lying within his arms, Gabriel’s arms circled protectively around his chest. He had sensed raw fear emanating from Tony the moment he had crossed the threshold to his apartment.

He didn’t like it. Somewhere deep within him an inferno of concern began to rage. Who could scare Tony that much to make him reek of terror? Just who in the world—

Ah, now Gabriel understood.

It had to be the source of those scars on his back. The person who’d hurt Tony when he was young and vulnerable.

And Gabriel had peeked just enough into the were-panther’s mind to know exactly who it was, too.

He would give that man hell.

Utter and absolute hell.

* * * *

Tony awoke to the heavenly aroma of sizzling bacon. His whole body ached, especially his backside, and he wearily stood up from the couch and walked into the tiny kitchen.

He couldn’t remember going to sleep, as his mind was in a thick fog. When he noticed the man with the long spill of obsidian hair wearing leather gloves on his hands looming over the stove, his inner panther immediately crouched low and he tackled Gabriel onto the tiled floor.

The spatula flew from Gabriel’s grasp as Tony pinned his wrists to his sides and straddled his hips with his legs.

The vampire chuckled.

“If I’d known you were so keen on topping me, I would’ve stripped out of these pecky clothes by now.” He smirked wickedly.

“What are you doing in my kitchen? Actually, what the hell are you doing in my apartment! Just because we…” His voice trailed off. “I never said you could stay.” He grumbled annoyingly.

Gabriel laughed, a high musical melody to Tony’s ears that made his cheeks blaze. “Well, I thought you’d at least appreciate the fact that I saved you from dying yesterday and now I’m preparing a homemade breakfast for you, to apologize for taking things so…fast.”

Tony released his grip on the vampire and got to his feet. He couldn’t stand to look at the man anymore, it made him feel so warm and gooey inside. Why, though? Why did he feel this way? He’d just met Gabriel yesterday!

“Just leave,” he demanded. “Go. Get out.”

Gabriel scooped the bacon from the stovetop and piled it onto a plate along with a mound of scrambled eggs and a diagonally sliced piece of buttered toast. “Breakfast is ready,” he said in a singsong voice.

Tony ground his teeth in frustration. What part of “get out” was difficult for this man to understand? In a blur of speed, he was twisting Gabriel’s shirt in one hand while lifting him off the floor with a wild snarl.

“Thanks for the food, now get out.”

Gabriel chuckled darkly. “I would leave but right now I can’t. The mark binding you to me as my servant is compelling me to care for you in this moment, as something is troubling you deeply. So tell me what it is and I’ll strive to fix it as soon as possible.”

“There’s nothing on my mind except the thought of you leaving! Now go!”

“Could your worries perhaps be tied to those scars on your back?”

Tony paused. The scars on his back…how did Gabriel know? He must’ve seen them when they…oh shit. Only the other were-panthers ever saw that wound, and now for this man to have seen them, it made him emit an irritated growl within his throat.

“It…” He wanted to say it had nothing to do with it, but it did, and that’s what terrified Tony the most. Maybe he could use Gabriel to help him with Lukas…maybe Gabriel could do everything and he wouldn’t even have to lift a finger.

Hope blossomed inside him as he answered. “Yeah, it does have to do with the scars. My sire as a were-panther, Lukas, is the Regis of the New York were-panther clan and he’s corrupt as hell. I wanna kill him, but I can’t do it alone. I’ll need help. Lots of it.”

Gabriel pulled a chair from under the round table and ushered Tony onto it, poured him a glass of orange juice, and then sat down himself. “You wish to kill this man? The one who turned you? Murder is a serious thing.”

Tony slammed a fist beside his plate. “I don’t care. If I have to go to jail, I will. I don’t want this man ruining any more lives. He deserves to die. The world will be a better place without him.”

“And what is your plan?”

“I’m gonna see if anyone else in the clan shares my ideals and if they do we’ll work together to kill that fucking bastard. But I also need you. You’re strong. Really strong, I can tell. Would you please help me?”

Gabriel smirked. “I could never turn you down, Tony. Not now when we are bonded by my mark.”

Tony asked through a forkful of eggs, “Why did you mark me? I’m not that strong and we just met.”

“I instantly liked you. I don’t know why, but I felt an invisible pull to you that I’ve never felt before. It was a hot, tingling pull inside me that made me act without thinking. You’re very handsome, Tony, and very strong, although you refuse to see it. I didn’t want to let you go, so I marked you as mine. Or rather, I couldn’t let you go. I guess you would call it love at first sight.”

Tony almost spit out his orange juice.
Love at first sight?
With him? What the hell could this vampire possibly see in him, a coward and a liar? A weak shell of a man that had been running from himself for years now.

“Thanks for the concern, Gabriel, but I’d like to know more about you since you refuse to leave.” He sighed. “I’d like to know more about your connection to Alexander and just why you chose me and not someone else. But first, will you help me? With Lukas?”

“Of course,” Gabriel responded quickly. “What kind of master would I be if I ignored my servant’s one true wish?”

Tony sucked in an overjoyed breath and became instantly overwhelmed with guilt. He was taking advantage of Gabriel’s feelings, simply using him to get what he wanted. But hadn’t he been using others his whole life? What was one more person to add to the list? Would he toss the vampire away when he completed his goal like all the others? That he didn’t know. Not yet.

Gabriel cleared his throat. “Lukas was here yesterday before I came, wasn’t he? I can smell the musky scent of a foreign panther in here. I also sensed your dread. You truly despise this man, don’t you? Why don’t you enlighten me about your history with him and then I promise I will leave you to yourself for the rest of the day.”

Tony shuddered as he contemplated how exactly to tell Gabriel about his past. He finished eating all his food, gulped down the rest of his juice, and settled his back against the chair.

“It happened about ten years ago when my family was still alive. We lived in a large house in the city, me, my parents, and my little brother. I was twelve and this one night during a thunderstorm, the power had all shut off and a burglar broke into the house.”

Gabriel whispered, “Lukas.”

Tony nodded as his eyes began to glisten with tears. “It wasn’t until my mom screamed that I ran downstairs and saw him standing over their bloody bodies. I raced back up the steps and he attacked me from behind. After that, my memory is blank. I was put into foster care until I was eighteen and moved into this place. I didn’t actually see Lukas until a couple months ago, when he challenged the old leader of the clan and killed him. Yesterday was the first time I ever spoke to him.”

Gabriel ruffled Tony’s hair. “You’re leaving out a great amount of detail but that’s all right. I understand how hard it must be recalling such an event.” He began to walk to the door when Tony clung to his arm.

“I changed my mind. You can stay,” he murmured.

“Really?”

“Yeah, but you have to clean the dishes.”

Gabriel frowned. “You better have latex gloves I can wear.”

“It just so happens that I do.”

The vampire let out a long labored exhale. “I guess I’ll get started then.”

It had taken Gabriel nearly the whole day to finish cleaning as he’d insisted on not only doing the dishes, but also the rest of the apartment from top to bottom. Tony pulled his jacket on when the vampire dropped onto the couch and groaned in exasperation.

“I’m going to take a nap if that’s all right with you,” he murmured tiredly.

Tony slipped his shoes on and replied, “I thought you were gonna come with me to the clan meeting?”

“I thought I was too but I seem to have neglected my body’s daily dose of death-sleep, so I will have to decline your invitation this time. I will definitely go to the next one, I promise. I’m just very tired from all that work.”

“Then I guess I’ll get going. It’ll be your fault if anything happens to me when I see Lukas.”

Gabriel hugged one of the fringed couch pillows. “Nothing will happen. If you are in any danger the vampire marks will alert me and I will take necessary action.”

“How can you do that when you’ll be sleeping here?”

The vampire smirked devilishly. “Oh, I have my ways.”

Tony brushed him off coldly. “Whatever. I’m going. See ya.”

“Wait!”

Tony halted in the doorway. “Yeah?”

“Can you come here for a second? Please?”

Tony rubbed his chin nervously and decided to comply. When he got to the couch, Gabriel lifted the were-panther’s right arm, dragged his wrist slowly across his lips, and sniffed it as if it were some kind of exotic grandiose dinner. “Just one bite,” he whispered and sank his fangs into Tony’s flesh.

A wonderful feeling of amazing euphoria washed over Tony in warm blissful waves that crashed again and again, took him over the horizon of pleasure, and before he knew it, it had snapped back to himself when Gabriel unlatched his mouth and drew away with a crooked smile.

“Did you really need to do that?” Tony scowled, but his flaming cheeks told otherwise.

Gabriel responded teasingly, “Why, yes, as a matter of fact, I did need to do that. I was rather thirsty from cleaning your filthy house.”

“Just go to sleep,” Tony said blandly and slammed the door. His heart was thudding in his chest like a racehorse. When it had slowed down a bit, he went down the steps and walked a good hour and a half. The cloudless skies painted a beautiful salmon and robin-egg blue. When he reached the forest on the outskirts of town, he waded through thick brush until he found the clearing that all the were-panthers of the region gathered for days like this.

Tony noticed a plethora of familiar faces but also a separate crowd of people he didn’t recognize at all. He plastered on a fake smile and waved to everyone, and it was only a mother and her daughter who reciprocated the gesture when everyone fell silent as Lukas came into the front.

The scars on Tony’s back pulsated painfully as Lukas swept his dark scrutinizing gaze over the clan and shoved his hands in his pants pockets as he paced back and forth.

“You’re all probably wondering why I called for a meeting today,” he said unenthusiastically.

It was so quiet that the only sounds were that of the were-panthers’ breathing, a slight gust, and the shuffling of Lukas’s feet crunching on the thin layer of snow.

Tony watched in resentment as the murderer that led the entire clan spoke again. “I’ve gone ahead and talked with the neighboring clan, the Nightstalkers, and they’ve agreed to merge with us since they recently lost their Regis. However, they said that I must have a beta, and so I’m going to hold a tournament to see who’s worthy of the position. Anyone who wants to participate can come up and sign this form I’m setting on the table behind me. Note that the other clan will also be included in the fights so it will be a long process. I’m confident that one of you will win, though, so I’m not really worried. That’s all I wanted to say.”

He stood to the side as the crowd broke out in curious chatter and one by one, potential betas signed their names on the form. A long line formed and Tony bit his nails nervously as he joined, knowing full well that he’d just let Lukas down in the end. When it was his turn, he begrudgingly scribbled his name and went to join a group of people ready to leave when a hand hooked around his neck and pulled him away.

“Let go!” he yelled.

“Whoa, Tony, it’s okay, it’s just me,” the other person uttered.

“Mia,” Tony grumbled as he noted the woman’s usual outfit consisting of deadly pointed heels and a massive fur coat. Her wavy auburn hair was done in a neat bun atop her head and the deep scarlet of her lipstick gleamed as it caught the light of the moon bouncing off Tony’s watch.

“You look like you saw a ghost. Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah, I’m okay. What do you want?”

“Of course you think right away that I want something, which is true in most cases, especially this one. I want to know why you signed up when I know you hate fighting. You couldn’t even swat a fly, much less fight someone else.”

He averted his eyes and replied slowly, “I know. I hate fighting but this time I have to do it.”

“Why?”

“I just have to.”

“Can’t you be more specific? Is someone blackmailing you?”

“N-no, it’s something else…” Tony’s palms began to sweat.

Mia huffed. “I guess you won’t tell me no matter how many times I ask. That’s all right. I gotta go, anyway. I’ll give you a call sometime.” She wound her fluffy white scarf on her neck and winked at Tony before walking away.

He was very relieved when she left. He made his way out of the forest and to the city park where he sat on a bench and watched the small fountain spray water onto a family of ducks.

“Hey, it’s that guy from yesterday.” His ears perked as he heard a voice from the other side of the park.

Peering up, Tony came face to face with a young blond man clad in leather. Then he realized that there were two other people with him, and one of them happened to be the woman who beat the crap out of him, although she had a bruised eye and her one arm was in a brace.

He froze in panic, limbs turned to mush as fear chained him motionless.

Shit.

“It’s him!” the woman exclaimed coarsely.

The young man leered. “It is! That guy that had that other guy help him. Wow, we’re lucky tonight.”

Tony was paralyzed in terror. The part of him that wanted to fight back was being tied back to the wall of his mind by the part that cowered in fear. The man twisted his shirt collar in one hand and lifted him from the bench and into the air.