Read Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1) for Free Online Page B

excited.” I muttered.
    “Be careful tonight, doubt she’s the kind to get over a
breakup like that.” I couldn’t remember the waitress’
name, but she seemed familiar. We must have known each other from
before my wanderings.
    I devoured my food and headed back out front. From just inside the
doorway I could soak up the heat and still keep an eye on both
directions. Occasionally I would glance towards the bar. Each time
Kahina was easily visible, talking to Julianne, or on a phone.
    By shift end, I wanted nothing more than to collapse at home. My head
felt heavy while both legs slowly dragged their cargo across the
parking lot. As a former enforcer, my constitution was good by
necessity, but exhaustion always caught up.
    My life had existed on the shady side of the world for almost two
decades. Experience had taught all about watching for warning signs.
Tonight I’d been on guard for clues, the way someone moved
their legs. Shifting weight, heavy staring over glasses. People
shaking hands, smiling, facial ticks, how many drinks someone had.
All of those things were details I’d sorted through in order to
protect Julianne’s place.
    There were warnings now too, even after shift. The stillness hanging
about. Dark patches that didn’t mesh with the night. Both were
warning signs of a sort. The real kicker was me disbelieving that
dealing with Kahina was that easy.
    With a small sigh, I sat down, picking the most convenient car hood
under a street light. One finger scratched at my disfigured nose. Now
it was a matter of waiting to see what showed up. If Kahina had
something to say it needed to be before I got to my sanctuary. There
was no one else that would be after me. Not after four years of
absence on my part.
    The stillness went on. I strained my hearing for additional clues. A
wolf would do better. My tricks were of a different nature. Being
between home and the bar would help. A method I had, that operated a
lot like the tracking, was necessary at this point.
    Calling on these abilities had been difficult over the last four
years. Like the tracking, this was a matter of focusing on a belief.
A mindset that brought everything to the fore.
    This was my area. Mine. My home, my sidewalk, my work.
    It had been so long since the last time. Years without so much a
peep. The heady rush of my thoughts shifting. A mental switch turning
everything upside down. A claim of ownership that required defending
that which was mine. This ability allowed me to go toe to toe with
wolves over debts.
    The response was similar to tracking Kahina’s lock of hair.
Tactile sensations fed it from everything around me. A low hum grew
in the back of my mind.
    Dense rubber presses against firmer asphalt. Tainted air swirls
through the parking lot. Laden with cigarette smoke and exhaust.
Streetlights barely warm the sidewalk below. Figures in darkness
displace air. Not breathing. Not moving. Silent. Small heat, scarcely
human.
    It was a tiny sense of omnipresence that almost felt like seeing the
world in daylight once my mind settled. There was someone nearby, and
it wasn’t mental paranoia. They were a few steps away from
Vampire. These partials would only lack a fraction of the speed and
power the fully converted received.
    Two were staring absently. Almost bored. The third looked right at
me. Female, all the curves I’d known far too well. Kahina.
    Her jaw smooth, firm. Eyelashes slowly bat. Orbs curving betray
where she looks. Towards me. Clothes absorb light. No reflections.
    If anyone says that vampires dress in all black because of their
affiliation with the night, it’s a lie. They dress in black
because it makes blending in and urban hunting easier. Hunting was
theoretically outlawed, and to the public eye it was only rare
abominations. Fully turned vampires tended to police their own rather
thoroughly.
    No matter what happened, I’d survive.
    She was still again, trapped in a motionless circle of thought. The
other two weren’t