who didn’t care who overheard what. They figured, rightly, humans didn’t see what they didn’t want to see or hear what they didn’t want to hear. Out of context, most of their conversations came across as normal-ish.
The prickle of energy dancing across his skin informed him they were vampires, which perked his ears.
“We moved here to get away from danger,” a woman was saying. “This place is the opposite of safe.”
“The past few years have been quiet,” the man argued. “This too shall pass.”
“The children…” She stared off in the distance. “We’re taking a risk by bringing them here.”
“That’s why we’re going to stay, embarrass them in front of their friends, and make sure they come home safe.” He took her hand. “Peace, Gertie. Our little ones are protected.”
“Twyla’s parents thought so too,” she said softly, fear bright in her eyes.
The man pulled her into his arms, and they stayed like that until it was their turn to order.
“Clan Willis,” Addie said when they were out of hearing range. “I recognize them.”
“How many fosters do they have?”
“The numbers are a closely guarded secret, but they adopt more often than most clans.”
“I wonder why that is.”
Adoption of human children wasn’t a crime, but some of the things vampires got up to with the ones they collected kept him up at night after working particularly disturbing cases.
“Cass says it has to do with how Ari had three younger sisters. There was an older sister too, but she married poor, for love, and had three kids of her own. She couldn’t afford more mouths to feed, so Ari and the others were put into different orphanages. Only two of the girls got adopted. Ari and the next eldest. They were then both sold by their adoptive parents to different brothels.” Addie’s lips thinned. “Ari never found their other sisters. She doesn’t know what happened to them. So, when she became the master’s wife, she talked him into encouraging other vampires in their clan to adopt siblings to keep them together.”
“That’s a beautiful story, if it’s true.”
“We keep an eye on them.” Addie rubbed her arms. “I want to believe there are good and decent people out there who want to help children…”
“…but selflessness is often a mask for selfishness,” he finished for her. “Those kids are lucky to have you watching over them.”
A ripple moved through the crowd, an unconscious parting of the sea of humans, and chills blasted up Boaz’s spine as four vampires prowled the stalls filled with arts and crafts.
“Boaz Pritchard,” Jean Patel barked. “What are you doing in Bumfuck, Florida?”
Jean Patel, of Clan Patel, was not the sort of vampire anyone with an ounce of common sense wanted to meet in a dark alley. He was a bruiser with a vigilante strike a mile wide, a wet works man for any clan who could afford his fees.
“Patel.” Boaz didn’t smile. “The same as you, I imagine.”
Very few vampires hunted their own, but Patel gathered them to him. They were a band of rogues masquerading as a clan in order to keep the Society and the Undead Coalition, the ruling body for vampires, out of their business.
“You know him?” Addie snarled under her breath. “Why didn’t you mention that?”
“We’ve met,” Boaz admitted. “I haven’t seen him in years.”
“Next time,” she grumbled, “I expect a heads-up.”
He met a lot of unsavory characters in his line of work, and the events surrounding those meetings were often confidential. There was no guarantee he could tell her all of what he knew under any given circumstances. That included who he knew.
The nature of her job must require similar restrictions. They would have to sit down after this and come up with a plan for what was and wasn’t fair game. It would require them both to be willing to trust, which wouldn’t come easy for either of them.
This relationship stuff was not for the fainthearted. No wonder he had avoided it for so long.
“I came to visit my fiancée.” Boaz shook Patel’s hand. “What brings you to town?”
“This isn’t a town. This is a speedbump between Jacksonville and Gainesville that someone decided to decorate with houses.” He cut his gaze toward Addie then shook his head. “Figures you would find your ideal woman out here in the sticks. You had to search every hole in the ground to find someone who hasn’t heard about your reputation.”
The dig shouldn’t have hurt. Not when it was partly the truth. But it did.
“Oh, I’ve heard the gossip.”