The Vampire's Tainted Mate

Chapter 9: Night Off

For the first time in a couple of weeks, Logan had the night off from working. However, he didn't spend it working on his photography like he usually did. Instead, he had spent the last few days obsessing over the werewolf, who had encroached on their territory. Nothing else had been the primary focus of his daily tasks than the questions that had arose from the stalking beast. The pungent scent hadn't left his senses since the moment he had smelled it, and he had only noticed it more. He had spent days picking it apart into separate parts to try and hypothesize who it could be out of all of the packs around them.

He kicked his black bike to life and took off, sniffing the air to grasp onto the sliver of scent that was lingering in the crisp night air. The closer he got to the familiar nightclub, the stronger the scent became. The specific, pungent, smell became thick as fog and clouded his vision. His eyes shifted to a dark wine, and he tilted his head to sniff the cold night air once more, wincing and taking in where it was emanating from.

He didn't like the scent any more than his family would, but that was what drove him to find it. The carnal need to search and eliminate its source. A primal need that had been placed there since the moment werewolves and vampires coexisted within time and space. There had always been a feud between them. A territorial fight between monsters about who could hunt where. There had always been this frenzied need to feed and if they took too much prey, society would start to wonder.

Long gone were the witch trials and the Inquisition, but humanity's views did not die with those customs and practices. If anything, they flourished into hidden hate groups. At times those were far scarier than the public ones of the past. A beast never knew what a smiling face was hiding. One moment you were accepted and friends with a human and the next you were falling to their fate.

You were brought up to be aware of your surroundings and only the strong prevailed, while the weak faltered. And maybe that was one reason he was scared of getting close to Gwendolyn. He was afraid that she would hurt him as well in the process. A doubled edged sword for the two of them to fall on.

His motorcycle kicked up dirt as he sped towards the club, not wasting a moment of his time to reach it. Once he reached the busy parking lot, he swung his bike around to skid beside the wooded area that surrounded the perimeter of The Vixen. He parked and turned off his motorcycle before swinging his leg over the seat to head towards the forest.

He paused and sniffed the air, letting the disgusting scent invade his senses before taking off into the grassy area. Pine trees sprang up around him and the moonlight danced along the ground through the foliage. He licked his lips and let his fangs elongate at the dark fragrance. His eyes scanned the area, looking for any sign of a werewolf.

Logan surveyed every tree, looking for scratches in the bark or hair stuck on the rough texture but found the woods to be empty. He knew every tree held its own secrets and memory of what had transpired on the land for centuries before, but it was silent. The roots wouldn't budge, and the leaves dared to whisper a word about what had transpired there.

He growled in frustration as he made his way back out of the woods, freezing when he heard the sound of tires against the road. They sounded all too familiar to him and within a few moments a rich scent followed, one that he recognized as one of his family members. Suddenly, he saw Trix swing her obsidian hued sports car into a fast stop in front of him.

Logan peered up at her black window, unable to see inside of the car. He sighed and set his jaw, widening his stance and wondering what Trix had to say to him. She could have talked to him all day and yet she chose now to come after him. He could tell what she was about to say before she even rolled her window down. Logan braced himself for her question, hoping that she wouldn't push too far with it.

She rolled her window down, chewing on a piece of gum and blowing a pale pink bubble. Her fingers grazed the arm of her sunglasses before she pushed them down to peer at him, “What are you doing lurking outside the club on your night off?"

“I've been smelling a dog lately." Logan hadn't wanted to spill it to her, but he didn't want to lie to her. He liked to think that he was an honest man. At least as honest as he could be with people. That didn't count with humans.

He couldn't be truthful with them for fear that he would be captured and tortured by them. Mr. Morgan was enough of a reason for him to drill that reality into him. Vampires were far from safe. All creatures were far from it, but he could pretend they were and protect his own.

Trix raised her eyebrow at Logan, “Werewolves know better than to come around their kin."

The way that Trix brushed his words off like they meant nothing irritated him beyond reason. He was aware of the fact that werewolves knew better than to come around vampires, much like they had the same awareness, but clearly this one didn't play by the rules. Logan set his jaw and stared at her, letting his gaze pierce through her chest.

“I'm incredibly aware of that, Trix!" He blew up at her before calming down and running a hand through his dark hair with a hand on his hip. He paced a moment before stopping to take him hand from his hair and gestured with it, “But for whatever reason there is one stalking around here." Logan flashed his gaze up to capture hers'. His eyes glowed bright red as he let a growl rip through between his clenched teeth, punching towards the ground with his index finger, “But I'll be d*mned if I lose my family to such a beast!"

Trix peered down and softly laughed, running the tip of her tongue along one of her short fangs. She took a deep breath and sighed, keeping herself from mentioning the woman who had showed up to the club a few nights ago. The woman clearly had made a mark on her brother, but she wasn't going to let Logan know about it. Clearly, it wasn't just about a werewolf walking onto their property. It was well beyond that.

“If you're not careful, you'll lose your mind. Not that you haven't already, brother." Trix shoved her sunglasses back up with a shrug and smug expression, knowing that it couldn't be just about wolves. “Now, I have to work, but when you get done playing around in the mud... Cleo has a new customer for you."

Logan sighed, nodded, and grumbled, “So much for my night off. I'll be on my way in a minute."

“Good," Trix drove off to park so she could start her bar shift for the night.

Logan looked around a bit more, trying desperately to find evidence but, again, he found nothing of importance. Frustration over the whole ordeal filled him and made him growl and huff. He wanted to know where the scent was coming from and what pack would be brave enough to walk onto their territory when they knew better.

Logan's clan had made a pact with the werewolves about coming around to their lands, but clearly it was being breached by someone. He didn't know which one would betray them like this, but he was determined to find out. There were only so many wolf packs that lived in the area. So, he only had a few to choose from. It wouldn't take him long to weed out which one it was, but he hoped that the wolf came to him first.

He pulled his phone from his back pocket and ran his thumb against the smooth screen to unlock it. It took him a few moments to go into his contacts to grab the one person he knew could tell him about the contract. He needed to know what happened if the other party were to breach it. That way he would know whether he break some bones to scare them off or do something less drastic? It was a very thin line to cross, and he didn't want to cause more trouble than he needed to.

Suddenly the scent picked up again, this time dancing with Gwen's beautiful and feminine one. Jealousy and the urge to protect and become possessive of Gwen soared through his veins, making the corner of his lips curl up in a deep growl. It emanated from his chest to his lips, causing his fangs to become longer. It was a primal need that took him over and confused him. He could care less about the dog who stalked their territory. It was the fact that the werewolf seemed to be lingering around her.