The Vampire and Her Human Mate

7| Closing in

He stalked the man's social media for almost a week now. Beau saw that he was doing a book reading and signing for a business memoir he wrote, not too far away. Beau brushed his hair neat and put on his best suit, which was really only okay. He just needed to get near the man and then ask about her, anything to get how to contact her.

He had googled every way he could think - adding her name and Cordons. Europe. Scandinavia and every country adjacent or sharing a border. He tried to see if they were connected on any social media - even business networking ones. He found nothing, but really he had no idea how to find someone when you only knew their first name.

It was now Tuesday of the following week, and he had been dodging Jennifer's request for another date. He should just cut that off. If he wasn’t in it he knew he shouldn’t be stringing her along. That wasn’t fair. She was a wonderful person. But it was a conversation he wasn't looking forward to.

He grabbed his keys from the hall table as he was heading towards the front door. Toby and David, his other flatmate, were playing a co-op video game. Both had a free afternoon with no more classes for the day.

“Heya B.” David checked out his outfit. “You getting another job?”

Beau shook his head. “There's a book reading I’m going to, the speakers a big deal, so I thought this’d be…” He trailed off.

Toby sized him up. “What are you up to?”

Beau shifted from foot to foot, putting his key and wallet in his back pockets.

When Beau didn’t answer, he demanded, “Who’s the speaker?”

“Cordon Boucher.”

“You really have lost it man. Should I be worried? Should I call your sister?”

“What the f**k, Tobias?” He exclaimed.

Toby’s cheek twitched. “You tell me man? This is feeling very obsessive-ey.”

Beau drew his hand through his hair, messing it. “I just need closure. She can tell me to f**k off properly to my face.”

David watched the exchange, a worried look on his face. He looked at Toby who rolled his eyes.

“You don’t want to fuckin’ know man.” Turning back to Beau, “Look, you go do this crazy thing - and the second Cordons bodyguards are done stomping you into the ground, come home and get over that bitch.” Toby pointedly returned his gaze to the TV and the game they were playing.

Beau’s hands clenched dangerously. He let a breath out he didn’t realise he was holding as he relaxed his fists.

“Deal.” And with that he stomped out of the house.

~*~

He had to take 3 buses, but he got there before the talk was over. He hadn’t actually wanted to listen to it. He’d watched a few interviews with the man, and he was not impressed. The guy was a mega douche. It was kinda another mark of the cons side of his vixen - she associated with this ass hat. Both Becky and Toby thought she was a b***h from whatever interaction they’d had with her. And if he thought about it, she hadn’t been very nice to him either. Even with that knowledge, his desire to find her was not dimmed.

Part of him wondered if she’d be there, but it seemed too much wishful thinking, so he tried to quash it. But he kept on fantasizing about finding her and what that meeting would be like. A few times imagining the worst case scenario because he was also a realist - though most ended with her declaring her undying love for him.

He bought the book, so he could get it signed. $80! Fark… that was a big chunk of his money for the week. Ramen noodles for every meal, it was.

He waited in line - he looked ahead and could see the man was barely saying a word to the people who were getting him to sign their book. He barely even gave them a smile, and yet they all gushed like he was the second coming. Beau kept swinging between approaches to take.

Before too long he stood in front of him. The man was imposing, even sitting lower than Beaus height.

“Mr Boucher. I’m really looking forward to reading your book.”

“Uh huh,” he mumbled as he scribbled some words of nonsense before scrawling his signature.

“But really, I would like to discuss a business opportunity.”

Cordon looked up lazily. “That so?”

Beau could only assume this wasn’t the first time, even today, he had heard someone say that.

“I have need for a unique talent…” He hesitated. Cordon was lifting his hand to waive the next sycophant forward. Beau rushed on, “I’ve heard Bianca can work miracles.”

~*~

That got Cordon's attention. He sat back in his chair and assessed the younger man in front of him. Young, early twenties at best. Human. Cheap suit.

“You couldn’t afford her services,” he said sharply. That and they weren’t getting on terribly well at the moment.

“Not yet, but- you’ve heard of gain share?” Cordon looked at him like he’d just accused him of being a fish. “Of course you have. Well with my knowledge, and her services, I think we could all benefit greatly.”

Cordon was intrigued. “Tell me what it is.”

The other man shook his head. “Only once I have a meeting to assess if she would really be up to the task and her services are secured.”

Cordon laughed uproariously. This youngen was bold. “Boy, she’d eat you for breakfast.” He looked him up and down again.

The young man blushed. Oh jeez, what could this boy possibly have come across?

“If you can give me her contact detai-”

Cordon shook his head. “That’s not how it works. Give me your details and once I discuss it with her, my people will be in touch with, I guess, just you?”

The young man looked a little uncertain, but he nodded. He looked around and then just tore a page out of the book Cordon had just signed for him - half of his signature coming with it. “May I?” the young man reached for Cordon's pen. Cordon was so struck by the balls on this guy that he just handed it over.

“Here’s my number.”

“And your name?”

He hesitated. This piqued Cordon's interest even more- maybe this boy did have something. Cordon could hear the man's heart beat- it wasn't as confident as his outward appearance would suggest. He had been clever enough to do this in public and had been vague enough to be intriguing. Cordon was always looking for more, well, more of everything.

“The Fox.”

Cordon raised an eyebrow - he wanted to laugh again, but the man in front of him radiated so much earnestness. He was interested to see what he had. And if it was nothing, then he could just kill him later.

~*~

Beau walked as quickly away from the book store as possible. There had been something very wrong with that man. And while Beau had been playing at a business angle, that had felt very different. Every instinct had told him not to give his name. Thankfully, his mobile phone was pre-paid so it wasn’t in his name - though he imagined that there were still ways to trace it, he just hoped he'd made it enticing enough for the man to just set up the meeting.

He really hoped he was doing the right thing. Or at least not the dumbest possible thing.

~*~

"Anything?" Bianca spoke into her helmet she was wearing. She was on a motorcycle, clad in black from head to toe. She had a bluetooth earbud in her ear, so she could easily make and accept calls. She'd been back in the States for almost a week now. Everytime she stole herself to reject the human, she found her resolve disappear.

"Nothing," Rose spat. "He's being a real pill.”

Bianca watched Beau get off the bus. He’d already caught two f*****g buses. Where is he going? She had been stalking him for the entire time she’d been there. Whenever he left the house she wasn’t far behind, and when he was in the house she obsessively watched it.

“Nope.” Rose's word popped at the p.

“Prick,” she swore, and cut the call.

Bianca watched as Beau waited for his next bus. He was wearing a suit. It was humble but nice. He even wore a tie. Every now and then he would push his hair back, and she couldn’t help but imagine her own hands running through it. She hadn’t done that that night, and now she was feeling massive FOMO that she would never get to.

She'd hardly had any sleep, not that she needed much. And feeding, she could go months if she needed to, which was good because a few times now she tried and failed to drink blood. f**k, she thought, I shouldn't have drunk his blood. It was like trying to drink swill after tasting ambrosia.

Perhaps I just need to have him again, she thought, just one last time.

She followed the bus and then him once he was on foot. She pulled in up the road to his destination. A chill of fear spiked in her. She knew this address. This was the place where Cordon was doing his dumb ass book signing today. She kept tabs on him and always knew where he was going to be.

Why was Beau here?

She sat on her bike, nervously tapping her knee. Was it just a coincidence? She knew Beau worked at a library- she had dug up everything she could about him- was it so hard to think he would have business at a bookstore? He’s wearing a suit. A job interview maybe. She thought it too big a coincidence though. There was no way Cordon knew about him...

After almost 40 minutes, she saw him leave the store. He looked frazzled. He had something in his hand that he threw into the closest bin.

Seeing that he was going back to the same bus stop, presumably returning back the way he came. She did a U turn and quickly skipped over to the bin. Cordon's ridiculous face stared up at her as she peeked in. It was his memoir.

Dread settled into the pit of her stomach. Why would he approach Cordon? Was he looking for her? She thought it would have been easy for him to come to the conclusion that Cordon knew her. This was very bad. Cordon would be very interested in why some human man was looking for her. If he let slip of any intimacy it would throw up red flags. Cordon would know she would never be with a human… Aside from being a pompous ass, Cordon wasn’t dumb. He’d put two and two together.

She jumped back on her bike, her hands shaking slightly. She wanted to follow Beau to make sure he got home. She kept an eye out to see if there was a tail on him, and sure enough - there it was. A sedan with blacked out tinted windows. s**t. Whatever Beau had done had earned him Cordon's interest.

She waited until the most opportune time- she needed to make sure she wasn’t made while also getting the car away from him. She saw her moment. She weaved through the traffic, sidling up along where she would be in their blind spot. She pulled a nail from the pocket on her thigh. She often had to orchestrate flats to cause a marks car damage- a flat tire from a nail was easy to explain and not raise suspicion- a nail in a tire usually took a few days to flatten, but this one was designed to let more air out- but no one would notice- who took a nail out and scrutinised it?

She flicked the nail with amazing precision into the back tire- she knew from experience it would still take a while to deflate enough for them to pull over- this was only the first bus route, so she was hopeful it would cause them the intended problem once he was waiting for the next bus. Thankfully, it wasn't in the same direction of where he lived. She dropped back- she knew the route of the bus so she didn’t need to worry about being shaken herself- they had no idea she was following them.

A beep in her ear let her know she had an incoming call. She clicked the call accept button. “Now’s not a great time.”

“He just called.” Bronson's voice was on the line.

“What?”

"Just now. He wants to meet, discuss the delivery of the idol and a new business opportunity." He informed her.

A chill shot through her. There had never been a coincidence this big.

“Set it up and send me the deets. And Bron,” she waited for him to give a verbal indication that he was really really listening now. “Something's up. We need to be on our toes.”

“You got eyes on him?” He sounded surprised. She hadn’t said what she was doing just that it was recon.

“Sort of… I’ll explain more later. Get your butt over here. I have a feeling I will need your help on the ground.”

He gave an affirmative and they ended the call.

She smiled ruefully when she passed the pulled over sedan. A big burly man angrily kicking the tire with a mobile phone up to his ear.

~*~