It hadn't been something he'd expected since vampires and humans don't band together in groups like street gangs or brotherhoods. Humans are too unpredictable, and vampires could not take the risk of being found out. With that said, why was a young vampire running with a bunch of humans?

  Why was he homeless on the streets of Pittsburgh when all he had to do was present himself to Master Hadden, and he would be taken care of? Also, why did he run from them? He must have known they were vampires, and yet he ran with fear in his eyes? Again, these were all questions only the young man could answer, so Thayer followed the thin trace of his scent that still hung in the air.

  "Teo, wake up." Teo came awake with a start, ready to either fight or run depending upon the situation, but it was just Morley leaning over and tapping him on the arm. "We're leaving before sunup; Jackson isn't certain that we're secure here, so we need to go."

  Morley moved on, and Teo jumped down from the box he was sitting on and stretched. He was growing very tired of sleeping sitting up, but lying down brought its own discomforts with creepy things crawling over him and other unwanted guests showing up.

  Everyone was moving toward the far wall with Jackson in the lead. Teo brought up the rear, keeping his attention on their surroundings and listening outside. There was something there; a shade of something was present, but he couldn't identify what it might be. It didn't feel dark or malevolent; it was just different, and it was grabbing his attention. Jackson was not aware and led them out through the gaping hole in the wall.

  Teo was toying with the idea of disassociating with the Nadir and trying to make his way to New York. The Covens in New York were small, elite, and exclusive and would not bother with him.

  They weren’t interested in rogues and could not give two shit if a singular vampire made his way through town as long as they did not interfere or try to gain entry to their gated, locked, and private communities. He paused at the opening in the wall and reached out to feel the air and what was out there.

  There was a paranormal in the area, but he couldn’t tell how close or how long ago that they were there. It was a subtle scent, and considering that Pittsburgh was seventy-five percent paranormal residents, the likelihood of one happening was high. It wasn't anything to worry about.

  “Hurry up.” Jackson snapped at him, and he stepped out of the warehouse and followed the group back up the alleyway toward the building they'd vacated last night. He was confused as to why Jackson wanted to go back there. The men and vampires from last night could still be there.

  Everyone stopped when one of our number stepped out of the underbrush and walked up to Jackson. He posted a guard, which was smart and unexpected for a man like Jackson, who was not known as a great thinker or strategist.

  He spoke softly, but Teo had no difficulty hearing. He informed Jackson that the place had been leveled and one of the men had walked the alleyway as if looking for something or someone, but he assured Jackson that he found nothing, and the man had subsequently left.

  The sun was just now on the horizon, and Teo needed something other than this bunch right now. He moved to his right with the intention of disappearing for a little while between a couple of abandoned structures, but Jackson suddenly focused on him. After last night, Teo had planned to keep clear of Jackson, but he was going to make that difficult. Teo was not interested in a relationship or a one-off or whatever it was Jackson had in mind.

  "Teo, come up here," Jackson ordered, and everyone turned to look at Teo. His desire to fade into the shrubbery was completely dashed as he slowly moved to the head of the pack and stood before Jackson. "Walk with me." He said, and Teo fell into step beside him, feeling all kinds of uncomfortable.

  Silence remained for several minutes until Jackson began his questioning on a subject Teo had forgotten about. "When you joined us, you claimed to be gay. I posed a direct question, and you answered. It was part of the reason you were accepted." He took a long breath, filled with a sense of drama, before continuing. "Now you tell me you are straight. Which is it, and be careful with your answer?"

  Teo would not be threatened by this egotistical human and responded in a manner clearly not expected. “I’m gay but not gay for you.” Jackson rounded on him immediately and reached out as if to grab him by the throat, which Teo easily avoided. Before they could continue, four men came at them from one of the abandoned buildings on their left, and a full-out brawl ensued. Unfortunately, this kind of thing was common amongst the street dwellers.

  Jackson soon forgot about Teo's insubordination and was busy defending himself against a brute twice his size. Teo finished the guy who came at him, leaving the large human bleeding and unconscious, and then moved to lend Jackson a hand. It was unnecessary since Morley clocked the guy over the head with a two-by-four, and he went down with a thud and didn't get up again. The other two took off, not certain now of their success. Jackson kicked the guy a few times and then put his arm around Morley, pulling him close.

  "I know who my real friends are." He said as if thinking it was a slight to Teo. Teo dropped back to the rear of the group and was relieved Jackson's attention was now focused elsewhere. It wasn't that he was unattractive. It was just he came off as somewhat ridiculous.

  His self-appointed position as leader of this group was more performative than constructive. What Morley did for him, Teo doubted that Jackson would have done the same. Jackson was egocentric and took care of himself first and to hell with anyone else. Teo really didn’t see himself becoming the bitch of such a man.

  They left the two men where they lay and moved on with no real destination in mind other than dealing with whatever presented itself. Each day was like the last, and Teo longed for the day he could move on, but it didn't look as if today was that day. With no money and no way to leave town, he was stuck for now.

  Thayer followed them from the warehouse back up the alley, keeping his attention on the one in the back, the vampire in the group. He seemed out of place; although visually, he resembled the others, he still stood out to anyone who paid attention. Thayer moved closer when the four derelicts confronted them, but his assistance was unnecessary. Between the vampire and the kid with the two-by-four, they were laid out rather quickly. They continued down the alley toward the center of the lowlands, where a few business and charitable organizations were located.

  The leader of the group seemed distinctly unsuitable for the job, but the group of eight followed him and responded to his orders. The young vampire was named Teo. He heard the leader call him out and pull him forward; the interaction was tense and volatile but was dispensed with once they were attacked by the four humans. He wondered about their relationship, although it looked obviously strained, and Teo did not appear to hold him in the same regard as the others.

  Thayer wasn’t sure why he continued to follow them. Something was urging him to continue to follow and to observe the young vampire with the desperate stare. He stayed with them, watching them from afar until early afternoon.

  He needed to figure this out, and to do that, he needed to check in with Zac. He was still a Cyprian Knight, although no longer affiliated with the Enchantment. Some of his abilities were removed, but not the ability to travel at the speed of light on thought and air.

  The ability had abandoned them for a few months after leaving the enchantment but then, all of a sudden, came back. Thayer was certain it was his favorite of all their enhancements. He'd gotten used to its expediency over the centuries, and it was grating to suddenly have to walk or drive everywhere. After spending centuries traveling on air, it was damn hard to have to try and give that up. But it was back, and both he and Marek thanked the Gods for their generosity.

  He went from the rundown streets of the lowlands to a hallway near the IT department in record time by simply folding the air and stepping out at his destination; he loved it. The IT department was in the basement of the Hadden Center and was absolutely state-of-the-art. Nik spared no cost when it came to technology, and with Cole Fairfield on his team, the miracles were endless.

  "Hey, where have you been?" Thayer heard the voice and turned to face Josef, the second in command and someone Thayer had grown close to. They had a lot in common, both personally and professionally.

  He gave him a rundown of the situation in the lowlands and the possibility of magic attempting a foothold there. Then he explained the gang of street kids and the one who stood out, Teo. He didn't tell him that Teo was a vampire. Something told him to find out more about the situation before he shared too much about the young man.

  "He doesn't belong, and although I followed them for several hours, I didn't discover much. It's hitting me wrong, so I want to see what I can find out. Hopefully, Zac can help me. I only have a first name." Thayer explained.

  "Zac can do wonders with a first name," Josef assured and then cocked his head to the side and gave Thayer a look of speculation. "What is it about this street kid that has you engaged?" Thayer didn't have an answer to that at first, and then it hit him.

  “His eyes.” He replied.

  “His eyes?” Josef pushed.

  "Something about his eyes," Thayer responded thoughtfully. "When he looked at me as he was running away, I saw sadness and despair, and I'd like to help him if I can." Josef nodded. He understood that sometimes you have to try and do what you can, even if it isn't your problem.

  "Good luck then, and if I can be of assistance, let me know."

  “Thank you, I will.”

  They’d spent the day in the warehouse district after getting a meal at the Green Briar, a defunct restaurant that now served as a meal delivery location for a local charity. They serve meals there three times per week, and the food was surprisingly, okay. Teo had his doubts the first time he bit into a ham and cheese on white bread, but it was fresh and flavorful, and who could ask for more than that.

  They were back at the warehouse they had stayed in the previous night and were sitting around and sharing a few snacks and pieces of fruit that they had stolen over the course of the day. Teo wasn't usually a proponent of thievery, but when it came to survival, a man had to do what a man had to do. He sunk his teeth into the juicy apple and appreciated every mouth full. He'd been hiding out for nearly a year now, and he'd begun to notice a distinct weight loss occurring.

  In the beginning, it was slower, maybe a pound or two every couple of months. Recently, in the last couple of months, he noticed the weight loss had started to escalate, and he was down thirty pounds since this odyssey began. He wasn't sick or weak, so he wasn't losing muscle, for which he was thankful.

  If he could make it to New York, maybe his life would start to even out, and he could get a job, and no one would care that he looked like Teo Wentworth from the Wentworth Coven in Baltimore. He could settle down and live . . . maybe. He decided that he needed to change his name and get out of this town when he noticed that Jackson was starting to look at him with that hungry expression again. Humans had no fucking emotional control. Teo rolled his eyes and looked away.

  "What did you find?" Zac had messaged Thayer to meet him in his office as soon as possible. Thayer assumed it was in relation to his request to find what he could on the street kid named Teo. It was late evening, and Thayer was surprised Zac was still working on his request. It's not like it was urgent. But Zac was someone who could not let go of a mystery, so the Teo situation must be interesting.

  "I fed what you gave me into the ID program that Cole designed, and it gave me several hits." Thayer took a seat next to Zac as he flipped through screens on his monitor, pointing out several possible frontrunners for who is Teo. "As you can see, there aren't many Teos in the U.S. It's not a popular name by far and definitely not in the age range of late teens or early twenties that you specified." Zac continued to explain absently as he continued to scroll, and then he stopped.

  Thayer stared at the screen as Zac enlarged the obituary notice for a Teo Wentworth from Baltimore, Maryland, age twenty years. "Obituary?" Thayer said the word confused, as Zac brought up the picture of the young man. "That's him; that's the young man I saw with the street gang."

  "His name is Teo Jensen Wentworth, youngest son of Rodrick D. Wentworth, owner, and CEO of Wentworth Shipping Industry." Zac clarified and then continued. "I thought the name was familiar, so I went a little deeper into the dark side of the web and found Master Rodrick D. Wentworth of the Wentworth Coven of Baltimore, Maryland. Your Teo is a vampire."

  “How did he die or claim to die?” Thayer asked.

  "Death by misadventure is what was stated with no details," Zac responded and then pulled up another notice, which was equally shocking. "There was a body and a burial."

  "That is the boy I saw, and he is not dead by any means, but with that said, who provided the body, and why is he pretending to be deceased?" Thayer sat back in his chair.

  "Your street kid is a vampire?" Zac asked, and Thayer nodded.

  "Let's keep that between us, if you will. I don't want to out this kid if it is in his best interest to stay hidden." Zac agreed.

  "I'll send you everything I have, and you can go through it. Maybe you'll notice something I didn't. I will also keep searching. I have a feeling the answer to your question is in the shipping business, so I'm going to start there." Zac got back to work, and Thayer headed to the door.

  “Don’t you have a beloved to go home to? It’s getting late.” He kidded.

  "Roman is meeting me here in an hour, and we have plans for a late dinner." Zac shot back with a smile.

  “Enjoy.”

  “I will.” He bounced his eyebrows, and, in that moment, Thayer knew that dinner was just the beginning of their evening. He quickly left with a smile, a nod, and just a hint of jealousy.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “We have another signal prompting that puts magic energy in that warehouse down the alley from the building we razed last night." Marek alerted Thayer. "You up for another night of hide and seek?" He said with just a touch of sarcasm.

  "Yes, I am," Thayer responded and fell into step beside Marek.

  "We'll meet Noori on site." He said, and they both turned into the air current and, within seconds, stepped out onto the main floor of the old warehouse. "I love the expediency of air travel." Thayer quipped.

  "But it's not always feasible when you're leading a group of soldiers who do not have that ability, unfortunately." Marek smiled. They noticed Noori by the north wall with several of the street kids. Not all had been able to escape; this time, his soldiers held three of them and were currently being questioned and subtly checked for magic influence. None of the three were his Teo. They were all human and quite terrified.

  Marek headed over to Noori, but not before glancing at a haphazard pile of wood and boxes against the back wall. Thayer nodded, having felt the presence just as Marek had. Marek continued on his way, and Thayer casually began to back up slowly while appearing to look in the opposite direction. He shielded his presence so as not to be observed as he drew ever closer to where several of the kids were hiding, and among them was the vampire.

  Teo was trying to cloak them all so that humans and other paranormal beings would not notice them without deliberate concentration, but he and Marek were not your average paranormal beings. Teo's power was stretched thin as he attempted to protect those around him.

  Once he was close enough, Thayer made himself visible and tossed the broken shelving away from the front of their hidey-hole. It was instant chaos as everyone ran in a different direction, which was probably standard, so not everyone gets caught, but Thayer had eyes on only one. Teo tore off in the direction of the back door, and Thayer was right behind him, letting him go but following close, and then Teo turned back to look at him while running, and that ended the chase.

  Teo wasn't watching where he was going and traveling too fast to course correct at the fatal moment as he ran headlong into a reinforced steel wall that jutted out behind the warehouse. He hit hard and flew backward from the impact, landing with a thud on the ground at Thayer's feet.

  Thayer looked down at the young man's gentle, soft, and beautiful features and began to feel the rush of awareness wash over him. He crouched down and pushed the silky blond hair away from his eyes. They were closed. The impact had knocked him out, which was impressive, considering what it took to knock out a vampire.

  His breathing was steady, and apart from being unconscious, he was not injured. Marek came and crouched down next to him. "Vampire?" He asked, clearly confused by what he was looking at.

  "Yes, young vampire hiding among the street kids," Thayer stated softly while studying the man's every feature and marveling at his beauty.

  "Take him with you. Get him out of here. We'll discuss this later." Thayer realized Marek read the situation just as he had and wanted to protect the young man. "Go, I'll cover for you. Get him somewhere safe."

  Thayer picked him up and cradled him in his arms for a moment and then abruptly shifted his gaze to Marek. “What is it?” He asked, sensing a sudden urgency in his expression.

  “He’s my inamorato." The word came out slowly and dripping with amazement. Marek's eyes shot wide, and then he smiled.

  "That's fantastic, my friend." Marek slapped him on the shoulder. "Take him and guard him."

  "With my life," Thayer added absently but with conviction. He turned, and in a heartbeat, he was standing in the living room of his apartment located over the Imperial Club. He stood there for several minutes, just holding Teo and staring down into his face. He had no idea that the draw and the interest were all tied to the fact that the young man belonged to him.

  Teo had protected himself from being found out, and whatever he used had muddied the waters enough to cover the fact he was Thayer's inamorato. Thankfully, it didn't hold up under close scrutiny, and once Thayer saw him up close and held him, the truth was set free.