Not many vampires would rescue their assassin or feed him. Sebastian could kill the mage before his own heart even beat, but instead, he found himself in his clinic’s kitchen fixing him a plate of gooey cinnamon rolls. They were once a favorite of his.

After Sebastian loaded his tray up with the sweet treats and some hot chocolate, he wheeled the food cart down the hallway. Usually, the nurses handled their patients’ meals, but Sebastian didn’t want to traumatize Asher anymore than he’d already been. Despite being a hunter, Sebastian sensed the young man did it to survive. He couldn’t fault him for that either.

During his days as a human, Sebastian tended to many wounded hunters in the past and provided them all the delicious foods they needed. He followed in his mother’s footsteps to become a doctor in their world, and once he turned into a vampire, it gave him endless years to practice and study up on medicine. Sebastian even learned how to treat vampire patients, although there was a lot of curiosity about his own abilities too.

“Whatcha got there?” Castor rounded the corner, leaning over to catch a whiff of the cinnamon rolls.

“Food for that mage I found outside The Last Drop,” Sebastian replied.

“Ah, I heard about that. Vanita wants to rip your heart out for stealing a meal from her.” Castor adjusted his gold cufflinks. “Is he okay? From her account, they really roughed him up.”

“Yeah, but he lost a lot of blood. Turns out he’s a hunter.”

Castor’s brows shot up. “Seriously? Sent to kill you? And you’re helping him?”

“I promised him more gold than they offered if he’d help me instead to find this killer.”

Castor’s face soured. “Sebastian, that’s the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard. That mage is long gone by now, I’m sure.”

As they neared his room, Sebastian froze at the sight of blood on the floor. “Dammit.”

“Told ya.” Castor crossed his arms over his chest.

“Little weasel, I promised we wouldn’t hurt him here.” Sebastian abandoned the cart and snatched a wheelchair from the closet. “Let’s go get him.”

Castor frowned. “What? You don’t think he’s still around here, do you?”

“I do.” Sebastian rummaged through his pocket, producing the mage’s magically-imbued key to his jeep. “He’s not going anywhere without this.”

“Clever.” Castor mused.

They followed the trail of blood down the hallway, toward the left. It didn’t take long to find Asher staggering against the walls. Sebastian assumed he was trying to make it out the emergency exit.

“Well, you sure got far, didn’t you?” Sebastian came up beside him. “You’ve lost even more blood.”

Asher whipped his head around, caught like a trapped snow deer. He rubbed at his neck. “I just, uh, needed to stretch my legs.”

“Right.” Sebastian nodded. “You weren’t trying to escape at all. Look, if you’re that adamant about leaving, I won’t stop you. Take the wheelchair if you want.”

Asher blinked. “What? You’re letting me go?”

“I’ve never held you hostage. My clinic is here to help anyone in need.” Sebastian gestured around. “I want to make sure your blood pressure is back to normal before you leave, and I can’t imagine how lightheaded you must be. You haven’t regained your strength yet, and you lost even more blood.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think about that.” Asher gazed behind him.

“Just stay one night, okay? Then you can be on your way,” Sebastian replied.

“Why?” Asher glared.

“So you don’t kill yourself.”

“It’s my life, I can do with it what I please.”

“Just get in the wheelchair.” Sebastian groaned. “I even baked cinnamon rolls for you. Why would I bother if I just wanted to make you my blood slave? Which is illegal here, might I add.”

“You vampires are sneaky bastards. I don’t know what your game is yet.” Asher cautioned before sliding into the wheelchair, pouting. “For now, I’ll stay. But only because I’m hungry.”

“I see you’ve got your hands full with him.” Castor smirked, patting Sebastian on the back. “Good luck.”

Back in the room, Sebastian helped Asher get back into bed and served him his breakfast. Asher sniffed at the cinnamon rolls, then took a cautious bite. After assuring they weren’t poisoned, Asher scarfed the sweets down and sipped his hot chocolate, eyeing Sebastian with suspicion all while he ate.

“Did you make those?” Asher daubed at the corners of his sticky lips with his sleeve.

Sebastian nodded. “I did.

“They weren’t that bad for a vampire.” Asher scoffed, reclining his head against the pillow. “A little too gooey for my liking, but I was hungry.”

Sebastian glowered. “I should have mixed the rat poison in better.”

Asher choked on his hot chocolate, color draining from his face. “What?”

“Just kidding.”

“Not funny.” Asher shook his head, letting out a breath of relief. “So, about this killer.” He gripped his mug tightly in his hands. “Why do you think he’d pretend to be you and kill that child? What if they’re trying to wage a war between our kind? And you’re the scapegoat.”

“Well, he also masqueraded as Castor, my friend you met back there.” Sebastian pointed a thumb behind him. “He’s a member of the Sanguine Council, which worries me more if his clone killed someone last night.”

“Don’t forget, someone also ratted me out to your vampire buddies back at the Last Drop pub,” Asher pointed out. “I’ve come to Nevermourn plenty of times for information and nobody ever suspected my legal status. Only you seemed certain about it.”

“Like I said, I only caught on to your accent because I sought refuge in Valorath for a few years.” Sebastian raised his hands in mock surrender. “But yeah, that’s strange. It’s like we’re pawns in someone’s twisted game. They want us out here killing each other.”

“Or you’re just pulling the wool over my eyes.”

“You don’t have to trust me, but we can work together to find the real culprit. Isn’t that what they truly want from you? To find the killer of that child mage?” Sebastian asked.

“Yeah, I suppose.” Asher fiddled with the buttons of his nightshirt again, keeping his head low. “When will you release me?”

“Once everything looks normal. Just want to keep a check on your blood pressure,” Sebastian replied.

“How will this partnership work?” Asher asked.

Sebastian raised a brow. “What do you mean?”

“How will we contact each other? Where will we meet to share information?”

Sebastian rubbed his chin. “Wherever you feel most comfortable is fine with me. And when we need to share information, we’ll just come find each other. You can find me here at the clinic.”

“Sounds good to me.” Asher nodded.

“How can I get in contact with you?” Sebastian asked.

“You don’t.” Asher’s piercing glare darkened. “I’m the one who has to find this killer, and when I find something you need to know, I’ll come tell you. Or I can do weekly visits to update you of my findings. I work alone. Not with a partner. Everyone who hires me knows that.”

“Fine.” Sebastian crossed the room, sparing a glance out the window. “But if you don’t show up, I’ll hunt you down and-”

“I get it.” Asher interrupted, crossing his arms over his chest. “I won’t deceive you, okay? I just have a process when it comes to these things.”

Sebastian nodded, a sympathetic smile touched his lips. He’d heard horror stories of young mages, forced to become hunters when they could walk and wield their magic. Yet he wasn’t sure what kind of magic the mage possessed.

With Asher’s injuries and the condition he’d found him in, Sebastian wouldn’t be surprised by his magical energy dropping to drastic levels. Vampires fed off not only their blood when drinking directly from the source, but their lifeforce as well. While vampires could live sustainable lives on donated blood, there was that temptation of drinking right from the source, but if not too careful, it could easily drain their victim. Sebastian suspected that was those vampires’ intentions last night.

Sebastian checked his monitor. “There’s something I’d like to show you, if you’re up to it. I think it might connect to the murdered mage. We can keep you connected to the monitor and bring the wheelchair.”

Asher eyed him suspiciously with a frown. “Alright.” He took a cautious step out of bed, letting Sebastian steer him down the pristine hallway.

Despite how he insisted he was fine, Sebastian sensed his body was still struggling to recover the frenzied feeding from last night. Those vampires did a real number on him. Yet as Sebastian kept a close eye on him, he watched for telltale signs of his magic to surface.

Not all magical beings flaunted their magic as much as Castor, but Sebastian grew up around magic as a child. When they got into the elevator, Sebastian sensed a magical energy pulse around them; an invisible force field to protect him. Asher was on high alert. Yet he didn’t manifest his magic in a way Sebastian had ever witnessed before. He was certain Asher wasn’t a fire mage, but unlike wizards in their depths, they possessed a variety of different abilities.

“Are you taking me to the morgue?” Asher tensed up in the wheelchair when they arrived on their floor.

“Yes, but I want to see if you recognize someone,” Sebastian replied.

Sebastian produced his key from his pocket, unlocking the morgue for them both. Coldness seeped through Sebastian’s clothes, yet it bothered him none. Beside him, Asher shivered as Sebastian led him over to the metal table with a white sheet covering the deceased vampire. Sebastian tugged the sheet down to reveal the dead vampire’s face.

“Gods.” Asher recoiled. “Why do you think this dead bloodsucker is connected to the dead child?”

“After I was attacked by my friend’s clone, we found him outside the clinic entrance,” Sebastian replied. “Nobody’s been able to identify him yet.”

Asher cautioned a step closer, studying the vampire. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in the mountainside or at Last Drop. Wait, what’s that tattoo there on his chest?”

Sebastian frowned, lowering the sheet more. A tattooed cross with bat-like wings snaked over his heart. “Do you recognize it?”

“Yeah, I do.” Asher froze, color draining from his face. “This is the marking of a powerful coven in Izzacot.”

“Ah, so he’s from Valorath? I wonder what brought him down here. Probably traveled with our latest shipment from overseas.”

“Do you know what protective tattoos are made from?” Asher asked softly.

“Yes, magic. They’re imbued with it to ward off evil.”

“What do you think vampire tattoos are made from?” Asher wavered. “They use the blood of their victims to mix with the ink. That symbol is from a dangerous coven who sees folks like me and wizards and humans as nothing but blood slaves.”

Sebastian grimaced. “What was he doing here? Why did someone kill him?”

“That’s an excellent question.”

“Sorry, I just needed to see if you knew him. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

Asher scoffed. “It’s not like I’ve never seen a dead body, but that tattoo is concerning.” His amused smile faded, eyes darkening. “Those vampires are wicked bastards who will kill anything.”