Crimson and Glitter Stephani Hecht

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.Otherwise, the other vampire would have seen just how much of an effect he had on his instructor.“Thank you.I hope that someday I can be as good as you are,” Carlos said.“Who knows, you may just get better than me.”Carlos ducked his head a bit.“Naw…everybody knows that you’re the best.You’re a legend amongst sharpshooters and wannabes like me.”Jayce knew he should have been pleased with the praise, but it only served to remind him what a big target he was.If it wasn’t somebody who wanted to take him out so they could claim the number one slot, then it was a relative of one of his former targets looking for vengeance.Either way, he had to live his life always looking over his shoulder.Which was a sucky way to live.Not too long in the past, Jayce had lived a carefree life, going from one party to another.Those days were way behind him, though.Now, he mostly stayed in for fear of being caught off-guard and killed.It wasn’t exactly the best way to live.It was a lonely and sad life.Which was the main reason why Jayce had taken on this job.With it came some security, and he could actually interact with others without worrying about one of them going for his throat…for the most part.There were still a few jerks around, no matter where Jayce went.But he’d quickly learned who those were and had avoided them for the most part.Walker, one of the other instructors, came over.He was all muscles, had his dark hair in a buzz cut, icy blue eyes and a menacing look about him.Jayce’s first impression of the guy was that he was a meathead soldier type, but Jayce had quickly found that he had been wrong.Walker was as big a rule breaker and cut-up as Jayce.So the two had become fast friends.“How’s it going?” Walker asked.“Fine.Where are your students?” Jayce asked.“They’re sparring right now.” Walker let out a yawn.Alarmed, Jayce asked, “Shouldn’t you be supervising them? What if one of them gets hurt or something?”Walker shrugged.“Then they’ll learn from their mistake.It’s not like I gave them real weapons or anything, and we are immortal.So it’s not like anybody is going to get killed.They may just get an ouchie or two.”“And they call me the irresponsible one,” Jayce drawled.“You have that award tied up and in the bag.”“Hey, they told me to teach them to fight.They never told me to be their nursemaid.That’s two entirely different things.You want to ditch this place and go get something to eat?”Jayce was aghast, which said something since it took a lot to shock him.“No! I have students with live rounds here.I can’t just walk away and leave them unsupervised.”“You sure can be a buzzkill sometimes.”Jayce gave a half-laugh.“I think that’s the first time I’ve ever been accused of that.Usually, my friends are telling me to rein it in a bit.”Walker shook his head.“Okay, I’ll let you off, but only if you promise me something.”“What?” Jayce asked warily.If there was one thing he’d learned about Walker, it was not to trust him whenever he said only if you promise me something.Walker always had something up his sleeve.Be it having somebody else doing his laundry for a week or worse, cleaning out his car.Jayce had gotten himself stuck doing that once, and he still had nightmares from that experience.Jayce never knew that so many different types of fungi existed until he’d seen them in Walker’s vehicle.And the smell…oh god, don’t even get him started on that.It had smelled worse than a hundred corpses that had been left outside to rot for a week or two.Walker held his hands up in surrender.“It’s nothing bad this time, I promise you.You’ll probably even like it, if you let yourself loosen up a bit.”Jayce decided to let the loosen up comment slide.“Okay, I’ll bite.What do you want me to do?”“Get your head out of your ass and hook up with that Carlos student of yours already.I’m getting sick of watching you moon over him all day.”Jayce jerked in shock.“Have I been that obvious?”“Only to me and that’s because I’m your friend and I know the look you give when you want a taste of somebody.Trust me, you’ve been giving it to Carlos in spades.The only thing missing is your tongue hanging out while you pant over him.”Jayce ran a hand through his short hair.“As much as I would love to, I can’t, and we both know it.Carlos is my student, and that means he’s hands off.”Walker cocked a brow at him.“Says who?”“The nice big rule book they gave us when we hired on to work here.”“Awww…nobody pays attention to those damn rules.” Walker made a shooing motion with his hand.“I’ve known of tons of cases where instructors have gotten up close and friendly with their students.”“I’m sure you have,” Jayce shot back sarcastically.“Yeah, I’ve even done it myself a few times.”“You have not.”Walker suddenly grew serious, the smile fading into a stoic expression.“Hey, we’re friends, right? I would never lead you down a path that would get you in trouble.I’m not that type of person.Would you trust me to have your back if we went into battle?”“Of course I would,” Jayce replied, not missing a beat.“Then trust me on this.”Jayce still hesitated.“I don’t know.Carlos has never shown any interest in me.What if I make a move on him and he gets insulted and reports me? It’s just too risky.”Walker let out a chuckle.“Oh, he wants you all right.I’ve seen the way he stares at you when you’re not looking.It’s like he’s a dog and you’re a piece of rawhide that he wants to take a bite out of.”“That’s the second time you’ve made a dog reference.You sure you’re a vampire and not a werewolf?”“We all have our secrets,” Walker said ominously.“Besides, we’re not talking about me.We’re discussing you and Carlos.”Jayce stared hard at Walker.He’d heard of hybrids before, but they were very rare.Since vampires and werewolves were at war and hated each other for as long as anybody could remember, they didn’t exactly get cuddly with each other very often.Hybrids were shunned and never accepted.So if Walker was indeed one, he would either have to be related to somebody high up in the council or a damn good soldier.Otherwise, there would be no way that he would be welcome within the ranks of the League, let alone be trusted to train the new recruits.Jayce was beginning to wonder if he truly knew Walker at all.Yet at the same time, he still would trust the man with his life.It was a strange mix of emotions that left Jayce’s head spinning.Walker looked at the clock on the wall.“Ah, we don’t have time to run away.It’s close to the dismissal.I guess I better go back and see how bad the bloodshed is in my area.”Jayce shook his head as he watched Walker go away.Could he really be a hybrid? That would explain why he was more muscular than other vampires [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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