Page 27 of A Sip of Sin

He gritted his teeth, disappearing into the nearest alley. Darkness wrapped around his skin, protecting him with shadow as he reached out with his senses. There was no one close by except the gentle snuffling of a rat in the dumpster one blockover. If he reached hard enough, he could sense Hollen, his heart beating so steady and soft. It was mesmerizing.

“Enough.” Munro shook his head.I need to get these thoughts out of my head.

There were wings hidden beneath his skin with feathers ready to burst forth as soon as he closed his eyes. He urged them out with a sound like shredded paper, his clothes dropping to the ground in a heap.

A prickling itch tickled over his skin as paleness gave way to lustrous black, his arms bending and snapping into shape. His fingers stretched, long-flight feathers arching into wings that he flapped, trying to balance as five toes became four, tipped with brutal talons.

To anyone watching, he would appear as a raven standing on a heap of clothes that someone had discarded. If they approached, curious about the biggest one of his kind that they’d ever seen, he would simply nudge their mind until they turned away.

He wasn’t sure how birds could stand it, his feathers like pins that tugged against his skin every time he moved. They were jet black, consuming the light from any stars and extinguishing them. His eyes were the only brightness, their usual blue and just as icy as they always were. He had seen himself so many times in this form that he knew where every feather lay, even the one on his tail that was shorter than all the rest.

Poking at his clothes with his beak and urging them into a small pile, he folded them over themselves, hopping from one side of the pile to the other. As soon as everything was as neat as it was going to get, he gathered what he could, taking off with a flap of wings.

A few feathers immediately floated free, drifting to the alley floor to get lost in the nearest muddy puddle. They were so similar to his hairs, a few falling out every time he brushed it.The form was one of a few he could take, but different from the legends of vampires who morphed into bats.

Even with his overly large wings, it was a struggle to get into the air with the extra burden, his muscles burning from the effort. He flapped until he caught a small breeze above the stillness of the alley, letting it take him.

A few raindrops flicked against his back as the wind picked up, the moisture rolling off him as quick as it landed. He angled his wings toward the moon, slipping closer to the teahouse with each flap.

There were only a few people on the street, their cars flickering below the lamps, and one lonely man walking his dog through the beginnings of a puddle. He turned his head away, focusing on the pitted street where his home lay as the clothes slowly soaked heavier.

He had no desire for the few he saw, not even to fill his rumbling stomach that ached.

Three short minutes passed before he landed in the darkness against the side of his teahouse, letting his feathers fall from his skin and into dust. Hunger gnawed at his belly from shifting when he had already pushed himself too far, his hands shaking at the force of it as he quickly dressed.

The clothes were damp from the rain as it picked up, the material clinging to his skin uncomfortably as he walked to the front door. His front display was showing its age, the tea dipping in the cup as it evaporated and leaving a stained ring behind. The small sandwiches looked hard, a bit of the sauce at the edge going dry as it soaked into the crust.

Rhys had always insisted that they should get a fake display that they wouldn’t have to change every night, scoffing at the tiny morsels that always went to waste. To Munro, nothing made life more real than the daily reminder of the expiration date of everything around him.

He slipped through the door, closing it behind him when he was met with silence. The followers in his murder always had a way of sensing his mood, steering clear when he was not at the house and only emerging during the all-clear. The dark dining room matched his thoughts, shadows clinging to the corners.

“Where have you been?”

Munro paused at the sound of Rhys’ voice, turning to where he was sitting at one of the shadowed tables. There was a slit of light from the exit sign that caught his eyes, making them glimmer with darkness.

Rage licked at the tips of his fingers, and Munro clenched his hand into a fist. “I didn’t realize I was under watch.”

He said it so savagely that Rhys flinched.

Rhys stood, his chair squeaking against the floor as he pushed it back. He had his phone in his hand again, the screen flickering as a video played. There was no sound this time—no screams.

“I’m worried about you, Covi—about all of us. I’ve been searching for more videos, and I’ve found so many.” Rhys brought the phone up, his face illuminated by the shifting light.

Munro’s gut clenched, fear and guilt settling over the rage.He’s only looking out for you and everyone else.Exposure had always been a risk as his followers made their way in the world, but things had been going so well.

The last time vampires had been exposed centuries before, they’d been hunted to the brink of extinction. He’d survived in hiding, living off scraps of whatever he could drink from while he planned his revenge.

The revenge had never taken place, his idea sputtering out when he realized that this wasn’t something he could do alone. Vampires weren’t the feared beings with a strength that legends feared. They werevulnerablein their own way, their immortality striking terror into their own souls.

But he never wanted to drink from a sparrow again or have the anxiety that every cracked branch was a hoard approaching. He had lost most of his strength then by simply staying alive. And it was within that dark chapter that he had met Rhys.

Rhys had been his only light for a long time. He was the first one to make him laugh after so much darkness, the longing between them undeniable at the time. Munro had grown out of it, but for Rhys, it was all he had known for so long.

“Let me see them,” said Munro, taking a breath to calm himself. What he had with Hollen was so new and fresh, but loyalty was forever. He knew Rhys would die for him a thousand times over.

Reaching for the phone, Munro skimmed over the paused video, hitting the symbol in the middle to start it. It was similar to the last one he’d seen, with a vampire feeding from a struggling prey, completely unaware of their surroundings. The next one Rhys had lined up for him was the same…and the next.

The faces were unfamiliar, along with the usernames, but the messages were all clear.Vampires exist.