Cunningham, Pat - Legacy [Sequel to Belonging] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Pat Cunningham Page A

problem. There’s no point in putting your friends in danger. Just so we’re clear on everything.”
    “We’re good,” she said. That was half true. One of them was good. Jeremy had Wallace to scratch his itches. But hey. Colleen dealt with preschoolers on a daily basis. She’d get through it. She was tough.
    The second this mess was over, she resolved to seriously start dating again.

Chapter 7

    They left her car at the curb out front and took Jeremy’s. The world looked so different from last night, with everything shiny and normal. Especially the people, with their laughing, fangless mouths. Colleen caught herself staring at teeth and looked at the dashboard instead.
    She said, “Vampires are real.”
    Jeremy glanced at her, his eyes full of sympathy. “I’m afraid so.”
    “How about werewolves?”
    “Them, too. There aren’t many packs around here. They like to be near woods. I’ve seen coyotes, though. They’re more adaptable, and they love the beach. I’ve heard there are cat-shifters in LA, but I only ever met one. A jaguar. Man, was he finicky.”
    “Demons?”
    “They’re rare, but they’re out there.”
    “Zombies?”
    “Never met one.”
    “Ghosts?”
    “Never met one of those either, but I know people who have.”
    “Aliens?”
    He chuckled. “Don’t be silly.”
    She couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. He spoke so matter-of-factly about knowing monsters from creature features. Heck, he lived with one. Slept with one.
    “How’d you get involved with Wallace? Did he sneak up behind you and bite you or something?”
    “Hardly. He doesn’t bite humans, as a rule.” He shot her a furtive glance, as if he wanted to trust her with something monumental. More shocking than sleeping with a vampire?
    “I met him on my last job,” he said, his gaze trained on the street beyond the windshield. “He was a client of mine.”
    “Right. The customer service job.”
    “That’s one way of putting it. I used to be a prostitute.”
    They had come to a red light. He looked her straight in the eyes when he said it, without a hint of humor or deceit. “There used to be a brothel in San Rudolfo that catered to what we call ‘nightsiders.’ Vampires, werewolves, demons even. I’ve slept with a lot of things you don’t believe in. I won’t apologize for it. I like vampires, and I needed a job.” The light changed. Jeremy took off at an even speed. “I don’t do that anymore, though. Wallace likes to keep me all to himself, and I don’t mind letting him.”
    Okay, w-a-a-a-a-a-y too much information. Colleen edged up against the passenger door, her desire effectively squelched. Perhaps that had been his intention. “Is there anything else I should know?”
    “Let’s see. Vampires, prostitution—no, I think we’re covered. How about you? You hiding any secrets?”
    “I grew up in a hippie commune, I’m psychic, and I was adopted. Those are the biggies. You’ve got me beat by a long shot. If I think of anything else, I’ll tell you. Promise.”
    His revelations put an end to further conversation. They arrived at Colleen’s apartment building wrapped in uncomfortable silence. Colleen couldn’t help staring around the parking lot, at one spot of blacktop in particular. No stains. Certainly a man stabbed through the heart with a wooden stake would bleed all over the place. There did appear to be smudges that might have been ash. She hastily looked away again.
    Yet another concern reared its paranoid head outside her apartment door. “What if they got in? What if they’re in there right now, waiting for us?”
    “They aren’t,” Jeremy assured her. “Vampires can’t enter a private dwelling unless they’re invited in. That’s why they had to call you outside.”
    His prediction proved correct. Colleen’s wary glance inside revealed her apartment just as she’d left it, slippers under the coffee table and everything. No signs of a break-in, no sense of menace. With a sigh