Page 64 of No Rest for the Wicked

Another crash through the brush to our right, and a second naked man ran right by us. Another burst from a bush and sprinted off. Then a woman, also naked, darted in the same direction.

Zee turned around, then back again. “This is a thing that’s happening, right? You definitely see them?”

“Yeah.” They were all naked, and all had guns.

“Don’t they see us?”

“They do,” Victor said. “But they have more important things on their minds. Such as survival.”

Victor’s flat tone had Zee and me looking over. He was not surprised by any of this.

“This is a hunt,” Victor said, starlight glittering in his mercury eyes.

“A what?”

“Blood sports,” he elaborated, then cleared his throat. “Humans participate and agree to act as prey. Vampires chase them, and . . . well, the outcome is as you’d expect.”

“Filthy fucking against a tree?” Zee asked.

“As people who are not Zodiac might expect.”

“The vampires feed from them?” I suggested.

Victor gave a tight nod.

“Hold up.” Zee planted the tip of his sword in the forest floor and leaned on the handle. “Have you chased naked men through the woods, Fancy Fangs?”

“On occasion.” Victor lifted his chin and said, in a refined voice, “It’s rather expected of guests of the estate.”

Zee frowned. “Fuck, that is not supposed to be hot. Why am I turned on?”

“Why do they have to be naked?” I asked. As the hunt wasn’t about sex, they could at least let them keep their clothes.

“Why wouldn’t they be?” Victor asked, as though the question was absurd. “The timing is fortuitous.” He went on. “There won’t be any guards while a hunt is ongoing.”

“What are the rifles for?” Zee asked, still hung up on the hunt.

“To give them the illusion of having a fair chance at escape.”

Zee grimaced. “This is some fucked-up vampire shit, you realize that?”

“All participants are voluntary. Humans enjoy it, and they’re paid. This is no more morally corrupt, demon, than you selling yourself by the hour.”

“But demons don’t eat their marks afterwards.”

“But you do feed on their lust.”

“That’s . . .” Zee’s face turned thoughtful. “That’s completely different. Also, I’m right and you’re wrong.”

I neatly slotted myself in between them. Again. “Alright, let’s not stand here arguing the ethics of feeding on humans. We need to find the chapel⁠—”

A man around my age but with an Asian appearance burst into the clearing. Red cuts marked his arms and legs where he’d thrashed through the bushes. He saw us and his eyes blew wide. “He⁠—”

A vampire blurred from the woods, bent the man’s head to one side and plunged his fangs into his neck, silencing whatever cry had been about to leave his lips.

Zee’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that was a help me, and not a hello folks.”

“He signed a waiver,” Victor said. “He knew the risks.”