20. Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Nineteen
Lucius
A faint hum captured Lucius’ attention as he woke. The feminine sound echoed from the ground floor, a level below where he currently snoozed enveloped in cool sheets.
Circe was painting.
Their new home on the banks of the North Carolina shore was built perfectly to their needs and those of their residents. Well outside the city limits of Kitty Hawk, the territory had formerly been Isaiah’s. Lucius’ vampire House had taken up residence after the disaster in California.
They’d lost thirteen vampires that day, and it’d stolen any peace of mind Lucius had had. Now, their secluded space was a haven, off the beaten path and unknown to the terrorists who’d pursued them so ruthlessly before.
Warding off the unbidden thoughts, Lucius quickly dressed and headed to the studio. His mate typically only painted when she was distressed, and she had good reason to be.
Tonight, they’d confront Torrin.
It had been seven weeks since Key had first disclosed the upcoming war. In the time since, Lucius had cared about little else, and Circe had gone through far too many canvases.
Hands curling into fists, he swallowed his bitter rage. He was still plagued by flashbacks of the torture he’d endured, but it had been getting better. The Citizens had done a number on him: stripping him of his freedom, his dignity, and his sight. The most important thing that’d come from that trial was the one fact that kept him going.
Lucius had met his mate.
Key’s visions—and meddling—had given him a chance to meet the woman he adored above all else. Circe had saved him from the Citizens, and she’d kept saving him every day since. It was a debt he hadn’t realized he owed to the foreseer until now.
The bright, airy studio was surrounded by floor to ceiling glass on three sides, allowing for natural light to illuminate her painting area. Reeds drummed against the glass, a symphony that’d have driven Lucius mad, but soothed his mate.
It had become her haven as soon as they’d moved in.
Outside, the light was gradually dying. Steaks of deep violet painted the sky, and the midnight blue that hailed from the eastern ocean swallowed what little sunlight remained.
The redhead had yet to notice him.
“Circe?”
She startled. Wrapping her in his arms, he pressed a reverent kiss into the sensitive skin on her neck. “Sorry, little mouse. Didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“Just lost to my own thoughts.” Circe leaned back against his chest. “What we’re about to do, capturing Torrin: it’s so reminiscent of what happened to me.”
Lucius stiffened.
Both he and Circe had been taken against their will, but under vastly dissimilar circumstances. When Circe was still a youngling, word about her tracking ability had gotten out. Her and her mother had been living apart from Isaiah’s clan at that point. They had both been kidnapped by a rival clan so she could locate the deadly weapons called merjhas for them.
Circe’s mother had been killed in the crosshairs, and Isaiah had teleported to her in a recovery attempt. He’d been forced to defend her against all twenty members of the rival clan. The night had been bloody and vicious.
Isaiah had slain all of them to save Circe’s life.
“It’s not at all the same, Circe,” he said. “Torrin has killed hundreds of us. You were innocent of any crime.”
“But what if by taking him, his death sparks something deeper? We’ll make a martyr out of him.”
“We just have to trust Key,” Lucius said. “What she did—and what the Citizens did—allowed us to find each other. I’ll admit, it took me a while to see it, but the truth is that I’m forever indebted to her.”
“She was also the reason Torrin became obsessed with you in the first place, Luc. Why he tortured you.” Her voice harbored a thread of anger.
Lucius cupped a hand under her chin. “And I’d go through it all again to have you. Key wasn’t wrong—it didn’t change me the way they wanted it to.”
“No, you’re still the soft-hearted man I met at the first Accords meeting.” A smile softened her features. “The court jester.”
“Always a fool for you, my love.”
Lucius dipped his head to nibble at her lips, laying bare his desire for her. She dissolved against him, painting forgotten, but the moment wasn’t meant to last.
Blair and Kaien teleported in, both suitably clad in black. His sire instantly enveloped him in a tight hug, then held him out as if to inspect him. “Are you ready for this?”
“As ever, sire.”
The good-natured grin he sported was the honest truth, but Circe linked her hand with his regardless. His mate must’ve felt the erratic vein of anxiety that coursed through him. As always, she never failed to understand what he needed.
Kaien leaned against the couch’s arm. “I’m still skeptical Torrin will follow you like a lost puppy. He’s not an idiot. Asking him to ‘speak with you,’ even in a public place, isn’t going to work.”
Lucius had originally had the same reservations about Key’s directive, but the more he thought about it, the more he was sure it’d succeed.
“He’ll say yes. Torrin won’t be able to help himself.”
“Key did say his obsession with you took creepy to a new level.” Circe shuddered. “I just want this to be over.”
“That makes four of us,” Blair muttered. “Are you ready to go?”
Shoving down the morbid thoughts, Lucius held out his hand for Kaien. Though unnecessary, none of them wanted to drain the Raeths prior to battle. This small concession would make it easier.
The teleport spit them out in the foyer of the vampire’s headquarters in New York City. Suka, the receptionist, had been expecting them. Bowing her head toward their group, she motioned to the doors that led to the basement.
“Everything is ready for you should you need to return.”
“Most appreciated, Suka.” As they turned, Lucius glanced over his shoulder. “It’s probably best that you leave now. Just in case we do make our way back.”
“Of course, sire.”
With another bow, the young vampire scurried out of sight.
Circe would remain on site at the vampires’ headquarters, keeping a psychic eye on her mate. If everything went to plan, they’d successfully prevent the war. If not, Key had mentioned that the Citizens’ leader didn’t know remote teleports were an option, and in this case, that was to their benefit.
Lucius had spent many of his immortal years living among humans in densely populated areas. New York, Los Angeles, Houston, and Philadelphia had all served as his home once upon a time. Wandering the streets in search of the man who hated him most in the world was oddly invigorating. A strange sense of melancholy warred with it, but he brushed off the emotions as he drew nearer to Torrin’s workplace.
Key’s timing had been spot on. She’d predicted that he’d find the man who’d blinded him outside his office at half past nine. With seconds to go, he saw Torrin exit the building.
Dressed in a pale grey sport coat and matching slacks, Torrin still largely appeared the same sophisticated businessman on the outside. His mouth was set in a sneer as if the people walking ahead of him were not fit to be in his presence. A hint of shadow roughened his otherwise clean face, and Lucius couldn’t dismiss it as simply a day’s growth. Torrin had let certain aspects of himself go.
The vampire maintained his lazy position, reclining against the wall of the skyscraper. Soon, the Citizens’ leader would pass right in front of him, and Key had assured him that he wouldn’t be missed.
She was right.
Lucius knew the exact moment Torrin realized who was standing before him. An incredulous tremor, brief but visible, ran through the human just before the mask of cynicism returned.
“Torrin.”
Clearing his throat, Torrin replied with an even, “Lucius.”
“I’ve been asked by the Accords leaders to speak with you,” he replied evenly.
“To what purpose?” The curt tone almost tore a flashback out of Lucius, and he deliberately pushed down the sensation of being strapped to a chair, powerless, and under Torrin’s control.
“A peace treaty.”
“ Peace ?” Torrin actually laughed. “After you’ve destroyed millions of dollars’ worth of weaponry and most likely killed Derek? When you gorge yourselves on humanity like parasites? Why would we ever agree to such a ridiculous thing?”
Lucius shouldered off the building, rising to his full height several inches above Torrin. “If you want to know what’s in it for you, then you’ll agree to speak with me.”
“When?”
Resisting the urge to grin, Lucius said, “Now. I’ll even let you choose the location.”
Torrin gave him a dry look. “How very magnanimous of you.”
“My altruism has been applauded in the past.” Lucius’ noncommittal shrug had the other man rolling his eyes, almost succeeding in breaking the intensity of the meeting.
“Certainly not in the future.”
Lucius saw the threat for what it was. “You’re stalling.”
It was a challenge, and Torrin knew it. “Fine. But we’re going to a human venue, where we’ll be surrounded by the natural public.”
“Your choice, Torrin Scayde.”
The short, three-minute walk to an upscale restaurant was fraught with tension. Neither spoke, and when they entered the establishment, Torrin wouldn’t allow the vampire behind him. Though it killed a part of him to have his torturer at his back, Lucius ceded and entered first.
By the time they were seated, Lucius’s skin felt tight. It was as if one idle twitch would succeed in breaking him, piece by piece. Though everything was going according to plan, he couldn’t help the way he subconsciously reacted to the one who’d ordered that he be blinded.
And suddenly, Lucius had to know. “Why do you hate us, Torrin?”
“Vampires in general, or just you?”
“Both.”
“A vampire drank from my fiancée. After that, my life was never the same.” With the way Torrin’s gaze hardened, the likelihood of a lie seemed minimal.
“Did they kill her?”
“I managed to interrupt the monster in the process. I was waiting for her, sitting outside her apartment in my car,” the other man explained. “When she came out of her building, a vampire took an interest. Under the thrall of his mind control, she walked with him quite happily into the alley behind her apartment.”
Torrin continued, a tick starting in his eye. “She was so calm about it, that I didn’t do anything as that vampire took her neck. At first, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, was too shocked to jump out and save her. When I snapped out of it, I sprinted toward them to stop what I thought was an in-progress murder. The moment I got there, I tried to shove the vampire off her. It threw me against a wall and stopped feeding. The creature altered her mind to forget the entire event. Then, it attempted the same on me, except it didn’t take. I remembered everything, and she did not. She believed the lie.”
Lucius’ lips pinched together. “Let me guess, it soured the relationship?”
“Yes.”
Not for the first time, Lucius deeply regretted the period in vampire history when that had been accepted. It’d taken Gideon’s perspective—and Rona’s campaign—to make them see the error of their ways. Though the change had been difficult and there were still areas they could improve upon, their nation no longer took what they needed without consent.
“Several years ago, the vampire council banned drinking from humans,” Lucius said, “and suggestion is no longer wielded as a means to an end. When we looked at the practice and reflected on what it meant to those suffering for it, it made us realize it was barbaric.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does,” Lucius reiterated. “Your entire premise—the reason you hate us—is because we were taking from humans what they haven’t consented to. That practice has been outlawed, and in some cases, it is punishable by death. We acknowledge that what we were doing was immoral.”
“You’re demons. It doesn’t matter that you’ve temporarily stopped drinking from humans. Your blood has to come from somewhere, and eventually you’re bound to return to the source.”
“Is there nothing I can say to convince you?”
Torrin allowed his silence to speak for him.
There was no arguing with a man who believed him incapable of change. If Torrin’s mind was made up and he believed all vampires were hell spawn, then nothing Lucius did would make a difference. Instead, he tried a different approach—anything to try to get Torrin to end the war. If he failed here, people would die.
“May I ask why you hate me personally?”
“You? You’re the worst of them,” Torrin spat, adjusting the steak knife beside his plate. “Carefree. Joyful . Every photo I have of you, Lucius, is a study in happiness. No demon should ever be so content.”
“I’m flattered you’ve such established affections for me.”
Torrin’s features went blank. “Where is Derek?”
The abrupt shift in topic didn’t surprise Lucius. “Safe.”
“Safe? Derek is safe ?” Torrin scoffed. “You’ve probably dismembered him and stuffed him in a godforsaken hole in the ground.”
“I can assure you with all sincerity that Derek is alive. We didn’t kill him, Torrin, but we have taken him somewhere he can live out his days without being a threat to the immortal communities. Lucy requested he be spared, and we obliged.”
“I won’t sit here and listen to lies, vampire. ” Torrin stood then, sneering down at him. “We’re done here.”
The words echoed in Lucius’ ears. With them, came his failure to convince Torrin of their benevolence. His face fell as he realized the next step: the Citizens ’ leader’s early exit was Kaien’s cue.