17. Oscar
Chapter 17
Oscar
A s Oscar walked down the front steps of the old porch, a shy smile broke out on Justin’s face.
Oscar slowed his pace. Did Justin think he would simply forgive him? It didn’t matter ultimately. What mattered was finding out the reason for his betrayal.
Justin’s smile widened as Oscar approached. The wind had picked up, and there was a bite in the air as it flowed around his skin. He stopped ten feet short of the deceitful young vamp.
“Why are you here?” Oscar forced himself to adopt an even tone.
“I…I had to see you.” Justin looked thrown by the fact that Oscar had kept his distance. He couldn’t be that dumb. Like Oscar would get any closer after what he’d done.
“Tell me the reason.” Oscar rooted his legs like tree trunks into the compact earth below. “Why would you lead them to us?”
“Oscar…” Justin looked away, pressing his lips together. Finally, he turned back.
“They have my aunt.”
“What?” That was not the sentence he’d expected to hear. “Who? Who exactly are they ?”
“Elliott. His coven.” Justin swallowed, and his eyes darted nervously to the surrounding trees. “They’ll kill her if they find out I told you.”
“Well, I’ll kill you if you don’t tell me everything. So either way, you’re dead.”
Justin sighed. “I guess I deserve that.” He took a step toward Oscar, who held out his hand to stop him. He wouldn’t be letting his guard down. Justin was no longer his friend.
“What coven, Justin? He acted like he was coven master.”
Justin reached up and scratched at the back of his neck. “The Azarians,” he said sheepishly.
Oscar scoffed at the name. “The Azarian coven is dead. New York City is Grosvenor territory.”
“The few elders that were left gathered in Canarsie, as far away from the Upper West Side and the old covenhouse as they could get. Elliott either convinced everyone he should be coven master or killed all other contenders, I’m not sure which.”
Rage spiked in Oscar’s chest. There was something wet on his lips. It tasted like bitter iron. In his anger, he’d pierced his own bottom lip with his fangs. It had been an instinctual response to the news that any of the cruel assholes from his old coven were still in the city.
“How many vampires?”
“I…I don’t know.” Justin shrugged and shuffled his feet in the grass. “They never told me. The new covenhouse is a converted old church. I’ve never been inside. They didn’t want me. Elliott said it was better I was out, loose, under his control. That he would call on me when they needed me. They…they won’t let me see her. My Aunt Lavinia. They keep saying she has to pay off her debt. But I don’t even know what that is!”
Justin’s eyes were welling with tears, and his bottom lip trembled. Oscar couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
“Justin…”
“They’re keeping her for blood, I think.” Justin’s focus went far away, as if conjuring up an image of his aunt in his mind. Then he spoke in a soft, sad tone. “I don’t think they’ll ever let her go.”
Oscar stepped closer in, his self-admonition to keep his distance gone. He put both hands on Justin’s shoulders and locked eyes with the young vamp.
“Why didn’t you come to us? We would have helped.”
At the touch, Justin shook, the tremors wracking his body as the words spilled out in a ragged whisper.
“Elliott threatened to torture her. To kill her. I couldn’t risk it. I hid the fact that you were still alive for as long as I could, but once he found out you were at the old covenhouse, that you were part of the Grosvenor coven, he became obsessed. He insisted that you were his mate, that you had to be returned to him. Then, after Rick didn’t bring you to him, he made me tag along on your trip to Maine.”
Oscar removed his hands from Justin’s shoulders. His empathy was a warm ember in his heart, but it wasn’t without conditions. Justin had ignored all the opportunities he’d had to find another way. He hadn’t even tried.
“You’ll have to come back to the Grosvenor covenhouse. Freddie and Lillian will want to speak to you. You have to tell them everything.”
Justin shook his head, fear flashing in his eyes. “I can’t. If they see that I’ve gone there after this, they’ll kill her. And what do you need me for? You’ll be safe with Freddie. Who cares what happens to Trent? He could be at the covenhouse with you, totally protected, but he won’t go because he’s a spoiled brat with some kind of childhood trauma . Who cares? We’ve all got trauma!”
With a growl, Oscar was on him, his right hand gripping the twink vamp’s throat. Justin struggled in his grasp, uselessly pushing at Oscar’s chest to free himself.
“I care what happens to him.” Oscar’s voice was flat and deadly.
“Please,” Justin said, forcing the words out past Oscar’s grip around his trachea. “The man’s a human. He’s not good enough for you. He’s been a brat this whole time. Just because he sucked your dick?—”
Oscar tossed Justin to the side. The vamp managed to recover before hitting the ground, but he was off-balance, staring wildly at Oscar with his hands up in front of his face.
“You asshole,” Oscar growled. “You heard us having sex. That’s when you told Elliott where we were.”
Justin’s fangs dropped as he stood tall in defiance, puffing his chest out like a wooden soldier.
“You should be mine! I could give you so much more —”
“He is intelligent, and sexy, and underneath that protective outer shell, he cares about people. He could have kept walking that day in Brooklyn, but he stopped.” A breeze picked up around them, whipping through the leaves and blowing Oscar’s hair about. “He saved me. He wasn’t afraid. He did it even when it made his life more difficult.”
“He doesn’t want you!” Justin was yelling now, gesturing to the cabin which housed the human he despised. “He hates vampires! You’re deluding yourself if you think he’ll stay with you.”
“I know that he won’t!” Oscar screamed. It wasn’t like him, being this out of control. He didn’t let people provoke him. But Trent kindled this protective flame in him, and it burned hot.
Oscar dug his fingernails into his palms, breaking the skin as he wrestled with his anger.
“I know that we can’t be together. But I won’t let him be harmed. I won’t let anyone touch him.”
Justin squinted at Oscar, his hands resting on his hips in a petulant posture. Then his eyes widened.
“Oh my god. You think that he’s your mate.”
Oscar glanced back at the cabin. He imagined Trent inside, doing something domestic. Making dinner or doing laundry or working on that dumb puzzle. He imagined the future they would never have together.
“He is my mate,” Oscar said, his voice now soft. “Even though we’ll never complete the bond, I will protect him. He deserves that much.”
Justin scoffed and rolled his eyes. “He’s a dick. An arrogant, self-obsessed asshole. He’ll never give you what you want. It would be better if you let Elliott kill him. Hell, I’ll kill him myself.”
With that, Oscar flew to Justin’s throat, strangling him, his claws locked into the flesh of Justin’s neck. Justin writhed, screaming, as he pounded his fists against Oscar’s chest, but Oscar wouldn’t let go. He couldn’t.
This little twerp, he’d pretended to be Oscar’s friend and then given them over to his abusive ex and the remnants of his evil old coven. It didn’t matter now that he was trying to save his aunt, if that was even true. No one would threaten his mate. No one would put Trent in danger.
“Oscar.” Trent’s voice was low and kind. When had he come out of the cabin? He was so calm. “Oscar, let him go.”
“No.” Oscar’s voice spilled out in a raspy roar. “I won’t.”
Then Trent’s hand was on his shoulder, warm and soft against the tensed muscles that held Justin painfully in place. That touch contained so much in it, so much hope, and so much disappointment.
“Please,” Trent whispered into his ear.
Something broke inside. Oscar let go, and Justin collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.
“Thank you,” Trent said. His face was still, even as Oscar shook with spent exertion.
“You almost died last night. He doesn’t deserve?—”
“I know.” Trent’s lips formed into a compassionate smile. “But he’s your friend. You shouldn’t carry the burden of killing him.”
“I don’t know…” Oscar’s eyes went to the twink vampire, who was no longer gasping for air. He lay on his back in the grass and dried leaves as the rhythm of his breathing returned to normal.
“I heard what you said.” Trent removed his hand from Oscar’s shoulder. Oscar immediately missed its absence.
“What…which part?” A wave of fear rolled over Oscar. He hadn’t been thinking at all, really. He’d just been reacting.
“That you would protect me. That it didn’t matter if we were together, that you wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt me.”
Oscar nodded. He didn’t have anything else to say. Trent would never accept him as his mate. But Oscar wouldn’t allow harm to come to him.
“I appreciate it, Oscar. I appreciate you. I wish I could…I wish it were possible?—”
The sound of tires on gravel snatched Oscar’s attention. Two black luxury sedans rolled down the long path from the road.
“That’s Freddie and Lillian. They can deal with him ,” Oscar said, gesturing to Justin. “I’ll drive the rental back. You go with them. We shouldn’t see each other. Not for a while.”
Trent opened his mouth as if he was about to refute Oscar, then closed it. He nodded slowly.
“That’s for the best.”