Altair
I woke up alone, no knock on the door this time.
Leo had full days, and I’d been keeping him awake longer than he needed to be. But if he really wanted me to stay, and I actually thought that I should dig in here and try to force Ivan back with the help of the wolves, then I needed to find some way to contribute to the effort of stopping him.
And I needed to make some plan if we failed.
The wolves could fight him. I needed them prepared for what that meant, and to put up a real threat so that, if it came down to it, I’d have something to negotiate with.
If it meant saving the pack, I could . . .
I’d hand myself over before I saw them hurt. Henry had worked to save me, and Katya had been so kind, and Evie was more generous than anyone had ever been.
And then there was Leo, who was all those things and more. I couldn’t see him hurt because of me. All I could think about was his strong arms wrapped around me, the warmth of his skin against mine, the way his breath hitched when I kissed him, and yes, how his blood flowed with every heartbeat.
He’d given me so much, so freely, and if that was all I ever got in the world, I wouldn’t see him repaid with pain and suffering.
I wished that I could do more than try and hedge my bets, but until Ivan was taken out, the best thing was for me to stay out of it.
That didn’t mean that I couldn’t try and prepare them, though, and I’d had an inkling that the best way to accomplish that was to go to Viktor before the witches had attacked.
Nothing had changed since I’d thought to do so the day before. Viktor was still the wolf most willing do to what was necessary, and he alone knew what we were dealing with. He knew Ivan, was afraid, and could perhaps prepare the others.
Clearly, he knew how to fight, which was a skill I lacked entirely.
I found Katya reading in the living room, and she smiled up at me when I got downstairs.
“Is Viktor around?”
A tiny frown crossed her features, and I wondered if she thought it was a bad idea for me to approach him.
It was only a second before she tipped her head to the side and her expression went neutral again.
“We have a guest,” she said. “Viktor and Aleks picked up a friend, a mage who works with our sister pack out west.”
“The Crescent wolves?”
“Mmhmm.” She smiled. “She was travelling to the east coast for work anyway—apparently the majority of the mages in America are still settled in the northeast. But when we told her about the trouble we’ve been facing, she agreed to stop here to see if she could help us navigate it.”
I perched on the edge of the couch. “Does she know much about vampires?”
Katya shrugged. “Prudence is very smart. Sells books through the Crescent pack’s business. She certainly knows more than any of us. The boys are out there with her now, talking on the porch.”
I nodded, my nose flaring as I breathed in, like I could smell them out there. I didn’t have a werewolf’s senses though.
“Not Leo though. He’s been working with Cash all day.”
My heart dropped a little when she said that. It would have been easier to talk to Viktor—hells, to talk to a stranger and a mage—if Leo were nearby, but I’d manage.
Well, probably.
I pinched my clasped hands between my knees. “Do you think I could interrupt them?”
Katya’s smile softened. “Of course. I can’t imagine an actual vampire providing his perspective to the conversation would be unwelcome.”
I managed not to laugh. Viktor didn’t want me there, but the best thing that I could do was pretend that this was normal and show him that I meant to help—as hard as that would be, given that none of the people he loved would be in this position if it weren’t for me.
I nodded. “Then I’ll . . . go introduce myself to, um . . . ”
“To Prudence.”
“Right. Thanks.”
Katya gave me an encouraging little dip of her chin, and I got up and headed toward the porch.
Viktor’s shoulders tensed when I came outside, but Aleks straightened in his seat.
He’d been leaning over his knees toward an older woman in very fine dress.
It was structured and tailored in a way that the modern clothing that I’d seen wasn’t.
She looked proper, even though she was showing a good deal more skin than anyone I’d seen who’d worked with a modiste.
Evie, in jeans, was perched on the porch railing to listen to them talk. She grinned at me and waved a hand toward their guest. “Altair, this is Prudence. Prudence, this is—”
“Your resident vampire,” she said smoothly. Something about the way she spoke made it seem more like I belonged than that she was being derisive. She offered her hand to me, and I bent to kiss it. Her skin was papery and cool. “A pleasure.”
“The pleasure is mine, madam.”
She snickered. “Prudence is fine, dear.”
“Prudence, then.” I inclined my head to her once more before turning to Viktor. Perhaps this was a conversation the whole pack needed to be privy to, but Evie was right there, and it felt wrong to throw her into yet another fight just by my thoughtlessness. “Might we have a word, Viktor?”
He sighed like he was the most put-upon werewolf in the world. When he pushed out of his seat, he rose like his body was heavy as lead, but that was probably the strain of taking time to talk to me.
We walked away from the porch, and Viktor was silent. His footsteps didn’t make a sound beside me. It was uncanny.
When I couldn’t take the quiet anymore, I stopped and turned toward him. “You know Ivan.”
His jaw clenched. “Not really.”
I swallowed. “No, but you’ve . . . seen him. Since the last time I have. Does he still—”
“Tear people apart starting from the inside?”
I shuddered and looked away, but I nodded. As bad as things had been with Ivan, he had . . . preserved me. I still had all my pieces.
Most of his victims weren’t recognizable as human by the time he was finished with them.
Viktor sighed, and when he spoke again, his voice was quiet. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that he felt bad for his sharp words. “My . . . company,” Viktor said, “sometimes worked with him. Once, he requested a wolf. Even a werewolf . . . there was nothing left but viscera.”
I nodded, my throat too thick to talk. I wasn’t surprised. He’d want to prove to himself that he was the strongest creature around, but it was more than that. Weak or strong, he liked to play with his food.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
Viktor scowled at me. “Why? You didn’t do it, did you?”
“No . . . I . . . When I was with him, there were times he’d command me to—” I wrapped my arms around myself.
As much as I wished that Leo were there to lean on, I didn’t want him to hear this either.
“If he thought I was too soft, he would involve me, but only if he could add to his own amusement. On my own . . . I won’t lie to you.
I’ve killed people, fed from them to survive.
I can’t make any excuses beyond that. I couldn’t get caught, and I thought .
. . I didn’t realize there might be a way to survive as what I am without . . . without hurting anyone.”
“You don’t think you’re hurting Leo? Making him weaker?”
I flinched. “I don’t want to. Would you prefer I starved?”
“Yes.” He sighed, scraping his hand down his face. “How am I supposed to trust that you won’t lose control like your master?”
Did I trust myself that much? Once, I wouldn’t have, but now, I knew want besides a vampire’s hunger. Even starving, I’d never felt the impulse to do to people what Ivan had done.
And then it struck me—I could choose differently from him. Whatever it was that drove Ivan, it had no hold on me. “Because he didn’t. Ivan never did anything he didn’t mean to do.”
“And you’ve always been perfectly in control?”
“Unless he commanded me otherwise. Ask Tristan how many witches I bit. How many I awakened without ever feeding from them. I could have tried—certainly was hungry enough to, but I didn’t.”
“You were their prisoner.”
“Yes, and since I’ve been free to act in accordance with my own desires, have I actually hurt anyone? Even Leo. You might not like it, but he . . . he comes to me on his own. I won’t push him away just for your comfort. I—”
Viktor narrowed his eyes, his whole face tightening when I broke off. “You what?”
“I care for him,” I croaked.
“The way any of us might care for a vegetable garden or a grocery store.”
My lips parted. I didn’t know what to say to that. Thinking about Leo, it felt like more, but maybe Viktor was right. Ivan said we weren’t capable of feeling the way that mortals did. Maybe all of this was just self-preservation, and I was every bit as wicked as Ivan. I just wasn’t as good at it.
“This . . . isn’t a conversation for you and me to have,” I muttered. If I was going to set my mind in order, someone who hated what I was wouldn’t be the person to help me. “But you and I know better than anyone else what we’re up against, so what can I do to keep the pack safe?”
“Fight me.”
I grimaced. As much as I wanted to help, I dreaded letting a werewolf who hated me toss me around.
Viktor crossed his arms. “I’ve fought beside a vampire, but never against one. I need to know what you’re capable of.”
“Fine. I’m not as strong as Ivan is, but if it’ll help, I’ll fight you. We should . . . in front of the others.” For educational purposes, obviously. I was only slightly concerned that Viktor would kill me out here alone.
His lips twitched; he knew precisely what I was thinking. “Of course.”
I followed him back to the porch like I was marching to my own funeral dirge.
“We’re going to spar,” he announced to the others on the porch.
“Oh!” Evie grinned and threw a leg over the porch railing to watch.
Prudence tipped her head to the side and looked me over. “Is it true a vampire’s sire drains them dry to make them? This Ivan fed you his own blood.”
I nodded.
“Wonderful,” she said. “Then if you happen to bleed, I can at least cast a scrying spell that’ll warn you if Ivan steps foot in your territory.”
“You only need my blood for that?”
She shrugged. “Darling, even I’m unused to dealing with vampires, but I don’t see why I couldn’t make it work.”
Just the prospect was worth trying. “Give me a second.”
I went into the kitchen and asked Katya if I could use a knife and borrow one of her cups.
I slit my wrist and let my blood flow into the cup for a moment.
I hoped she didn’t need much, because my skin stitched back together quickly, as well fed as I’d been, and I didn’t much like the too familiar image of my golden-brown skin slitting beneath the edge of a sharp blade, so I didn’t want to do it again, let alone repeatedly.
With a few ounces in the cup, I brought it back outside and passed it to Prudence, whose eyebrows shot high. “Thank you,” she said, sounding a little unsure about being handed a cup of blood.
“Let me know if you need more.”
To his credit, Viktor looked me over to ensure I wasn’t wounded before he spread his arms in an invitation to attack him.
My first attempt, he easily sidestepped. He gave a heavy, annoyed sigh. “You have to try, Altair, or there’s no point.”
We fought then, and he was fast, but not as fast as I expected. More than once, I got my fangs near his neck. I didn’t bite him, didn’t even scrape my teeth against his skin to prove a point.
When I got the better of him, I froze and stepped back. His glare got more and more furious, but even when he threw his fists harder, I didn’t think he was in a fight with me.
There was some other battle Viktor was trapped in that I didn’t understand. His fear of Ivan?
I caught his fist once, stopped it easily. I’d felt Leo’s arms around me. Werewolves were strong, but for some reason, Viktor was holding back too. I’d only just cocked my head curiously when he growled and swept his leg out, knocking my own from under me and sending me back onto the ground.
I groaned, and when I opened my eyes, Leo was standing there above me, on the side of house coming from where they’d been working on the big house.
He scowled. “What are you doing?”
“Just sparring,” I said with a broad grin. I didn’t want him to worry, and frankly, it was nice to have him there. Viktor might hate me, but he wasn’t going to tear my head off in front of his brother.
Frankly, I was beginning to think he wouldn’t hurt me at all, ignoring that he’d just tripped me.
But there he was, standing over me too, and his glare was more terrifying than I’d seen it yet.
“What’s that?” he demanded, staring not at me, but at his brother.
Leo blanched. He crossed his arms. “It’s nothing.”
“He marked you,” Viktor growled.
I sat up, twisted around, and—and he was right. There was a scar, a bite mark, right where I’d bitten Leo the night before.
My stomach turned.
Oh no, I had hurt him. The proof was right there in that impossible scar.