Chapter 15
“I can’t believe they won’t let us go get her!” Lars shouted.
“They say we have no proof.” Jaks’s tired tone pulled Quentin from his deep sleep.
He rubbed the corners of his eyes to get the crusty bits free.
Yuck.
Exhaustion gnawed at his bones. He’d have to be careful the next few days. Two events back-to-back, sapping his magic, could cause irreparable harm if he didn’t let it refill entirely before using it again.
He felt hollow.
“What’s going on?” His back twinged when he scooted up on the pillows.
Everything ached down to the molecular level—his muscles, his bones, the achy part where his magic usually blanketed his core.
There wasn’t an inch of him that didn’t feel as if it were drained entirely, a feeling he was becoming far too familiar with lately.
His father’s usually pristine hair stuck out at all angles as if he’d been running his fingers through the silky strands. It gave a humanity to his usual fae perfection.
“How are you feeling, my love?” Jaks immediately rushed to his side, his eyes reflecting Quentin’s own exhaustion.
“Achy,” he replied honestly. It never went well to hide things from his lover. He tried to understand what they were discussing as he woke. “Who won’t let us get Mother? The council?”
“Yes,” Jaks hissed. “They claim your spell is inconclusive.”
“What?” The furniture rattled. “Ow,” Quentin gasped. The little energy he’d had swept from him. Winded, he sank deeper against the pillows.
“You have to let your core rest, my son.” Lars approached the opposite side of the bed, rightly giving the possessive vampire a wide berth.
“But, Mother,” he whined. He felt weaker than a newborn kitten and twice as fragile. His hand trembled in Jaks’s grip, which probably wasn’t selling his lover on Quentin’s health.
“Nikko won’t hurt her if he wants to negotiate,” Jaks soothed.
“But what if he doesn’t? What if he just wants to hurt us?” There were dozens of scenarios flashing through his mind. There was no guarantee that Nikko would act in good faith.
“We must wait. Until he contacts us, he has deniability. Once he admits to having her, we can go get her back.”
“What about the psychic link? Didn’t you say you were connected to all your vampires mentally?” Quentin grasped at a conversation they’d had months ago.
Jaks’s wince didn’t reassure him… at all.
“What?”
“Like Glenn, she’s new enough that the connection hasn’t formed yet. It takes about a year for the synapses to connect to the main hub. Sort of like learning a new language. You have to immerse yourself in the clan before the connection can grow.”
“Of course.” Nothing was going right. Tears threatened, but Quentin blinked them back. Now wasn’t the time for a breakdown; his mother needed him. “So, we’re just supposed to sit around and hope he doesn’t kill my mother while we wait for him to contact us?”
Jaks nodded.
“Fuck that,” he swore.
“Darling, you aren’t in any condition to attempt a rescue, not yet.” Jaks tried to soothe Quentin with a kiss to his hand.
Quentin snatched his hand away and turned to his father. “What about you?”
Lars shrugged. “If I weren’t king, it would be one thing, but if I were to enter a vampire’s territory without permission…”
“It could be seen as an act of war between species,” Quentin finished. “Fuck.”
He wanted to rush in and rip them all apart for daring to touch his mother, but right now, he could barely breathe without triggering spikes of pain in his chest. “What are our options?”
Surely they had some.
“What about Brenton?” he asked, not waiting for their input.
“Call him,” Lars demanded.
“Who’s Brenton?” Jaks growled.
Quentin frowned. It took him a minute to realize Jaks wasn’t there when he and his father talked to the bounty hunter. “A bounty hunter I definitely didn’t hire to investigate Nikko.” He nodded, careful of his pounding head.
“Drink this,” Lars handed him a glass.
The cool liquid eased his sore throat and miraculously cleared his headache. “I probably should’ve asked what that was before drinking.”
“It’s only fruit juice.” His father’s smirk didn’t reassure him at all.
“What kind of fruit?” he asked suspiciously.
“None you would’ve heard of before.”
He scowled at the grinning fae, then turned back to Jaks, deciding it wasn’t worth complaining about his father’s games, especially since his head was much clearer.
“Do you feel better?” Jaks asked.
“Yes.”
“I’d appreciate it if you could supply us with some of that juice to keep on hand. Quentin is always getting into situations.”
Lars didn’t miss a beat. “I’ll have some delivered.”
“Hey! I’m feeling ganged up on.”
Jaks grinned. “Only in the best way, darling. I’m thinking of your health.”
“And implying I get in trouble all the time.”
Jaks’s unimpressed expression didn’t help. “Can you tell me you don’t?”
He opened his mouth, then shut it. He really couldn’t. Instead, he deflected and called the agency.
The extension he dialed got him voicemail. “Hey, Brenton, this is Quentin Heart. I was hoping to talk to you about our vampire problem. Please give me a call back.” He left his number in case the service didn’t record it, then hung up.
“Not there?” Jaks ran a hand over Quentin’s hair in a gentle pet. He closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.
“No. It went to voicemail. I’m hoping that doesn’t mean he was captured.” They had sent Brenton to investigate an unhinged vampire after all. As competent as the bounty hunter appeared, anything could’ve happened. “What now?”
“Now you rest and let me talk to the council. Maybe I can bring them around.”
“You convince them, or when I’m feeling better, there will be one less governing board in the vampire world,” Quentin warned. He had no patience for those who would leave his mother in the hands of a dangerous enemy.
He was tired of working within everyone else’s rules. It was time to act.
After he had another nap.
“Q, hey, Q, wake up!”
“Glenn, if you don’t stop shaking me, I’m going to set you on fire.” He wouldn’t really, but he couldn’t help the smug smile when Glenn snatched his hands away.
He tried to open his eyes. He truly did, but someone must’ve glued them shut, then added weights to the lids. He couldn’t lift them.
“Q, hey, you have to wake up. Jaks is in danger.”
“What?” His eyes snapped open, then quickly shut when the light pierced through his head like a spear of fire. “Too bright.”
“We need to hurry. They took Jaks.”
“Who took Jaks?” The thought of his lover being taken anywhere had him jolting awake faster than a vat of coffee—first his mother, then Jaks.
Someone was going to get their asses kicked.
Blinking fiercely, the room eventually swam into focus.
Glenn’s face was the first clear thing he saw. “What’s happening?”
“You passed out again. You really need to stop doing that.”
“Where’s Lars?”
“Your father was forcefully yanked back to the fae realm, and Jaks went to talk to the council. Rumor has it they are holding him under rogue vampire laws. They claim he has let power go to his head and is looking for any excuse to take down the competition.”
“Those idiots.” Fury sparked and stirred up the remnants of magic that smoldered in Quentin’s chest. “How dare they!”
“You can petition to free him. In fact, that might be what they are hoping for?”
“What do you mean?” He didn’t know if it was the exhaustion, but Glenn’s words weren’t making any sense to his sleep-addled mind.
“Jaks has been protecting you from interacting with them. By taking him hostage, they are forcing you to show up to claim your man.”
“You think it’s a political move?”
“Probably. You haven’t been officially introduced as Jaks’s consort yet.
He told them about you but didn’t offer to bring you to them.
I think it is a power play. If you want him back, you are going to have to meet them.
” Glenn hesitated for a second before he continued.
“As his consort, you can demand they present the facts for his capture. Legally, they can’t keep him unless they have evidence of a crime.
His right hand would be the one who usually tries to free him, but… ”
“Braed was the next in line, wasn’t he?” He didn’t know much about the vampire hierarchy, but Braed had been an essential member of Jaks’s clan.
Asshole.
Glenn nodded.
Ugh.” Quentin slumped against the pillows. “I hate politics.” He closed his eyes to get a better feel for his magic. “I’m still low on magic. I won’t be much of a threat if they try to keep him.”
“Do you need a lot of magic to activate your spell balls?”
Quentin sat up again. “No, no, I don’t. You’re brilliant, Glenn.”
“I know. Want me to go with you?” Glenn nibbled his lip and avoided eye contact.
He tried to think of who would be the best backup. Glenn was too new to the vampire world to have much weight. Should he bring Grevin? He hated to get his barely healed friend out of bed, but this was an emergency.”
A knock on the door pulled him out of his spiraling thoughts. “Come in.”
Andrea and Allea stood in the doorway. Their clothes were dirty as if they’d been crawling across the ground, and there was a tear on Allea’s black leather pants where a long scratch showed through.
Did they ever wear anything other than leather?
“We’ve come to report,” Andrea said.
“How did you find my house?”
Allea tilted her head. “Everyone knows where you live.”
“That’s not concerning at all,” he said in a dry tone.
“We know where your mother is,” Allea announced, bulldozing over the niceties as she brushed back a strand of hair that looked as if it had been dragged through a bramble.
“The exact location?” Because they knew it was in the woods, but seeing it on a map was completely different than seeing it in person.
“Yes,” they said in unison.
“There’s an old manor in the woods,” Allea said.
Of course, there was. They were missing the horror-movie vibe. How kind of Nikko to provide it.
“Did you two want to come with me to persuade the council to free Jaks? From what I understand, they are saying he’s unlawfully trying to invade another’s territory by falsely claiming a kidnapping.”
“We’ll help.”
He didn’t even bother to determine which twin said it, since they both seemed to agree.
“We brought a car,” Andrea offered.
“Good. I’ll collect some things, then we can go.”
“I’ll get the car ready.” Glenn stood and accepted the keys from Andrea.
“Glenn, you don’t have to come.” He knew his friend wasn’t the confrontation type, which was fine. Not everyone has to be a fighter to have value.
The twins stepped out of the room, obviously sensing this was a private conversation.
Glenn rubbed his palms across his denim pants. “I know I’m not a very strong vampire.” He met Quentin’s eyes. “But I’ve always prided myself on being a good friend. I’m coming with you, if only to drive you to the council.”
“Okay.” He wouldn’t take this moment of courage away from his friend. He ran a hand through his hair, tugging the locks to get his mind back on board. “You said that Father left?”
“Yeah,” Glenn winced, “he was furious. Apparently, one of his brothers started a conflict with a neighboring kingdom, and one of his other brothers, don’t ask me which one, used their connection to pull him back home. I don’t know who did what, but that’s the story.”
“What about Grevin?”
“He’s still healing, but if you told him about your mother, I’m sure he’d be happy to help out. You know he’s fond of her.”
He didn’t want to think too deeply about that strange friendship. His sanity was too precious to him. “I can’t believe they are still protecting Nikko. I wonder what he has on them?”
Glenn frowned. “You think they’re protecting him?”
“I think it’s odd that they were all right with me snatching Vlad, but they are up in arms about me wanting to get my mother back from a forest-dwelling vampire who already changed you against your will, which I know is against their laws. Nikko must have something on them. What, I can’t imagine.”
“No news from Brenton?”
Quentin grabbed his phone off the table. “No calls,” he reluctantly admitted. “I think we might be in this by ourselves.”
“If anyone can do it, it’s you.”
Even as he appreciated his friend’s support, Quentin didn’t share Glenn’s optimism, but he also didn’t have a choice. He wasn’t about to let the council keep Jaks or let Nikko kidnap his mother. He needed more information before he rushed into the situation unprepared.
Glenn broke his train of thought. “What do you need to grab?”
“More spell balls.”
“I thought you took everything to your new lab?”
“Not all of them. I sent most of the inventory I had at the lab to a client. I have some of the older ones in the closet and a few of my new inventions.” He didn’t mention he’d kept a stash at home on the off chance he was ever invaded. With his current run of luck, it was only a matter of time.”
“Get dressed and meet us outside.”
Quentin plucked at his plaid flannel shirt. “You don’t think this is the right look for meeting the council?”
“Maybe, if you were going for the cuddly but fierce approach?”
Quentin snickered. “I was thinking more along the lines of ‘plaid power.’”
Glenn laughed. “Get dressed.”
He grabbed Glenn’s wrist before he could get away and squeezed it. “Thanks, Glenn, I really appreciate this.”
“That’s what friends are for.” He freed himself from Quentin’s gentle grip and left the room.
Quentin opened the closet and sighed. Dozens of outfits filled the previously empty space. Outfits he didn’t buy. A quick check confirmed his greatest fear.
They were all his size.
“Sneaky asshole,” he muttered.
His annoyance faded a little when he found the pair of leather boots he’d admired in a magazine last week. Sturdy with silver buckles and grippy heels, they would look good walking into a business meeting or through a muddy forest.
Perfect for today.
“Maybe I’ll overlook your shopping spree,” he decided when he found a pretty blue T-shirt that went perfectly with a dark blue jacket and a pair of fancy jeans he had unearthed. When he slid the coat on, it hummed with residual magic. Jaks must’ve had it charmed for something.
He’d worry about that later.
He dressed in layers, uncertain of what he would find once he entered the woods.
No matter what the council decided, Quentin would be getting his mother back.
Before he left Jaks’s suite, he slipped his second-favorite messenger bag strap over his shoulder.
He hoped his mother still had his bag where she was.
She had confiscated it during their shopping trip.
Maybe she could make use of the contents.
The twins were waiting for him by the front door. “Ready?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good, then let’s go.”
Quentin was feeling optimistic right until he opened his front door.