Chapter 16
Unluckily, his porch was once more occupied. Damn, he knew he’d forgotten something. He hadn’t had the chance to set up extra protection around the house. He thought he would’ve felt someone on the property, but for some reason, the wards didn’t register Nikko at all.
Stepping outside, the wards shimmered around him as the vampire, he suspected, was Nikko, sat casually on his front stoop.
He’d be having words with the wards.
“Can I help you?” He made sure to sound as uninviting as possible.
The twins flanked his back, looking like particularly emo bodyguards, while Glenn hovered by his side, as if unsure whether to be involved or to run for safety.
Nikko raised an eyebrow at his escorts. “Glenn, my darling boy. Have you come to return to your sire?”
“You mean the man who turned me and abandoned me bleeding out in the bushes? That sire? No thanks.”
Nikko scowled as if he hadn’t expected Glenn to sass back at him, which only proved he didn’t know Glenn at all. “Some people aren’t appreciative of the gift of eternal life.”
“What do you want?” Quentin wanted to demand his mother back, but then he would have to admit how he knew Nikko had her.
Nikko stood. “Like I told you last time. I returned with better bargaining power.”
Determined not to give anything away, Quentin folded his arms. “And what is this bargaining power you think you have?”
“Your mother.”
He refused to panic. He was saving that for later.
“I have doubts that Braed would just hand her over,” he said, trying to get as much information as possible.
“He was persuaded.” The way he said ‘persuaded’ led Quentin to translate it as ‘tortured’.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
“How do I know that you have my mother?”
“Don’t you trust me?” He batted his eyelashes.
“Ugh, no.”
Nikko laughed. “Fair enough.” He pulled a phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.
“Hello,” a male answered.
Quentin vaguely recognized Braed’s brisk tone.
“Put her on.”
“Hello?”
“Mom!” Quentin couldn’t help the outburst. Worry had dug deep into his psyche.
“Quentin, don’t give them anything,” she shouted.
“Bad advice, my dear,” Nikko crooned before he disconnected. “If you don’t hand over this house, I’ll send her back in pieces.”
“I can’t,” Quentin bit his lip.
“And why not? Don’t you want your mother back?”
He scratched the back of his neck. When he had told his mother he had almost sold the house, he’d gotten an earful about family legacy and the legalities of the land.
“Because this property has belonged to my family for centuries. If I tried to hand it over, the land would rebel, and the ley lines would suck you dry.”
Nikko tapped his foot. “I’d say you were lying, but I can sense when someone lies to me. I guess I’ll be keeping your mother as collateral until I decide what to do.”
“I’ll give you four hours to return her, in perfect health.” There was no way he was leaving his mother with this psychopath.
“Or what?” Nikko’s eyes sparkled as if he were looking forward to a fight.
“Or I let the council deal with you. After all, unlike Glenn, my mother is a member of Jaks’s clan, and you’ve taken her captive.”
“Ooh, the little kitten has claws. I’ll see you later, darling. Feel free to come and play at my house. I have your pretty bounty hunter, too. Good try.” He vanished in a cloud of black smoke.
“Damn, I hate it when he does that,” Quentin said, trying not to sound impressed.
“I wonder if it is a bloodline skill?” Glenn’s eyes were lit with fascination. “I’d love to learn that.”
“You can ask him when we go to kick his ass later.”
“Will do,” he chirped.
“Let’s go. I’m ready to get all my people back, one way or another.” At this point, he wasn’t above using a flaming orb if necessary. Too many people had spent the past few days angering him.
“While you were inside, I called Grevin. He’ll meet us by the forest,” Glenn offered.
He almost objected, but the reassurance of having a powerful necromancer at his back with his magic levels low couldn’t be underappreciated. “Thanks, Glenn.”
His friend let out a relieved sigh. “I wasn’t sure if you would be upset with me.”
“Grevin is still injured, but if we keep him out of immediate danger, he should be fine. Do you think we should alert any other vampires?”
“We should have Jaks contact them when we get him back,” Allea interjected. “They are more likely to come then.”
“Good point.” The clan didn’t really know Quentin well yet, and his mother was new, too. Many of them probably wouldn’t believe that Braed would betray them, or if they supported Braed, they might have already defected. “I wish I knew why Braed betrayed Jaks.”
“Vlad,” Glenn said. “He was closer than anyone knew. He’d promised to make Braed his consort. When you took out Vlad and then took the consort position he was promised, it was one too many things.”
“How do you know that?” Andrea asked the question Quentin had been wondering.
“Being a young vampire, I don’t have a lot of presence. Other vampires talk as if I’m not here.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Quentin asked.
Glenn shrugged. “Your mother seemed happy with him, and I never saw him doing anything wrong. It’s one of the reasons I agreed to be your chauffeur, not that it did any good in the end. I swear, Q, if I had thought he would kidnap Trina, I would’ve stabbed him myself.”
It was hard to stay angry with so much remorse showing in Glenn’s eyes.
Quentin sighed. “Fine, I won’t stay angry, but if you ever hear something that would affect me and mine, please tell someone. Preferably me or Jaks.”
“I will,” Glenn nodded so hard it made Quentin’s neck ache. “Promise.”
Glenn led the way to a limousine painted a shiny black with gold scrolling along the sides. It screamed of great wealth and bad intentions.
Perfect. Intimidation by car was his new favorite tactic.
As he got back in the limo, he had to admit, Nikko hadn’t seemed like a crazy psycho, but why else would he kidnap Quentin’s mother or change Glenn without support?
It took him a minute to realize what he was missing.
Motivation. Nikko’s presence had a bad feeling to it, like he was emitting evil, which was weird since he didn’t come across that way.
Still, he did have Trina Heart kidnapped, and that was evil enough.
It took almost an hour to get to the hotel. Quentin had never missed his teleporting more than he did now. He still didn’t trust the twins enough to tell them about his weakness.
Glenn pulled up in front of a fancy hotel, altogether the sort of place Quentin expected a vampire council to stay. The gothic architecture alone screamed, ‘vampire’.
“Nice,” he said, admiring the gargoyles.
“Luckily, it’s still mostly daylight,” Glenn said, eyeing them uneasily.
“What do you mean?” He saw nothing wrong with the statues. They were rather detailed, but not overly gruesome. Maybe they looked scarier at night.
“Don’t you ever read your creature books?” Glenn scowled at him disapprovingly as if he were channeling Quentin’s mother.
“I do…”
“Then you should know that gargoyles are only stone during the day. At night, they come alive.”
“Oh… oh, right. I do remember reading something about that. They can be vicious fighters, but they are primarily guardians of buildings.”
“Remember the vicious fighter part,” Glenn warned.
“Will do. Hopefully, I won’t still be here then.”
Quentin didn’t say anything else as he walked inside. Maybe it was his imagination, but he felt the eyes on him. He hoped he didn’t just curse them.
The reception area was as luxurious as the outside hinted. Black marble covered the floor, with a shimmering line of inlaid mother-of-pearl leading guests from the front door to the reception desks, which pulled their style straight from the twenties.
A line of young-looking men and women manned the desks in crisp black-and-white uniforms.
“I feel like I just entered a movie set.”
Glenn scanned the room. “I think they have shot a few movies here.”
“Can I help you?” They were met halfway to the reception desk by a distinguished man with gray-speckled brown hair. Either he was a vampire turned later in life, or a particularly daring human to be working here. His name tag read “William.”
“I’m Quentin Heart, I’m…”
“Yes, we’ve been expecting you,” the man interrupted. “The council is quite excited to make your acquaintance.”
It was for the best that Quentin didn’t mention his opinion of the council.
He was far from excited about meeting them since they had kidnapped his lover.
They idly talked about the hotel’s history as the elevator took them to the top floor, because of course, the vampires would have the penthouse.
He had almost expected to be escorted to some subterranean castle.
He wouldn’t put it past them.
Vampires were a dramatic species.
The elevator opened to a rather ordinary boardroom, a bit of a letdown after the luxurious old-fashioned lead-up.
Quentin’s gaze skimmed over the occupants until it landed on the one he’d been searching for. “Jaks!”
He ignored the disapproving glares sent his way as he rushed to his lover’s side.
Jaks stood as Quentin came closer. “Darling, how are you feeling?”
“Better.” It was only a partial lie. His body still felt as if leaden weights were strapped to his ankles, but his magic was refilling faster since he woke. “Nikko was on my porch.”
“Doing what?” Jaks asked.
“Yes, tell us, Mr. Heart. Why would the leader of a rival clan be at your home?” someone asked in a cold tone.
Quentin turned his head to face the speaker, unwilling to release his lover. “He wants my house.”
“Why?” a female vampire asked. She didn’t appear any older than her twenties, but her presence had an almost unbearable weight.
“It’s close to ley lines.” He didn’t see a problem in sharing that information. It wouldn’t take much for them to find out for themselves.
“What did you tell him?” the first speaker asked.
“I told him no. It’s been in my family for centuries. It holds my collective family magic. I can’t just hand it over even if I wanted to.”
“What did he say to that?” the female vampire asked. Her expression showed nothing but polite interest as if this entire thing was a show she was watching, and not a particularly good one.
“He said he’d keep my mother until he thought of a way around my family’s magic, claiming the territory.”
Jaks hugged Quentin tight. “You didn’t antagonize him, did you, love?”
Quentin blinked innocently up at his lover. “It’s like you don’t know me at all.”
Jaks’s mouth quirked up at one side like it did when he thought Quentin was being adorable, but he didn’t want to admit it and let him off the hook.
“He has your mother?” a different vampire asked.
Quentin reluctantly stepped out of Jaks’s hold. The man speaking now looked old for a vampire. How many centuries did you need to appear aged in vampire years?
“Yes. He admitted as much, and I heard her on the phone.”
The five council members who didn’t introduce themselves to Quentin did some sort of silent communication through facial expressions and hand gestures. They were no doubt telepathically communicating.
“Should we be worried?” he whispered to Jaks.
“No, it’ll be fine.” His lover’s relaxed state surprised him.
“What have you been doing here?”
“Bragging about you.” Jaks kissed Quentin’s forehead. “They wanted an update about the state of my coven, something they do whenever there is a change of leadership.”
“Then why was I told that they had captured you?” Quentin scowled at his grinning lover.
Jaks grinned. “Would you have come for a council meet and greet?”
Quentin crossed his arms over his chest. “Maybe.” He was going to pinch Glenn.
“Do you think he’d start a war to get his hands on your house?” one of the male council members interrupted their conversation to ask.
“I wouldn’t have thought so. I mean, it is a powerful vortex, but I’m not certain what a vampire can do with it.”
“That’s true,” the vampire, whom Quentin mentally titled ‘old guy’, interjected. “Unless he has a magic user to help him.”
All five pairs of eyes turned to stare at him.
“Don’t look at me. I’m not going to help him.”
Jaks wrapped his arms around Quentin. “What if he offered you your mom back?”
He didn’t respond right away. He thought it over. He knew the correct answer would be a resounding no, but there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for this mother. “No,” he said at last. “My mother would be upset if I compromised my principles to save her.”
“Good answer,” the younger female vampire said. “We grant you permission to invade Nikko’s land for the purposes of rescuing your mother.”
“Thank you.” He tried to remain respectful, even though they all probably knew from his behavior that he would be going one way or another.
He turned his attention to Jaks. “Grevin is going to meet us there.”
“Were you so certain we would give permission?” the oldest vampire sneered.
“No,” Quentin replied. He kissed Jaks on the cheek, then walked out of the boardroom. Jaks’s laughter followed him back to the elevator.
“Coming, Darling,” Jaks called out.
“You’ve got balls,” Andrea whispered. “Big ones.”
“And they’re all mine,” Jaks said, stepping into the elevator to join them, his eyes glowing with power.