Chapter 12
Tobias
“Well, fuck.” Tobias joined Kitty on the floor beside the couch. He took Keziah’s hand. “What can we do, darlin’?”
“Don’t know…” She started to cry again, and the tremors refused to abate.
“She shouldn’t be sweating this way,” Kitty murmured.
“This is just like Will all over again,” Tobias added, thinking of when he’d almost died in the eighth lower realm after temporarily losing his wings.
“What does that mean?” Derek’s voice jumped in volume. “Is she going to experience the True-Death?”
“Nope, not on my watch,” Tobias said fiercely. “Blood will help.”
“Doubtful,” Keziah managed. She paused as the tremors got the better of her. “I’ve… already fed… not… hungry.”
Kitty was already taking off her jacket. Tobias clamped a hand on her arm. “No, you fed me last night, and I took a lot. It should be me anyway; I need to create a stronger bond with her to make up for the loss of her maker.”
“Okay. Good call.” Kitty shuffled over to give him more space.
He parked his wrist in front of Keziah. The female tried to protest with more claims of not being hungry.
“Ugh. We don’t have time for this.” He groaned and pierced the vein himself.
He held the arm above Keziah’s mouth. The vampire parted her lips to protest and ingested a large mouthful of blood. Her eyes widened. Without missing a beat, she grabbed on with both hands and started gulping it down.
I guess my blood is a lot more potent these days, with the power I’ve gained, and the immortal blood I keep consuming.
“What happened? Is she okay?” Althea’s voice sounded from the other side of the room.
“She will be. Carvalho is dead. She started going through withdrawal from the absence of his connection.” Tobias arose and stepped back. Althea took his place.
“If she hadn’t already been oathed to Tobias, I don’t know if she would have survived this,” Kitty said. “He’s strengthened the bond, so she should be all right now.”
Althea frowned. “I’ve seen vamps lose their maker before. It’s rough, but not a death sentence.”
“Not one of the original kings,” Kitty said. “An original has never died a True-Death until now.”
“Holy fuck, what if they go after Marquez next?” Althea turned to Tobias with a panicked look.
“While I’m sure I’d be affected, we’ve got a lot of immortals in our corner,” Tobias tried to assure her. “It’s going to be okay.” He hoped he sounded convincing, because he wasn’t sure of anything.
Althea moved her attention back to the female on the couch and took her hand. “Kez…” She kissed the female tenderly at the temple and drew back to look at her properly.
“I’m fine. Martelli’s blood is some serious shit.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” Althea smirked.
“Let me just confirm you’re really okay.” Kitty placed a palm to Keziah’s upper chest. “Yep, the blood did the trick, no miracles required.”
Althea gave her a look of gratitude. “Thank you, Kitty. And, you too, Martelli. We were right to trust you.”
“It wouldn’t have been possible without Derek bringing her to us,” Tobias said. “Something about the maker bond delayed us from being alerted to the danger she was in.”
“Not to mention we’re both still recovering from losing others in our care,” Althea added.
“True,” he agreed. “Derek, I’d like to officially introduce you to Althea Rhodes. She was another enforcer for my maker, so we were colleagues. She’s going to be your new mentor.”
“Oh!” Althea exclaimed. “This is he? Well, baby vampire, you’re off to a good start. Thanks for taking care of my female.”
Derek grinned and came to shake her hand. “No problem.”
“This kind of complicates things a bit,” Kitty said quietly to Tobias, as Derek and the females began to exchange pleasantries.
“Yeah, it does. I think we need a full meeting at the penthouse. Our inner circle needs to know what we’re dealing with.”
“I’m in,” Kitty said without hesitation. “I’ll see who I can locate while you wrap things up here.” She bid her goodbyes to the others and flashed out.
“I also have to head out,” Tobias announced. “I’ll check back in before dawn, but if you have any concerns, call me.”
“All right,” Althea nodded. “Derek, come meet some of my crew.”
Once they’d gone, Tobias checked in with O’Brien to let the male know he’d be in charge for the next few hours. Satisfied everything was as good as it could be under the circumstances, he blurred to Manhattan to Rion’s penthouse.
Rion’s darkened expression said a lot, as he let Tobias into the apartment.
“Sorry about this,” Tobias muttered.
“I do wish you had called this meeting an hour later,” Rion complained. “Lori and I had a dinner reservation.”
“If it helps, I have not eaten either.”
“It does not. Nevertheless, if the situation has escalated, a meeting is necessary.”
Tobias offered nothing more as they strode through the palatial home, toward the den. Will, Vixen, Lyla, and Lori were already gathered and waiting. A stack of steaming pizza boxes sat on the coffee table, waiting to be consumed. Now it made sense, Rion Le Roux loathed eating fast food.
“Did I hear you say you hadn’t fed?” Lori asked as Tobias took a seat in a leather wing-chair.
“You did, but I’m fine. I’ll deal with it when we’re done here.”
“I could–” She started.
“No,” Rion intervened immediately. “Save your blood and your strength, little one. You must always be a last resort. Tobias has many other options.”
Lori’s lips pressed into a thin line. She hated being told what to do, but chose not to make a fuss. Tobias tried to make eye contact, but her gaze remained fixed on the fireplace behind the coffee table.
He decided to switch to telepathy. “Thanks, darlin’, I appreciate your offer. Don’t let Rion’s grumpy ass get you down.”
“Urgent communication only, remember?” She threw back. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Unlike Rion, Lori hated the presence of someone else in her mind. Tobias should have known better. They were all exhausted, stressed, and in need of some real answers.
“So, what happened after we left?” Will asked.
Jolted out of his inner monologue and back to the company in the room, Tobias cleared his throat awkwardly.
“We’ll wait for Kitty and Christo,” he said brusquely.
“They should have been here by now. Kitty left to get him ages ago,” Vixen mused. “Even if they had to walk here from Chameleon, it’s not that far.”
Alarm bells went off in Tobias’ head. If anything had happened to Christo, he would know. The mortal servant bond was one of the strongest bonds possible. Nothing had filtered through. That meant if anything had gone wrong, it was to do with Kitty.
“I’m not getting anything from Christo…” Tobias’ words trailed off, the unspoken implication a heavy weight between them all.
“Someone should check on Kitty,” Lyla decided. “Who has a connection with her and can locate her whereabouts?”
“She has connections with us,” Lori said softly. “It doesn’t work the other way.”
“Damn it,” Tobias hissed. “Someone pray to her.”
“We’ve already been doing that,” Vixen replied, her gaze locked with Lori’s.
“I’m going to Chameleon,” Tobias jerked into a standing position and started striding toward the exit.
“Whoa, whoa, do you really think we’re going to let you go by yourself?” Will, now standing, had both arms folded over his chest confrontationally.
“Indeed,” Rion agreed.
“I shall accompany you also,” Lyla added as she began fixing her hair into a high ponytail. She slipped on a jacket which had materialized in her hand, and approached Tobias
“Okay then, I guess we’ll wait here,” Vixen mumbled. Lori switched couches to sit beside her, and they linked hands.
Tobias looked at them all, both grateful to have such unwavering support, and concerned at what they might all be walking into.
It seemed risky for their four best attack strengths to all head into an unknown confrontation together.
He wanted to suggest someone stay behind with the females, but he knew better.
“We will meet in the alley where we terminated Zafoni,” Rion instructed, before dematerializing. Will followed an instant later.
Lyla cast a glance toward Tobias. “Typical immortal males, thinking only of their individual intentions. I will transport you, vampire.”
With a silent nod, he rested a hand on her shoulder and prepared to dematerialize.
The alley was vacant, apart from Rion and Will standing near a dumpster. Tobias removed his hand from Lyla’s shoulder and started walking toward the street.
“Hey, wait, we don’t have a plan,” Will’s tone reflected surprise.
“There is no plan. We go in there, find Christo, and see if he’s okay. Then we figure out if he’s seen Kitty. If the shit hits the fan, kick some ass.”
“That sounds very much like a plan…” Lyla said wryly.
Tobias had already reached the sidewalk. After looking both ways for signs of any suspicious activity, he powered on ahead, toward Chameleon.
The bar appeared normal. Patrons occupied tables and booths, drinking and chatting as if nothing were amiss. Two female bar staff served customers. Tobias gave them a wave and headed straight for the VIP room, which he found empty.
“He should have been here,” Will said. “When I brought him here earlier, he said he would call when he was ready to return to Diabolus Loco.”
“Tobias,” Rion spoke with urgency.
The vampire turned to find the demon standing next to the poker table with a business card in his hand. Will, who was closer, snatched it away to look at it.
Rion glared at the angel. “It’s from Marquez.”
“Fuck!” Tobias shouted. “We got complacent.”
“It’s got a time and an address,” Will said, as he attempted to tuck the card back into Rion’s hand.
“Of course it does,” Tobias muttered.
An icy breeze swirled around Lyla as her Unholy power rushed to the surface. “How long do we have?”
“The meeting isn’t until tomorrow night,” Will replied.
“Anything could happen between now and then!” Tobias growled.
“For now, we seek solace in the fact your mortal servant is safe. We will hold onto hope that Kitty is, too.” Rion advised. “In the meantime, we do everything we can to prepare ourselves.”