15. Novak
Chapter 15
Novak
“ C ome in,” I said to the soft knock at my office door.
Lourna cleared her throat. “You have a visitor in the foyer, sir.”
I looked up from my data printouts. “Amy?”
“Sadly, no.” The human woman looked just as disappointed as I felt. “It’s ah, Thorne of Blood ‘til Dawn.”
“Thorne?” I couldn’t hide my surprise at who was essentially the vampire king coming to see me himself.
“I’ll be right down, Lourna. Thank you. Offer him something while he waits.”
“Of course.”
She left and I tried to wrap my brain around what Thorne could possibly want. He had to be pissed about my showing up to the mating ceremony. Naturally, he didn’t like me walking freely in and out of his territory. Not that I could blame him, but I would stand my ground.
Without a clan to rally behind me, I had no true power against Thorne. All I had was my dignity. He wasn’t going to have me groveling for an apology. And if he really was the just and fair ruler he claimed to be, he wouldn’t cut down a man who was already powerless.
Only one thing was for certain. I sure as hell would not let Amy shoulder the blame.
I waited a few more minutes before heading down to the foyer. The scent of darakt itched my nose as I came down the stairs.
“Thorne, welcome,” I said as I hit the ground floor.
“You can skip the pleasantries, Novak.” His lip curled into a snarl. “You don’t want me here and I don’t want to waste my time. Where can we chat privately?”
If someone wandered into Sanguine for the first time today and saw him, they never would have believed Thorne to be the head of the ruling vampire clan. He wore a threadbare T-shirt under a well-creased leather jacket, probably a relic from the 1970s. His darkwash jeans were faded to gray, and his leather motorcycle boots were scuffed to hell. He looked like an ordinary working-class vampire from the Heart, maybe a mechanic or darakt manufacturer.
Before they made the challenge to rule and won, the Blood ‘til Dawn vampires had been exactly that: manual laborers with humble roots.
“Fine with me. Would you prefer somewhere you can smoke?” I noticed he played with a lighter, and a pack of darakt cigarettes sat in his shirt pocket. Just because he was abrupt didn’t mean that I forgot my manners.
“Yes, sir,” he sneered with a fake upper class accent to mimic my own. “I would prefer that very much indeed.”
I ignored his mocking, and turned to lead him through the house. “This way.”
Trying not to be obvious, I glanced over my shoulder and in mirrors to watch him. Not that I believed he would steal anything, but I wouldn’t put it past him to spit on my floors. And I’d be damned if Lourna cleaned up any mess he made. Thorne could grab a rag and spray bottle and do it himself.
I reached the door to a small patio just off of the downstairs library, opened it and stepped aside for him. “Choose any ashtray you like. Make yourself at home.”
Thorne meandered around the patio, checking out the stringed bulbs offering gentle light, the ferns, small trees, and red-flowered plants lining the perimeter, and the outdoor furniture that Lourna kept in immaculate condition.
“Nice little jungle you got here.” Thorne eased himself into the loveseat, choosing the ash tray on the side table that had belonged to one of my uncles. “I want something like this at our compound. It’s just that no one seems to have much of a green thumb.”
“Most of the plants were my mother’s.” I sat across from him, downwind from where his smoke would travel. “I’m fortunate that my housekeeper seems to be good at keeping them alive.”
“How nice for you. Smoke?” Thorne held out a cigarette toward me.
“No, thank you. What can I do for you?”
He grinned slowly, red smoke curling from the corners of his lips. “Do you have any vices, Cursed One? Or are you too good for any of them?”
I shrugged. If by vice he meant unhealthy obsession, that would be finding the cure to Rathka’s Curse. Day in and day out, that was what kept me going for at least a century. But that addiction was becoming more burdensome than thrilling in recent months. There was no longer a high to chase, no hope for relief. Like a long-time addict, I simply kept going because I no longer knew any other way to live.
“Or maybe your vices go beyond darakt,” Thorne continued to muse. “Got a sex dungeon in this fancy house? A harem of blood pets you fuck and drink from?”
My expression didn’t change despite Thorne’s taunting. My dungeon downstairs was anything but a sexual kink. It was my biggest source of shame and mental torment.
“What do you want, Thorne?”
He continued taking his sweet time, settling comfortably on my couch while red smoke billowed around him like a blood aura.
“Did you enjoy the blood mate ceremony?” he asked in return. “It was awfully nice of Tavia’s friend to invite you, despite my explicitly forbidding you to see her.”
“Is that what this is about, then?” I straightened. “So punish me for disobeying. Just leave Amy alone.”
Thorne’s eyes narrowed. “I know that she invited you to the ceremony. That she has been coming here to see you. As far as obeying my order, you’ve actually been a good boy.” He flicked the end of his cigarette. “Are you fucking her?”
My lip curled, as did my fists. “No. And don’t talk about her so crassly.”
“Oh lighten up, for fuck’s sake.” He finished his cigarette and promptly stuck another one in his mouth. “So, what’s got her so interested in you? She like rich boys?”
“I don’t know,” I answered. “Maybe Blood ‘til Dawn hasn’t been the most welcoming family, so she’s seeking a friendly connection elsewhere.”
“Her best friend is part of our clan.”
“Her best friend who’s been planning the ceremony and spending all her time with her new mate? Yes, I’m sure Amy feels like a priority over there.”
“Is that what she is to you?” Thorne’s eyes sharpened. “A priority?”
I sighed, feeling exhausted with this pointless questioning. “She’s a friend. Someone I’ve come to care deeply about. When she comes here, I can’t bring myself to turn her away. Whatever she’s getting from me, it’s clearly not available at home. If that’s a crime according to Blood ‘til Dawn, fine. Punish me however you see fit. But don’t come down on her for seeking a friend.”
Thorne was quiet for a long while, pensively smoking. “What’s your stance on draitrium?”
It was an abrupt shift in topic, but I went along with it anyway. “Draitrium needs to be heavily regulated. It’s far too dangerous otherwise.”
“Regulated?” he barked. “Why, so the burnt-out husks of bodies don’t stack too high?”
“You know there are rare occasions when our kind may be exposed to sunlight, either accidentally or by circumstances that can’t be avoided. Small, regulated amounts of draitrium could prevent serious burns or even death. It could save someone’s life in the right circumstances, Thorne. You’d rather let them die than take a substance that protects them from sun exposure?”
“Our kind are not meant to live in the sunlight. That is an indisputable fact. It’s the one thing that Temkra and Rathka both agreed on.” Thorne leaned forward, his fangs bared. “This drug will wipe us out before it saves us. No matter how you try to rationalize its usefulness, you know I’m right.”
“You want drae eradicated for good, I take it.”
“Of course I do,” Thorne hissed.
“How?” I asked. “Seriously, how do you expect to do that without financially ruining Sanguine? It’s the basis of our alliance with the dragon shifters. They depend on our business to mine it. What happens to them if the demand dries up?”
“Like I give a fuck about the dragon shifters.” Thorne rolled his eyes. “I’m more concerned about the vampire families being torn apart by addiction.”
“The addictive qualities are concerning, yes,” I agreed. “Which is another reason for regulation. If the draitrium ore is further studied and tested, it can perhaps be bonded to other chemical compounds that will lessen the side effects while keeping the benefits.”
“Something you’d love to do, I’m sure. I hear you’re something of a scientist.”
I shrugged. “It is terrible that draitrium can only be bought through street dealers. Regulation would mean only certain amounts can be purchased, which would reduce the risk of abuse and overdose. If we had them available at medical facilities with licensed professionals handling the dosage?—”
“Like your ancestors did to mine?”
The accusation stopped me short. I was foolish not to have seen it coming. Thorne would never actually listen when it came to this topic, or any other probably. Not as long as this stain darkened our history. He was too emotionally close to the subject.
I brought my palms together, working to keep my voice level and calm. One of us had to be. Despite coolly smoking darakt, Thorne was anything but calm. I could feel the deep, seething hatred from across the table like a bonfire.
“My family was wrong to do that to yours,” I said. “I was young at the time, and didn’t learn of the deception until the aftermath. I truly thought it was an honest mistake. At the time, I didn’t believe my father could be so purposely malicious.”
Thorne laughed bitterly. “Not a single point of that plan wasn’t made with malicious intent. From the moment Rathka’s Order purchased ninety percent of the draitrium coming in, they planned to murder with it. Their own people, other vampires.”
“I don’t deny that,” I said.
“They got my father, Kalix’s father and brother, and so many more, hopped up on drae for what? Because it sure as hell wasn’t for a surprise attack on the werewolves like they claimed.”
I nodded, lowering my head. “Our elders felt threatened by the growing support of your clan. You had the love of the people, and our power was slipping from our grasp.”
“An entire generation of vampires wiped out,” Thorne continued. “Burned to death by the sun near the Vargmore border. Your clan even pinned the blame on the werewolves, saying they must have been captured and thrown outside in broad daylight. We proved that they lied, and got silenced for it.”
“It’s abhorrent,” I said. “Not only what was done, but the lies and the effort taken to cover it up. I deeply regret that my bloodline and my clan name was ever tied to such actions.”
I lifted my gaze to Thorne’s, still wondering what he wanted. An apology? I’d give one happily, along with restitution for his clan if he wanted that. I’d never stand by the atrocities my ancestors committed. Whatever proof of that he needed, I would give.
“Did you give draitrium to a bunch of Marrowers and set them to attack Sapien?”
My breath left my lungs like I’d been kicked in the chest. I should have seen this coming too. Thorne’s hatred of me and my clan truly knew no bounds.
“No.” My calmness was hanging by a thread. “I had nothing to do with that.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.” My fangs grew long. Not to feed, but to use as potential weapons.
Thorne’s eyes narrowed and he stubbed out his cigarette, for once not reaching for another one. “If you’re lying, I will find out. And when I do, I will execute you. Publicly. Rathka’s Order will be nothing but a bygone clan, a footnote in history.”
“You’d love that, I’m sure,” I said through gritted teeth. “But I am telling the truth.”
“Right. Because you’re so different from the others in your family, aren’t you?” Thorne stood, brushing ash off his jeans. “The good, studious, second son. Spared by the Curse.” He smirked. “Or cursed to live on? Hard to say.”
“I’ll see you out.” I rose and gestured to the door leading back inside the house.
“I don’t trust you with Amy.” Thorne went ahead of me, leisurely walking back the way we came. “But we don’t restrict personal freedoms in Blood ‘til Dawn, even if we don’t agree with those decisions. So as much as I hate it, I won’t prevent her from seeing you.”
“How generous of you.”
That was why he wouldn’t make it a clan decree, which would have made his order akin to a law. His clan prided itself on individual choice and freedoms, and would lose the support of the people if he started taking those away.
In any case, I wished he’d walk faster. The sooner he left my house, the better.
“If she’s got an ounce of common sense, she’ll figure it out on her own,” Thorne mused, almost to himself.
I didn’t reply. Amy had plenty of common sense. What she didn’t have was preconceived notions of me based on what my family had done. She didn’t blame me for their actions, and that was more refreshing than I realized. It was really damn nice to spend time with someone and let them get to know me . Just me, without the weight of my clan’s history or reputation on my shoulders.
“Oh, congratulations, by the way.” Thorne paused and turned to look at me just as he entered the foyer.
I stared at him, puzzled. “For what?”
He grinned like a shark, teeth on full display. “For your soon-to-be heir with Carpe Noctem’s daughter. Rathka’s Order just may live on after all.”
My blood went cold. “How do you know about that?”
“The working class does have eyes and ears, you know. Even if they don’t talk to their employers.”
I thought of the brusang butler at the Carpe Noctem estate. His whole I-exist-to-serve shtick must have been an act. If I remembered correctly, there was another brusang besides Amy in Blood ‘til Dawn. Maybe they knew the butler.
“I assume you’ve already told Amy, since you two are such good friends,” Thorne went on, his tone mocking.
Despite my effort to school my features, he saw right through me and his grin became absolutely maniacal.
“Oh, you haven’t? That’s interesting. Well, I’m sure you’ll tell her soon. Unless there’s some reason you don’t want her to know?” Thorne turned, letting himself out the front door as he said, “It would be a shame if she ended up hearing it from someone else.”
“I… Of course I’ll tell her,” I called out. “Soon.”
Thorne gave me one final, slimy smirk over his shoulder. “See that you do, Novak. See that you do.”