Chapter 28
CHAPTER 28
In life, Zack had been a cuddler, but the way he held on to Takashi, even in his sleep, melted a piece of Takashi’s heart. Over the last few nights, an odd routine had developed that began with Takashi waking in what was technically Zack’s bed. The only painful part of their rest was the absence of Roger.
Inevitably, Seamus interrupted them. By the third night, Zack climbed out of bed well before the knock came on the door. Seamus and Takashi would make bland conversation while waiting for Zack to finish preparing for the evening out. Then Zack and Seamus would leave.
Takashi roamed the mansion, quickly exploring everywhere that wasn’t behind a locked door. He hadn’t investigated Seamus’s secret room a second time just yet, but he had discovered a locked door on the first floor that was steeped in residual fear. Every time he’d gotten close to using his makeshift lockpicks on it, a pair of security guards would patrol the hall.
And that was a strangeness as well. For all the staff, security, and mortal pets that Seamus kept, the mansion lacked the flicker of warmth that came from mortals. Other than the security guards, anyone that Takashi came across would bow and then excuse themselves as fast as they could from being in the same room as him.
At some point in his evenings, he would happen upon Anton or the red-collared pale boy, or one of the two would find him, and a cursory offering of blood was made. Then Anton would excuse himself on the grounds of “research,” or the boy would disappear into the depths of the mansion, and Takashi was alone again.
Takashi wasn’t sure if his listlessness was developing because of the lonely way his nights were passing or from the lack of decent blood. One might have begun to feed the other.
But there wasn’t much he could do. His search for a phone had turned up nothing, not even the hint of a landline. Seamus was keeping them isolated. The closest he had come to communications with the outside world were the computers in Seamus’s secret office, and those were likely to be trapped.
Takashi was growing almost desperate enough to find out. One email, one small word to someone beyond the mansion, might be what made him feel more like himself.
And if Seamus was watching, then that same email would paint a target on whoever Takashi reached out to.
Takashi had been in tense positions before; attending any foreign vampire court was like playing chess with skilled masterminds. Every gesture and word was another glide of a piece across the board. Some courts feigned their manners better, but all were filled with vampires that would ruin him in an instant if doing so suited their plans. He had accepted that and relished surviving in those places. The right word in the right place typically turned the situation around. Other covens respected him, even if they weren’t overly fond of him.
Nothing had prepared him for the grind of stress that was living in the mansion. Roger hadn’t wanted to speak about what life with Seamus and Anton was like. Though Roger’s experience had been harsher and he hadn’t always lived with the pair, Takashi was beginning to understand his scars more fully. There were no words for his current situation, except, perhaps, he was on the road to madness.
Still, Takashi waited until Seamus and Zack left for the evening. Then he dressed and explored the halls. When he reached the front hall, the scent of fearful mortals drew his attention. He followed his nose to a lavish sitting room.
Anton relaxed on one of the couches, one arm along the back and one leg crossed over the other. He was wearing a fine, dark gray suit, and his long blond hair was pulled back with a matching gray band. Despite his general carefree display, his brow was pinched in concentration until he noticed Takashi at the doorway. “Ah! Just in time. Come in!”
Across from Anton were three teenage girls in matching black school uniforms. One had a copper and red tie, another deep blue, and the last had a black tie with threads of green. Their blazers had the school crest for Versinal Academy. They were bound to wooden chairs by wrist, waist, and ankle. Each had a white cloth gag tied around their mouths.
“You’ve kidnapped mage students?” Takashi said, affecting a note of boredom. Decades of practice made his outrage easier to hide.
“I did no such thing. They came to meet me,” Anton said impishly. His grin said otherwise. He held out a phone toward Takashi. “Technically, they thought they were meeting you .”
Takashi entered the room, took the phone, and skimmed the open messenger, rushing through nights upon nights of back and forth with the girls. The oldest conversations started weeks ago around Halloween. “You catfished them. Using me. Why?”
Anton took the phone back. “I could hardly use my own picture. They wouldn’t have spoken to the diabolical vampire warlock who was the subject of cautionary tales of their youth.”
“You don’t know that,” Takashi replied shortly. “You could’ve held a unique allure. Without dragging my name into it.”
“Oh, be fun , Takashi.” Anton playfully swatted Takashi’s arm. “These three have kept our little secret. They thought they were the special chosen of a world-traveled ambassador. I believe Katie there was quite moved that you picked her.”
“They are children of Enduring Circle mages,” Takashi replied. “You should release them before you start a war.”
“If the mages truly had power anymore, then one of these young darlings would have already gotten out of her bonds,” Anton replied. “None of them are skilled enough—and they’ve already turned eighteen! By their age, I was setting fire to whole houses with a snap of my fingers.”
Anton raised one hand, fingers ready to snap.
Fearful he might set one of the girls on fire as an example, Takashi clamped his hand over Anton’s and pushed it back down to rest on the couch as he sat beside him.
Anton rolled his eyes and sighed. “The point is, the Enduring Circle is toothless. It’s only a matter of time until it crumbles. They wouldn’t dare start a war with our kind. Now stop fussing and feel honored. They want to become your vampire brides.”
Takashi had to refrain from clenching his fists. Exactly what had Anton promised these girls? “Oh, do they?”
Anton’s grin would have been devilishly handsome if he wasn’t discussing such a malicious scheme. “They sent me—well, you —a lovely little video last week showing how well they’d get along. You should see it.”
“No, thank you,” Takashi said sharply.
“You’re getting worked up.” Anton put a hand on Takashi’s elbow. “I thought you would be more fun.”
“Luring innocent girls into a kidnapping isn’t my version of fun,” Takashi replied.
“Right, you prefer to stalk bigots and catfish them into their graves,” Anton said seriously, all hints of teasing gone for a second.
Takashi glared at Anton. That was the truth of one of his hobbies, one that he had keenly avoided sharing with Zack. Roger knew, but then Roger had been asking how he handled his urge to bring death upon mortals. Anton must have discovered that secret while rooting around in my desires. Or he somehow broke my passwords on my laptop .
“The prim, proper, and mortal-palatable Takashi Sato has a dark side.” Anton leaned in closer, their faces only inches apart. His smile was back, slick and mocking, and he smelled faintly of fresh blood and old dirt. “Whatever will happen when the world discovers just how thick your mask is?”
But Anton wasn’t the only one who could see beneath a well-crafted mask. Takashi said softly, “You started courting them after Halloween. Was that when Seamus told you he planned on turning Zack into his son?”
Anton flinched, a micro-expression that vanished back into his smooth persona. He leaned back against the couch and considered the girls before him. “At what time my love was planning on bringing a new addition into the family isn’t what we should be discussing. We have three beautiful young women, and we should decide what to do with them.”
“Bizarre thinking, but you could simply let them go,” Takashi said.
Anton snorted. “Gods below, don’t tell me you’re going to keep clinging to that boring fa?ade. I was in your mind, Takashi. I know you like the blood and death as much as I do.”
I doubt that . Takashi settled into the corner of the couch. “You clearly had a plan before I wandered in. Don’t pretend you need my ideas.”
“That’s true.” Glee sparkled in Anton’s ruby eyes. “I thought of gifting one to Zack as a pet.”
“He’s too young to keep from killing her, and he would hate how you found her,” Takashi said. “He won’t have a slave for a pet.”
“Ugh, fair. And I can’t stand to watch him brood more than he already does.” Anton stroked his chin while he mused, “I am certain that you should turn at least one of them.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Takashi asked.
“Oh, come on.” Anton gestured at the girls. “They aren’t that much younger than you were, or Zack was. I wager you could share enough power for the three of them to be fine young fledglings. And they did come to meet ‘you’ because they wanted to become beautiful immortals.”
“You’ve had me on a crap blood diet for a week,” Takashi replied.
“As if one week is enough to diminish a powerful sireling of Nell, the Pirate Queen and Master of the Smoky Woodlands Domain.”
“You are many times older than me. I’d think you would be capable of turning all three.”
“I have to conserve my strength for the time being,” Anton replied. He nudged Takashi’s leg with his foot. “Turn at least one? I’d love a foster daughter.”
“You want me to turn one of them and let you raise her,” Takashi said.
“ We could do the raising.” Anton put his hand on Takashi’s shoulder. “Think of how darling she could become under our mutual tutelage.”
The girl could grow into a terrible, brilliant nightmare. A true mastermind against mankind, with the perfect fuel for revenge upon them. How Anton missed that the girl would likely hate them for all eternity, Takashi wasn’t sure.
Perhaps he could divert Anton’s attention. Tactfully, Takashi frowned and asked, “What about Zack? Aren’t you raising him? He is your love’s offspring.”
“Yet I’m given no time to mold him!” Anton sighed. “I’m surprised my lover allows you anywhere near his precious prodigy. Now, please, Takashi. Let’s do this.”
The proposition had a million red flags. Versinal Academy was one of the premiere magic schools in North America and was run by the Enduring Circle, a very powerful group of magic practitioners based in Chicago. Even if their arcane prowess wasn’t a challenge, their wealth and connections would be. In addition to that, Zack and Roger would never approve of these circumstances for making a sireling. These girls had been tricked.
But they also weren’t long for this world. Anton had them and had already declared that he had no intention of letting them go. Their fates were sealed. Death, new life, or something worse awaited them.
Three vampires were impossible for Takashi unless he wanted to give away nearly all his strength or give them so little that they were practically human. However, if he made one into a vampire … she’d be bound to me. I wouldn’t have this loneliness aching in my bones because I would be connected to her . She would be stuck in the mansion with him, and becoming Anton’s foster daughter wasn’t likely to be entirely pleasant. But she might have access to the mansion in a way that Takashi didn’t. She would be a piece on the board that could work for him. An asset.
Takashi was in need of assets.
“You’d have to treat her like a daughter,” Takashi said slowly.
“Of course!”
“Not a doll or a toy or a role in some drama in your head, a daughter,” Takashi reiterated.
Anton mellowed, his cheerfulness becoming more subtle. He dropped his charade and became serious. “She will be a treasured being.”
“I want a phone. A brand-new one, sealed in the box, with no manipulations on it,” Takashi said.
Anton raised an eyebrow. “You want me to trust you with a phone?”
“I’m trusting you with my offspring.” Takashi held Anton’s gaze, unblinking. “At the moment, I could disappear into the night if I was willing to forsake Zack. If you have my sireling, you’d be able to easily track me. Even if I were to take her with me, the blood trail we’d have to leave would hinder us. This is no light feat you ask of me. You want my blood, my power , and you want to shape her growth. You are asking for a piece of my soul. You can give me a goddamn phone.”
“You won’t be absent from her life,” Anton murmured. He put his hand on Takashi’s as he continued holding his gaze. There was something almost gentle in his smile. “I know that Zack has settled faster because you have been at his side. You are a fantastic teacher.”
“I wasn’t starting on the wrong foot with Zack,” Takashi replied. “What will you do if she’s stubborn like him?”
“We’ll deal with that.” Anton squeezed Takashi’s hand.
“That wasn’t an answer,” Takashi said quietly. “And you haven’t promised me what I asked for.”
“Such a stingy negotiator.”
Takashi pulled his hand away from Anton’s. “You could ask a dozen of your sirelings. You could find a new vampire to adopt within a fortnight, I’m certain. Instead, you want to raise what should be mine, and a flowery saying of ‘ours’ isn’t enough when I am a prisoner within these walls.”
“You chose to remain,” Anton replied sternly.
“Because you said I would gain power here,” Takashi returned. “However, all you and your love have done is take, and all I have been is patient. I am not a fool. You look to bind me more firmly to this place, and I am willing, but I have named my price. Tell me what you would do if she disobeyed. Promise me a phone.”
Slowly, Anton stood and moved over to a lamp on an end table. He drifted his hand along the lampshade.
At the same time, Takashi felt a push into his mind. He buried his desires under a cold bank of insecurities. He was scared of what Seamus was doing to Zack the long nights they were out of the mansion; he was afraid that if he chose one of these girls, her life would become hell; he was terrified that something had happened to Roger; he had a small, thin fear that he’d picked the wrong slacks to go with his shirt. One desire remained outside his wall, and he focused his thoughts on it. I want someone close. I don’t want to feel alone .
“I believe the mortals call it ‘gentle parenting,’” Anton said, an ancient power resonating in his voice. All jokes and levity were absent. “You aren’t the only one hoping for a little more joy in their evenings. I can arrange a phone, but know that if you conspire against my love, your Zack will be the first to die. Roger the second. The girl you make will scream for years before I break her. And you will be present for every second she is in agony. Do we have an understanding?”
Takashi wasn’t going to get a better deal. He nodded once.
“Fantastic. Now. If you would.” Anton motioned at the girls.
In the last one hundred and twenty-five years, Takashi had only made seven vampires. The first had been his mortal niece. She had found him, discovered the secret of Taliville, and begged him for eternal life. His second had been a nurse who had grown sick with the Spanish Flu. The third and fourth had been lovers who he’d foolishly believed he might have a forever with. They were still on decent terms, but their love had faded. His fifth had been an artist who still toiled away at his craft in the mountain forests around Taliville. His sixth, a young lover dying of AIDS in the 1970s who was now an ambassador in Seattle, and his seventh, a darling musician who was certain that with enough time, he could create the perfect symphony.
Unlike him, they had all known their choice. They had understood what being a vampire meant before he turned them. Mortals were for feeding, and transcending one to the existence of a vampire was no easy decision.
Takashi centered himself and stretched out his ability to sense the girls’ fears and desires. A screaming panic formed a strong wall, but each had cracks, and Takashi slipped into them.
The girl with a copper and red tie was in denial. She wanted to wake up from the nightmare with nothing changed. The girl with the black-and-green tie was seething with a desire to burn both Anton and Takashi to ashes. Her hatred was in her eyes.
The third one, with her blue tie, had an emotion that Takashi recognized from the night he fell from the trapeze. The spark of yearning for immortality. Finding it was like discovering a note in perfect harmony to a song almost forgotten. Mortals as young as her didn’t often understand what forever might truly involve. But as Takashi met her gaze, she took a deep breath. She had cried at some point, but she’d also stopped long enough that her tears were dry. She gripped the armrests of the chair she was bound to and continued watching him.
She looked young, but Takashi had seen younger vampires. Her brown hair was a mess of curls that had likely been mussed further during her kidnapping. She had a layer of makeup that her tears hadn’t completely smudged. But underneath her pale olive foundation, he noticed a smattering of freckles.
Mage students were often taught ballroom dancing as part of their instruction, but she had an athlete’s physique. A gymnast, Takashi was guessing. Or perhaps he was hoping he might have something more in common with his soon-to-be fledgling other than being stuck in the same hellish prison.
“Her,” Takashi whispered.
“I knew you’d choose Katie.” Smoothly, Anton moved back to the couch.
While Takashi had made other vampires, he’d never had an audience for the act. He pushed his awareness of Anton out of his mind and focused on the girl, Katie, in front of him. Slowly, he undid the gag around her mouth and then the ropes binding her to the chair.
“Will I lose my magic?” she asked in a rough whisper.
“I don’t know,” Takashi replied gently. “There are vampires capable of wielding arcane magic. Anton is one of them. But not every practitioner who becomes one of us keeps their craft.”
Takashi stood and held his hand out to her. After a brief hesitation, she put her hand in his and let him guide her up to her feet. She was about his height, less than two inches shorter than he.
Just as Takashi was steeling his nerves, she tilted her head to the side and swept her hair off her neck. Of all the things the girl could do, she was inviting him. Takashi put one hand on her shoulder and the other on her cheek. But he sensed no outside influence on her emotions. Her fears had cooled and fallen away behind a jumping hope of getting something wonderful.
She has ambition . He couldn’t fault her for that, not when his own was pulsing behind his tongue and molding this moment into opportunity.
He soothed her fears further and drew her into his arms. He bit into her neck, and she gasped, leaning in toward him. Cinching his arm around her, he held her close and drank deeply. Warm, wonderful, chaotic blood spilled over his tongue and into him. After a week of paltry offerings, Katie’s blood was astounding. He groaned as he swallowed yet another delicious mouthful.
Even with a slow bleed, her heart eventually pounded fast and fiercely. Her emotions funneled downward into one blazing desire: live . The taste of her blood sweetened, but Takashi pulled himself away before claiming her final moments. She swayed on her feet, and her eyelids drooped. Without intervention, she was as good as dead.
Takashi bit his wrist and held it up to Katie’s lips. She roused from her growing stupor and licked the blood from his wrist. She gasped. Then she latched onto his wrist and drank. Each sucking pull drew more of the liquid coolness that kept Takashi moving. He offered that strength up to her, let the numbness in his limbs grow. She’d need every bit he could afford to spare in order to keep up with them.
Takashi’s legs were threatening to give out. He started to collapse to the floor only to find Anton steadying the two of them. Warm, gooey happiness filled Anton’s red eyes, and he pressed a kiss to Takashi’s temple. “More than enough.”
The confirmation hadn’t been necessary. Still, Takashi waited for Katie to take one more long draw before he yanked his wrist clean of her mouth. She began to whine and reach for his wrist.
Then the magic took root.
She buckled, and Takashi held on to her tightly so she wouldn’t drop to the floor immediately. With a scream from her and a shout from him, they started to sink, and Anton eased them down. What he’d given her spun and settled inside her. Her heart stopped, but he felt the thread binding them together. She’d rise in a few nights’ time.
“Beautiful,” Anton murmured in Takashi’s ear.
Some part of him believed Anton right. Another part warred within him to claim that this was too much to take. But that thread binding him to Katie was a connection he hadn’t felt in decades. The nature of his work had kept him from bringing his other sirelings with him, and they’d been able to move on from him within a few short years. The thread to the others had always thinned so quickly. Will it be the same with her? Or will she need me longer?
Gently, Takashi laid her on the floor. “I want to be there when she wakes.”
“Of course,” Anton replied softly.
“She’ll have her own suite?”
“I’ll have one set aside tonight.” Anton nudged Takashi. “There is one that isn’t far from yours and Zack’s.”
“If she decides she wants to be away from me?—”
“Nonsense. You’re her father now.”
It was a conceit Takashi had never fallen into with his other sirelings. Nell had never called him son either. He wasn’t about to force it on Katie. He stood, his head swimming, and reluctantly let Anton steady him. “Only if she calls me that. Don’t be harsh with her if she takes time to like you.”
“I will be on my best behavior.” Anton rested his forehead against Takashi’s temple.
Takashi was too tired to push him away. He should. He needed to. Anton was not someone he wanted close to his heart. But the exhaustion continued to seep into his veins. He’d given too much of himself, and he just wanted a touch of comfort. He leaned into him.
After a long moment, Anton started to slip from Takashi’s side and let him stand on his own. “Now, we have two delightful meals to regain that waning strength of yo?—”
The front doors of the mansion burst open with a volume of sound that echoed down the hall to the sitting room they were in. Seamus’s voice followed, loud and full of rage, “ Anton !”
“That sounds like a problem,” Anton said on his way out of the room.
Takashi made it as far as the doorway before he stopped and leaned against the frame. Whatever the problem was, it would have to come to him.