Chapter 31
CHAPTER 31
Takashi’s kisses were the wildest, most feverish they’d ever been. Somewhere in the midst of the feed, Takashi had lowered his defenses entirely. Reading emotions or minds or souls or whatever Zack currently had access to of Takashi’s wasn’t easy. He wasn’t sensing the journal page or the mental screen with pop-ups. Takashi was like another presence inside his body, sort of like Seamus’s voice but entirely different. He knew Takashi was horny for him. That was the easiest to figure out, as his own libido was skyrocketing.
But there was something else. Something deep and beyond definition, and yet it longed to have a label.
Love? Is that what he’s feeling for me?
For a brief flicker of a moment, Zack had worried he’d misjudged Takashi. Roger had been too scared to engage in the horrific ways vampires manipulated each other, while Takashi seemed to have thrown himself into what roles he could gain power with inside the mansion. Zack had thought that maybe Takashi was too cold and jaded. Then he’d spotted that crack in his armor, the same one he’d seen on his birthday.
The aloofness and stoic persona made a kind of sense. Takashi reminded Zack of a character from his favorite book series. He hadn’t seen it in real life. Hadn’t known what it might actually look like until he realized that Takashi was terrified of being truly alone.
And as soon as he’d pointed that out—well, here they were, making out in the hottest way Zack had ever been a part of. They kept nicking each other’s tongues on fangs, bringing bits of blood into the action and making every kiss more intense than the last. There had been times in his life he’d come earlier than he wanted and was embarrassed, but he’d never been this close to coming in his pants before.
“Wait,” he said, having to dart his lips out of the way of Takashi’s next eager kiss. He cupped Takashi’s cheeks and held him close but also kept him from kissing him. “You are … wow . This … I … holy shit .”
“Yet you stopped,” Takashi whispered. Moonlight on a clear night had a quarter the magnificence of his smile. He writhed against Zack. “Why?”
“Because I want to be in you before either of us comes,” Zack replied.
Takashi reached for the buttons on his shirt. “ Yes .”
Stripping was a delicate twist of limbs and cloth that took far too long. They were shredding their clothes. Buttons flew—mostly Takashi’s as Zack took hold of his shirt and tugged. He’d meant for the gesture to be light, but his new strength had won. The ruined garment was worth the moan Takashi let out when Zack stroked his chest, thumb brushing over his nipple.
They rolled onto the bed together. One of them reached for the lube. Zack lost track of who exactly. He had been going for it but had gotten distracted running his hand along Takashi’s arm and tracing out places that made him shiver. Little touches led to flares of want that continued to fuel the desire pouring from him.
More kissing. Caresses that traced firm lines into tender places. Zack nipped Takashi’s shoulder and drew a few drops of blood that danced on his tongue. The blood lust didn’t dry his throat. His hunger was still sated, but he was with Takashi. He needed more .
The kissing and nipping and touching became a roll and slide of movement until Zack was on his back, and Takashi put a hand on his chest to keep him there. Takashi sat up, straddling Zack’s lap once more.
Zack reached for him and intended to bring him down for another kiss but was struck with the sudden clarity of just how handsome Takashi was. His short black hair was mussed, completely broken free from style for a change. Tiny drops of blood dotted his fawny skin here and there from where Zack had nipped him and somehow missed a drop. Some were gaining the momentum to move and slid down his lean muscles. His wicked grin and the sparkle in his red eyes were all for him.
Zack rested his hands on Takashi’s hips. Fuck, he seemed made of solid muscle.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever felt anyone want me this badly,” Takashi murmured. His voice was a velvet purr that brought a moan to Zack’s lips. He stroked down Zack’s chest in slow, gentle spirals.
Takashi’s words couldn’t be true, but Zack didn’t detect a lie from him. And he knew, in his soul or gut or whatever, Takashi meant what he was saying. An instinct deeper than observation kicked in. He wasn’t blocking himself off from me when I took sips from him. I know him like no one else does .
“I know we’re immortal,” Zack said, a grin shaping his lips and feeling wondrous and strange all at once, “but my dick really wants attention now .”
With a soft laugh, Takashi wrapped his hand around Zack’s cock. “What happened to taking it slower?”
“I didn’t say anything about slower.” Zack tried to sit up, to go for a kiss, but Takashi pushed at him to lie back down. He did with a groan. “What I said was I wanted to be inside you before either of us came.”
“So you did.” Takashi dragged himself across Zack’s tip until his hole met Zack’s cock. He sank slowly, steadily.
Zack watched with growing fascination. He’d never been in this position before. He’d seen Takashi ride Roger a few times, but that wasn’t the same. Takashi’s eyelids fluttered and then closed. His mouth dropped open just a little, and Zack had a full view of his fangs and the blood lingering on his teeth. Bit by bit, Zack disappeared up inside him. The tightness and friction around his cock was too fucking fantastic.
When Takashi was fully seated, he opened his eyes again. His smile turned sly, and he reached for his own cock. As he stroked himself, he said, “You should see your face. Fucking concentrating so hard. I can feel you holding back. Wanting to make this good for me.”
Zack clenched his teeth to keep himself from coming. With slow caresses, he touched Takashi’s inner thighs, eventually bringing his hands up to rest on his hips.
“So fucking patient,” Takashi said. Then he pushed upward with his knees, sliding up Zack’s cock, and slowly lowered himself again. He continued at that languid pace.
Gently, Zack guided Takashi up just a fraction farther, and then he pumped upward into him. He tried a few times, and though Takashi moaned, he wasn’t lit up with pleasure. So Zack experimented with other movements until he found the rhythm that made Takashi gasp. Takashi began to move his hand furiously up and down his shaft while Zack dragged him down his cock over and over, occasionally bucking into him as he did.
Words tumbled out of Takashi, and they verbally didn’t make any sense to him, but he could feel their meaning. Fuck yes. There. Harder .
Zack gave him everything he could, holding out his own orgasm. Then Takashi spurted long lines that decorated Zack’s chest and came with the sort of shout that transcended souls without a need for magic. He tightened around Zack, but more than that, his overwhelming ecstasy flooded over him.
He toppled over the edge, too. He came with a long, satisfying groan and pulled Takashi down to cuddle him.
They settled together, first with Zack’s cock still in Takashi and then Zack’s chest to Takashi’s back while they were on their sides. The covers were a mess, again, and they somehow found their way beneath them.
Before long, Takashi settled into sleep. Zack sensed the moment it happened from a complete calming of his desires, though something stirred deep within. A dream in his subconscious, maybe. He hoped it was a good one.
But Zack had a sizzling zip of energy in him. Unable to rest, he extracted himself from Takashi as carefully as he could. Zack slid out of bed, took a moment to clean up in the bathroom, and then grabbed one of his silk robes.
Dragons. They couldn’t be possible.
There was a laptop in his desk drawer that he hadn’t attempted to use. If Seamus and Anton were thorough, everything he did with it would be tracked.
Still, Zack had to learn more. He found a notebook—far higher-quality paper than he was used to using and a freaking fountain pen rather than the cheap ones his parents could afford—and began his research. A huge-ass conspiracy couldn’t exist without some sort of evidence. Could a race of mythical creatures really rule the world with no one noticing?
The Hunters’ Information Network had been his online home, but he’d been kicked out months ago. Since then, he’d started his investigations with social media, particularly Night Deets. He hadn’t looked at any of his social accounts since his transformation. Before had been bad enough. What kind of crap would people say when they found out he was a vampire?
He set up a dummy email and created a college student persona. He’d made several of these before. They were a good way to get in contact with professors and academics who were more tuned in to the local history. Sometimes, he claimed to be working on a paper or article. Other times, all he had to do was ask a few passing questions, and he got loads of information. Not all of it was useful for hunting whatever supernatural the family was after at the time, but he’d learned a lot.
He started with people based in Tennessee, though he didn’t contact Taliville directly. A giant, petrified dragon in the middle of town was likely to have made a few local stories, especially if it’d just shown up one night. The Taliville librarian would probably be a better source, but she might have to report such questions to Nell. Better to avoid her for the moment.
His next batch of emails were off to professors of the occult in Chicagoland. Takashi hadn’t been lying—or at least hadn’t believed he’d been lying—about a school of dragons having an island home in Lake Michigan. As he was sending off his tenth email, the magnetic pull connecting him to Seamus tugged his heart, gently rocking him back in his seat.
Come to me , Seamus said in his head.
Zack nearly clenched his teeth before remembering how his fangs would slice his gums if he did that wrong. Why?
Come here .
I’m not dressed.
Then do so and come here.
Great. He wasn’t going to get any peace unless he listened to the prick. Sighing, Zack shed his robe and tossed on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. He didn’t bother with shoes, and he padded down to the first floor. The pull guided him toward Seamus.
On the way there, he caught the scents of sex and spilled blood. He caught a hint of movement through an archway ahead. Some voices were making sounds but not really talking. Slowly, he approached the archway since it was on his way toward Seamus.
Blood splattered the walls, most of the furniture, and the floor, soaking into the rug in the center. The acrid smell of fear, or piss, or both, hung just underneath the coppery tang. Five of Seamus’s collection of pets were in the room, each mortal wearing a varying shade of red collar with a steel tag that bore Seamus’s ouroboros crest.
The three that were still living were recovering. One was passed out on the floor beside an overturned sofa. The other two were in a corner, resting against each other. All three had bite marks from two different sets of fangs.
Zack was intimately aware of the difference between forceful, greedy bites and gentle, erotic nibbles. He’d experienced both from Roger, though his vicious bite had been because Zack had woken him from a decades-long coma and not intentional.
Vampires keeping mortals as pets made sense in an economical way to Zack more and more lately. Nell, Josefina, Candide, and Roger all treated the mortals in their collections as special to them. There were ways of pleasing everyone.
Seamus didn’t. Zack had figured that out from Vincent’s health and behavior. Hell, everything about Seamus screamed that he was a piece of shit in all ways.
But to see Grimsby picking up the body of one poor girl who was still wearing Seamus’s crest and lay her next to a dead boy on a tarp just hit a switch in Zack’s mind. These teenagers were around his age— maybe . They were young. Full of life. And Seamus had ripped their vitality away.
Had he been mortal, he might have thrown up.
Instead, a cold rage embraced him. Screaming, flying off the handle, or yelling at Seamus wouldn’t change what happened here. Nothing could bring them back or erase their suffering. The best Zack could do was grow stronger and overcome Seamus.
The thought was little solace, and then near panic bubbled in him. What if Seamus heard that? How much could he hear?
Zack would not panic. Not anymore. Time to do what the other vampires he knew did. Pretend he was a badass hard enough that everyone else believed him. Emotional responses were the enemy. He had to keep a clear mind, a disaffected scowl, and a level chin.
Seamus was sitting in a chair on a patio just outside the mansion. He was sprawled, legs akimbo out in front of him, and had a wineglass in one hand. The bottle and a second glass sat on a small table beside him. From a distance, Zack’s heightened sense of smell picked up an earthy note to the wine and the buzz of magic against his nose.
Darkness hadn’t yet given way to the softer light of dawn, but a weariness was beginning in Zack’s bones. Rather than taking the chair on the other side of the small table, he leaned against the railing and faced Seamus. “Well, I’m here.”
“You are getting better at that,” Seamus said with a grin.
“At what?”
“Pretending the bloodshed doesn’t bother you.”
Of course, Seamus had set him up to walk past the room where he’d abused his pets. He’d known that as soon as he smelled the blood. Everything is a test . Josefina’s words were still accurate. Nonchalantly, Zack said, “Is there something you wanted? Or did you expect me to be impressed with how you and Anton carelessly chewed up your collection?”
Seamus laughed. “You have been growing your fangs, son.”
Zack longed to smack him for saying that. He didn’t bother trying to hide the disgust.
“Sit. Have a drink. We should talk.” Seamus poured him a glass of wine.
“About?”
“I suspect we could talk for ages on many things, but for now, I mean about the birds and bees.”
Slowly, Zack took the seat. “You’re not going to tell me the birds and the bees are in a conspiracy with dragons, are you?”
“Don’t be an ass, Zackery. Did Takashi tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
Seamus sipped his wine. “That he’s met a dragon. About Taliville’s ‘statue.’ Or did he feign ignorance? I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s a magnificent liar.”
Everyone is . Zack picked up the wineglass and sniffed at the liquid. It was definitely fey wine. Not in the mood for whatever the latent magic might bring out in him, Zack set the glass down. “He told me enough.”
“You’re very loyal to each other. That’s wonderful.”
“You mean, ‘that’s a fantastic thing for me to exploit.’” Zack slouched in his chair. His dagger was somewhere deeper in the mansion. The exact location was hard to pinpoint, but he’d be able to seek it out like he did Seamus. I wonder where he sleeps .
“I grow tired of hearing you plan to kill me,” Seamus said with a sigh. “I thought we were past that.”
“You nearly killed Anton tonight because you thought he betrayed you. Forgive me if I’m a little short on trust.”
“So you openly admit to thinking of betraying me?”
Zack folded his arms over his chest. “I’m prepared to safeguard my ass. Something I’d thought you’d appreciate, Father .”
“You mock the word, but I am doing my best with you,” Seamus replied. “That you continuously reject everything I have to teach only means you won’t be prepared for the world you are now walking in.”
“For the record, I was doing research into this dragon conspiracy when you called me down here,” Zack said. “Why would you want to go to war with them?”
“I have been subject to their abject tyranny for too long,” Seamus said.
Zack laughed before he could stop himself.
“I know you do not appreciate how I run the coven, but I have built the largest in North America and the second largest in the world. And yet, there are limits to what I am able to accomplish.”
“Fuck that. What about what you just did in there? You killed two of what should be precious to you. For what? A little fun? As some sick apology to your partner for beating the shit out of him?”
“You kill, Zackery. I watched you do so earlier tonight.”
“But I didn’t torture them first, and I can’t control my thirst yet.” Zack sank into his chair. “You can keep telling me how much it’s in a vampire’s nature, and I can continue hating you for it, or you can just stop rubbing my nose in how much you like to screw with people.”
“All right,” Seamus said, raising his hand in some sort of surrender. “I will do better to keep my feeding out of your sight.”
Somehow, that didn’t feel like a win. Zack shot Seamus a suspicious glare and tried to read his emotions, but they were a bland sort of “I’m enjoying this nice evening air” vibe.
“We need to discuss what you and Takashi just did,” Seamus said.
“I had the sex talk from my real father when I was eleven,” Zack replied.
“I assume he didn’t cover what can happen when vampires feed from each other,” Seamus said casually.
“I’m sure they do it all the time,” Zack said. You do not need to know about what happened with Takashi .
Seamus raised an eyebrow. “If I weren’t privy to your inner workings, I would have bought that as ignorance. You let Takashi feed and gain strength from you.”
“Did Anton tell you? He begged Takashi to make a foster sireling for him. Since you’ve been keeping Takashi on a terrible diet, he wasn’t well. I wasn’t going to let him suffer.”
“I was not suggesting that you should, only that you should apply a little more care in what you’re doing. Did he warn you about what might happen?”
Zack clamped his mouth shut. What we talked about isn’t your fucking business .
“I heard that. Listen, if he didn’t tell you that by offering yourself up like that, you might bind yourself to him, then you should be wary of him.”
Zack stared off into the darkness. Takashi had said something to basically that effect. I’ll know you intimately . As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he snarled softly at himself. Fuck. But how do you stop thinking ?
“I don’t spend all my time listening to your thoughts,” Seamus said. “I have a coven to run, and now, thanks to Roger, finances to rebuild. Though your growth is important to me, I do have my own life.”
Wish I had mine, motherfucker .
“Honestly, Zackery, there’s no need for that type of language,” Seamus said patiently. “For what it’s worth, Takashi told you the truth in a romantic fashion. If you let him draw from you like that, you give him access to the deepest parts of yourself. He will have an easier time swaying your emotions, especially if you don’t watch your mind for intrusions. However, there is no permanent harm in sharing blood. With time and distance, any bond can be broken. But I would be an irresponsible sire if I didn’t point out the potential danger to you.”
“You’re telling me this because you care about me,” Zack drawled.
“You should believe that I do.” Seamus put his hand on Zack’s shoulder. The wall Zack had instinctually constructed turned transparent—he was more aware of its absence than its creation—and he glimpsed at what Seamus was transmitting to him. There was a caring and fondness.
The closest Zack could relate it to was when he used to help his sister learn to read. Amber had always pouted and cried until Zack figured out she liked really spooky fairy tales, and then they’d spent hours upon hours together reading every edition they could get their hands on. It was a kind of love.
Seamus wasn’t allowed to feel that for him. He was a monster. And him caring about Zack would only make Zack a monster. He was sure of it.
But fighting every second of every night with him was exhausting. Zack grabbed the wineglass and took a huge gulp. It tasted like mud and blood and the bite of a winter storm up his nose. He choked on it and spat half of it back into the glass.
“We’ll have to work on your appreciation for fine things,” Seamus said smugly.
Zack set the wineglass down.
“Obstinate about everything still?” Seamus asked.
“About the wine.” Zack stood. “If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get back to what I was doing.”
Seamus smiled, and this time, the expression seemed genuine. “It has been a long time since I felt a passion for information like that. We have a little time before dawn. If you sit down, I’ll tell you about dragons.”
The information was likely to be biased, but it was a starting point. Zack dropped into his seat.
Seamus poured himself more wine and took a sip before beginning. “The dragons have been plotting their return to our realm for the last two hundred years …”