Chapter 44
CHAPTER 44
For the better part of a week, Anton had kept Takashi busy from sundown to sunrise. Seamus had taken Zack on errands nearly every night, and what time he didn’t spend with him, he spent in the library or reading books in their suite. Takashi had read a few that Zack had brought into their bedroom.
Zack had been tight-lipped, and Takashi worried but didn’t blame him. Though Zack was growing in his defenses, Takashi could still read his emotions plainly. The greater evidence was in how they went to bed each dawn. Zack cuddled him close, always making sure they were together.
The nights passed. The debut party was the next evening. Takashi’s stomach was a pendulum, threatening to sway until he lost his balance and crashed. And Zack was quieter than usual.
“You’ve been extremely pensive lately,” Takashi said as he buttoned up his black dress shirt. As subtle as he could, he watched Zack dress in the corner of his eye. Vampirism had made him slightly leaner than he’d been as a mortal, and his tailored slacks perfectly hugged his delectable ass. Takashi swiftly looked farther away. Since sharing blood with Zack, horniness was easier to come by, and that was opposite of his intentions. “One might say you’re developing Brooding Vampire face.”
Zack finished fastening his pants and turned to lean his backside against the dresser. He folded his arms over his chest and pursed his lips.
“Now I am worried,” Takashi said and raised an eyebrow.
“Promise you’re not going to be pissed at me,” Zack said seriously.
“Never an auspicious start.”
“Takashi, please. I’m trying, okay? But I’ve got like five hundred pounds on either arm, and I’m having to balance walking a wire over an endless chasm, and I’ve never walked a wire before.” Zack raked his hand through his hair. A hopelessness was in his eyes.
Gently, Takashi took his hands. “I will not be pissed.”
“He knows.”
“What exactly does he know?” Takashi said slowly, though he could piece together the answer.
Zack looked down at the floor, staring at a spot as if it would suddenly sprout a mouth and speak for him. After a moment, he lifted his chin, and his features smoothed to an expressionless mask only vampires perfected. “I told him that Nell’s gunning for me. He’s known about our ambition for me to take the coven for weeks. Probably since we came up with it.”
Takashi had to quell his instincts to keep from stepping away from Zack. The connection he shared with Zack was muted, but rather than opening it, he kept it closed. I was a fool to trust him . “You told him about Nell?”
“Don’t pull away from me,” Zack said.
“I’m right here.”
“I can see it happening.” Zack tightened his hold on Takashi’s hands. “He claims some bullshit about how having a goal is good for me, and I know we can’t trust him in the long term. But telling Seamus about Nell wanting me dead is the right move. If she thinks you won’t do it, she’ll find someone who will. And this might be a huge shocker, but I don’t want to die.”
“But you told him,” Takashi said. “You hate him, and you told him our secret?”
“Nell wanting me dead shouldn’t be our secret!” Zack walked away from Takashi and spun to face his desk for a long moment. When he turned back, he was wiping bloody tears from his eyes. “I don’t want to trust him. But apart from you, he’s the only one that’s cared about me this much.”
“Zack, he doesn’t?—”
“You’re not part of this bond. You don’t fucking know what I’ve felt.” Zack put his hand to his heart. “Everyone in my entire life has been planning to use me or threw me away because they saw no use for me. Even Roger. At least what you wanted for me, you wanted for us . So that we could have the power to make the rules. You and me and Roger could take the bent pieces of this coven and form a better picture. I want that future for us.
“But we’re also in over our fucking heads here! He knows where I am all the time, and he is stronger than we’ve given him credit for. You should have seen the way his eyes morphed. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Zack gestured to the books on his desk. “I haven’t found anything like it yet either. I know it’s insane, but he wants me to be his son. I hate what he’s done. I hate who he hurts, but until I break this link with him, what choice do I have? The best I can do is make sure he doesn’t hurt us, and he won’t because he’s got this weird need for me to like him. To trust him. And he trusts me, or we’d be dead by now.”
“Zack—”
“He knows we broke into his secret office! He knows we saw Anton’s torture chamber!” Zack shouted. “He actually admired us for breaking in.”
Takashi stilled his body and cleared his mind of the nerves attempting to overwhelm him. Panicking wouldn’t bring him any solutions. He needed to take in the data and process it. He’d been in worse positions. Montreal. Dubai. London.
No, none of them had been this bad. He’d been in love before. Been caught in schemes before. But he’d never been falling for the sireling of a powerful immortal whose end game remained a mystery. Seamus had said he wanted a war with the dragons, but what would be the point in that? How could vampires even take on such creatures?
If more of them were as strong as Zack, if Zack had time to grow, if Seamus—there were ways, but they were decades off from fruition. We’re not caught at the end of preparations. We’re in a beginning stage . That was why Seamus had been incensed about losing his funds. The war chest would have been useful as he built an army. With that kind of money, he would have been able to enact his schemes on an international level. With Zack and Takashi, Seamus might mend his reputation. He’d be able to point at the two of them as examples of the future of his coven. Even Katie was a prodigy.
We’re not players at the board. We’re pawns . Takashi raced through his possible courses of action. Simply grabbing Katie and running off into the night wouldn’t work. Katie cared about Anton. Zack was tied to Seamus, and … We have to get out of here before Seamus corrupts him .
Roger would know what to say. Roger would be able to help us weather this with love .
“You were the one,” Takashi said slowly, choosing his words carefully, “that insisted we couldn’t count on Anton for anything because of the monster that he is. But you trust Seamus? We saw what he did to Anton. What he did to Vincent. We know what he’s done to Roger.”
“Fuck, I know. I know!” Zack wiped fresh tears from his eyes. “But the whole fucking world is against me, Takashi. What the fuck am I supposed to do?”
On a long-ago night, Takashi had known that loneliness when Sergei had discovered his letters and their friendship had mutated to hate. The betrayal had cut him to the bone, and yet they’d had to perform one last time together. And Takashi had fallen. He’d died because the man who should have been there wasn’t.
Zack had held on to Takashi in a way no one else ever had.
Takashi longed to do the same for him. He zipped over to him and grabbed him by his shoulders. “We will find our way out of this. We’ll be together hundreds of years. Thousands .”
Zack held on to his hands. “Promise?”
“Yes,” Takashi whispered. “We won’t have to hold on forever. We’ll break free.”
“How?”
“Work in progress.” Takashi grinned. “Tomorrow night will be a good time to get the lay of the land outside this house.”
“Yeah.” Zack perked up. “You’ve been working with Anton for the party. Does that mean you’ve invited friends from other covens?”
“I’ve reached out,” Takashi replied. “I have no idea if anyone’s accepted my invitation. Anton declared that he wanted the final guest list to be a surprise for me.”
“But there’s a chance.”
“Yes.”
“Will any of these friends be able to help us?”
Takashi managed a smile. “Their presence certainly can’t hurt.”
“Come with me,” Seamus said after their family meal.
Zack rose from his seat.
Seamus shook his head and pointed at Takashi. “You.”
Before Takashi could say anything, Seamus headed out the door. Takashi followed him. The long stretch of hallway was dotted with fresh bouquets of flowers, yet the scent of old dirt clung to Seamus so profoundly that Takashi still smelled it in his immediate wake. There was a touch of burnt coal dust, the tiniest whiff of it. Nell and other ancient vampires had a similar hint in their scents of the grave.
When they neared the front doors, Seamus stopped, spun on his heel, and raked his gaze over Takashi from head to foot. “You need to change.”
“Can I ask the occasion, master?”
“You and my love have invited all these blasted vampires from other covens,” Seamus said. “You should help me greet tonight’s arrivals.”
“As you wish, master.” Takashi gave Seamus a slight nod and then hurried off to change. He slipped into a navy blue suit with a clean white dress shirt and forewent a tie altogether. He zipped down to the foyer.
“Much better,” Seamus said approvingly.
A limo was waiting outside for them, and the driver sprang out to open the car door for them as they stepped out of the mansion. Seamus motioned for Takashi to slide into the limo first. Once they were both in, the driver shut the door and returned to his seat. The limo soon got underway.
“I’m glad you invited me to come, master,” Takashi said.
“I’ve been so preoccupied these last few weeks that I must apologize for not taking time to get to know you better,” Seamus replied. “Between raising my son, my duties, and everything else going on, I’ve simply been too busy. I hope you don’t feel neglected in any way.”
“Not at all.” Takashi knocked away a piece of imaginary lint from his knee.
Seamus laughed smugly. “So you’ll continue to play the part of a well-mannered guest. Takashi, you’re part of my household. You can speak your mind.”
Such an invitation was bound to be a lie. Yet it couldn’t be ignored either. “I worry about Zack. He told you what my sire commanded?”
“He did. He doesn’t seem concerned that you’ll obey her.”
“Why would I?” Takashi said, feigning a light air. “I love him, and I am part of your coven, master.”
“Yet you called her.” Seamus’s grin turned sharp. “One might wonder why.”
“I feared she was worrying over me. I called her to let her know I was all right.”
“You weren’t calling her to scheme about putting Zack in my stead?” Seamus asked.
Silence would be better than outright lying, but Seamus was staring at him like he expected an answer and already knew what it was. “Does it matter? She wishes your territory for herself, master. She’d rather him dead than another competitor.”
“I’m surprised you don’t want to take my position for yourself,” Seamus replied. “But then, you would have to take responsibility, wouldn’t you?”
“I don’t know what you mean, master.”
“You slide from one place to another.” Seamus moved to sit beside him and put his arm along the back of the seat, crowding Takashi. “Jumping from one lover to the next. You have been everywhere, and for some reason, you were willing to settle with Roger? I should have doubted that loyalty. No sooner than I bring you into my house do you begin to worm your way toward my Anton.”
“Anton and I have never?—”
Seamus caught Takashi by the jaw and held him tight to cut him off from speaking. His words were laced with a deep-set anger that trilled every alarm in Takashi’s mind. “I have seen the way you and my beloved have been talking. The closeness. You saw his chamber below, and yet that hasn’t altered your opinion of him, has it? You find him captivating. He believes you’re fascinating. But you’re just another leech, aren’t you?”
“I don’t?—”
Seamus forced Takashi’s head up farther, making speech impossible for him. The air in the limo was growing cold, and Seamus’s eyes were bloodred, the whites becoming pitch-black. “Zack confides everything in you, doesn’t he? And now, my lover is raising your offspring. That wouldn’t be a problem, except he considers you a co-parent, of all the fucking absurd things. But do you know what has truly gotten under my skin?”
Takashi put his hand on Seamus’s elbow and tried to push his arm down, tried for any sort of leverage, but couldn’t find any. He scrambled, and his tormentor wasn’t showing the slightest bit of strain in holding him.
The glare in Seamus’s eyes was that of a devil’s about to slice the wings from an angel. A longing to rip and rend pulsed out from him. “I didn’t have a reason to check the mansion’s footage until you and Zack invaded my office. Zack took off in such a rush I had to track his movements. The two of you went to the dungeon, and that’s fine . You should know what’s down there so you know what may still become of you.
“I figured that since I had the footage pulled up, I should catch up on the last few weeks. See what my beloved has been up to. I have to keep an eye on him, you understand. His proclivities need monitoring at times. That’s why he has that little chamber down there in the first place. But do you know what I discovered?
“That little shapeshifting shithead has been turning into you . He’s been doing it for weeks now. My beloved has been fucking him while he wore your face. Again, not the problem. We’ve been together for centuries. We have a love that will last. We’ve even invited others into our bed before. Roger, for example.” Seamus dug his nails into Takashi’s jaw, cutting into his flesh. Through clenched teeth, he continued. “But the way he fucked that facsimile of you wasn’t fucking at all. He was tender. He was caring. He was talking. Sharing himself. Succubae feast on all kinds of desires, you know. None so much as budding love.”
Takashi clutched onto Seamus’s wrist. He still didn’t have a prayer in moving his hand. Without being able to speak, he couldn’t defend himself. Letting Seamus read his emotions would only result in him pillaging his psyche, and that would do more harm than good.
“I will not share him,” Seamus growled in Takashi’s ear. “Is that understood?”
Takashi gave the best affirmative grunt he could manage.
“Excellent.” Seamus released Takashi and slid to the other end of the bench seat. With a casual dismissiveness, he withdrew a handkerchief from his pocket and tossed it at him.
Slowly, Takashi took the offered cloth and wiped away the blood from his now healed wounds. His hand threatened to shake, but he stilled that nervous energy. He let himself grow cold rather than hot with defensiveness. An overly quick response could lead to the wrong one, and he was in dangerous enough territory. How did Roger do this for so long?
The kiss at Devil’s Cove came back to him. Roger had been onstage, had killed a hunter at Anton and Seamus’s beckoning, and then let Seamus kiss him in front of everyone. Roger had been trading his body for his safety. He must have been doing so the entire time he was a vampire. I cannot do that. I don’t have the stomach .
“Nothing slick to say, ambassador?” Seamus teased. “No pleasing words you think I want to hear?”
The malicious note in Seamus’s voice was a red flag that one would have been able to see from across an ocean. Takashi tucked the handkerchief into his pocket and fussed with his cuffs. “Your point is made, master.”
“Do remember it because I won’t be repeating myself, no matter how much you make Zack happy.”
Takashi had had his leg caught in a bear trap this entire time. Only his lack of struggling had kept him from cutting off his leg in desperation. Every night had been closing the trap further and further despite his efforts. Zack trusting Seamus at all was bad enough, but this torment was the sign of a festering wound. Seamus was worse than rot; he was a disease preparing to graduate from an epidemic to a global pandemic. Takashi had foolishly invited those he thought would help him, but there was no power to be had in the GLC except that which Seamus allowed.
For now, Zack’s ambition was seen as a good thing, but one talk from Seamus had quelled Zack’s urge, hadn’t it? Zack was confused. Isolated.
The party was a step toward fixing everything. Takashi just needed to keep his head level.
By the time they reached the airport, he’d managed to find the calm within and adopt a neutral smile. Supernaturals had their own exclusive airport outside of Chicago, nearer to the Wisconsin border, and the limo driver was able to pull up on the tarmac not far from the private jet.
After parking, the limo driver slipped out of the vehicle and opened the door for them. Seamus stepped out with a wide smile on his lips, no hint of the bastard who had threatened Takashi anywhere in sight.
Takashi joined him outside, grateful for the night air.
Despite the relatively early hour, two planes had already landed. Takashi was very familiar with one of them; he’d been in Nell’s airplane more times than he could count. The other boasted the logo of the NAC—the New Amsterdam Coven. Though the city’s name had changed from New Amsterdam to New York City centuries ago, the coven refused to update its name. Leadership had changed hands a few times, which had led them to the custom of making a logo for their coven rather than relying on their master’s crest.
Takashi had been expecting NAC to send their domestic ambassador to the party. That had been the vampire he’d encouraged Anton to send the invitation to. Instead of a darling young vampire about forty years turned, Faustino sauntered across the tarmac with his entourage behind him.
Faustino was roughly six feet tall with the physique and posture artists had loved to paint and sculpt since the late Renaissance. He never had a problem stripping down to reveal the well-toned planes of his chest and the thick, curly black hair that covered his chest and created a thick line down his abdomen. His skin was a light brown, while his eyes were dark as the shadows of a moonlit forest. As always, his taste in suits was subdued and bespoke, the hue of red bringing out a charmingly rustic note in his attire. Those following him were in equal, understated splendor.
Decades ago, in a Manhattan blood club, Faustino had publicly broken up with him, declaring him too much of an elitist sycophant. Worse, he’d come crawling back to Takashi that night, begging forgiveness. Takashi had given it. Then he’d discovered himself barred from NAC establishments with absolutely no explanation. Faustino refused to answer his calls. Humbled, he’d left the city and been a wreck until stumbling into Roger at the rare meeting for vampire kind in Nashville in 1985.
At least Nell had sent someone he liked. Evander was a vampire twice his age, and while he could be a little cocky and presumptive, he was someone who relished a good book and a great conversation. In his entourage was Collin, a slim vampire who looked frailer than a sheet of ice standing in the sun.
“Master Seamus!” Evander said brightly as he bowed. “I am honored to represent my master, Nell, Keeper of?—”
The group from Taliville was still bent in their bow when Seamus strode up to Evander and ripped his head off his body with one sickening twist.
Everyone on the tarmac froze. Takashi was left to stare as Evander’s body dropped to the asphalt. The callousness, the sheer act of it, violated every protocol Takashi had learned. He’d seen vampires die; he’d seen masters kill subordinates. But to kill someone in a greeting?
This was an act of war.
Seamus tossed the head at Collin, who managed to catch it, and said, “Take that back to Nell and tell her that any of her people in my territory will be executed less politely than that was. Remind her that she began this conflict by ordering my son’s assassination. If she wants peace negotiations, tell her to send an email.”
“Understood,” Collin said so quietly that Takashi almost didn’t hear him. The group gathered Evander’s body and hurried to the plane.
As Takashi watched them leave, Seamus’s words sank in past the shock. Seamus had deliberately told Collin about the order. Nell would assume that Takashi had told Seamus or correctly guess that Takashi had told Zack, who had told Seamus. Whatever she came to believe, Takashi’s relationship with her was ruined. She would, at best, see this as idiocy and, at worst, believe him to be a traitor.
If she told others that she no longer trusted him—and he had no doubt that she would—then his reputation would collapse. Scheming among vampires was common, but this was a sign of allegiance. His loyalty to his sire was always assumed. To show dedication to another ancient master meant giving himself over to their command or playing the game to his own benefit.
Everyone was always looking out for themselves in his circles, but the proof of it was like flashing his cards to cutthroat gamblers while having a gangster breathing down his neck for a debt. It was clumsy. It was unprofessional.
It was the end of him.
And Takashi had to stand there on the tarmac as if nothing were wrong. He had been infected with the rot that was Seamus, and there was no cure in sight. Zack was the only soul he could trust, and Zack had been the one to do this to him. That isn’t fair . But was it any less the truth? For all Zack’s protestations, he would never be able to choose Takashi over Seamus. Never was a strong word, but Seamus was already worming his way into Zack’s heart and spoiling him from the inside.
Takashi was slipping from the trapeze all over again, and this time, there would be no one to scoop him up from the hard-packed earth. His heart was still in free fall, was still daring to hope that maybe, maybe Zack’s love was enough. That with enough time, Zack would break from Seamus, that they would reunite with Roger, and all could be well. But the chances of that were diminishing every night. Yet hope—the fucking traitor that it was—persisted.
He was doomed.
Faustino stepped forward, his shoulders tighter, and said, “Master Seamus, I hope I won’t have trouble keeping my head where it is.”
Seamus clasped his hands behind his back and turned toward him with a fang-baring grin. “Has your master threatened my son?”
“She has only well wishes for the boy,” Faustino replied. “Besides, we’ve been too concerned with our own affairs of late. My mistress is hoping that you will remember her fondly. Ludovicia took the reins at New Year’s.”
“Ah, Ludovicia! Was she able to make use of the gift I sent her?”
“To great effect. She is most grateful for your assistance and bade me to bring you several presents, some of which are in my luggage, a few of which stand behind me.”
“Excellent. You must tell me everything about the regime change.” Seamus motioned at the limo.
When Takashi woodenly began to follow him back to it, Seamus put a hand on his chest and stopped him in place. With a flick of his gaze, he gestured at the black SUVs rolling up toward them. In a whisper, he said sharply, “Take your place with the toys, leech.”
“Of course, master,” Takashi replied under his breath. He bowed his head as he stepped back. He didn’t bring his gaze up from the tarmac until he heard the limo doors shut. Never in all his vampiric life had he been happier that he didn’t have to breathe or that he’d learned to control the finite tremors that could stem from fear. I am so utterly fucked .