CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
ALEXIUS
Three days later, Alexius was awake a couple of hours before sunset, with red hair spreading across his chest. He played with it for a moment, the woman that it belonged to curled to his side, tucked under his black blanket.
It was immensely satisfying to have her there.
But he had things to do. He looked at his phone and saw the six missed calls while he had it on silent to sleep. He didn’t call back. He and Everly had now been home for three days, and Alexius continued his silent war with Isaiah.
Alexius expected him to do one thing. In fact, he demanded it at this point. Until Isaiah did, Alexius wouldn’t entertain him.
“I’ll be back,” he whispered to the sleeping Everly. “I think it’s going to be tonight.”
He got out of bed, knowing she wouldn’t even notice. There was no way to wake her with something so simple.
He showered and dressed quickly, then went to the room with Declan.
To see a human become a vampire was an odd thing.
There were markers that indicated that someone was nearly done with it.
Declan, as Alexius had believed, would wake up tonight.
He instinctively knew, but the signs also pointed to it.
“Perfect. Another Orphan to train, starting tonight.” Alexius sighed. He wasn’t thrilled about training Declan. He was doing it because Everly wanted her brother to be here for as long as her brother would tolerate it.
Alexius also believed it was best for Declan.
He had never wanted immortality or the supernatural.
He’d deliberately avoided his family’s professional ties to Jacob’s nest and went on his own path.
It was unfortunate that supernatural rarely let anyone just walk away.
He’d attracted a werewolf, had Henry Abbott as an uncle, and Everly as a sister.
It was as if fate had decided that Declan wasn’t going to be a human living a normal human life, no matter how much the young man had wanted it.
It made Alexius concerned for Declan’s mental state when he woke up. He saw it happen in person, the Turning of those who didn’t want the blessed and cursed existence. The constant thirst. The loss of mortality.
All too many of them decided they wanted to see the sun one last time instead of surviving in the night.
“You can’t do that to her,” Alexius told the soon-to-rise Declan. “Not after she gave you everything she possibly could.”
He didn’t know how to have the conversation with Everly. He could see it, the grief she was feeling over the loss of the thing she fought to protect. She killed a family member, one she had loved as a child, however misguided that love had been.
She would need time to settle with that piece of her that broke. That piece he watched break when Henry died. The wound that needed to heal.
It would heal.
But only if Declan was strong enough to walk into his life.
Everything about his fiery little lover was dependent on the man they were all waiting on.
I hate it.
He walked out, knowing he and Everly were about to be on the bedside vigil once she woke up. Declan would probably not wake up right at sunset.
He went toward his office, but as he drew near, something was wrong.
Or it was right.
There was someone in his office, and Alexius hoped it was the one he had been waiting on.
He opened the door and saw Isaiah sitting behind his desk.
“Get up. That’s my seat,” Alexius ordered.
He ignored the obvious. Isaiah had sunken eyes, with dark circles underneath them. He was thin and angry. He hadn’t been taking care of himself while he was doing whatever he was working on.
“You went to Maria?” Isaiah hissed, not moving. “Did you forget who you were loyal to?”
Alexius stopped walking, studying Isaiah further before quickly deciding he didn’t care for Isaiah’s tone or his words. He started walking and went around his desk, Isaiah only watching him but not moving.
“Move,” Alexius ordered.
Isaiah still didn’t move.
Alexius grabbed the vampire by his neck.
Isaiah’s eyes went wide. Alexius lifted him with ease and tossed him across the room, not surprised by the loud thump of Isaiah hitting the wall next to the door.
Isaiah didn’t recover quickly enough and slid to the ground with an undignified sound.
He slowly sat down at his desk, watching Isaiah try to comprehend what happened.
“Everly wanted to visit her brother. I decided to help Maria with a job, so I had access to her nest’s assets to make the trip easy. Things didn’t go as planned.”
“You went against me for—”
“Say her name with that tone, and I’ll rip your tongue out,” Alexius warned. He’d wanted this. He’d wanted Isaiah to show up. It was the only way to drag the vampire back to reality, the present, and get him back on track properly. Isaiah seemed slapped by the threat, so it was working.
“You…” Isaiah’s nostrils flared as he pushed himself up, glaring daggers at Alexius.
“Don’t. I am a patient man who respects you, but never forget who is the more powerful vampire here.
You don’t insult me by coming into my home and claiming my place.
You don’t put me under unofficial house arrest. You don’t tell me that I can’t go where I please or who I can and cannot associate with.
You, the man my son loved, get to do many things other vampires don’t, but you don’t get any of those. ”
Isaiah stepped back, so Alexius continued his attack.
“You have locked yourself away, and I assume you’ve been torturing the same vampire for the last eleven months.
Just because you can. Six months I would have tolerated, but now I’m going to tell you that if you don’t execute him within twenty-four hours, I will fly up there and do it myself.
There’s nothing that vampire has to say at this point, and you will not become the monster Jacob despised. ”
“Jacob isn’t here,” Isaiah hissed. “Because of them.”
“That doesn’t mean you get to throw away everything he cared about,” Alexius growled, standing up, his hands on his desk. “You will not go down that path any farther. I’ve indulged your avoidance of what needs to be done long enough.”
“Indulged?” Isaiah’s face betrayed how incredulous he found that statement. “I am the Master of the Tribunal! Ruler of the vampires! I get to do whatever I want!”
Alexius only stared at him. The words fell powerlessly in a room where no one cared about them.
Then Isaiah broke. His fierce expression crumbled, his eyes empty of anything, and his posture slumped.
“I can’t stop dreaming,” Isaiah whispered, sinking to the ground.
“Every memory. Every possible enemy. Anyone who ever looked at Jacob the wrong way. Every time Jacob tried to say power was corrupt and that people would pay for my mistakes. It was never supposed to be him. How am I supposed to survive the night without him? My compass. The midnight sun. I can’t stop until I find every enemy, Alexius. ”
“Then you could ask for help,” Alexius said softly. “Why didn’t you?”
“I wanted to be able to avenge him, like you can,” Isaiah said, looking away. He started to laugh, but it was a sad sound. “I can’t believe it took us this long to get to this point. Me, desperate. You, angry.”
“I was… distracted. It took the trip to California to really consider what was happening,” Alexius admitted.
“With her. I heard all of it. You and Everly are lovers now, huh?” Isaiah snorted. “Honestly, took you two long enough. Then there’s Henry Abbott, killed by his niece for valid reasons, and Declan Abbott, to make a matching pair of Orphans, also here to be trained by you.”
“He won’t be close to as powerful as Everly. I think my estimation of three months will be accurate for him.”
“Since you had trial by fire with her, I bet you’re right. She's from far more powerful blood than you and I realized.”
Then it was normal between them again. Alexius went to him and helped Isaiah up.
“Is she a lover or a fling? Or a convenience?” Isaiah asked him.
“Lover. Publicly claimed, as you know,” Alexius answered immediately.
“Monogamous by agreement, as well.” For two ancients, that second piece of information had to be stated.
Alexius never had an official lover before, but Isaiah had Jacob.
For Isaiah and Jacob, a third was possible at any given point.
It was someone he would either share with Jacob or someone who was fine being second fiddle to Jacob.
Jacob was always Isaiah’s priority, even when they were angry with each other.
“She’s the first lover you’ve ever publicly claimed… Jacob would be happy for you, so I will tell you congratulations. For now.”
“Thank you. Now, tell me all you learned from your prisoner. While Everly and I help her brother, we can also start helping root out the villains trying to undermine your rule.”
“They’ve been suspiciously quiet, haven’t they?” Isaiah said, sitting down now in a guest’s place at Alexius’s desk.
Alexius went back to his chair, sat down, and leaned back, relaxing.
“They have. Probably trying to make their next plan foolproof after their last was ruined by a new vampire only six months into her immortality.”
“Yes, they certainly wanted their plan at my home to do much more damage. If they had succeeded, the entire power structure of the vampires would have shifted in chaotic ways.” Isaiah rubbed his eyes. “I need to feed.”
“Let’s get you something.”
They made sure Isaiah fed, then talked. It was a good conversation, even if it was just going over what they had already known and Alexius giving Isaiah new details about California that Isaiah hadn’t heard.
They discussed Declan, how he would be up that night, and Alexius laid down rules for Isaiah to leave the man alone for Everly’s sake.
Five minutes before sunset, Isaiah left, using his power as a member of the Tribunal to do so, just as he’d arrived.
Alexius went back to his room and sat on the edge of the bed until Everly woke up.
Her face when she opened her eyes was almost funny.