Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
ATTICUS
Yorick dashes over to me and pulls my shirt down, but my chest has already healed. “I was so worried the blade was poisoned,” he says as his head sinks down against my shoulder.
My body tenses and I yank Yorick behind me a second before Morpheus is on me. He grabs the front of my shirt, jerking me forward.
“What happened that night?” he demands.
“I have told you again and again. I was trying to break free while you were gone. I’d planned and prepared for it for months.
I knew your absence would be the only opportunity I’d have to leave behind the life of slavery you’d forced me into.
The moment you were gone, I stole the key to the cell I was kept in, and when I slipped out, I killed the guard on duty.
I made it to the wall before I was noticed by some vampires.
I killed two of them before three more guards showed up.
I don’t know what happened to the rest of them.
When I woke up, I was lying among the bodies of those I killed. ”
“And Anna was there,” he says. “FUCK. How dare he lie to me for all these years?”
“You’re enraged? What about me?” I snarl. “You’ve terrorized me for damn near my entire life. If I thought life was hell before Anna’s death, what came after was ten times worse, all because Niles placed the blame on me. You’ve killed so many—”
Morpheus clamps his hand over my mouth, his grip crushing.
“I know what I’ve done. I do not need to hear any of it from you.
Be happy you are alive… although your lover might not be alive for long now that Niles knows he killed Lou.
You want to keep Yorick alive? You can send him with me until Niles is dealt with.
That will be my apology for these past years. ”
I smack his hand off me, and I know the only reason I can is that he allows it. “Your apology? You—”
“Okay,” Yorick cuts in.
“What?” I ask as I turn to him, positive I misheard him.
Yorick reaches out and grabs the edge of my shirt.
“We will accept that as an apology if you promise to stay out of our lives forever, Morpheus. We all know that it doesn’t matter how many people we gather; we’re not as strong as you.
So even if this is the shittiest outcome, it’s the only one where we end up safe and alive. ”
“At least one of you has a brain,” Morpheus says.
Fury burns through me. How dare he think that he can simply wash his hands of all of the bullshit he’s done to me? How could he—
Yorick reaches out and takes my hand, and I realize the fist I’m clenching so tightly is causing my nails to tear into my palm. “Life isn’t fair, but sometimes you have to go along with it to keep everyone safe,” Yorick says. “Morpheus?”
The man’s cold eyes turn to him.
“If we help you stop Niles, you’ll really let all of us go? Not just me, but Atticus and Johnny too?” Yorick asks. “No more of your half-assed lies. No more controlling us. No more manipulating us. You get out of our fucking lives forever.”
Morpheus stares at him. “Have I really been that unkind to you lately? I haven’t even pestered Atticus in a hundred years.”
Is he honestly acting like he’ll… miss us? Or whatever the fuck this is? He can’t possibly believe that any of us would still want to be in his life after all of this.
It’s enough to get a laugh out of me. “You have done this to yourself,” I hiss. “You have destroyed everyone in your life. You weren’t happy until you broke me, until you made me so miserable that I vowed to live alone for the rest of my life. And you have the fucking—”
Morpheus cuts me off before turning from us. “Fine. I don’t need to listen to this. Once Niles is handled, I will step out of your lives and let you live peacefully,” he says, as if he’s doing us a favor.
I’m so enraged that I want to kill him. I want to tear his head off, but Yorick’s hand tightens on mine. “You cannot win this,” he says, voice soft. “We are at his mercy, no matter how much we wish we weren’t. This is the best outcome we can ask for.”
“You trust he’ll even keep such a promise?” I snap.
“I don’t know,” Yorick says. “But he made me a promise hundreds of years ago, and while it was the shittiest promise, it did allow me to stay in your life, and he never went back on it. I’ll go with him until Niles is dealt with. It’ll keep everyone safer.”
“You’re not going alone,” I insist.
“You’d choose to go back to that man?” Johnny snarls, like I’m betraying him.
“It’s the last thing I’d ever want to do, but it’s the only thing that’ll keep Yorick safe. Who ever imagined that I’d have to rely on that monster?”
Yorick turns to face the monster in question. “Morpheus, I want to know the truth about the poison. You seem to believe that Niles isn’t the only one involved in it if you sent him to Wick’s party.”
Morpheus stops walking away from us, standing quietly for a moment before turning to look at us.
“I tracked the source of the poison down when I killed a few vampires who’d been in contact with it.
Both of them gave me the same name: Lou.
When I confronted her, she informed me that the poison had already spread.
I refuse to allow this to get into the hands of others who would use it to kill vampires in order to achieve status.
When I learned that Yorick had been stabbed with it, I went and paid Percival and Priscilla a visit.
They told me that the others would be using Wick’s party to distribute it, and that those who weren’t involved would unknowingly drink the blood that had been poisoned.
I’m sure you believed I was the one who poisoned the blood, but I did not.
I was merely on hand since the room was filled with people who were involved in the distribution.
I will kill any stragglers that made it through. ”
“Who’s to say you don’t want this poison for yourself?” Johnny asks. “I’ve never trusted anything you’ve said to me; I refuse to trust this.”
“Are there any vampires stronger than me?” Morpheus counters. “All of you stand before me, and still, you’re aware that if all of you were to attack me, most or all of you would perish.”
“We could kill you if you were poisoned,” I say.
“Could you?” he asks. “I guess you’re never going to find out because it’s going to get buried for the second time.
Take Yorick home with you. I will watch him from afar to make sure Niles doesn’t get close to him.
And once Niles is gone and the poison is out of circulation, I will leave and you will never see me again.
But first you need to tell me where Wick is.
He’s still alive, isn’t he? He knows who’s distributing it. ”
“You’ve fucked us over for so long that it’s hard to trust you,” Yorick says.
“I need proof before I’m willing to hand someone over.
Let me speak to Wick, and I need you to promise me you won’t just kill him when I do.
Sometimes it’s easier to get information by asking and working with others as opposed to killing everyone. ”
Morpheus contemplates Yorick for a while. “If you hesitate, your proof might be in the death of those you care about. Don’t come crying to me when it is.” And then he disappears into the night.
He’s likely not far. He knows that Niles will come for Yorick, and he’s not going to let Niles get away with this.
Yorick looks determined, but Johnny is irate. I can tell he’s close to exploding and when he does, the outcome will be disastrous.
“Johnny, calm yourself,” I say.
He turns on me, teeth gritted and expression furious. “We’re just going to let him go? Wash our hands of him?”
“For now,” Yorick says. “Sometimes, no matter how much you want something… it’s just not possible to obtain.
Morpheus’s death is out of our reach, but that doesn’t mean we have to just stop living our lives.
He’s already destroyed so much of them; why let him ruin any more?
It doesn’t mean the opportunity will never come up, but we’ll get nowhere by running out and sacrificing ourselves. ”
Johnny turns away but doesn’t walk off. He wants Yorick to know that he’s not pleased by his words, yet he’s chosen to listen to them. I’m positive anything I might have said would have resulted in a fight between us. I don’t want to fight him. I genuinely don’t know what I want.
Yorick takes both of my hands. “This doesn’t have to be the end.”
“It was all so senseless,” I whisper. “All of it. All of it was set up because of Niles. All the pain, all the suffering… they’re both monsters.”
“Then maybe I should join Niles’s side,” Johnny snaps.
“You want to join the man who wants to kill Yorick?” I growl. “Niles isn’t going to back away from that, no matter what we say or do. I want to speak with Wick. Johnny, you can do as you please. Just know that if you turn away from me, I won’t help you when you lose yourself again.”
I turn toward the hotel as Yorick grips my hand, but he’s not moving while he watches Johnny.
“Come on, Johnny,” Yorick urges.
Johnny is still standing there. “He ruined my life.”
“Join the fucking party,” I retort. “He ruined my life for a thousand years. Yorick, come on. I don’t like you out here exposed when we don’t know where Niles is.” Because all it would take is a split second. Maybe I should have sent him with Morpheus, because I’m not sure I can protect him.
When we reach the hotel, we don’t even have to look for Wick; he greets us at the door. “Is he still out there?” he asks.
“Niles?”
“Yes.”
“No. Now, you haven’t told us the truth. Do you want to speak the truth this time? Or do I have to force it out of you?” I ask, really wanting to beat someone up to feel better about this whole mess.
Wick hesitates. “I wasn’t lying. I didn’t know what was happening.
I guess they decided to distribute the poison during my party.
I found out in advance that this was going to happen, so I had a small group investigating the guests to determine where it was coming from.
But once Niles entered, everything went to hell.
I never fathomed the blood itself would be poisoned.
I wasn’t even aware it could be consumed like that.
After the explosion, I had my people search every person, both living and dead, and we found thirteen vials of it, all of which has been destroyed.
That doesn’t mean it can’t be out there somewhere else.
I don’t know how to track down the source, but anyone still living who had it on them is being confined and investigated. ”
“How do we know we can even trust that you disposed of it?” Casimir asks.
“I can take you to where we disposed of the poison, but I don’t know how to give you the proof you need. Is that why Morpheus wants my head? Because he believes I played a part in it?”
“Get us proof that it’s gone,” I demand.
“Just because I removed it from those at the party doesn’t mean it’s gone,” Wick says.
Yorick tells him, “We believe the person who distributed it was Lou, who is now deceased.”
“What will you do with the people you apprehended?” I ask.
“Just… having it on their body doesn’t immediately make them guilty. I can’t do much from a legal point of view.”
I frown. “Will you tell me when you release them?”
Wick studies me. “What do you plan to do with them?”
“Nothing.” But I could leave their lives in Morpheus’s hands.
Of course, I won’t tell Yorick that. He’ll believe it’s unnecessary bloodshed. Sometimes being ruthless is the only option we’re given.
“Get me that proof, and I’ll look the other way,” I say.
Wick seems uncertain but nods. He’s not quite sure how to get it, but I bet he’ll become creative with his life on the line.
“We’re leaving tonight. Contact me when you have it,” I order.
Wick appears surprised. “You’re leaving?”
“There’s no sense in staying if you believe you’ve collected all of the poison from the guilty parties. Oh, and if you’re able to prove you weren’t involved, Morpheus would have no use for your death at that point,” I say.
Wick says nothing more as we head toward the door. I do notice him watching Yorick, though. Does he feel guilty about his parents? I don’t bother waiting to see before I head out to the car.