Chapter 7
Seven
When he entered the lounge, he found Meryl already seated in the leather chair in front of the empty fireplace, while Cain was standing nearby. Fighting to keep his face expressionless, Marcus closed the door behind him and walked over to the chair closest to Meryl.
“It’s that time again, isn’t it?” Meryl said.
The playfulness was gone from her voice, and there was a new seriousness that ran in sharp contrast to her carefree attire.
But then, the punk rocker look with the purple hair was all an act.
A ruse. Meryl was a cold-blooded killer, and her favorite target was her own kind. “Moving day is nearly upon you.”
“We’ll be gone in less than two months,” Marcus replied carefully.
Vampires were required to move every couple of decades.
Otherwise they risked humans catching on that they didn’t age, never changed.
There were murmurs now among their kind that moving every twenty years wasn’t enough.
That the rule should be changed to fifteen or ten.
With the advent of digital cameras on every cell phone and social media, there was always the risk that someone would notice.
But ten years was a drop in the bucket for a vampire. Marcus was just getting settled in a location, getting a feel for his new hunting grounds in ten years. He hated the idea of constantly packing up and resettling in a new location.
And moving wasn’t just a matter of relocating his household. It meant coordinating the move with his three brothers as well, finding new homes for all of them, and seeing that their mother was disturbed by the move as little as possible. The endeavor was exhausting and stressful.
Of course, there was also the problem that his family might be moving into an area already populated by other vampires.
Most large cities couldn’t be claimed by a single vampire.
The hunting grounds were large enough to support several vampires with little difficulty, and in general, everyone could play well together.
Complications only cropped up when too many vampires gathered in a smaller town.
The risk of someone noticing something rose significantly, increasing the danger for all of their kind.
Their new home in Connecticut was in a somewhat smaller city of fewer than fifty thousand people, but Hartford and New Haven weren’t too far away.
The only thing that worried him was hunting during the winter when people strayed outside their homes far less.
Unfortunately, his family had spent too much time in the south over the past several decades.
They needed to head north to escape the risk of being noticed.
“Moving is not enough,” Meryl said, and Marcus straightened in his chair.
“What are you talking about?”
Meryl crossed her legs at the knee and lazily bounced her leg as she smiled at him.
Her long fingers were folded in her lap.
“You know I have no problem with you, Marcus. You’re smart.
You keep to yourself. And we both know that no matter how cute and tempting that new assistant of yours is, he will never discover the truth about you. ”
A chill swept down Marcus’s spine at the thought of Ethan ever uncovering the fact that he was a vampire.
He could clearly see the warmth and laughter dissolving from Ethan’s expression to be replaced with one of horror and hatred.
He was a monster. A creature to be feared.
He didn’t kill, but the strength and power to were at his fingertips.
He could so easily drain his prey too much or snap a neck.
He never wanted to see that fear in Ethan’s eyes. No, he could never know the truth.
“Then if I’m not your problem, why are you here?”
“Your family is my problem,” she bit out between clenched teeth.
Her hands moved to tightly grip the leather-covered arms of the chair.
“I would speak with Winter. He’s the only other logical, sensible one of your wretched clan, but he’s too hard to nail down.
But you’re the eldest. Everyone knows that you’re the only one who can hope to keep that fucking hedonist in line. ”
“Bel?”
“Rafe!” she snarled, slamming the palm of her right hand on the chair.
“We can all do without Beltran’s silly experiments, giving vampires the stupid idea that we need to be cured.
We’re not a goddamn disease. We’re an evolutionary breakthrough.
” She sucked in a breath and sat back in her seat.
“I’m talking about Rafe. He’s too brazen and careless.
He’s fucking told people that he’s a vampire at that stupid nightclub of his. He’s admitted it!”
Hell, he needed a drink. Or just to throttle his little brother.
But he didn’t let his frustration show. This conversation was nothing new.
He’d gone before the Ministry time and time again to soothe ruffled feathers over Rafe’s newest antic.
No one on the Ministry was amused with Rafe’s decision to “come out” to the world as a vampire.
The only thing that saved Rafe’s neck was that no one believed him.
Humans thought it was a joke, a publicity stunt to draw more people to his club.
“No one actually believes him. People think it’s just part of his act.”
“And what if someone starts believing him? What if he does something that removes all doubt that he’s a vampire?”
“He won’t,” Marcus snapped. He paused and clamped down his control over his voice. “He won’t. He’s having fun. Rafe won’t risk revealing our secret. The dangers are too great.”
“I think you’re giving your brother more brains than he truly has.”
Marcus said nothing, just glared at the vampire sitting next to him.
If it had been nearly anyone else in that chair, he would have already tossed them out.
But it wasn’t only that Meryl was older and stronger than him.
Meryl also wielded influence. A few whispers in the right ears and the Varik clan could be in serious trouble.
This visit was a courtesy. A final warning.
“I’ll speak with Rafe. Rein him in if it becomes necessary.”
Meryl narrowed her gaze on Marcus and leaned toward him. “We are beyond necessary with Rafe.”
“I’ll handle it.”
Meryl slowly reclined, settling against the leather cushion. Her hands were once again folded in her lap and she stared unblinking at him. “Sadly, this isn’t just about Rafe.”
A horrible uneasiness twisted in Marcus’s stomach, but he kept his face blank. He should have seen this coming. Rafe was the warm-up act. An easy target to get Marcus to agree to her demands. No, what Meryl was truly after was his mother.
“Julianna is insane,” Meryl said. There was no more mincing words or pretending that this could be a civil conversation.
“Meryl,” Marcus said in warning. He shifted forward in his seat, sliding to the edge, but a heavy hand came down on the back of his neck, squeezing. He’d gotten so wrapped up in the vampire in front of him that he’d forgotten the silent and deadly shadow also lurking in the room.
“Everyone knows it. The bitch should have been put down the moment she’d been reborn, but Aiden promised he could keep her under control.
Why the European Ministry listened to Aiden’s request, I will never understand.
I truly doubt they would have allowed it if they’d known he planned to turn her four children just to keep her under control. ”
“Julianna Varik has not caused any problems recently. She is under control.”
“She’s a danger to everyone. Not just to the humans she feeds upon.”
Marcus snorted. “I don’t believe for a second that you care about humans.”
Meryl gave a little roll of her eyes. “No, of course not. But a meal that is killed equals a missing human, and it’s much harder for a human to simply go missing now. People start looking into disappearances. Videos are reviewed. Dead humans are bad for vampires.”
“She hasn’t had an accident with a human in years. Decades even.”
“But you can’t say the same for other vampires she’s randomly attacked.”
Marcus nearly growled at her, but he kept his mouth shut.
There had been a few instances where other vampires had gotten too close when she’d been out hunting.
She’d escaped Beltran as well as Winter when they were escorting her and had attacked the vampires.
One had been killed. The other had escaped, but Marcus didn’t know if he’d survived through the next morning.
Leaning against the arm of her chair, Meryl reached out and placed her hand over Marcus’s wrist. He wanted to rip his arm away from her cool touch, but he didn’t move.
“And that’s not including the damage that she’s done to you and your brothers. How many times over the years has she hurt you or Bel or Winter? Or even reckless Rafe? How many times has she nearly killed them? We all know you’re not reporting those attacks to the Ministry.”
“Let it go, Meryl.”
“You’ve been given a second chance at life. A better, stronger one than you were born to. Do you really want to spend this eternity patching your brothers together and living in fear that one time you’re not going to be able to save them?”
Marcus pulled his arm out from under Meryl’s touch and crossed them over his chest. “What goes on behind the closed doors of our homes is a Varik family matter, and that is all. The American Ministry need not be involved.”
She smiled sadly at him. “Such loyal, loving sons.” The smile disappeared in the blink of an eye and she glared at him. “Julianna Varik is not leaving this city alive. Rafe can be reasoned with. Made to see the wisdom of our ways. Julianna is beyond reason.”
“You are not in the American Ministry, Meryl. You do not speak for it,” Marcus snarled.
She giggled, the sound disturbingly light and airy. “No, but I’m very good at speaking to it.”
Marcus tried to stand, but Cain pressed down on his shoulder. Marcus knew he could break free, and he was sorely tempted to do it. His hands clenched and a low growl rumbled in his throat, but before he could make a move, Meryl was right there, her nose a bare inch from the tip of his own.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” she taunted.
“Get out,” Marcus snapped. “Leave my house now.”
Meryl reached out and patted his cheek. “Only because you asked so nicely.”
She slipped around him, her heavy shoes loudly clomping on the floor as she headed to the hall. Cain released him and followed placidly after her. Cursing her and his own life, he followed after them, if only to reassure himself that they were actually leaving.
Thunder rumbled outside, loud enough to rattle the glass in the window frames.
The storm had unleashed its fury on the city.
He had little doubt that it looked as if night had settled over the city hours early.
Meryl and Cain might be stepping out into a drenching, but they were walking freely while he was still trapped in his house until he could be sure the sun was down.
He couldn’t risk being out in one of Meryl’s storms and not knowing when she was going to end it, sending the clouds on their way.
If he was lucky, he’d simply be trapped at another safe location until nightfall.
But it could all end very badly if he wasn’t so lucky.
Pausing at the open door to the dining room, Meryl peered inside and then she looked back at Marcus who was still descending the stairs. “Ahhh…looks like your assistant has disappeared. I’m sorry to have disturbed your little romantic dinner for two.”
“It was time for him to return home,” Marcus said evenly while inwardly rejoicing that Ethan had followed his instructions and left. At least that had gone as planned, and he was safely away from Meryl and Cain.
“I can see why you hired him. He’s just adorable with that blond hair and big blue fuck-me-daddy eyes.”
Marcus stopped on the stairs, tightly clutching the handrail.
He didn’t trust himself to not launch his body at Meryl.
He didn’t want her talking about or even looking at Ethan.
He hated the idea of her even knowing that he existed.
No one should ever talk about Ethan like that.
He deserved her respect. Ethan was smart and funny and so damn compassionate.
But he said nothing. Defending Ethan would only make it worse.
Her grin spread as if she could read his thoughts. “Maybe after you move, I’ll see if your lovely Ethan Cline needs a new job.”
Her wild laughter followed her out of the house and into the raging storm. The door slammed shut and Marcus’s legs gave out, leaving him sitting on the stairs. Oh, hell no. Meryl was not getting anywhere close to Ethan.
But she had the advantage. He couldn’t leave his house for at least another two hours, while she could use that time to try to track Ethan’s temporary residence down. He had to warn Ethan. To protect him.
And then he needed to talk to his brothers about Meryl’s threat against Julianna.