Chapter 22
ALEXANDER
I shouldn’t have brought him here.
The thought was echoing around in Alexander’s mind like a ricocheting bullet, the panic in his chest building in pressure until he felt as sick as Tobias looked.
Vladimir could be cruel – he frequently was – but right now he seemed downright poisonous with hatred towards Alexander, Tobias, and frankly everyone and everything else.
Maria had definitely told him about the made vampires, then.
It was the only thing that could explain Vladimir’s vile mood.
Alexander had brought home dozens, if not hundreds, of mortals over the years – it wasn’t as if his father didn’t know the way Alexander liked blood fresh from the mortal vein with a side of entertainment from the mortal themselves.
But Vladimir’s anxiety had always tended to come out as anger, and it was clear that was what was happening now, the brunt of his worry being misdirected towards Tobias.
Usually, Alexander would just snap at his father and threaten to leave unless Vladimir got better manners, and half the time it worked because it would be an embarrassment if a centennial ball was held without the Damianos heir in attendance.
But there was no doubt that wouldn’t work this time – and could be downright dangerous.
Not when Vladimir had taken an interest in Tobias, and not when Tobias was so desperately vulnerable and breakable.
All he could think about was Vladimir getting his hands on Tobias and making him suffer before he killed him.
“Hi.” Tobias shuffled into the bedroom, his face pale except for the purple bags under his eyes. He looked ragged, and Alexander immediately felt guilty for pulling him from the bathroom.
“Look, I –” Alexander didn’t know where to start.
It would be so much easier if Tobias knew what he was, who they all were in this house, because then he could just explain that if he left Alexander’s rooms, there was a non-zero chance he’d not live through the next hour.
With Vladimir’s open show of displeasure, the court would be vying to please their master by being the ones to deliver Tobias’ corpse.
He’d gotten Tobias out of Oxford to the one place he thought he’d be able to keep him safe, but it certainly wasn’t the total safety that Alexander had hoped for. Not right now, at least.
“What, Alexander?” Tobias settled shakily into an armchair by the carved marble fireplace, toeing off his shoes and then peeling off his socks.
There was a thin sheen of sweat on his brow, and Alexander wanted nothing more than to give him a bath, wash him clean, and then take him to bed to rest. “What’s wrong? ”
There was panic and desperation in Tobias’ voice, and that more than anything made Alexander’s decision for him.
He wasn’t about to make Tobias more worried by explaining how much danger he was in here at Rothburn, which Alexander had promised him would be a safe place, and he certainly wasn’t about to tell Tobias that they were all vampires here when he was very clearly sick with nerves.
All of that was going to have to wait. He’d need to strategise with Maria, see if she had any ideas.
She was clearly also far too interested in Tobias, and the text he’d gotten from her telling him that he needed to come to her study as soon as possible – without Tobias – had given him heartburn.
He only hoped that it was because she had a plan to keep him safe from Vladimir.
Or because she had gotten more information about the killer, and they could put an end to all of this.
He licked his lips, drawing a hand through his hair.
“I’m sorry about the rude welcome. My family can be…
strange, sometimes. And I’m very sorry to do this, but I’m going to need you to stay here, in my rooms, no matter what.
” He looked into Tobias’ eyes as he laced his words with compulsion, much more of his power than he’d ever used on him.
Tobias’ lips parted, and he blinked a few times.
Alexander needed to make sure that the command had sunk in, so he went to kneel in front of the chair, the plush carpet cushioning his knees, and raised a hand to cup Tobias’ cheek.
“Stay in my rooms no matter what, Tobias. Don’t leave until I come to fetch you.
Everything you need is here. There’s a fridge in the study with water and a basket of snacks. I don’t want you leaving, alright?”
Most mortals would have staggered under the force of the magic Alexander was pushing into Tobias, but he just blinked a few more times, then nodded without saying anything.
It made Alexander even more concerned that his body was going to wear out with all the shocks he’d suffered through over the last few days. “Okay,” he said finally. “I will.”
“Good.” Alexander got up and placed a kiss on Tobias’ clammy forehead, then brushed the curls away from his eyes. “I have to go to Maria, just for a bit. I need to talk to her, but I’ll be right back.”
Tobias sank into the armchair, hollow-eyed, and Alexander’s chest twinged with guilt. He just barely managed to turn on his heel and leave, careful to lock the door on his way into the hall.
Maria’s rooms were on the other side of Rothburn, and he half ran there, unwilling to leave Tobias for a moment longer than he needed to, and also desperate not to see any of his father’s court.
The gossip would be far more terrible than normal, and he had little patience for court politics on the best of days.
He felt far more liable to bite someone’s head off right now than to engage diplomatically with them the way the Damianos heir should.
The thick Persian carpet muffled his footsteps as he made his way down the maroon-painted hall, the brass sconces on the walls flickering slightly and lending the place an eerie air.
When he finally got to Maria’s door and raised a hand to knock, the door flew open almost instantly.
“Thank God you’re here,” Maria said as Alexander stepped inside her hallway and closed the door behind them.
Maria had redecorated her entire suite of rooms in an airy, light style, much more Scandinavian minimalist than the rest of the house ever could be, but still with touches of comfort.
The blankness of it soothed him, and he practically fell into one of her overstuffed white couches, the comfortable cushions nearly enveloping him.
She sat down beside him, picking invisible lint off the skirt of her dress. “We need a plan.”
He appreciated how she was going to get right to business, because all he could think about was Tobias, left alone in his rooms. “Do you have one?”
“I…” She stopped, pursing her lips. “I know you aren’t going to want to hear this, but do you think that your Tobias has anything to do with this?”
That stopped him dead: the thought that even the person in the house whom he’d thought was an ally was there to undermine him. “He was with me all last night. There’s no possible way that he could be involved. And what are you saying, that he’s a secret vampire? Don’t be absurd, Maria.”
“I knew you’d react this way.” She shook her head. “You have it bad, don’t you?”
Alexander groaned, because yes, he did – but that wasn’t something he had the luxury of investigating, not with a pack of rogue vampires on the loose outside Rothburn, and a bunch of angry vampires inside the house.
“And I didn’t mean that he was doing the killings.
Obviously not – it looks like a strong wind could blow that boy right away.
What I meant was that maybe someone else was using him as a pawn, trying to get information on you and your movements, who around you would be most threatening to you to kill.
Maybe he doesn’t even know it, maybe he isn’t even aware.
He could be in another vampire’s thrall–”
The growl that built in his chest was nearly feral. He dug his hands into the cushion of the couch as a wave of jealousy flooded him, nearly making him see red. “He’s mine.”
“Whoa, boy.” Maria held up her hands, scooting away from him slightly. “You’ve gone full possessive male over him. I’m not trying to take him away from you, but we’ve got to examine every single possibility in a situation like this. It would be irresponsible to do otherwise.”
Deep down, he knew his sister was right.
Tobias had been in contention for the jobs of each of the people who had been murdered, and it was plausible that whoever was truly behind the killings had moved him into place like a chess piece.
But Maria didn’t even know Tobias. That she would question his loyalty showed that she had no idea about the remarkable person Tobias was.
“Look, I–” he started, before being cut off by a commotion outside the door. He wouldn’t have noticed, if not for the fact that half his attention – and his heightened senses – were still trained towards the other side of the house, where he’d left Tobias.
“What’s that?” Maria swivelled her head, clearly having heard the racket too. “It sounds like…”
“Wood splintering.” Alexander was on his feet and moving for the door before he could finish the words, using the full speed granted by his abilities to end up back at his own door in under a minute.
The oak was indeed splintered, and Alexander’s rage consumed him. He let himself give in to the bloodlust, stepping across the shattered threshold to follow the smell of another vampire invading his space.
He found the culprit in the sitting room, sniffing at the air, like a hound scenting a fox.
No doubt she had heard Vladimir – he hadn’t exactly been quiet – and was one of the bold few who might have tried to defy Alexander to please his father.
He glanced around, his heart calming marginally when he didn’t see any sign of Tobias and smelled no blood in the air.
Tobias must have hidden when he heard the vampire breaking down the door.
He’d be terrified, but Alexander could find and comfort him once he’d dealt with the vampire currently backing slowly away from him.
“Do not,” he hissed, “move.”
She seized up. He didn’t know her name, but she looked like one of Vladimir’s younger children, the ones he’d never bothered to get to know.
Her hair was a flaming red, but she had Vladimir’s trademark smirk.
He could feel her trying to fight against his compulsion with the small amount of power in her from Vladimir, but it was useless.
Alexander kept his eye on her as he crossed to the fireplace, past where Tobias had been sitting when Alexander had left.
He was almost sick with the thought that he might have been close to accidentally killing Tobias while trying to keep him safe.
He’d have to be far more careful with his commands – or else find a loyal guard that he could trust to protect the door at all times.
“I don’t know,” he continued, closing his fingers around the iron poker resting next to the fireplace, “why you thought you could touch what was so clearly mine.”
His fangs had descended and his mouth was watering, the promise of protecting Tobias giving him more of an urge to kill than he’d had in decades.
“I–” the vampire began, but Alexander didn’t want to hear her explanation, or her begging, and hissed at her to stay silent.
Her eyes started to roll in her head as her lips clamped shut of their own accord. He checked once more for Tobias, who was nowhere to be seen – Alexander couldn’t hear him, either, so he was sure that Tobias couldn’t see or hear what he was about to do.
“Now,” he said, crossing the room and closing her fingers around the handle of the poker. “I want to make sure you never do something like that again. So you’re going to stab yourself through the heart.”
It was the strongest compulsion he could lay, causing mortals and Damianos vampires alike to literally end their own lives. It was rare that he actually carried it out – it was a spectacle that Vladimir himself would have favoured, which was reason enough for him not to want to do it.
But this warranted it, if anything ever had.
There were tears leaking out of the girl’s eyes as she tried to fight the command, but her hand was raising unwaveringly until the pointed end of the poker was pressed against her rib cage.
“Go on,” he said, nodding.
She gasped as she impaled herself, sharp and swift, and Alexander’s blood burned hot as hers spurted out of the wound and coated him.
She swayed for a moment before collapsing to her knees, slumping forward enough that the poker, pressing into the floor, ripped through the back of her body, cracking the bones of her spine as it emerged.
He kicked her over, making sure the light had left her eyes before he knelt down and ripped into her jugular, feeding off her life force, the hot rush of blood into his body making him feel invincible, even as the sour tang of it burned his tongue.
Thank God that he didn’t sense any deeper reason in her wanting to kill Tobias than pleasing their father.
When he was sated and the corpse empty, the threat assuredly eliminated, he straightened up and turned to the task of finding Tobias.
He checked the bedroom first, half expecting Tobias to be cowering under the bed or in the closet, but there wasn’t any sign of him.
Nor was there any hint of him in the study, or in the orangery.
Alexander’s panic reared its head again as he searched the rooms over and over, calling out Tobias’ name.
It was impossible. But Tobias was gone.