Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
A wave of panic was on its way to demolish all the joy and budding determination that Zack had been building. His mortal parents had never caught him fucking, though one time in college, they’d come incredibly close to showing up at his dorm room as he was finished going down on his then-girlfriend. Cal had liked to mock him about overhearing him masturbate since he was thirteen. Sex was just not a subject brought up in the Wright household. His dad had given him the speech twice—once to explain the birds and the bees, and again after Zack came out as pansexual to him in order to explain how anal sex wasn’t really anything like the other things he’d explained—and that had been the end of the discussions.
Now, Seamus was marching down the hall, and Zack had no doubt the bastard was coming straight to his suite.
Any remnant of postorgasm glory was gone. Was Seamus going to be upset that Takashi was in his room? Was he going to lose it when he saw the very nice comforter now had a hole in it where Takashi had chomped on it? Was Zack supposed to be dressed? Oh shit, he’s not bringing someone in here, is he? Zack raked his hand through his hair.
The last thing Zack wanted Seamus to see was the sex toys. The next to last things he wanted on display were his and Takashi’s naked bodies. Using a burst of speed, Zack grabbed the toys and lube, threw them into the closet, and zipped through his wardrobe until he found two robes.
“Zack—” Takashi called out.
“Here!” Zack raced over to him and thrust one of the black silk robes to him.
With his patented patience, Takashi took one and slipped into it as he stood. “He’s not likely to care that we had sex. If he didn’t want us spending time together, he would have ordered me back to my room.”
Zack already had his arms through his robe and finished tying the sash around his waist. The freaking thing felt like wearing nothing, but at least it looked like clothing. “Oh.”
“Also, he’ll be able to smell our spunk.”
“ Shiiiit .” Zack slapped his forehead. “Ugh, I don’t think we have time for a shower. Vamp speed doesn’t make water happen faster.”
Takashi took both of Zack’s hands in his. “Settle down.”
But Zack could feel the thinnest fear in the inky mental swirl of Takashi’s mind. He’s managing a brave face. I can find mine . While holding Takashi’s gaze, Zack took a deep breath and nodded. He didn’t feel any calmer, but at least his thoughts stopped zooming at a rate of 10G.
A light, polite knock sounded on the outer door. When Zack didn’t move, Takashi raised an eyebrow. The knock came a second time.
“Right! I need to get that.” Zack let Takashi’s hands go and started to hurry for the door.
“Zack,” Takashi said.
Zack stopped at the door from the bedroom to the living room. “Yeah?”
“We’re vampires. We don’t rush.” And then Takashi lay back on the bed like he didn’t have a care in the world.
All of that was a front. Zack could still sense the swirl of fears and desires from him. Everything is a test , Josefina had said. Always be prepared .
Every vampire Zack knew had wildly different personas they’d spent centuries developing. Hell, he’d been different with different people before, too. He’d been crafting the nonchalant pet identity to specifically deal with the vampire world. Last night, he’d started trying on a mask of a socialite like Candide often used.
However, Seamus was bound to be suspicious if Zack started oozing pleasantries all the time when they weren’t in public. Besides, Zack wasn’t sure he could erase his rage at the bastard. He could shove it down, but Seamus was his killer.
So Zack adopted an attitude he wished he could’ve used with his mom and Cal. As he padded over to the door, he raked his hand through his hair a few more times and let his anger out in a deep scowl. He swung the door open with a large huff and glared at Seamus. “What?”
“Good evening to you, too, son,” Seamus replied. He was smirking.
However, for the first time, Zack really noticed how he and Seamus were of a very similar height. Somehow, the asshole had always seemed larger, though Zack had intellectually known they were nearly equal.
Seamus was wearing sneakers, dark jeans, and a light-weight black long-sleeved T-shirt. He had a black coat over his shoulder. He also had Cal’s Bowie knife in a sheath on his hip and Zack’s dagger hidden somewhere on his person. Seamus’s magnetic bond had hidden the presence of the dagger, but once he was within a few feet of Zack, he could sense its similar pull.
With that same selfish smirk, Seamus pushed on the door so that it slid out of Zack’s grasp and opened far enough for him to stride into the room. “Hopefully, I’m not interrupting anything. You seemed done.”
“Done?” Zack asked with a frown.
Seamus sighed like he was disappointed that Zack didn’t understand exactly what he meant with the first sentence. “You sensed my nearing presence. Noticed a few of my emotions last night, correct?”
“Yeah …” Then realization struck.
Since he could feel Seamus’s desires, Seamus could feel his . And since he’d had experience, he could probably feel them through their bond at a distance.
Which meant that Seamus knew that Zack had been having sex. Had probably known the second he had come.
That’s so much worse than smelling or seeing the toys . Zack struggled against the freshest wave of panic.
“Settle,” Seamus said, and his voice had a resounding note in it that quelled the fears climbing inside Zack’s mind.
Clarity arrived again like breaking clean from an ocean and realizing he had reached a sandy shore. Zack didn’t need to breathe, but he had been doing so and yet freezing out of habit. After Seamus’s command, he could relax again.
At least, he could until he realized he felt Seamus putting pressure on his mind. It was like finding out a comfortable blanket was covered in ants. His skin was starting to crawl.
“You can fight me and go back to having a panic attack,” Seamus said, “or you can accept my gift for a brief moment and calm yourself.”
I shouldn’t accept any gifts from him , his angry side said.
Not even your immortality ? the Seamus voice replied. You seem to be enjoying your vampirism so far .
“Panic attacks do suck.” Zack pointed his finger at Seamus as he continued. “But I swear on Mary Gladwell’s grave, I will fucking murder you if you mess with my desires. Or with my fears in other ways than this.”
Seamus glanced at the open door and gestured for Zack to close it. Zack did while Seamus took a seat on the couch. “I understand the impulse to doubt my intentions, but you have to give me some credit. You are far more … present in my mind than I thought would happen. Our bond is stronger than I anticipated.”
“Really? Because you had to offer up the power.” Zack folded his arms over his chest.
Seamus met his glare with an impatient frown of his own. “And you had to take it. I knew in the moment that you were grabbing for it, but that didn’t mean it would take root. I see that it has.”
“Wouldn’t you want your son to be strong?” Zack demanded.
“I would. Hence the offering.” Seamus relaxed, putting his arm along the back of the couch. “Look, I’m not going to talk in circles about this. We both got what we wanted with your transformation. I have an errand for us to run, and you must be getting hungry. So, go shower and dress in similar attire to me and come back. Oh, and send Takashi out here. I’d like to speak to him.”
Zack hated the idea of following Seamus’s orders, but short of throwing a fit and stomping his feet like a toddler, there wasn’t anything else he could do. He continued to glare at Seamus on his way across the living room and strode into the bedroom.
Takashi was already standing and heading for the door. He paused beside Zack long enough to kiss his cheek and squeeze his arm.
Since Zack was beginning to feel gross, he headed for the bathroom.
The conversation from the living room was in quiet voices, but Zack could hear them as if he were sitting next to Seamus.
“He seems to be acclimating faster than I feared he would,” Seamus said. “Your influence?”
“Some,” Takashi said lightly.
“Thank you. He wasn’t listening to me.”
Zack puffed up, preparing to storm out there and shout at Seamus. Of course he wasn’t going to listen to the bastard. Why on earth would he? Taking a shower because he suggested it felt like betraying some piece of his soul. But he started the shower and stepped into it. Just like with the bath, all of the soaps and shampoos were orange-scented.
The rush of water didn’t block his hearing.
“You can hardly expect him to be complacent and thrilled with you,” Takashi said. Zack recognized that dry tone. He’d used it right after the incident at Devil’s Cove when Zack had been flipping out about Roger killing a hunter. “All things considered.”
“I expect that he would kick and scream around me for a while. Hopefully, not too painfully for either of us. I would like to remain proud of him.”
“You’re proud?”
“So far, very. He rose on Christmas, one of the hardest nights for our kind to rise. Also, I saw the way he was eating up information last night. The Wrights have been letting him waste away. I’m quite glad to have stepped in. He may yet reach his true potential.” A moment passed. “Now, Takashi, are you going to remain in these rooms with Zack, or are you interested in the new ones I’m preparing for you?”
“That depends,” Takashi said. “Do the new ones have a door handle on the inside? Do they have silver in the walls?”
Takashi had said his “all right” state was relative. He hadn’t shared what he had been going through, not really. Zack had been so caught up in his own crap that he hadn’t dived into the topic with him.
The urge to protect Takashi swelled, and Zack snapped off the water, though he was only half done in getting clean. What good was newfound confidence if he didn’t yell at the bastard making his lover’s life a living hell?
“Drop the attitude, Zackery,” Seamus said sharply. “I will remind you that the two of you were conspiring to kill me and that locking Takashi in a comfortable room was the kindest thing I could have done to him.”
Zack paused with his hand on the shower door. In the softest whisper he could manage, “Did you hear the shower turn off, or was this a bond-sense thing?”
“Bond-sense,” Seamus replied. “Then I heard the shower stop. And now I know how good your hearing is.”
“I was merely asking for clarification,” Takashi said. “Because if I have the choice of staying with you or returning to a prison cell, I obviously choose you.”
But the fact that he was thinking about having his own rooms at all pulled Zack’s heart toward a cliff. Hey, it’s not a bad thing for him to have his own space. You might need it from him, too. What you just shared should be proof he’s not really going anywhere .
“Zack, finish showering. You and I have somewhere to be,” Seamus said.
Grumbling to himself without any real words or meaning, Zack spun the shower faucet back on and continued washing up.
“The rooms are a mirror to Zack’s and are just across the hall,” Seamus said conversationally. “You’ll have to forgive them for being a bit bare in comparison, but as time goes on, we can change that. Naturally, you can come and go as you please, though I would advise you to remain within the mansion unless we take a group trip.”
“A generous upgrade to my situation. I’ll have to consider it,” Takashi replied.
“You needn’t make the decision tonight. You’ll find the clothes in here tailored for Zack, but you two are of a similar size. You’ll make something work, assuming you plan to dress at all.”
From there, Takashi guided the conversation into fashion, of all the weird-ass things to discuss. Zack concentrated on what he was doing, which meant he didn’t catch every word from the other room, but they seemed to be discussing who among the local tailors had the best sense of style.
At least Zack didn’t have to pick out some fancy suit for the evening. Worst part of vampirism has got to be an eternity of keeping up with the latest looks .
Eh, maybe you’ll learn to like it , the Seamus voice replied.
Great, I’ve replaced one asshole voice for another . Zack scrubbed a little too hard and winced. Just what I need in my life .
Rather than take a limo, Seamus led Zack to the mansion’s garage. The limo was there, parked out toward the front for convenient use, along with fifteen high-end sports cars. Zack tried not to be impressed by them. Cleary, Seamus was just trying to show off his wealth with all of the amazing vehicles.
That wealth had likely come from theft—he had been a pirate—and some robber baron shit that had managed to build over the centuries rather than crumble away.
Seamus opened a cabinet and plucked a key from it before strolling between the cars as if he were walking in some everyday garden of reasonably maintained plants. Zack trailed after him with his arms across his chest and did not stop to gawk more than twice. Only he was so caught up in looking around that he did nearly run into Seamus when he stopped beside a beautiful black Lamborghini roadster. “What do you think of this one?”
“It’s, uh, nice,” Zack said.
“‘Nice.’ Hm. You’ll have to let me know what you would prefer, then.” Seamus continued walking to a different black car just beside the Lamborghini. Out of all the cars in the garage, it was the most discreet, almost average-looking. He unlocked it and then slid into the driver’s seat.
Zack hurried into the passenger seat. “You’re planning on giving me one of these?”
“No!” Seamus said with a laugh as he turned on the engine. “These are all very much mine . But I will buy you one of your own.”
“You’d buy me a hundred-thousand-dollar sports car?” Zack asked.
“I’d never be that cheap. It’ll have to cost at least a quarter of a million.” Seamus put the car into gear and began to drive out of the garage and into the night. The engine was nearly silent, only the slightest purr serving as an undercurrent to their conversation.
Instinctively, Zack rushed to buckle his seat belt. Seamus didn’t and snorted a chuckle softly, but he didn’t say anything about the seat belt.
Five minutes of being somewhat nice doesn’t erase a millennium of being a dick . Zack relaxed into his seat, and the damn ride was almost too comfortable to stay actively pissed at Seamus. “Why would you buy me an expensive car?”
“I have openly declared you are my son to the most important vampires in our coven,” Seamus said. “If you go out on the town looking like a pauper, it reflects poorly on me.”
Zack let several long minutes slide by. “You’re going to let me out on my own?”
“Eventually,” Seamus replied.
“You’d trust me not to bolt?”
“I know exactly where you are at all times, Zackery.”
So if I run, I have to figure out how to sever our bond . Zack folded his arms over his chest and stared out the window. Rather than taking the interstate toward the city or toward the Chateau, they were heading southeast, which would eventually take them into Indiana. “Where are we going?”
“To take care of a problem.”
A boulder dropped into Zack’s stomach. Each minute of dragging silence only compounded that weight. He blurted out, “I won’t kill Roger.”
“This isn’t about Roger,” Seamus said with an annoyed sigh. “Do you believe this is the first time he’s upset me?”
“He wants you dead,” Zack replied.
“If I killed absolutely everyone who wanted me dead, the world would be a much emptier place.” Seamus kept his focus on the road out in front of them.
Zack tried to use their bond to figure out what Seamus was feeling, but all he could pick up on was a bland desire for quiet. It was like a pop-up window again rather than a written page. There was nothing for Zack to dive into. With a frustrated grunt, he went back to staring out the window.
“I was distraught when he disappeared,” Seamus said.
Another few miles slipped by before Zack controlled his anger enough to speak. “Must have sucked to lose one of your favorite victims.”
“I have read your notes. You don’t have enough data to say that definitively.”
“ Bullshit .”
After twenty minutes of silence, Seamus finally spoke. “I may not have understood Roger as well as I thought I did, but I know for a fact that he is not some innocent in need of saving. You were very thorough on my history and Anton’s—you even delved into a bit of Takashi’s past. But your notes are sorely lacking on the subject of Roger’s adventures.”
Zack really hoped Seamus was going to shut the hell up because this was not a conversation he wanted to have. What was a good way to get out of it? Flirting was not going to happen, so Roger’s example was no good. Thomas Wright wouldn’t have been stuck in this situation in the first place. Candide or Reed would smile and find some bullshit thing to talk about instead.
Screw it. With a hiss, Zack said, “You paid Quinn to seduce Roger into loving him and turning him into a vampire.”
“No, I paid Quinn to offer Roger his blood and to sleep with him if he was amenable.”
“You showed up at Quinn’s grave while Roger was waiting for him and boasted about how much you paid him.”
Seamus rolled his eyes. “That wasn’t what happened at all. This was, I forget the exact year, but I know it was not long after the American Revolution. Did Roger happen to mention Malcolm? At least I think the boy’s name was Malcolm. At any rate, one of Roger’s beloved pets had died in a duel. Roger had been grieving for years , and he and Dmitri were close to reconnecting again. So when Roger showed a fraction of interest in Quinn, I realized that he was the perfect one to bring Roger out of his depression and keep him from going back to Dmitri. Ah, ah, I feel that little impulse to tell me I should have let Roger and Dmitri rekindle their flame. You weren’t there to see them in 1734 or 1772. Or 1837. Or 1918. Dmitri does nothing but make him miserable. I was doing him a favor.”
Zack glared out the window because grabbing his dagger from Seamus and slamming it into the bastard’s heart wasn’t a good option with the car going eighty miles an hour down the interstate.
“Finding out that Roger’s been stretching the truth shouldn’t upset you. We grow old, we have a habit of twisting what happened, and we particularly spend time retelling the story in a way that makes us seem the most favorable,” Seamus said. “I’ve read your journal, Zackery. I know that you were distrustful of all supernaturals until you met him. Of course the only version of his life he was going to share with you was the one that appeals to your morality.”
“ You raped him ,” Zack snarled. “And you murdered me. You going to find some ‘version’ of those stories where you’re somehow the ‘good guy’?”
“We are vampires, Zackery,” Seamus said coldly. “Good and evil are words for mortals to give meaning to their shallow, fleeting existences. I have seen them twisted and turned about countless times. Do you know how much damage they have done in the name of ‘good’? How much is still done? By your own brother, no less? And, for the last time, you were trying to kill me . I could have left you dead.”
Seamus had a counterargument for everything. Zack fumed and kept his mouth shut because what was the point? Anything he said, Seamus was going to find some clever new thing that would keep any of the fault from him. Must be nice to be so confident that you’re always in the fucking right .
You could learn something from that , the Seamus voice in his head said.
It sounded too much like Seamus. Zack scowled at him. Can you hear me?
Nothing happened.
Each silent mile grated on his nerves, and eventually, his hunger began to burn in his stomach. Zack huffed. “How long until we eat?”
“How quickly you’ve come around on that subject,” Seamus teased.
“Oh, you know, if you’re going to be a fucking?—”
“I have told you. Stop. Swearing.”
“I thought I was supposed to do whatever the fuck I wanted,” Zack taunted. “Wasn’t that what you wanted for me?”
“Do not paint manners and rules as if they are some confines from which you need to escape,” Seamus replied. “Etiquette is what separates us from the ferals and the nest vampires.”
“Are we really that different from them?” Zack demanded. “Guzzling blood. Torturing people.”
“Enough arguing,” Seamus snapped.
Zack shut his mouth. I got a rise out of him. And he didn’t call me out on it. I’m going to call that a win . With a smug smile, Zack relaxed into his seat.