Chapter 53
CHAPTER 53
Takashi abandoned his smile as soon as the limo door was shut. He was in a seat beside the divider to the driver’s cabin. Thanks to the general chaos of being at a crowded party, he’d been able to drink enough blood that he felt far more like himself. The situation he was in wasn’t immensely improved, but a general cloud had been obscuring his senses. He only noted it for its absence. There had been moments where the fog was lighter—the times Zack had shared blood with him—but even that didn’t compare to energy that came from mortal blood.
Seamus’s pets sat across from Takashi. The three mortals looked exhausted, bags under their eyes, and the girl leaned against one of the boys. Did Roger have a plan for them? Takashi didn’t want to leave them behind, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure they’d want to go. As much as they might fear their lives, they might prefer the pain they knew than face the unknown.
Zack, Katie, Anton, and Seamus were at the other end. When Zack tried to slide down toward Takashi, Seamus glared at him. A bright panic—loud as an elephant trumpeting—poured out from Zack and knocked through Takashi.
Zack was worried for him. Likely, Seamus was planning retribution. Over the course of the party, Takashi had heard a few rumors about Seamus’s intentions for the future. Murmurings of abuse and lunacy concerning dragons had been almost as common a theme as fawning over the new fledglings making their debut. Only four people could have started that sort of talk. Anton and Seamus never would, and Takashi knew he hadn’t. That left Zack.
Whatever patience Seamus had for Zack was rapidly thinning. Takashi would likely be the first target of his wrath, but he wouldn’t be the last. Please, please let Roger come before anything irreversible happens .
“When do we get to go back there?” Katie said as she stretched out. “I haven’t had that much fun ever.”
“We’ll go soon,” Anton said.
“We’ll take you to a few other places, too,” Seamus said. He had his arm around Anton’s shoulders. If one didn’t know better, they looked like a perfectly contented couple. “If you thought the Chateau was fun, wait until you have a night at Devil’s Cove.”
Katie scrunched her nose. “Isn’t that a blood club? I heard those places were gross.”
Seamus’s smile tightened, and his tone cooled. “Just when I believe you’re a young lady, you demonstrate that your tastes remain that of a child.”
“She’s very young, love,” Anton said. “You know mortals these days are not like the ones of former decades.”
“Perhaps. Or perhaps it is you and Takashi have made a poor choice,” Seamus replied, his words as sharp as his fangs. “As I recall, there were three girls, two of whom made off with my sports car? One of them would have been a better vampire. It may not be too late to start over on this little experiment of yours.”
Zack stared at his knees, not saying a word. His fists were clenched, and Takashi could see the tension in his lover that meant an inner war was waging. However, he was staying still. Quiet. Was he biding his time? Or trying to keep from making something worse?
“Maybe Anton could do a lot better than a megalomanic sociopathic prick for an eternal partner,” Katie returned.
Seamus narrowed his eyes. “You will treat me with respect, child .”
Katie clutched the edge of her seat and leaned forward toward Seamus. “I don’t respect anyone who doesn’t respect me.”
A glimmer of intense rage boiled out from Seamus.
Katie had only responded to what had been done to her. She had merely tried to be herself. For that, the turning wheels of Seamus’s mind were fueled with anger. No doubt, he was preparing to punish Katie. He was making a fist.
Master vampires often used violence against their subordinates. With supernatural healing, physical wounds seemed like nothing. The violence carried psychological damage, though. Takashi could already see the ripples changing Zack, turning him fearful in a way he hadn’t been before.
We can build a wonderful new world. Together , Roger had said.
Takashi wanted to see what that world would be like. He longed to know what a home was. And he couldn’t bear the thought of seeing a sliver of Katie cut away because Seamus willed it so. She was part of him, though they still knew so little of each other. Allowing her emotions past his walls, he sensed her bubbling longing for unending life and fun. She was a drop of youth in amber. Seamus wanted to melt away the protection keeping her from fearing him and the world around her.
Takashi’s own youth had been cut away in pieces, the first large chunk sliced off when a stranger spat at him. The last of it had been ripped away on a cold shore of an island in Lake Michigan. As young as Zack was, he didn’t have the spark that Katie did, and whatever was left of his youth was already falling away.
She deserved safety, love, happiness—everything that was the antithesis of Seamus’s household.
Takashi locked gazes with Anton. He willed his own desire to protect Katie toward him.
Anton matched his stare, then pursed his lips and nudged Seamus. “You’re being too hard on her.”
“Don’t you dare begin,” Seamus snapped. “I have had enough of the children acting up tonight. I do not need your bullshit.”
“My love?—”
“Don’t.”
Anton nestled into Seamus’s side and put his hand over Seamus’s fist. Seamus yanked his hand free. When Anton tried again, Seamus pushed him away, sending him up against the car door.
“For all the talk of immaturity,” Takashi said, “you are the only one behaving like a child. How many tantrums can be thrown in a millennium, I wonder?”
“You will close your mouth if you know what’s good for you,” Seamus replied.
“Perhaps I will.” Takashi turned his attention to Anton, speaking his words to him over anyone else. “Because the result will always be the same, won’t it? Life attempts to grow in a garden whose caretaker only sees weeds, no matter the shape or color of the leaves. To him, the earth is not to be tended but salted. Then he wonders why he commands a coven of dust and blames the rain for the muddy, useless ground.”
Anton’s eyes widened a fraction. Just a minute, tiny difference.
“I have had enough of you,” Seamus growled. He blurred, rushing across the limo’s cabin.
Though Takashi tried to dodge him, he wasn’t quick enough. Seamus grabbed him by the jaw and twisted. Unconsciousness came with a snap.
The rest of the ride back to the mansion was silent after Seamus knocked Takashi out. Seamus had continued to sit by Takashi and break his neck whenever he began to rouse. Zack knew intellectually that Takashi’s wound would heal, but every time it happened, he flinched and held his breath until Takashi began to move again. He struggled to continue singing repetitive songs in his mind, hesitating more and more before starting the next round.
When they reached the mansion, Seamus dragged Takashi out of the limo and dumped him onto the pavement of the circle drive. Sneering, he said, “I have half a mind to leave him in the greenhouse for the day. However, letting him off the hook that easily won’t do. Zack, take him to my love’s special room.”
“I’ll do it,” Anton said lightly. But there was a wariness in his eyes.
“I said?—”
“I would rather he didn’t interfere with my current experiments. Besides, I have keys, and he doesn’t.” Anton hoisted Takashi over one shoulder and carried him into the mansion.
“Very well,” Seamus said. “There’s still a little time before dawn, pets. Shall we?”
Seamus strode up and into his mansion, expecting the three mortals to follow him. They did without hesitation.
Zack wondered if a limo drove as easily as his compact car had. It probably didn’t. And he couldn’t leave Takashi behind. Shaking his head at himself, he went with Katie into the house and up to their suites. She had her arms crossed over her chest, her gaze focused on the floor.
“Why does Takashi care about me?” Katie asked as they neared their doors.
“Because he made you,” Zack replied.
“Yeah, but we’ve barely talked. My ability to read emotions comes out like songs to me, and I always have this sweet, sad song in the back of my head. It makes me want to run outdoors or dance in the rain. Be free.” Katie hugged her arms tighter. “When we’re apart, the song is for him, and I overhear it, but when we’re together, it changes key, and I know that’s what he wants for me. Anton has this terrible reputation, but he’s been great to me, too.”
Zack slowed his pace and stopped beside Katie’s door. “Even if Anton is only a monster because Seamus made him that way, that doesn’t make him less of a monster. My other boyfriend, Roger, has had to do some pretty terrible stuff, but he feels guilty for it. He wants to be better than that.”
“Anton’s hard to read,” Katie said. “Sometimes, when we’re practicing magic, he seems like a completely different person. He’s … a brutal practitioner. Don’t frown like that about it. He hasn’t hurt me, but the spells and potions he’s been teaching me aren’t the kind of thing I’d learn at Versinal. Of course, all Versinal professors really cared about was anti-aging creams, tiny glamours, and the theory of bigger spells.”
“What has he been teaching you?” Zack asked.
“Shielding, lightning blasts. Maybe we raised a dead squirrel or two,” Katie replied.
“You didn’t learn anything about that at the academy?”
Katie groaned. “They’re not that deficient. But I didn’t get to have so much hands-on experience. Everyone said there wasn’t a point in wasting effort on that kind of stuff, which I thought was stupid. What I said before, I’m not really that upset about how I became a vampire anymore. I like this. Don’t you?”
“I … okay, being a vampire isn’t the worst,” Zack said. “But …”
“But Seamus is the worst.” Katie bit the corner of her bottom lip, one fang lightly touching. “Anton said he’d protect me from everything, but I’m not sure he can.”
“I don’t think he can either.”
Katie nodded. “Okay. That settles it.”
“Settles what?” Zack asked as she went into her suite.
She pulled off her heels and tossed them off to the side of her living room. “I’m finding a bag and filling it with as much jewelry and other expensive shit I can take and getting the fuck out of here. You should get out of here, too.”
“There’s no point.”
“Look, I get the whole sire thing means Seamus knows where you are, but it’s not GPS. The farther you get from him, the more general it is, right?” Katie continued into her bedroom and into her closet.
“Yeah, but he can still track me down.”
“Have you thought about this amazing solution?” Katie rooted through her closet. She frowned, then shrugged and started pulling out the biggest purses in her collection. “You don’t stop running until the bond fades.”
“That takes money.”
“I know.” Katie held out one of her bags. “But I bet you’ve got all kinds of nifty expensive things, too.”
If Zack took off for the ends of the Earth, how badly would that distract Seamus? Could he unsettle his sire for a year? Ruin his concentration for a decade?
Would Roger and Takashi come with him? Would it be dangerous to have them at his side? Thomas had said that Roger was looking to start a war. All Takashi had ever wanted was to belong.
Zack couldn’t make them give up their dreams of creating a home and flee with him.
I can ask them later . After the thought, he began to mentally sing again. He took the bag from Katie and headed to his suite. The purse wouldn’t hold a lot, but luckily, jeweled cufflinks were small. He might even be able to fit in a book or two.