Chapter 59
CHAPTER 59
“He wasn’t feral. It was something more focused than that,” Takashi murmured. He sat atop a dresser in the shabby bedroom. The trip to the safe house had been quicker than he’d expected. They weren’t in Chicago but in one of the suburbs closer to Seamus’s mansion than Takashi was comfortable with. Roger assured him the mages and warlocks working the illusions to protect the place could hold their magics for forty-eight hours, which would be enough time for the surviving forces that had rendezvoused to dissipate.
“Seamus attempted to use his vampiric manipulations when I initiated my fight. He only focused on the vampires. I wonder if he was doing that to Zack and that was taking a portion of his strength,” Roger mused.
Roger had changed into a red long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of dark gray sweatpants. Despite his short, horribly dyed hair, he looked better than he ever had. His confidence was enticing; his mannerisms were brusquer, but not in a bad way. This was Roger without pretenses, without putting on a show.
Takashi felt like he was seeing his lover for the first time and falling for him all over again.
Zack was on the bed. They had found enough rope and belts that he was tied down so tightly that he shouldn’t be able to move anything besides his head. The arrow through his skull had kept him knocked out, his body healing around the wood but unable to restore where the arrow remained. Roger had removed the arrow a couple of minutes ago.
Sluggishly, Zack opened his eyes, and they were steel gray except for a ring of red around the center. He blinked heavily, then tried to move. He glanced down to see the ropes and belts. “Oh, that’s probably smart.”
With a laugh of relief, Takashi moved from the dresser to sit beside Zack. Roger sat on the other side so that Zack was between them. When Takashi reached to undo the first belt, Roger caught his hand and held it.
“Let’s give him a minute,” Roger murmured. He stroked Zack’s hair. “You seem better, but?—”
“But I went full psycho killer.” Zack groaned, then tried to sit up with alarm. “Wait, my dad?—”
“Thomas is fine. As is Janiyah,” Roger said.
“Janiyah should play baseball.” Zack snorted, then laughed harder. “I can’t believe I just suggested a vampire play baseball.”
Takashi laughed, too, and stretched out alongside Zack.
“What’s so—oh. That movie.” Roger rolled his eyes. “I try to forget you made me watch it.”
“Well, now I can make you watch it forever ,” Zack chided.
“You can,” Takashi said softly.
Zack met his gaze, and his beautiful eyes held a tender regret. “Takashi, I am sorry about?—”
“You weren’t yourself,” Takashi replied.
“What happened?” Roger asked.
“Seamus got in my head. Suppressed everything but the desire to kill,” Zack said. “I don’t feel him like I did before, but he’s still there .”
“Then he survived,” Roger said.
“Survived what exactly?” Zack asked.
“We set the mansion on fire,” Roger replied.
Zack attempted to sit up again, actually managing to wriggle up a little. “Roger! There was a priceless library! Medieval texts! Lore books that I had only heard about before! Tell me you didn’t burn that collection!”
The statement was so perfectly Zack that Takashi started laughing and couldn’t stop. Roger began as well, not nearly as heartily, and yet Takashi only laughed harder, tears forming in his eyes. The relief was profound, made tender by having his lovers with him.
“You are yourself.” Roger began to untie Zack, and at that impetus, Takashi helped him.
“I had a bag on me,” Zack said. “And my dagger.”
Takashi pointed to where they lay on the dresser. “Katie had similar purses stuffed full with jewelry and video games.”
“Ah, I didn’t think about selling those. Probably not worth as much as she thought,” Zack replied.
“You were going to run away?” Roger asked.
“I didn’t know a rescue was coming,” Zack said.
“Well, it did.” Takashi leaned up and kissed Roger. “Thank you.”
“Always,” Roger promised. He kissed Zack. “I love you both.”
“I love you both, too,” Zack said with a handsome smile.
Takashi decided to kiss each of them and let them feel his love that way instead.
After they untied Zack, Zack and Takashi slipped into changes of comfortable clothes. Takashi would have preferred to sleep in his underwear, but there were too many other people in the house. Without any clue when someone was going to disturb them, Roger pushed for modesty. Too many mortals or some nonsense like that.
When they lay down on the bed together, Zack insisted that Takashi be between them. Exhaustion greater than the drowsiness of dawn pulled on him. With Roger’s arm around him and Zack lightly stroking his arm, Takashi drifted off, content in ways he couldn’t remember being before.
Waiting for Roger and Takashi to fall asleep was brutal. Zack struggled to keep his eyes open as the minutes crawled by. Takashi nodded off pretty quickly. Roger kept sending him lazy smiles, which Zack did his best to return, and staying awake despite the massive bags under his eyes. But Roger did fall asleep.
You will come back to me , Seamus demanded. His voice was more distant than it had been, like he was shouting across a ravine, but the fact that it was still there meant Zack remained connected to him. And if they were connected, Seamus could use that to track him down. Or worse, force him to do what he wanted.
Until Zack found some way to break it, he was a danger to the ones he loved.
He sat up and took a long moment to appreciate the view of his lovers in front of him. Takashi had his back up against Roger’s front, and Roger had looped his arm over Takashi. They were nestled in together like they’d never been apart, and that brought a genuine smile to Zack’s lips. Roger’s hair was horrible, but the rest of him was the same handsome vampire that Zack had first seen.
They won’t be alone. They have each other. And I’ll come back to them, I will . Zack dared to kiss Takashi’s forehead, then Roger’s. He waited to see if either stirred. When they didn’t, he slipped out of bed.
Roger had thought of everything for their corner of the safe house. There was another outfit, which included one of Zack’s favorite hoodies and a pair of sneakers. Silently, Zack changed into the more practical outfit and took his dagger and the purse off the dresser. Then he snuck out of the room.
The rest of the safe house was in a recognizable chaos. Zack hadn’t been on any family missions since Detroit, but he’d been home when everyone else arrived from one. Some of his early childhood memories included creeping down the stairs from where he was sleeping at his grandparents’ to find his mom or dad. Usually, they sent him right back to bed, but getting to see that they were all right calmed him enough to do that.
Zack could try to find Thomas or Amber in the mess. He’d have to explain that he was leaving, and he wasn’t sure they’d let him. I’ll call once I get away .
Stealing a set of keys was almost too easy, and he made his way through the house to the garage. Once he shut the door, he was alone. The larger garage door was already open, and out beyond, there were cars in the driveway and a few on the street. He had to hope the keys he’d taken were for one of the cars that wasn’t blocked in.
Dawn had given way to day, and sunlight poured in through the open door. The line of shadow on pavement seemed like the edge of an abyss. In theory, Zack stood a chance at surviving in sunlight. After all, he was supposedly a super-strong vamp. But extremely old vampires became more susceptible to sunlight, so he might be screwed.
“Only one way to find out,” Zack muttered to himself. He took a deep breath and shoved his hand out into the light.
Immediately, his hand burst into flames.
Swearing, Zack yanked his hand out of the light and put the flame out with his other sleeve. “Fuck!”
“Problem with your escape plan?” Thomas drawled.
Zack jumped and spun to see his dad coming out of the house to join him in the garage. Thomas was older than Zack remembered. Gray hairs at his temples had been there for years, but there were more of them. More lines around his eyes, too.
Zack swallowed around the knot in his throat. “Dad, I can explain.”
“You’re worried that your bond to your sire means he’ll be able to use you or find you, and you want to get away before dark to put as much distance between you and him as possible,” Thomas said. He motioned upward. “And you want to do it before your boyfriends join you or talk you out of it.”
“Not just them,” Zack said. “I have to protect you and Amber.”
“Zack—”
“I read your letter.” Zack zoomed forward and hugged his dad tightly. He tried to hold in his tears when Thomas put his arms around him in return. “I love you, too. I can’t put you in danger.”
Thomas kissed the top of his head. “That isn’t how being a father works. If you’re in danger, I should be doing everything I can to help.”
“Dad, I have to go.” Zack withdrew from Thomas’s hug and tapped his temple. “I can hear Seamus calling to me. I can’t stay in Chicago. Maybe running will be a good thing. He’ll be distracted, and you and Roger can carry on the war and?—”
“You just caught on fire in the sunlight, Zack. You’re not going anywhere,” Thomas said. Zack opened his mouth to argue, but Thomas continued. “Unless someone else is driving.”
“You’d do that? For me?” Zack asked. “What about Amber?”
“Lacey’s here. Amber’ll be pissed about this, but I never should have let her get this close to this much action in the first place. There’s being in the field, then there’s being in a war zone. She’s too young. You are, too, but you don’t have a choice anymore.”
His dad was willing to drop everything and just run with him. No questions asked, no hesitation. Thomas wouldn’t let him go through with his escape on his own.
Zack brushed away his tears. “I don’t know why I’m crying. It’s fucking stupid.”
“Hey, no it’s not.” Thomas stepped forward and pulled him into another hug. “You’ve gone through a lot.”
“Understatement,” Zack managed.
He might have remained in his father’s arms, crying his eyes out, but there was a yelp, followed by another yelp, and then the door to the house opened again. Vincent stumbled out, not looking ahead but behind. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Lee?”
A gray-striped tabby cat sat just inside the house. He fixed his gaze upon Thomas. “I take it you two intend to run.”
“Did the cat just speak?” Zack asked. He looked to Thomas and Vincent. “You heard that, right?”
Vincent looked as shocked as Zack felt.
Thomas was calm, like he knew , and Zack knew his dad well enough to know that, yeah, somehow, Thomas had known before that moment that the cat spoke. “Lee’s not a cat. He just looks like it right now. And yes, Lee, we’re making a run for it.”
“Great. Rousting the apprentice was hard enough. I wasn’t about to wake Bastian if I didn’t have to,” Lee replied.
“Lee, you’re not coming.”
“Oh yes we are.” Lee stood, tail swishing. “The apprentice needs to learn how to control his power before he unintentionally levels a city block, Bastian gets restless, you could use the magical protection, and I fucking hate Chicago.”
Thomas puffed up. “Lee?—”
“You owe me a favor, Tommy boy. Consider this it,” Lee replied. Then he stalked off into the house.
“Wait, Bastian as in Bastian Stone?” Zack asked. “That guy’s a legend.”
“He is?” Vincent said.
Zack swung his attention from Thomas to Vincent and did a double take on Vincent. Though Vincent’s hair was an unkempt mess, his pale complexion was less gray and more white guy who never went outside. He was still scrawny, but he looked like he got to eat and sleep regularly. He looked good.
“Yeah,” Zack said, blinking so he didn’t zero in on Vincent’s pulse. “Phenomenal exorcist, proficient battle mage. He’s—is he your mentor? Are you a mage?”
“Apprentice, and likely warlock because I think having to pay for the privilege of being called a mage is stupid.” Vincent folded his arms over his chest and lifted his chin. “I already have a wand.”
“He’s on his second wand,” Thomas murmured. “The first one blew up.”
“Channeling magic is tough, okay?” Vincent replied. “It’s not like biting a neck.”
“That only looks easy,” Zack said. “You slice a vein wrong and you can kill a person in seconds.”
“If I don’t focus my magic right, I’m going to blow off my hand.”
“Well, if I don’t get some distance, Seamus might take control of my mind and make me murder everyone!”
“I have to?—”
“Boys, boys, please, for the love of God, do not bicker about who is the bigger time bomb,” Thomas grumbled. “It’s 8:00 a.m. I’ve been up all night, and we have to get on the road as soon as possible. Vincent, grab whatever you’ve got in the house and help Lee wake up Bastian. Poke him with a broom at a distance, if you can. I need to talk to Lacey. Zack, is there anything you need before we leave?”
Zack bit his bottom lip, tugging on it gently so he didn’t pierce it with his fang. “Got any paper? I need to write a letter.”