by Lauren Dane
Theo straightened the front of his jacket as if it were the finest thing in all the land. And then, as if he was impatient with how slow they were being he raised his brows. “Well? Make that happen. I’ll need my hair brushed afterward, Rowan. Then you can tell me about your trip.”
She hoped he’d tell her about his. She wanted to be sure he was protected. That by some weird chance he hadn’t left behind any evidence. A second pass over the scene by his Five would do that.
“I’ll handle the kitchen,” she said to her cousin. “You attend to him.” Rowan stepped back and handed the reins over. It was his job now. She had one of her own to do.
“Don’t tarry.”
How Theo managed to flounce off with all that gunk on his clothing, Rowan didn’t know, but flounce he did as he disappeared into the house with Enzo clearing the way and handling things.
She turned slowly to face Clive and Warren. “If you see him like that again, don’t engage unless you’re ready to be torn to pieces.”
Warren looked up at the moon. “What if he left behind bodies? Witnesses? Survivors? We need to deal with whatever mess he—” Warren caught himself, corrected, “—with whatever may be at the scene.”
Why Warren was making so many mistakes Rowan didn’t know. He was old. He needed to never let his guard down. To have a rumor get to Theo that one of his Scions spoke ill of The First? When Theo was in this state? It could be disastrous with a dash of apocalyptic to keep it fresh.
“He wouldn’t have left any bodies.”
Warren had the nerve to sigh at her and give her a pity face. Like she was too naïve to know what was going on. “Rowan, you can’t just—”
She cut him off with an impatient snap of her hand. “Think. He’d ingest his prey or leave it in the light. Given the state of him, he ate.”
Rowan started back toward the house. Dina, the cook and kitchen manager waited for her at the doorway.
Dina had been with Theo her entire life. She, more than just about anyone understood what was at stake here. Rowan was so relieved to have her around.
“I’m putting together a meal myself right now.”
Rowan got very close, taking Dina’s hands. “He’s in a bad way. I’m going to need you to cut the household staff here in the evenings. No humans but for his approved skeleton crew. Send them on a vacation or whatever.”
“He’s been teetering on the edge for a while now. Thank goodness you got back today.”
“I can’t save him from this.” Occasional bouts of full on crazy seemed to come with over nine hundred years or so of existence, and Theo had hit that one multiple times. “But I can help. Hopefully. When was the last time? Was there an episode in the years I was gone?”
“He was...difficult for about two years after you left. But he righted himself. Nothing like the last time. When you...”
Rowan waved it away. The past was past. She could not dwell there and live her life fully.
Rowan focused on Dina’s gaze. “All right. Thank you. Please keep David in the loop so I’m up to speed. He’ll remain in contact with me as I travel.” David was Rowan’s valet. He’d been assigned to her several years ago and pretty much did everything she needed him to. Sometimes—okay a lot of the time—things she didn’t even know she’d needed until he’d provided them.
He was bright. Loyal. Strong. Brave. Resourceful and smart. Rowan had long since given up trying to pretend she didn’t think on him like a younger brother, or even a child. He’d wanted to come on the upcoming hunt. But Rowan had instructed him to remain in Las Vegas to keep things going on that end.
He’d been pouty. Had argued and got really mad. But in the end, Rowan had remained firm. There was no way she was going to lose him. She’d rather have him alive to be pissy than dead.
“Thank you, Dina. I’m going to speak with a few people, change my clothes and then head to him so give me about twenty minutes if you can.”
Dina wanted to hug her, Rowan could tell. But she nodded instead, patting Rowan’s shoulder and then headed off to deal with the food.
Nadir was waiting at the base of the stairs leading to Rowan’s rooms and Theo’s personal wing. Nadir was the official Voice of Theo’s personal security force, the Five. None spoke in public but Nadir.
She inclined her chin slightly—an indication of rank and respect—at Rowan’s approach. Rowan did the same.
“Recht is with him now,” Nadir began to report as they headed to the ready room the Five used as an operations center for the entire Keep. It was safer to speak there, warded against spying.
The long hallway had the sun shades up so the night sky, clear and full of stars, seemed to surround them. Rowan had loved this part of the Keep as a child. Had loved the onyx on the doorknobs, the veins of malachite in the floors. The antique furniture was lovely and intimate without being fussy. The art on the walls had changed since she was last there.
“Is that a Rothko?”
Nadir smiled. Or she thought about it and it might have shown for just a moment. But Rowan was sure of it just the same.
“It is. Do you like it? I see it more out here than I would in my rooms. It was a gift from a gentleman who seems to have more swagger than sense. But sometimes those are the ones I find hardest to resist.”
Oh she wanted to know more about that story, but it wasn’t the time, and given the long, handsome outline Clive made, leaning in the doorway of the ready room., Rowan wagered there was some sort of Scion business to attend to. She was happily busy which worked in her favor as she wanted absolutely no part of Nation shit. Hunter politics were bad enough. Rowan didn’t need to go borrowing trouble from the Vampire Nation.
When she halted at his side, Clive searched her features for a moment before speaking. Making sure she was all right. She was working on accepting it when he did stuff like that.
“Hunter.” He tipped his chin. “I’m going to talk with Warren and Paola. We’re all squarely in his service.” Clive’d just underlined his loyalty to The First, which she appreciated. He’d done it in the hearing of Nadir as well. Just knowing he was behind Theo made Rowan feel better, even when she knew crazy times were coming. “Come to me when you finish. We’ll both have a meal with him.”
Rowan shook her head, knowing that wasn’t possible. “He’s not going to tolerate sharing my attention with anyone else right now. I’ll come to you after.”
He wanted to argue. She saw it in the set of his mouth. Naturally he did because he was a master Vampire with a great deal of power and money and he was surrounded by yes. His staff. The Vampires in his territory—which, by the way was an entire continent. Vampires and humans alike took one look at that face, at the clothes, the cars, the way the man so obviously knew how to treat someone in the sack, and they fell over themselves.
Rowan was a whole lot of no in Clive Stewart’s life. He needed more no to combat his fussy, uptight control freakish nature. Normally it was amusing to see him struggle to accept that she’d just said no. But given the situation, she’d think it was amusing later.
In the end, he didn’t argue. Which was one of the reasons she usually found herself far more enamored of kissing him rather than staking him. “All right. If you need anything.”
If she needed anything he couldn’t help, but she had no doubt he’d die trying. Which was more than she ever thought she’d have.
“Thanks.”
He left after one quick look at her, and Rowan blew out a breath as she turned back to Nadir. “Okay so you share with me what you think I should know. This is urgent enough we’re just going to have to trust one another.”
“When it comes to him, to his best interests, I do trust you, Rowan.” A pause before Nadir continued. “As you know, we’ve been investigating who assisted Enyo after she left here.” The Five had been on the trail of Enyo,
the badass bitch Vampire who ambushed Rowan nearly two months before.
Theo had come upon them near the end of the battle Rowan had been on the losing end of. She’d been barely alive and Theo had made the choice to save Rowan instead of continuing his pursuit of Enyo.
The depth of his rage that his rules—Vampire Nation rules—had been violated and the infraction had left his daughter clinging to life was bottomless. Rowan hated Enyo for her own reasons, but from what she’d witnessed and felt, Theo’s feelings must have been more like volcanic revenge filled hate. He’d banged her way back in the early days. Like of the world and stuff since they were both old as dirt. Enyo’d put a geas—a magical choke chain—on him so he couldn’t discuss details of her origins. But Rowan knew her foster father and he knew those details and would simply see that geas as a way to handle Enyo on his own before she got another crack at anyone under his protection.
“Last week we located some Blood Front Vampires who had helped Enyo the night she attacked you and escaped the Keep. When we showed up to handle our breach of security, several of them had left and though we vigorously interrogated those remaining, none seemed to know where the traitors had gone to.”
“Did you report this to him?” Rowan asked Nadir.
“Yes of course. You understand how our command works. And when I awoke the evening he eventually disappeared it was to find we had a few leads. I briefed him on that. We split up the leads but I’m guessing he decided to aid us.”
Goddess.
Nadir continued, “Once we knew he was gone for sure, we began to head to each location we had a lead on. There were two left so I’ve sent out operatives to each. I’m going to assume that’s where The First has been.”
“You’ll clean things up when you do figure it out?” Rowan asked.
Nadir only barely resisted rolling her eyes at Rowan’s question, which made Rowan feel better. At least Vampires being arrogant was normal. Normal was good.
“I apologize for my impertinence.” Rowan didn’t hide her smirk and Nadir gave her one right back. “I’m on my way to change and then go to him now.”
A quick touch at Rowan’s wrist to pause her exit. “You did well,” Nadir said quietly. “With him I mean. He might have been a lot worse off, and so all of us would have been too.”
It meant a great deal to hear that. But it wasn’t something Rowan could afford to dwell on for a while. She nodded, brisk. “I’ve instructed Dina to adjust the staffing. No humans here but for a well trained skeleton crew, only in the daytime and escorted home before twilight. I think the Vampires need to do the same, but that’s your stuff, not mine so I leave it to you.”
Nadir agreed. “We all feel this would be the safest option. Recht will accompany you when you leave in two days. I will remain here with the others and keep watch.”
They couldn’t stop Theo, not really. But every one of the Five had been with Theo for several centuries so they knew how to handle him best.
“He’s going to want to come. He’s made that clear over and over. He can’t.” Nadir meant Theo. She didn’t have to give all the reasons why. She and Rowan both knew them.
“No, he can’t. Not like this. I have enough to handle. I can’t keep tabs on him or prevent some sort of incident. And he’s absolutely veering into I do what I want because I’m old and super powerful territory. I’m working on a way to bring it up and present it.” She’d been working on it for the last six weeks but finding him like this only underlined it. And made it a million times more difficult.
“You know him better than most anyone else,” Nadir said, letting the subject drop.
After receiving one last promise that she’d be informed of any new information, Rowan jogged back to her suite of rooms to change.
Chapter Two
Cataline, the main housekeeper and the overall manager of all household staff at the Keep, waited in Rowan’s rooms.
“I’ve come to help you dress.” At the Keep, Rowan found herself torn five different ways between who and what she was the years she lived within those stone walls and who she’d become after escaping. The girl she once was had been born to service. One in a very long and esteemed line that had served The First. And, she’d been special because he’d made her his. She’d been his daughter for all the good—and scarring—that came with it.
Many of the residents of the Keep still viewed her in that sense. The wardrobe full of gowns in expensive and sumptuous fabrics she’d never wear anywhere else was an exception she made. A thing she knew pleased not only those in the household, but her foster father as well.
As the dresses were complicated and tailored just for her, they required help getting in and out of. Rowan nodded. “Thank you.”
Cataline strode to the wardrobes Rowan hadn’t been using at all. “He purchased some new gowns for you while you were in Las Vegas.” She opened the doors with a flourish.
“Some?” Rowan blinked at the wardrobe, overflowing with beautiful dresses in blues, greens and other tones that worked well with her hair color.
“You know how he can get. He discovered the internet.”
So the oldest and probably one of the most powerful and dangerous creatures walking the planet stayed up late and bought shit he didn’t need from eBay just like everyone else.
She’d let that be funny after she brought him back from the edge of murderous insanity.
“I was only gone two weeks.”
“Time is different for him. He had trouble finding his way. Thinking of things to please you seemed to help.”
Rowan shucked her travel clothes—she and Clive had learned of Theo’s disappearance upon their arrival. They’d only been back an hour or so before the panicked screams had led them to the garden where they’d found Theo looking ready to go trick or treating.
Cataline held out the royal blue dress for Rowan to step into. While laces were done and hooks hooked, Rowan worked quickly to braid her hair and pin it at the base of her head as Theo preferred.
It would be easier to deal with him if she didn’t have to hear a thousand little complaints about stupid shit like her hair.
One last look in the mirror before heading to the door. She paused at the hall. “Thanks, Cataline.”
Cataline pressed a kiss on Rowan’s forehead and stepped away quickly, like she sensed Rowan might pop her one.
“Please go to your rooms for the rest of the night. I’ll seek you and Dina out after the sun rises.”
The firming of Cataline’s bottom lip told Rowan she didn’t think much of that request. “You’re going to need someone who knows what to do.”
“He’s fine for now. I promise we’ll talk after sunrise. I need to know everyone is out of the way. I won’t be able to really figure out what this problem looks like, much less think about a solution if I’m worrying about how I’d begin to get you all out of harm’s way should things go wrong.”
“We were here when you weren’t, Rowan.”
Rowan’s brows inched up before she could stop them. Did she detect some judgment there? After what happened to drive her away to start with?
The slap of it, the hurt wasn’t something she much liked. “Yes, well, if I hadn’t been here for him to drain and leave to die on the floor of his rooms, you might have been his victim. I’ll have you sent for when I finish.”
Rowan headed past.
“Wait.”
“I need to get to him. He’ll be done bathing by now.” And Rowan needed to get her head back on straight. All this memory bullshit was slowing her down. This was no time to lose it over being misunderstood.
“I didn’t mean to make light of what you experienced growing up here.” Cataline’s features were full of remorse.
A year before Rowan would have let the stabbing, snarling part of herself take over. Inst
ead, Rowan let Her take over, filling Rowan’s body with gentle, warm waves. She held Cataline’s hands and looked into her eyes. It was there that Rowan was reminded that everyone had their own struggles. Easier to let yourself get harder to protect yourself, but at some point, it got difficult to connect with empathy. Empathy was the difference between you and the monsters you had to kill.
Cataline’s life had not been easy. Her choices had been few. Far less so than Rowan. But she loved Theo with a nearly religious zeal. She wanted to protect him and Rowan too. But she was scared. Like they all were. Like Rowan was.
“We’ll get through this.” Just four words, but they were enough to erase some of the lines on Cataline’s forehead.
“Go to him.”
Rowan turned on her heel, but let Her stay, needing that comfort herself as she headed to Theo.
* * *
Recht waited outside Theo’s doors. He gave her a look—assuring himself, Rowan wagered—that her appearance wasn’t going to upset an already unstable First.
Also, Rowan figured, he was making sure she was strong enough to deal with Theo in his current state.
If she wasn’t they were all fucked. No pressure.
There in the quiet of the antechamber to Theo’s suites, Recht spoke. “He’s just gotten out of the bath. Cook sent a tray. I took it in. She wasn’t pleased when I made her leave.”
Rowan shook her head. “We need to talk about that later. I’ll go to him now.”
“Don’t think this means I won’t make you work twice as hard on the practice floor later.”
“Never dream of it. Not like I believed you’d give up any excuse you can get to cause me pain.”
His usually serious features bloomed with handsome promise when he smiled like he did just then. He’d been her trainer for most of her life, ever since she could walk. When she got a work out from Recht she usually bled and left the space covered in bruises from being whacked with the practice swords.
She brushed hands down the front of her gown, smoothing the material and soothing herself in the bargain.
