by N. R. Walker
Kole left the teapot and shook his head. “I know it might explain something, Alec. But to what end? It doesn’t change anything.”
“Because then I’ll know,” Alec said. “Something isn’t right in my makeup, Dad. Something that makes my blood special, something that affects Cronin. Doesn’t that bother you?”
Kole faced his son. “Of course it does. But it doesn’t bring her back.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Alec said quietly. “But it could save my life. Or Cronin’s. And that’s something I can’t not do, Dad. If it could save Cronin, then I have to.”
Alec looked up to find Cronin standing in the doorway. He walked in slowly, giving Alec a small smile. “Your father is right,” Cronin said, taking Alec’s hand. “It changes nothing. Alec, I think your theory on joined vampire bloodlines has credence. It’s absurd and fantastical, but no more so than anything else we’ve encountered. It does explain a lot, and as much as we try to search for answers, there will be none. There’s never been a human key before, so to unearth memories of your mother will only serve to upset your father.”
Alec sighed again and looked to the floor. “Okay. I know. Sorry, Dad.”
Kole gave him a sad smile. “’S’okay Alec. But thank you, Cronin.”
“Here!” Eiji said, suddenly appearing in the kitchen with an old, old book open in his hand. “In the ninth century, there was a record of a small child in Jakarta who had no past line or future line when touched by a reader—” Eiji paused, and looked to Alec and Kole to explain. “—like me. I am called a reader. This child had no past, no future. His mother claimed to have been seduced and impregnated by an incubus!”
“His mother lived?” Cronin asked.
“Well,” Eiji made a face, “she survived the birth, yes. But they killed them both right then. They didn’t like the unknown apparently, but it was documented.”
“So you think my theory of my blood being descended of vampires could be correct?” Alec asked him.
Eiji shrugged and his smile became a grin. “I do.”
“It doesn’t explain why your mother was killed though,” Cronin said quietly.
“Maybe she knew. Maybe she was in on it somehow,” Alec offered. He looked at his father and tamped down any excitement. “But it doesn’t matter. It’s not important now if she knew or not. Dad’s right; it won’t bring her back.”
Frowning, Kole shook his head. “If she knew anything, she never said.”
Alec sighed and let his head fall back. “Well, I need to research what will give me answers. Eleanor mentioned five segments in a stone that Genghis had. I need to figure out what the hell that is.”
“Uh, maybe I could help with that,” Jacques said. “I studied world histories at university.”
“University?” Alec asked. He didn’t know vampires went to college.
Jacques smiled at him. “When I was human, I attended la Sorbonne in the 1920s.” He seemed to blush a little. “I am skilled at tactical defense, yes. That’s why I was asked to watch over Kole, but world histories are my passion.”
Alec grinned back at the French vampire. “Eleanor,” Alec said, knowing wherever she was in the house, she would hear. “Can you please explain to Jacques what you saw about the stone plate?”
While everyone else stood around the living room, Eleanor sat on the sofa, and used her hands to describe the stone plate she’d seen in her vision. “A large dinner-plate-sized stone disc, two inches thick,” she said. “It’s quartered into four segments, but there’s a circle in the center, which is the fifth section. It’s in a room that’s well guarded. Whatever it is, it’s important to him.”
Jacques nodded. “Yes, there are four mythological symbols of China,” he said. “They each represent an element. The azure dragon is wood, the white tiger is metal, the black tortoise is water, and the vermilion bird is fire.”
“But this has five sections,” Alec reminded him.
Jacques nodded toward the whiteboard. “May I?”
“Please.”
On the board, Jacques drew a circle and quartered it, quickly writing in each of the four symbols. Within the circle he drew a center circle, much like a bull’s-eye on a dartboard, and pointed to it. “This central element touches all symbols. It is the most powerful. Each symbol also represents the seasons, of which we know there are only four. Given that, over the last centuries in Chinese culture, there has been much debate over the fifth symbol and some claim it does not exist.”
The room was deathly quiet. All eyes were on Jacques. Jodis spoke first. “What’s the fifth symbol?”
Alec knew without a doubt what the fifth symbol was. He just knew. He answered. “Stone.”
Jacques nodded. “Yes. Stone or earth. Central, touching all other elements, garnering all powers.”
Eiji nodded, looking at Cronin. “It would explain why you could transfer all powers from those around you after you drank Alec’s blood,” Eiji said. “And why our powers could conduct through him.”
Cronin started to growl. His jaw set hard and his black eyes glinted. “I don’t like it. There are too many forces at play here. There is too much we cannot control.”
Alec slid his hands around Cronin’s neck and pulled him against him. “But answers are good. I don’t mind, as long as we know what we’re up against. And as long as we go into this together. We’ll be okay.”
“Eleanor,” Jodis asked. “Has anything changed?”
The old woman vampire sat still for a moment then swayed her head. Her milky eyes moved and flickered, seeing things that only she could see. “No changes. Alec will still be unwell. Whatever happens there affects only him. It is very difficult to see.” She made a pained face. “There’s a cloaker trying to hide it from me. I’m sure of it.”
Cronin growled a little louder and pulled back and turned from Alec. “Eiji, you and I could leap there right now and take them out.”
Alec grabbed Cronin’s shirt and pulled him back around, suddenly very angry. “Hey. Together, remember? As in partners. What’s to say they don’t have a seer just like Eleanor, and they know you’re coming? They could give you both a little welcoming party with a stake to the fucking heart.”
Cronin blinked, clearly taken aback by Alec’s tone. “I was—”
Alec’s grip tightened on Cronin’s shirt and he growled. “Well you can just fucking stop it. We go together. Always.”
Cronin pressed himself against Alec, growling a deep rumbling sound. His eyes drilled into Alec’s. His fangs gleamed at the corners of his mouth. Alec felt instant desire pool in his belly.
“Ugh,” Eiji groaned. “Please, you two. Enough with the sexual tension!”
“Take it somewhere else,” Eleanor chimed in, ruffling her shirt collar as though she was suddenly hot.
Alec smiled despite his thrumming blood. He gnashed his very human teeth and pretended to bite Cronin’s neck. Alec heard Eleanor say, “One hour, Cronin,” and suddenly he found himself on his back in a strange bed.
Cronin knelt over him, all domineering and growling. “Don’t ever bite a vampire on the neck,” Cronin said, his voice low and gruff.
Alec grinned and threw Cronin off, pinning him down for a change. Cronin seemed surprised by Alec’s burst of strength. His dark eyes went wide, and his growl ripped through the air.
Alec held Cronin’s arms to the bed, their faces barely an inch apart. “Where are we?”
“Penthouse suite, Armani Milano,” Cronin answered in a purr. “It’s vacant and locked.”
“You sound like you’ve done this before,” Alec whispered, his lips touching Cronin’s.
Smiling, Cronin rocked his hips. “You know I’ve done no such thing.”
Alec ground against him, hard, spreading Cronin’s thighs wider. He’d never felt so powerful, so dominant and possessive. “You don’t talk about going anywhere with anyone else,” Alec growled at him and let go of one of Cronin’s arms so he
could turn his head, exposing Cronin’s neck. “And if I want to bite your neck, I fucking will.”
And he did. He sunk his teeth into Cronin’s neck, and Cronin arched underneath him, flexing as he came. Fully clothed and his cock untouched, Cronin convulsed as his orgasm took hold. All Alec could do was hold on and watch, in rapt awe, as Cronin unraveled underneath him.
He eventually calmed, seemingly boneless and pliant. He looked drunk and smiley, his fangs peeking out under his pink, pink lips. His eyes half-opened and he smirked. “A Chruthaidheir,” he mumbled. “Gràidhean.”
Alec put his hands to Cronin’s face, kissing him soundly. “In English?”
Cronin laughed and his eyes rolled back. “Oh God, my love.”
Alec kissed him with smiling lips. “Teach me Gaelic words for you.”
Cronin gripped Alec’s face, staring deeply into his eyes. “Mo ghaol bith-buan,” he whispered, so reverently, the words sounded like a prayer.
Alec waited for him to translate.
“My eternal love.”
Alec repeated the words. “Mo ghaol bith-buan.”
Cronin swallowed hard and his eyes were molten onyx. He stared at Alec, taking in his whole face before bringing their mouths together. This time they made love, with slow breaths and tender thrusts, holding hands and kissing softly, they never, ever, closed their eyes.
Alec had never felt so full and content. Cronin was inside him, yes, but in more ways than one. He permeated every sense, every cell, and from the way Cronin held him, filled him, it was like he was trying to become one with him.
Alec had learned some words in Gaelic from his time with Cronin, but some things needed to be said in English. He took Cronin’s face in his hands, taking in his lust-black eyes, his kiss-swollen lips, and his vampire fangs. “I love you, too.”
* * * *
With only seconds to spare, an hour after they left, Cronin and Alec leapt back to the house in Japan. Still wrapped around each other, Alec was biting his bottom lip and Cronin was chuckling.
“Ugh, stop it!” Eiji cried with a groan. Cronin laughed, not because Eiji was begging, but because he said it in Japanese. It wasn’t often he spoke in his native tongue.
“I can’t help it,” Alec said, half laughing against Cronin’s head. He clearly didn’t need Cronin to interpret what Eiji had said. His groan and desperate tone must have said it all.
“You’re getting worse,” Jodis said.
“At least we’re dressed,” Alec said, making Cronin laugh. “Though the cleaning staff of that hotel will be little perplexed.”
Eiji snorted out a laugh, despite grumbling just before. “You two are getting worse,” he repeated what Jodis said. “The hormonal scents coming from you two are suffocating, and it’s worse now than what it’s ever been. Can you at least be in the same room without touching?”
Alec made a low growling noise and tightened his grip on Cronin, which was a very clear nonverbal no. “What did we have to be back for in an hour anyway?” he asked. “We could have stayed a lot longer.”
No sooner had he said it than Alec’s cell phone rang. “Because that’s why,” Eleanor said.
With one arm still around Cronin, Alec read the screen. “It’s Doctor Benavides,” he announced and then hit the answer button. “Hi Doc, you’re on speaker.”
“Alec, yes. I have your results,” the doctor said.
“Good. What did you find? Traces of Kryptonite?”
“Not quite,” the doctor said. It sounded like he was smiling. “White cell counts were normal, platelet count was great. Red cell counts were… unusual. Your corpuscular hemoglobin concentration was low, which at first glance I thought was wrong.”
“Why?”
“It’s a blood result typical of burn patients, which you’re clearly not,” the doctor said. “The hemoglobin is very concentrated within the red cell. With you, even more so. I thought it was a misreading, but then there were more results that didn’t add up.”
Alec frowned. “And?”
“Well, I ran a string of tests, just like you asked. And that included a serum protein electrophoresis test. Now, you’ve always had high iron,” Doctor Benavides said. “And you still do. But these readings are… well, very unusual.”
“Describe unusual.”
“Well, the proteins in your blood are all over the place, Alec. And the readings don’t make sense.” There was the sound of rustling papers. “Your adenosine triphosphate is elevated. As is your adrenocorticotropic hormone, and your transferrin levels are off the charts.”
Alec frowned and his eyebrows furrowed. “What does that mean, Doc? I’m gonna need that in English.”
“In a very simplified analogy, Alec, adenosine triphosphate is basically energy, and adrenocorticotropic hormones fire up the cerebral cortex. Transferrin is a blood protein that binds iron to blood cells. Too much of it can cause hemochromatosis in humans, but Alec, you’ve got no other readings to imply too much iron. And from your blood tests last year, these results are new. It doesn’t make sense.”
Cronin could feel Jodis and Eiji’s eyes upon him. The doctor was wrong: it was starting to make perfect sense.
“What do I have to do?” Alec asked.
“Well, I can run all the tests again,” Doctor Benavides said. “Though I’m not sure it’ll make any difference. Alec, I’m going to be frank with you. With these readings, I’d say you’d need hospitalization and further tests for liver function, cardiomyopathy, bone density, and brain function. It’s not good, Alec.”
Alec had become pale, and he looked at Cronin, then to Jodis and Eiji, and finally back to Cronin. His voice was quiet and distant. “’S’okay, Doc. I don’t think I’ll need to worry about that.”
“Alec, I don’t—”
“Doc, it’s fine,” Alec replied. He looked again at Jodis and Eiji. “Thank you for doing this. Something tells me these readings aren’t as big a surprise as you’d think.”
He clicked off the call and slid the phone across the table, away from him. He stared straight at Cronin. “Tell me what that means. I can tell from the look on your faces you know something.”
Cronin took Alec’s hand and led him to sit down on the sofa. “I don’t know anything scientific, Alec,” Cronin said. “Though what the doctor found makes perfect sense. These elevated blood compounds are a seamless explanation of the power in your blood.”
“How?” Alec asked. “Because all I heard was liver, heart, and brain complications.”
Cronin shook his head quickly. “No, Alec. It will never get to that. I swear it to you.”
Jodis sat on the other side of Alec. She took his other hand and shook her head. “Cronin’s right, Alec. The three elevated elements, or compounds, in your blood results are the three main fuel source for vampires,” she explained. “Pure proteins of energy, pure cerebral cortex power, and iron for oxygenation and brain function and muscle power.”
“It’s like high-octane fuel,” Eiji added. “One-hundred-percent battery power.”
Alec bit his bottom lip and seemed lost in his own thoughts for a while. “Is that what Jorge meant about the sun in my blood? Maybe he wasn’t talking about sunlight beaming out of the sun-disk thing in Egypt. Maybe he literally meant the power of the sun, as in energy.”
“Possibly,” Cronin answered. “It certainly explains how it healed Eiji so quickly.”
“And why Cronin’s experiencing high levels of… well, everything,” Jodis said. She looked straight at Cronin. “You can transfer talents, you can’t be apart from him, higher needs of dependency, you’re more in tune with each other than most fated couples of a thousand years. Everything is intensified.”
“And it all but confirms the theory of Alec’s blood being descendent from vampires,” Eiji furthered. “If the incubus who impregnated his great-grandmother had just fed, then it stands to reason those three elements would be high in his blood, and genetically transfe
rred down through the generations.”
“And it’s killing me,” Alec said quietly. “Even Eleanor said my blood’s too powerful for a human to survive.” He gave Cronin a tight smile and shrugged. “If we don’t fight this war soon, or whatever it is we’re supposed to do, then I won’t be in any condition to fight at all. You guys are seemingly forgetting one thing: I’m human. Mortal. Unlike you, my system will shut down with a no-restart option. And if I can’t be changed into a vampire, then it really is game over.”
Cronin growled, a low rumbling sound, coming from deep in his belly. As though growling was all he was capable of—like he couldn’t fathom such an idea, he couldn’t even grasp the words to say. His vocabulary, his voice, failed him.
Alec understood that completely. He swallowed hard. “I’m just gonna grab some air,” he said, standing up and walking toward the front door. He didn’t wait for anyone to say anything. He simply walked down the steps into the entrance foyer and out to where no vampire could follow.
Into the sunlight.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Cronin paced. He hated feeling so helpless, so far away. Alec was barely a few feet from him, but standing in the sunlight—where Cronin simply could not go—it may as well have been miles between them.
He knew Alec needed some time to get his head around everything, and Cronin had no problem with that. He had a problem with not being able to get to him if he needed to. Cronin paced some more.
Kole, who must have woken at some point, clapped his hand on Cronin’s shoulder as he walked past, walking straight outside to his son. “You okay?” Kole asked him.
Alec acknowledged his dad with a small smile, but left his question unanswered. Which, to Cronin, was an answer in itself. No, he was not okay.
“The doctor called,” Alec said. And as Alec then proceeded to tell him what Doctor Benavides had said, Eiji put his hand on Cronin’s arm.
“He’ll be okay,” Eiji whispered so no human could hear him. “Cronin, my brother, I will vow my life upon it.”
“He’s getting stronger,” Cronin said just as quietly. “Physically. He was able to flip me over, something he certainly hasn’t been capable of before.”
