by N. R. Walker
Eiji’s eyes widened. “He was stronger than you?”
Cronin gave a slight nod. “Momentarily, yes. He’s changing, Eiji. Even his doctor said as much. Those blood results are new.”
“You think since he was fated to you, he changed physically as well?”
“It is a possibility I can’t ignore,” Cronin said. He watched Alec as he talked with his father in the sunshine. “Or, maybe my biting him did change him, just not as we would expect. Or maybe it is our… coupling.” Cronin cringed at discussing such personal matters.
Eiji almost smiled. “They could all be possibilities. Maybe it’s a combination of all three. We have no way of knowing. We can’t change anything from your being fated. That is done. You’ve stopped biting him, yes?”
Cronin nodded.
“Then your only other way to determine your theory is to stop taking him to bed,” Eiji said.
Alec spun around and watched them through the door.
“Did he just hear me?” Eiji spoke in a whisper again, something no human should be able to hear.
“Of course I can hear you,” Alec answered. “I may be a mere human, but I’m not deaf.”
Eiji and Cronin stared at Alec. “Alec,” Cronin said cautiously. “Can I ask that you please come inside?”
Alec rolled his eyes and smiled as he walked in. “Only because you asked so politely.” When he saw the looks on their faces, his smile died. “What’s wrong?”
Eiji spoke again, the gentlest of murmurs only vampires can hear. To the human ear, it was no more than a breeze. “Alec, only well-endowed men can hear me speaking right now.”
Alec blanched, his wide eyes darting between Eiji and Cronin. But then he barked out a laugh. “What the hell? What drugs are you on?”
“What?” Kole asked, clearly having no clue what was going on.
Jodis and Jacques appeared in the foyer, evidently having heard the whole conversation. “Ah, Alec,” Cronin said, using a normal voice so Kole could hear. “You shouldn’t have been able to hear us just now.”
“Well, if you wanna talk shit about me, it might help if you don’t do it four feet from me.”
Cronin smiled at him and spoke in a hushed breath, a vampire whisper. “You seem to have acquired the hearing capabilities of a vampire.”
Alec looked at all the faces looking at him, seeing how concerned they were. He turned to his father. “Did you hear what Cronin just said?”
Kole frowned back at him. “He didn’t speak, son. You feeling okay?”
“Yes, he did,” Alec mumbled, turning back to Cronin. “You did, right? I’m not losing my freakin’ mind?”
Cronin took Alec’s hand. “Yes, I did. Vampires have exceptional hearing. We can have conversations not privy to the human ear. But you, a human, heard us talking.”
Alec nodded. “I did.”
Jodis, standing some eight feet away, with her wide blue eyes swimming with concern, whispered, “Can you hear me?”
“Yes,” Alec said. “Of course I can hear you.”
Cronin gestured to outside. “The birds? Traffic?”
Alec turned toward the sunshine and tilted his head. He hadn’t noticed before, but now that he concentrated…. He looked back to Cronin and nodded.
“Okay, this changes things,” Eiji said, pulling Alec into the living room. Cronin was quick to be between them, growling and forcibly removing Eiji’s hand from Alec’s arm.
When he realized what he’d done, Cronin shook his head and put up both his hands. “Apologies. I do not mean what I do.”
Eiji nodded slowly, and he eyed them cautiously. Jodis was behind her mate, defensively, protectively, and the air in the room was tense. “Whatever it is that affects you both is getting worse,” Jodis said. “We need to put a stop to it.”
Cronin spoke quietly to Eiji, his head bowed. “I know you would never harm him. I am losing control over this.” He swallowed hard. His bond to Alec was so strong, Cronin knew Alec would feel his distress. Yet he seemed unable to stop it. “I fear this connection is so overwhelming it’s sending me mad.”
Alec put his arms around Cronin and pulled him against him, burying Cronin’s face into the crook of his neck. He kissed the side of his head and shook his head. “You’re not mad. This is new to everyone. There’s never been a vampire fated to a human before, let alone a human key. So this is unchartered territory, that’s all. You’re not going mad, my love.” Alec kissed Cronin’s temple again, before cupping his face so he could look into his eyes. He spoke fiercely. “You’re not going mad.”
“What’s going on?” Kole asked from the door.
Eiji replied, “Their bond is unique and very strong. They’re both changing because of it.”
“What does that mean?” Kole questioned, clearly concerned.
It was Eleanor who answered. “It means if they don’t find Alec’s purpose soon, it will kill them both.”
* * * *
Alec found it cathartic to get back into research. He loved detective work, making lists, and going through processes of elimination until the pieces of the puzzle fit neatly into place.
Cronin sat beside him, their sides touching at all times, as Alec went from scrolling through websites to jotting down notes on his notepad. Alec could feel the heavy weight Cronin endured, because it pressed against his chest also. They were right. Alec agreed, that the bond between him and Cronin was morphing into something else. The pull, the union between them, was getting stronger. Whatever Cronin felt, Alec felt. They could barely stand not being in the same room as each other; the anxiousness and unease was almost too much for them. And they both felt a sweet relief, a lightness of heart, when they touched. Like they could breathe again. It was incredibly intense and wonderful.
And a whole lot fucking scary.
Alec was so torn. He loved being so close to Cronin—physically, emotionally, and psychologically—he loved every second of it. But he knew in the deep recesses of his mind that it wasn’t healthy to be this dependent, this psychosomatically in tune with someone else. They had a firm hold of it now, but Alec knew that spiraling out of control was just one wrong step away. There was a disconnect closing in from all sides, in the periphery. Cronin was feeling it the most, and Alec put that down to his vampire senses. Whether Alec could feel it himself or if he felt it through Cronin, he wasn’t sure. Either way, it didn’t matter.
They had to figure this out.
Alec looked at the webpage on Cronin’s laptop and noticed that Cronin wasn’t really reading it at all. He was staring into space, mentally a million miles away. Alec put his hand on Cronin’s and threaded their fingers. Alec could feel the emotional burden better when he concentrated, putting names to the heaviness he felt earlier. Cronin was emanating a mix of fear and guilt, worry and inadequacy.
“Hey,” Alec whispered lightly in his ear, knowing sometimes distraction was a good remedy for sullen thoughts. He nodded toward the laptop screen. “What did you find?”
“Uh,” Cronin blinked a few times. “Apparently there is much hype in regards to the terracotta statues which changed formation in the British Museum yesterday.”
Alec smiled at him. “I bet there is.”
“No video surveillance or footage of the incidents though,” Cronin said. “The soldiers turned back to statues as soon as you left apparently. Conspiracy theorists are rampant. They’ve closed the exhibition until further notice.”
“Any credibility in the nut-job theories?” Alec asked. “Sometimes there’s a little truth to the madness. Most of the time they’re just tinfoil hat wearing whack jobs, but you never know. There might be a human out there who’s put it all together for us.”
Cronin went through the list of conspiracy theories. “UFO’s are mostly to blame. Chinese government cover-ups are a close second. Ancient curses.”
“They’re not far wrong on that one,” Alec added.
Cronin smiled. “Crop
circles? Really? I do worry for the human race.”
Alec snorted. “No mention of vampires or pyramidal burial grounds?”
“None.”
And more and more, little by little, as Alec got Cronin to talk, the more he smiled. Alec noticed Eiji watching, and when their eyes met, Eiji grinned at him. Even Jodis had relaxed, Cronin’s earlier aggression toward Eiji long forgotten. She was busy reading through old books on Chinese vampire histories, much like how Alec had studied the Egyptian histories when they were up against Keket.
But these text books weren’t in English, so Alec was happy to get information secondhand. Jodis and Eiji discussed Genghis Khan, studying his life, human and vampire, much like the way Alec had uncovered background information on Keket to reveal her motives. But Alec didn’t care so much for this one.
He didn’t care why Genghis was doing this. Alec assumed it was world domination or some such megalomaniac nonsense. Alec was more interested in the stone plate and what exactly he had to do with it to end this whole fucking debacle.
He was tired of it. He wanted it all to be over so he could get on with living the rest of his life with Cronin. He wanted endless days of peace and fornication.
“Alec?”
“Huh?” Alec shook his head a little. Someone had asked him something. “Sorry, what?”
Cronin tilted his head. “Are you well?”
Alec loved it when Cronin asked him that. It made him smile. “Yeah, of course. I was just thinking.”
“Of?”
“The things we’ll do when this whole mess is over.”
“Oh,” Cronin said. “Any plans for us?”
Alec waggled his eyebrows. “Plenty.”
Cronin gave an embarrassed laugh, his cheeks tinted the slightest pink. “That may be best left for private conversation.”
“And demonstration, of course.”
Eiji banged his head on the table with a groan. He mumbled something in Japanese that Alec didn’t understand, but both Jodis and Cronin laughed. Alec was fairly certain that if it had been in English, the words pheromones and sexual-fucking-tension were probably said.
“So,” Cronin said, steering the conversation back into safer waters. “I was asking about what information you may have found on the stone plate.”
“Historical sites are in debate whether the plate actually exists,” Alec started. “Some claim to have seen it. Some claim it mythical. And one thing I’ve learned over the last few months is that historical experts believe what they want, and facts aren’t something they let get in the way of a good story.”
“What do you think?” Cronin asked him.
“Well, Chinese history books were not modified like the Anglo-Saxon or Roman books were in the twelfth century. Though the stone plate predates that by almost a thousand years, “Alec stated. He sighed deeply. “In Mount Li, where the Terracotta Army was buried, there was also a tomb. It’s supposedly the first Emperor of China, but I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say Genghis Khan was added to that tomb seven hundred years ago. They never found his body, and no one actually witnessed his death, if I can believe anything I’ve read here today.”
Alec now had the attention of everyone in the house. He continued, “So, if that stone plate was in that tomb with him—which I’d bet it was—no one’s seen it for at least seven hundred years. So that allows me to deduce that all of these Chinese history experts don’t know jack shit.
“What Eleanor has seen is a stone plate with inscriptions and a center circle of some sort. I don’t think the inscriptions are important. Well, not to us,” Alec clarified. “They probably are to our old friend Genghis, but I can’t let it get to that point. I have to stop him before then.”
“How do you propose to do that?” Eiji asked.
Alec shrugged. “I’m gonna hazard a guess that I’ll need to spill blood on that plate.”
“Like you did in Egypt?” Cronin asked.
“Yep, though maybe this time sunlight won’t rip through the room. I don’t know what will happen. Maybe that’s what he needs me to do so he can be the almighty powerful bastard he once was. Maybe it will give him immortality, or maybe it will turn him to dust. I really have no clue.”
Cronin shook his head. “Alec, it is not like you to be so blasé. You like details and certainties. Assuming such things of our enemies will only get us killed, is that not what you said?”
Alec shrugged again. “Yes, but we have nothing to go by. We know the terracotta soldiers react to my presence. We know there’s a stone plate of some sort, which relates directly to the ancient Chinese mythology of the five elements. We’re guessing that I am somehow the fifth component he needs to fulfill whatever it is he’s doing. What we don’t know is if he needs my blood to beat us, or if we need it to beat him. We also don’t know—”
Jacques put his hand up to interrupt. “The five elements will give the bearer ascension, according to ancient Chinese mythology, that is. They are the celestial rooms in which the bearer will dwell, for all eternity.”
Alec sighed and rolled his eyes. He was out of patience with this bullshit. “Yep. Immortality. Figures. Can’t bad guys vie for something different these days? It’s either immortality or world domination.”
“Alec, are you well?” Cronin asked. Concern was clear in his eyes. “You’re not acting yourself.”
“I’m hungry, and I’m tired,” Alec said. And he was. He didn’t realize just how hungry and tired he was until he mentioned it. Actually, he was ravenous and bone weary. Yes, his days were back to front, his days were nights and vice versa, but he’d only been awake a few hours. He felt like he could sleep for a week.
In less than five seconds, Eiji had ordered a range of Japanese foods to be delivered. He’d learned so much since his first attempt at providing food, and Alec smiled as he remembered that can of refried beans that still sat in the kitchen cupboard in New York.
Alec ate everything on his plate, and no sooner had he finished, than Cronin led him out of the room and into bed.
Cronin lay down beside him, and Alec wanted to ask him when he fed last. He couldn’t quite remember, and it wasn’t like him to not remember, and then Alec wanted to ask Cronin about that too. But he didn’t. He just needed to close his eyes for just a second, and he just needed to doze for a little while, and then he’d feel better. He meant to open his eyes, but he didn’t. He slept like the dead.
* * * *
As soon as Alec’s breaths evened out and his heart rate slowed, Cronin was out of that bed and in the living room. He didn’t have to say what was on his mind—from the looks on their faces, Eiji and Jodis thought the same—but Cronin said it anyway. “Alec is not well. This has to end today.”
Jodis nodded sharply. “He’s behaving out of character, I agree.”
Kole stood up. “What do you mean?”
“He’s tired, he’s apathetic, he can’t remember the simplest of things,” Cronin said. “It’s not like him to be this way.”
Eiji collected the backpacks from along the wall and upended one onto the sofa. An array of stakes and arrows splayed across the seat. “Him not caring for details was my first concern. The fact that he doesn’t care as to why Genghis Khan wants him was my second concern. And he’s asleep at this time?” Eiji shook his head and upended two more bags. “We need to arrange more weaponry. The fact that Alec hasn’t even thought of that does not sit well with me, either.”
Cronin nodded, and a cold snake of dread slithered through his belly. All of these things were true. “Not to mention his newfound ability to hear like one of us.”
“Something’s definitely off kilter,” Jodis said. “And while he’s safe and sleeping, we need to detail our plan of attack and work out contingency plans.” She put her hand on Cronin’s arm. “We’ll make this right, Cronin. I swear it to you.”
Jacques stepped forward. “Tell me what you need me to do.”
So for the
two hours that Alec slept, everyone made themselves busy. Jacques laid out diagrams of plans and building infrastructure of Mount Li and the huge underground football field-sized vaults that housed some six thousand terracotta soldiers. He also made lists of the locations of all Terracotta soldiers on display around the world.
Jodis spent the time on the telephone doing what she did best: outlining strategies with Kennard in England, organizing, and streamlining special operatives with the vampires who she’d recruited to join forces with them.
Eiji considered ordering more arrows and stakes online but thought it would be easier and a whole lot quicker if he Googled storage warehouses and manufacturing companies, having Cronin leap him there and just taking what they need.
Given his concern for Alec and their lack of time and planning, Cronin didn’t argue. For a long moment, he listened to Alec’s heartbeat, sure and steady from the bedroom where he slept, took a deep calming breath, and taking Eiji with him, they leapt.
The warehouse of the largest manufacturers of wooden arrows was in Oregon, of all places. It also happened to be nighttime there, so it was a perfect match. As soon as Cronin’s feet hit the floor, the pain of absence from Alec struck him with physical force in the chest.
His human life had ended with an axe to his breastbone, and the pain—the way it made him stagger and suck back air—felt almost the same.
Eiji grabbed Cronin, steadying him, while Cronin pushed the heel of his hand against his sternum. He gasped like each breath was a blow. “Eiji, hurry.”
Eiji turned, scanning for mass supplies of arrows as he ran. All Cronin could do was stand there, leaning against a sorting machine of some type with his hands on his knees, gritting his teeth through the pain.
This wasn’t good. This was too much. And Cronin knew if he felt this, then Alec did too, sleeping be damned. There was no way he could sleep through this.
Eiji came back with his arms full of arrows, just as Cronin heard it.
Cronin, please. Please.
