Of Scions and Men

by Courtney Sloan

  I questioned the wisdom of running into the Master bedroom with him when touching Carson had brought such a reaction from Nadia. Staying out here with two very old vampires vying for dominance seemed like an even worse idea though.

  Carson ran into the next room, and my decision was made for me as the vampires flung about twelve feet apart from each other. Vampire fighting distance. This could get real ugly real quick.

  Get her to feed from me before she turns her thirst on her scion. Stop being a moving buffet and follow him, Devon shouted in my head.

  Happily giving him what power I could through our new, two-way connection, I followed Carson and slammed the doors shut. Carson jammed the light switch with his palm, killing my night vision, and rushed around the four poster bed to a wet bar sunken into the wall beside the wardrobe.

  “What’s step two?” I whispered.

  Carson pulled open the warmer under the bar. It was still stocked with bags of red blood. Carson pulled four pint-bags from the warmer and held one up.

  “She’s over-drained,” he said. “Have to get some blood in her before your friend has to do something drastic.”

  “If we go in there, Devon is sure she’ll go for us. You, she may not kill. Me, she will in a heartbeat.”

  A roar sounded from the other side of the door as a body hit the jam. I wasn’t sure which vampire had taken the beating until Carson grabbed the back of his head. Blood poured from it. Pain flared up and down my body as bumps and bruises formed on me too. Devon seemed to have the upper hand, so far. But for how long?

  I grabbed the blood bag from Carson. “Stay back. She doesn’t seem to like me being close to you.”

  Devon, it’s time for a coordinated intervention. Can you move closer to the doors?

  Little bitch has claws. If we get too close, I don’t trust she won’t get through before I can stop her. She’s quicker than a young diplomat like her should be.

  “All right,” I said aloud, so both men could hear. “I’m going to do something stupid. Carson, what’s your top speed right now?”

  “I’m on my own at the moment. What you see is what you get.”

  “Then you’re the lucky contestant who gets to stay here in the panic room. Devon, I’m going for Chinatown.”

  Best one is about ten feet to your right.

  With a quick mental count for both Devon and me, I threw open the door and cut to the right, just in time to see Nadia turn on me and begin closing the distance. Keeping one bag, I threw the others over Nadia’s head to Devon. With a quick hop, I pulled my dagger from my boot and jumped on top of the breakfast table.

  When I turned, Nadia was right on top of me. I shifted my balance and tilted the table to crash down. Nadia was chinned by it as she reached for my ankle. Leaping down, I sliced open the bag and squirted the blood in her mouth. I dropped the bag and flipped backward, putting as much space as I could between myself and the distracted vampire. Facing her again, I poised on the balls of my feet, ready to block her attack.

  Nadia was busy sucking at the blood in the bag on the floor.

  I let out a long breath. That bag wouldn’t be nearly enough, but at least it’d bought us a few seconds.

  As Devon took the opportunity to close in, Carson motioned to me and pointed. Following his line of sight, I spotted a jagged and splintered furniture foot in Nadia’s hand. She twisted toward Devon, an evil glare in her eyes.

  There was no time. She was about to kill Devon, and me too in the process.

  I moved to take the hit, but my injuries, compounded by all of Devon’s pain, slowed me. Out of nowhere, Carson’s airborne form crashed into the room, flinging the empty decanter through the air.

  It connected with Devon’s temple. He jerked to the side just as Nadia sliced the air with the split wood. Carson sprinted into the room for his Mistress. He must have regained some of himself as his Mistress fed. I reached out for him, much faster and firmer than he could dodge–but we were both slick with blood. He slipped out and leapt onto Nadia.

  Her body writhed beneath him as he pinned her to the lounge. Her fangs snapped up at him, and he blocked her strike with his forearm. I moved for him, but Devon held me back. Teeth sank into the flesh of his arm.

  Carson hissed and shoved Nadia’s head against the cushions, her face immobilized on his arm.

  “Stop this!” he rasped.

  Devon moved beside him, and Carson held up his free hand, urging us to keep a distance.

  Nadia’s jaw worked open and closed, chewing his wound. He groaned in pain but kept her pinned as his blood rushed down into her throat.

  He whispered to her. “You’re not an animal, Nadia. You have control–now focus!”

  Her eyes centered on his arm, and finally her fingers reached up to his arm and cradled it. She drew long and hard gulps as his body started to sag.

  “Carefully,” Devon chided nearby.

  Carson’s crooning never stopped. “This isn’t why we’re here. You’re not going to starve. And you’re not going to kill. You’re above that.”

  She gently removed her teeth and blinked her eyes rapidly. Carson sighed in relief and collapsed backward onto the lounge.

  Nadia pulled up her legs, cradling them like a child. “No one… is above that, my love.”

  Carson took shallow breaths and closed his eyes.

  stood watch over Carson, my fallen counterpart. That had been close.

  Too close.

  Sipping more orange juice from the crystal glass that room service had brought up, I could just make out the murmuring from the pair in the next room. Dawn had come and gone while the crews brought in new furniture and refreshments. Everything had been replaced, and with the automatic shades still closed, darkness continued to surround us in the hotel.

  I had called Devon’s house and asked Shahid to pick Will up and bring him to school. It would be a while before I’d get to leave. I rubbed my sore muscles. I could fall asleep where I stood.

  Carson shifted with his first signs of waking. He reached out a hand, feeling the smooth silk of the king-size burgundy linens, then reached farther, grasping at the air. I shifted over and poured a glass of orange juice for him. We had two carafes waiting for us to help restock our blood cells.

  As he cracked his eyes open, I held out the glass. “Morning, sunshine.” I smiled.

  “Morning, or evening?” he asked through a dry, cracked throat. He pushed himself up and pounded the juice.

  Reaching over, I grabbed the closest carafe and sat on the bed next to him. The jostling of the mattress didn’t seem to do his head any favors from the quick squint he gave me. With an apologetic smile, I poured him a fresh glass. “Sip slower. It’ll help more and not come back up. And I think it’s late morning. My watch got busted last night, and this place doesn’t seem to have a clock in the bedroom.”

  “And the others? Are they both here?” He closed his eyes. “Never mind; I hear them. You realize none of this was her fault?”

  I jerked my head to the side. “Of course it’s not her fault. She was over-taxed. I hadn’t realized how little you had used the connection.” Color burned my face. “Sorry about that. I thought you’d enjoy stretching your scion muscles. I’m sure I’ll catch hell for it later.” My shoulders sagged. “To your first question: yes, they are both relatively stuck here until dark unless they get approval to use the undergrounds. I wanted to make sure you were taken care of, and Devon will require another meal in a bit.”

  “That’s good.” He dangled the glass in his fingertips and gave me a long nod. “Thank you both for helping. You didn’t have to. It could have gone differently.”

  “You’d do the same, I’m sure.” I stretched toward the ceiling, fatigue taking over as my muscles demanded rest. “Mind if I lay down for a bit?” I crawled to the other end of the insanely comfortable bed before he responded. “I’m awake. Just need a rest.”

  Carson set the glass on the table and attempted to pull himself upright, but af
ter wobbling a bit, he eased back to sit on the edge of the mattress.

  “We have a problem,” he said. “She will need to save face. This episode has put her into an impossibly weakened posture.”

  “And what does ‘saving face’ involve for her?” I mumbled.

  “She has to regain equal standing with Devon, or she won’t be able to function in the diplomatic arena. This isn’t public… This would be personal… Never mind. We’ll figure something out.”

  I made a non-committal noise into the mattress.

  “Though I feel our mission here is already doomed.”

  “And how have we doomed you now?” I turned partly on my side, so I could see him out of at least one eye.

  He shot me an irritated glare.

  “No, seriously, what will it take?” I continued. “What you described seems really dire. I just want you to know what you are trying to make a deal with. What can we do?”

  He paused then shook his head and sighed. “I’ll tell you when I figure it out. It’ll take a moment of genuine weakness from your benefactor. And since Devon is listening through your ears, it’s somewhat pointless to discuss it. She’ll see through any gesture he would make, and it would defeat the purpose. We’re going to wait this out. It’s all we can do.”

  He slammed some of his juice and set the glass down harder than was warranted. I jumped.

  “And we’re doomed because of what we’ve discovered,” he continued. “The truth about the States. We have a real problem here, don’t we? You refuse to trade on the blood markets, not because you have a supply problem but because you have a control problem.”

  “Well, you know what they say about the American spirit.” Then the implication of what he said hit me. “Wait, are you telling me you don’t have problems like last night at all in Canada? Everyone plays perfect tea party with each other all the time?”

  Carson paused. “The problems in Canada are not pandemic. Of course there are delinquent entities. There is also a real shortage of blood, which we both know causes the best to become monsters.” He softened his tone. “But it hasn’t stopped us from trading. The question becomes… how bad is the situation actually? Bad enough for Romaric to sweep it–and anyone else willing to make it public–under the crimson curtain?”

  “It’s just life. I know it’s much worse on the coasts, but everything’s much worse for everyone there–vamp, shifter, ghost. That’s why we are–” I felt Devon entering before the door knob turned and closed my mouth.

  Devon looked like he’d lost pounds in the matter of hours. This feeding was not going to be fun. Still, he flashed a smile for both of us while his eyes maintained their piercing gaze, freezing both of us to our seats.

  “Not all of us were as lucky as Canada in the amount of bombs lobbed at us. Some of us lost a lot more,” he said, closing the door behind him. “Your Mistress requires some time alone to discuss matters with her superiors. Your trip has been extended.” Turning his eyes to me, he grimaced and made his way to the bed. “I know it’s not our scheduled time, but we need to do this.”

  Even knowing it was coming, I couldn’t help the nervous butterflies that filled my stomach. Steeling myself, I sat up the rest of the way. Nerves were stupid; they wouldn’t help and would only endanger Devon’s already-strained control.

  Carson’s eyes widened as the vampire loosened his collar and began to roll up his sleeves. He turned right then left, searching for an exit. His discomfort in staying while we did this was palpable. He strode over to the bookshelf in the corner and busied himself, scanning the books with his back turned to the bed.

  Devon sat behind me and moved as close as he could. “Are you sure you want to keep up your rule while we have company?” he whispered against my skin, wanting to use an aura to enthrall me into enjoying him feeding on me. Being dinner shouldn’t be fun, let alone sexual.

  I regarded Carson and tried to ignore the awkward tightness in his shoulders. He lived up to the vampire-scion ideal, and he was comfortable with it. I wished I could be. It would make life so much easier, then little moments like this could feel normal. But even as I thought it, I quashed it. I would not become the thing everyone thought I was. Pain was better than that.

  Casting a side look at Devon, I snapped, “No.”

  With a resigned sigh, Devon slipped his arms around me, just below my breasts, securing me so I wouldn’t jerk away and cause him to tear my artery beyond a quick repair. Though I fought him against giving me any comfort in this, I couldn’t help but curl my body slightly into his. His warmth helped me brace for the pain.

  Sharp stabs at my neck, and the wetness as he clamped his mouth around the coming onslaught of my blood pouring into him, told me was hungry this time–very hungry. I couldn’t help but cry out at the ferocity of the pull at my neck. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Carson turn in a quick motion. I grasped the bed sheets and counted, waiting for it to be over as I felt more and more of my strength steal into Devon. A tear escaped down my face. The lightheadedness gave way to a place of center. A place where we gave each other strength again.

  But I’d given too much already that day.

  As he gained strength, my breath became shallow. Oh shit. He’d taken too much. “Please, Devon,” I whispered.

  The world became dim as a mixture of warm tingling and cold clammy skin took over. He licked my neck to close the wounds and pressed his lips back on top of the healed skin. Words were whispered to me, but my mind was too sluggish to understand. My head fell back onto his shoulder, and the world spun as the bed enveloped me. Then soft covers slid over me, and his heat was gone.

  In a panic that surprised me, I reached out, “Devon?”

  But he was there, hovering above me as something warm and gentle touched my check. “Shh, cherie, sleep now.”

  As my eyes closed again, calm stole into me.

  Low male voices murmured from across the room.

  “Does she insist on doing everything the hard way?”

  “Sometimes I think she would fall apart if something came easy.”

  couldn’t have been asleep for long, as Devon and Carson were still huddled together, bonding as only males could.

  “The truth? I wish I had never gone. I wish I hadn’t learned how close the American vampire has come to the brink,” Carson said.

  I worked hard to block my head from Devon, and, keeping my eyes closed, I stole behind Devon’s eyes to catch up on what was going on.

  “Like those you saw tonight?” Devon said. “They’ve always been there. And, like nukes, we’ve always had two to three times the number in residence as the rest of the world. America attracted vampires before and after the Reclamation. The illusion of freedom and all. We also had our ley lines cracked far more than most of the blood trading communities. Our coasts are shot, making trading nigh impossible.” Devon sighed and pulled his sleeve down a bit more as he stared at the closed door to the next room. “But, as Nadia learned last night, we are not the only ones close to the brink. We’re just dying… for different reasons.”

  I could hear Carson shift before he spoke. “Right now, I’m guessing if Romaric knows what Nadia and I saw tonight, he won’t let us cross any borders anytime soon. I hope I’m wrong, but I rarely am on this kind of thing.”

  “As I said, you will be extending your stay here, but that’s to give us all time. Nadia is realizing that, to survive, Canada is going to need more than a steady blood supply.”

  “Agreed.” Carson paused. “Look, Nadia is on uneven footing with you. I’m getting a read on you, and if you don’t mind me saying… I’m under the impression you’re a free thinker with your personal agenda. Point being: you’re not the kind to go running up Romaric’s apron, trying to score rat points. Don’t think we don’t appreciate that, but Nadia’s in debt to you. You’ve seen her weak. You’ve had to involve yourself and your scion. She can’t come back from that and treat with you as an equal. You want me to center myself, so I’m goi
ng to need something to bring to Nadia that will, shall we say, ease the social friction this affair has created. With her asleep, this might be as good a time as any.”

  “I am open to discussing my options. I am highly aware my pain in the ass scion prodded her into fighting the vampire tonight.”

  I flinched. I rarely got a glimpse into Devon’s true thoughts, like this. And, for the longest time, I’d wished I could read his mind as easily as he did mine. Now, I wasn’t sure I wanted more.

  “Though, as you say,” Devon said, “I’m a free thinker with my own personal agenda. So, what makes you think I want Nadia on equal grounds?”

  A long pause. So quiet; I could almost hear Carson’s heartbeat through Devon’s ears.

  I started to pull myself out of Devon’s head when he continued, “You wear the ring of the Cup. What place did you come in?”

  “Eighteenth. I wasn’t exactly the youngest competitor, but I managed.”

  “Rowan was on her way to winning her year’s World Cup. She was magnificent and did it all with such grace. But midway through, her parents died.”

  My breath hitched in my chest. What the hell? Where was he going with this?

  “A terrible car accident in the wilds between Chicago and St. Louis,” Devon said.

  I bit my lip. Why was he talking about this with a near stranger?

  “Somewhere around Litchfield, I think. She had to withdraw to collect her brother from that cursed place and deal with the fallout. I still don’t know how she got him back alive or how he had survived long enough for her to get to him. She struggled, and the world had forgotten what she had been destined for.” He shifted, and I kept my eyes closed and my breathing regular as he touched my face. “Anyway, due to my past misdeeds, the only scion I was allowed was one that fell off the radar and never got such a trinket.”

  He was embarrassed by me–that was his big weakness. So I’d dropped out of the Cup. I still worked damn hard. I earned my keep. My stomach tightened. I couldn’t listen to any more.

  I sat up, acting like I’d just woken, but Devon caught my eye, distress in his.