by J. R. Ward
Saxton threw the blade out in a fat arc, right across the throat, the cut as clean as the first.
And then there was the last one, the one who had attacked Ruhn behind the restaurant, whose arm had been broken.
Blay's eyes were stone cold as he jerked the man up a little higher.
Now Saxton took his time. Bending in to the man, he pressed the tip of the bloody blade to the flesh over the jugular.
The man was crazed with fear, his legs kicking like he was being electrocuted, his stench that of rank panic.
"This is for my love," Saxton growled. "This is for my mate. This..."
On each sentence, he pressed the tip in further and further and further still, until the geyser was struck.
"This is for that which was mine. This is for what you tried to take from me."
With that, he lowered the dagger, reared back, and bit the side of that throat so hard he hit bone. Ripping the flesh free, he spat it out and watched as the human gasped and heaved and bled his way to his demise.
When all three were still, their heads lolling to the sides, their bodies no longer animated with life, their debts collected, the fighters let them drop to the floor, one by one, faceup.
Saxton wiped his mouth with the back of his coat sleeve. Then he cut his palm, the one that had held the dagger. Going over to each of the bodies, he stood over their sightless, open eyes and put his hand print on their faces with his own blood, marking the kills as they did in the Old Country.
"What of them now?" he asked when he was done.
Vishous spoke up. "We're going to deliver them to their boss."
"And then we're going to talk to him," Qhuinn continued.
Blay finished with, "And he is never going to bother Mistress Miniahna again."
Saxton stared at the bodies for a moment. "So shall it be."
On his way to the door, he was careful to wipe off the dagger and put it precisely, exactly, absolutely where it had been placed for his use.
Outside, the cold cleaned his nose out of the copper scent of human blood. And he made it down the stairs and around the van okay.
But as he came to the spot where he had arrived at, he was overcome by nausea. Tripping and falling forward, he grabbed on to the picket fence that encircled the backyard and vomited all over his shoes.
When he next looked up, Blay was before him.
"I don't feel any better," Saxton moaned as he wiped his mouth with his handkerchief. "I feel...no better."
"You will. Later. This is the balance that is needed."
As Saxton lurched to the side, the male steadied him and then offered him a sip of water from a bottle that, absurdly, he noted was a Poland Spring. His favorite.
And then Blay was hugging him. "You did the right thing. You did as it was proper."
Saxton embraced the male. "I just want Ruhn to--"
"He's awake!" V called from the garage's upstairs. "Saxton! They've been trying to call you. He's awake and he's asking for you!"
As Saxton shifted his stunned eyes to Blay, the other male started to smile.
"I've never heard of an ahvenging bringing back a loved one," he said. "But there's a first time for everything. Go! Go now...hurry!"
--
As the one person in the world Ruhn wanted to see most barreled into his hospital room, his first thought was...
Why was human blood all over the love of his life?
But then all of that was forgotten as Saxton rushed over and threw himself across Ruhn's chest. "You're alive...oh, God..."
Ruhn tried to speak, except nothing but mumbles came out at first. Soon, though, soon, he was able to respond. "I...wasn't going to leave...you."
Saxton pulled back and seemed to be searching for signs he was serious about staying on this side of the Fade. "I thought I had lost you."
"I heard...you...Bitty and...you talking to me." Fates, his throat hurt. "When you were here--did I die? I think I did."
As Saxton stayed quiet, Ruhn got scared. "Did...I?"
"You're here now. That's all that matters."
"Throat...hurts..."
"I know, love." Saxton's eyes went all around as if he were looking for hidden injuries. "You don't have to talk--"
"The Fade. The door. To the Fade...I refused to open it..."
"What?" Saxton leaned down. "What did you say?"
"I saw a door...in the fog...I knew if I opened it...I would leave you. Many times it came to me. I refused...I wasn't...leaving you. I love...you."
"I love you, too."
Saxton's tears fell like rain, but it was the spring kind. The renewing kind. And as emotions of Ruhn's own welled, they got even more intense as Bitty came into the room with Rhage and Mary.
"Uncle!"
Ruhn smiled until his cheeks hurt, and he tried to talk, but it was no good. He'd worn out his energy and voice--not that Bitty seemed to mind. She was a jumping bean, full of joy, and wasn't that as good as the drugs he was on to lessen his pain.
As the little girl kept talking a mile a minute, he was very aware of Saxton backing toward the door. The male held a forefinger up--a signal he would return in a moment.
"--and I knew you were going to be okay! I knew it!"
"My man," Rhage said as he came over and touched Ruhn's hand. "I'm glad you're sticking with us. Can I buy you another truck or something?"
As Ruhn frowned and started shaking his head--because the Brother was just crazy enough to do something like that--Mary elbowed her mate in the side.
"Rhage. You don't need to buy people things just to show them how you feel."
"You know, you could have a great jewelry collection, I'm just sayin'." Rhage winked at Ruhn. "I swear, my female is Spartan."
Ruhn lay back and let them talk over each other. He understood the release of tension and worry even if he didn't have the gumption to participate in it--and then Saxton was back, smelling of fresh soap and shampoo, a set of scrubs on him.
In the end, Ruhn didn't have to ask what had been done. He knew his love had gone and found those men...and proceeded as Ruhn himself would have if Saxton had been the one attacked and left for dead in the very house they lived in. Still, it made him sad that his lovely lawyer had had to use the sword and not the pen in this case.
But he would not deny his love the expression of vengeance. It was what it was.
"Okay, how about we give Uncle and Saxton some privacy," Mary said. "Besides, your father hasn't eaten in at least twenty minutes."
Rhage looked at his daughter. "I am feeling a bit peckish, you know."
"Let's make tacos and bring one to Uncle!"
Considering the burn in his throat? Oh, no, Ruhn thought. Better that he start with vanilla pudding. In, like, a week.
After Bitty and her parents gave him more love and left, he looked at Saxton.
"Can't talk..." he said. "Hurts."
Saxton sat down on the bed. "You don't have to say a thing."
"Love you. Love you so much."
As he tugged on Saxton's hand, even though it was weakly, the lawyer knew what he wanted. With a smile, Saxton stretched out and put his head on Ruhn's arm.
"Never leave me again?" Saxton asked.
"Never. Promise."
As Ruhn closed his eyes, he thought...well, it looked as if he was going to have to call his old estate manager and tell the male not to bother trying to help him find a job with room and board in Caldwell. There was no way he was moving out of this household.
Not unless it was in with Saxton.
Little did he know, however, the surprise that was yet to come...
Some two weeks later, night arrived and brought with it a stunning February moon. Indeed, the heavens were so clear and so cloudless that the face of the sky's largest sparkling diamond was like a mirror.
Saxton was straightening his bow tie in the visor mirror as his love parked their truck across from a..."Wait, this is a church? This mating is happening in a church?"
R
uhn nodded as he likewise looked through the windshield with surprise. "This is the correct address according to GPS."
"Huh. Well, to each their own. It's not that I have anything against human spirituality, it's just...this feels quite odd."
"Let me get your door."
As Ruhn beat feet out from behind the steering wheel, Saxton had to smile. The male was such a stickler for manners, and how could you not oblige? Especially as those eyes shone with such happiness every time he opened the way forth or pulled out a chair or offered a hand.
"You know," Saxton said as he slid off of the high seat. "Sometimes I think you like to take this truck just so you can help me out of it."
Ruhn leaned in and whispered in Saxton's ear. "It's rather like your pants in that regard."
Saxton chuckled and nipped at the throat so close to his mouth. "Naughty boy."
"You like me that way."
"Always."
They were kissing before they knew it, hands going under clothes, the heat instantaneous and intense--as if they hadn't made love three times in the shower, and then again as they got dressed in their suits.
"We'd better stop," Saxton said between gasps. "Or we'll be late."
Ruhn stepped back with reluctance boarding on a full sulk. "Then I expect to find a quiet place at the reception hall--whatever that is."
"And I can't wait."
They held hands as they walked across the street to the human church. And then they were inside and being shown to a bench. No, it was called a pew, Saxton thought. Yes, that was it, a pew.
As they settled in the very back and looked around at the assembled, it was clear that the other vampires--and there were a good hundred at least--were also feeling strange. But whatever. When you could spend a night out with the one you love, who cared where you were?
"You know, I hate to move out tomorrow." Ruhn looked up at the exposed rafters above. "I love that farmhouse."
"Me, too." Saxton thumbed the inside of his love's wrist. "It feels like home."
"It is home."
Fritz had cleaned up the horrible remnants of the attack, an unexpected kindness that had left Saxton in tears when he had braced himself to go back there and do the job himself. But no. All was in order, the furniture righted and fixed as need be, the scuffs out of the floor, the paint matched and retouched where it had to be.
The blood washed away.
And there had been another reason Saxton had been determined to take care of the gruesome deed: He had been concerned that Minnie would come back unexpectedly and see the violence that had happened in her and Rhysland's beloved home.
But as always, Saxton's family--his true family, not the one he had been born into--had taken care of everything.
"Did we ever meet Minnie's grandson?" Ruhn asked. "What was his name?"
"Oskar. That's what the invitation said--and he's marrying Novo's sister. Do you know Novo? The trainee?"
"Oh, yes. She works out. Proper. She is very strong, not just for a female, but for anybody--"
"You came!"
Saxton wrenched around and got to his feet. "Minnie!" He threw his arms around the older female. "But you're the grandmother of the groom, what are you doing in the congregation? Or...wait, is that the custom? I'm so confused."
Minnie was dressed in a beautiful pale pink lace gown, her white hair all done up, her makeup on. And she was smiling like she had a secret.
"I just wanted to say hello to you both before things get started."
"You look so well," Ruhn said as he in turn hugged the female. "So well indeed."
"How is my house?" she asked as she slid into the bench--pew, rather--with them. "Is it in tip-top shape?"
"It is." Ruhn bowed and lowered himself back down. "I did the final repair on the furnace last night."
"And we're very confident that you will be safe there." Saxton could not meet the female's eyes--and not because he was worried about her. It was more because he was very aware of what had transpired between V, Qhuinn and Blay, and Mr. Romanski. "We have had very productive...discussions...with the developer. He has decided he has no further interest in your property."
Actually, the bastard had decided to leave New York State entirely. Go figure.
"Well, that's good"--Minnie clapped her hands together--"because I've decided to sell the property to someone else."
A spike went through Saxton's chest. "Oh. Indeed. Isn't that marvelous news? And we were going to suggest that we move out tomorrow night anyway so that--"
"I want the two of you to buy it from me."
Saxton was aware of freezing solid. Then he glanced at Ruhn. "I'm sorry--what did you say?"
Minnie reached forward and took both their hands. As she squeezed them, her eyes became glossy.
"That house was built by love...and needs to be lived in by two people who are in love. I want you to have it. We can settle on a fair price, and I'll continue living with my granddaughter. I've thoroughly enjoyed it, and I have met some wonderful new people in her building--vampires and a couple of humans."
"But what about your grandson and his shellan. Wouldn't you rather they take it on, perhaps?"
"They're on their own," Minnie said dryly. "She hates the country, for one--and she made sure she told me this when I invited them to dinner so I could get to know her better. And for another, and this makes me sad to say, I'm not sure that love is what is tying them together. My grandson...he's a different sort, I'm afraid, and so is she. But it's not my life, and I will support them as best I can." She squeezed their hands again. "So please say you'll do it. It would bring me such joy to know that you two are taking care of my home."
Saxton looked at Ruhn again.
Okaaaaaaaaaaaay, so that beaming smile was the answer, wasn't it.
"One condition," Saxton said. "Sunday night Last Meal every week together--and you bring your granddaughter when and if she wants to come."
"Deal," Minnie said as she hugged them both at the same time. "I only wish Rhysland had met you both. He would have loved you."
After the female left, Saxton just sat there on the bench--pew, for godsakes, pew--and stared straight ahead at the altar thing with its cross and its depiction of a robed male with a beard and a beautiful face looking upon the assembly with compassion. There were males lined up to the right, and that suggested things were about to get started. He hoped.
"I think we just got our dream home," he heard himself say.
"We did! We did!"
As Ruhn laughed like a little kid, Saxton gave his love a kiss--and he was just pulling back when two people slid in beside them.
"Hey," the female said. "Can we sit with you? I'm Novo, from the training center--"
"Of course!" Saxton invited as he leaned around her and smiled at Peyton. "We would love the company--"
"Great, but we need to be on the other side, by the wall. Not on the aisle."
"Oh...uh, okay," Saxton said as he got up to let them pass. "But aren't you the sister of the whatever they call it? Bride? Aren't you in the wedding...mating, whatever this is?"
"I got kicked out, thank God." She greeted Ruhn and then made Peyton shuffle by her and settle in right by the stained glass window. "Long story. How are you?"
"We just bought a house!" Ruhn exclaimed.
"Congratulations," Peyton said with a high five. "That's awesome. Where's it located?"
"You'll never believe who it belongs to..."
The bunch of them chatted until an organ began to play and then they settled in with the rest of the assembly. Right before things really started, Saxton took Ruhn's hand and the male glanced over at him with love--and Saxton was aware of the other couple sharing a kiss and lingering stare.
And then Novo was leaning over. "Listen," she whispered. "Can you two help me with something?"
"Name it," Saxton said. "And it is done."
Peyton rolled his eyes. "I just want to hit the groom. Once. Is that too much to ask?"
Sax
ton popped his brows. "Is that a human tradition for this type of ceremony?"
"Why, yes," the male said. "As a matter of fact it is--"
Novo slapped her palm over his mouth. "No. It most certainly is not. And no matter how I might have felt about my sister in the past, I don't want her special night ruined, okay?"
Peyton mumbled a little longer. And when she dropped her hand, he muttered, "First of all, I volunteered to do it after the pictures--and if it's realllllly important to you, I could catch him in the gut and not the face. I'm willing to work with you."
Novo started to laugh. "I love you."
"I know you do." The male kissed her. "And I love you right back."
"Enough so you don't hit him. How sweet of you. I'm touched."
Peyton's exhale was one for the history books. "Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiine."
Saxton looked back and forth between the two of them. "Why do I feel like there is more to this story?"
Ruhn cut in. "Shh! They're coming down the aisle."
Saxton let it drop and relaxed as best he could in the hard seat, leaning against his male's shoulder. As the music got louder, and a bunch of females in pink dresses with bows on their butts walked by, he just shrugged.
To each his own, he thought as he kissed the back of his lover's hand. To each his own.
And he certainly had his.
--
Novo craned around Saxton and his mate, Ruhn, to catch a glimpse of Sophy coming down the aisle. The female certainly looked happy, her face partially hidden by a white veil, a long, puffy white dress making her pretty as a doll.
"You okay?" Peyton asked softly.
She shifted her eyes to Oskar up at the altar. The male was decked out in a tuxedo, standing stiff and remote next to a lineup of male friends who likewise seemed like they wished they were somewhere else. On the opposite side of things, all the females from that bachelorette party were dressed in unflattering pink gowns, clearly chosen with an eye to make them look heavier and less resplendent than the bride.
Atta girl, Sophy, she thought.
"Yes, I am." She squeezed his hand and looked into his eyes. "I am very okay."
Living with her "poor little rich boy," as Peyton had taken to calling himself, had proven to be ridiculously easy. They seemed oddly compatible, and if there were arguments, they were over stupid stuff like what ringtone the alarm needed to be--dog barking for him, whereas she preferred the old-fashioned phone ringing--or how many darks could go into a white load of laundry--him, as many as were dirty at that particular moment in time, her, absolutely, fucking NONE.
