by Kayleigh Sky
“Witch,” he whispered. “Fucking Nezzarram.” He looked back at the body and gritted his teeth. “I’m sorry, Thomas Mithrinin. You brought honor to your family and your king, but I have to leave you here.”
He didn’t want to, but he had no choice.
He hurried down the stairs, exited the building, and pocketed Camiel Nezzarram’s calling card.
11
A New Home
A muttered, “Fuck,” woke him.
Isaac cracked an eye open. He lay in the back of the SUV, sprawled where he’d been sleeping. Their departure had been delayed by a strange case of food poisoning the day before. At least, that was what he thought it was. Stomach in knots, sweaty, and feverish.
He sat up and gazed out of the windshield. The sun blazed through the glass, meaning it was past noon. Anin glanced back at him. “Okay?”
He nodded. “Sure. I’m fine. What’s going on?”
“Flat,” growled Absalom, the other enforcer the king had sent with them.
He jumped out and let a blast of heat blow in before slamming the door and circling around back.
“You guys can’t take this kind of sun,” Isaac said.
Anin looked back with a wry smile. “Can you?”
“Better than you.”
Anin snorted. “I grew up around here.”
“Really? Why would a vampire want to live in the desert?”
Anin grinned. “I don’t want to live in the desert. I moved. I think my parents just wanted to get out of the wreck the war made of the cities.”
“Are your parents still alive?”
“Oh yes, they’re young. They own a clothing store.”
Isaac pondered this. For some reason he’d never thought of vampires doing normal things like running businesses not devoted to actually being a vampire. Vampires ran donor centers, game stores, coffee shops—because vampires loved to socialize—and Synelix bars. They were cops and sometimes enforcers, and if they were also secretaries or mechanics, it was for each other.
He screwed up a frown. “Vampire clothes?”
Anin laughed. It lit up his face and made his eyes sparkle. “What are vampire clothes?”
“I don’t know. Didn’t you have your own special style?”
“Loose, I think. But pants, shirts, dresses. The Ellowyn I’ve seen in pictures look just like us now. I wasn’t born until after the Upheaval.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
Isaac wasn’t much older and had no memory of the world before. Sometimes he thought that should make him more comfortable with the way things were, but it didn’t. A glimmer of wonder in Anin’s eyes made him think Anin wasn’t all that comfortable with the world either. But right now, he smiled, still twisted to look back at Isaac.
“Why didn’t you bring Rowena?”
Isaac shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I just want to get settled first.”
His eyes stung when he pictured the way she’d dashed after the SUV as they’d driven away. He was using her, because leaving her with Dennis meant he had something to go back for. Nothing about leaving sat right with him. Leaving Jessa had been stupid, but now… This wasn’t his choice. He wanted to stay, and Rowena was his only tie. He also didn’t want to talk to Anin about it, because Anin might attempt to cheer him up, and he didn’t want to be cheered up. “I can send for her later,” he added.
“Sure.”
Anin’s tone indicated he knew Isaac’s story was bullshit, but he didn’t push it.
“Maybe we should turn off the engine,” Isaac said. “It’d be a bad idea to run out of gas out here.”
But the door opened before Anin’s reply, and Absalom scooted back in with a huff and lifted a strip of metal into the air. “Slashed right through the side of the tire.”
“Deliberately?”
Absalom shook his head. “Look. It’s covered in rust. It’s been here for a while.”
Not that Isaac was suspicious by nature, but caution came in handy sometimes. “Maybe somebody wanted it to look like that.”
Both Anin and Absalom glanced back at him. With a shake of his head, Absalom tossed the metal into the wheel well at Anin’s feet. “Cheery, aren’t you?”
“I’m just putting it out there.”
“I don’t think Bronny’s that eager to get you back,” Absalom said.
Isaac caught the sharp look Anin gave him but didn’t know what it meant. “So what are we going to do?”
Absalom shrugged. “Wait for the sun to go down. I don’t feel like stroking out over a tire.”
“What about the gas?”
Absalom glowered at him. “We have half a tank.”
“What if we overheat?”
“We won’t overheat.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Trust me,” Absalom said. He turned to Anin. “What time is it?”
“Six thirty.”
“Two hours,” Absalom mused. “Let’s see the map.”
Isaac’s shirt stuck to him despite the air. He leaned forward and peeled it off his back. Was that one of Rune’s maps? Jessa had told him that not only had the surface of the planet changed from the force of the earthquakes and floods, but people had stopped using paper maps. Not that there weren’t any, but they weren’t common. Vampires had still been mapping the underground and mapmaking was an important profession. So maybe the desert landscape was completely different from the way it had been—though he had a difficult time envisioning that—and Rune had been the one to record the changes. Maybe it would be Rune who saved their lives.
He bit back his snort.
They weren’t in any danger. But for some reason, he thought they were. Worry had itched his skin since the moment he’d gotten sick yesterday.
“Here.” Absalom tapped the map. “We can stop for gas after we fix the tire.”
Anin leaned sideways. “That’s a town? I’ve never heard of it.”
“So? It’s there, and it’s a new map.”
Anin shrugged. “We’ll need to eat too. We might as well stay the night if they have a place.”
“Give me the phone. I’ll try 9-1-1.”
Anin opened the glove box, and Absalom exited the vehicle again. He stepped away, punched in four keys, and put the phone to his ear. Anin grunted when Absalom’s lips moved.
“Looks like he got somebody.”
“Bet they won’t come out in the middle of nowhere.”
Anin swung his arm across the seat. “Don’t worry. I’ve heard Princess Esseline lives on a beautiful piece of property.”
“It’s not fair anyway.”
Anin’s smile warmed his eyes. “You signed the contract.”
“Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Maybe it was.”
“Have you ever done something that seemed smart but didn’t turn out that way?”
Anin laughed. “Yeah, but I’m still glad of it. Two years ago, I was about to start training as a police officer. That’s something I always wanted to do. A friend convinced me to take a job as an enforcer instead.” He shook his head. “I ran into some problems but ended up working for the king, so all in all, it was for the best.”
“Are you always so positive?”
Anin lowered his eyes in a way that told Isaac the insult had come through loud and clear. “I try to be,” he said.
He gazed out of the windshield, and Absalom turned back in their direction.
“You remind me of Jessa,” Isaac said.
“The prince? That’s… flattering.”
It was to Isaac, though Jessa wasn’t popular among vampires. It was a stupid prejudice that pissed Isaac off because Jessa was generous and kind and fun to be around. But he wasn’t sure Anin wasn’t merely being polite. Anin was an enforcer. A full vampire and the king’s protector. Now Isaac’s. Probably wasn’t a good idea to dump on him.
Absalom climbed back in and pushed his face to a vent in the dash. He sighed as the air hit him. “Bastards don’t wan
t to come out. It’s too hot.”
Anin laughed. “They want us to roast.”
“I guess. They sounded human.”
“How do humans sound?” Isaac asked.
Absalom stared back at him. “Annoying.”
Isaac scowled and looked away. The thin clouds on the horizon turned pink, deepening to rose as the sun fell.
Nothing about this trip was going according to plan. He drank some water and passed bottles to Anin and Absalom. A surge of irritation burned his worry out of him though. Liking to make people happy with his cooking didn’t make him a fucking doormat. He was tired of people pushing him around and telling him what to do. A part of the reason he’d signed the contract with Mr. Wrythin was to be in a safe position. Not that he’d ever taken advantage of that. He’d done his job, and he was good at it. Being good at it had brought Jessa into his life. But here he was now, sweating to death, with one vampire who didn’t bother trying to be nice to him, going to live with somebody he didn’t know. Usually, he rallied in spite of the things that happened to him, but today he was glum and out of sorts. Worn down as though he’d been doing this for decades, though he’d barely been alive for decades. It was a strange feeling too, as though it came from outside of him.
He crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes.
The driver’s side door opened and shut.
“You asleep?” Anin’s voice came a few minutes later.
It was silly to pretend he was asleep with the back end of the vehicle rising up, but he didn’t answer. A short time later, after some rocking and banging, the door reopened, and Absalom slid behind the wheel. Isaac kept his eyes closed until they pulled to a stop again. Then he yawned and straightened in his seat. A dim light shone from the gas station windows, though the tanks stood in the dark. This was an old station, something from before the Upheaval. He’d thought it was a new town.
“What’s the name of this place?”
Anin turned. “Promise.”
“It’s been around a while.”
“Looks like it.”
After he filled the tank and got back in, Absalom said, “There’s a motel with a diner down the highway. Used to be a resort. Guy says there’s even a pool.”
“With real water?”
Absalom rolled his eyes. “No. Sand.”
“Funny.”
He didn’t believe it, wouldn’t believe it until he saw an actual pool filled with water. The Seneras had a pool, but it wasn’t in the middle of a fucking desert. Comity was cooler than it had been before the Upheaval but supposedly the desert wasn’t.
Cold, blissful water. He was jumping right in the middle of that fucking pool.
To keep himself from bouncing up and down, he held onto the edge of his seat. Lights appeared, glowing in a golden arc over a pair of two-story buildings set at slight angles to each other. The entrance led to a drive that curved in front of the building and exited back onto the highway. Palm trees bent over not one but two kidney-shaped pools attached at a rock outcropping. Waterfalls cascaded into both pools.
“Whose fucking district is this?” Absalom asked.
“The Nezzarrams.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. The royal family’s in exile, and all the rest of them live like this? I’d be pissed too.”
“I don’t think they all live here.” Anin’s lips quirked. “This is a human resort.”
Absalom grunted. “No kidding.”
“Come on,” said Isaac. “I’m going swimming.”
He bounded out, and a loud crack rang over the splash of water. Absalom body-slammed him into the SUV a second later while Anin advanced into the center of the parking lot, his weapon in his hand. For a moment, Isaac didn’t breathe. Then Anin lowered his weapon and turned back. “Just a car door.”
“Jesus,” Absalom muttered. “They need to get the hinges oiled.”
He stepped back, and Isaac took a breath. “Thank you.”
Absalom grunted.
Discombobulated now, Isaac followed them inside. There was no shortage of rooms—the place was barely a quarter full from the look of it, but some of the guests had congregated in the attached diner. It had probably been more upscale than diner once, but now it was cozy with dark green carpet, white walls, and black leather booths. The fanciest item on the menu was steak with creamed spinach and rice pilaf. Anin and Absalom ordered that, and Isaac got the spaghetti and a green salad. The popularity of the place revealed itself when they passed a room filled with slot machines and card tables. Absalom turned in through the door without a word.
In his room, Isaac dug through the bag he’d brought in for a pair of boxers he could use for swim trunks, pulled his jeans on over them, and met Anin in the hall.
Anin grinned. “I guess you know how to swim.”
“Oh yeah. We had a couple pools at Comity House, and the Seneras have a pool too.”
“Nice.”
He laughed. “Pure luxury.”
The water wasn’t the blissful cool of his imagination though. He stripped off his jeans, took a running jump, and plunged through sun-warmed waves. When he broke the surface, he grinned at Anin, who stood on the steps.
Damn.
The vampire was all lean muscle, lamp-lit curves, and shadowed clefts. His hair was loose and wavy, which was supposedly a sign of human blood somewhere in the family.
Isaac swallowed.
Anin descended the steps, sank to his neck, and swam over. “Worth the wait?”
“I could spend the night here,” Isaac said.
Anin laughed but nodded. “It is nice.”
With a kick, he floated away on his back, and Isaac swam to and fro until his arms got tired. Then he sat on the steps, water lapping against his chest while Anin floated in slow circles.
“You lived nearby but never came here?”
“Too rich for my blood.”
Speaking of blood. “Do you need to feed?”
Anin kicked himself upright and treaded water in the center of the pool. “No. We’re fine. You don’t need to worry.”
Well, he hadn’t been worried about that. He trusted Anin, and even Absalom. Absalom might not like him, but he was loyal to the king. The minute the thought passed through his brain though, a thin thread of doubt followed it. Justin had been loyal too, or so everybody had thought. And maybe he had been loyal, but not to the king. To some ideal. Like the right to drink human blood.
“Do you miss drinking from humans?”
Anin leaned forward, swam to the steps, and sat on the one below him. Nobody interrupted them, which was crazy to Isaac. Apparently, the guests thought walling themselves up in a mini casino was more fun than swimming under the stars. Not him.
Anin leaned back on his elbows. “I only fed during the war. Most of it I don’t remember.”
Something in the way he stared at the water still undulating from his passage and the weight he put on the word most woke Isaac’s curiosity. “Some of it you do?”
Anin nodded. “I never liked it. We were at war. It was always against somebody’s will. And I was just a kid. It’s natural, and I never thought of it as doing something wrong, but just… the way it happened.”
“But…” Isaac stopped. He didn’t want to hurt Anin’s feelings. He shook his head when Anin glanced up at him. His hair stuck to his face in tousled tendrils. Isaac took a breath. “It was always against somebody’s will.”
Instead of hurt or denial, a smile lit the vampire’s face. “One of the good things our king did—before the Upheaval—was make it illegal to harm a human. You never knew we drank from you. It can be a good experience.”
“Do you know that for sure?”
Anin’s smile faded into a frown. “I only knew it from the war.”
“What was it like?”
“Terrible.” He cupped his hand and swept it through the water in front of him, stirring waves that rolled toward Isaac. “When I was about ten, some friends of mine found a human. They drank
from her until all her blood was gone. That changed me, I think. The war was stupid. Hurting people was stupid.”
“That made you want to be an enforcer?”
Anin shook his head and smiled again. “A cop. Something human. To give back, I guess.”
“You give back now.”
“I’m happy with what I do.”
But not happy in general. Isaac spotted that because it was such a familiar look. One he saw every day in the mirror.
“Let’s go,” Anin said. “We still have a long drive tomorrow.”
It was dusk when they reached the Princess’s house, as beautiful as Anin had said, cooled and shaded with live oaks. Lush grass surrounded the mansion and light spilled out of the door when it opened on a vampire as small and silver as the radiant stars.
12
The Light Bearer
The town was quaint, kitschy stores on both sides of the street, and vampires sitting in the shade of the pines outside a coffee shop. They gazed after Bronwen’s car as he drove past—crawled past—because he didn’t know where he was going. The instructions his client had given him had him cutting through town for two miles before turning off on a state-owned road to a park in the mountains, but he’d gotten lost anyway and had to stop at a gas station to ask directions.
The attendant had been vague on street names. Dim-witted human.
Wen’s treatment of his donors hadn’t made a lot of sense to Bronwen when Wen was alive. Of course, now he understood the cash they’d brought in, but he still didn’t approve. Humans didn’t need treats and gifts. Those who’d fed Wen’s special clients had had ample opportunity to enjoy the luxuries of Wen’s hidden room while fulfilling their duties. Bronwen barely remembered the taste of human blood and had no overwhelming desire for it. But money was a powerful lure. The Ellowyn lived in the human world now, and money counted more than status. Forgetting that had been a death blow to Wen. Something the Seneras had to pay for.
Bronwen shuddered. So close to having a drainer in the Wrythin family. And not only a drainer—a crossling.
Bronwen hit his brakes, sliding half past the turnoff. The pines choked the road, angling in and cutting off the sun. Blue birds with dark-crested heads shot past him. They yelled with raucous belligerence. Bronny had no love of nature but doubted he would have enjoyed living in caves for the rest of his life either. The road wove and twisted through thick groves of trees until it opened onto a dirt parking lot. He drove past a decrepit shack and turned into the lot. A few other cars dotted the space. He parked and turned off the engine.
