And his message couldn't have been more clear. Laurel darted a look at Caleb's face to see his reaction to the knowledge that Sebastian was now his enemy. Caleb seemed edgy, desperate. Like he knew he'd lost whatever upper hand he thought he had. A dark, volatile look passed through his eyes and Laurel wasn't at first aware of the implications of the bomb Caleb dropped next.
“Funny, Sebastian. I thought I outmaneuvered William quite well.”
With blinding speed, Sebastian pinned Caleb to the wall with a hand at his throat. Claws replaced fingernails and his bloodteeth descended. He growled a command that had a hypnotic, compelling lure. “You will tell me exactly how you outmaneuvered William, Caleb. Now.”
Caleb struggled and didn't appear to want to answer the question. Panic swept across his features when his mouth opened and words spilled out seemingly of their own accord. “I drugged him and left his body outside. And then forged a note from him to you, saying that he'd grown tired of the business of being immortal.”
Laurel gasped and covered her mouth with her fingertips. Caleb had intentionally killed Sebastian's maker. The vicious growl that ripped out of Sebastian's throat made a shudder course through her body. He was more furious than she'd ever seen him, but he seemed to be thinking through it, making other connections she couldn't fathom herself. Not until he began asking more questions.
“Was anyone else involved in the plot with you?”
“...Y..yes,” Caleb stuttered.
“Who?”
“Luceph. Luceph told me to.”
Sebastian drew his head back an inch in apparent surprise. “What else did Luceph tell you to do?”
“He made me arrange the attack on you in the bookstore and told me to stay here in your house as his spy.” Caleb choked the words out like he was doing so only because he was forced to.
“Why?”
“Because he is helping me take Europe away from you.”
“And what did you do on your own, Caleb?” Sebastian asked with a deadly look in his eyes. The cadence and mesmerizing quality of his voice never changed.
Caleb licked his lips. “I contracted a driver to make Dotty Mayfield's accident happen and used my will to make Laurel suggest traveling back in time.”
It wasn't what Laurel expected to hear at all. Shocked to her core, she stood there staring at Caleb in horror. What reason would he have to try and hurt her mother? Or plant the idea of traveling back to Tudor? It made her uncomfortable to think Caleb had influenced her mind. She knew Sebastian was doing something the same but in a different manner, making it impossible for Caleb to refuse to answer. In periphery, she became aware that Isabella, Bernard and several other vampires had gathered to silently witness what had turned into an interrogation.
Sebastian tightened his grip on Caleb's throat and maintained strict eye contact.
“You knew I would go to Kansas when Laurel called about the accident. You wanted me out of Sperling both because it aided your accusation of me being 'taken' with a mortal, willing to follow her in her time of need, and so you could use that against me when you tried to recruit our brethren into your camp,” Sebastian said. Although he didn't phrase it as a question, Caleb nodded. “Traveling back in time was only another nail in my proverbial coffin, something to add to a list of things you—and Luceph—intended to present at the Council. Evidence. Am I correct?”
“Yes,” Caleb said, riveted by Sebastian's eyes.
“You made a grave mistake insinuating your will into Laurel's mind,” Sebastian hissed, nose to nose with Caleb. “I do not tolerate people touching what is mine. For William and Sara's death, I require your own.”
Digging his claws into the side of Caleb's throat, Sebastian gave a mighty swipe and parted the head from the body.
The foyer resonated with the Prince's guttural growl, a sound that sent a chill straight up Laurel's spine. Watching in stunned silence, she turned her head away from the collapsing body and the spray of dark blood. Sebastian was there in front of her between one blink and the next, using a clawed finger to tip her chin up. With his glowing eyes and extended fangs, he looked fierce and almost frightening.
“I have to go meet with the Council, Laurel. Stay here until I return.” His voice sounded gravelly and rough.
“Can't I come with you, Sebastian? I don't want to stay here alone.” Laurel felt every pair of eyes in the foyer on her.
“I'm sorry, Laurel. Only a select few are allowed in with a Prince for a meeting. I won't be long,” he said.
The intimidating vibe he exuded was alluring in a way she found strange but pleasing. She inclined her head, not about to argue when he needed all his concentration for the situation at hand.
“Okay. I'll be here when you return. Please be careful. Do you need..ah..” Laurel didn't know how to offer him her blood. She wasn't convinced the meeting would be just a meeting, especially if Luceph was there, and she had the desire to see him fortified before he went. She ticked a look toward the others who watched from opposite ends of the foyer, embarrassed to bring it up in front of them.
Sebastian seemed to anticipate her need for privacy; within a few seconds, the others had departed into other rooms.
“Do I need what, Laurel?” he asked, prompting her to continue.
“Well, I thought... Sara said once that when you feed, it makes you...bigger? Stronger?” She met his eyes, staring at him through her lashes.
“You're asking me to take from you?”
“Yes.” She felt meek and small compared to his tall, broad shouldered frame. He blocked out a good portion of the foyer. And just that fast, she found herself tacked to the wall by his body. Faced with his blatant, aggressive vampirism, Laurel discovered she liked it. There was no fear that he would take too much or hurt her. She trusted him implicitly.
He scooped the hair away from her throat with one hand and tipped her head with the other. Bringing his mouth down, he grazed it over her skin, making her shiver. She had the idea that he sought the perfect place to pierce her, guided by scent and the feel of the vein under her flesh.
When he took, he did it all at once, sinking his fangs in with a quick stab. There was a split second of needle-sharp pain before heat and pleasure blossomed outward, spreading like a wildfire through her system. It was unlike anything she'd ever experienced. Arching away from the wall, she groaned and clutched at his suit with her hands, making fists in the fine material. Desire shot through her and pooled low in her belly, becoming an unbearable ache. Every time he sucked from the font, it made her knees weak and another wave of rapture flooded through her. She squirmed and writhed against him, groaning his name. He growled against her neck and ground the swollen shape under his trousers into the apex of her thighs, creating beautiful, blinding friction.
Laurel didn't realize how lost she was in him until he broke the seal of his mouth, lapped the wound away, and raised his head. Her blood wet his lips and a shudder wracked his shoulders. She opened her eyes, clinging to him, understanding finally what Sara meant. Sebastian seemed fuller, harder.
It also felt like he'd somehow tapped into her soul and taken a little piece of it with him.
They stared at each other's eyes until he squeezed her hips with his hands and turned away. Laurel watched him disappear out the front door with Isabella and a few others in his wake. Touching her lips and then her throat, she took another few minutes to make her legs work and went the opposite direction toward the stairs. A shower and fresh clothes were in order.
She wanted to be waiting by the fire with wine when he returned.
Chapter Twenty-One
It was a crisp night on Long Island. A brisk wind blew in from the Sound and moaned through the treetops, shaking skeletal branches and sending the occasional leaf spiraling downward to be swept across the property of St. James Lunatic Asylum.
Long abandoned, St. James was the ghostly remains of what had once been a thriving hospital for the insane. It’s campus encompassed seven hundred acr
es, and the original buildings still stood in various states of disrepair and decomposition, including a morgue and a cemetery.
The main building stood at a respectable thirteen stories. From the outside, it still looked impressive if one could overlook the metal bars on the now broken windows, resembling a tall Victorian palace in pale brown stone. The steeple on the chapel rose high and pointed against the night sky, though the clock on it’s face had long since stopped ticking.
Sebastian and four of his most loyal, trusted brethren entered the chosen meeting place through a back door instead of the front. On their way from Sperling, he had changed into unrelieved black, throat to boot, and paused to adjust one of the sleeves. He took a moment to regard the desecrated interior of the building, thinking it a fitting place for Luceph to choose for the gathering tonight. Wallpaper, curled at the edges and yellowed with age, had been torn off in long strips. Graffiti and stains that could have been either food or blood added another layer. Sebastian smelled both. Holes from fists and guns pocked the walls and the metal remnants of cots were folded and shoved to the side.
Sometimes they met in high class hotels, other times in isolated palaces deep in the desert. Once or twice in the mountains, another few near the ocean. When the Council of Six bothered to congregate, they traded off the responsibility of location on a rotating basis.
Unless they were meeting under special circumstances, like this.
He led the others through the corridors, stretching his senses out through the structure. The Council was already present and accounted for, waiting somewhere on an upper floor. Following an invisible trail, they ascended to the thirteenth level and passed through a set of open doors into a large, rectangular room. Any furniture had been cleared out, leaving a broad, bare space in the middle. Five men stood in a circle, at the edges of a dome of light, with their four representatives clustered behind them.
Sebastian took stock. The Princes, of varying ethnicity, build and dress, had a few distinct things in common. Each radiated power and confidence and wore a world-wise, knowing, look in their eyes.
Sebastian picked out Luceph immediately. Dressed in his typical Victorian garb with boots to his knees, hair pulled back into a short tail, he looked intent and alert. They exchanged a long glance before Sebastian stepped up to his place in the circle and inclined his head to the Council. One by one he met each Prince's gaze in acknowledgment and waited for the Prince of Asia, a bald, fit man who appeared no more than thirty years of age, to begin. He was the oldest of them all, and although he officially didn't carry more weight than the rest of them, the Princes deferred to him to open and close each session.
“We have been called here some days past, at Prince Luceph's request, to settle a dispute,” Seung said with an obvious but understandable accent.
The Princes looked at Luceph with calm expectancy.
Luceph stepped into the middle of the circle but watched Sebastian while he spoke. “It came to my attention in December, that the Prince of the European territory had begun to interact and pursue a mortal woman. Now, this would not have usually been an issue that concerned me—not until his actions became erratic and unpredictable.”
“Erratic and unpredictable how?” The Prince of South America, broad and dark skinned with unusual gray eyes, pinned Luceph with a doubtful look. “If there were two words I would never associate with Sebastian, it's those.”
If Sebastian hadn't discovered the real reason behind his maker's death and that Laurel's mind had been tampered with, he might have smiled darkly.
Luceph held up a staying finger, and continued. “He puts us all at risk by allowing this mortal woman to dictate his every move. She stays in his own home, privy to his secrets and the identity of other vampires, draws him across the country on a whim for inconsequential reasons, and even lured him back in time, leaving his entire territory exposed and vulnerable.”
Sebastian saw several Princes glance at him with open speculation. Most of them drew the line with mortals at the need for blood. Beyond that, they deplored having them anywhere near their private domains, much less as a permanent part of their life. Although they were listening and weighing the information, none of them were judging.
Yet.
Seething, Sebastian made a grand gesture with his hand toward Luceph. It was all he could do to remain civil.
“Are you quite through, Luceph?”
Luceph eyed Sebastian with a dark look and inclined his head, stepping back to his spot around the circle.
Sebastian took his place in the center of the ring, and made eye contact with each Prince in turn. “Yes, it's true I have become involved with a mortal woman.--and I will continue to do so. If anyone has an issue with that particular aspect, then take it up with me now.”
A silent minute passed. Their lack of objection was acquiescence to his personal decision on the mortal woman. They trusted him enough to keep whatever he had going on under control. Sebastian gave Luceph a challenging, cold look of triumph and went on before he could interrupt.
“As for my stepping out of time and leaving my territory vulnerable, we all know that isn't true. Let's be honest and acknowledge that my hierarchy of power has kept exquisite control in my stead for a very long time. In fact, all of you know that I spend a great deal of time outside my territory and barring the typical uprisings and issues that we all face, no one has challenged my rule.”
Around him, each Prince barring Luceph inclined his head in agreement.
“And do they know that you came back as a mortal man yourself after something in the magic failed? Do they know how close you came to death when you were attacked in the city?” Luceph demanded, stepping into the circle of light with Sebastian, breaking Council protocol.
A ripple of surprise and tension passed through the Princes.
“Is this true?” one of them asked.
“Of course it's true,” Luceph snapped.
“Luceph,” Seung said with a reprimanding tone. “You will watch your tongue in regard to the others. Your issue is with Sebastian.”
Sebastian felt every eye trained on him but he didn't look away from Luceph. A snarl ripped past his lips as he and Luceph made wide circles around each other.
“What he didn't tell you, is that he has coveted Europe for a long time. He didn't tell you that he coerced Caleb into killing William, or that he was behind the recent attack to kill me. It was Luceph, through Caleb, who pressed the suggestion into Laurel's mind to go back in time. Luceph had Caleb contract an accident that put Laurel's mother into the hospital, necessitating a trip to Kansas.” During the telling, claws grew from Sebastian's fingernails and his fangs came down. His fury was a potent, powerful presence on the air.
The news that Luceph was behind William's death came as a shocking blow to each and every Prince. Sebastian sensed it, heard the murmurs of disbelief.
“You have no proof of these accu--”
“Oh, I have more than enough proof. Caleb confessed just before his death. I brought my witnesses with me,” Sebastian said, interrupting Luceph to gesture to Isabella and the others. She inclined her head in agreement of the incident and the facts.
“I believe that Luceph thought these supposed 'indiscretions' of mine would allow him to challenge me for Europe and that the Council would dethrone me. He wasn't confident enough to meet me in battle himself. No, he killed another Prince by proxy—an unforgivable offense and against our rules.” With each word, Sebastian's voice grew more guttural and rough, until he was all but growling.
“And what about the rules of sovereignty?” Luceph shouted. “You have broken several and hide behind a thin veil of excuses. I demand a vote be taken to dethrone Sebastian Thorn!”
Sebastian knew Seung was inquiring the other Princes through their mind about the situation and he also knew what the outcome would likely be.
“Well?” Luceph demanded when the Princes took too long to answer. His impatience did not hurry the Princes along. Only
after another two minutes did Seung speak.
“Sebastian Thorn will not be dethroned. It is this Council's decision that Luceph's territory divert to Sebastian until another ruler challenges him for it.”
“What? Divert to Seb--”
Seung cut Luceph's rant off. “And, if Sebastian wishes to engage, Luceph will face him one on one in a fight to the death.”
“I accept,” Sebastian said. He gave Luceph no time to try and weasel his way out of the situation. Taking up a predatory prowl, he made it clear the fight would happen here, right now. Claws extended, teeth glinting when he growled, Sebastian poured all his rage and discontent into the hunt.
Luceph hissed, stalking opposite Sebastian, posture defensively hunched.
Each Prince took three steps back to give the combatants room. Their guards stayed behind them but moved to where they could see the confrontation.
Sebastian looked for an opening, the right opening, that would give him the best advantage. Luceph was experienced but younger, with less actual battle time under his belt. Sebastian feinted a step forward and Luceph bit; the vampire overcompensated and turned to confront an attack that came from a slightly different angle. Sebastian was a blur of motion and slicing claws, landing three devastating blows before Luceph lashed out and caught him across the shoulder. They broke apart only long enough for Sebastian to use his incredible speed to confuse Luceph, coming in from the side with his claws sinking into Luceph's middle and his teeth clamping onto the throat.
Twisting with savage snarls, they went down to the ground, straining and slashing, blood spattering across the floor. It wasn't enough to gut him or tear out his throat. It wasn't even enough to take off his head. He wanted Luceph to die as William had died, as the Disciple in Madrid had died.
Gaining his feet quicker than the eye could follow, he brought Luceph up with him and hurtled them straight toward the wall. With inhuman strength, he bashed Luceph through the wood and they tumbled out onto a smaller section of roof. Stunned, Luceph laid there, bleeding from too many wounds to count. Sebastian yanked a strip of wood off the shingles, and with a bestial growl, impaled it through Luceph's heart.
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