“What are you doing here?” Peter frowned. He stood in wary alertness like some sort of wild creature, and Alex willed him to have the sense to go away.
“I’m moving in,” Victor said smoothly, as though it were a cause for celebration. “I’m afraid Alexei won’t have much time for you and your little furry friends in the future.” The look he turned on Alex was smugly confident. “As a matter of fact, you’ll find as time goes by, my dear, you won’t want their company anymore.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Victor? Are you on drugs or something?” Alex’s seething anger banked suddenly as all of his instincts began screaming at him to get Peter to safety.
“What drug could possibly have any appeal over the Life? If you would just embrace your rightful place, you’d know that, Alexei.” Victor continued to speak as though Alex were a woefully ignorant child, and though it pissed Alex off, it disturbed him as well.
“I have everything I need right here.”
“Yes. Yes, you do.” Victor glanced up at the staircase before turning that unearthly smile on him again. “That’s why I’ve decided to stay with you.” He quickly caught hold of Alex’s wrist in a grip that felt as though he’d slapped a manacle on him. He turned toward Peter, even as Alex tried to pull away. “Leave us. Now.”
Peter took an angry step forward.
“Peter, don’t!” Alex was sharp. “I can take care of this. Please. Stay out of it.”
“Yes, Peter,” Victor said, imitating a woman’s voice in a falsetto pitch. “Stay out of it.”
Peter lifted his chin stubbornly, his hand tightening around the handle of the hammer. There was just the barest tremor to his voice as he spoke. “Maybe you should leave while you can.”
Victor let go of Alex. Moving with a speed so great the eye could hardly follow it, he gripped Peter by the throat, pinning him against the wall. Victor’s movement caused his coat to billow behind him like a set of wings; it swirled around his legs as he lifted Peter off the ground. Peter clawed at Victor’s hand, his bare feet kicking against the wall, even as Alex jumped forward to pull at Victor’s arm.
“Damn it, Victor! Stop!” he yelled. He closed his fingers over Victor’s arm and dug in. He snarled at him, his teeth fully elongated in his mouth as he bared them in a threatening hiss.
Peter brought the hammer up to clock Victor in the head. It stunned him momentarily, giving Alex the leverage he needed to break Victor’s grip on Peter’s throat. Peter sank along the wall to the floor, whooping for air as he let the hammer fall with a clatter.
Victor reached up and wiped away a trickle of blood from the side of his head, the wound closing cleanly behind his action. He sucked on his finger as he eyed Peter with disgust. “I was willing to let you go before,” he said. “Now, not so much.”
Alex kicked Victor solidly behind the knee, shoving him forcefully off his feet when Victor lost his balance. Alex swooped down to pick up the hammer in one fluid move. Victor turned a stunned expression on Alex, as though he hadn’t expected Alex to be so strong. A miscalculation on your part, buddy, Alex thought.
A vehicle roared down the driveway at full speed. It careened to a halt with the sound of scattering gravel, and Peter gave a nasty smile at the sound of slamming doors and feet pounding up the porch stairs. The door sprang back on its hinges as Nick and Duncan burst inside the house with Tish close behind them. The three of them came in and immediately spread out to flank the room. Peter looked visibly relieved.
“Alex,” Nick drawled. “Having a party? And you didn’t invite us?” When he smiled, he bared his teeth.
“Oh, please, spare me the pathetic demonstrations of your prowess,” Victor sneered. “Particularly when you don’t have any. Aren’t you forgetting something? Without the change, you’re no threat to me.”
Tish quietly handed Duncan a tire iron before withdrawing a knife from her boot. Duncan took it with a hungry sort of grin and reached down to help Peter to his feet. Nick hefted a baseball bat and stood watchfully waiting with the others.
“Doesn’t mean we can’t make things mighty unpleasant for you,” Nick said lazily, with a smile that was eerily calm.
“Don’t be stupid, Nick. You can’t hurt me in your current form, and I can kill you. But I won’t have to. Will I, Alexei?” Victor smiled at him and Alex saw the trap. His heart sank at Victor’s knowing expression, even as his hand tightened around the hammer.
Victor could tell that he’d won. “I don’t have to do anything. No one has to get hurt here. Come on. Was it so very bad between us?” Victor dropped his voice into a seductive register, willing Alex to focus only on him. “You were always more than a companion to me, Alexei. You were my partner. If you would just come to your senses, and accept that you belong to me, everything will be all right.”
Alex could feel the force of the influence Victor was trying to exert over him. Wouldn’t it just be smarter to pretend to give in?
“Alex doesn’t belong to anyone but himself,” Peter said sharply.
“Oh look, Alexei,” Victor said. He dropped all pretense that it was Alex’s choice to rejoin him. “One of your puppies is talking. It would be a pity if something happened to all of your little pets, now, wouldn’t it? Particularly when one of them has been so recently injured.”
The implicit threat in Victor’s words made Nick’s entire pack growl and close in protectively around Peter.
“You leave my brother alone!” Julie spoke from her position on the stairs, stepping out from the shadows above.
“How terribly amusing. I take it you’re keeping this one for food? Really, I wouldn’t have thought she was your type.” Victor aimed the arch comment at Alex as he completely ignored Julie.
She pulled a gleaming silver handgun out of her bag, pointed it at Victor, and emptied the clip.
The sound was deafening in the enclosed area. Alex clapped his hands over his ears, Nick winced, and Peter howled at his sister. “Goddamn it, Julie! You can’t kill a vampire with a Glock! And I thought I told you to stay upstairs!”
Victor looked down at his chest, placing a finger in one of the bullet holes and pulling it out to examine the blood on it. Alex knew that, like the wound to his head, Victor’s injuries were already self-healing.
“I’m not an idiot, Peter,” Julie said in a tone that suggested that she thought he was one. “I’m no safer upstairs than I am here in the thick of things. And besides.” She paused to replace the clip on her gun, her hand shaking slightly with the effort. “He doesn’t have infinite stores of energy, right? The more we hurt him, the weaker he becomes.”
The look Nick shot her was full of an odd sort of respect.
“I think I’ll kill you first,” Victor snarled at her.
A low, rumbling growl emanated from Nick’s pack.
“No, no, not to worry. Alexei gets it. Don’t you, my dear?” Victor raised a placating hand to the pack, his expression changing to one of bright amusement as he watched Alex’s face. “Ah,” he said, when it was clear that Alex was on the verge of capitulation. “See? Much better. You agree to come back to me willingly and none of your pets have to get hurt. Stay with me, or else one word from me, and the were will hunt them down and kill them simply for their aberrations.”
“What’s he talking about?” Julie surprised Alex by speaking.
“He means because Nick and I are gay.” Peter’s voice was bitter.
“But that’s stupid,” Julie insisted.
Victor laughed. “Yes, my dear, it is. We vampires are much more civilized than the werefolk.”
It hurt Alex to see his smug satisfaction, but he knew Victor was right. He would go back to Victor rather than see him hurt any one of his friends. Besides, you can afford to be patient. Once Nick and the others were away, Alex had all the time in the world to deal with Vic. “Nick,” he said slowly. “You guys need to go. Please.”
“What?” Peter was enraged. “No fucking way! He just wants you for your coffin,
Alex!”
Nick held out a restraining arm, just as Peter would have lunged forward.
Alex shook his head. “I’ve told you before, Peter. The coffins recognize their owners. You can’t steal them.”
“No, you can’t,” Victor chuckled. “But they can be shared. Oh, my dear!” He pretended to be surprised at Alex’s reaction. “Not to worry. After a bit, you will come to crave your time in the coffin.”
“No, Victor.” Alex curled his hands into fists. “You can’t ask that of me. I won’t do that.”
“I can and I will,” Victor asserted. “Your weakness is your pathetic affection for these creatures.” Victor indicated the pack. “In a month’s time, you will have forgotten that you ever knew them and wonder why they were so important to you. Your choice, Alexei. I can kill them now or they can leave of their own free will. They will leave if you ask them.”
“Alex.” Peter’s voice was full of warning. “If you let him do that, he might well not even need you anymore. The coffin might start to recognize him as an owner. It probably does already, if you’ve shared it in the past.”
The hiss that Victor spat in Peter’s direction told Alex that Peter was right. Sheer rage at the way Victor had manipulated the situation made Alex want to punch something until it bled. He couldn’t take on Victor alone as he was now, not when he himself had been avoiding the coffin. The irony of that was galling. Nick and the others were vulnerable: even if they all attacked him together, someone was going to die. Victor could end up killing them all.
You could just give him the coffin. The solution presented itself to him in one glorious moment before he rejected it out of hand. Victor in possession of a coffin would be invincible for eternity.
He couldn’t bear the thought of that. “Nick. Please. Go.”
“Nope,” Nick said with a nasty smile aimed at Victor. “Sorry, Alex. It’s a matter of principle now. If Victor can hold you as an emotional hostage over this, you’ll never be free of him again.”
“Have it your way, Nicky.” Victor smiled as though Nick had played into his secret desires. “Either way, Alexei stays with me.” He shot a glance at Alex. “You should have known better than to leave yourself vulnerable like this. I guess that’s your parents’ fault. They were weak too: raising you to avoid the coffin, convincing themselves that they were in love with each other. Keeping the coffin to themselves and sleeping together wrapped in each other’s arms. Bah!”
Alex went very still at his words. “I never told you my parents slept together in the coffin.” Everything suddenly clicked into place. “You told the townspeople. You set my parents up to be murdered.” A black rage boiled up inside him. He lowered his head and took several deep breaths, conscious that he was baring his teeth as he hefted the hammer. When he made eye contact with Victor, he saw a flicker of fear there.
“They didn’t deserve the coffin and neither do you. I’m giving you a choice, damn it. Use the coffin as it was meant to be used, Alexei. Then you won’t feel the need to tie yourself down with useless attachments such as these.”
No one noticed the little cat until the ominous growl echoed in the room. Alex glanced down. EPT was sidling into the room sideways, back arched and tail puffed out like a bottlebrush, his ears pinned tightly against his skull. There was something primeval and eerie in the sound emanating from the small creature.
“This is getting fucking ridiculous,” Victor said. The cursing was uncharacteristic, and Alex wondered if there was a chink in Victor’s armor somewhere. “Don’t you have any control over your pets?”
“You killed my parents,” Alex said slowly, his muscles tensing as he prepared to hurl himself at Victor.
The small tabby sprang first. EPT crouched down, lashing his tail furiously before launching himself in the air. The little body elongated and enlarged, and the faded, brown stripes turned black on an orange background. The yowl that EPT emitted on takeoff became a full-fledged roar as the tabby-turned-tiger reached for Victor with his paws, claws extending into deadly, five-inch-long talons.
“Fuck!” Peter yelped, as the tiger hit Victor in the chest and flattened him to the ground.
Eight hundred pounds of jungle cat hit Victor, even as he started to wheel backward, open-mouthed in shock. They hit the floor together, skidding along the Oriental carpet, bunching it into folds, until Victor’s head collided with the hearth. The tiger lay sprawled across him, the massive tail curling back and forth, as the giant cat opened his mouth and hissed just inches away from Victor’s face.
“Well, I guess we know who wins the ‘my fangs are bigger than your fangs’ award,” Nick said quietly. “That’s gotta be at least three, four inches.”
Alex turned to stare open-mouthed at Nick. He coolly raised his eyebrows back at Alex.
The low, guttural growl riveted everyone’s attention on the tiger again. As they watched, the animal shifted his weight, settling comfortably on Victor’s chest as Victor began to wheeze. The tiger reached out with a massive paw and batted playfully at Victor’s hair. Victor closed his eyes. “Make it leave,” he croaked out.
Alex wasn’t going to give Victor the satisfaction of knowing he didn’t exactly have control over the big cat. “I should let him kill you right now. I want you dead, Victor. Do you understand me? The only thing that’s stopping me is that I don’t want to be you.” He paused for a steadying breath. “But I will kill you if anything happens to any of my friends. I will hunt you down if it takes forever and I will make you suffer in agony for decades first. I have the coffin and I have friends and I have all the fucking time I need.” As he spoke the words, the truth of them resonated deep within him. Vampires didn’t do families; even companions didn’t rate as equals in the eyes of most vampires. Alex’s parents had been unusual in that regard. Probably even ostracized, now that he thought about it. But Nick, Peter, Tish, and Duncan mattered to him in a way that counted as family. Even Julie counted. He knew on some level, he could include Tate on that list too. That was all he needed to know.
The tiger made an odd sort of chuffing noise that Alex realized belatedly was the big cat’s version of a purr.
Peter gave Nick a quick backhanded slap to the arm. “I told you tigers can’t purr,” he said proudly. Nick shot him an incredulous look in return, to which Peter merely shrugged.
“You will leave us alone.” Alex returned his focus to Victor, grinding out every word.
Victor had opened his eyes during Alex’s speech but shut them quickly when the tiger gave him a silent hiss, whiskers pinned back with the baring of his incredibly long fangs. “Yes,” he said weakly.
“Why is the tiger licking him now?” Julie asked, wrinkling her nose in disgust. The tiger had taken a long swipe with his tongue up Victor’s neck, flexing his claws into his leather coat.
“Tigers always lick their prey before they eat it,” Duncan said with amusement.
“Just call him off.” Victor was starting to sound desperate.
“Here, kitty, kitty,” Alex crooned, using the tone he used when calling the tomcat for food scraps.
The tiger formerly known as EPT turned large, golden eyes in Alex’s direction with a baleful stare and Alex had a moment’s anxiety when he wondered how much of the tabby remained in the tiger. Still, the tiger sighed, yawned widely in Victor’s face, and heaved himself to his feet. He lumbered a few feet away and turned to look back over his shoulder. His tail began sweeping from side to side again.
Cautiously, Victor got to his feet. He looked badly shaken. Alex hoped it was enough, but he had his doubts. Once the fear had subsided, he was likely to be more vindictive than ever. Alex had made a fool of him, and that was a bigger insult to Victor than leaving him in the first place. Alex had to figure out a way to end this—for good. He couldn’t count on the shape-shifting tom to be around when he needed it.
“This is the only warning you get, Victor. Attempt to harm me, or any of my friends, again, and I will kill you and anyone who helps y
ou. We only want to be left alone.”
Victor opened his mouth to speak but shut it to swallow hard instead. He started to stalk past Nick toward the front door, only to slow down and move carefully when the tiger showed interest in his passing. He left the door standing open behind him.
Everyone stood in uneasy silence. Alex got the impression Nick and the others were hoping the tiger would follow Victor out of the house.
“That’s the thing that got me in the woods,” Peter said nervously.
The tiger turned his head toward the sound of Peter’s voice and Peter visibly blanched. Moving slowly, the tiger came to the entrance of the living room and began rubbing the side of his muzzle against the corner of the doorway. The weird chuffing sound filled the room again. The tiger took another step toward the pack. Duncan lifted his tire iron slightly in a defensive posture but relaxed when the tiger collapsed on his side and began rolling his head and shoulders on the floor, flexing his paws in the air.
“Now what?” Nick asked.
“You’re asking me?” Alex couldn’t help squeaking slightly.
“It’s your cat.” Nick narrowed his eyes.
“What the fuck makes you say that?” Alex asked. “I put out a can of food every now and then. That doesn’t make him my cat!”
Tish took a step forward and crouched lower to speak to the tiger. “Are you going to say something or shall I?”
The tiger made a pass over his face with one paw, as though ashamed, and rolled up on his feet with such alacrity that everyone took a step back. He bunched his feet up underneath him and tucked his tail in tight. He stretched his head and neck upward and continued to rise until he was standing upright on two feet, his coat rippling and shimmering as it changed into dark auburn curls and slightly freckled skin.
“Tate?” Alex said in stupefaction.
Tate looked unhappy and embarrassed. Julie lowered her gun with a shaky hand and sat down hard on the stairs.
“How come he has on clothes?” Peter asked. “How does he do that?” He looked accusingly at Nick, as though this was somehow his fault.
Crying for the Moon Page 19
