Diadem of Blood and Bones

by Ripley Proserpina

  “Theia came from nowhere.” Finally, Hudson lifted his head. “She is a being who hasn’t crossed my mind in two thousand years. I doubt she crossed Asher’s mind once she disappeared. What other creatures will challenge us?”

  Rather than answer, Valen asked a question of his own. “Do you think Asher was the most powerful vampire who ever lived?”

  “No,” his brother replied immediately. “I think he had powers that allowed him to control people. I think we didn’t know better than to follow him. I think, maybe like Theia, he had the ability to influence us without our knowledge. But once the four of us became brothers, we became too much for him to control.”

  A smile grew slowly over Valen’s face, but he quickly tried to hide it. “So we are the most powerful vampires?”

  Hudson began to shake his head but paused. As Valen watched, his brother’s eyes widened.

  “You’re looking for a scientific answer,” Valen said. “You want to guarantee that Theia will never get into your head again. And maybe if you had fifty years, you could discover that. But why are you looking for a scientific answer when the answer is right in front of you?”

  Hudson’s eyes darted around the room as if the answer was written on the walls. In the time they’d been away from their family, the idea had teased Valen’s mind, but he’d been discounting it. Like Hudson, he realized, he doubted himself. His brother was so brilliant, and he was not. The solution to their problem couldn’t be what he imagined, not when Hudson could potentially use his genius to fix everything.

  “We need to return,” Valen said. “I think we need to trust Briar and her vampire, and our brothers.”

  “There’s no guarantee—”

  “There’s never any guarantee, Hudson.” Valen gripped Hudson’s shoulder hard. “But we are stronger than Theia. I think it’s time we use the strength we’ve always had.”

  “I don’t know,” Hudson replied. He glanced at his computer and then back to Valen.

  Resting back on his heels, Valen nodded. “Think about it, okay? And we’ll go from there.”

  Briar

  Hudson wouldn’t talk to her again. Each day that passed without hearing his voice made Briar ache a little more. She knew he was upset, and she understood why, but it didn’t make it easier each time Marcus or Sylvain shook their head at her.

  After her vampire had taken over, Briar found herself exhausted. Marcus and Sylvain went downstairs, probably to talk to Hudson without hurting her feelings, and she was left here alone.

  Briar thought about Marcus’s Harvard lab. Giggling, she rolled onto her side and buried her face in a pillow. He was so proud he got her to Harvard. Next time, he’d promised, he’d buy her a t-shirt at The Coop, Harvard’s bookstore. Shifting back and forth, she tried to find a comfortable position. She tried to remember how long it had been since she slept. Twelve hours? Twenty-four?

  However long it was, it was finally catching up to her. A nap was definitely on the horizon.

  A new phone sat next to her on the bed. Marcus had stopped at one of the few stores still open and bought her a prepaid phone. Later, she’d call her mom with the number, but for now it only had three numbers programmed into it: Valen, Marcus, and Hudson. Sylvain refused to own a cell phone, he told her. Valen was his personal secretary.

  Hudson.

  He had a phone, but he refused to use it to speak with her. Convinced Theia could control what he saw, he wouldn’t come back until he figured out a way to keep the vampire out of his head.

  Ugh. She’d been so certain that the answers would be in her DNA. For some reason, she thought it would be the most obvious thing in the world.

  It wasn’t. Hudson was struggling to stop Theia from getting in his head. It wasn’t like when Asher had gotten to her in her dreams. Theia’s forced hallucinations happened during waking hours.

  Briar popped up. Hallucinations. Holy moly. That might be it.

  Hallucinations were caused by a lot of things. Briar ran to the bookcase that kept her books and searched for her cognitive neuroscience textbook. Drugs, brain injury, degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s…

  But they were also thought to be caused by an inability of the person’s brain to filter through different sensations. Briar flipped through her book, scanning the information she found. People with schizophrenia were given drugs that were meant to suppress hallucinations. What if…

  She grabbed her prepaid cell and dialed Valen’s number.

  “Hello, Briar.”

  Valen’s deep voice soothed her. She sat against the wall next to the bookshelf and pulled her textbook onto her lap. “Hi, Valen. Do you think you can get Hudson to talk to me?”

  “I’m not sure,” he said. “I will ask.”

  “I’ll wait,” she replied.

  “Little one,” Valen said quietly. “Maybe it would be best if I spoke to him and then, if he is able to talk, he’ll call you back.”

  “I need to talk to him, Valen.” She didn’t want to argue. It was obvious in Valen’s apologetic tone that he felt bad about Hudson’s refusal. But she had to talk to him. He’d designed a medicine to help him walk in the sun. If the sorts of drugs humans took to stop hallucinations worked on vampires, he’d know. “It’s about Theia and what she did.”

  The line was silent for a moment and then Valen spoke again. “I’m going to put you on speaker phone.”

  Briar rolled her eyes. What the heck did Hudson think would happen if he talked to her on his own? She took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to clear her mind.

  “Now?” she asked Valen.

  “Go ahead,” he replied, sounding far away.

  “So, hi,” she started. There was no answer, and she tried not to be upset by it. “I was thinking about what Theia did and how it was different than what Asher did to me. Asher influenced my brainwaves, and we were able to stop him by keeping me awake. I wondered, is there something to stop you from seeing things that aren’t there?”

  In the background something fell, and she stopped.

  “Keep going,” Valen told her.

  “Okay.” She took another breath and went on. “What Theia did was induce visual hallucinations. I don’t know if they were auditory hallucinations as well. Were they?”

  A voice she hadn’t heard from in days spoke, “No. Only visual.”

  Her throat closed at the sound of Hudson’s voice, and she had to take a minute to pull herself together. However, when she spoke again, her voice was thick. There was no hiding the emotion that finally talking to him caused. “You know about vampire’s bodies, and how they react to medicine. Is it possible to keep Theia from getting in your head, or at least stop her from making you see things that aren’t there, by taking drugs that are similar to those given to people with schizophrenia?” He didn’t answer, so she went on. “There’s also research that shows the brain sometimes can’t figure out if what we see is real, and in those cases, dopamine blockers seemed to work.”

  It was silent on the other end of the phone. He wasn’t going to answer. Her ideas were stupid. Why did she think if Hudson couldn’t figure it out, she could? Even Marcus didn’t have an answer. Two of the smartest men in the world, and they didn’t know how to stop Theia from turning Hudson into an assassin.

  Finally, she shut the book on her lap and pushed it onto the floor. “Okay. Sorry to bother you. I’m here when you’re ready.”

  She pulled the phone away from her ear, ready to hang up, when she heard him.

  “Two good hypotheses, Briar.”

  A wave of relief swamped her, and she nearly cried. Somehow, she kept it inside and spoke around the lump in her throat. “Thanks.”

  “The problem is, I won’t know unless she’s in my head. And I don’t know how the drugs will affect me. Or how long they’ll last.” It sounded like he held the phone, and she liked thinking of him just there, on the other side of the line.

  “I can look up the side effects of the drugs.” Desperation oozed out of he
r, but she hoped he couldn’t tell. “And I’ll let you know. Maybe I could be a guinea pig,” she mused.

  “No.” His answer was quick and decisive. “Definitely not. I’ll work on it.”

  And talk to me later? She wanted to ask him.

  From deep within her came her vampire’s direction, ask him.

  She didn’t want to push him away, though. Her vampire poked her. Don’t back down.

  “Hudson.” Briar hoped he wouldn’t hang up on her. “I need you to talk to me. I can’t—” How did she explain what it was like without him? How she felt when he refused to talk to her? “I need to hear your voice. It’s not—I love you and you cut yourself off from me completely.” There.

  Well done. The vampire was proud.

  “You’re right.” Hudson let out a breath, but he didn’t elaborate. And he didn’t apologize.

  A growl began deep in her throat, surprising her when it left her mouth. Briar slapped her hand over it, but it was too late.

  “Briar. I’m sorry.” He paused, and she let her hand fall away. Both she and her vampire listened closely. “It’s hard for me to… to know how to apologize for something that was so, so wrong.”

  “It was wrong,” Briar answered. “You left me without a word.”

  “I knew the guys would take care of you.”

  “But I need you, Hudson. They’re not a replacement for you! Do you think I won’t miss you just because Sylvain is here? Do you think Marcus is a stand-in? It’s insulting to them to think they’re interchangeable, and to me, because it diminishes what I feel.” She ran out of breath. “And it’s insulting to yourself, Hudson, to think that your presence isn’t necessary for the happiness of our family.”

  “God, Briar.” She pictured him running his hand through his hair like he did when he got overwhelmed. “I’m made a mess of everything.”

  “You have,” she answered. “But you’re forgiven. Just come home.”

  “I can’t yet, princess.” But he wanted to, she could hear it. At least now, he wanted to. “Let me experiment with your ideas. See what happens when I take the drugs, and then I’ll come home.”

  “Do you promise?” Briar asked.

  “Yes,” he answered.

  “Even if they don’t work, you’ll come home?”

  Silence was the response, and her vampire poked her. Push him.

  “Hudson. I need you to come home, no matter what. Try the medicines. See what happens. But then you have to come home. Period.”

  “All right,” he whispered. “I will.”

  “Promise?”

  “I promise, princess,” he said, and hung up.

  Briar let out a sigh. Finally. Even though he wasn’t coming home right away, they’d reached a compromise. She could live with that.

  A knock sounded on her door before it opened. Marcus glanced inside. “Can I come in?”

  Briar pushed against the wall to stand. “You heard all that, I guess?”

  “Yeah.” He came all the way inside and shut the door behind him. Leaning against it with crossed arms, he studied her. “Your idea is excellent.”

  Her heart thudded and heat burned her cheeks. “You think?”

  Scoffing, he shook his head and stared at his feet. “I know. Briar, do you not know how brilliant you are?”

  It was her turn to scoff. “Please.”

  “You are,” he said. “Way smarter than I am.” He lifted his gaze to her. His face was totally devoid of humor, and he bit the inside of his cheek.

  “Hey…” Briar went to him, grabbed his shirt next to his hips and gave him a little shake. “Marcus. Why are you saying this?”

  His eyes were bright, but darker than his normal green, and he didn’t answer.

  Briar frowned, and then it hit her. “It’s because I went right to Hudson. Not to you.” Oh! Of course he would feel this way. Marcus was a doctor. A brilliant doctor, but for some reason, she went to Hudson with her ideas first, rather than the equal genius right downstairs. She realized, in bypassing this man, she’d hurt his feelings. “I’m sorry.”

  He smiled, but it was a little forced. “It’s fine.” Trying to hide his hurt from her wasn’t going to work. She saw it.

  “Hudson doesn’t want me to try my hypothesis on myself,” she said.

  “I heard.”

  “You’re a doctor—” she began.

  “Fake doctor!” Sylvain yelled from downstairs.

  Marcus growled and yanked open the door. “Sylvain. I swear to god, don’t mess with me right now!”

  A sudden breeze from the hall blew Briar’s hair around her face. Sylvain stood in the doorway, inches from Marcus. “Come at me, bro.”

  Closing the space between them, Marcus stepped right up to his brother. “Happy to oblige.”

  “Hey!” Before she knew what she was doing, she’d squeezed between both of them. “Look at me!”

  But it was like she wasn’t there. Over her head, their eyes shot daggers at each other. Sylvain wasn’t an easy going guy, but generally she could count on Marcus to be cool-headed.

  “Please, guys, enough.” She placed a hand on each of their chests. The tension thrumming through their body made them rock hard, and she patted them once, because it surprised her. And then she did it again, just to make sure the first time she’d felt their muscles correctly. Then she stroked from their pecs down to their abs, which were, yep, also rock hard.

  “What are you doing?” Sylvain growled.

  “Test-retest reliability.” Her voice was breathy, but for the life of her, she could not stop skimming her hands over their body. Energy hummed through her blood, and she was glad of their close quarters. In fact, if they wanted to step a little bit closer, she’d be fine with that.

  “For what?” Marcus’s voice was hoarse as he threaded his hands beneath her hair and cupped her neck. Briar let her head fall to the side to rest against Sylvain.

  “Hotness,” she managed and her eyes popped open. “Sorry!” That made her pause. “I’m—we were having a serious discussion.”

  “I like this discussion much more,” Sylvain said. He glided his hand down her side and she shivered. “Talk about my hotness some more, Briar.” He leaned down, and she was trapped in the best cage in the world. Her eyes fluttered closed.

  Hands, she wasn’t sure whose, moved pieces of clothing out of the way to touch her. Burning up, Briar moaned and let her hands fall from Marcus and Sylvain’s abs, lower. Tentatively, she brushed her fingers against the denim of their jeans, lightly skimming the hardness beneath.

  This wasn’t like her—this boldness—but it felt right. Marcus kissed the exposed skin of her neck, lips ghosting across the tendon in her neck before he nibbled his way to her jaw. On her other side, Sylvain kissed the top of her head then released her waist to curl his fingers against the button of her jeans. He unsnapped it, and then he was delving beneath her underwear, sliding calloused fingers along her cleft.

  “Fuck, Briar,” he husked.

  He played with her, teasing and circling until her hips were rocking. Marcus’s lips left her jaw, and he grabbed her face. It didn’t hurt, the way he turned her toward him, but his grip was strong. She liked how he moved her, and when he kissed her, tongue thrusting into her mouth, she loved the groan that escaped from his throat.

  Marcus’s kisses and Sylvain’s touch. Her body was on fire. They worked her like an instrument, strumming and playing her until she was ready to explode. Somewhere in the background, she caught the trill of a cell phone, and she tensed.

  “Ignore it.” Marcus’s voice was breathy. She’d been groping blindly, searching for the buttons on their jeans, and finally, she got them undone. Pushing past the material, she gripped them both and pumped them firmly.

  The phone rang relentlessly, but Marcus went back to her mouth, tongue teasing her lips and teeth, dueling with hers and thrusting in time with Sylvain’s fingers.

  She was skirting close to the edge. The ground was falling away, and s
he was about to drop into space. Sylvain inserted two fingers into her, and she was done. Briar cried out into Marcus’s mouth and he into hers.

  They came seconds apart. Briar could barely stand. If she hadn’t been propped between them, she would have collapsed. An arm hooked beneath her, keeping her on her feet, and she finally opened her eyes.

  Next to her, Marcus barked a laugh. It started as a quick burst of air, but a second later, his body shook hers with the force of it. “I don’t think that’s what you meant, Sylvain, when you said, “Come at me, bro.”

  “Fuck, Marcus. That’s gross.”

  Briar tensed, maybe she’d misread the whole situation. Not that she’d been thinking of much of anything except how they felt and how she felt when they touched her.

  “No, blossom.” Sylvain corrected interpreted her change in demeanor. “That was fucking awesome. Marcus’s joke was fucking gross. But he’s lame, so we’ll ignore him.”

  A brown arm reached across her field of vision and pushed Sylvain, but it didn’t seem to bother the wild man. He just chuckled and shoved Marcus back. Marcus pushed again, and Sylvain tripped. “Dude. Let me get my pants zipped.”

  “Guys…” Briar sighed.

  “Now that you’ve seen us both and been able to compare—” Sylvain stepped away from both of them and held out his hands like he was showing her how big a fish he caught. For a moment, she stared at him, her mind completely blank. “—who’s bigger?”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered.

  “That’s what I thought, too,” Marcus snarked.

  “Boys”—Briar shook her head and walked away, shutting the bathroom door behind her with a final sounding snick—“I’m in love with boys.”

  “Love you, too!” Sylvain replied. “So—me.”

  “You’re delusional,” Marcus said.

  “No…”

  Briar turned the shower on and the fan, and then the sink. If this didn’t tune out their ridiculousness, then nothing would. But as she stripped and got into the shower, she started giggling. This was not where she saw her day leading, but she had to admit, it was a pretty awesome surprise.