by Kiersten Fay
Was that a threat? She sidled closer to Cortez, and Dante dropped his hand with a smirk.
Finally Cortez spoke. “I’m curious how you got Marco to betray me, but I suspect we’ll never know. He’s mysteriously vanished. Did you have him killed?”
“I should be asking you that.”
“In any case, something tells me not even his body will turn up.”
Dante shrugged. “Only you would know.”
“You must realize this will end badly for you.”
“If the evidence is anything to go by, seems to me it will end badly for you. Sire or not, agent Lockhart here is an enforcer, and he’ll have to do his job.”
Trent finally spoke up. “The man is right, Cortez. You know the law. You know what I have to do.”
Cortez sighed and gestured toward Naia. “Be my guest.”
“W-what’s going on?”
Trent stepped forward. “No need to worry. I have the ability to reverse the compulsion of any vampire I have sired. If Cortez has compelled you to lie, we’ll know shortly.”
Her chin hiked a notch. “He wouldn’t.” Would he? She’d know if she’d been compelled. Wouldn’t she? Doubt crept in as she glanced at Cortez. He caught her uncertain gaze, and a muscle ticked in his jaw.
“Look at me, Naia.” Trent’s tone turned soothing, hypnotic. “Is all that you’ve said tonight the truth?”
“Yes.” She nodded. Was she being compelled even now? How was one to know? She didn’t feel any different.
“Who is the one responsible for the bloodbath downstairs?”
His verbiage brought the memory rushing back at once—Goldie drained and dying. Cole beaten and bloodied—and she flinched. “It was Dante. He’s the one behind all of this.”
Trent blinked, his eyes widening infinitesimally. They narrowed in the next instant. Why? Did he not like her answer? “Bend over and touch your toes.”
She canted her head. “Huh? Why?”
His lips parted in an O and then spread in a slow, menacing grin. Not at all a happy one. “She’s a lurela.”
Cortez went slack jawed, his arms dropping to his sides. Dante appeared...smug?
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“It means no vampire, not even I, can compel you. You’re immune.”
Immune to compulsion? She hadn’t realized there was such a thing. Nor that they had a name for it. She instantly comprehended two important facts. One: by Cortez’s response, he hadn’t even known, which meant he’d never attempted to compel her. Gold star for Cortez. Two: Dante had known all along which meant he had tried—she must not have behaved as he’d expected, giving her away. Was that the day the seeds of his plan had been planted?
“Interesting,” Dante drew out the word as if he’d had no clue. “So we can never know if she’s lying.”
“So it would seem,” Trent concurred.
“I have to give you credit, Dante.” Cortez said. “You really thought this one through.”
“You can stop trying to insinuate I had anything to do with this. You’ve been caught, sire. It’s time for you to accept your punishment.” He glanced at Trent as if commanding him to get on with it.
Naia’s pulse jumped. Surely they wouldn’t pass judgment with so little to go on.
“You’ve made your case,” Cortez said to Dante. “It’s my turn. I postulate this was nothing more than a scheme to get back at me for disavowing you.”
Dante shook his head. “I hold no animosity toward you.”
“If that were true, I wonder why you started a business that mirrored mine only a handful of miles away? Essentially becoming my direct competitor.”
“You don’t mess with a winning formula.”
“Only you aren’t winning, are you? You’re going into debt. Your company is failing.”
Dante pursed his lips.
“For some reason, you blame that on me.”
“Because you’ll do anything to keep me down,” Dante snapped.
Cortez slashed his head back and forth. “Until last night, I couldn’t have been less concerned with you or your little Pit.”
“You lie. You poach my customers every chance you get.”
As though speaking to a child, Cortez replied, “I run a club that people enjoy. Nothing more.”
Naia blurted, “Yeah, it’s not his fault that your club sucks, Dante.”
Dante’s gaze slashed toward her, his lips twisted into a snarl, fangs displayed.
Eyes flashing, fangs gleaming, Cortez stepped in front of her, his features more menacing than ever.
Hands seated in his pockets, Trent took center stage. “Let’s keep it civilized, gentlemen. Cortez, why do you believe Dante would want to frame you?”
Cortez eased his stance, but stayed close. “Our animosity goes way back.”
Trent hummed in a you-don’t-say kind of way. Naia studied his cold gaze and rigid features. He held himself in a way that put her on edge. Like at any moment he was prepared to produce an automatic weapon and mow them all down. Plus there seemed to be an arctic chilliness between him and Cortez. What had Trent meant about Karma?
Cortez continued. “When I discovered Dante was starting to read minds like me, I paid him more attention.”
“You tried to keep me from using my ability,” Dante spat.
Trent barely glanced at Dante, his scrutiny was all for Cortez, his stony expression indecipherable. A new kind of nervous energy skittered through Naia. Had the VEA agent already passed judgment?
Cortez faced Dante. “I tried to help you control it. It took me years to learn how to avoid accidentally pulling private thoughts from someone’s mind. Though I still struggle with that from time to time, I had hoped to teach you how to self-govern. But you refused to listen. You were more interested in exploiting your gift. You saw it as a power to be used to your benefit, no matter the cost.” He sighed, appearing saddened and disappointed. “You became power hungry. Cruel. When I could no longer condone your actions, I had every right to end you. Instead, I let you live, and simply disavowed you.”
“You kicked me out! Of my own home. You took everything from me.”
“I was wrong,” Cortez said on a heavy sigh. Naia could hardly believe her ears. Even Dante looked taken aback. Then Cortez lifted a chilly gaze. “I should have killed you that day.”
Dante’s lips peeled back into a sneer. “Perhaps you should have.” Then he seemed to remember himself. He let his shoulders drop and affected a casual stance. “Maybe I became cruel after you exiled me, but you turned out homicidal, didn’t you? Tell me again. How many dead bodies did they find in your basement?”
Cortez clasped his hands behind his back. “Your anger toward me wasn’t really because I’d disavowed you. You were planning to leave anyway. But not until you dug a secret out of my head. And that’s what all this is really about.”
“Oh?” Dante was completely shuttered now, but there was a nasty glint in his eyes, as though he thought any minute now Trent was going to arrest Cortez for mass-murder and he could dance a jig in the privacy of his new club. Naia wasn’t positive that wasn’t exactly what was about to go down.
“What you wanted was the secret to creating a vampire,” Cortez muttered.
There was a frozen moment.
Trent crossed his arms and cocked his head at Cortez. Still, there was something in his gaze that she couldn’t interpret, but it didn’t bode well.
Cortez noticed too, but went on, speaking directly to Dante. “You might be able to block me from reading your mind now, but you couldn’t back then. Not like you thought you could. You wanted to start your own clan.... Although, that isn’t exactly correct, is it? You wanted to birth your own minions. Slaves to do your bidding. I almost confronted you the night I gleaned that from your thoughts, but I more than anyone know thoughts can be random, fleeting, even at times unwanted. So, to verify my suspicions, I fed you incorrect information to see what you’d do and so that I might judge your act
ions. And what did you do?”
Dante’s jaw winched tight, his glare dangerous.
Undaunted, Cortez answered for him. “Not but a few hours later, you tried to turn your most loyal human.... Well, I wouldn’t call him a friend since you considered him more of a pet.”
“You tricked me,” Dante accused, fists clenching.
“When you discovered you’d been duped, you were furious and vowed revenge upon me and all that I love. And so here we are, in the midst of a devious plot—even for you—to take me down. If you succeed this day in proving my guilt, not that you will, Trent would have no choice but to execute me, and possibly the rest of my clan as well, leaving Ever Nights free for the taking. Do you see yourself sitting in my chair, Dante? Ruling my empire?”
Fury cracked through Dante’s mask. “I couldn’t care less about this place. And I don’t need to prove your guilt. The evidence speaks for itself.” He glanced at Trent who made no reply, a stoic observer waiting to pass judgment. Or so it would seem.
Cortez inhaled a wearied breath and let it out slowly. “I wish I had seen sooner what a hollow person you are. You’ve no qualms about trying to have three innocent people killed, and plotting to pin their deaths on me. And I’m sad to say you might have actually succeeded.”
A triumphant micro-grin lifted Dante’s features and sparked delight in his eyes, but it was clear he was trying to hide it from Trent. Not that it mattered when Trent only seemed interested in glaring at Cortez like he’d insulted the man’s mama.
That’s when Cortez dropped the bomb. “Except you didn’t count on two of your victims surviving.”
Dante frowned, his eyes shifting from Cortez to Naia. She couldn’t contain the barest of grins. Surprise, fucker.
Finally Trent’s attention strolled over to Dante, one scrutinizing brow raised.
“Goldie’s statement has already been recorded,” Cortez informed Dante. “According to her, you compelled her to come here so that Marco could drain her dry. Sick fuck that you are made her remain completely aware of her own actions. Like I said, cruel. Once Cole wakes up, I have no doubt his account will be similar.”
Naia’s throat tightened and air inflow restricted. Once he wakes up? Her eyes must have bugged, or maybe she’d made a small choking sound, because Cortez placed his palm on her shoulder.
Dante balked. “See how uneasy she is at his touch, agent Lockart? If he’s not using compulsion, then he’s somehow coerced these poor people to lie for him.” Even as he spoke, he subtly inched toward the door.
Trent decided to finally enter the conversation. “Another interesting fact that you may not know, Dante: as I can reverse the compulsion of my sired vampires, estranged or otherwise, I too can reverse the compulsion of any vampire they themselves have sired.”
Dante swallowed, taking another, guilty step back.
“I’ve spoken with your employees already. You’ve been a very naughty boy.”
Dante lunged for the door.
With blinding speed and a snarl that sent a shiver of terror down Naia’s spine, Trent caught the bastard around the neck, lifting him several feet off the ground.
Red-faced, Dante struggled uselessly against Trent’s hold, fly to the spider. “You mudder fugger,” he pushed through his compressed windpipe. Trent only squeezed harder.
“Not here,” Cortez growled, looking a little savage himself. “She’s seen enough horrors.”
Trent’s fearsome gaze snapped to Naia. The veil of civility was sliced away by the sight of his razor-sharp fangs and murderous expression, a beast preparing to make his kill. The sudden painful leaping in her chest was a primordial reaction. Prey to predator. She tried to slow the racing of her pulse, but it was like trying to halt a stampede with the power of one’s palm. They could both hear her heart revving out of control...and it was exciting them.
Like an animal, Trent cocked his head at her, keeping Dante’s toiling body aloft as though he were a doll of fluff batting at a granite statue.
“Neither of them can read your mind,” Trent muttered, his tone no longer cool and reasonable, but roughened and barely human. “Why is that?”
“I-I don’t know.”
He smiled, but it was more frightening than friendly. He didn’t believe her, but seemed to understand she wouldn’t admit to anything unless she was forced to. “I’ve ignored protocol as a favor to Cortez. You are both indebted to me this day. I will require a favor of you in the future. You will not deny me.”
That didn’t sound good.
Trent’s intense gaze swept to Cortez. “Agreed?”
Cortez stared at his sire for a long while before answering. “Agreed.”
Chapter 36
“What exactly did you just agree to?” she asked after Trent left with a doomed Dante still grappling for freedom. She’d taken one last look at her former boss and promptly flipped him off. He snarled, but trapped in the cage of Trent’s mighty hold, he could do nothing about it.
Now she sat in Cortez’s kitchen, trying to choke down a plate of eggs and toast he’d ordered up for her. Her stomach was still in knots. The first couple bites landed in her gut like lead.
“A favor to be redeemed at a time of Trent’s choosing. He’ll likely call on me first. I’ll try to negotiate you out of any obligation then.” Cortez leaned against the kitchen counter, arms folded over his chest. He was back to his distant facade, seeming to be contemplating something. Perhaps how to start the conversation they desperately needed to have?
Though the sun was now well above the horizon, rain clouds were moving in fast, blotting out the daylight. A burgeoning storm was softly growling and snapping as if readying to strike.
Cortez pushed away from the counter and turned for the door. “I have to check on some things. When you’ve finished with breakfast, come meet me in the lobby.”
She pushed her plate away and jumped up. “I can’t eat any more.”
He glanced back. “You barely touched it.”
She shrugged. “Surprisingly I’m not feeling too hungry.”
He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. “Come on then.”
The first time they’d been in an elevator together, there had been a kind of electric energy, an excitement that had skittered between them. This time? Dead air fell like a pall. He stared straight ahead; she glanced at her shoes.
“Can I see Cole?” she asked partly to break the silence, partly because she was desperate to verify he was truly alive. She knew Cortez wouldn’t lie to her, but being told and seeing are two very different things.
“Not yet. He isn’t through the change yet.” He glanced down at her. “The transition is...difficult.”
She tried not to let her mind run wild, but it was like corralling a buttered mudpuppy. Difficult as in painful? Difficult as in exhausting? Difficult as in the certainty of Cole’s survival was tenuous? “What about Goldie?” she asked to block those thoughts.
“She too is still recovering.”
“You said Cole has yet to wake up. Is that...normal?”
“In this case, yes. I expect he’ll awaken in a couple of days.”
The elevator doors slid open. They stepped out into the lobby and...
As though it were a basilisk lying in wait, she skittered to a stop at seeing the stack of luggage by the front entrance.
“I’ve had your things packed up,” Cortez said. “Donovan will take you home.”
Her throat closed up, and a bolt cut through her heart. He was sending her away. Was still ending things between them. Even after everything. Why? Because he couldn’t see his way past her betrayal? She hadn’t known him when she’d made that bargain. She hadn’t cared for him like she did now. Surely he understood that.
Or would stubbornness and hurt pride rule?
Was he planning to make her stay away forever? To keep her from Cole?
She planted her feet. “If you think I’m leaving before I see Cole, you’re crazy.”
He faced her, brows drawn up. “I’m not banishing you, Naia. As soon as Cole wakes up, you’ll be notified. I’ll even send a car, if you like.”
“How magnanimous.”
“There’s no need to make this difficult.”
“Isn’t there? As you said, I’ve just been through a trauma. I was used by a madman for a vengeful purpose, threatened and terrorized. I saw my best friend and brother brutalized. I thought they were dead, and I still haven’t seen either of them to confirm otherwise. And now I’m getting thrown out on my ass?” The full weight of her situation railroaded her, and her stomach twisted.
“I’m not throwing you out on your ass—”
“Not to mention the Boyle twins will still want their money. Guess who they’ll come after when they can’t find Cole?” She threw her arms out to the side.
“You don’t have to worry—”
“On top of all that, you’re breaking up with me for a teeny-weeny little thing like taking a job to infiltrate and spy on you and your clan, which, when said out loud, sounds worse than it really is, I admit. I mean, come on. I didn’t even accomplish any serious spying, and really, what choice did I have? The twins don’t take Sorry, I’m broke as an excuse, and did you just say I don’t have to worry about it?”
“I did. I’ve settled your brother’s debt.” He sounded so much more calm and collected than she did. Which was irritating. “I also sent them a message that you and your brother are now under my protection.”
“You did?”
“Cole is now one of my clan and, by extension, so are you. You’re welcome to come visit him whenever you like. Once he’s awakened, that is.”
But she was still expected to leave the premises.
He walked her out to the sedan that was waiting by the curb. Pellets of rain had begun to fall, the sky darkening like the closing of a curtain. As if her insides weren’t crumbling, he and Donovan began packing up her luggage. Stuff she’d never asked for, never needed. She’d give it all back, every damn scrap of fabric, every damn bauble, every damn wedge, pump, or peep-toed shoe, if Cortez would only look at her the way he had on his island.
