by Mary Hughes
And the chest kept stepping back, kind of like the opening shot of the fighter in Star Wars. As huge as the guy was, I was expecting a prize fighter’s tomato-nosed visage. Nothing could’ve been further from reality.
When the face was finally revealed, it was youngish, black locks tousled carelessly over an intelligent forehead. Razor-sharp cheek bones, nose, sensuous lips. “As handsome as sin” is a bit of a cliché, but with this guy I suddenly understood the deeper meaning. His face and physique was so compelling, I wanted to grab Luke and sin my pants off.
This was Luke’s boss, the mega-rich vampire who’d aided our search for my brother-in-law’s cure? Put him in shorts and a college sweatshirt and he could’ve been mistaken for a frat boy, if an Olympic-size, do-me version of one.
Then I saw Elias’s eyes. Black, opaque, something ancient and alien behind them.
Those eyes shifted to me—the eyes only, not one other muscle moved—and I swear he saw straight into my soul. I shivered.
His gaze returned to Bo. “I have only a few minutes so we must be brief. You have captured Giuseppe Marrone and lost track of his right hand man, Owun.”
Bo said, “Yes, we followed Marrone after his minion kidnapped our children—”
“Yeah, what the hell, dude?” Nixie broke in. “Why didn’t you do your usual omniscient shtick and call before Owun took the kids?”
Elias breathed in, a flaring of nostrils and an inflation of his chest from huge to gargantuan. “Unfortunately, I am overseas and therefore less omniscient than usual. So what did Marrone’s birth name turn out to be?”
“You knew?” Luke’s nails shot out, until they were claws biting into the table’s lacquer. “You knew Luther was my brother?”
“Luther? Ah. I suspected. There were secrets surrounding you and Logan—how you were turned together, why a vampire as old as Ruthven took an interest in your small household—holes that could be filled by a relative wanting revenge on you both. Of all the local players, Marrone, or rather Luther, made the most sense.”
“So why didn’t you tell me?” Luke growled it.
“If I were Dr. Byornsson, I’d say because I didn’t know, only guessed, and could have been wrong.”
He knew my name. Okay, maybe that shouldn’t have surprised me, but I thought my involvement with formulating Ric’s antidote was anonymous at the time.
“If I were Ms. Sparta, I’d say because it was your story to discover. Ms. Emerson would say it’s because I think myself too important to worry about everyone. Take your pick. Now. What information have you for me?”
“Luther is behind the vampire drugs.” Luke’s words still held an edge. “Enhanced hypnosis, vampire tranquilizer and poison, maybe more.”
I said, “He also accidentally developed enhanced resistance to hypnosis…”
That black gaze returned to me and instantly the words dribbled from my brain. I now know what power Medusa wielded. The impact of those eyes hinted at an immensely strong personality behind them. Even peer reviews hadn’t made me immune to this guy.
I cleared my throat and scrambled for my last thoughts. “What he really tried to do was develop a large-scale, ongoing delivery system, but it backfired, at least here in Meiers Corners. He’s no scientist—he ‘tests’ by taking potshots. In this case he put his vampire compulsion enhancer into the Meiers River. But something in our diet or already in our water supply subverted that into a compound to enhance our resistance. I suspect microbrewing byproducts.”
“Explaining why so many vampire mates have come from your small community. Excellent, Dr. Byornsson. Now I have a question for you. In your opinion, could the lab you saw have sustained Luther’s discoveries?”
“Speak English, dude,” Nixie said.
I realized from the question Elias thought Luther hadn’t developed those drugs on his own, and frowned. “Well, yes. The facilities I saw were all top-notch.” But now doubt had entered my mind.
Luke took my hand, and doubt bled away.
“Well.” Elias’s black eyes took in each of us, sort of the way a vacuum sucks everything in its path. “I will give you this word of caution. You’ll want to re-interview your donors and their dependents. In case another Owun Umbras lurks in your ranks.”
“Damn it. You’re right.” Bo slammed a large, white-knuckled fist into the table, his scowl almost alarming even me.
“But not this very moment.” Elena put a hand on her husband’s biceps. “Wait until you’re not angry. Most likely our people are all innocent, and you wouldn’t want to scare innocents, right?”
His fist relaxed and he almost smiled down at her. “How did I get such a wise wife?”
“Luck.” She smiled back. “But you keep me with great sex.”
Elias cleared his throat. “Now. About Luther.”
“What about the fucker?” Bo asked. “He dies.”
“He has committed heinous crimes against vampires and humans, and certainly he’ll be punished. But unless we want to be tarred with the same brush, we must give him the chance to reform that we give all our enemies.”
“You mean counseling?” Luke said with a snarl. “With the horrors he’s committed?”
“He is your brother, is he not? Your blood? Don’t you want him to have the chance to make amends to all injured parties? If he declines, he dies the final death, and all chances end.”
Luke slapped the table. “But if he accepts, he lives in comfort! That’s no justice.”
“Ah.” Elias looked sad. “Do you want justice? Or revenge?”
Luke’s anger bled away to confusion, and I recalled thinking how much less Luther had become because he’d lived a life of revenge. I didn’t want that for Luke.
I put a hand on his and asked Elias, “He’ll be confined?”
“Yes, if he accepts the offer of atonement and remediation.”
“Well, I hope he doesn’t accept,” Julian said.
“Oh, he will,” Twyla said. “He’s a shyster. He’ll say yes, because he’ll think he’s going to charm his way out of any actual punishment.”
“Him, charming?” Elena’s eyes were comically wide.
My cousin shrugged. “In his own way.”
“Perhaps,” Elias said. “But the solution is simple. Put someone absolutely incorruptible in charge of him.”
“Who?” The question came from more than one mouth.
“Isn’t it obvious? Zinnia Steel.”
“What?” Julian said.
“After what he did to her?” Luke said. “Drugging her, impregnating her not once but twice—”
“Dude.” Nixie gazed at Elias, awe clear on her face. “That is so freaking bad. Because of what he did to her.”
Julian frowned. “But he drugged her to be pliable—”
“She’s not drugged anymore,” Elias pointed out. “She is a vampire mate, normally immune to compulsion.”
“Points to Scary Ancient,” Nixie said. “She’ll chat Luther to death. He’ll be screaming in no time.”
“Fitting.” Elias’s dark chuckle was so sexy, I was overrun by ripples of me want. “I believe we’re done. Except for one thing.”
“What’s that?” Bo asked.
“If I may speak with Dr. Byornsson for a moment?” Elias said. “Alone.”
Adrenaline goosed me, my heart suddenly thudding in my ears. I looked to Luke for help, but he was frowning at Elias. I glanced at Nixie and Twyla. They both gave me a “Go for it!” look, then exchanged glances that carried a more subtle “Glad it’s not me”.
“Um…okay?”
People around the table began rising and filtering out.
“Not alone,” Luke said. “Not with another male. Alexis is my…” He faltered, a confused look crossing his face.
“Exactly,” said Elias, and I don’t think I imagined that d
ark purr in his voice.
“I’ll be fine.” I touched his hand to let him know I appreciated his support.
As soon as the door was shut and I was alone with that black gaze, Elias said, “Do you want to know why Luther targeted you?”
My drug expertise was the obvious answer, but something told me he didn’t mean that.
He didn’t wait for my nod so much as speak the moment he saw the realization in my eyes. He was scary perceptive.
“Luther wanted revenge on his brothers, but his minion Umbras wanted it on you, because you helped his wife and child walk away. He still will.”
“Umbras is dead.”
“Of course. My mistake.”
“How do you know about Lizelle and me anyway?”
“How do you know how to diagnose an illness?” he shot back.
“Well…years of study in medicine, years of experience with actual patients and hundreds of hours continually refreshing my knowledge base.”
“Exactly. But substitute human nature for medicine, decades for hours and centuries for years.”
While I chewed on that, out of the blue, Elias said, “Vampires mate for life.”
“O-kay.” I wondered what important thing he thought he’d imparted with that statement. He didn’t strike me as the kind to engage in idle chitchat. “So, Nixie and Twyla aren’t getting rid of their significant others any time soon.”
“You misunderstand. Mating…locks lives together. If the human dies, the vampire dies.”
“Right. Got it. Mated to a human, the vampire gets a death sentence.”
He shook his head, a brisk, irritated flick. “The vampire has ways to extend his or her human mate’s life.”
“Got it,” I said again, though I really didn’t.
“Dr. Byornsson. Luke and Logan are identical twins. Studies show twins take similar jobs, spouses, etc. There will be echoes in their lives that for anyone else would be coincidence.”
Logan’s wife was a computer guru. Was Elias saying Luke would only marry a geek? “So?” I was getting irritated. What was wrong with a nice doctor for a wife?
“So look for the echoes. They will point to the differences.”
I glowered at him so he’d see my annoyance as well as hear it. Nixie’s “Speak English” echoed in my head. “Can’t you simply say what you mean?”
A chill silence and an onyx-black glare greeted that, sending my stomach through its wash cycle. Finally he said, “An incident wounded them both, but it scarred each differently.”
“You mean France, Adelaide?”
“Yes. Suffice it to say, Luke needs healing.”
“You want me to help him? You’ve known him longer. Why haven’t you?”
I expected that black glare slashed across my throat in return. But he only said mildly, “Why do you think I’m having this conversation with you?”
That shut me up.
“I’ve encouraged Luke to found a household, because in doing so, he must deal with his past. Which is where you come in.”
“Me?”
“If you’re up for the challenge. One more word, and then I must go.”
“But you haven’t really told me anything yet!”
“I’ve told you everything you require, if you have ears to hear it. Remember, when things look darkest, that is when you must strive the most for the light.”
And on that apocalyptic-sounding note, his image disappeared.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I left the boardroom feeling confused. Confusion, bad enough. But feeling? Brrr.
Luke, Twyla and Nixie were waiting for me outside the door to escort me out of the maze.
Oh, and to interrogate me.
“What’d he say?” Twyla asked the question that was obviously on all their minds.
But I could only shake my head. I wasn’t sure he’d really said anything. “I have to get to the infirmary.”
Luke said, “You’re going to seek healing. Good.”
“I’m going to check up on the household members who were injured. Then I’m going home for a while.” For as long as it was my home.
A line extended all along the hallway to the infirmary, a room the size of a high school’s nurse’s office. Inside, Zinnia handed out aspirin and antacids. The moment she saw me she leaped to her feet with a smile and a “All yours” gesture, and scooted.
Luke hovered while I tried to work, so painfully in the way that I finally snapped at him to help or clear out. I was sorry until he sulked. Our eyes met and we grinned sheepishly at each other. He got busy finding chairs and handing out bottled water to those who waited.
After checking over everyone, I lugged myself up the stairs and across the yards to my…Mr. Crahn’s townhouse. I got Luke to stay at Emerson’s by telling him that I wanted time to myself, but really it was because the sun was already high in the sky and I didn’t want him to burn.
Creeping upstairs, I took a moment to check on my bestie. Lizelle was snoring in her room, and Una was fast asleep in hers.
I stood in the hallway debating with myself. She needed to know about her husband. But as I tried to frame words that would ease her grief, yet didn’t make him somehow a martyr, my heart beat harder and my mind went blank.
Would it hurt to let her sleep awhile? Yes, she needed to be told that John Umbras was dead. But why did she have to find out from the most ill-equipped person on the planet to deal with it? She might hate him, but that would actually probably make her grief more complex and harder to cope with.
I peeked into her room. She wasn’t sleeping peacefully, she was rolling around on her bed and grunting. I sighed and whispered, “Lizelle?”
She woke in terror. I went to her, taking her awkwardly in my arms. She blinked at me and the terrors receded.
“Alexis.” She straightened. “Thank you for waking me. I was dreaming we were back there in that awful room, but we’re safe. Me and Una. Because of you.”
“You’re welcome.” I felt like the worst kind of person for the bait and switch, life-saver to life-ender, I was about to pull.
But it wasn’t going to get easier.
Still, I started small. I released her, stood up and went to the window. The grass was green. I’d miss this place. “Did you know John was living in Julian’s townhouses? That was why he was at the wedding shower last night.” Ready to seduce Lizelle back, so he could grab Una for experimentation, but I didn’t say that.
“He was?” She sounded surprised, but I glanced back at her face to make sure, and to see how she absorbed what I was about to say.
“Yes. He was working for Giuseppe Marrone.”
She shook her head, but not in negation. “A monster working for a monster. Fitting.”
“Maybe, Lizelle, but…well, there was a fight. A big one. John…” I stared down at my hands. Here it was. “He didn’t make it.”
“He…he’s dead?”
I nodded. “He was killed. Fighting for Marrone.”
“Well. Good.” She spat it, but her eyes were suspiciously bright. And she was staring at her closed door. Where, across the hallway, her daughter slept, unknowing that her father had died.
Then she sobbed and tears started running down her face. I didn’t think it was grief for a beloved husband, but she’d had a series of shocks, and though he’d abused her physically and emotionally, her main financial resource was gone. And maybe there were emotions brewing in there I knew nothing about. I wanted to comfort her but hesitated. Even I could see that, whatever those emotions were, they pooled inside her like blood in a bruise. One wrong word from my glass monster could cut already fragile skin and send her hemorrhaging.
I didn’t know what to do. Even if I could find the right ones, words were utterly inadequate. Then she covered her face in both hands and bawled, and I was utterly in
adequate. She hunched there, crying her heart out, and I didn’t know what was best for her. Should I try to hug her? Try to jolly her out of it? Bring her a hot beverage? My own heart wanted to cry, hurting for her, my bestie.
What did I do to stem the flood of emotions—me, who understood them the least?
Yes, words were inadequate. But as she cried all alone on the bed, I realized silence was worse.
Something, maybe my own burgeoning feelings for Luke, maybe how he accepted my glass monster, helped me to reach out, wrap her in a hug and simply say, “Lizelle. I’m so sorry. Tell me…tell me how you met John.”
“How we met?” She swallowed. “My father…he beat my mother. When I reached puberty…” She hiccuped a sob. “He began abusing me too. John came into my life like a fairy tale prince, and took me away from all that.”
She continued. I listened, wordless. What could I say? I hadn’t known. More, I’d never asked. I knew her parents fought, but as a child I’d never even considered worse. I felt even more inadequate, but I was damned if I was going to let that stop me from being here for her now. I stroked her hair in the comforting way Luke had stroked mine.
And listened as he had, just listened in silent support.
Finally the words slowed, and she straightened away. “Thanks.” I handed her a box of tissue and she wiped her face. “Telling me…that couldn’t have been easy for you.”
“No. But you had to know. Did I…did I do it right?”
She gave a watery laugh. “There is no right or wrong. But you were a friend. And that’s enough.”
Lizelle told me she wanted to be alone for a while, so I reluctantly got up and left the room to stumble into the bathroom.
After a long hot shower, I fell naked onto my bed and slept a solid eight hours.
I woke when a familiar erection nudged me. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Luke spooned against me, his eyes closed, golden lashes curled against his cheek.
From the warmth of my body where we pressed together, he’d lain with me through much of the day.
Slowly, lazily, his lids rose. His cock nudged me again, more eagerly. Then more insistently.
