by L. C. Davis
His brow knitted into a heavy frown. “What?” He looked between us. That's not possible,” he said, taking my hand and turning it over. “My mark is still there.”
“I know,” I said hesitantly. “I have no idea how it's possible, but there have been signs for a long time. When I became a vampire, the mark disappeared completely for awhile, but I've started having these weird feelings.”
He swallowed hard. “Feelings? As in, feelings for Sebastian...?”
“No! No,” I said adamantly. “It's just that before, when his mark was active, it would burn my hand when I was in danger or doing something I knew he wouldn't approve of. Like when you came to me in that dream,” I admitted.
Sebastian made an irritated grunting sound but he didn't question it any further.
“Remus, you've had a small construction crew of vampires and psychics passing in and out of your mind over the years,” he said gently. “You're likely to have all sorts of strange little sensations, but it's only psychosomatic.”
“It's more than that,” I said reluctantly. “The mark is why you can tell where I am, right?”
“Yes,” he said hesitantly.
“Well, I can feel you, too. When you were gone helping Hunter's pack, I could feel that you were okay. And when Sebastian left...”
Victor sighed heavily. “This is all soft evidence, Remus. Of course you're going to think you felt something, you're in a state of emotional chaos right now whether you realize it or not. Sebastian can claim he sees the mark all he wants, but there isn't any way to verify it.”
“I saw it,” I said finally.
His expression fell. “You what?”
“It was the dream,” I said, taking a deep breath. “You're right, Sebastian doesn't have the ability to appear in a dream. I called to him and I saw his mark on my hand.”
“You called --” He covered his mouth and turned around for a moment to collect himself. “The other day when I found you in his room?”
I looked away, humiliated.
“Fantastic,” he said dryly.
“It wasn't like that, Victor! I just wanted to warn him about the hunters, and I didn't even set out to do it. It was subconscious.”
“Oh, because that makes it so much better!” He laughed bitterly. “Remus, do you have any idea what this means? His mark is still there.”
“It doesn't have to mean anything,” I said, taking his hands. “I'm sorry. I wouldn't have told you if I'd known it would hurt you this much. It's just that I had to let you know before you gave him permission to try to win me back.”
“No!” He said, pulling away. “It was one thing when you were marked only by me, but now everything is in question. I have to know if you really love me, or if you only love me because of the mark.”
“Don't do this, Victor,” I pleaded. “I choose you. I love you. Even when I was marked by Sebastian alone, I still loved you.”
He shook his head. “That's not enough, there are too many unaccounted variables. The mark is a powerful thing and I can't be sure you're really choosing freely until we know how this is even possible.”
“But how are we supposed to figure it out? It's not like anyone but the two of you can see the mark.”
“That's not true,” said Sebastian. “Supposedly any holy person who follows the path of the moon can see it.”
“What about Foster?” I asked hopefully.
He shook his head. “They have to be ordained.”
“Then there's nothing we can do,” I told him, rubbing his arm. “You're just going to have to trust me that I know what I want.”
He put his hand on my arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I'm sorry, but that's not enough right now. We need an impartial observer who can see the mark clearly.”
“I might know someone,” said Sebastian, tentatively raising a hand.
We both eyed him warily. “Who?” asked Victor.
Sebastian took a deep breath and looked me right in the eye. “I'll tell you, but you're not gonna like it.”
18
“Sarah?!” By the time I cared that my scream was loud enough to wake everyone in the house, it was too late. “You've been in contact with my psychotic vampire mother this entire time? That's your sage?”
“Hey, she's the one who contacted me,” said Sebastian.
“That makes it worse! Have you forgotten that she tried to sacrifice you and Victor so she could use me to take control over the vampires?”
“My memory has never been a problem,” he said, just standing there with crossed arms and an infuriatingly calm look on his face. “Just calm down and let me explain.”
“There's no explanation that could possibly justify you talking to Sarah,” I said, feeling my anger building to a climax. It took over and I did something I had never even thought of doing in my entire life. I punched Sebastian hard, in the stomach.
“No, Remus, don't --” Victor's attempt to warn me came a little too late. Pain vibrated through my hand like a bell that had just been struck and it radiated in piercing waves all the way up my forearm. Sebastian didn't just look like a wall of muscle, he was one.
Sebastian winced. “You okay?”
His concern caused a sharp spike in the fury that the pain had been distracting me from. I hissed involuntarily as Victor took my hand to examine it.
“He's becoming more like a vampire every day, isn't he?” Sebastian asked.
“It goes back and forth,” said Victor. Evidently my outburst had led to the formation of some kind of truce between them.
“I'm fine,” I muttered, trying in vain to pull my hand away. Victor held it tight, prodding at one of my knuckles. I hissed again, despite my best effort to resist the reflex.
“It's broken,” he announced.
“You've got to be kidding me. I did not just break my hand on Sebastian's abs.”
Sebastian grinned, eating up every minute of it. “Hey, I would've stopped you but you're fast. Besides, you know exactly what's under this shirt.”
“I guess I got lulled into a false sense of security since your abs aren't quite as visible as they used to be,” I shot back. “I think you're consuming a little more fuel than you really need to transform.”
He scowled. Finally something got to him. “I'm bulking.”
“Clearly.”
“That's enough, both of you,” said Victor. “Remus, do you want me to get Clara?”
“No, I don't want to bother Clara over this,” I said, leaving out the fact that I was also much too ashamed of my childish behavior. If Victor brought out the best in me, Sebastian certainly brought out the worst. “It'll heal soon enough.”
He didn't look convinced, but Ulric appeared at the top of the stairs before he had the chance to press the issue.
“What the devil is going on?” he demanded, still wearing his robe and pajamas. “I thought I heard you screaming, Remus.”
“You did,” said Sebastian, smirking again. “He punched me.”
Ulric looked at me for confirmation and I couldn't meet his eyes. The bruised hand Victor was still cradling was enough evidence of what had happened.
“Sebastian has been staying with Sarah this entire time,” I blurted out.
“Tattletale,” Sebastian muttered under his breath.
“I'm sorry, am I running a lodge or a kindergarten?” Ulric asked, looking at us both in withering disappointment. “Did he say you were with Sarah? The Sarah?”
“Yeah, I took a Job on the Canadian border that I thought might lead to more info on the hunters and she kind of, uh, saved my ass,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I would've ripped her apart if it wasn't for that, but she practically begged me to hear her out.”
Ulric sighed, turning towards the stairs. “In my study. All of you.”
We filed after him in silence. Once again, we all gathered in his study and I sat as far away from Sebastian as possible. As furious as I was, there was part of me that was grateful for the anger. It was kee
ping far more dangerous things at bay.
Ulric took a seat in the huge chair in front of the fireplace once we were all settled in. He opened a fresh bottle of scotch and poured four glasses, getting well into his own before he said, “Sebastian, I'm giving you two minutes to explain why I shouldn’t consider this an act of treason against the pack.”
The wolf's massive shoulders heaved in a deep sigh. “Like I said, she begged me to hear her out and she did sort of save my life. What I thought was another hunter killing turned out to be a pissed off banshee, and I got a little in over my head. Anyway, we went to this diner to talk and I told her she had until I finished my food to explain why I shouldn't kill her.”
“So only five seconds? She must be dead by now,” I scoffed.
Ulric gave me a silencing look. “Go on, Sebastian.”
“She showed me this book and started explaining why she was after Remus in the first place. She does want to gain control over the vampires, but it's because she and her troupe have known about the hunter uprising for a long time. One of her family members gets visions and she saw the leader of the hunters get sick and die.”
“Bartholomew?” The name caught in Ulric's throat.
Sebastian shrugged. “I guess he's been sick for awhile now, and it was only a matter of time before the rest of the Family started acting on their own, but none of the vampires are taking the threat seriously. “
He paused, taking a sip of scotch. “How am I doing on time?”
“Just keep going,” said Ulric, listening intently. “What does any of this have to do with the ritual?”
“Like I said, they have this ritual book. It's kind of like the one you have, but the legends are different. The wolves are mindless idiots while the vampires are special snowflakes destined to rise to greatness and all that jazz. It also focuses a lot more on the hybrid or the duo uh,” he paused, frowning. “It was some food thing. Duo saffron, duo sorbet --”
“Doi suflet?” I remembered him telling me in the dream.
His head snapped up. “Yeah, that's it. It's gy --” He cut himself off, looking like a kid caught in the midst of a swear. “I mean, its R-roman?”
“Romani,” I said, straining for patience. At least he was trying, but I vastly preferred being angry with him.
“Yeah, that. They believe the hybrid has two souls, vampire and werewolf. The thing is, their book's translation is a little fuzzy. It's older than ours, I mean the thing is falling apart,” he said excitedly, as if that confirmed its authenticity. “The hybrid is definitely the key to stopping the hunters, and Sarah still believes it can unite the vampires against them, but the details are murky at best.”
“They were pretty clear about sacrificing you and Victor,” I reminded him.
“That's where the translation issues come in. She thought the ritual required the hybrid to sacrifice a vampire and a werewolf, one for each soul, but she was wrong.”
“And I'm sure she's just eager to apologize for her grievous error,” I said dryly.
“That's all well and good, Sebastian, but this is Sarah we're talking about. She's nothing if not a liar and a damn good one at that,” Ulric said, surprisingly calm.
. “I know and I didn't believe her either at first, but she showed me proof.”
“You let her go inside your mind?” Victor asked dubiously.
“Hell, no. She let me in hers.”
“She showed you what she wanted you to see,” I said, folding my arms. “She gave me her little psychic sob story, too, but it's all a lie.”
“She might have manipulated you, but she can't do that with me,” he said, turning his attention to me. “I made sure I was in my beastform when she did it. I saw her thoughts and memories, not her projections.”
“I hate to admit it, but he's right,” Victor said thoughtfully. “Sebastian's gift isn't just strength of body, it's strength of mind. He's psychic-proof. Having a head as thick as his has got to come with some advantages.”
“I never had any trouble getting inside his head even before I was a vampire,” I argued. My point was met with awkward silence from all three wolves. Victor looked especially uncomfortable.
Confusion flickered over Ulric's face. “You've called to him since the mark faded?”
I swallowed hard, realizing I had just given us away. “Um, yeah, in that dream I told you about,” I admitted. “That's kind of how he found out about the ritual.”
Ulric poured himself another glass of scotch. “I see. So Sebastian's mark has returned?”
“It seems so,” Victor said in a sullen tone.
“And yours?” Ulric asked him.
“It's still there. For now.”
“Victor!” I cried. “It's not going anywhere. This is all just a mistake.”
“As you can see, he doesn't understand the gravity of the situation,” Victor murmured.
“No,” Ulric sighed. “I'm afraid he doesn't.”
“What are you talking about?” I demanded.
“Remus, the mark isn't just a symbol of love or a supernatural fashion statement,” Ulric began. “It's a literal bond between souls that can't be broken except by death. It doesn't matter how much you love someone, if you're marked by someone else the pull between you will become too strong to resist and destroy everything in its path if you try. Before you become officially mated to Victor—before I can make him my successor—we must know whose mark is genuine.”
His words piled up around me like stones, closing me in. “You can't be serious.”
“I wish I wasn't,” he said somberly. “Victor, I'm terribly sorry for this, but --”
Victor held a hand up to stop him before he could finish. “I understand. We can't have the pack acting as if I'm the next alpha only to change everything on them if it turns out that Sebastian is the one,” he said quietly.
“This is insane! Both of you, stop,” I pleaded. “Stop acting like there's no choice in this. I already chose, it's Victor. If I have to choose a thousand times again, it will always be Victor!”
The hurt in Sebastian's eyes was unmistakable and it stopped me in my tracks, as angry as I was, but I couldn't take the words back. The stakes were too high for there to be any ambiguity in the matter.
“I know you feel that way now, Remus,” said Ulric. “But the mark can be a powerful manipulator. Considering that there is no precedent for being marked by two wolves and the fact that Sebastian's mark disappeared around the same time that you suppressed your wolf side, we can't take any more risks. If you're wrong and we move ahead with Victor's appointment and your mating becomes official --”
“It could destroy the pack,” said Victor. The resignation in his voice filled me with dread as he turned to face me. “It could also mean that you haven't truly consented to any of this.”
“That's not true and you know it,” I said desperately, reaching for him. He pulled away.
“We have to find out as soon as possible. We have to take him to a priest who can see the mark,” Victor said, speaking to Ulric and ignoring me.
“Yes,” Ulric agreed. “A priest would know the legends better than anyone, but we can't risk letting him leave the Lodge and you can't exactly reach them by phone.”
“I know someone who will come to us,” said Sebastian.
“No,” I growled. “That's like letting the wolf into the sheep pen.” I immediately regretted the analogy, but I wasn't exactly thinking straight. Anger flared up in me at the mere idea of Foster, Clara and the others being exposed to the trickster that was my mother for even a moment. “Besides, Sarah could walk into a church and burst into flames. She's no holy cleric.”
“Maybe,” said Sebastian. “But the hunters have her at the top of their naughty list, so she volunteered to enter the Lodge under mind control once she found out it's a hunter-free zone.”
“You told her about the ritual?” I asked in disbelief.
“It is a good incentive,” Ulric murmured. “Sarah is one of the few super
naturals who's taken the hunters seriously all these years. She knows enough about them that I've honestly been thinking about apprehending her before they can get to her. As a prisoner, of course.”
“I can't believe we're seriously thinking about providing her asylum,” I cried. “After everything she did in Austin, we're just letting bygones be bygones?”
“Especially after what she did in Austin,” Ulric said. “The next harvest moon is closer than it seems. We're likely going to be dealing with two fleurs making their first shift now that Maverick has joined us. It's better to have Sarah confined while we have something she needs than to have her running around out there, free to plot and scheme against us.”
I couldn't argue with that, even though I wanted to. As I moved to lean on Victor for comfort, I stopped myself, remembering that he no longer even wanted to touch me.
“Sebastian, I'm sure you know how to contact her better than I. Get her here as soon as possible. Victor, I trust you can take care of making sure she's a safe house guest?”
“As long as she willingly lowers her mental blocks, yes,” he said.
“Good, then it's settled. Gentlemen, I suggest you all get a good night's rest,” he said, downing the rest of his scotch before shaking his head. “If Sarah is coming, we're all going to need it.”
Sebastian went off presumably to call Sarah since they were suddenly BFFs. Victor and I made it to the end of the hallway without a word before I finally stopped and turned to him. “So are you sleeping on the couch, or can we at least still share a bed?”
I had been joking, but the look on his face told me he was taking it seriously. “I'll sleep in my office. I have some work to finish up anyway.”
“Victor, please,” I begged, putting my hands on his shoulders. “Don't do this. This doesn't have to change anything between us. I love you, and I want to be with you. Don't push me away just because you're trying to protect me.”
He stepped away, shaking his head. “It's not that simple, Remus. I'm not doing this to protect you. This time I'm trying to protect myself,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “The idea of losing you to him, to anyone, is unbearable. Pretending like there's no chance of that is only going to make it harder if you really are his.”
