How many times had Aleck walked out to that exact same scene?
They didn’t look up or turn around until he stepped outside, and it saddened him. A mere decade ago they would’ve smelled him coming from the front steps. Though they appeared to be no older than their late forties, they were over six-hundred years old combined, and were physically aging more every year, as all vampire parents had to succumb to eventually.
“Aleck.” His mother grinned, reaching out her hand.
He bent down and let her cup his face briefly. “Mother.”
“Goodness, don’t look so serious,” she said, patting his cheek. “You’re too handsome not to smile more.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He nodded as he took a chair from the patio set. “Father.”
Gerard lifted his glass of port.
Lilith pouted. “We’re leaving for Cresley in two night’s time. Did your father tell you? We weren’t supposed to leave for a month, but that was cancelled,” his mother complained. “Couldn’t you have come any sooner to spend more time with us, Aleck? Atlanta isn’t that far away.”
Feeling guilty, he shook his head. She was much less forgiving these days now that his brother wasn’t around anymore to check in on them. “I’m sorry. I was running around trying to get your passage expedited.”
“That was your doing?” she accused.
He glanced at his father, who chose to respond.
“It was mine, dearest.”
Lilith looked to her pürist in surprise. “But why?”
“You know why.” Gerard’s deep voice softened. “It’s not safe.”
Understanding dawned on Lilith’s face, along with acute sadness, but as always, she strove to recover before anyone thought her weak or incapable of handling bad news. “What about this auction, hmm? Do you really think it’s worth your time?”
“And your money?” his father added with his predictable cynicism.
Aleck had been prepared to defend his decision. Maybe he shouldn’t have told his parents, but he’d decided to be transparent about it, since their future was as much at stake as his. “It’ll be worth both if I find someone to accompany me. If you two want to go instead, I won’t argue with you. You know the Centurias is easier to navigate with a companion.”
Much easier. There were certain events vampires weren’t even allowed without a vampiress at their side, which would be wasted opportunities remedied simply with a plus-one. He thought it was a somewhat unnecessary rule, but it had been put in place eight centuries ago so that men and women had equal voices at the Centurias. A female Vesser had insisted on it once she was crowned chairperson of the committee. Most of the men were eventually thankful for it, as turned the event from a colorless, tedious gathering to a celebration of lust and pleasure, with business in between.
His final attempt to have his parents go instead of him were dashed at the annoyance in his father’s face.
Gerard tapped his cigar over the edge. “It’s been too long since your mother and I attended. I imagine it’s changed a lot since we’ve gone, and we have no interest in going when we have two sons who are supposed to,” he reminded him needlessly, adding weight to the air, a reminder that Shain was the one who’d gone on behalf of the family.
Until now. Now it was Aleck’s turn. His obligation.
“Have you heard from him?” Aleck asked, knowing they would’ve told him if they had.
Lilith looked down and sniffed; Gerard closed his eyes. The evident pain in their faces was the answer.
Damn you, Shain. At least call them once in a while. One small gesture they could live on for months. It was an expectation that wouldn’t be met anytime soon. Only the gods knew how long it would be before his brother showed himself again.
“He’s doing okay,” Aleck confessed, taking a sip of his drink. “That much I know.”
“How do you know?” his father asked, eyes squinting with just a little resentment that Shain could be in touch with Aleck, but not with him.
“The bank account I set up for him is being withdrawn on regularly.”
“Then you can track where he is?” Lilith asked with hope.
“Where he takes out money from an ATM, but it changes every week. And there are no hotel records on the statements either, so I don’t know where he stays. He must be paying for his accommodations in cash. Just know that he’s somewhere between Washington, Idaho, and Montana.”
She sighed. “I cannot wait until after the Centurias. I know he’ll come home once that’s over and our new allies will help us. Our good name has to mean something.”
He and Gerard exchanged glances. That was if Aleck could even procure new alliances.
He tried to offer some assurance to his parents, so they wouldn’t leave the country depressed. “Maybe once you’re in Cresley, he’ll feel it’s safe to contact you. I’ll do my best to find a way to send him a message, so that he knows how to reach you.”
Lilith smiled softly. “Thank you, Aleck.”
Even though it was more wishful thinking than anything, he could tell it’d given his parents hope, and while the chances of Shain actually contacting him were slim, he would try to make it happen. What they didn’t know was that Shain had a burner phone, in case of an emergency. Aleck called him once in a while to check on him, but his brother’s attitude remained the same: leave me alone.
He talked with his parents through the night. Each were eager to bestow advice on how to navigate the Centurias, since he wouldn’t see them after they left for Europe. Though neither would ever say so to his face, he knew they were at least partially skeptical he could salvage what was left of their lives. They all knew he wouldn’t come close to what his brother had accomplished…before the scandal.
But his brother hadn’t had to deal with scorn and denunciation when he went, and they knew that. While his mother and father’s expectations were high, they were low at the same time, so if he returned with no alliances, and no positive news, the disappointment wouldn’t be so agonizing.
While he had skills that would make any man shudder, he wasn’t very good at playing the game when it came to allies. His skillset was useless to him in that capacity.
No one in his family knew about his…livelihood. They assumed his income came from wise investments. It didn’t. While the money he made was sizable for him, it didn’t bring in the kind of money his parents needed to sustain their level of lifestyle and protection, nor the kind that would keep their allies. One had to be worth tens of millions or have multiple allies to pool their reserves together to reach those sums.
His parents and brother would never know he had a side that he hid from them. A dark side. A hungry side that had nothing to do with blood, sex, or sensas. What he called his “villain.” A part of him that required feeding on the suffering of others. Others that deserved it, like Jerome Peters. Fortunately for Aleck, there was never a shortage of these kinds of men, and there never would be.
A couple of his friends like Fitz and Rhemy knew about his twisted need, but they never judged him or asked questions. At least, not openly.
The underworld beings who hired him didn’t know his face or his real name, only that he got the desired results and took on jobs that were worth his time. The harder the contract, the higher the price. It supplemented his bank account enough to afford things like the auction, which costed him an eye-popping sum.
After his parents retired to their room, he called Fitz to give him the good news.
The fateblood answered after the first ring. “Trevyn.”
He stared out at the woods, smelling the sun making its ascent. “It’s done.”
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Rhemy: Immortal Forsaken Series #4 (Paranormal Romance Novella) Page 13
