“As I said, I can arrange it.” he paused for a beat, as though considering his next words. “Hell is also the safest place for you right now, Zorah. Especially given the… additional stakes, now that Rans ensnared you in a life bond. You would be welcome to stay for as long—”
Rans’ palm hit the table hard enough that I jumped.
“Don’t,” he grated. “Do not manipulate her, Nigellus, or you and I are going to have a very. Serious. Problem.”
I swallowed, nearly choking on it. “He’s right, though, Rans.” I still couldn’t look at him. If anything happened to me—anything at all—he would die, too. Forget the Fae. I could be skewered by the next random mental case who sensed that I was part demon. I could be hit by a damned truck. It wouldn’t matter how it happened—Rans would be just as dead.
He stared at me. “And how do you plan on feeding?”
A sinking feeling washed over me. My succubus grandfather had ensured that in order to be healthy, I needed regular meals of sexual energy from a partner. Meanwhile, my damned human heart insisted it didn’t want that kind of intimacy with anyone but Rans—a centuries-old vampire who’d probably had more sexual conquests than I’d had hot dinners.
“You could come with me.” The words escaped in a rush, and completely without my permission. I started berating myself before the echo had even faded. Stupid, stupid, stupid! What was I thinking?
Nigellus lifted an interested eyebrow and looked to Rans. But the vampire’s face could have been cut from marble.
“I can’t.” It sounded like the words had been torn from him. “The answers I need are on Earth. You know that. Both of you.”
“I know,” I said quickly, scrambling for damage control. “I know they are, Rans. But… maybe you could come visit, or—” I winced. Of course he couldn’t come visit. If he tried, he’d never be able to leave. “Sorry. I guess that won’t work. I could come to you, though! If I can come and go from Hell as I please, I mean…”
I was babbling. A grim smile touched Rans’ lips… and went no further.
“Conjugal visits, luv?” he asked. “Sounds like a good way to torture myself for a few decades.”
I deflated, peripherally aware that Nigellus still appeared fascinated by the exchange.
“Opaque motives, indeed,” he murmured, before clearing his throat. “Ransley, while you may not believe it, my only concern is in keeping both you and Zorah as safe as possible—in what is, to put it mildly, an inherently unsafe situation.”
Fiery blue eyes turned toward our host. “I’ve managed to survive not only the passage of time, but also the genocide of my race, Nigellus. I am perfectly capable of protecting Zorah here on Earth.” That gaze flicked to me, and turned pointed. “Always assuming she doesn’t try to run away from me again.”
It was difficult not to wilt beneath that look, but I managed it. “You know why I did it,” I said. “I won’t apologize for it. If that’s a problem, maybe you’d like to apologize for stealing Nigellus’ crystal and binding yourself to me.”
He didn’t even blink. “Not so you’d notice, no.”
* * *
Dinner was a somber affair, though the lamb was amazing. Who’d’ve thought that mint could be paired with red meat, as well as chocolate? Somewhat to my surprise, Rans and Nigellus maintained a wary truce during the meal rather than continuing to argue about where I should be hidden away for safekeeping.
I really, really didn’t like the feelings that idea provoked in me. Maybe some girls aspired to being the damsel of the story. I didn’t. Yet here I was, powerless to protect myself—or anyone else, for that matter. And I hated it.
I still hated it hours later, when I flopped facedown onto the comfortable bed in one of Nigellus’ guest bedrooms, sated and buzzing with Rans’ sexual energy. It didn’t help that I apparently had a kink for angry sex… though we’d at least managed not to break anything or make enough noise to wake the dead this time.
“Do you have to be so damned good at that?” I said into the pillow.
With difficulty, I scooted around until I was on my side, facing my bed partner. For his part, Rans looked like he’d been flattened by a very enjoyable bus.
A pleasure bus.
Or… something.
I sighed and dug my fingers into my eye sockets, trying to get my brain to reboot.
“All those centuries of practice ought to be good for something,” Rans told the ceiling.
“Man-whore,” I muttered.
“Says the succubus,” he shot back.
Touché. Maybe if I fucked him again, I could shut down his capacity for witty comebacks? But… no. Bad girl. No more fucking while we still had things to discuss. Important things.
I exhaled slowly, and he peeled open an eyelid at the sound.
“You’re going to try to have a serious conversation with me while I’m battling a post-coital coma, aren’t you?” he asked.
Rather than answer, I shoved my wrist toward his face. His answering sigh had nothing to do with a need for oxygen, but he took it and slid his fangs into the delicate skin without argument. Knowing it wouldn’t project the no-nonsense air I was going for, I tried not to moan wantonly or rub my thighs together as delicious heat spread through my veins. I was… mostly successful.
He finished with a decadent lick across my pulse point, holding his lips over my flesh until the two tiny punctures knitted together beneath the power of vampire saliva.
“All right. Go on, then,” he said, still sounding tired.
I drew in a breath, marshalling my arguments. “I have to check for myself that Dad’s safe, and that they’re looking after him, Rans. You didn’t see him on Dhuinne. It was like… he was still there, but whatever he’d seen—whatever they’d done to him—had forced him to retreat so far into himself that I don’t know if he can ever get back. What if he never recovers?”
He pulled me closer, until I was pillowed against his chest with his arm wrapped around my shoulders. For a moment, I didn’t even realize how badly I was trembling. I still didn’t want to be the damsel in this story, damn it. I didn’t want to need him like this.
But I did need him right now. Desperately. I burrowed my face against his pale skin.
“The Fae tortured you.” His words were low, but even.
I wasn’t sure if they were meant as an answer to what I’d said, or if we were having two conversations entirely. It didn’t matter, though, because I had no intention of reliving what had happened to me at Caspian’s hands.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said quickly. “I’m fine now. You gave me vampire blood and sex, and… I’m fine.”
“Mmm. You know what I hate most about being tortured?” he asked. His tone was oddly conversational, and he continued without waiting for me to answer. “I suppose there are two things, really. There’s the way it creeps into every aspect of your life afterwards, sometimes for years… even decades. The slightest little thing, and boom—suddenly you’re back on the rack, or having your toenails pulled out, or whatever god-awful slice of inhumanity happened to be involved.”
I thought of the splinter under the table, and swallowed hard.
“There’s also that moment,” he continued. “The one where you realize that all the rules have changed between one instant and the next, and no one is coming to save you.”
Oddly enough, I was on firmer ground there. “Yeah. Been there. Done that,” I told him. “I already had that one when I was six.”
I could remember it, too—the moment when my mother’s casket disappeared into the ground, and my father looked at me like I was some kind of alien creature when I reached up to him with both arms, tears streaming down my cheeks. Rans’ hand cupped my shoulder, his thumb stroking slow circles over my skin. The juxtaposition was jarring.
“But, in the end, you can’t live your life trying to change what’s already happened, Zorah,” he went on. “At some point, you have to let it go and start looking toward the future.”
/>
Okay… so apparently we’d been having the same conversation after all. I closed my eyes.
“None of this changes the fact that he’s still my father, Rans,” I said. “I need to make sure he’s all right… or as all right as he can be, at least. It’s my fault he’s in this situation in the first place, and if I don’t look out for him, who will?”
His free hand brushed my cheek, palming away the tear that had slipped free without me noticing it. “With luck, the human tithelings from Dhuinne will look after him,” he said, not unkindly.
I hoped he was right. “Maybe. But I still have to see for myself.” I craned up from my position curled against his chest, meeting his eyes. “I won’t stay there permanently, though. Not if you want me to come back.”
He nodded in reluctant agreement, though an aura of disquiet still lurked behind his hooded expression.
THREE
THE FOLLOWING EVENING found us back in St. Louis—a place I’d never expected to see again. It was odd how quickly I’d adjusted to the nomadic lifestyle of city-hopping, crashing for a night here and a night there in unfamiliar bedrooms with only a small suitcase of possessions to my name.
To be fair, I still hadn’t adjusted to air travel. Not that magical travel through portals or along ley lines was preferable, exactly, but at least it was over a lot sooner. Nevertheless, we had arrived at Lambert Airport without crashing, and exited the terminal without being accosted by either Fae or human authorities.
“Do you think this means I’m safe from them now?” I asked, doubting that my life could be that simple.
“No,” Rans said bluntly. “Though I expect the terms of engagement will have changed.”
I mulled that over for a moment or two. “So… does that mean it might be okay for me to go back to my house and see what can be salvaged? Or not?”
“It’s possible,” Rans said, not very helpfully. “But I’d much prefer to return to Guthrie’s place first, and make certain we still have a relatively safe base from which to operate.”
I thought of Rans’ sad-eyed friend. “Fair enough. But isn’t Guthrie likely to have an opinion on that?”
The corner of Rans’ lips twitched. “Guthrie always has an opinion. That being said, the fact that he‘ll generally keep it to himself if it’s not constructive is one of his more endearing attributes.”
So it was that we ended up climbing out of an Uber, exchanging the car’s air conditioning for the stifling heat and humidity of St. Louis in the height of summertime. We were disgorged onto the curb in front of Guthrie’s fashionable apartment building with our carryon suitcases, the action neatly bookending our departure from the same building a little over a week ago.
Rather than go in the glass double-doors, Rans led me down to the subterranean parking area. I was poised to ask the reason for the detour when he let out a happy sigh.
“Ah. Splendid!” he said, his precise English accent growing a bit broader around the edges as a boyish smile lit his face. “Looks like the old girl survived a few days of neglect with no ill effects.”
I was captivated enough by the fine lines crinkling the corners of his eyes that it took me a moment to realize his relief was for his motorcycle. The sleek, black Triumph sat sedately in the exact place he’d left it after whisking me away from Caspian and his cronies like a dark knight on a chrome-accented charger.
“Nice to see that seven hundred years isn’t enough to keep boys from becoming attached to their toys,” I observed.
The look he shot me was devilish. “Now, luv—don’t try to tell me I’m the only one here who appreciates something powerful between his legs. Tomorrow, maybe I’ll take you for a ride while you’re not about to pass out from shock and starvation. We’ll see if you’re so quick to tease then.”
I raised the hand that wasn’t holding my suitcase in surrender. “Hey, don’t get me wrong. I appreciate any mode of transportation that gets me away from faeries who want to kill me. Just don’t expect me to call it Josephine while lovingly caressing its leather seat.”
His mouth twitched. “Just as well. Josephine is an appalling name for a bike.” He gave me a speculative gaze. “Though if you ever get the urge to don a bikini and polish the metalwork, I’ll arrange for a professional photographer to be present.”
“Pig,” I told him, hoping vampire senses couldn’t hear the way my heartbeat picked up or sense the flush of heat rising to my cheeks.
“What can I say?” he replied. “Sometimes my views are positively medieval.”
“Ha,” I said flatly. “Vampire humor. Have I mentioned lately how much I love it?”
As we had once before, we took the elevator up the penthouse suite.
I glanced at Rans in the mirrored walls. “Seriously, though. Does Guthrie even know we’re coming?”
“I texted him,” Rans replied, unruffled. “He replied with something pithy and passive-aggressive that I chose to interpret as an invitation.”
“Great,” I said.
“Don’t worry,” he continued. “He likes you. That means he won’t throw us out on our arses.”
My brows drew together as I ran through what I could remember of my limited interactions with Guthrie. “Erm… okay. What makes you think he likes me?”
Rans blinked, looking at me as though I was slow. “He warned you away from me, didn’t he? Must mean he likes you. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered.”
Once again, I replayed whatever snippets of conversation with Guthrie that hadn’t been lost to shock and exhaustion. “Huh. I’d assumed that was just banter.”
Rans shrugged, the motion nonchalant.
The elevator dinged. The doors slid open to reveal a familiar landing, and I followed Rans to the entryway of Guthrie’s apartment. As before, he pressed a button on the intercom. “Open up, mate. We’re here.”
The white door swung open a few moments later, framing Guthrie in casual attire. He eyed Rans up and down. “Oh, good. Be still my heart.”
Rans shot him a manic grin that was there and gone in an instant. “That’s what I said,” he quipped. “And look how it turned out.”
I raised both eyebrows. “Oh, my god. Is subjecting the poor man to bad Nosferatu jokes the price of entry to this place, or something?” I asked, before turning my attention back to our host. “Hi, Guthrie. Thanks for letting us crash here. Again.”
“Hello, Zorah,” he said, stepping back. “Come on in, you two. You might as well make yourselves comfortable.”
“Cheers,” Rans said, herding me in so Guthrie could close the door behind us.
When it was secured, he led us into the airy kitchen and offered me a drink, while pointedly ignoring Rans. After handing me a glass of filtered ice water, he leaned against the counter, regarding us with his arms crossed.
“Just so you know,” he said, “I have to leave tomorrow afternoon for a business trip. I don’t care if you stay here while I’m gone, but if I come back to find the place destroyed in some kind of supernatural battle, you’re paying for the damage, Rans.”
It shouldn’t have been funny, which is why I attributed my poorly stifled snort of amusement to jet lag and the weird hours I’d been keeping lately.
Rans waved an airy hand. “Fair enough. I’m taking you out for that lunch I owe you tomorrow, by the way. And you run most of my investments, so you’re in a better position than I am to know if I can afford to renovate a penthouse apartment in St. Louis or not.”
Guthrie only grunted, apparently having reached his capacity for idle chitchat. Meanwhile, I tried not to show any outward reaction to the idea that Rans had money. It didn’t work.
“Okay—back up for a second. You have money?” I asked.
“He’s as old as dirt,” Guthrie said. “Of course he has money. Why worry about getting in on the IPO for Apple or Microsoft when you already got in on the IPO of the Edison Electric Light Company?”
Rans raised an eyebrow. “Though to be fair, Guthrie here did pick me
up a few hundred shares of Apple at forty dollars apiece, back in the mid-eighties,” he put in.
Something struck me as odd in that statement, and it took me a moment to figure out what it was.
“Hang on. The mid-eighties?” I eyed Guthrie’s close-cropped dark hair and smooth ebony skin curiously, trying not to be obnoxious about it. “That would make you… what? Almost sixty? Um… I have to admit, you’re looking pretty good with it.”
The heaviness in Guthrie’s brown eyes took on a bitter edge. “What can I say? It’s part of the package deal.”
I paused, not sure what the most polite way to say ‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’ would be. I vaguely remembered Rans telling me that Guthrie had made an unfortunate decision when he was younger, and someone he cared about had died as a result. His wife, maybe? I’d assumed he’d gotten in a fatal car accident while drunk or something, but now my paranormal shenanigans detector was beginning to clamor.
“Guthrie is demon-bound, Zorah,” Rans said. “Oh, and, Guthrie? You should know that Zorah is the daughter of a cambion, since we’re all presumably going to get to know each other better in the future. She’s one-quarter demon.”
I looked at Guthrie with new eyes. Evidently, he was doing the same to me, because his normally flat expression twisted with a combination of anger and… fear?
“She only found out about her heritage on the night we showed up on your doorstep, old chap,” Rans continued, imperturbable. “It was after the Fae tried to take her. And I can guarantee she doesn’t even understand what a demon-bond is, so please stop looking at her like she kicked your favorite puppy.”
“It’s true,” I said, shooting Rans a glare. “She doesn’t know what a demon-bond is—beyond the fact that it lets you get into and out of Hell. So does anyone want to call class into session? I’m pretty much done with being clueless about the forces that apparently control my life now.”
Guthrie mastered his expression with some difficulty. He wiped a hand roughly over his face before dragging a barstool around and flopping down on it.
“Jesus Christ, Rans, do you enjoy dumping shit like this on me out of the blue?” He shot me another glance. “Sorry, Zorah. It’s nothing you’ve done. I just…” He trailed off and shook his head.
The Last Vampire 3 Page 2
