by Mandy Rosko
Seth snorted. “Thank you so much for that.”
Silus revealed his fangs, an angry hiss escaping him.
Cedric shoved his lover, pulling the other vampire out of his angry trance. “Fuck off with that. It’s not like he’s hurting anyone.”
The words were sharp, though hardly spoken in a belittling manner.
Seth watched, transfixed as Silus did as he was bid, fangs returning to their normal size. “It’s true then, he did put a spell on you.”
This time Tall and Dark was the one to snort. Silus shook his head, annoyance bleeding from his pores, whilst the sun sprite rubbed a hand over his face. “Whatever Wiktor told you I did, it isn’t true.”
“You did not begin a sexual relationship with a vampire and convince him to turn against his family nest?” It was a good idea, really. Perhaps Seth could convince Tall and Dark to do the same for him so he could escape.
Yeah, right. Not very likely.
Color blushed across Cedric’s cheeks. Seth scented the blood flooding so close to the surface of his flesh the same way he’d been able to scent the blush from the guard. Seth had to admit that the sun sprite blood did not smell bad at all. And that was just what he was scenting from beneath a layer of flesh.
“Well, yeah, there was that, but sun sprites don’t have the kind of power you’re thinking about. I can’t make Silus do anything.”
Tall and Dark snorted again.
“Shut up, Ben,” Cedric snapped, not taking his eyes away from Seth.
The name instantly caught Seth’s attention. So Ben was his name.
Hardly deserving of the imposing male standing in the room, but, one couldn’t help what one’s parents named them.
He could hardly think about that right now. “Do you have any idea what happened to me after the both of you left?” He made sure to look at Silus when he asked his question as well. “I saved your life, and you fucking left me there to rot.”
“To be quite fair,” Silus said, “in our bargain, there was no clause stating I needed to take you with me.”
Seth roared, his vision becoming bloodred, and he struggled against his chains in all earnestness now, wanting nothing better than to claw out the bastard’s eyes. The metal warped under his strength, and he would have thrown them off, but then Tall and, well, Ben came forward, and he pointed the black barrel of an official-looking Glock right between Seth’s eyes.
That got his attention really quick. He stopped struggling, and the chains, while not quite as tight now, were no longer in any danger of being snapped.
“Are you calm now?” Ben asked.
One would think they hadn’t mind-fucked last night with that frosty voice of his.
With his wrist so close, holding that gun, Seth could hear perfectly the man’s quick pulse, beating erratically. Ben didn’t want to shoot him, Seth realized, but Seth would hold no illusions that, simply because the man didn’t want to do something, didn’t mean he would allow that to stand in the way of his duty.
“I asked if you were calm,” Ben snapped.
“I won’t make you shoot me today,” Seth answered. He didn’t have the spirit to be delighted with the man’s confused expression.
Ben didn’t know how obvious his attraction to Seth was.
Silus’s fangs came out again, a low, cat-like hiss rumbling out from his chest. Cedric actually had to put a hand on his shoulder to bring him under control.
So Silus picked up on that heartbeat, and there was no way he wouldn’t smell the heady scent of lust pumping blood, so, yeah, he definitely knew about it, and he wasn’t pleased that his guard was in lust with their prisoner. Whether or not the sun sprite knew yet was another matter.
Maybe Silus’s plan was to caution his guard against such feelings once Seth was out of the room.
Ben pulled the gun away, and Silus directed the attention back to himself. “It was not my intention to leave you helpless. I hid you under the bed. My father must have found you after I left.”
“He blamed me for your death. Do you have any idea what my life was like this last year?”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Cedric and Silus spoke at the same time then both looked at each other.
Of course the sun sprite didn’t know of what the vampire lord enjoyed for torture. Seth wasn’t about to elaborate for him. Seth had asked but it had been a rhetorical question. It was none of their fucking business.
“What happened to you?” Ben asked.
“Fuck off,” Seth said.
The man’s face turned red, and he clenched his jaw.
That’s what happened when you asked stupid-ass questions.
“It wasn’t their fault,” Ben said. “Silus did hide you, but I found you under the bed and pulled you out, then left you out in the open.”
Seth’s insides clenched. “You…what?”
The familiar voice from his memories, what he’d thought had been only part of what had been a long hallucination. Rise and shine, sweetheart.
That had been this man?
“That isn’t true,” Cedric said, shooting Ben a displeased look. “I was the one who pulled you out. It’s my fault. I’m sorry for whatever it was you had to go through because I didn’t think to hide you again.”
“Cedric!” Silus snapped.
Seth laughed and shook his head. His throat swelled out like there was a balloon in there, painfully stretching the muscles, and he fought the urge to cry. “I’m surrounded by fucking martyrs.”
“Regardless,” Ben said. “If you want to blame anyone, you can blame me. I was the guard controlling the situation and I should’ve thought to hide you again.”
Silence followed his statement. It took Seth a couple of seconds to realize they were waiting on him to make some kind of decision. Did he still want to tear out of his chains and destroy them all? No way were they going to let that happen, regardless of how sorry they claimed to be. Ben would shoot him first.
Seth shook his head, not looking at any of the three men in the room, and fast losing hope of ever being free. “I just want to leave.”
Cedric got up from his backward seat. Seth stiffened when he approached, but there was no punishment forthcoming, instead the sun sprite pulled a key from his pocket and proceeded to unlock his chains and pull them away. Seth remained sitting, too stunned to get up, when the other man moved back, setting the clinking chains down with a clatter on his seat.
The same could be said of the other two men in the room, who were both standing wide-eyed and alert at the sudden action. That hadn’t been planned.
“We owe you for saving Silus’s life—”
“Which he only did because he wanted to be immortal,” Silus said.
Cedric’s jaw clenched as he glared sharply at his lover, then he turned his attention back to Seth. “Regardless, you’re hiding from the vampires, too. I’m pretty sure we don’t have any reason to be afraid that you’ll give us away.”
“The vampires know I’m alive. They’ll track me here,” Seth said.
He’d told them that he’d been pulled into a vampire dream, but hadn’t given any specifics, about Winchester or about Ben. When Silus and Cedric had asked him if he’d given away their location, he’d spoken truthfully. He hadn’t told Winchester where he was, but that still didn’t mean they were safe.
“You were floating down the river for a while. I don’t think we need to worry about the werewolves following your scent,” Cedric said.
Seth rubbed the circulation back into his wrists. “Am I free to leave then?”
“Do you have anywhere to go?” Ben asked.
Seth was still hesitant to tell them about his brother. He kept silent until an answer came to him. “I don’t even know where I am.”
“Mantua Lake.”
Not far at all. “I’ve got family. I need to get back soon. Now would be good if one of you could give me a ride into town.”
Ben’s whole body tensed. “You can’
t really mean to go back. If any of the vampires or werewolf servants see—”
“I’m not going to be long.” Seth cut Ben off. “It’s even within the town, but on its Western borders. There’s something I need to do and then I’ll be leaving town.”
His words were followed by Ben’s abrupt fluctuating of his heart.
“You may wish to delay your journey until nightfall,” Silus said.
Nightfall? “How long was I out?”
“A day,” Ben said. “It’s ten in the morning and the sun is really shining. Can’t you feel it?”
“I guess I just feel naturally hot because of my burning skin,” Seth said, fists clenching up at the thought of being stuck here another ten hours.
Cedric smirked a little, taking no offence whatsoever to Seth’s tone, and there was virtually no sympathy out of Silus.
“Ben, you’re not working today, right?”
Seth caught on to that right away. This guard, Ben, did not work for Silus? What was he doing here then?
“No, not ’till tomorrow. I’ll give him a ride later tonight.”
Seth wanted to shoot down the offer. He’d fucked the man, sort of, and he didn’t want to spend an hour in a car or truck or whatever, trying to make awkward small talk.
Seth clenched his jaw as his logical mind took over. The fact of the matter was that he had no cash and no ride, no way to quickly get to Sam without hitching it or running as fast as he could, and that kind of activity he barely had the energy for and could hardly control, and it would draw the attention of the neighboring vamps and patrolling weres for sure.
With that in mind, it was probably better to travel as though he were still human, in a car, and keep his scent off the road as much as possible.
It annoyed him to no end to have to wait. He’d lost enough time already. He’d just have to suck it up. “I would appreciate that,” he said.
Ben sighed heavily, his folded arms becoming tighter over that huge chest, and then he rubbed his eyes. They were red from fatigue.
His entire face was dark and grim. “The sun won’t be down for more than ten hours. I need to crash until then. I’ve been up all night.”
Another little tidbit of information Seth’s brain latched on to and gobbled up. He’d been up all night? Because of what they did? Fuck.
There were too many places that could go. Because he regretted it, or because he’d loved it? They hadn’t been in the vampire dream for more than an hour.
Seth needed to stop thinking about all this.
“You know where the guest room is.” Cedric slapped the man’s shoulder as he walked past, down the hall to the upstairs where Seth assumed the guest rooms were.
“I guess you don’t need to stay in the basement anymore, all things considered,” Cedric said.
“Do I need a room, if I’m to be out of here in ten hours anyway?”
Ten hours and hopefully not longer than that.
“You really feel comfortable hanging out down here?” Cedric asked, though Seth did not get the vibe that it was asked simply to manipulate him, but perhaps because, hey, most people weren’t comfortable lounging around in a stranger’s home.
“I don’t want to get locked into another room,” Seth said. He’d rather deal with the discomfort of sitting on someone else’s couch, browsing through someone else’s movie collection, and sifting through someone else’s fridge for drinks than ever allow himself to be locked up again.
“You will not be locked in, but ’tis there if you wish to rest, or have time to yourself, or bathe.” Silus said that last bit with just a hint of an upturned nose.
Seth’s face went hot. Yeah, he was due. Apparently, when he’d been a vegetable, Cedric had been seeing to those needs as well.
A long shower, with hot water and privacy, as opposed to being sponge-bathed by someone here, or being hosed down with high pressure, freezing cold water spouting from a hose whilst he was still trapped in his little cage… It piqued his interest.
“There’s a bathroom connected to my room?”
“It’s a shared bathroom, but yeah,” Cedric answered. “I’ll be up for a little while if you need anything. The sun’s good for me, you know?”
No, he didn’t, but it made sense, sun sprites enjoyed their sunbathing. How on earth did a sun sprite and a vampire function as partners?
He reminded himself that he neither cared, nor did it matter. He nodded to Cedric instead, indicating he understood.
The vampire and the guard would be resting, and the sun sprite would be keeping his eye on things.
It was hardly like Seth was planning on stealing the silver anyway.
Silus took his lover’s hand and led him into the hall, down where Seth could still be seen by them, but far enough to offer some measure of privacy. There was a muttered discussion. Seth couldn’t make it out even with his better vampire hearing, but he hardly needed to hear it to know it was about him.
Silus took the sprite’s hand, squeezed it, and then left him for the stairs leading to the upper floor. Cedric returned, the weak smile of the host on his face.
“Let me show you around.”
Though Cedric had been caring for him and had known Seth to be a vampire from the very beginning, Seth’s inner paranoia began to entertain ideas of being roasted alive now that he was alone with the other man. Sun sprites could let off a glow of UV light from their bodies, as bright as they wanted to, whenever they wanted to, like miniature suns. Now that the other vampire, the one Cedric wouldn’t be wishing any harm to was out of range of any sunlight blasts—
He swallowed his fear and forced himself to walk as normally next to Cedric as he could through the halls that were not so spacious as was in the Veturious Mansion. He needed to regain his focus and stop being such a goddamn pussy.
His fears faded for real as Cedric remained polite, showing him where the pantry was kept should he want a snack, which Seth decided wouldn’t be necessary, and then he was brought to the upper level and shown his room.
The bed was a wonder that Seth could not wait to slide in, and he decided upon seeing it that he was going to do just that, despite not being tired at all.
If they were secretly intending to lock him in this room, he wouldn’t care so long as he could lie in that bed and relax, and he wouldn’t get out of it either until he was damn good and ready. It was wide and spacious, and thick with quilts he could get lost in.
Then Cedric brought him to the bathroom. He tried showing Seth where the towels and spare toiletries were kept, but he stopped paying attention once he saw the second door, and heard Ben’s familiar heartbeat, soft from sleep, thumping on the other side of it.
To Seth’s illogical delight, his room was next to Ben’s, separated only by their shared bathroom, and a wonderful idea on how to pass the time took hold.
Chapter Nine
Jackson sputtered and coughed the water from his lungs, gulping back huge mouthfuls of air when he was able to properly breathe again, but he couldn’t get enough of it inside of him. His rest didn’t last very long before he was dunked under once more, his scream of protest gurgled by the water invading his mouth then trickling into his nose and ears.
He struggled, his instinct to breath stronger than the instinct to obey, but the shackles attached to his hellish chair were thick steel plated with silver. It burned his skin even with the cool water, and sapped his strength. He would drown if they wanted him to.
They kept him under longer this time. He didn’t know how long, it was difficult to keep track as his mind and body screamed for air.
His watery vision became black at the edges, lungs burning until he nearly became used to the unbearable sensation.
When the blackness nearly overtook him, he was brought up again. Water spilled from his lungs, mouth, and nose, and Jackson had hardly energy with which to struggle any longer. He’d known coming into this that begging would be out of the question, since mercy would be as well.
His fa
ce was slapped twice, though not as an act of degradation or a punishment. It would hardly be considered a punishment considering the things he was made to suffer. No. Wiktor simply wanted to make sure Jackson was still breathing.
The sharp smack had the proper effect. Jackson’s eyes flew wide and he coughed the remaining water from his throat, his mind suddenly and acutely aware of everything surrounding him now, even the stinging burn of the silver manacles that kept him sitting on this horrible chair as it was lifted in and out of Wiktor’s pool.
Old-school torture was a thing with vampires.
“I am losing my patience, werewolf,” Wiktor Veturious snarled, his cold eyes boring into Jackson’s, as though he expected to see the reason for Jackson’s betrayal if he stared hard enough. “Why did you speak an untruth about Sampson’s death?”
Jackson swallowed hard, the act painful to his throat that had choked down so much chlorine-filled water. “It was not an untruth, my lord,” Jackson said. He coughed and hacked up more water before he could speak again. “Not a deliberate one. There was no way he could have survived his injuries, and with the sun to come up—”
“He did survive! And the sun, hidden by the rains, did nothing to destroy his vampire body floating through the water. He lives!”
Wiktor motioned toward his guest, a thin sort of man Jackson had seen many times before—beginning with the treatment of Lord Silus last year—but had never been introduced to, because Wiktor would never be so rude as to introduce a servant to a distinguished guest.
Jackson knew who the man was now. An older vampire, nearly of Wiktor’s age by the name of Dr. Charles Winchester, and his face was on another level of fucked-up courtesy of Seth’s mystery feeder, someone loyal enough who came to Seth’s aid and defended him from Winchester’s advances during a vampire lust dream. A huge brute of a man, according to Winchester.
As far as Jackson was concerned, the twisted doctor deserved every bruise, swell, and split in his flesh.
