I stopped imagining Merrick starring in a James Bond movie, and considered his point. “I like Merrick, of course. I like him a lot. But I’m not wildly, crazily, head-over-heels in love with him.”
“You’re not doing the fuck-buddy thing, are you?” he asked.
I glared at him. “No! Not that I’m sure what that is, other than extremely offensive terminology.”
“Sorry. Let me rephrase: what do you get out of the relationship?”
I stared at him, confused. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Relationships are give-and-take, Tempest. If all you’re doing is giving, then that’s not a relationship—that’s slavery. Emotional slavery.”
“I’m not a slave,” I protested. “Merrick gets me feeding him, and redeeming his soul, and I get ... I get ...”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Yes?”
“I get a super-hot man. One who’s immortal, and who won’t get old, and grow hair out of his ears, and develop a beer belly.”
“And what happens when you get tired of this super-hot guy who just takes from you and doesn’t give anything back?”
“Dark Ones usually fall in love with their Beloveds,” I said slowly.
Ellis pounced on one word. “Usually? That means there are times when they don’t fall for their salvation in lady form. What then? What if your Merrick never comes around?”
I stared sightlessly at the gorgeous scenery slipping past us as we headed for Nice, blind to the sparkling blue water, the scenic towns, the expensive villas and yachts and low-slung sports cars. What would I do if Merrick never realized just how perfect I was for him? I couldn’t imagine a more hellish life than falling in love with a man, spending my life with him, being as intimate as two people could be, but never touching his heart.
Ellis patted my knee while I pondered this horrible future. “Don’t worry sweet cheeks. Uncle Ellis is here to make everything right.”
“I don’t know that you can,” I said gloomily, going back over everything Merrick had said to me. “What if he was using the protection thing as an excuse?”
“I don’t follow.”
I gestured vaguely. “He kept saying he wanted me safe, that I couldn’t go with him because Cousin Carlo would hurt me, but what if that was just a nice way to tell me he didn’t want me around?”
“Deep,” Ellis said, nodding. “That’s very deep. I can’t tell anything until I meet this Merrick of yours, but never fear, I won’t leave you to deal with the bastard alone. No one brutally and cruelly tramples your heart, gets into your pants, and then casts you aside without another thought while I’m around.”
I slumped down in the seat, a pathetic ball of confusion, worry, and misery.
Chapter Ten
Merrick took one look at the thief taker, and knew he wouldn’t like the man.
“Hi! I’m Savian Bartholomew. You the vamp who’s looking for a mortal?”
For one thing, the man smiled too much. He was downright cheerful, his long face and English accent all but radiating genial good humor.
“Whew, it is hot here, isn’t it? I don’t know how you lot stand going around with those long leather coats and fedoras and sunglasses all the time. Well, the sunglasses I understand, but you must be sweltering under that duster.”
Then there was his chatty nature. He stood right next to Merrick in the shade of the portal shop building, long tendrils of some blooming flowers drifting down from hanging baskets, effectively making a screen from the people shopping and meandering along the streets. Savian chatted away just as if Merrick was a normal person, and not one of the dreaded Four Horsemen. What the hell was wrong with this man that he greeted him like a long-lost friend instead of treating him like he was a pariah?
“My secretary—really my wife, Maura—she’s a dragon, but she’s a whiz at keeping records—told me that you’re trying to track someone who was just down the coast near Genoa. Like to see a picture of Maura? Here we are at St. Moritz last winter. And here’s the sprog. Attractive little beast, isn’t he? Maura insisted he be named after me.” Savian donned an expression that Merrick assumed was meant to imply modesty. “He’s a clever little devil. Gets that from his mama, of course. Well, now! Here we are, and you need my services. Luckily, I just finished up a job in Vienna finding a troll who was wanted for some child support, and was able to take a portal out here. They really need to put in some portal shops in the north of Italy—it would have taken me forever to get here by train. But that’s neither here nor there. Let’s hear about what you’d like me to do.”
It was Tempest, Merrick decided with an odd sort of martyred satisfaction. She was infecting everyone else until soon there would be no one left who feared and shunned the sight of him as was right and proper. “There is a man named Carlo who, until a few days ago, was located in the area near Genoa. We believe he is connected with the company known as the Revelation. You know of them?”
Savian gave a low whistle. “Yes, I’ve heard whispers about them. Not a lot of info is going around, but word on the street is that they’re offering some pretty big sums of money for beings with special abilities to go to work for them.”
“What sort of work?”
Savian shrugged. “No one seems to know. There’s a story going that a mage tried to investigate them, and promptly disappeared. No idea if he’s reappeared or not.”
