“No,” Vlad said.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Sam,” Clive said.
I tried to push them, but vamps don’t move if they don’t want to. “We’re fine. Trust me and go away.”
It took another moment, but finally the two of them walked down the hall away from us.
Cadmael looked down at his missing hand and fingers and then at the blood dripping off my claws. I hadn’t retracted them yet. I was pretty sure I was okay, but I didn’t trust him that far, so the claws stayed out.
“Why did you send them away?” he asked.
“Because,” I said, “I figured it out. Why you’ve been tracking me all my life, keeping tabs on me.”
His expression was carved out of stone. He gave nothing away.
Blowing out a breath, I stepped closer and lowered my voice. “I’m very sorry about your son’s death?—”
“Murder,” he growled.
“Yes.” I nodded. “As someone who is a werewolf, I can tell you that that man chose your son to kill. Our instincts might be stronger, our drive to hunt more pressing, but never is the human side of my brain gone. He recognized your son and you and chose to kill you both. Why, I don’t know, but he was never a friend.”
I gestured down the hall. “They don’t know what I know. You wanted to die in that rainforest alongside your son. You wanted to enter the afterlife together. Instead, you woke to this eternal undeath, wishing you could end it. Every day for—what—two, three thousand years you’ve been gaining strength and gifts, but all you’ve ever wanted was to be done so that you might see your son again.
“You’ve been tracking me because in me you see your executioner. Finally. And you hate me because it’s so close now, you can almost taste it. Your memories of him are all you think about, and you need me to do it already. But I haven’t. I’ve become the one keeping you from your son, and for that I’m despised.”
“Do you always talk this much?” he said, finally breaking eye contact.
“Let me say this.” I stepped closer. We were almost touching. “If it’s really what you want, I’ll do it. Know that. Keep it in your pocket. Okay?”
His expression had lost its rigidity, as though he couldn’t quite believe what I was offering.
“I’ve been on the other side. I spent a little time in Hell. Long story. Not the point. Time is different over there. Ten thousand years. A day. It’s all the same. When you eventually pass, your son will be there and it’ll be just like when you used to take him hunting, when he shadowed you through the forest. The love you feel for him hasn’t lessened, has it?”
He shook his head, his eyes glassy.
“It hasn’t changed for him either. When you do finally see him again, it’ll be just like it was on the morning he left for the hunt. There’s a lot you could still do here, though. A lot of good in the world, if you chose to. Vampire society is kind of a mess right now. Do you want to help Vlad and Clive fix it or do you want to go?”
I patted his arm. “No judgment from me whichever you choose. If you decide to stay and work, it’d be cool if you stopped being a dick to me. If it’s time and you’re ready, I’ll tell them the prince had control of you and I had to stop you.”
He grunted. “I don’t like the idea of people believing a fae man overpowered me.”
I nodded solemnly. “I don’t blame you. Especially one that was such a sick asshole. It doesn’t reflect well on you, if what people remember about you is being a fae puppet.”
His eyes went vampy black. “I am no one’s puppet!”
I nodded again. “Got it.”
He was silent for a good long time, thinking. Finally, he said, “I don’t care for you.”
“I get that a lot,” I responded.
Glaring at me, he added, “I have your promise?”
“You do.” I let my claws retract. I was pretty sure their work was done for now.
“I don’t have time for this.” He turned on his heel and strode off toward reception. “I have things to discuss with Vlad and Clive.”
Good.
