“I can’t shake, obviously. But I’m glad your fella got out okay. What are you doing here then? Thought you’d be with him.”
I explained I’d left Charley to catch up on some sleep, then tried my best to look puzzled, rather than as deeply curious as I was. “Do you know anything about this place? That shack looks solid but it’s obviously old as hell. It’s kind of spooky here, don’t you think?” I didn’t think that at all, but fishing expeditions were always best done carefully.
He cracked a bigger grin this time. “You haven’t heard? You sound local and all, shame on you. The cottage belonged to a witch, so they say. The shed too. Rumour has it she was powerful as all heck. Warded the place with all sorts of spells. That’s why it never burned down like the house.” He scoffed. “All tosh, of course, but that’s what they say around here. That’s why nobody wants to try and knock it down. The land owners won’t even rebuild on the land in case it ‘disturbs the spirits’.” He made disparaging finger quotes around the last part, and rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I’m glad your boy got out. Shame about his friend. That was a nasty business. I’d best get on. You take care now.” He strode away with a brief jerk of his head, and I was too late to stop him stomping straight through the circle. I only hoped I didn’t soon read about an unfortunate event befalling him in the local paper.
Feeling like I might finally have an explanation as to why Charley had struggled so hard to achieve anything while he was held captive, I realised it no longer mattered all that much. He was safe, and that was all I’d wanted. I went home and cleaned my apartment — again.
44
CHARLEY
Baxter had hireda cutesy cottage through Airbnb, which seemed alarmingly at odds with her brash Londoner vibes. But she’d been nice enough to order in enough food for Luc and me as well as Eleanor, so I did my best to ignore the twee flower paintings everywhere, and concentrated on the people instead. Luc had refused point blank to host again, and I was glad, because I selfishly wanted a space where only he and I existed.
Baxter had been tuning in — she called it that, I called it hacking — to all sorts of restricted channels of information, and had blithely assured me nobody would ever come looking for me, or Luc. Stanno had been formally charged with Chip’s murder and with abducting me. Because he’d taken me, nobody was buying his plea that Chip’s death had been unplanned. Bail had been refused and he was unlikely to be out for years. As far as the Tratton St Mary police were concerned, I was an innocent victim of a framing, and a kidnapping with intent to cause serious harm. Even if half the local rozzers had seen my sex tape, I could live with that.
“I guess that’s us finished here.” That was Sorley, the freckle-faced vampire Luc thought had been sired by Dalziel. I still didn’t like the idea, because it sounded too much like he was somehow Dalziel’s offspring, and apparently I had some stirrings of jealousy. I had no idea how the fuck to even begin dealing with that.
Eleanor was walking around quietly, picking up a book here, a sweater there, packing while half listening. She shot me a quick, warm smile, which I returned equally as warmly, because she was a darling, and I was glad my dad had someone so devoted to looking after him.
Andthere it was.The elephant-sized uh-oh in the room. At some point during the day, I’d woken from a sleep dotted with fractured, nightmarish re-runs of everything that had happened over the past few days, my heart pounding and my skin sweaty, as I recalled I’d called DalzielDad.To his face. I’d curled into a ball under my duvet and waited for my pulse to return from the stratosphere, but I could no longer deny I’d said it. And if I knew, then everyone in this room also knew.
Nobody had mentioned it. And I felt mean as shit for the seemingly casual way I’d mentally shoved David aside when my sperm donor came along. Except, it was anything but casual. I knew Nita and David loved me — they’d certainly made sure to tell me enough times in the past dozen hours — but it didn’t change that I’d never really felt like I belonged to them. This wasn’t some recent revelation with me casting aside the known for the potential of a new adventure. This was who I was. Or fifty per cent of who I was. Which apparently counted for alot.
Oops, I’d zoned out. I asked Baxter to repeat herself. She lobbed a cushion at me. “I asked what your plans were now you’re out of favour with the motorcycle club, and currently out of work? London’s nice…”
“I dunno. It’s also got about eight million people, and I don’t know any of them. Except you,” I finished quickly when I noted her mouth droop. “I guess I’ll have to find some work before I do anything else.”
Luc squeezed my arm. “We don’t have to stay around here. Grandpa wouldn’t mind having me nearer, and if his pack grumble about ‘all the gay’, he’d shut them up quickly. We could rent a place along the coast from Middle Cranford if you fancy the idea. See if we like it. Or head further north again, if that’s something you’d like, to be nearer Dalziel.”
I caught Dalziel watching for my reaction, and my breath hitched at the intensity of his gaze. I focused on Luc because he was easier to read. “But you wouldn’t want to live in Scotland, would you? Your lovely flat—”
“It’s just a base, a place to crash. I can close it up for six months, rent it out, even sell it. It doesn’t mean anything unless you’re with me.” He tugged me off my perch on the arm of the couch, and I toppled into his lap. He kissed my nose. “Would you like to head back to Lucansburn? Find somewhere nearby, and see how you like it when you’re not hiding from the world? I can work wherever there’s an internet connection. I might have to travel for the occasional meeting, but you could either come with me, or you’d have Dalziel for company if not.”
I wanted that. Ireallywanted that. I bit my lip. “I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable though.” My gaze flickered to the assembled vampires. I was pretty confident Dalziel was softening towards him, but Luc deserved more than to be merely tolerated. He’d been banished from his own family.
Dalziel beckoned to me. “Please, Charley, a word, if I may?”
We headed outside and down the road a way, because of course, supernatural hearing. We didn’t go far, only to the first layby we came to, where Dalziel halted. He stuck his hands in the pockets of his tailored slacks, turned to face me, then inhaled and exhaled slowly.
I smirked. “You don’t even need to breathe, do you?”
His lips twitched. “Not often, no.”
“And by not often you mean..?”
“You have to understand, I’ve spent three hundred years trying to pass successfully enough as human so as not to be hunted down and exterminated. I breathe almost automatically now, because I’ve trained myself to do it.” He gave me a smile tinged with sadness. “I’m undead, Charley. I don’t ever need to breathe.”
“When you put it like that... But you didn’t bring me out here to discuss immortality. Or did you? Fuck, am I gonna outlive Luc? Nobody has ever given me a straight answer.” I gulped. “Oh god, I drank your blood.”
“No, Charley, you’re not immortal. From my point of view, that’s a fucking tragedy, but as you youngsters would say, that’s a me problem. Drinking the blood of a vampire would only turn you if you were already drained almost to the point of death, so please don’t concern yourself with that. I needed you to heal quickly, and rather my blood than anyone else’s.” He waited until he could see that I’d absorbed and understood his words before continuing.
“I want to offer you some time, without expectation or any strings, for you to come to terms with what you’ve learned about your blood family. Which means I’m offering to bankroll you while you take this time, because I think it’s fair to say you’re currently running on fumes, and I don’t want you exhausting yourself with some hurriedly-found dead-end job in order to pay for groceries and eyeliner, when I’m wealthy enough to not even notice the dent you’d put in my income. Obviously the invitation to stay extends to Lucien as well. I’m still not thrilled your mate is a wolf, but I’m working on my hypocrisy. Being a senior Council member, you’d think I’d be doing better than this already, but I am trying.” He stared across the field behind me, not meeting my eyes. “I’m also still pushing the Council to provide someone to help you get a handle on your Fae talents. Volik is, to my knowledge, a fair ruler of his people, but he’s hard to pin down.” He sighed softly. “But basically, selfishly, the main reason is I’d like the chance to get to know my son.” A fraction’s hesitation. “And I think you might like that too.”
I’d never heard him sound so unsure. Which meant I couldn’t dismiss this as anything less than it was — a heartfelt acknowledgment of my place in his life. If I wanted it.
My mouth dry, I came to stand directly in his line of sight. “You heard what I said, when I woke up after you all rescued me.”
His eyes shone. “I heard.”
