Takashi laughed and held up a hand. “Hold on.” He went off to their bedroom and reemerged a minute later. In his hand, he had a leather journal, and he offered it to Roger. “This was almost my birthday gift to Zack, but he has such a nice one he’s already using.”
“The necklace was far better. He’s been wearing it every chance he gets.” Roger took the journal and kissed Takashi again. “Thank you.”
Takashi caressed Roger’s cheek, teased another kiss, then gently pressed their lips together for a moment. “I’ll be here if you decide you want to talk.”
Roger squeezed his hand, then stepped away. He found a pen, grabbed the bottle, and headed out to the balcony. The light from the suite was enough for him to write by, especially as he took a seat on the couch rather than stand at the edge. The cold night air was bracing but of course lacked that quality of salt he found himself missing. At some point, he’d have to find an excuse to take his lovers to see the ocean.
The journal was a beautiful dark leather and supple to the touch. Embossed on the cover was a set of fangs, the stylized sort that tended to represent a set of vampire’s teeth, and the fangs had a dagger set between them. Roger snorted and rubbed his finger across the embossing.
Then he uncorked the bottle of whiskey, opened to the first page, and wrote,I have no idea what year I was born, mortal or vampire …
CHAPTER 32
Zack’s phone was ringing.
He was closer to the edge of the bed for a change, so he rolled over and nuzzled up against Takashi. Cool side of the pillow found, he started slipping back down into the wonderful bliss of sleep.
Then his phone began to ring again.
And he realized thathis phone was ringing. It never did that. Somehow, spam calls hadn’t found either of his new cell numbers yet. Either something was up with Blake and she needed him. Or … or … He scrambled to grab his phone.
His parents weren’t calling him, but Zack lost his breath anyway.
Because his caller ID said his sister was.
The shock threw him so hard that he missed the second call. Just as he was attempting to call her back, his phone rang for the third time. He answered, “Amber?”
“Zack?” she said. “Zack? It’s you, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s me.” Zack glanced at the bed. Neither Roger nor Takashi had moved. Somehow, talking while they were sleeping felt rude, even if they weren’t likely to wake up. “Hold on.”
Quietly, Zack padded out to the living room, but the space was too big, and his voice might echo. He whispered another quick “one minute” and crept into the office and shut the door. After listening for anyone else moving around in the suite, he let out a sigh of relief and said, “Okay. Hi, Amber. It’s amazing to hear your voice.”
“Now I realized I should have FaceTimed. Can we do that? I need to see your face.”
“Yeah, sure.”
The call switched over, and for the first time in months, Zack saw his sister’s face. She had a long piece of her auburn hair hanging in front of her left eye, though she nervously played with it. In his head, Zack knew his sister was young. She was only fifteen. But somehow, the memory of her seemed older, and now that he could see her again, she seemedyoung.
She also looked like she was crying and was currently attempting to hold back tears.
“Amber, what’s wrong?” Zack asked.
“Don’t get mad at me, okay? But. Gah. Is there like. A window?”
She’s asking me to step out into the sunlight.Zack swallowed. “It’s too freaking cold outside. I’m not doing that. Here.” He opened his mouth wide and brought the camera close enough to get a good look at his teeth. “No fangs. See?”
“Okay.” Amber nodded and took in a deep sniff. “It’s been months and Mom keeps saying stuff and the parents are talking about how hunters died last night in Chicago and I had to know if one of them was you.”
Zack sat down with his back against the door. “I’m alive.”
“Okay.”
“I don’t know what Cal told you?—”
“He said you got brainwashed, but I didn’t think that sounded like you,” Amber replied. “Everything’s been awful since you left.”
“How?”
