And in that moment, Roger saw the hints he’d been seeing for weeks. The tiny glimmers that Zack didn’t hate everything about vampires despite being raised by hunters who did. Doubts were in his core, but he was young, and he would have been strange for having none. He was only on the cusp of discovering who he truly was.
Are you so sure you know who you are?Roger couldn’t deny the question lying in wait in the corners of his mind. This time away from Seamus had been a relief in ways he hadn’t predicted.
He could ignore the question by remaining centered in the moment. If he never stopped to think, he never had to worry about what revelations might come for him.
“Would it be so terrible to be mine?” Roger whispered. He ran his thumb down Zack’s lips and over his chin and caressed his neck to his shoulder before gently sliding his hand up to cup his cheek again.
Zack stepped away sharply. The clever sting in his eyes faded as the doubts clouded. Roger started to reach for him, but Zack dodged backward, slipping away from his grasp. “I have practice with Josefina. I shouldn’t be late.”
Roger let Zack make it all the way to the door before he said, “You’re forgetting something.”
“What?” Zack said as he spun back to look at Roger.
With a flick of his wrist, Roger tossed the collar in his hand to Zack. Zack caught it without breaking eye contact with him. Gently, he said, “I’ll see you later.”
“Later,” Zack replied. After putting on the collar, he ducked out of the room quickly.
A thousand ifs ran through Roger’s mind, but he had no time to entertain any of them. He had his own training to attend to, and he would need to feed before that. Once he’d waited long enough that Zack was far away in the mansion, he slipped out of his room and headed out into the night.
CHAPTER 2
The ache in Zack’s shoulder worked its way down his body until his left side cramped. Sweat stung his eyes and rolled down his back. Keeping up with Josefina drove the air from his lungs. Matching a century-and-a-half-old vampire step for step wasn’t easy. Zack fought to maintain a neutral expression, but a wince was coming on. He ground his teeth together and kept moving.
Suddenly, Josefina stopped, raising her hands and stepping away from Zack. She was beautiful—Zack had yet to meet a vampire that was truly ugly and had a theory that vampiric magic might emit a low-level psychic energy that made everyone seem attractive—and had long dark brown hair that she kept in a braid. Despite two hours of practice, her dress shirt and slacks were immaculate. Not a drop of sweat dotted her brown skin. Since vampires didn’t need to breathe, she wasn’t panting either.
Zack was a smidge jealous.
Maybe more than a smidge.
“That’s enough for the moment,” she said.
Zack had left a towel on a chair in the middle of the ballroom. He went over to it and used it to wipe the sweat off his brow. A bit of makeup came off as well. If he was the type to admit his pains—which he was ignoring the best he could—he’d haveconfessed his ankle felt off and his shoulder hurt. He rotated his sore shoulder a few times, then dropped the towel onto the chair and turned toward Josefina. “Okay. Let’s go again.”
“Excuse me?” Josefina put her hands on her hips and arched an eyebrow. Any hint of warmth evaporated from her expression. Her sternness could match a black screen of death in seriousness.
Vampires wore many masks, and her serious demeanor was one of her most frequent. Underneath, she had a gooey center, and Zack had seen glimpses of it. After all, she’d given him a rainbow teddy bear as a get-well present and checked up on him while he was recovering. She claimed she was doing her duty to keep her lover’s mansion safe. He was “hunter spawn” and needed watching. The excuse would have been believable if she hadn’t brought him coffees and brownies.
So while Zack didn’t buy her aloofness, he didn’t call her out on being his friend. Vampires considered themselves masters of deception. Besides, they were supposed to be practicing vampiric protocols.
Knowing he’d broken it with his tone of voice and lack of proper etiquette, he widened his eyes and faked innocence. “What?”
Josefina picked up her phone from a nearby chair and turned off the foxtrot music. “Why do you always slip up when we’re practicing ballroom dancing?”
“Because I know the rules,” Zack said, a sliver of anger in his voice. He took a deep breath and plastered a smile on his face. He wasn’t supposed to show annoyance or anger. In the GLC, that could be dangerous. Nell and her coven would only think he was rude, but everyone kept reminding Zack that Seamus’s underlings were terrible.
“I’m already letting you slide. You’re dressed inappropriately for an evening out with your master.”
“That gossamer shit isn’t clothing,” Zack complained.
“Zackery, the clothing, the manners—all of it is important,” Josefina said. “This has to be second nature if you’re going to blend in with the upper echelons of vampire society in Chicago. You can’t afford to break character around them.”
The lecture was a common one he’d heard over and over the last two months. Josefina had repeated it at least twice a night in the last week alone. He could follow the rules, but they were like being bound in duct tape and tossed into the back of a moving vehicle. Though he had a far better view of his surroundings, he had the same amount of control over his destination.
But pointing that out wouldn’t change a damn thing, so Zack made a sweeping bow. In a soft whisper, he said, “Please forgive me, master. How can I ever compare to the immortal night that truly occupies your soul?”
Josefina shook her head at him. “I can hear the sarcasm in your voice. False flattery like that?—”
“Will be the death of me. Iknow.” Zack ran his hand through his hair and let out a long sigh. Acting like vampires were a superior species meant to be worshipped was degrading, especially since Zack had been raised to hunt supernaturals and consider them all monsters. Vampires weren’t glorious; they were predators who tormented the weak for sport. They were vile, evil creatures.
