She really does love him, and no one was supposed to know about his deal with her.Roger extracted himself from Takashi and Zack in order to lean forward in a smooth gesture. He chuckled and shook his head. “Ezra? With a collar? You’re listening to too much gossip, old man.”
“If you wanted to continue your stupid act, you shouldn’t have vanished for three decades and then brought home Nell’s brightest fledgling and a Gladwell-Wright spawn,” Seamus said harshly. Any hint of mirth was gone. “Don’t take this as a request: Shut up, Roger.”
There it was. Seamus was pissed. His anger wasn’t just beneath the surface; he was a volcano primed to burn his enemies to ash. How many of the vampires would take his side? Why hadn’t Roger insisted on bringing Zack’s dagger and just doing the damn deed tonight?Because I’m a coward.
Roger closed his mouth, and though he slowly relaxed against the couch once more, he didn’t slouch.
“Taking another vampire as a pet is highly unorthodox, Candide,” Seamus said, ice in his voice.
Ezra, who had always been fueled with his own fire and rage, moved with cool precision. He sat up and drew a deep red collarfrom his pocket. Instead of the usual circular crest tag, his was shaped like a heart. As he went to put it on himself, Candide gently took it from him and fastened it around his neck. She stroked just underneath it at the base of his neck in a quick, intimate gesture.
“He’s less my pet and more my submissive,” Candide said quietly, not meeting Seamus’s intense glare. “At least, for a while longer. He wanted to learn from me, and I have plenty more to teach him.”
Then she lifted her chin, a smile gracing her lips as she donned her mask of the polite socialite. She caressed Ezra’s back and kissed his cheek. “Can you blame me? A beautiful boy like him begging for a firm hand—how could I resist? Roger’s attempted to meet his needs, and so have dozens of others. I’m simply being thorough with him and finally scratching his itch.”
“I always found him too dull to bother with,” Seamus said dismissively.
That was a lie. As far as Roger knew, Ezra had never been to Seamus’s bed because he refused to go, and Seamus hadn’t coerced him into it. As much as Seamus manipulated the emotions of others, he either couldn’t do so to Ezra or for some reason had wanted Ezra to choose him. Roger tucked away the questions that sprung to mind.Maybe if I wrote everything out like Zack does, I could finally see the patterns.
“Perhaps I just enjoy the way he lets me dress him. He is so very pretty,” Candide said.
“Isn’t he wearing a bit much, though?” Seamus’s grin returned but with the edge of malice that made Roger’s memories stir with sinkholes of despair. “Come, come. Have him stand up a moment so he can strip.”
Candide kept her hand on Ezra’s shoulder and met Seamus’s stare. Her smile would have seemed perfectly in place for anyone who hadn’t known her. Her calm was hiding the raging beastwithin her. Of all the vampires Roger knew, she could control her temper the best.
But Seamus’s attitude and demands were wearing her patience to its breaking point.
If I am to crawl out of this hell, I can’t let this shit continue unchecked. Roger put his arm around Takashi and said nonchalantly, “Surely Ezra isn’t the only submissive vampire. I bet there are covens out there where such a thing has been common. Collar and all.”
“I can think of a half dozen,” Takashi said.
Seamus slid his glare toward them, but his words were measured and playing at polite. “I would wager they follow the dress code of other pets.”
“Only in Hong Kong,” Takashi said brightly. “The master there, Meredith—I believe you know of him—is a terrible brute. Forces all his sirelings to serve as his pets for at least a decade and treats them awfully. And he’s always churning out new vampires. I don’t know how he’s held on to the territory for a century, except that he empowered the British there for the decades, and those few mortals in the know aided his continued existence. Now, his vampires are so weak and demoralized I’ve heard whispers of other covens coming to claim his territory.”
Takashi’s delivery was perfect, and Roger had to suppress his urge for a smug smile. His speech had nabbed Seamus’s full attention long enough that Candide’s tension relaxed. And the information had been perfect as well. Roger knew Meredith. The vampire had been in the UK when the coven had lived there. He was only half as old as Seamus, but somehow, the two behaved as if they were equal rivals.
“All right then,” Seamus said with a gentle grumble. “Stand anyway. I want to see this fashion Candide’s fixed for you, Ezra.”
Ezra stood and did a slow spin. His clothes were impeccably tailored, and he had a hint of makeup that brought out his steelyeyes. His hair had always been a fiery disaster that stuck up at odd angles after too many hours, but the cut of it accented that feature and made use of it. He was charming and handsome, the pinnacle of noble youth caught in a vampire’s immortality.
“I suppose I’ve seen worse,” Seamus remarked. “He is allowed to fetch us refreshments, isn’t he? That’s not too menial of a task for him?”
“He’d be happy to do so,” Candide said.
“Fantastic.” Seamus glanced down at Vincent, who was still curled up against him. “You and the hunter spawn should go to the bar and bring back drinks for the other pets. Run along now, scoot.”
Vincent quickly stood, glared at Zack as soon as his back was to Seamus, and then nodded in the direction of one of the bars. Subtly, Zack looked to Roger for permission. Roger gave the slightest nod, so Zack rose and followed Vincent away. Ezra headed off on his errand as well.
“It’s been a while so many of us old ones enjoyed an evening together,” Roger said casually. Outright asking why Seamus had summoned them, especially in his current mood, was a bad idea. Roger drifted his hand along Takashi’s shoulder. “Did you want to talk about the application?”
“I’m happy that Takashi will be part of our coven. I’ll make an announcement about it tonight.” Seamus checked his gold watch, an old one that he’d taken off a mobster in the 1920s. “We have some time before the show, though.”
“Show?” Candide asked.
“Ah, it’s a surprise,” Seamus said with a gleeful smile that froze Roger’s soul. “I promised Anton I wouldn’t say anything, but it will beglorious.”
Dmitri had been out to kill his devil—Anton. And now, a few nights later, Anton had planned some sort of show. Rogerdipped his head, letting his hair provide a curtain. He couldn’t contain the worry.Fuck it all, Dmitri. What did you do?
