Zack jumped and spun to face him. An excited bubble of information was on his lips, but then he noticed the slightnervousness in Takashi’s eyes. Despite saying he was going to change, Takashi was wearing the same clothing.
Zack set aside the book and joined him at the end of the bookcase. “Are you okay?”
“The world will one day tremble at your power of observation,” Takashi teased.
“Don’t avoid the subject.”
“I had a conversation with Anton. Speaking with him is always challenging.”
“Because you’re not sure if he’s going to use shadows to rip your body apart or because he doesn’t seem to know that he’s another one of Seamus’s victims?” Zack asked.
“You’ve noticed?”
Zack leaned against the bookcase. “Hard not to. I can’t help thinking that we got to Roger in time, you know?”
“I’ve had those thoughts as well.”
“You know there’s no ‘saving’ him, right?” Zack whispered. The topic felt like a forbidden thing, even though they were alone. He hoped that Seamus was too preoccupied to listen to his thoughts.Maybe I should start singing in my head all the time.
When Seamus didn’t respond to that, Zack relaxed a little.
“Anton might?—”
“Don’t go for ‘not be so terrible without him,’” Zack said. “We have a very limited knowledge of what he’s done, and every bit of it is terrible. Roger’s been going through some of the same shit. He’s not a villain like him.”
“He’s not the hero of every story either,” Takashi replied.
“Yeah, but Roger didn’t just kidnap three girls and make you turn one of them into a vampire!” Zack snapped.
“Anton could be an asset.”
“Wait, are you developing feelings for Anton?” Zack demanded. “You know I’m a Gladwell, right? Do you have anyidea what he did to my ancestors? For the fun of it? And that’s justoneof his horrible deeds.”
“And who was at his side?” Takashi tched and pulled out two pairs of gloves. He handed one pair to Zack. “I don’t want to argue about this. It’s not like I’m professing love for him. He may be useful, that’s all I’m saying.”
“Right,” Zack said slowly.
“Observing and coming to the wrong conclusions is worse than not noticing something in the first place,” Takashi replied.
“You’re getting defensive. Should I be observing something aboutthat? Or will that be a wrong conclusion?”
“Do you want to waste time having a nonconsequential argument, or do you want to see if we can discover something of value?”
A smart answer was on Zack’s tongue, but rather than jump for it, he relied on his vampiric abilities and sought the touch of Takashi’s mental page. There were big letters attempting to disguise smaller emotions. Zack brushed his mind against them, seeking the shape of them without plunging into the depths. Takashi didn’t want to fight—and didn’t want to examine something he was feeling. He wanted to ignore a part of his mind.
But it wasn’t the same as wanting to hide something, and he wasn’t harboring a passion for Anton.
“I want to see what you’ve found,” Zack replied.
“Excellent. This way.”
Takashi led the way out into the hall and then into the maze that was the first floor. They cut through one of the galleries, and every painting in it was of Seamus or Anton where different artists had had their take on the two in a variety of styles. The love they professed to have for one another was on full display whenever they were in a portrait together. But the gallery was one big, massive edited selfie, curated to a specific story.
What would the story be for Zack, Roger, and Takashi in a hundred years? Would they look fondly back at the beginning of the twenty-first century? Would the time Zack and Takashi were separated from Roger feel like a blip rather than a drawn-out nightmare? Would they tell everyone they were happy constantly, even if they were miserable with each other?Maybe forever is too long to be together.
I’ll deal with that if we live that long. Zack picked up his pace and fell back in step behind Takashi.
The room Takashi led him to was a boring office with a big desk. Takashi lifted a vase off a pedestal next to the door and nodded for Zack to move the other one. Removing the vases revealed buttons underneath. After Takashi set down his vase, he pressed the two buttons together.
