“Then we need to go.” Takashi headed for the door.
Zack took two steps after him.
Denny called out, “You’re really going to leave me here, with him? You have no idea what I’ve been through in here! Come on! We’re family!”
His tone was too much like Cal’s, too much like his family’s constant needling that resulted in nothing but getting disowned. A part of Zack had been shattered, something that hadn’t begun to heal until he was fully dead.
Now, the bastard who had caused the first of Zack’s worst nightmares, who had pitted his peers against him, who had kicked off the slide into the bad graces while remaining in everyone’s fucking favor, was making a demand ofhim.
Seamus had chosen him. Had given him more power than he’d given anyone else in possiblyever. Believed him to be the start of a new generation and a potential dragon slayer. He was not a child begging for his family’s approval anymore.
With a hiss, Zack moved with liquid speed. He reached between the bars, took hold of Denny’s shirt, and yanked Denny up against the bars, all without touching them himself. Denny screamed, but his attempts to push away meant putting his hands on the silver and hurting himself more.
“Aw, have you been suffering?” Zack said with every ounce of biting sarcasm he’d been holding on to since he’d risen. “How terrible! Must fucking suck to be the damsel caught in the dungeon.”
“We were kids!” Denny shouted.
But Zack sensed how badly he wanted to hide from the truth. “Itrustedyou, and youbeatme. Not just with your fists, but your fucking words. So I don’t owe you anything.”
“Zack, please, you don’t understand!” Denny wailed.
“I don’t want to!” Zack roared. He shoved Denny hard enough that he sent him into the other wall. A resounding crack of bone echoed.
“I was fucked-up,” Denny sobbed. Instead of trying to get up, he curled into a ball on the floor. “I … I’m still fucked-up. I’m a vampire. The family’s going to kill me. The only one … I don’t have anyone … and Anton. He’s … he’s done stuff to me. He puts me on that rack and … and cuts me open. Does spells.”
“How long has he been here?” Zack demanded of Phyrull.
“Time is hard to gauge in here, your excellency, but I think a couple weeks,” Phyrull replied.
He hasn’t suffered long enough,a slick, angry, masterful voice inside of Zack decided. But he couldn’t leave him without any hope or leave him to Anton’s tortures forever.
“I will do what I canwhenI can to get you out of this cell.” Zack turned his back on Denny and started heading for the exit. “If you’re lucky, I’ll get around to it before you spend a decade cutting yourself to pieces on the inside.”
He tried not to let Denny’s sobs soothe a part of him. A good guy wasn’t supposed to like anyone in pain.Guess I’m only decent.
The doors locked behind them as he and Takashi made their way up to the first floor of the mansion. As cold as it had seemed, the stillness was welcoming after the blunt stone and horrific torture chamber. Zack rolled his shoulders, but the tension in them was more psychological than physical. Weird vampire physiology at work again.
Cautiously, he ran his gaze over Takashi and checked in on his mental page. Though he could feel the shape of words,he couldn’t grasp their meaning. “Did you, um, hear? What happened at the end?”
“I did,” Takashi said softly.
“You thinking about breaking up with me?”
“What?” Lightly, Takashi put his hand on Zack’s shoulder and turned so they faced each other. “Why would you think that?”
“Because I just left someone to rot in a dungeon, and I don’t feel guilty about it,” Zack replied. “Plus, I made a deal with a demon that you didn’t agree with.”
Takashi linked his hand with Zack’s and then kissed his knuckles. “You had a point in making that deal. I worried about what you would think of yourself after the fact and that you were making a steep bargain.”
“Trust me, I’m going to spend all my free time in that massive library trying to figure out the intricacies of succubae deals, dragon lore, and how to jump-start disconnecting myself from Seamus,” Zack said. “Not exactly in a great position on the board, are we?”
“We’re not.”
Zack stepped closer to Takashi so that they were chest to chest. “But we’ve got this, right?”
“Right,” Takashi replied.
Zack kissed him, quick and gentle. Then he squeezed his hand and headed down the hall. “Seamus left three guys. I only need to drink one more, which means there’s one more for you to eat.”
