“You don’t have to fight it,” Anton crooned. “You can have it all. Just let yourself fall.”
Falling.
The dream. His memory. The sudden recollection, the flash of memory that overwhelmed the present from time to time, claimed him. He fell from the trapeze. Smashed his body against the ground. Was dying, there on the dirt. Betrayed because Roger—no, in the memory, it was Sergei—had failed him. Hadn’t been there. Had let him fall.
The fear mingled with the desire. He couldn’t breathe. He had been a vampire more than a century, had long schooled himself out of the habit, but he needed air and couldn’t get it. He had to get free. But Anton was on his lap and holding him down, and some part of himwantedto be stuck beneath him.No. No. No.
“You could be ours,” Anton murmured.
“S-s-stop,” Takashi managed. His eyes were leaking bloody tears.
“Lover,” Seamus said, the warning in his tone deepening his voice.
“I could break him. He’d give us all his secrets, and then we’d have a new toy. A fresh one.” Anton stroked Takashi’s cheek and leaned upward, over him, like he was about to plant a kiss on his trembling lips.
Suddenly, he was gone. His presence became nothing but cold air. A resounding crack and a sharp, pained whimper filled Takashi’s ears before he realized that Anton had stopped his constant magical pressure. Reclaiming his senses with a wave of relief, Takashi used his abilities on his own mind to diminish his desires and cleared the residual haze in his mind.
Anton was on the floor, cradling his head with one hand. A bloody gash in his head was deep, bone and brain showing, but was already healing. A corner of Seamus’s desk had blood on it.
Seamus glowered down at Anton, the red in his eyes flaring brighter. “Out.”
Pouting, Anton pawed at Seamus’s leg, but Seamus kicked his hand. With tears in his eyes, Anton got to his feet, swayed, and then staggered out of the room.
Once the door was closed, Seamus strode over to it and locked it. He stood beside it for a long moment.
Takashi seized that moment to finish collecting himself. Somewhere in the midst of Anton’s magic, his cock had grownhard, but the reality of his situation siphoned that lust away. Anton had turned him into simpering putty, and for the briefest, impossible fraction of a second, Takashi had wanted to give in. Had that been a forced injection, something of Anton’s mind? A vampire could only encourage what existed within their target, but Anton was also a warlock. Did he have skills others didn’t?
Or was there some part of Takashi that craved a dominant partner so badly that even Anton would do?Not the time to think about what I want in the bedroom. He was using me.
But what would have happened if Seamus hadn’t stepped in?
Takashi clasped the arms of his chair so his hands wouldn’t tremble.
“I apologize for him,” Seamus said, his tone calm and cordial. Slowly, he walked over to his desk and leaned his backside against it. On his left was the Bowie knife, and on his right was the bloody corner.
Seamus had stopped Anton, but he’d also allowed him to get that far in the first place.
This conversation isn’t some card game. It’s a four-dimensional chess match. The only reason Takashi was still in the game was because Seamus willed it. That was the point behind his course of action, wasn’t it? Or was Anton stronger than Seamus? Did Seamus want Takashi’s loyalty, or did he suspect that Takashi would know that everything was a setup?
“Thank you,” Takashi said softly, layering on as much respect as he could muster past the shiver in his veins. “I do appreciate the mercy. Considering what I’ve done these last ten weeks, you would have been within your rights to let him break me.”
Seamus grinned, a glimmer of triumph in his muddy red eyes. “I can admire a clever man.”
But can you tolerate his presence? Allow him to thrive? Takashi gave a small smile, playing up a pensive attitude. “Mycleverness is simply an ability to perceive the world around me and come to a conclusion.”
“And what conclusion have you reached about your current situation?” Seamus asked.
Takashi had walked him into asking that question. Ancient vampires had schemes upon schemes, and he had long ago learned that the more he knew, the more he could survive them. Nell had intimated that Seamus planned on ruling over the vampires of North America, uniting them in a single coven and claiming it a kingdom.
But he would face stiff complications. International vampires might not care if Seamus stole so much territory, but they wouldn’t tolerate someone with an army of vampires that could outdo them. Mundane means of travel didn’t take as long as they used to. One could cross the globe in a day without the aid of magic at all. That made an army of vampiresverydangerous.
A vampire like Takashi, who had connections all over the world, could be useful to someone planning to become a vampire king.
Ifhe behaved. What Anton had done was a warning, and Takashi was meant to know that.
Takashi did his best to relax into his seat. “I am a guest at your mansion until you have no use for me, and if I am … disruptive, then I may find my status downgraded. At that point, I’ll likely wish for a stake in my heart rather than what will happen.”
“Intelligence, such a rare and beautiful thing. You’ve gathered the gist of the situation.” Seamus moved to his chair behind the desk and sat. “Zack’s notes about international covens are sparse. I was hoping you might confirm a few details for me.”
