Takashi stilled his body and cleared his mind of the nerves attempting to overwhelm him. Panicking wouldn’t bring him any solutions. He needed to take in the data and process it. He’d been in worse positions. Montreal. Dubai. London.
No, none of them had been this bad. He’d been in love before. Been caught in schemes before. But he’d never been falling for the sireling of a powerful immortal whose end game remained a mystery. Seamus had said he wanted a war with the dragons, but what would be the point in that? How could vampires even take on such creatures?
If more of them were as strong as Zack, if Zack had time to grow, if Seamus—there were ways, but they were decades off from fruition.We’re not caught at the end of preparations. We’re in a beginning stage. That was why Seamus had been incensed about losing his funds. The war chest would have been useful as he built an army. With that kind of money, he would have been able to enact his schemes on an international level. With Zack and Takashi, Seamus might mend his reputation. He’d be able to point at the two of them as examples of the future of his coven. Even Katie was a prodigy.
We’re not players at the board. We’re pawns. Takashi raced through his possible courses of action. Simply grabbing Katie and running off into the night wouldn’t work. Katie cared about Anton. Zack was tied to Seamus, and …We have to get out of here before Seamus corrupts him.
Roger would know what to say. Roger would be able to help us weather this with love.
“You were the one,” Takashi said slowly, choosing his words carefully, “that insisted we couldn’t count on Anton for anything because of the monster that he is. But you trust Seamus? We saw what he did to Anton. What he did to Vincent. We know what he’s done to Roger.”
“Fuck, I know. I know!” Zack wiped fresh tears from his eyes. “But the whole fucking world is against me, Takashi. What the fuck am I supposed to do?”
On a long-ago night, Takashi had known that loneliness when Sergei had discovered his letters and their friendship had mutated to hate. The betrayal had cut him to the bone, and yet they’d had to perform one last time together. And Takashi had fallen. He’d died because the man who should have been there wasn’t.
Zack had held on to Takashi in a way no one else ever had.
Takashi longed to do the same for him. He zipped over to him and grabbed him by his shoulders. “We will find our way out of this. We’ll be together hundreds of years.Thousands.”
Zack held on to his hands. “Promise?”
“Yes,” Takashi whispered. “We won’t have to hold on forever. We’ll break free.”
“How?”
“Work in progress.” Takashi grinned. “Tomorrow night will be a good time to get the lay of the land outside this house.”
“Yeah.” Zack perked up. “You’ve been working with Anton for the party. Does that mean you’ve invited friends from other covens?”
“I’ve reached out,” Takashi replied. “I have no idea if anyone’s accepted my invitation. Anton declared that he wanted the final guest list to be a surprise for me.”
“But there’s a chance.”
“Yes.”
“Will any of these friends be able to help us?”
Takashi managed a smile. “Their presence certainly can’t hurt.”
“Come with me,” Seamus said after their family meal.
Zack rose from his seat.
Seamus shook his head and pointed at Takashi. “You.”
Before Takashi could say anything, Seamus headed out the door. Takashi followed him. The long stretch of hallway was dotted with fresh bouquets of flowers, yet the scent of old dirt clung to Seamus so profoundly that Takashi still smelled it in his immediate wake. There was a touch of burnt coal dust, the tiniest whiff of it. Nell and other ancient vampires had a similar hint in their scents of the grave.
When they neared the front doors, Seamus stopped, spun on his heel, and raked his gaze over Takashi from head to foot. “You need to change.”
“Can I ask the occasion, master?”
“You and my love have invited all these blasted vampires from other covens,” Seamus said. “You should help me greet tonight’s arrivals.”
“As you wish, master.” Takashi gave Seamus a slight nod and then hurried off to change. He slipped into a navy blue suit with a clean white dress shirt and forewent a tie altogether. He zipped down to the foyer.
“Much better,” Seamus said approvingly.
A limo was waiting outside for them, and the driver sprang out to open the car door for them as they stepped out of the mansion. Seamus motioned for Takashi to slide into the limo first. Once they were both in, the driver shut the door and returned to his seat. The limo soon got underway.
