Cal paled. He wrestled free of his father and quickly raised the gun. “You son of a?—”
By the time the bullet cleared the chamber, Roger had blurred into action. The world seemed to stand still as he rushed forward. He gripped Cal around the throat. Humans had such soft and destructible bodies. He wouldn’t need to apply much of his strength to break bones or crush Cal’s windpipe.
But he held back. Instead of ripping Cal’s head from his spine, he forced Cal against the truck’s hood and applied pressure to pin him in place. “Your brother is twice the hunter and four times the man you will ever be. If you were in danger, I would have to beg him not to go to your side.I. Do. Not. Like.You. You are alive becauseZackwills it. But he is not here. So give me a reason to snap your neck.Please.”
Cal scrambled against Roger, but he didn’t have the strength or leverage to move Roger’s hand.
The tip of a blade poked Roger in the back. Amber wouldn’t be fast enough to stop Roger from killing Cal, but she was in a good position. One solid push and she’d send her silver dagger into Roger’s heart. He might be able to avoid it—he could attempt to drop into shadows for a flash of a moment like he had on Halloween in order to escape Seamus’s grip—but the fact that he hadn’t felt her move until it was too late either spoke to her expertise, or his rage was blinding him worse than he’d thought.
“Point’s made,” Thomas said. The eldest Wright had his enchanted dagger in hand. The shape of it was closer to a dirk, with a wider blade at the hilt. The runes carved into it glowed with bright white light. “Now, take your hand off of him before we have a bigger problem.”
Roger released Cal and then blurred with movement to where he’d stood before. Impressively, Amber spun toward his direction with little lagging. Thomas was slower, and Cal had to recover from the sudden lack of force holding him up.
Sliding his hands into his coat pockets, Roger pulled on his colder demeanor again. Zack had called it his Master Vampire face.God, I miss him.
“Your text said you needed to meet with the family to discuss a mission for Zack’s sake,” Thomas said. “We’re what you’ve got. I’m guessing Zack isn’t here because no force on Earth could’ve convinced him to sit by while all this bullshit went on. What has happened to my son?”
“After the ball, we were ambushed,” Roger said hollowly. His rage at Cal drained back to the hold it’d flooded from. As infuriating as he was, he wasn’t the true target of Roger’s anger. “Anton and Seamus surprised us, and though we foughtvaliantly, they won. They took Zack and Takashi. Ineedto get them back.”
“Who the fuck is Takashi?” Cal demanded.
“Takashi Sato?” Amber asked.
Cal scowled at her, and Thomas frowned in confusion.
Amber lifted her chin, just like Zack might have. “We almost failed to stop a cult from raising a demon this last Halloween because no one was picking up the research slack. So when Zack mentioned he had another boyfriend, I did what he would do. I went looking.”
“Mentioned?” Cal repeated. “When did hementionanother boyfriend?”
“Not the time, Cal,” Thomas said warily.
“No, no, no. See, he didn’t have any boyfriends in Taliville. He had a bloodsucker he might’ve called one, but only theone. So when did he tell you about this other boyfriend, Amber?”
“Oh, grow up!” Amber threw her hands up and turned to glare at her brother.
“Mom said?—”
“I don’t care.” Ignoring her brother, Amber slid her blade back into its sheath and addressed Roger. “Did you mean Takashi Sato or not?”
“I did,” Roger replied.
“Why take them but leave you?” Amber asked.
“Seamus knows that I’ll agonize over what could be happening to them.” Roger straightened his shoulders. “But I refuse to stand by while it happens. I know his mansion and where he keeps his prisoners within it. I’ve drawn up plans for it and had someone who knows it assist me in fleshing out any changes.”
“He may suspect you’ll come for them,” Thomas said. “That makes the job tricky.”
“Are we talking about a rescue op? Seriously?” Cal scoffed. “We should burn the place down.”
Roger kept his gaze on Thomas. “Seamus has long preyed on the unfortunate. Most of the humans he seduces into his collection of pets are hardly older than your daughter. He has a skill at picking out weaknesses and exploiting them.”
“Any way to get them out while we’re at this?” Thomas asked.
“Not likely. He terrifies them into obedience and slaughters those who attempt to leave. I only managed to take one at the ball because an Unseelie noble stepped in,” Roger replied. “The boy was left alive because Seamus wanted him to deliver a message to me.”
“Why don’t you go in yourself and get them?” Cal demanded. “Why do you need us if you’re such a badass?”
“Because if they’re not able to move under their own power, he’ll need help carrying them,” Thomas said, a haunting, knowing quality changing his voice. There was a distance to his gaze and an emptiness to his expression.
