“Is Takashi safe? Did he make it out?” Roger asked.
“Hold on. There are a lot of check-ins,” Janiyah muttered.
Thomas pulled off to the side of the driveway, knocking into one of Seamus’s obscene statues of a mortal offering themselves up. The reinforced front held, and the statue teetered on its plinth, eventually falling over. When Bastian started to slow his vehicle, Thomas gave him the signal to go ahead, and the other cars took off.
“Vincent has him and a girl,” Janiyah said.
Without waiting, Thomas moved the truck back onto the driveway and took off after the others.
Roger spared one glance behind him. Several parts of the mansion were aflame, the blazes brightening the area more than the coming dawn for the moment.
He’d done it. He had actually faced Seamus and lived. He’d outmaneuvered the bastard and drove him off. Not only that, but he had Zack in his arms, and Takashi was free.
Though they weren’t yet to the safe house, a tidal wave of relief like he’d never known before crashed over him. The taxation of the battle began to creep up on him, but he wouldn’t sleep until he knew if Zack had reclaimed his mind. Until then, he’d hold him close and hope.
CHAPTER 59
“He wasn’t feral. It was something more focused than that,” Takashi murmured. He sat atop a dresser in the shabby bedroom. The trip to the safe house had been quicker than he’d expected. They weren’t in Chicago but in one of the suburbs closer to Seamus’s mansion than Takashi was comfortable with. Roger assured him the mages and warlocks working the illusions to protect the place could hold their magics for forty-eight hours, which would be enough time for the surviving forces that had rendezvoused to dissipate.
“Seamus attempted to use his vampiric manipulations when I initiated my fight. He only focused on the vampires. I wonder if he was doing that to Zack and that was taking a portion of his strength,” Roger mused.
Roger had changed into a red long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of dark gray sweatpants. Despite his short, horribly dyed hair, he looked better than he ever had. His confidence was enticing; his mannerisms were brusquer, but not in a bad way. This was Roger without pretenses, without putting on a show.
Takashi felt like he was seeing his lover for the first time and falling for him all over again.
Zack was on the bed. They had found enough rope and belts that he was tied down so tightly that he shouldn’t be able to move anything besides his head. The arrow through his skull had kept him knocked out, his body healing around the wood but unable to restore where the arrow remained. Roger had removed the arrow a couple of minutes ago.
Sluggishly, Zack opened his eyes, and they were steel gray except for a ring of red around the center. He blinked heavily, then tried to move. He glanced down to see the ropes and belts. “Oh, that’s probably smart.”
With a laugh of relief, Takashi moved from the dresser to sit beside Zack. Roger sat on the other side so that Zack was between them. When Takashi reached to undo the first belt, Roger caught his hand and held it.
“Let’s give him a minute,” Roger murmured. He stroked Zack’s hair. “You seem better, but?—”
“But I went full psycho killer.” Zack groaned, then tried to sit up with alarm. “Wait, my dad?—”
“Thomas is fine. As is Janiyah,” Roger said.
“Janiyah should play baseball.” Zack snorted, then laughed harder. “I can’t believe I just suggested a vampire play baseball.”
Takashi laughed, too, and stretched out alongside Zack.
“What’s so—oh. That movie.” Roger rolled his eyes. “I try to forget you made me watch it.”
“Well, now I can make you watch itforever,” Zack chided.
“You can,” Takashi said softly.
Zack met his gaze, and his beautiful eyes held a tender regret. “Takashi, I am sorry about?—”
“You weren’t yourself,” Takashi replied.
“What happened?” Roger asked.
“Seamus got in my head. Suppressed everything but the desire to kill,” Zack said. “I don’t feel him like I did before, but he’s stillthere.”
“Then he survived,” Roger said.
“Survived what exactly?” Zack asked.
