The Cal voice kept going.Fucking little monster.
Hey, asshole voice in my head? You can suck it. Zack slid his hand down the length of his coffin as he headed back toward the living room.I didn’t take the blood to beat myself up. I took it to live. And I’m going to do that.
He was a vampire. He was going to use these fine gifts Seamus had given him, soak up every bit of knowledge that he could, and then murder the bastard.I am going to be the greatest vampire to ever vampire. So choke on that, Cal voice.
CHAPTER 14
To avoid obsessing over being trapped in a bedroom, Takashi mentally translated Shakespeare’s famous “St. Crispin’s Day” soliloquy into Modern English, Japanese, and French. Currently, he was working on his Farsi version. Unfortunately, he couldn’t quite remember all the words of the original speech. He was ninety percent sure he had somehow mixed the entirety of “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” into the poem, but since it was doing the important task of occupying his mind, he didn’t give a damn.
The previous night, the silent boy who had led him around his first night in the mansion had dropped off four blood bags and then left. Takashi had been abandoned, waiting for either Seamus or Anton to summon him. Would another night pass the same way?Morethan one?
When a knock finally came, he jolted out of his thoughts and stopped pacing. “Yes?”
Slowly, the door opened. The boy was back, head bent so that he was staring at the floor, and he motioned out to the hallway.
Takashi took a second to steady himself and followed the boy out. He still had little reference for the path they traveled. AllTakashi was certain of was that the mansion must be large, even by vampire coven master standards.
The boy led him down a staircase and back along the hall. He stopped beside an open door and motioned for Takashi to go inside.
One must always dazzle the audience, Takashi. An audience will forgive anything so long as one is delightful, Geoff Pierro, the ringmaster of the circus, had said when Takashi had first begun his performances. The words had carried him far in his mortal and immortal life.
He found an easy smile, lifted his chin, and walked through the door.
The room was a sleek, modern living room. Everything had a new-quality sheen to it, and he couldn’t help wondering how long it had actually been put together like this. TheTwilightmovie posters were an odd touch. There was another open door that led to a bedroom.What was the purpose of bringing me here?
The soft click of the door made Takashi glance over his shoulder. The boy had shut the door, remaining on the outside. This side of the door had a handle, which was a small relief. But Takashi didn’t relax. He had a sense that he wasn’t alone before he heard the soft footfalls of someone coming out of the other room.
Takashi believed he was prepared for the worst that Seamus or Anton might throw at him.
Then Zack stepped into the doorway.
The dirt caked into his hair altered its color to a darker brown. His black suit was ripped and had streaks of dirt. His hands were filthy.
That clue would be obvious enough, but the change vampirism had brought to Zack was astonishing. His skin was white as porcelain and seemed to give him a soft glow. His youthwas no longer mutable, no longer aging in the minor ways a night could bring. The scar that Roger had given him on his neck was still there, barely visible under the collar of his shirt. It was fainter than it had ever been, but it would remain.
His eyes had lost their gray and were a shade of deep ruby. Was it his hunger that had changed the color? Or was this a permanent change? Only older, powerful vampires had eyes that remained consistently red, but something was different about Zack than the typical fledgling. Vampires had auras that grew with age, and yet Zack already had a stronger presence to him.
In addition to that, Zack’s gait had changed. He held his head high and his shoulders straight. Though he’d done that as a mortal, the effort had been noticeable. In this moment, he had a natural confidence. He was graceful. Elegant.
This was exactly who Takashi had suspected Zack might become if only he stopped standing in his own way.
Another reaction quickly chased Takashi’s awe. A seed of anger sprouted into a full tree because Seamus had stolen something precious from them. Though Zack’s mortality wasn’t what Takashi had valued about him, he, Roger, and Takashi should have been together when Zack rose as a vampire. Roger and Takashi should have been the ones to usher him through his changes when the time was right, when he had chosen it. The act should have been done with love, not with violence or force.
Zack’s confidence wavered, and he emanated a growing fear of rejection.
Feeling Zack’s emotion so freely was another change. His tattoo must have died when he did.And now he can feel me.Takashi remembered how difficult interpreting others’ desires and fears was his first few years. Likely, Zack didn’t understand that Takashi’s violent wishes weren’t aimed at him and was growing wary from misunderstanding.
No words would suffice. Takashi threw up a mental wall to shield Zack from his desire for revenge and focused on his budding want to bring Zack close. He opened his arms wide, offering an embrace.
Zack smiled softly, the joy brightening his eyes, and hurried into Takashi’s arms. He smelled of fresh dirt and a touch of wintery night. The undercurrent of mortal copper was gone from him. His embrace was stronger and firmer in a way that swayed Takashi’s heart.
A weight lifted from his shoulders because Zack washere, and he was relatively safe, and he hadn’t been suffering these past few nights. He’d been transforming into this marvelous being that Takashi was holding tight in his arms. Though their present situation was far from ideal, they would haveforever. The three of them could weather the centuries together.
Takashi’s desire was a stone dropped into the smooth lake that was Zack’s wants, and he felt the way his emotion moved through Zack, rippling and building momentum rather than fading away. Zack nuzzled him and then moved so that their lips brushed when he spoke. “How are you all right?”
“I’m a well-kept hostage,” Takashi murmured. “‘All right’ is a very loose term for how I am.”
“What’s happened to Roger? Carver? Kit? Vincent?” Zack’s voice had an ethereal quality that Takashi had only ever heard from much older vampires. Roger had a bit of it, which lent him a sexier purr that Takashi loved, but Zack’s dripped with otherworldliness and a hint of a fathomless strength.
