“I’m sure we can put our focus elsewhere.” Takashi helped Zack pull his shirt off.
Zack kicked off his shoes and unbuckled his belt. “What do you think Roger’s doing right now?”
“I like to pretend he’s holed up in a cozy house a million miles away from here,” Takashi replied.
“That would drive him nuts. He hates being alone.” Zack shucked his pants and stepped into the water. It was impossibly hot, but rather than feeling like it was scalding him, the heat sank into his bones and was delightful. “Fuck, that’s good. I’ve never really been a bath person, but?—”
“It has a way of warming us,” Takashi said. “Maybe Roger’s taking a bath.”
“Maybe you should join me,” Zack said with a grin.
Takashi shook his head. “Don’t start.”
“Fine.” Zack sank into the bath. “But first chance we get, we’re buying a hot tub and doing whatever the fuck we want in it. Including fucking.”
Takashi laughed, and there was a soft note in it that Zack had never heard when he was a mortal. Was it new? Or was it some trick of his voice that Zack’s enhanced hearing could now detect? Either way, Zack had brought it out of him, and that warmed him as much as the water.
CHAPTER 16
The hot bath was like drinking the richest cocoa and having a heated blanket wrapped around him. With Takashi’s help, Zack was able to scrub off the last of the dirt. By the time he climbed out of the tub, he swore he had a slight blush of pink in his skin tone. However, that faded from one blink to the next, and he was porcelain white once more.
As he dressed in a black suit, he catalogued some of the other changes to his body. Though he’d always been dexterous, he navigated changing into clothes with a bit more ease. Somewhere along the line, he’d lost a trace of his weight—Zack was willing to bet it’d been water—and his abs weren’t super defined, but his muscles were a fraction more obvious. His tattoo was gone from his hip as if it’d never been there.
The wounds and light scars he’d gained during his time with Roger and Takashi were healed to nothing, except for the first one that Roger had given him. Takashi had stroked it during the course of the bath, and Zack touched his skin to feel the ever-so-slight scar tissue. Somehow, still having it was reassuring. That mark belonged tohim. That moment was his first real step toward becomingthis, and this? Maybe this wasn’t so bad.
“For studying me so much, Seamus put way too much black into my wardrobe.” Zack buttoned his cuffs.
Takashi was going through the cases on the top of the dresser. Then he brandished one, holding out a box of cufflinks for display. “It’s custom among young vampires, especially ones with sires of means.”
“Is the goal to make us more badass?” Zack asked.
“To hide the blood. Drinking without getting it everywhere is an art.”
“Oh.” Zack swallowed the guilt about feeding on the girl in the graveyard. Her blood had gotten on his mouth, but had he been sprayed with it? He’d been too caught up in his own shit to notice. Just like he was letting that void come for him now.Focus. Some of the cufflinks had gems; some were made of gold or platinum. One set was like the crest on his coffin. He picked one up and showed it to Takashi. “You ever know of a newborn vamp with a crest before?”
“Some of the old ones still do that for their young,” Takashi said. He raised an eyebrow. “Is that yours?”
“It’s on a coffin in that room over there.” Zack motioned to the coffin’s closet. “Weapons are a sign of weakness, aren’t they? Among vampires, I mean.”
“Ah, no.” Takashi took the matching one out and set the case down. He slid it into Zack’s cuff and fastened it. “This means you were a hunter in life.”
“Not a lot of hunters become vampires, I guess,” Zack said quietly.
“Not really.”
“Should I be wearing these?” Zack put the other one in his right cuff.
“We are stuck in Seamus’s game. What we need right now is influence and knowledge,” Takashi said. “If he’s giving you tools and prestige, use them.”
“And the more I suck up the attention, the better off you’ll be?” Zack asked.
Takashi shook his head. “I doubt we’ll get much reprieve, particularly in public. They’ll be watching us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find advantages.”
Zack pulled Takashi close to him and rested his forehead against his. The habit was one of Roger’s, he realized, but he gained a sense of calm from sensing the little pop-ups from Takashi’s emotions. Just a small fear, just a tiny desire. Nothing that Zack wanted to investigate, but knowing they were there settled his own fears. Whatever happened next, he wasn’t alone.
“Guess we should get down there,” Zack muttered.
Takashi took his hand and squeezed him tight. “If we’re useful?—”
