Though they had taken their time, they inevitably had to reenter the conference room. The scent of fresh death warned Takashi of the body before they turned the corner, and the soft murmur of conversation should have told him that something was happening. Yet he was too caught in his own back-and-forth to analyze these things before. So he walked into the room one mental step behind and watched Candide’s smile tighten. When he glanced over, he was equally rocked.
Seamus had his hand on Zack’s shoulder, and the two of them stood amidst the group of lieutenants and captains. He had a proud, fatherly smile on his lips as he continued introducing Zack to the others.
Matching Seamus’s tone, Zack was also smiling. His red eyes sparkled with the brightness common to one who had just fed,and he shook Dempsey’s hand with a smooth, easy gesture. A smidge of hesitation creased his grin a bit too wide and made him dip his head when he might have held his chin up. Takashi had been watching him for months; Zack had a habit of looking away when he wanted out of a conversation.
So, he knew the angle Zack would eventually pick to look up. Takashi released Candide as she drifted toward the group while he subtly rounded the circle so that he might catch Zack’s gaze. A second later, he did. Zack relaxed just a fraction, and his grin had a hint of fang and warmth. Then he turned that charm on Kazik, who was next in the introduction cycle.
Takashi slid his hands into his pants pockets and continued to keep at the edge of the room. The small lag in Zack’s confidence seemed gone. He was spreading his wings, and though rough winds were bound to lay ahead, he was riding the currents for now.
He doesn’t want it, Roger had said one night in bed, when Zack was fast asleep. Roger had been in the middle that night, and Takashi had cuddled up against him. Zack had been snoring on the far side.He doesn’t have any interest in being a vampire.
Bullshit, Takashi had thought then.
This moment was vindication. Zack wasn’t wallowing in guilt or grief. Likely those emotions were held at bay, but Zack was maintaining his balance. He was already stronger and faster than Takashi. That wouldn’t have been possible unless Zack had willfully taken every drop of power that he could. Someone who, at their core, didn’t want to be a vampire simply couldn’t take that strength. Zack wanted to be immortal, and Takashi had a feeling that was the part he had glimpsed while reading his journal, drinking his blood, and in those rare moments in bed when Zack truly let himself go.He was never going to be satisfied on the sidelines.
Seamus saw this possibility in him, even from a distance. Takashi stalked closer to the edge of the circle for a place among his peers. The pendulum of his rage swung, threatening to crash into his fine mental balance and ruin his control. The choice to turn should have been Zack’s. Not as some farce in a bid to keep living but with his true consent.But would he have been as strong if Roger or I had turned him?
The what-ifs and anger over past choices didn’t matter. Letting himself get riled up over events he couldn’t change served no one, least of all himself or Zack.
Takashi slipped in between Jong-Su and Lucille and joined Zack on his other side. He wrapped an arm around Zack’s waist and gently kissed his cheek.
Zack leaned into Takashi. The brush of his growing grin made Takashi smile. As they were standing so close, Takashi swept his psychic awareness across Zack’s mind, not prodding but scanning. Zack had a flimsy mental wall built from a desire to make someone else happy, but it was enough that he’d know if someone crashed through it.
Seamus slid his hand from Zack’s shoulder to Takashi’s arm, which drew Takashi’s attention. Subtly as he could, Takashi shifted his stance so that he could peer just past Zack to the ancient vampire. A sharp glint filled Seamus’s mottled red and blue eyes, and he flashed a hint of fang before looking at Zack out of the corner of his eyes. Then he met Takashi’s gaze again.
I never hid that I care for him. But now heknows. Instinctively, Takashi tightened his hold around Zack before he could stop himself. The gesture was minute, but in this crowd, every whisper was a klaxon.They’ll try to find a way to use our connection against each other. To use Roger against us and us against him.
Zack squeezed Takashi once and then drew in a dramatic breath and sighed. “Asfascinatingas meeting all of you has been, I’m fairly certain there is still coven business to conduct.”
“Too true. Enough fooling around,” Seamus said. He grabbed an empty legal pad and a pen from the table and handed them out toward Takashi. “Takashi, Anton seems to have grown bored with us. Do grab a seat at the end and take the minutes.”
“My pleasure, master,” Takashi said with a slight head bow. He began to make his way toward one of the two empty seats at the end of the table.
Zack started to follow, but Seamus quickly put his hand back on his shoulder and steered him toward Anton’s vacated seat.
Once upon a time, Nell had kept Takashi that close at hand, involving him in confidential affairs of the coven when he was fresh from the grave. She’d had a far kinder hand, but she had given him rank and status far faster than other subordinates.You don’t adopt a right hand, Takashi. You groom one.
But why Zack? Takashi scrawled the date across the top of the paper in three languages, fully writing it rather than relying on numbers just because the meeting had yet to restart. What was the deeper game? Upsetting the hunters? Putting Anton on alert that he could be replaced in some fashion? Giving Anton more space to work by taking a few responsibilities off his shoulders? Hell, putting therestof the coven on alert that a new boogeyman was at Seamus’s side? After all, Zack had killed a vampire in public not long ago and had challenged Seamus at a ball before everyone.
The screens flicked on, and the other lieutenants rejoined the meeting by their digital means. Takashi slipped into a mindset that would allow him to take adequate notes while still holding back the details he truly gathered for himself. Power lay in information, and he and Zack needed every scrap they could muster.
CHAPTER 18
Nathaniel set the scissors down on the kitchen table. “Done my best.”
“I don’t think it looks that bad,” Vincent said as he wandered over to where Nathaniel kept his cleaning supplies. He grabbed the broom and began to sweep the floor around Roger.
Josefina had a hand over her mouth. She sat on the kitchen counter, an empty blood bag beside her. Changing their hair had been her idea, and she had allowed Nathaniel to lop off her long braid in favor of a much shorter cut. Her hair still reached her shoulders, though.
Roger took up his phone and turned on the selfie mode. His hair hadn’t been so short since 1857, the one and only time he’d considered keeping to a mortal fashion and trimming his hair up from his shoulders.
But now, his hair was up above his ears. Vincent had helped him bleach his ebony locks to a light brown. He’d also started cutting Roger’s hair, but Nathaniel had caught sight of what he was doing to Roger and what had happened to Josefina, and he declared that he was taking over.
No wonder Josefina was ready to laugh. He lookedhorrible. Nathaniel wasn’t bad with scissors, but he was far from a professional.
Roger played with the strands and made a face at the screen. A real-time “reflection” was still a novelty and one he typically enjoyed. This was like watching a stranger.
“Stop fussing. It’ll grow back. Eventually.” Nathaniel reached into the fridge and took out a blood bag. “Has he drank yet?”
