“I was talking to Vincent.”
“All I saw was you guys jumping into the van,” Vincent said.
The lightness in Roger dropped off into an aching tiredness that he didn’t usually feel unless he’d stayed up well past dawn. It wasn’t quite as bad as when he’d first woken from his coma, but he was growing hungry. The blood he’d had earlier that night was a diminished reservoir.
“Oh my God, Dmitri! Don’t lean back.” Josefina shoved Dmitri’s shoulders forward.
A piece of the chair leg was protruding from the center of the Dmitri’s back. With a quick and careful pull, Josefina freed it from his back.
From the angle of the injury and the length and width of the piece of wood, it should have struck Dmitri’s heart. He should have died. Josefina met Roger’s gaze, her eyes wide, so he wasn’t the only one who’d thought that.Why does Dmitri have a sigil and other vampires don’t? What did Anton do to him?
“Hey!” Thomas shouted. His fear radiated, a dim flicker despite the tension in his voice. “Answer me!”
“It’s a new thing. A very new thing,” Roger managed weakly. He locked his gaze with Dmitri’s. “I couldn’t let anything else happen to you.”
Dmitri dipped his head and looked away, but he glanced back through his dark lashes after a second.
I shouldn’t let that unfetter my heart. Roger pushed away from Thomas and slumped against the side of the van. The plan was to head out of the city, swap to a different van, and drive back in later on. Roger hadn’t counted on needing blood, and he wasn’t about to ask the mortals with him for any.
The crashing boom from the bombs Josefina had set was just at the edge of Roger’s hearing. There was a chance someone might have been hurt, and Roger swallowed that guilt.
Amber tore off her ski mask as she turned around in her seat. “Did we do it? Is the money gone?”
Slowly, Dmitri smiled. “I did it. He has lostbillions.”
We fucking won, and none of us died. A laugh bubbled out of Roger, and soon, the entire van was celebrating so rowdily that Vincent shouted at them to knock it off as he was driving. Their glee was quieted but not stifled.Sweet victory, I have missed the taste of you.
CHAPTER 28
In life, Zack had been a cuddler, but the way he held on to Takashi, even in his sleep, melted a piece of Takashi’s heart. Over the last few nights, an odd routine had developed that began with Takashi waking in what was technically Zack’s bed. The only painful part of their rest was the absence of Roger.
Inevitably, Seamus interrupted them. By the third night, Zack climbed out of bed well before the knock came on the door. Seamus and Takashi would make bland conversation while waiting for Zack to finish preparing for the evening out. Then Zack and Seamus would leave.
Takashi roamed the mansion, quickly exploring everywhere that wasn’t behind a locked door. He hadn’t investigated Seamus’s secret room a second time just yet, but he had discovered a locked door on the first floor that was steeped in residual fear. Every time he’d gotten close to using his makeshift lockpicks on it, a pair of security guards would patrol the hall.
And that was a strangeness as well. For all the staff, security, and mortal pets that Seamus kept, the mansion lacked the flicker of warmth that came from mortals. Other than the security guards, anyone that Takashi came across would bow and thenexcuse themselves as fast as they could from being in the same room as him.
At some point in his evenings, he would happen upon Anton or the red-collared pale boy, or one of the two would find him, and a cursory offering of blood was made. Then Anton would excuse himself on the grounds of “research,” or the boy would disappear into the depths of the mansion, and Takashi was alone again.
Takashi wasn’t sure if his listlessness was developing because of the lonely way his nights were passing or from the lack of decent blood. One might have begun to feed the other.
But there wasn’t much he could do. His search for a phone had turned up nothing, not even the hint of a landline. Seamus was keeping them isolated. The closest he had come to communications with the outside world were the computers in Seamus’s secret office, and those were likely to be trapped.
Takashi was growing almost desperate enough to find out. One email, one small word to someone beyond the mansion, might be what made him feel more like himself.
And if Seamus was watching, then that same email would paint a target on whoever Takashi reached out to.
Takashi had been in tense positions before; attending any foreign vampire court was like playing chess with skilled masterminds. Every gesture and word was another glide of a piece across the board. Some courts feigned their manners better, but all were filled with vampires that would ruin him in an instant if doing so suited their plans. He had accepted that and relished surviving in those places. The right word in the right place typically turned the situation around. Other covens respected him, even if they weren’t overly fond of him.
Nothing had prepared him for the grind of stress that was living in the mansion. Roger hadn’t wanted to speak about what life with Seamus and Anton was like. Though Roger’s experiencehad been harsher and he hadn’t always lived with the pair, Takashi was beginning to understand his scars more fully. There were no words for his current situation, except, perhaps, he was on the road to madness.
Still, Takashi waited until Seamus and Zack left for the evening. Then he dressed and explored the halls. When he reached the front hall, the scent of fearful mortals drew his attention. He followed his nose to a lavish sitting room.
Anton relaxed on one of the couches, one arm along the back and one leg crossed over the other. He was wearing a fine, dark gray suit, and his long blond hair was pulled back with a matching gray band. Despite his general carefree display, his brow was pinched in concentration until he noticed Takashi at the doorway. “Ah! Just in time. Come in!”
Across from Anton were three teenage girls in matching black school uniforms. One had a copper and red tie, another deep blue, and the last had a black tie with threads of green. Their blazers had the school crest for Versinal Academy. They were bound to wooden chairs by wrist, waist, and ankle. Each had a white cloth gag tied around their mouths.
“You’ve kidnapped mage students?” Takashi said, affecting a note of boredom. Decades of practice made his outrage easier to hide.
