Page 27 of Caretaker

“You agreed to feed him if he frees Angus?” Shane didn’t sound angry—merely curious.

“Yes.” I shrugged. “I would feed him for Angus’s freedom.”

“Good thing you won’t have to.”

“Never mind.” Amias gestured impatiently. “You need to understand what has happened tonight, Trinity.”

“So explain,” Shane told him.

Amias was silent for a few seconds, as though he were having trouble starting. “I am your master,” he said, finally. “I cannot be killed by you. Harming me will cause you great amounts of pain. We are connected. I will protect you and you…” He glanced at Shane. “You will protect me. You have proven this.”

“Yes, yes,” I said. “I know.” I didn’t want him reminding Shane of the shameful night I’d screwed up. As if Shane wouldn’t remember all on his own. Still…

“Tonight, I felt your death. I understood immediately what had happened.” He turned his face toward me, and his eyes glittered in the darkness. “I will take no more chances with you,” he murmured. “I cannot lose you.”

“So get to the part where you need to feed her,” Shane suggested, when the silence began to get uncomfortable.

“If you die, Trinity, I will suffer unimaginably for eternity. I cannot exist without you.” His voice, usually dispassionate and controlled, was filled with emotion. “That means…”

“What, Amias? What does it mean?”

“It means I must make you immortal.”

I jerked away from him. “I will never let you turn me, Amias. Get out of the truck.”

“Trinity—”

“No.” I shook my head but stopped when a wave of dizziness swept over me. The last thing I wanted was to pass out and be helpless with a vampire who wanted to turn me. “Get out of the truck, Amias.”

“I will leave, and I won’t touch you. But I have to give you the information you need to make your decision.”

“I’ve made my decision.”

“Still. Listen to me. Do that, and I will leave.”

Finally, I nodded.

“If you die, I will live in desolation forever, as I said. If I feed you now, my blood will be waiting from this moment on. When you die—and if my blood is inside you—I can bring you back as you are right now. Do you understand?”

“You’re saying no matter how old she is when she dies, you can bring her back and she’ll be the age she is right now,” Shane said.

“And you’re also saying when you bring me back, it will be as a vampire.”

“Yes,” Amias answered. “The blood will wait. I will simply add to it and you will live forever.”

“You honestly think I’m going to let that happen?” I tried to inject a note of scorn into my voice, but it sounded flat and unconvincing. “I won’t let you turn me just so you can live a happy life. It’s ridiculous that you’d even suggest it.”

“If I die, you will die,” he said.

I shrugged. “You’re immortal, remember? Besides, the natural thing is to die. Not to come back as the undead.” I shuddered, and he recoiled—just a quick, tiny movement, but I saw it.

When he spoke again, his voice was emotionless. “You will change your mind eventually, because you will want to avoid my pain.” He turned to slide from the truck, then turned back to me. “It isn’t just for me. You were created for a purpose. The supernaturals need you. You know that. You need to accept it.” He looked at Shane. “Tell her how you felt when she was gone.”

Shane’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, and his face went a little pale as he remembered. “It’s fucked up,” he muttered. He looked away from us. “Fuck both of you.”

Amias nodded, then planted his stare back on me. “And he is the stoic one.” His smile came, tiny and grim. “Your bull is feeling your absence. Your golem is suffering with only the memory of you to sustain him. Even the inscrutable mercenary is protecting you, craving you. And I…”

“Inscrutable mercenary?” I frowned. “Who is…you mean Rhys?”

“Perhaps you should insist he share his secrets with you,” he suggested.

“I’m not the boss of him.” But the master’s words lay heavy on my mind. Did Rhys Graver kill people for money?

“Why not all supernaturals, then?” Shane asked. “Why only the six of us?”

I pushed Rhys to the back of my mind for later and waited for the vampire’s answer, curious.

“It is not only the six of us,” Amias said. “But we were the ones she drew to her when her awakening power was grasping and new and full of temptation. We were the ones who surrounded her. Still, her influence in Bay Town, where she…formed, spawned, whatever word you would like to use, is vast. The supernaturals of Bay Town are hers. Just not as significantly as the ones she has touched.”

“Shane wasn’t even here after you attacked me. He’s just recently entered my life. So you’re wrong. You’re just making stuff up as you go.”

“Shane is different,” Amias said. “You are a bloodhunter. Shane is a hunter. He is your hunter, and you are his queen, my love.”

Shane’s body stiffened more with each word the vampire spoke. “I don’t belong to anybody,” he said, finally, through clenched teeth. “I’m no one’s fucking slave.”

“Even now,” Amias said, almost tenderly, “your words are reluctant and painful because you want only to please her. To guard her. To love her.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “Don’t you, Hunter?”

Then he was gone. He left me there, shivering and full of doubt in my shattered hunter’s reluctant embrace.