Page 36 of Peacemaker

Chapter Eleven

A Moment of Peace

Amias followed me from Willow-Wisp. He said nothing, did not touch me, or look at me, or acknowledge that I was there.

He’d closed himself off, not just to me, but to everyone. His face was expressionless, his eyes blank, and he was so empty that if he hadn’t moved, I might not have been able to see him.

“They turned the humans tonight,” I told him as my men and I walked out of the cemetery. “With a single feeding. There were no processes, no coddling, no exchanges of blood. They fed from them, and the humans turned.”

“But not into rifters,” he said, unsurprised. “The humans they turn will be useless to them. Rifters cannot make more of themselves by biting a human, though that is one of their fondest wishes—and they do not want to make more vampires.”

I nodded. “So they’ll kill after they feed to keep from making more of their enemy.”

“Yes. Vampires can feed without turning. We can feed without killing. Rifters will simply kill those they bite.”

I hesitated. “Why are you so sad, Amias?”

I felt his fear, his dread, and his anger. But more than any of those, I felt his sadness. It was deep, and it was harsh.

His almost silent laugh sounded more like a sob. “Trinity. Trinity.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked him. “What are you keeping from me?”

His eyes rimmed with the scarlet of bloody tears, and that scared me more than anything. I grabbed his arm as he turned away. “Amias. Tell me.”

“When this ends, you will not be the same.” He put his hands on either side of my face, his stare intense. “You will not be the same, and I grieve the loss. Even now, I grieve.”

“Amias…”

He dropped his hands and stepped back. “More rifters will appear in the city soon. I want to be waiting for them.”

“My hunters and I will see you there,” I told him.

He nodded, and then he was gone.

I wished I could have helped him, but there was nothing a person could do to stop those pesky gut feelings. Mine was giving me fits over Shane.

Both of us would be fine.

Part of me actually believed that.

I stood for a minute with my eyes closed, feeling a peace in the night that wasn’t real, listening to the frogs, inhaling the summer air. I heard the distant murmurs of the supernats still in Willow-Wisp. For that moment, there was only perfection.

I heard Shane and Clayton talking and opened my eyes, watching as they stocked Clayton’s car with supplies before we headed back into the city.

Clayton had taken possession of Miriam’s car. I hadn’t really liked the fact that he was driving around in a reminder of his former cruel mistress, but it wasn’t like he would somehow forget his past if we drove her car into the river. He’d said there was no reason to waste a good vehicle, that it belonged to him now.

I hadn’t argued.

Angus and Leo stood on the way station porch watching us, their voices low, comforting rumbles as they talked, and occasionally Angus’s laugh would burst free, making me smile.

There was still that changed darkness inside him. The Byrdcage had done something terrible to him, but he’d been hiding it well. I didn’t know what was lying in wait inside him. I knew eventually it would rear its terrifying head—but he was controlling it.

For now.

Clayton dropped half a dozen newly sharpened stakes into the trunk of his car, bringing my attention back to him. His eyes gleamed as he ran his thumb over the wood, and I shivered. There was something new in his proud gaze, something I didn’t recognize. Part of me wondered if I knew Clayton Wilder any better than I knew Rhys Graver.

Shane climbed into his truck without a goodbye to anyone, but Clayton took my face in his hands and lingered over that touch before sliding his lips across mine. When he touched me, or kissed me, there was nothing else. It held all my attention. He held all my attention.