Wrath looked up from the desk. Hey, son. Whats doing?
Oh, nothing. You know. Justexcuse me.
John headed down the grand staircase at a jog, knowing that if Tohr was having his first foray back into the world, he wouldnt want to make a big deal out of it. Hed probably start simple, just going into the kitchen for food with the angel.
Downstairs, John hit the foyers mosaic floor, and when he heard male voices to the right, he looked inside the billiards room. Butch was bent over the pool table about to take a shot, and Vishous was behind him, heckling. The wide-screen was showing a whole lot of ESPN, and only two squat glasses were out, one with amber liquid in it, the other with crystal-clear stuff that was not water.
Tohr wasnt there, but hed never been big into games. Besides, with the way Butch and V went after each other, they were not the kind of company youd want if you were just dipping your feet in social waters again.
Turning away, John hurried through the dining room, which had been set for Last Meal, and went into the kitchen, where he founddoggen preparing three different kinds of pasta sauces and taking homemade Italian bread out of the oven and tossing salads and opening bottles of red wine to breathe andno Tohr.
Hope decanted out of Johns chest, leaving behind a sour tightness.
He went up to Fritz, butler extraordinaire, who greeted him with a brilliant smile on his old, wrinkled face. Hello, sire, how fare thee?
John signed in front of his chest so no one else could see. Listen, have you seen
Shit, he didnt want to make a panic in the household for no reason other than that he was jumping to conclusions. The mansion was huge and Tohr could be anywhere.
anyone? he finished.
Fritzs fuzzy white eyebrows pulled together. Anyone, sire? Do you refer to the ladies of the house or-
Males, he signed. Have you seen any of the Brothers?
Well, I have been here preparing dinner for much of the last hour, but I know that several have come home from the field. Rhage had his sandwiches as soon as he returned, Wrath is in the study, and Zsadist is with the young one in the bath. Lets seeoh, and I believe Butch and Vishous are playing pool, as one of my staff served them drinks in the billiards room just a moment ago.
Right, John thought. If a Brother who no one had seen out and about for, oh, say, four months had shown up, surely his name would have been at the top of the list.
Thanks, Fritz.
Was there anyone in particular you were searching for?
John shook his head and went back out into the foyer, this time moving with heavy feet. As he walked into the library, he didnt expect to find anyone, and what do you know. The room was full of books and completely devoid of any Tohr.
Where could-
Maybe he wasnt in the house at all.
John bolted from the library and skidded around the bottom of the grand staircase, the soles of his shitkickers squeaking as he turned the corner. Ripping open the hidden door beneath the steps, he took the underground tunnel away from the mansion.
Of course. Tohr would go to the training center. If he were going to wake up and start living, that would mean he was going back into the field. And that meant working out and getting his body back into shape.
As John emerged into the facilitys office, he had fully returned to hope-land, and when Tohr wasnt at the desk, he wasnt surprised.
That was where he had been told about Wellsies death.
John hauled ass out into the corridor, and the dim sound of weights clanking together was a fucking symphony to his ears, relief blooming in his chest until his hands and feet tingled.
But he had to be cool. Approaching the workout room, he shook off his smile, and opened the door wide-
Blaylock glanced over from the bench. Qhuinns head bobbed up and down on the StairMaster.
As John looked around, both stopped what they were doing, Blay resetting the weight bar, Qhuinn slowly sinking down to the floor.
Have you seen Tohr? John signed.
No, Qhuinn said while wiping his face with a towel. Why would he be in here?
John left in a hurry and headed into the gym, where he found nothing but caged lights and glossy pine floors and bright blue mats. The equipment room had only equipment in it. PT suite was empty. Janes medical clinic was the same.
He broke out in a run as he gunned back for the tunnel to the main house.
Once he got there, he went directly upstairs to the studys open doors, and he didnt knock on the jamb this time. He walked straight up to Wraths desk and signed, Tohr is gone.
As the Dominos delivery guy fumbled to catch the pizza box, everyone else went stock-still.
That was close, the human said. Dont want to get it-
The guy froze in a crouch as his eyes traced the black stain on the wall to the crumpled, moaning lesser whod made it. onyourcarpet.
Christ, Lash spat, grabbing the switchblade out of his breast pocket, triggering the blade, and going up behind the man. As Dominos got to his feet, Lash locked his arm around his neck and drove the knife straight into his heart.
As the guy shriveled and gasped, the pizza box landed on the floor and busted open, the tomato sauce and pepperoni in the same color family as the blood that was leaking from the wound.
Grady jumped off his stool and pointed at the slayer who was still on his feet. He let me order the pizza!
Lash pointed the tip of the knife in the idiots direction. Shut the fuck up.
Grady sank back onto his bar stool.
Mr. D was vicious pissed as he went up to the remaining slayer. You let him order that there pizza? Didja?
The lesser snarled back, You asked me to go in and guard the window in the back bedroom. Thats how we found out the jars were gone, remember? Ass-wipe on the carpet over there was the one who let him call.
Mr. D didnt seem to care about the logic, and as fun as it might have been to watch him go Jack Russell on that rat of a lesser, there was not a lot of time. This human whod shown up with the za wasnt going back to make more deliveries, and his cronies in uniform were going to tweak to that soon enough.
Call reinforcements, Lash said, closing up his blade and going over to the incapacitated lesser. Have them come with a truck. Then get the gun crates. Were evacing here and downstairs.
Mr. D got on the horn and started barking orders while the other slayer went into the far bedroom.
Lash looked over at Grady, who was staring at the pizza as if he were seriously considering eating it off the rug. Next time you-
Guns are gone.
Lash turned his head to the lesser. Excuse me.
Gun crates are not in the closet.
For a split second, all Lash could think about was killing something, and the only thing that saved Grady from being that guy was that he ducked into the kitchen, getting out of the visual field.
Logic took over emotion, however, and he looked over at Mr. D. You are responsible for the evac.
Ysir.
Lash pointed to the slayer on the ground. I want him taken to the persuasion center.
Ysir.
Grady? When there was no answer, Lash cursed and went into the kitchen to find the guy leaning into the refrigerator and shaking his head at the empty shelves. Fucker was either very tight in the head or truly self-involved, and Lash was betting it was the latter. Were leaving.
The human shut the fridge door and came like the dog he was: quickly and without argument, moving so fast he left his coat behind.
Lash and Grady bolted out into the cold, and the Mercedes warm interior was a relief.
As Lash slowly eased out of the complex, because hurrying might have gotten peoples attention, Grady looked over. That guynot the pizza onethe one who diedhe wasnt normal.
Nope. He wasnt.
Neither are you.
Nope. I am divine.
TWENTY-SIX
After night fell, Ehlena dressed in her uniform even though she wasnt going into the clinic. This was for two reasons: One, it helped with her father, who didnt deal well with any changes in schedule. And two, she felt as though it would buy her a little distance when she met with Rehvenge.
She hadnt slept at all during the day. Images from the morgue and memories of the way Rehvenges strained voice had sounded were a hell of a tag team, battering at her as she lay in the dark, her emotions spinning and flipping until her chest ached.
Was she really going to meet Rehvenge now? At his home? How had this happened?
It helped to remind herself that she was just going to deliver meds to him. This was caretaking on a clinical level, nurse to patient. For godsakes, hed agreed she shouldnt be dating anyone, and it wasnt as if hed asked her for dinner. She was going to drop off the pills and try to persuade him to go see Havers. That was it.
After checking on her father and giving him his meds, she dematerialized to the sidewalk in front of the Commodore building in the thick of downtown. Standing in the shadows, looking up at the high-rises sleek flank, she was struck by its contrast to the dingy, low-to-the-ground place she rented.
Manto live in all this chrome and glass cost money. A lot of money. And Rehvenge had a penthouse. Plus this had to be just one of the places he owned, because no vampire in his right mind would crash out during daylight hours surrounded by all those windows.
The divide between the normal and the rich seemed as wide as the distance between where she stood and where Rehvenge was supposedly waiting for her, and for a brief moment she entertained the fantasy that her family still had money. Maybe then shed be wearing something other than her cheap winter coat and her uniform.
As she stood down below him on the street, it seemed impossible that shed connected with him as she had, but then, the phone was virtual relating, one step up from being online. Both people were in their own environments, invisible to each other, only their voices mixing. It was false intimacy.
Had she really stolen pills for this male?
Check your pockets, moron, she thought.
With a curse, Ehlena materialized up to the terrace of the penthouse, relieved that the night was relatively still. Otherwise, with how cold it was, any wind this high up-
Whatthe hell?
Through innumerable panes of glass, the glow of a hundred candles turned the dark night into a golden fog. Inside, the walls of the penthouse were black, and there werethings hanging from them. Things like cat-o-nine-tails made of metal, and leather whips, and masksand there was a large, ancient-looking table that was-No, wait, that was a rack, wasnt it? With leather straps hanging at the four corners.
Ohhell, no. Rehvenge was into this shit?
Right. Change of plan. Shed leave the antibiotics for him, sure, but it was going to be in front of one of those sliding doors, because there was no way she was going in there. No. Frickin. Way-
A tremendous male with a goatee came out of a bathroom, drying off his hands and straightening his leathers as he went over to the rack. With one easy hop, he got up on the thing and then he started shackling his ankle.
This was just getting sicker. A three-way?
Ehlena?
Ehlena wheeled around so fast she jammed her hip against the wall that ran around the rooftop. As she saw who it was, she frowned.
Doc Jane? she said, thinking this night was going from the oh-hell-nos straight into WTF? territory. What are you-
I think youre on the wrong side of the building.
Wrong side-oh, wait, this isnt Rehvenges place?
No, its Vishouss and mine. Rehvs on the east side.
Oh Red cheeks. Very red, and not because of the wind. Im so sorry, I got it wrong-
The ghostly doctor laughed. Its okay.
Ehlena glanced back at the glass, but then looked quickly away. Of course, that was the Brother Vishous. The one with the diamond eyes and the tattoos on his face.
East sides what you want.
Which Rehv had told her, hadnt he. Ill just go over there now.
Id invite you to cut through, but
Yeah. Better for me to take myself there.
Doc Jane smiled with a good dose of badass. I think thats best.
Ehlena calmed herself down and dematerialized to the right part of the roof, thinking, Doc Jane a dominatrix?
Well, stranger things had happened.
As she regained her form, she was almost afraid to look through the glass, considering what shed just seen. If Rehvenge had more of the same-or worse, stuff like ladies clothes in a males size, or farm animals milling around-she didnt know if she could chill enough to dematerialize her ass out of there.
But no. No RuPaul. Nothing that needed a trough or a fence. Just a lovely, modern interior done in the kind of sleek, simple furniture that must have come from Europe.
Rehvenge came out from an archway and stopped as he saw her. When he lifted his hand, the sliding glass door in front of her opened because he willed it so, and she caught a wonderful scent coming out of the penthouse.
Was thatroast beef?
Rehvenge came over to her, moving with a smooth gait in spite of the fact that he relied on his cane. Tonight, he wore a black turtleneck that was clearly cashmere and a stunning black suit, and in his fine clothes, he was something off the cover of a magazine, glamorous, seductive, ever out of reach.
Ehlena felt like a fool. Seeing him here in his beautiful home, it wasnt that she thought she was beneath him. It was just clear they had nothing in common. What kind of delusions had struck her when theyd talked or been at the clinic?
Welcome. Rehvenge stopped at the door and extended his hand toward her. I would have waited for you outside, but its too cold for me.
Two totally different worlds, she thought.
Ehlena?
Sorry. Because it would be rude not to, she put her hand in his and stepped into his penthouse. But in her mind, she had already left him.
As their palms met, Rehv was robbed, mugged, burgled, broken and entered: He felt nothing as their hands melded, and desperately wished he could sense Ehlenas warmth. Still, even though he was numb, just watching their flesh come together was enough to make his chest sparkle like it had been steel-wooled to a bright shine.
Hi, she said in a husky way as he drew her in.
He shut the door and kept hold of her hand until she broke the contact, ostensibly to walk around and look at his place. He sensed, though, that she needed physical space.
The view here is extraordinary. She stopped and stared out at the sprawling vista of the twinkling city. Funny, it looks like a model from way up here.
We are high, thats for sure. He watched her with obsessive eyes, absorbing her through his sight. I love the view, he murmured.
I can see why.
And its quiet. Private. Just them and no one else in the world. And alone with her here now, he could almost believe all the dirty things hed done had been crimes committed by a stranger.
She smiled a little. Of course its quiet. Theyre using ball gags next door-er
Rehv laughed. You get the wrong side of the building?
Did I ever.
That blush told him she had seen more than just inanimate objects from Vs Bondage-R-Us collection, and suddenly Rehv was dead serious. Do I need to say something to my neighbor?
Ehlena shook her head at him. It was totally not his fault, and fortunately he and Jane hadnter, started. Thank God.
Youre not into that kind of thing, I take it.
Ehlena went back to staring at the view. Hey, theyre consenting adults, so its all good. But me personally? Not on your life.
Talk about bubble burst. If BDSM was too much for her, he guessed that meant she wouldnt understand the fact that he was fucking for ransom a female he hated. Who happened to be his half sister. Oh, and who was a symphath.
Like him.
His silence brought her head over her shoulder. Im sorry. Have I offended you?
Im not into that either. Oh, not at all. He was a whore with standards-kinky crap was okay only if you were forced into it. Fuck the consensual shit V and his mate were into. Yeah, cuz that was just wrong.
Christ, he was beneath her.
Ehlena wandered around, her soft-soled shoes making no sound on his black marble floors. As he watched her, he realized that under her black wool coat she was in her uniform. Which was logical, he pointed out to himself, if she had to go to work after this.
Come on, he told himself. Did he really think she was going to stay the night?
May I take your coat? he said, knowing she must be warm. I have to keep this place hotter than most people are comfortable with.
ActuallyI should just head off. She put a hand in her pocket. I only came to give you the penicillin.
I was hoping youd stay for dinner.
Im sorry. She held out a plastic bag to him. I cant.
Flashes of the princess tripped through Rehvs brain, and he reminded himself of how good it felt to do right by Ehlena-and erase her number from his phone. He had no business courting her. None at all.
I understand. He took the pills from her. And thank you for these.
Take two four times a day. Ten days. Promise me?
He nodded once. Promise.
Good. And try to go see Havers, will you?
There was an awkward moment, and then she lifted her hand. Okayso, bye.
Ehlena turned away, and he opened the glass panel with his mind, not trusting himself to get too close to her.
Oh, please dont go. Please dont, he thought.
He just wanted to feelclean for a little while.
Just as she walked out, she stopped and his heart pounded.
Ehlena glanced back, the wind ruffling the pale wisps around her lovely face. With food. You need to take them with food.
Right. Medical information. Ive got plenty of that here.
Good.
After he shut the door, Rehv watched her disappear into the shadows and had to make himself turn away.
Walking slowly and using his cane, he went down the wall of glass and around the corner into the glow of the dining room.
Two candles lit. Two place settings of silver. Two glasses for wine. Two glasses for water. Two napkins folded precisely and laid on top of two plates.
He sat down on the chair hed been going to give to her, the one to his right, the position of honor. He rested his cane against his thigh and put the plastic bag down on the ebony table, smoothing it out so that the antibiotics were resting one next to another in a neat and orderly row.
He wondered why they hadnt come in a little orange bottle with a white label on it, but whatever. She had brought them to him here. That was the main thing.
Sitting in the silence, surrounded by candlelight and the scent of the roast beef hed just taken out of the oven, Rehv stroked the plastic bag with his numb forefinger. Sure as shit he was feeling something, though. In the dead center of his chest, he had an ache behind his heart.
Hed done a lot of evil deeds over the course of his life. Big ones and small.
Hed set people up just to mess with them, whether they were rogue dealers infringing on his turf, or johns who didnt treat his whores right, or idiots who screwed around at his club.
Hed leveraged the vices of others to his benefit. Sold drugs. Sold sex. Sold death in the form of Xhexs special skills.
Hed fucked for all the wrong reasons.
Hed maimed.
Hed murdered.
And yet, none of that had bothered him at the time. There had been no second thoughts, no regrets, no empathy. Just more schemes, more plans, more angles to be discovered and exploited.
Here at this empty table, though, in this empty penthouse, he felt the ache in his chest and knew it for what it was: Regret.
It would have been extraordinary to deserve Ehlena.
But that was just one more thing he wasnt ever going to feel.
TWENTY-SEVEN
As the Brotherhood met in his study, Wrath kept an eye on John from his vantage point behind the frilly desk. Across the way, the kid looked like roadkill. His face was pale and his big body was still and he hadnt participated in the discussion at all. The scent of his emotions was the worst part of it, though: There was none. Not the stinging, nostril-bracing bite of anger. Not the acrid, smoky blow of sadness. Not even the lemony pitch of fear.
Nothing. As he stood among the Brothers and his two best friends, he was insulated by his nonresponsiveness and his numbed-out trancewith them, but not really.
Not good.
Wraths headache, which like his eyes and his ears and his mouth seemed to be permanently attached to his skull, made a renewed assault into his temples, and he sat back in his pansy-ass chair in the hope that a spinal realignment might ease the squeeze.
No luck.
Maybe a cranial amputation would work. God knew Doc Jane was good with a saw.
Over in the ugly green armchair, Rhage bit down on a Tootsie Pop, breaking one of the many thumb-up-the-ass silences that had marked the meeting.
Tohr couldnt have gone far, Hollywod muttered. Hes not strong enough.
I checked the Other Side, Phury said from the speakerphone. Hes not with the Chosen.
How about we do a drive-by of his old house, Butch suggested.
Wrath shook his head. I cant imagine hed go there. So many memories.
Shit, not even the mention of that home John had spent time in elicited anything from the kid. But at least it was finally dark so they could go out and look for Tohr.
Im going to stay here and see if he comes back, Wrath said as the double doors opened and V strode in. I want the rest of you out searching for him in the city, but before you go, first lets get an update from our very own Katie Couric. He nodded at Vishous. Katie?
Vs glare was the ocular version of a fully extended middle finger, but he got on with it. Last night, on the police blotter, there was a report filed by a Homicide detective. Dead body was found at the address where those gun crates came from. Human. Pizza delivery guy. Single knife wound through the chest. No doubt the poor bastard walked into something he shouldnt have. I just finished hacking into the case details and what do you know, I found a note in it about a black, oily stain on the wall next to the door. There was a grumble of curses, many of which included the f-word. Yeah, well, heres the interesting part. Police noted that a Mercedes had been spotted in the parking lot about two hours before the Dominos manager called in that his employee hadnt returned to work after delivering to that addy. And one of the neighbors saw a blond man, natch, get into it with another guy who was dark haired. She said it was weird seeing that kind of flashy sedan in the area.
A Mercedes? Phury said from the phone.
Rhage, having ground another lollipop to its royal reward, pitched a little white stick into the wastepaper basket. Yeah, since when has the Lessening Society put that kind of cash into their wheels?
Exactly, V said. Makes no damn sense. But heres the shit. Witnesses also reported seeing a suspicious-looking black Escalade there the night beforewith a man in black carrying offoh, gee, what was itcrates, yeah, four fucking crates from the back of that quartet of apartments.
As his roommate stared pointedly at Butch, the cop shook his head. But there was no mention that they got the plates on the E. And we switched the set we had on it as soon as I got back. As for the Merc? Witnesses mistake things all the time. The blond and the other guy could have had nothing to do with the murder.
Well, Im going to keep an eye on things, V said. I dont think theres any chance the police are going to tie it to something involving our world. Hell, a lot of things leave black stains, but we want to be prepared.
If the detective on it is the one Im thinking of, hes a good one, Butch said quietly. A very good one.
Wrath got to his feet. Okay, suns down. Get out of here. John, I want to talk to you privately for a moment.
Wrath waited for the doors to close behind the last of his brothers before he spoke. Were going to find him, son. Dont worry. No response. John? Whats doing?
The kid just crossed his arms over his chest and stared straight ahead.
John
John unfurled his hands and signed something that looked to Wraths piss-poor eyes to be, Im going to go out with the others.
The hell you are. That brought Johns head around sharply. Yeah, so not happening, given the fact that youre a zombie. And fuck off with the Im-fines. If you think for even a split second that Im going to let you fight, you are talking out your damn ass.
John walked around the study like he was trying to get hold of himself. Eventually he stopped and signed, I cant be here right now. In this house.
Wrath frowned and tried to interpret what had been said, but all the frowning just made his headache sing like a soprano. Im sorry, what was that?
John wrenched open the door, and a second later Qhuinn came in. There was a lot of hand movement and then Qhuinn cleared his throat.
He says he cant be in this house tonight. He just cant.
Okay, then go to a club and get faced until you pass out. But no fighting. Wrath said a silent prayer of thanks that Qhuinn was grafted to the kids side. And, JohnIm going to find him.
More signing, and then John turned to the door.
What did he say, Qhuinn? Wrath asked.
Ahhe said it doesnt matter to him if you do.
John, you dont mean that.
The kid pivoted and signed and Qhuinn translated. He says, yes, he really does. He sayshe cant live like this anymorewaiting, wondering every night and day when he goes into that room whether Tohr has-John, slow down a little-ahwhether the male has hanged himself or taken off again. Even if he comes backJohn says hes done. Hes been left behind too many times.
Hard to argue with that. Tohr hadnt been a great father lately, his sole accomplishment on that front being the creation of the next generation of the living dead.
Wrath winced and rubbed his temples. Look, son, Im not a rocket scientist, but you can talk to me.
There was a long, quiet stretch marked by an odd scenta dry, almost stale smellregret? Yeah, that was regret.
John bowed a little as if in thanks and then ducked out the door.
Qhuinn hesitated. I wont let him fight.
Then youll save his life. Because if he takes up arms in the shape hes in right now, hell be coming home in a pine box.
Roger that.
As the door shut, pain roared in Wraths temples and forced him to sit back down.
God, all he wanted to do was go to his and Beths room and get into their big bed and lay his head down on pillows that smelled like her. He wanted to call her and beg her to come join him just so he could hold on to her. He wanted to be forgiven.
He wanted to sleep.
Instead, the king got back to his feet, picked up his weapons from the floor beside his desk, and strapped all of them on. Leaving the study with his leather jacket in his hand, he went down the grand staircase, out the vestibule, and into the bitter night. Way he saw it was, the headache was going to be with him wherever he went, so he might as well be useful and go look for Tohr.
As he drew on his coat, he was struck by the thought of his shellan and where she had gone the night before.
Holy shit. He knew exactly where Tohr was.
Ehlena meant to leave Rehvenges terrace right away, but while stepping into the shadows, she had to look back at the penthouse. Through the banks of glass, she watched Rehvenge turn away and walk slowly down the flank of the penthouse-
Her shin caught something hard. Damn it!
Hopping around on one foot and rubbing her leg, she shot a nasty look at the marble urn shed nailed herself with.
As she straightened, she forgot about the pain.
Rehvenge had gone into another room and stopped in front of a table set for two. Candles glowed amidst a shimmer of crystal and silver, the long wall of glass showing her all the trouble he had gone to for her.
Damn it she whispered.
Rehvenge sat down as slowly and deliberately as he walked, looking behind himself first, as if to make sure the chair was where it should be, then bracing both hands and lowering himself down. The Baggie of what shed given him was placed on the table, and as he seemed to stroke it, his gentle fingers were at odds with those heavy shoulders and the dark power inherent in his hard face.