by Jamie Craig
“I find that hard to believe,” Gideon said. “Henry’s supplying obsidian to half the vamps in town. Are you trying to tell me you never tried it?”
“Not when I was with Toby. Never with him.” She took a huge, unneeded breath that turned into another sob. “And Henry wouldn’t let me when I was packing for him. Do you know what he’ll do to me if he found out I was hyped up? I wasn’t even supposed to have any that night…”
“Interesting story. I’d almost believe it if I didn’t know that obsidian doesn’t make you forget.”
“I lost myself,” she said, her voice cracking. Her hair was covering her face, but when she looked up again, her eyes were dead. “Do you think if I knew what I was doing, I could have hurt him? Do you think…Do you think…” She ducked her head. “Do what you want. It doesn’t matter.”
Her grief was palpable, but Gideon knew that if he conceded to it now, he wouldn’t get anything more from her. Though he didn’t remove the holy water from inside her, he kept his voice low. “What made Toby Richards so special?”
“Everything…everything…we were in love.”
“But you killed him anyway. Because you were high on obsidian.” He paused, trying to block out the sudden influx of memories, the smell of Jesse as Gideon pinned him to the building in that dark alley, the thud of his heartbeat against his tongue as he’d swallowed draught after draught of his blood. He’d told Jess he didn’t want to kill him, but now, he saw how lucky they were that he hadn’t been even more exposed than he had. “If you didn’t take it, then how did you get high?”
“I…everything is…I went to the warehouse to see Henry. He said that he didn’t need me. I was free to go. So I went to see Toby. That’s all that happened. And then the next day…the next morning…I…woke up…and…”
He was glad she wasn’t looking at him. It was getting harder to retain a neutral façade. “And…?”
“And…I saw him. It was too late, so I ran. If Henry…he would know and he’d think I was stealing from him…”
Gideon knew all too well how Henry dealt with those he thought betrayed him. Not everybody could be as ballsy as Rina.
He let the pipet slide out an inch, though a good portion still remained inside her channel. “So you’ve been hiding from Henry? Is that what you’re telling me?”
She nodded. “He wouldn’t just kill me.”
Gideon had the answers he needed for Lucas now. Richards wouldn’t be happy that his son’s murderer was a vampire and outside his jurisdiction, but at least it would give him peace of mind.
It was time to get the answers Gideon needed.
“Why is Henry doing this?” he asked. “Obsidian is unpredictable and expensive for him to manufacture. What’s he hoping to get out of this?”
Tricia laughed bitterly. “You think he tells me anything? He tells me where to go and what to do, and that’s it.”
He believed her. Henry hadn’t attained as much power as he had by being fast and loose with his facts. It had been worth a try, though.
“Then tell me when he uses the warehouse,” he said. “I know he’s not there all the time.”
“Every Wednesday night, every second Sunday night. I don’t know what he does there the whole time. That’s just when I picked the shit up.”
It was good enough for Gideon. He pulled out the pipet and released his hold on the spreader, letting her swing back as her muscles sagged.
“Did you get that, Jess?” he said, without looking away from Tricia.
“Yes,” Jesse said, his voice clear but weak. “Every detail.”
Regardless of Jesse’s earlier assertions, Gideon didn’t want him to see anything more, even if there was more to be done. “Then let’s get out of here.” He tossed the holy water aside and headed for the door. “Tricia needs to do some thinking about what she’s done.”
Jesse followed him silently, not stopping even when Gideon paused to shut the door. He made it halfway down the stairs before coming to an abrupt halt and turning around. “You’re not leaving her hanging in there.”
Gideon frowned. “I’m not going to let her go, Jess. I can still use her.”
“You don’t have to let her go, but you can’t leave her hanging there like that. I know you can keep her without treating her that way.”
“I thought we agreed you weren’t going to intervene.”
Jesse folded his arms. “I’m not intervening. I didn’t intervene. But what possible good could come from leaving her hanging like that? My God, Gideon, what difference does it make to you if she’s not hanging from the fucking ceiling? I know you have a cage that can hold her.”
“Because if I coddle her now, she’s going to know she’s got the upper hand. What if we need more information? I need her to know this is my show, not hers.”
“What if she’s told you everything she knows? I may not know a great deal about keeping an upper hand and scaring the fuck out of people, but I do know a girl who’s beaten when I see her. She doesn’t care. The person she loves is dead, and she thinks she’s as good as dead. Either you’ll kill her or Henry will.” Jesse marched over to his desk. “And what was her great sin, Gideon?”
Anger rippled through his every word. It was the reaction Gideon had feared.
“She killed a man, remember? She did more than kill him. You read the coroner’s report. He was still alive when she tore into his gut.”
Jesse yanked at his collar, revealing the bites on his neck. Even the one that was over a week old still looked deep and red. “I never stopped you because I trusted that you wouldn’t leave me an empty husk. Even later that night, when you practically turned me into your chew toy. I would bet money that Toby trusted her the same way, and I believe she never meant to get high on obsidian when she was with him. Henry infected her, Gideon. I don’t know why, but I think she’s telling the truth. She didn’t intend to hurt him.”
Gideon wanted to point out that there was a distinct difference between Tricia and himself, but realized as the words poised on his tongue that maybe the difference wasn’t as great as he thought. Tricia had tried to hold back because Toby was important to her. It was the exact same reason he’d given himself for protecting Jess.
“One more hour,” he said. “Then I’ll put her in the cage and give her something to eat. Is that all right?”
Jesse nodded, and it was like Gideon had pulled a plug on his anger. “Yes, thank you. I need…I need to get to work. I’m going to try to make an antidote.”
Gideon had already turned away, ready to go back and sit guard on Tricia, when Jesse’s final words made him stop. “You can do that?” The possibility had never occurred to him. “Can we do that without hitting John up again?”
“Yeah. Magic is a lot like…food. You can deconstruct it, break it down into the proper components, and make your own recipe. It’s not a perfect solution, but I have the resources, and I’ve done this sort of thing before. But I’m going to be handling the obsidian, which means I either need to go home, or you need to avoid going downstairs while I’m working.”
Enough of this entire operation had been taken out of Jesse’s hands. Gideon knew what he had to do.
“I’ll do whatever you tell me to,” he said. “If you’ll be comfortable taking it home, that’s okay. But I’ll stay out of your way as long as you need me to if you’d rather work here.”
He gestured at his desk. “All my stuff is here. Your bathroom is large enough. I can make a temporary laboratory in there. Hopefully, that’ll keep any of the substance from getting airborne.”
He hadn’t thought about that possibility, and dread settled in his veins like a cold poison. “That’s not good enough.” At Jesse’s frown, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his key ring, and tossed it to Jess. “I’m going to take Tricia down now. I want you to lock both of us in the cage. Just to be safe.”
Jesse caught the keys, but he didn’t look happy about it. “You want me to lock you up? Gideon, I…are yo
u sure that’s a good idea?”
“We’re not entirely sure how obsidian even works, Jess. And you heard Tricia. She didn’t realize what was going on until it was too late. I am not going to let you turn out like Toby Richards.” On an instinct, he crossed the distance between them and rested a hand on Jesse’s shoulder. It felt important to gain that physical contact, though such a simple touch wasn’t what Gideon really wanted. “Do this for me. For both of us.”
Jesse looked down at his hand where it rested on his shoulder. He reached up, wrapping his fingers around Gideon’s and giving them a soft squeeze. “Okay. If I don’t have it figured out by this time tomorrow, I’m going to take it all home and finish there.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Gideon hoped it actually worked.
Chapter 13
It was just as well that Gideon was secure in a cage, because Jesse didn’t want to talk to him. He kept thinking about the girl—the vampire—sobbing about the boy she loved, hanging miserably in the interrogation room. Fortunately, he had a good excuse to bury himself in work and obsess over something other than the vampire. Which meant, of course, that Jess couldn’t stop thinking about him
He slept for a few hours, but his dreams were covered in thick black fluid, like tar, and when he woke up, he felt sick to his stomach. He needed to find an antidote, needed to figure out a way to deliver the substance, and why hadn’t he paid attention to all the lectures from his father about the shared properties of magic and chemistry? He didn’t eat. He couldn’t. His appetite had disappeared when he smelled Tricia’s nipples burning under the holy water.
It had been over a day, and she was still upstairs. Still imprisoned with Gideon, still burned, probably still crying. He occasionally drifted upstairs to check on them, and Gideon might have been angry. Not smoldering angry. Not threateningly so. But angry enough that the air sparked every time Jess neared the cage. Or maybe that was Jesse’s own rage, reacting against Gideon, causing the hair on the back of his hands to stand on end.
Despite his heated emotions, he wasn’t spoiling for a fight. Even when he sealed the obsidian away and decided it was safe to free Gideon, he couldn’t even really talk to him. He couldn’t bring himself to speak to Gideon because he didn’t know how to explain his reaction. The questions racing in his mind weren’t: How could Gideon do such a thing?How could Gideon hurt her like that? The questions he couldn’t let go of were: How can I still love him so much? What kind of person am I?
And he was afraid. He trusted Gideon so completely that it was impossible to imagine a world where doubt was allowed to exist. He’d never thought twice about the times Gideon had bitten him, but how much danger was he really in? Would Gideon wake up one morning, shocked to find Jesse’s mauled and desecrated corpse in the bed with him? And why wasn’t that thought enough to send him packing? Why had he surrendered so much of himself to Gideon that he couldn’t even walk away for a few days?
“I made coffee.”
Gideon’s voice cut through his preoccupation, and Jess looked up to see him standing at the bottom of the stairs. He had showered and changed, his hair damp where it fell against his brow. The scratches Tricia had left on his face were gone already. In fact, there was no visible evidence of her capture and interrogation at all, and it only made Jesse’s stomach churn even more.
“Thanks,” he said, though he didn’t ask for any, and he didn’t stand up to pour his own. Gideon didn’t walk away, like he expected Jesse to add something else. “I should have something to show for my efforts by tomorrow.”
“Have you slept at all?”
“I got a few hours last night. I’ll take a nap later.”
“If you’re not up to driving, you can always crash in my bed.”
Jesse leaned back in his chair. “No, Gideon, I don’t think I can.”
A shadow passed over Gideon’s face, and he advanced a step closer. “If this is about what happened last night…”
Jesse sighed, weighing the pros and cons of broaching the subject. On the one hand, Gideon would probably hound him until he agreed to talk. On the other, the sun was still up, and he could escape to safety and delay the inevitable. But if he did that, there would be a negative impact on the work they actually needed to do.
“It is. But it’s not about you.”
Everything in him tightened when Gideon closed the rest of the distance to perch on the corner of his desk. “Then what is it?”
“That your skin still reeked of her burnt flesh yesterday, yet I still would have kissed you without a second thought.”
Gideon’s head bowed, and Jess was grateful for the momentary reprieve from his steady regard. “I did what I had to do, Jess. You know that.”
“And I don’t blame you for that. I don’t. But I can’t stop thinking about it. It feels like there was a line that I didn’t even know about until I crossed it.” And what would Michelle think if she knew of this conversation? Would she claim this wasn’t going to be the first line he would cross?
That brought Gideon’s attention back to him. “What makes you think you did? You didn’t touch Tricia. You even stepped up to help her.”
“She was frightened and she lost somebody important to her. I can’t even imagine what it must feel like to take the life of somebody you love. Something horrible was done to her. There ought to have been another way. And I took it for granted that there wasn’t.”
“Jess…” Gideon stopped. His brows drew into a dark line as his mind worked. “When everything is said and done, Tricia’s still a vampire. A vampire who deals drugs, who kills without thought of consequence. Yeah, it would’ve been nice to get what we needed without resorting to…what I did, but let’s face it. Nothing else would’ve worked. Look at what it took to get her to even admit she’d killed Toby.” He leaned forward, his gaze suddenly impassioned. “There was no other way. And it is not a reflection on you that I did what I had to. So stop thinking that.”
Jesse knew Gideon was right. He also knew he couldn’t explain the real crux of the issue. It would be easier if he could just blurt that he loved Gideon, and for the first time since making that realization, he was actually coming to terms with what it meant. The world was violent and messy, and love made things worse, not better.
He nodded. “I know. And you’re right about Tricia. She’s not some innocent girl off the street. Maybe I’m just tired.” And scared. Glancing up, he noticed there were still drops of water running from Gideon’s hair, down his neck. “Maybe I do need to crash in your bed for a while, after all.”
He was gently pulled to his feet when Gideon suddenly took his hand and tugged. There was a moment of vertigo, but it was just as much from the contact of Gideon’s fingers as it was to the rush of blood inside him. It was made worse when Gideon stood as well and pulled his body flush with his in a tight hug. Then all his blood reversed direction and ran straight to his cock.
“You’re a good man,” Gideon whispered in his ear. “And it’s a privilege to be able to call you my best friend.”
Jesse warmed, the pleasure at Gideon’s words more powerful than any doubts he might have had. He didn’t need Gideon’s assurances that he was a good person, but the reminder that Gideon genuinely cared for him—even if it wasn’t the way he cared for Gideon—was enough to convince him he was doing the right thing by staying.
Sighing softly, he turned his head and skimmed his mouth over Gideon’s neck, collecting the drops of water he had noticed earlier.
Gideon’s chest rumbled against his body, a sound of satisfaction if Jess had ever heard one. His large hands splayed across his back and ass, and when Gideon tilted his head a fraction to encourage more contact with his neck, Jesse was more than happy to comply. Every soft caress against the sinew made the cock pressing to his harden even more, and he allowed himself the luxury of exploring the sculpture of Gideon’s back through his thin shirt.
“Did you want company when you crash?” he heard Gideon murmur.
“I think I would like some company, yes,” Jesse said, pausing only long enough to answer before resuming his exploration of Gideon’s neck. It felt like he couldn’t get enough of the way Gideon tasted, the way his skin felt. He wanted to sample much more than Gideon’s neck.
Gideon bowed his head, and Jess shuddered at the first touch of his mouth against the healing bite marks. “There was only one thing I didn’t like about watching you swallow all those cocks at Sangre.” The tip of his tongue traced the small punctures. “None of them were mine.”
“You know all you have to do is say the word,” Jess said, his hands going to Gideon’s fly. “Any time.”
Gideon grabbed his wrist, stopping him from undoing the zipper. “Not here.” He gave one last lick of the marks before pulling back. “It’s probably time I made good on my promise to tie you to my bed, don’t you think?”
A chill raced down Jesse’s spine. How many times had he thought about that very thing? Of course, if he was tied to the bed, he wouldn’t get the chance to taste every square inch of Gideon’s body, but the trade-off was fair. “It is about time to make good on that promise.”
Gideon’s mouth curved into a sly smile as he led Jess back to the stairs. He didn’t say a word, but that was probably a good thing. Every step closer to Gideon’s bedroom made Jesse’s pulse pound louder in his ears, blocking out everything else but the thrilling anticipation of what was to come.
Gideon only released Jesse’s wrist when the door was closed behind them. “Strip,” he said, going around the far side of the bed. Jess watched as he pulled out the strap from beneath the mattress corner, and his cock throbbed even more. “Then lie down. You haven’t had enough time to recoup for serious fun, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other games we can play.”
Jesse grimaced at the reminder of his fragile, mortal body. He wished his flesh could keep up with his desires—with Gideon’s desires. He had stepped tantalizingly close to the edge a few times, like a man who wasn’t quite suicidal, but sought the thrill of a long fall.