“He hasn’t met her because I’ve been working a contract for the last two days. I haven’t exactly had time to hang out.”
She frowned. “Okay, hold up for a minute. If you’ve only known Toni for a few days and you’ve been working a contract for the last two, then when the hell did you have enough time to do so much blood sucking that you don’t smell completely like you?”
Drake slowly shook his head. “It’s a long story, but my contract was on her.” He raised his hands. “And before you even ask, it was a protection contract…nothing more.”
“Okay,” she said, drawing out the word. “So he hasn’t stopped in, like even once, just to say hi to her?” Concern darkened her unnaturally vibrant eyes. “That’s not like him at all, Drake. Are you sure he isn’t trapped somewhere in the Dark Realm again?”
Drake shrugged. When it came to Odin, anything was possible. “I don’t think he is. Like I said, I just saw him Friday night. We ate some pizza, drank a few beers, then he left while Jake was in the middle of giving me the details of the contract on Toni. You know him, he’s probably back at Nelek Castle harassing someone.”
She stiffened. “What do you mean he left in the middle of Jake giving you the details of your contract on Toni?”
“I mean exactly what I said. I felt telepathy go off while Jake was talking, and then Odin left. What more do you want me to explain?”
“When you say he left…are you talking like he got bored, maybe chatted with Kerestyan for a minute, and then he left? Or did he just stop all of a sudden, get all pissy…then disappear?”
Drake thought about it for a minute. “Jake was talking, I sensed telepathy go off, Odin choked on his pizza, he told me to call him when the contract was over, and then he left.”
“I don’t suppose you remember exactly what Jake was saying right before you felt the telepathy hit?”
He tried to recall the specific order of events. “I think he said Toni’s name.” He nodded, more to himself than anything. “Yeah, because Jake thought it was weird that Odin disappeared right after he said her name. But I figured it was nothing because…well, it’s not like you need me to tell you how Odin is sometimes.”
Raze stood quiet for a few long moments while a golden sheen rippled back and forth across her eyes. But then her head jerked up and she burst into some kind of possessed fit. “That fucking eyeless bastard!” she all but shrieked. “He just can’t leave anything alone. Him and his retarded skunk rival! They have to mess with everything.” She gnashed her teeth together. “I swear on my sister’s grave I’m gonna kick his ass someday. Then I’m gonna stand there and watch while everything comes crashing down around his evil ass and laugh. I’m gonna laugh and tell him it’s what he gets for being such a fucking asshole!”
Drake took a step back from her. He could only assume she was talking about Odin’s Sire, Lord Stefan Nelek, because he was the only one she regularly referred to as an “eyeless” anything. She despised the man, but to this day, she refused to explain why. He had absolutely no clue what her current rant had to do with Odin or Toni though.
He waited until she stopped her tirade to take a breath. “What are you going on about?”
She stopped all at once then spun around to face him. “Nothing. Forget I said anything.”
“You think I’m just going to forget an outburst like that?” He shook his head. “Not happening. So why don’t you tell me what the hell you were talking about, especially if whatever it is has anything to do with Toni.”
She sighed. “I can’t tell you anything.”
“What do you mean you can’t tell me anything, Raze?” He narrowed his eyes on her. “If Toni’s in some kind of trouble – I deserve to know!”
“I mean I can’t tell you anything,” she snapped. “It’s an Ancient thing.”
Drake fisted his hands in an attempt to not only keep the animals inside him at bay, but to keep from shaking Raze until she told him everything he wanted to know. “You’re going to tell me what I want to know, and you’re going to tell me right now.”
“Oh, no I’m not.” She stabbed a neon green fingernail in his direction. “You can punish me however you see fit, but I’m telling you right now – whatever you do won’t be anything compared to what’ll happen to me if I tell you what I know. I may not be able to die unless the man upstairs says so, but it’ll take me at least fifty years to pull the pieces of my body back together if I spill these beans. And I’m not going there again, Drake. No way, no how.”
He splayed his fingers then squeezed his hands closed again. “Could you at least tell me something about what’s going on? Is Toni in danger? Is one of my enemies after her already?”
Raze actually laughed. “One of your enemies…ha! Trust me, right now the last thing any of your enemies wanna do is interrupt whatever Toni’s doing. Because if they do, they’ll be floating around the Dark Realm faster than you can say shit, wondering what the hell went so wrong.” She inhaled a deep breath as her eyes moved over him. “I can’t tell you exactly what’s going on…but I can share this piece of info. Whatever’s going on with Toni right now, it has nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, to do with you. And if she’s even half as smart as you say she is, then she’ll probably be just fine when all is said and done.”
He ground his teeth together. “I hate this. I got Crypt telling me to stay away from her because he’s pissed that I broke the rules. I got Derek telling me I can’t even check in on her because she has to finish some investigation Locke put her on. And now you’re telling me she’s caught up in some Ancient…whatever the hell it is…but she should be fine, and I’m supposed to do what now? Stand back and hope she’ll be okay? How the fuck am I supposed to do that?”
She offered a sympathetic smile. “Welcome to the real world.”
He eyed her again. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, please. You know damn well the kinds of sick and twisted games the Ancients play. It’s just that this time, instead of being their smacking hand or immune to their machinations like you’ve always been…you’re just one of the innocent bystanders left with no choice but to watch it all happen to someone you love.”
Drake opened his mouth to respond, but then snapped it shut. There was nothing he could say to argue her point. She was right. He’d never really had to bear the brunt of the games, aside from dealing the final blow on an Ancient’s behalf. And he’d never had to watch someone he cared about get crushed under some Blood God’s boot heels, because the majority of his friends were so old that they weren’t easily crushed.
“It’s hard to be a spectator sometimes,” Raze said as she shook her head, sadness marking her face. “And it’s even worse when you’re supernatural too and you still can’t do anything but watch. It was a hard lesson, but I learned a long time ago that sometimes you can’t interfere once the wheels are in motion. Sometimes you just have to put all your faith in the person you love, and hope that at the end of the day they’re the smarter, stronger, and faster player.”
Drake followed suit when Raze started walking again. He’d already placed every shred of faith he owned in Toni. But whether she’d be the stronger player in whatever game she’d been unwittingly dropped into was extremely difficult to determine, especially when he didn’t even know what she was playing for.
***
Toni woke up just as the sun set, and an empty feeling settled deep in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t need to open her eyes to know she was alone in bed. The absence of the strong, warm body she’d grown rather fond of being wrapped around chilled her skin.
She wanted to be mad at Drake for not being there, but she couldn’t. To be honest, she’d almost hoped for this outcome. If he’d been here when her eyes fluttered open, there was no way she would have been able to watch him leave.
Because sometimes when they leave, they don’t come back. She smiled in spite of the comment racing through her mind as she picked up the large t-shirt
laying where Drake should have been. She held the black fabric under her nose and inhaled deep. The familiar scent alone made her ache to see him.
Deciding she had to go on with her night, Toni climbed out of bed and stretched out her muscles. A giddy, girly feeling wiggled through her as she glanced up and noticed a folded piece of paper lying on the kitchen table. She burst into an all out run and snatched it up.
Toni,
Sorry I’m not there right now, but I knew if we woke up together I wouldn’t be able to leave. I hope everything works out with your sleuthing for “The Man”. I’ll see you soon. I promise.
I love you,
Drake
She smiled wide as she set the letter down. Only Drake could make her feel like a lovesick teenager. How she’d been lucky enough to end up with a man like him, she still didn’t know – but she wasn’t about to question whatever forces the universe had aligned in her favor.
Toni let out a loud groan when the doorbell screamed through the room yet again. She didn’t know what the damn thing had against Drake, but it obviously didn’t even want her thinking about him, much less touching him.
As she tried to slide new clothes on at warp speed, she heard someone start yelling from the hallway. “Open up, we know you’re in there! We’ve got the place surrounded!”
She laughed and fell over as she attempted to pull her jeans on. Only Clint would stand in the hallway screaming movie lines at her.
After righting herself, she quickly finished dressing then walked over to the door. “No hablo ingles,” she drawled, thickening her accent.
“Déjeme adentro,” a deep, raspy voice called back.
Toni stared at the door. She knew that wasn’t Clint asking to be let in, but she didn’t recognize the voice. There was the slightest hint of familiarity…she felt it trying to fire in her mind, but she just couldn’t place it.
Deciding there was only one way to find out, she pulled the door open. Her mouth dropped open as she stared at the two men standing in the hallway. Clint she’d expected, but the other…the other she was almost afraid to believe was really standing there.
He shoved Clint out of the way and moved to stand in front of her. His black metal plated motorcycle boots, black hard leather pants, and white tank top were definitely familiar. But it was the string of tribal tattoos that spanned his shoulders and the length of his arms that told her everything she needed to know.
Toni covered her mouth with her hands as tears welled in her eyes. She remembered those tattoos. She remembered those light brown eyes.
She remembered her big brother.
She jumped into Dominic’s arms and squeezed him with every bit of strength she had. She’d spent over a decade hoping he was still alive, praying he was all right, but she never believed she’d actually see him again.
At eight years old, and only weeks after their father had died, she’d ridden her bike around the neighborhood every single day, from sunrise to sunset, for over three weeks looking for him. She’d asked every person she passed if they’d seen him, but no one had. She’d even gone to a few parts of town she should have never been in, without her mother’s permission, searching for him. And had Isabel not ratted her out and gotten Mama involved, she probably would’ve never stopped looking for him.
But Mama had a way of reasoning away even the most painful things. She’d said that Dominic was old enough to make his own decisions, and needed the space to do so. He was eighteen years old, and should be treated like a man, not a child. Eventually, Toni realized her mother was right and let the pain of missing her older brother fade into a dull ache.
However, at the moment…the pain was back full force.
Toni eased away from Dominic and stared up at him. There were so many things she wanted to yell at him for, but now that he was right in front of her – she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. All she wanted was to hear him promise he’d never leave her again.
Apparently it was Clint’s turn to do the shoving as Dominic stumbled past her and into the hotel room. “Why don’t we go inside and have ourselves a little chat,” Clint said with a smile.
She wiped the tears from her cheeks and nodded. After closing the door, she grabbed Dominic’s hands and shook them hard, instead of him. “Where have you been?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been around. I spent some time out in California after I got thrown out of Chicago. I moved about a half hour south of here a few months ago.”
“You got kicked out of Chicago? Did you get in trouble with the police or something?”
He laughed a rumbling sound that filled her with a hundred different memories. He pulled his hands from hers and used one to rub the back of his neck. “I guess you could say Locke didn’t’ like it when I tried to rip the head off of his Sydney doll.”
Toni could only stare at him for a moment. “You’re a vampire?”
“Yup. Made by the same fucking guy who made you, from what I hear.” He lowered his eyes and tapped the toe of his boot against the floor. “That’s why I left after dad died. I couldn’t risk you guys finding out what I was. I hope now you can understand. It wasn’t what I wanted to do. Leaving you guys was the last fuckin’ thing I wanted to do.”
She frowned as she watched him fist his hands. She understood completely, because she had to do the very same thing. Only when she’d left home…their family had died.
She chewed the inside of her bottom lip. “I understand. I just…I missed you, Dom. I miss…” She trailed off when he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into another hug.
“I know…me, too.” He went quiet for a few moments before he cleared his throat. “But I’m back now, and Clint told me you might need some help with an investigation. Mind if I tag along?”
As his words fully sank in, all at once every emotion Toni felt warped into seething anger. She turned out of Dominic’s arms and focused all her rage directly on Clint. “All this time…you knew he was a vampire? You knew where he was and you didn’t tell me?”
“Don’t feel bad,” Dominic said. “He didn’t bother to tell me you were a vampire either until last night. Everybody just fuckin’ let me go on thinking you got killed right along with Mama, Bell, and Ray.”
Clint raised a hand. “I knew your brother was a vampire, but I wasn’t sure where he’d gone. And I didn’t tell you when your family died because I didn’t want Mr. Biceps for Brains to come rolling back in here looking for revenge. Finding out your brother was still alive, but then died, wouldn’t have helped either situation.”
Toni stood still as Clint stepped forward and cupped her cheeks in his hands. “I did what I thought was best for you at the time. Dominic was exiled almost ten years before you became a vampire, and you were having a hard enough time dealing with that. The last thing you needed was another surprise dropped into your lap.”
She sucked in a deep breath and tried to settle the wild lashing in her stomach. She really wanted to kick Clint, but he’d shown her time and time again that he’d never do anything to intentionally hurt her. “Okay, I get it. I do. But I’m still pissed at you right now.”
He rested a hand on her shoulder. “I really am sorry, Toni. When it comes to you, I’ve always tried to do the right thing. And in keeping with that tradition, I’m going to leave and let you two discuss the investigation and catch up.” When she nodded, he turned and glared at Dominic. “Don’t kill anything this time, especially her,” he growled as he pointed at her. “And remember what I said back in your garage…because I meant every word of it.” He turned back around and dropped a kiss Toni’s on the cheek. “I’ll talk to you later. Good luck with the investigation.”
She arched a brow. “What did you tell him back in his garage?”
His lips thinned into a smile. “That’s between me and him. But do me a favor before you get upset again, because I see the look on your face and I know that’s where you’re going. Try to remember that your brother’s been around for well over a decade
now. He already has established relationships with people, not to mention a reputation, and neither have anything to do with you. Much like anyone else with his temperament, he’s loved by some and hated by others. I’ll put up with most of his antics because I care about you, but there are other Elders and Ancients in this city who won’t, and you have to be prepared for that.”
“Why don’t you tell her the truth?” Dominic asked before he growled at Clint. “Tell her I don’t eat all the crap that Elders like you try to feed anybody who actually remembers what it’s like to have a heartbeat. And you fuckers don’t like me for it. Why don’t you tell her that, instead of all the other bullshit?”
Clint reached up and scratched the back of his head. “As you can see, your brother has quite the temper on him, only outdone by his nonstop mouth.” He motioned to Dominic. “Toni, meet the reason why, when you gave your last name to most Enforcement Teams or Lords of other cities, they summarily threw you out on your butt.”
Toni whirled around to face her brother. “Oh my God, Dom. How much trouble have you caused since you left? Do you know how many times I got shot whenever I told someone my name?”
He grinned at her. “Probably a lot.” When she shot him a nasty glare, he straightened. “What? There’s shit I’ll deal with and shit I won’t. Being fucked in the ass by some Elder because she thinks she’s better than me is some shit I just won’t take. And just so you know, I didn’t cause trouble anywhere else. I only caused trouble here, and that bitch Sydney turned around flapped her gums to every Doll in the whole damn country.”
“Sydney’s the Elder Councilor who represents the Dolls here in Chicago, just in case you didn’t know,” Clint added. “And her network of contacts isn’t anything to—”
“I don’t give a fuck about her network of contacts!” Dominic yelled. “She deserved everything she got. And I’m telling you right now, if I see her while I’m here, you’ll be damn lucky if I don’t try to pop her head off again.”
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