by SJ Himes
Simeon smiled wide, shaking his head. “I had help. The vampire I killed was the enemy of a powerful older vampire, who caught up to my sire just as I tore him apart. He then took me in and taught me how to live my new life. He was grateful for what I did and saved me from walking into the sun.” Simeon glanced across the room where Batiste stood talking to Bridgerton.
It took Angel a second, but he put it together. “Well, damn. I guess I already owe Batiste. Fuck.” Angel sighed dramatically. Simeon kissed his temple again, and it was sweet, perfect. And slightly melancholy.
Angel chuckled quietly. “You’re so…” His voice trailed off, closing his eyes. “I think wonderful is a good word for you.”
A commotion across the room drew their attention, breaking the soft, quiet moment between them.
Eroch mantled, his fangs bared at Bridgerton. He stood on Daniel’s shoulders, wings spread, tail lashing the air. The Elder vamp was within arm’s reach of Daniel, the young man having come out of the bathroom that served the common area of Simeon’s living room. Batiste was near the door, pausing in the act of leaving, hand on the knob. “Bridgerton.” Batiste’s voice was cold, sharp, and snapped across the room. Daniel put his back to the wall, and Angel felt the bond to his apprentice come to life. It usually lay quiet, dormant, as Angel had only used it once. Daniel didn’t need the old-fashioned mechanism a master put in place to control the haywire abilities of a young practitioner, but it came to life now. It meant Daniel was readying himself to use his powers for defense.
“Simeon,” Angel said, pushing free of his mate’s arms. Simeon moved faster than he could think, blurring to Bridgerton’s side and putting himself between the old pirate and Daniel. Angel moved to put himself behind Bridgerton, hellfire sparking to life in little firefly flares around his shoulders.
Cold swept across the room. Draining and heavy, it pushed against minds and made Angel’s heart jump. Bridgerton staggered, a slight shuffle to the side, as if he’d been knocked in the shoulder. Angel pushed back, clearing his mind, the sensation pooling around his legs like the rising surf. Simeon was unmoved, and Angel realized, with his heart in his throat, the power came from Simeon. Rarely did Simeon let his powers out for others to experience. It was cold and overwhelming, the silence of trees heavy with snow, harsh against the edges of the mind, blood rushing in ears. The second Angel recognized it as Simeon, he was immune. Daniel no longer looked terrified, and the bond between Daniel and Angel went quiet again, peaceful. Eroch still hissed, but he pulled his wings in, folding them to rest on his back.
“Elder, attend me.” The command came from Batiste, and Bridgerton shook his head as if dazed. He wiped his face and seemed to come back to himself, stepping back from Simeon in some alarm. “Elder, now.”
Batiste had no patience, the command sharp. Bridgerton blurred away from Daniel and Simeon, and out past Batiste, who opened the door in time to avoid it getting blasted to pieces as the chastised Elder ran.
Batiste looked down the hall after the Elder then turned to look at Daniel and Simeon. Angel relaxed, dismissing his hellfire, the surge of it under his skin, fingers tingling. He wouldn’t be killing a pirate today after all. At least, not yet.
“My apologies. Bridgerton will not be allowed back in here while Elder Simeon and your master are gone. I will have my legates on guard tonight. Unless you wish for me to stay,” Batiste was speaking to Daniel, who gaped at the city master then shook his head in denial.
“No. Um, no, thank you. I’ll be fine if he doesn’t come back. I can tell he doesn’t like me,” Daniel murmured. “Thank you, but the guards should be enough.”
Batiste gave a slow nod to Daniel, his icy blue eyes shadowed by something Angel would bet was regret. “As you wish, youngling. My apologies again, for poor treatment under my roof.”
The city master gave Angel and Simeon a nod then left the suite, the door shutting with a soft snick of the latch.
Simeon’s power disappeared as quickly as it came, leaving the air feeling as if a storm had passed without dropping any lightning.
“Can I kill him?” Angel asked, mostly serious.
“I have made my position more than clear. If he does not respect my family then I will handle him,” Simeon replied. They both looked to Daniel. To Angel’s surprise, Daniel looked more aggravated than scared.
“He’s a jerk,” Daniel said and headed for the underused kitchen. “Do we have any food that doesn’t come in blood unit bags?”
Simeon looked a bit surprised himself but trailed after Daniel. “I shall call the concierge service. What do you want?”
“Pizza?”
Angel chuckled. The world could be ending, and the twenty-year-old boy…man…would ask for pizza.
17
Bodies…Bodies Everywhere
Milly walked in to Simeon’s seldom used kitchen as Angel was eating a slice of pepperoni from Luciano’s. She sniffed then made a beeline for the box open on the counter. She grabbed a slice and a napkin and stood next to him by the counter. She took a bite, chewed, and swallowed before talking. “You have access to a 3-star chef and you call out for delivery?”
Angel took another bite. “Hell yes. Nothing beats Luci’s pepperoni.” Daniel sat on a high stool on the other side of the island and nodded vigorously while chewing. Angel pointed at Daniel. “See? Kiddo agrees.”
“Daniel is nearly twenty-one, you can stop calling him ‘kiddo,’” Milly said snidely, before she took another bite of pizza. She looked like an Old Hollywood superstar, dressed in dark blue high heels, a soft cream silk sheath dress that hugged shoulder hip and thighs, and her dark gray hair swept up in a fancy ‘do. He didn’t think she was going anywhere; this was how she normally dressed. Old money, extreme class, and absolute no fucks given about other people’s opinion resulted in Milly dressing to the nines every day.
Angel paused before he took another bite. “Oh shit, birthdays. I keep forgetting people have birthdays every year. What do you want?” Angel asked Daniel.
Daniel was unprepared and almost choked. “What? Nothing. I’m cool. You let me live with you rent free. You got my old man locked up, I’m not in jail, and I get to hang out with a dragon. I don’t need anything.” Eroch churred and stole a pepperoni from Daniel’s pizza.
“Need anything? Maybe.” Angel secretly thought Daniel could use some time with a therapist or an elementalist healer who specialized in trauma from assault and abuse, but he wouldn’t say that here and now. “Do you want anything? Maybe a new tablet? You’ve had that ereader for a couple years. Upgrade?”
Daniel shook his head no, picking at his pizza. Eroch sniffed at it, and Daniel pushed his plate toward the little dragon who fell upon the cheese as if starving. Angel would figure out something. He didn’t like getting presents for people, no matter the occasion, but he figured a person only turned twenty-one once, so a present wasn’t out of line.
“Mo ghra?” Simeon stood in the doorway of the kitchen, and Angel had to look twice.
Gone was the suit. In its place was a skin-tight Henley tee, a dark pair of jeans, and black leather boots. Simeon looked dangerous, sexy as fuck, and edible. Angel wished they could stay in for the night, but they had some enforcers to evade and some graverobbers to stop. Angel struggled to swallow his bite of pizza and reached for his soda. The cold liquid managed to free up his tongue. “Um.” Angel coughed. “You look…wow. Are we ready to go?”
Simeon’s grin was wide and bright. “Yes, love. The soldiers are waiting for us in the underground garage.”
Angel nodded and gave Daniel an assessing glance. “You’ll be okay. Want me to ward the bedroom door again?”
Daniel went pink across his cheeks and Milly smacked Angel on the arm. “Ouch! What the hell?”
“He’s not a baby!” Milly scolded.
“I know he’s not! I just want him to be safe.”
“I’ll be fine.” Daniel spoke up. “I’m gonna read out next to the fire in the living room then hea
d to bed later. Good luck.”
Angel stifled his overprotective instincts. “Eroch?” The dragon burped, belly fat from pizza. Angel couldn’t help the smile. “Are you going to stay with Daniel or come with me?”
Eroch yawned, tiny fangs catching the light. He curled up next to the empty plate and began to snore. “Dragon is staying here. Milly? Coming with?”
“Yes, actually. I know the Dean of the History department—he’s meeting us outside the History building in forty minutes. Let me grab my bag.”
Milly left the kitchen, passing Simeon with an appreciative glance. Angel took a long, thorough glance of his own, and the knowing look he got back from his mate was more than enough to make him want to stay in. Screw the world.
Simeon read him well, and the vampire smiled, holding out his hand. “Come, mo ghra. Let us put this issue to rest then we can focus on ridding the city of our enemies.”
“Then bed?” Angel quipped, wiping his hands on a napkin. Daniel rolled his eyes, reached out, and dragged the pizza box closer to his seat, going for another piece. Angel tossed his napkin at his apprentice, who dodged it with a smile. Daniel seemed to be rebounding faster than Angel had hoped, and he was glad for it.
“Yes, then bed.” Simeon replied with a sexy grin as Angel took his hand.
“Thank Hecate,” Angel swore, heading for the door to the suite.
“Be careful!” Daniel called after them, and Angel gave his apprentice a wave over his shoulder.
Simeon noticed first. Made sense really, since that much blood filled the air with a coppery, lung-choking odor that made Angel stagger once the SUV door opened. Simeon, and the soldiers driving with them in the rear, all reacted to the blood spoor in the air. Milly was already out of her vehicle and talking to O’Malley and a man Angel didn’t know.
Angel shut the SUV door, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth, wanting to retch. O’Malley, Milly, and the Dean of the History Department stood near the front of the building, and Angel called out to them, confused. “None of you smell that? What the hell happened?”
Simeon gestured, and vampire soldiers spread out across the pavement, creating a perimeter. Milly shook her head and came over to Angel. “What smell? What are you talking about?”
Simeon gestured to the building. “The scent of fresh blood is overwhelming. Too much blood to be anything but death. Still hot, too—something has happened, and the killer may still be here.”
“I don’t smell anything,” Milly started to say, then realized who she was talking to. “Vampires. Right.”
O’Malley was just as confused as Milly, but he didn’t argue—he called for backup on the radio and gestured to the two uniforms he’d brought with him, along with what must be campus security. Weapons were drawn.
Angel went toward the front entrance, looking for any signs of blood or bodies, but there was nothing. Bloodclan soldiers closed in on him, creating a perimeter, Simeon at his side. Milly tried to get through to him, but Angel shook his head. “Milly, stay with O’Malley.”
“I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself!”
“I need you to protect the cops, Milly.”
She stopped, glared at him, but a smile threatened to break through. “Fine. I shall babysit the police,” she answered, ignoring O’Malley’s stuttering protests with a haughty lift of her chin. “Just don’t die. I would hate to get a new partner trained how I like them.”
A soldier opened the door, and the vampires blurred into the building, spreading out. A hiss rose from them, the stench of blood thick upon the air, enough to make his stomach roil. This wasn’t the coppery, subtle tones that infused the Tower, but the horrible drowning odor of shredded viscera and offal, the rending of meat left to rot. Angel followed where Simeon pointed heading away from the direction of Giselle’s office. The vampires knew where they were going, and if the smell was overwhelming to Angel, it must be nearly unbearable for the vampires.
His sense of smell had never been this strong before and was surely a perk from the mate bond though this was one benefit he could do without. His body had horrible timing adapting to its new reality.
They found the staircase that led down to the storage level. Everything still look normal, nothing disturbed, no traces of blood. Angel had a creeping sense of foreboding; despite the lack of evidence of something having happened, he knew nothing that smelled like this could possibly be good.
They clattered down the stairs, Angel taking them three at a time, the vampires assigned as their protection ahead of him only staying within eyesight. Angel could tell they wanted to race ahead, fangs down and claws out, but they held onto their control.
A long corridor door, tall and wide enough for three people to walk abreast, was at the bottom of the stairs. It was well lit with fluorescent lamps above, not a flicker to be seen. At the end of the hall, near what must’ve been the outer wall of the building, a door stood ajar, unlocked with the ward deactivated.
“Did the Dean deactivate the ward?” Angel called back to Milly who was just coming out of the staircase.
“No, we hadn’t even gone inside the building yet.”
Angel exchanged a wary glance with Simeon. He reached behind his hip under his sweater and withdrew his athame, calling hellfire to the blade. Milly called to her power, steering the ambient magic around them. “It’s possible Giselle’s crew is down here with some fresh corpses, but that is the best-case scenario. Something’s wrong.”
Simeon ordered three of his soldiers to go ahead, and they raced down the hall too fast for Angel to see except as a blur. He jogged behind them, and as they approached the door, the stench of blood and ripped meat grew stronger and stronger. Angel felt like he was twenty again, standing on a street that was on fire, the shredded bodies of his loved ones around him where they had fallen. He blinked, and the memory receded, but the creeping sense of dread remained. The vampires in front reached the door and slipped inside, and Angel paused at the doorway. It was dark inside the room, so Angel leaned in just enough to find the light switch next to the door. He turned on the lights and in the snapping of the flickering ceiling lamps, he saw a scene from his worst nightmares brought to life.
The storage room was a mess; blood and chaos everywhere, artifacts and relics tossed here and there and crushed underfoot, shelves and storage units destroyed.
There was a body not far from where Angel stood. It was ripped apart and only the two matching boots allowed him to determine it was a single body and not a jumbled mess of limbs and mismatched parts. Farther out in the room were more bodies. Rib cages were exposed to the air, hearts left on the floor, faces turned to pulp, arms ripped from shoulders, legs pulled from hips, the sickening, cloying odor of terror and shock was floating over the overwhelming stench of blood and exposed organs.
O’Malley pushed in behind Angel and Simeon at the doorway. The older human detective took one look, pressed a hand over his mouth, and backed away. Angel heard him vomiting in the hallway but did not turn around to check on his friend. He could not take his eyes off the wreckage in front of him. “What happened?” O’Malley’s voice was ragged from vomiting.
“I don’t know yet. Stay in the hallway. Do not come in here.” Angel took a single step into the room and with a tilt of his head, asked Simeon to stand guard in the door. Simeon planted himself in the doorway and refused to anyone past him.
Angel ignored complaints from the police officers in the hallway, Milly adding her complaints to the chorus as well. The vampires who had run ahead into the room stood in the only clean areas they could find, making certain not to step in the blood and offal that littered the floor. “Don’t touch anything. Can you sense if there is anything here?”
Simeon answered from behind him. “There is nothing living left in this room.”
Angel unleashed his inner vision and sent his senses out into the room, cautiously investigating the magical residue hanging over everything. “No, nothing living is left. I don’t think
something living did this. O’Malley, tell campus security to go on lockdown.”
O’Malley made the call over the radio. Those still out in the hall were muttering and moving restlessly, afraid. Angel didn’t blame them one bit.
The room was full of artifacts that must belong to the college, any organization long destroyed. Interspersed among the body parts were shattered relics and bloody artifacts, some items Angel recognize, some he did not. He sensed vague impressions of magical signatures and hints of dormant spells, but there wasn’t anything active in the room… Except for one tiny spark of magic on the far side of the room near the wall. Angel grimaced but carefully stepped as best he could around the lakes of blood and destroyed flesh. He knelt down next to what had once been a human leg and peered through the mess on the wall.
Angel smiled despite the wreckage and sheathing his athame, he reached carefully back towards the wall and pulled out Lord Greyson’s cane. It was remarkably free of blood, unblemished. The spell was intact, but not active, since anyone who might have been acting as a power reserve was now either dead or absent. Since the spell was intact, Angel was certain Lord Greyson’s ghost was still tethered to this plane of existence and all it required was some energy for it to appear.
Nothing in the room spoke of a source for the death and destruction around them. Angel felt residual anger, fear, and a deep, eternal hunger, along with the impression of madness. It did not feel like a spell, but rather the release of a spell, as if something had been freed. An eruption of violence and death and hunger.
“Angel?” Simeon was on edge. His eyes glowed, his fangs were dropped, and his claws were just a hair too long to pass for mortal. The vampire soldiers were more gone than Simeon was, and he looked freaked out. It was odd to see a vampire so disturbed, but Angel figured everyone reached a limit sometime, and a room like this probably pushed a lot of people past their limit.