Absolution (The Penton Vampire Legacy)

by Susannah Sandlin

  Mirren grunted and stared out the window.

  “Uh-huh.” Aidan nodded. “Tonight, that’s when. Don’t throw this away before you’ve given it a chance. Things happen for a reason.”

  “Whatever.”

  The man hadn’t broken anything yet. Might as well push it further. “How up to speed are you on vampire mating and what it means?”

  No answer.

  Fine, Aidan could play it that way. “Each of you will know where the other one is, and if one of you gets in trouble or is hurt, the other one will know. It’s like a strong blood bond in that way.”

  No response.

  “If you need to, you can pull power from her the way strong bonded vampires can pull from each other. Remember when Owen attacked me behind the old mill and I accidentally pulled energy from Krys? She keeled over in a dead faint in the middle of the clinic?”

  “Humph.”

  Well, that was a response, at least. “Glory’s life span will be much longer. She’ll be less vulnerable to any kind of disease. If you work at it, you’ll probably be able to communicate mentally, at least on a basic level. Krys and I could, and from what I’ve seen, Glory’s every bit as mentally tough as Krys was before she was turned—maybe more so. Think how strong she’s been to hang onto the info about her abilities despite everything Matthias put her through and us keeping her enthralled for a week while she detoxed.”

  Mirren didn’t answer at first, but he was no longer sitting ramrod straight and staring at the car ceiling. He’d kind of slumped in the seat and had his eyes closed. Finally, he cleared his throat. “Anything else I need to know?”

  Aidan cranked the car again. Crisis averted, for now. He hoped Mirren accepted it, because he honestly didn’t know if a mating bond could be broken, short of death. “Just this—if one of you dies, the other one could die as well, particularly the weaker of you. These bonds go deep. So, for Glory’s sake, take care of yourself.”

  They rode the rest of the way to city hall in silence, parking beside a black sedan with dark-tinted windows. The type of car a chauffeur might drive around as he carted some head of state to and from official functions. The man who got out of the backseat to greet them was polished enough to be that head of state.

  Aidan exited the car first but stuck his head back in the door and gave Mirren a warning frown. “Play nice. If you can’t converse without name-calling, keep your mouth shut and nod.”

  Mirren barely heard Aidan’s words. His head spun with the idea of Glory being his mate. She’d bit him in the shower and again when he’d clapped a hand over her mouth to shut her up. Both times, she’d taken in some of his blood, and he’d certainly fed from her, and they’d had sex. More than once.

  Had he felt any differently afterward? When he’d fed from her tonight in the upstairs bedroom, he’d felt relaxed but needy—needing his hands and mouth on her. Needing to play with her. Was that what happiness felt like? He didn’t know.

  “You OK?” Aidan still had his head stuck in the open car door. “You can bail out of this meeting if you want to go back and talk to Glo—”

  “I’m good.” He didn’t want to talk to Glory. He didn’t want to talk about Glory. He didn’t want to even think about Glory.

  Mirren unfurled himself from the cramped front seat of Aidan’s car, nodded at the short, slim man standing beside the sedan, and then followed Renz and Aidan up the stone steps of the city hall building.

  Renz didn’t look starved by the pandemic, stressed out by power politics, or anything other than the polished bureaucrat he was. Mirren understood Aidan’s loyalty to the man—he’d taken the emotionally ruined vampire Aidan had been in Ireland, brought him to America, and taught him how to survive with his brains instead of just his fangs. Aidan owed him a lot.

  Mirren, however, owed the man nothing. As far as he was concerned, Lorenzo Caias was one more power-hungry Tribunal player. He might be cut of a better moral cloth than Matthias Ludlam—maybe—but he hadn’t lasted on the vampire governing council this long without having a strong sense of self-preservation. He’d been Tribunal when Mirren was doing his thing as the Slayer, which was more than a century and a half ago.

  Lorenzo Caias knew how to cover his ass.

  They entered the quiet building, bypassed the door leading down to the secured cells where the loser named Cal had met his end, and entered the office of Penton’s last human mayor. The late Samuel Gage had died of the pandemic, one of the last Pentonites to go.

  Out of respect for his friend, Aidan took one of the chairs in front of the desk instead of sitting in the power position behind it. Renz sat in the other chair, leaving the mayor’s chair to Mirren. OK by him. Renz bore watching, and the power seat gave him the perfect vantage point.

  “Thanks for meeting with me on short notice.” Renz cocked his head at Aidan, then squinted at Mirren. “I think both of you are due congratulations. You’ve both ta ken a mating bond?”

  Aidan had been right. What, did they smell like fippin’ flowers and honeybees now? Mirren shifted in his chair, remembering the first time he’d seen Aidan after he and Krys had formed their mating bond. Her scent had been all over him, which meant Renz could scent Glory all over him. Shit. At least he’d never met her, so he wouldn’t know who his mate was.

  Aidan nodded. “You’re right. A couple of months for me, more recently for Mirren.”

  “The human doctor you were involved with when I last saw you?” Renz picked at a speck of lint on his jacket as if the question was casual, but it was an inquiry filled with land mines. Aidan had broken Tribunal law by turning Krys vampire. He thought Renz would protect him even if he found out about it. Mirren thought Renz would protect Aidan only as long as it was convenient for Renz.

  “The doctor you met was killed by my brother, unfortunately. He almost killed me as well, with the tainted blood we think Matthias provided,” Aidan said. “My new mate is vampire. It’s better that way.”

  “Quite, or so I’ve heard. I’ve never taken a mate myself.” Renz turned to Mirren. “And you, Mr. Kincaid? Is your mate also one of us?”

  Like Mirren was telling him anything. He and Renz stared at each other a half beat longer than was polite and said nothing. Who he was or wasn’t mated to, or whether he planned to stay mated to her, was none of the man’s business.

  Aidan cleared his throat. “What’s the urgent issue you wanted to talk about, Renz?”

  Mirren caught the fash of annoyance that crossed the overblown bureaucrat’s face before he wrenched his gaze back to Aidan. Too bad. “Matthias Ludlam has been removed from the Justice Council, and I’ve begun proceedings to have him removed from the Tribunal altogether. I’ve told you that much. I’m funding a full-blown investigation myself. It’s time someone stopped him from using the Tribunal for his own personal gain. There’s something you can do to help.”

  Aidan laughed as he rose and walked to a small bar set into the wall and poured two tumblers of whiskey. “Want one, Mirren?”

  Mirren shook his head. It was against his personal rule book to socialize with the enemy, or a suspected enemy. Or at least someone who was not a trusted friend.

  “What can we do to help?” Aidan handed Renz a glass and sat again. “William Ludlam needs to be able to live without having Matthias’s shadow behind him all the time, and here in Penton, we all just want to be left alone. We’re not amassing power for some kind of coup, Renz. You know that.”

  “I do, but some of the Tribunal members are nervous at the reported size of your scathe, especially since you’ve bonded all your humans, and Matthias knows how to feed that paranoia.” Renz sipped from his glass and set it on a side table. “The quicker we get Matthias off the Tribunal where he doesn’t have Chairman Greisser’s ear, the better. It might mean making a hard choice on your part, but one that, in the long run, is worth it.”

  Mirren propped his arms on the desk, his shoulders tense. When a Tribunal member used a phrase like hard choice, it meant trouble
.

  Aidan thought the same thing, if his frown was any indication. “What kind of choice might that be?”

  Renz crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair, speaking slowly. “Remember when you told me a few months ago about taking the human doctor against her will? That it went against your beliefs, but you thought it was worth it to save the town?”

  Aidan grew very still as Renz weighed each word before speaking. Mirren watched one, then the other. He was getting a really bad feeling about this and lowered his right hand to reassure himself that one of his combat knives was in his pocket. He wore the .45 openly in a shoulder holster, but one couldn’t be too careful.

  Aidan spoke with equal deliberation. “I remember using that sentiment, if not those words, although I later came to regret it. We had no right to take her, and it ended up costing the doctor her life. What are you proposing?”

  “I’ve heard you took in a woman here and have given her sanctuary, a human female—one Matthias needs to get rid of in order to save himself,” Renz said. “Rumor has it he took her against her will, from somewhere near Atlanta. Like you did with your doctor, but not for any noble cause, I don’t think. He kept her prisoner for over a month at his Virginia estate.”

  Renz turned his gaze toward Mirren, who fought to keep his temper. The snake knew about Glory.

  “Rumor also has it that Matthias was holding you prisoner for a while at that same Virginia estate, Mr. Kincaid,” Renz said. “Is that true?”

  Mirren clenched his jaw until he thought it might crack. “Don’t believe everything you hear.”

  “Who’s your source?” Aidan asked, his voice softer and, Mirren thought, more cautious.

  “A young vampire who worked for Matthias on security. He let someone slip up on him, and it resulted in the escape of a prisoner who ft Kincaid’s description. They all called him the Slayer.” Renz kept his gaze locked with Mirren’s. “The young man, who was feeing Matthias’s wrath, said the Slayer took the girl out with him and that Matthias had tracked her to Penton. Of course, our talker is dead now—Matthias doesn’t leave witnesses, so all I have is hearsay. But if Matthias knows she’s here, she puts all of you at risk.”

  Mirren kept his face a blank, but his mind raced back to the night of their escape. He’d been in bad shape, and a lot of it remained fuzzy. Will had left Shelton alive, but Shelton wouldn’t talk, so it had to be the guy Will had hog-tied outside the back door. Damn it, Will needed to learn to finish the jobs he’d started.

  “What is it you’re asking for, Renz?” Aidan leaned forward in his chair, his shoulders stiff, eyes lightening.

  “I want the woman.” Renz turned back to Aidan. “I’m assuming Kincaid here won’t testify that Matthias held him illegally, and I’m not sure how sympathetic a witness he’d be anyway.” He glanced back at Mirren briefly. “No offense, but you’re far from an innocent. A human, kidnapped by Matthias and held against her will? That’s another matter. The guard wasn’t sure why Matthias wanted her, which I have to admit has aroused my curiosity. But if I get her to make a statement, then to testify against him before the Tribunal, we can bring him down.”

  Aidan set his glass on the table, most of the whiskey still in it. “What makes you think you can keep her safe? You couldn’t keep Matthias’s ex-guard safe, obviously.”

  Mirren clenched his fists so tightly the muscles in his arms shook. Was Aidan even considering this? It wouldn’t happen. He’d take Glory out of here tonight. He’d spent years staying two steps ahead of the Tribunal when he left them after faking his death, and he could do it again.

  “Ah, well. I would do my best, of course. What I’d do is videotape her testimony and make sure it was in Frank Gre-isser’s hands immediately. Then I’d keep her as safe as I could, but Matthias still has strong allies. The thing is”—Renz leaned toward Aidan, ignoring Mirren’s glare—“Penton would be safe. If we’re able to protect the girl, grand. If we aren’t, you’ve saved a lot more people by getting Matthias robbed of his power. Hell, if we succeed, he’ll be executed himself. What’s one lone human in light of that? From what I understand, she isn’t even a very successful human—a store clerk, uneducated beyond the basics, no wealth, no close ties.”

  An icy calm spread through Mirren at those words, and he knew Lorenzo Caias would die by his hand, no matter how Aidan felt about the man. Glory was worth a dozen of him.

  Aidan nodded slowly. “What if we agree to tape her testimony for you and then keep her here where we know we can keep her safe until it’s time for her to testify?”

  Mirren dug his nails into the leather-clad arms of the desk chair. Was Aidan fucking nuts? Glory wasn’t going anywhere near the Tribunal.

  Renz pursed his lips and nodded. “That could work, I suppose. But the recording needs to be done immediately, and I have all the videography equipment we’d need at my estate, since it’s a bit of a hobby for me. So it would be more expedient for her to leave with me immediately after daysleep. I have some paperwork I need to attend to before dawn if you can loan me one of those subsuites you have below your clinic. That will give you time to explain things to her and get her ready to go. Don’t tell her the dangers, of course. Reassure her this is the best way for her to get her life back.”

  Mirren glared at Aidan, but the man avoided his eye. He just gave Renz a face full of what appeared to Mirren like a lot of compliance. “We’ll talk to her and make a decision after day-sleep,” Aidan finally said.

  A cold, black anger swept through Mirren. Aidan was the closest friend he’d ever had, and he owed the man a lot. But friend or no friend, he wouldn’t let Aidan sacrifice Glory to keep peace with the Tribunal, even if it forced Penton to stand and fight.

  CHAPTER 24

  AChopped marathon played on the Food Network—Glory’s favorite show on her favorite channel—but she couldn’t concentrate on how the competing chefs might combine their weird blend of ingredients. Tonight, it was ginger ale with pork belly, then gummy worms with Brussels sprouts.

  She’d been so damned smart, thinking she knew how to handle Mirren Kincaid. Tie the man up, she’d told herself. Play a little rough with him the way she instinctively knew he’d like it. Get him into bed and distract him from his acid pens and his self-punishment. Bite him, for God’s sake. Enjoy each other. Show him—show yourself—that you can ft into life in Penton.

  And it had worked. Right up until Krys hung up from her phone call with Aidan and told Glory she’d accidentally married the freaking vampire till death do them part. Of course, she didn’t have to worry about that “until death” part because Mirren Kincaid was going to kill her himself. She owed Mirren. She liked him. She lusted after him, sure enough.

  But this mating thing? Uh-uh, no way.

  “Don’t you start laughing at me again, or I’m going to…I don’t know what, but I’m going to do something. So shut up about it unless you know how to undo it.” Glory glared at the tall, auburn-haired vampire, who was curled up on the other end of Mirren’s big sofa. After two hours, Krys was still breaking into occasional fits of giggles. It wasn’t very vampirelike behavior. “Don’t you have some pet bats to feed or blood to drain or something?”

  “Sorry, sorry.” Krys rubbed her eyes and tried, unsuccessfully, to stop laughing. “It’s just that I keep thinking of what the expression on Mirren’s face must have looked like when Aidan told him. Yours was bad enough—your eyes were the size of Melissa’s dinner plates.”

  Glory wanted to sink underneath the sofa…except, then she’d be in the basement with the damned rope she’d tied Mirren up with—or that he’d let her tie him up with. “Look, we had sex, OK? We did not sign some unbreakable vampire vow. You can’t do that by accident, surely to God.” She slumped back on the sofa. “Except, apparently you can. And it’s all my fault. Entirely. I mean I practically attacked the man and tied him…well, never mind that. Now look what’s happened.”

  It took a good thirty seconds for Krys to get her laughter un
der control again. “Glory, how big is Mirren?”

  She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. “Oh my God. What kind of question is that? Personal much?”

  After a blank look, Krys lost it again, throwing a pillow at Glory and laughing so hard she almost choked. “No, no, no. Oh my God, no. My point was, how tall is Mirren? How much does he weigh? And how tall are you?”

  “Oh.” Well, that was humiliating. Glory’s cheeks flushed. She’d hardly ever blushed before coming to Penton. Now she seemed to be in a constant state of embarrassment, usually because of her own mouth. “I’m five six. He’s, I dunno, maybe six six, maybe more?”

  Krys gave her a Yodalike smile. “He’s six eight. I asked Aidan once. And before Matthias starved him for a month, he weighed close to three hundred pounds, most of it muscle. Plus, he’s a master vampire, which means he has a lot of power, mental and physical. Believe me when I tell you that you didn’t force Mirren Kincaid to do anything he wasn’t perfectly willing to do. I don’t think he’ll blame you for this misunderstanding, but if he does, you might remind of him of that.”

  Yeah, she’d remind him, all right—on her way out the door. Maybe Mark and Melissa would put her up until she could find a place. Things might have gotten screwed up with Mirren, but she wasn’t ready to give up on Penton. She liked these people, even if, technically, more than half of them weren’t people in any normal sense of the word. Melissa and Krys had become friends. She liked her little job at the superette, even if it wasn’t the most challenging in the world.

  She could imagine a future here even without Mirren, although her chest ached to think of not seeing him every day. Maybe once he got over the shock of this mating thing and they got it undone, she could still be his fam. Maybe even his friend.

  Her optimism was cut short by the ring of Krys’s cell phone—a call from Aidan, judging by the smile on the woman’s face. Melissa had been right; she had no reason to be jealous of Krys feeding from Mark. She and Aidan were parts of a whole.