by Emjay Soren
Cain laughs. “Let me guess, you went and took her back.”
Leushus smiles and shrugs his shoulders. “Of course, she’s mine.”
When Cash growls, Leushus places his hand up in an effort to stop Cash from getting overly possessive. “You are mine as well, Cash. I meant no offense. I gave her to you as a mate. She is alive and Cherished, so shut it!”
“Ahem......” London says in a vain attempt to interrupt. “I am London, and I am mated to Cash. I do not belong to anyone.”
Silly girl had no clue.
“Keep thinking that Cherry, but you belong to us.” Leushus said, knowing he would piss her off. It seemed that it was his favorite thing to do lately. "They now believe I owe them a soul, even though they know damn well I won’t give them one. Angelo, however, is an entirely different story. He not only is Nex, but he has some serious connections to the mafia and about a hundred or so more underground deals going. I want his ass fried, to dust, and the Cado backing off.”
“We can get to the Cado!” Cain said, snarling.
Leushus laughed. “I can get to the Cado as well. What I need right now, is something as vicious as Bastian watching mine while I track Leucetta and Darcallion. Viccini is underground, way underground, and I can’t get to him without getting through the other two first.”
“You need us watching, then we watch.” Able said, not bothering to notice the growls coming from Cash.
“You can’t be fucking serious?” Cash stood and started pacing the kitchen. “He just fucking told her that she had nice tits! Why the fuck do you think I would sit back and let him look?” I had never seen Cash as angry as he was now, and yelling at our Dominus was as close to a suicidal move as you get, it just didn’t happen.
Ever.
Leushus walked slowly toward Cash, making sure he kept his silver stare leveled on him. “I won’t be talked to as if the mission is more important than the life of one of mine. I will make the rules, the hard
decisions, and I will deal with the repercussions. You, Cacius, will do as I say, with a smile, and suffer through it the same as we all did when it was London in danger.”
“Cash, baby…” Cookie tried, she did. Cash continued glaring at Leushus, and I was terrified of the outcome.
“Look, get out, go. Let your girl bring ya down and we can talk about it rationally when you’re calm.” I said, trying my best to defuse an ugly situation.
Cash said nothing, the only sound was his chair sliding roughly against the floor before slamming into the wall and breaking. We really needed to get some more stable chairs, preferably not wood though, considering it’d kill most of us.
Leushus looked at Cain and Able. “I need all hands on deck here. I know what’s at stake and I need to know mine have the protection they need.”
“We can do that without question. But what will Bastian, the wonder dog, be doing while we’re here?” Cain asked. Able smacked him upside his head.
“He is bound to the woman in question, right? Shouldn’t he be with her at all times?” Able asked, and that was when everything inside of me stilled to a dead calm. I stopped hearing, seeing and certainly felt nothing, as I let those words penetrate.
I caught the look of worry on Tavern’s face, her blunt white teeth digging in for purchase on her bottom lip. I felt the tension in the room, sharp as a razor, and then the look on Bastian’s face…….his eyes boring into my Bird.
“I am so sorry…” Able trailed off and laughter filled the room coming from Cain. I tried to move, I did. Leushus had me stuck, frozen to my chair as everything inside of me wanted Bastian’s blood on my hands.
“Preacher. No.” Spoken from Leushus, it was both a command and a threat.
“Baby, it is not what you think.” Tavern said.
I couldn’t look at her. “Free me you fucker!” I spat at Leushus.
“I will not. Not until you hear the truth of what you think you know.”
“I know enough.”
“You know nothing!” Leushus roared. “You left her free to the world, to get killed, all because you couldn’t face your reality. She is just as innocent and as important as London. She was collateral damage, and it wasn’t fair. She didn’t need this life Preacher, she didn’t deserve it. You left her to find her own path.”
“I left nothing you bleedin’ fuck! I was here fightin’ for her arse when she left me!”
“No.” Bastian said, and I swear to God I lost it.
“Free me now Leushus, or watch me leave it all behind.” I spoke every word calmly, meant every word I said. This was the worst betrayal of my very long existence.
“Preacher, please let me explain...“ Tavern pleaded, but I cut her off.
“I don’t want to hear it. You lied to me, to my face, and then in the same breath told me you loved me.”
“So what? You’re leaving me again, right?” She screamed and stood from the table, tears in her eyes. “That is exactly why I am bound. I am human at the end of the day, Preacher. I bleed and eat and do all the other mundane shit humans do. I can die just as easily as I can live, and you left me to that fate. I have been able to move on with my life, to work and have fun because of my mark.” She was hysterical, but I couldn’t see past the betrayal to comfort her.
“What happened?” Cookie said as she walked in the room
Tavern looked to Cookie the pain evident in her voice, in her eyes. “Please get me out of here, London. Take me to Tiffany Blue?”
“I got you Sug.” Stupor stepped in.
“What happened?” London asked again, more demanding, and Leushus just threw it out there.
“I bonded her and Bastian together after she moved into Tiffany Blue.”
There was a collective gasp around the kitchen, even Cain and Able understood the God awful magnitude of the situation. “You are not bonded to her?” Able asked Leushus. A mighty fine question I might bleedin’ say!
“I am bonded to her through my bond with Bastian.”
“Ew.” Cookie wrinkled her nose.
“Preacher, you have to know that if I had…. “
“I could give a bleedin’ fuck, Bird.” My accent was a roar in my mouth, my words snarling as my fangs dropped, seething in anger at Leushus. “You! Out of everyone here, know my pain, knew solely what held me back. You stood outside that tomb and bore the pain of ‘one of yours’ as you called me. You do this…” I am in a state of fury. My states of fury tend to get me in trouble.
“What tomb?” Tavern asked, and I heard a faint, “Shhh not now Tav.” from Cookie. Bleedin’ fuckin right not now!
“I can’t stand this dammit!” I roar, completely beside myself. Cash comes barreling down the stairs and to a screeching halt in the kitchen when he gets what has to be the smell of sulfur coming off me in waves. It’s the scent of my anger. I kept my stare on Leushus as I listened to Cookie fill her boy in on the cause of my rage.
“Oh God no, Leush. Why?” Said Cash.
“That’s what I would’a liked to know before this mess. Now I’m just resolute to it all. You bleedin’ want her, go get her.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Tavern
“That’s what I would’a liked to know before this mess. Now I’m just resolute. You bleedin’ want her, go get her.” His anger was warranted, but I never thought he would let me go so easily.
Again.
Mother fucker!
“But if you do that, you will go through me.” Shocked and so not expecting that, I looked to my man and felt an enormous relief at his stance.
“I won’t fight you, Preacher.”
“She is not yours!” Preacher roared and slammed a fist on the table, the wood protesting against the abuse. “I have gone and walked myself through my own personal hell to see this through and find my peace. I won’t give it up because you have some brilliant notion that she, or I, or any of us belong to you. I’ll take my freedom from you first, I’ll tell ya that right now!”
Leushus g
rowled low, and a faint ‘oh fuck’ made it from Bas’s mouth before Leushus arched back in a mighty roar and expelled the matching set of radiant bright white wings. “I am the Arch Leushus, your Dominus. I can make you bend and break with one word.” His wings trembled in complete rage, the sound much like birds scattering in fear. “I have fallen from His grace to see you clean from the mess of our darkness. You have no freedom to choose, Preacher! I will give, and do, and harm as I see fit. Fight with me, you will lose.”
“Oh God, no Preacher. Just stop, please.” I begged him, scared as usual, but desperate to keep Preacher alive. I dare say my fear was warranted this time.
“Bit on the dramatic side isn’t he?” Preacher chuckled to Bastian. What had gotten into him? “You forget, I too fell from His grace the night I saw my wife’s body headless, and my children murdered in their sleep! Over what Leushus? A crate of Daniels finest and a carton of Marlboros.” He shook his head, my heart breaking at the loss in his voice, in his eyes. “I have treaded lightly over the years. I did as I was told and backed my boys. I took repentance in His name and did it with the belief that I was on the good side. You’re a thief in the night, a pale impression of what I believed you were. If that means you smite me, then so be it.” He grabbed his keys and looked at me, a sad smile on his face. He shook his head again and left the mansion.
I felt a sob choke free from my chest and looked to Leushus. “What have you done?”
“I did as I must and I don’t expect you to understand.”
“Understand? Understand?!!! You just cost me everything and for what? To see who has the bigger dick? I am not a toy to be fought over, Leushus!”
Bastian stepped close to comfort me and forced a growl from Leushus. Spinning around he pinned Leushus with a glare. “Had you been honest and forthright with them, all this would not be happening. You cannot bind me to her and then demand my fealty when you have clearly fucked it all up!”
Holy shit, Bastian was trembling, and I feared his shift might be coming. Cash moved up and took his stance beside Bas. “I have no fucking clue what is going on, but Leush, you need to start talking.”
Leushus hissed, his fangs far more mighty than my vamps, that was for sure. They were reminiscent of snakes’ fangs, dripping with deadly intent. “I do as I must!” He roared, as feathers fell loosely from his wings. They were white as a virgin’s wedding gown but as they hit the floor, seven in total, they were black as a raven’s wing.
“No, you do as you want, and we all bow and accept it.” London said, her voice calm and direct. I swear I don’t know how she does it, but this little spitfire beside me, dressed in designer brands down to her panties, holds the power in the room, over them all. “We accept it because we trust and have faith in you to do right by us.” She stepped up to Leushus and placed her hand against the base of his shoulder blade, where his wings emerged from his skin. Her movements were slow and soothing, a petting motion that calmed him immediately. “This isn’t fair to any of us, Leushus.”
Cash started to seem nervous and I felt like I could see why, then I heard why. With a deep moan and an obvious sense of pain, Leushus drew back his wings and simply………faded, into nothing.
Leaving us all stunned stupid.
*
Preacher
I went to Tiffany Blue. I don’t know why. No, I’m a liar, I do know why. I’m an addict after all. I love to make myself miserable.
He marked her. Bonded another to her.
I wasn’t so possessive that I couldn’t see the reason behind his keeping her safe at all costs. For that I am extremely grateful. The thought of turning her myself for just that reason had crossed my mind, but only if her connection to Cookie was a hoax and she was truly vulnerable. It didn’t seem to matter now. It’s simple really. She is all, and will always be all there is for me. I cannot be that for her. It did explain the longing looks from Bastian though, the filthy mutt. He bleedin’ loves her.
“He doesn’t know otherwise.” Oh hell bleedin’ no.
“I have nothin’ to say to you.”
“I have an enormous amount to say to you.” Leushus took a seat across from me and tossed me a blunt. “I suggest you light it, because I am making no plans to leave soon.”
I lit the blunt and let the calming smoke wash over me. I knew that there was no freedom in store for the path I walked, but I am furious at all of them for the blatant sneakiness. I pour my heart out and beg at the altar of my own choosing, just to be denied.
“Preacher, she was weak, being watched, and in extreme danger. She needed her freedom and a life outside of vampire preachers who fuck her, then burn her.”
“Watch it!” I snap. I am already riled up. I don’t need him instigating me.
“It is exactly what you did. Repeatedly. She was broken when she came to us, but you came close to ruining her completely. Ruining Preacher. Have you any idea how lucky you are to find such redemption? Have you told her of going to the tomb? Or how Mary and Peter were taken as well?” He stretched and raised his arms and started swinging them in and out like a swimmer in the Olympics.
“What are you doing?”
“Wings came out. It hurts when they go back.” He shrugs. Then, as if he hasn’t already used my heart as a punching bag today, he takes another stab at my pride. “There comes a time in every man’s life, be he a vampire or not…when he learns to let go and at the same time give in. You have let go of the anger and the pain. You laid them to rest in a truly admiral display. You need to fight for her now, with the same vigor.”
“How in the hell do you think I should do that?” I practically spit the words out.
“Turn her.”
Oh bleedin’ hell. I had thought it, sure. But I was never in my right mind even going to entertain the idea.
“I cannot.” Like a thief came and stole it, my anger dissipated with my answer.
“Why the hell not? I know it won’t take the bond away, but it will make you her Sire, Preacher. You feel a Sires bond through you and Cash. Imagine the bond between you and Tavern now, magnified in such a way.”
“First, all due respect, but you have no idea what my bond to my Sire is like. You are nothing like us. Once you realize that, you might stop pissing us off. Second, I cannot watch her die at my own hand.” I could see his wheels turning as he revved up to talk and I slammed my hand on the counter stopping his interruption. “Even if she came through the other side, the risk involved with Cruor Nex versus Custos Nex is not a chance I’ll be takin’ any time soon.”
“Then Cash perhaps.”
He was trying to get me to kill him, he had to be. No way was he that bleedin’ stupid! “You, are fucking high.” My pronunciation was spot on American with that quick response.
“Well, since you won’t do it, I see no problem with your Sire being involved.” He was serious.
“I see multiple problems with it. Bloody ones.” The thought of him biting her…….the rage came back with a vengeance and I toked off my bifter seeking the comfort only one thing could give me. And I’d left her at the mansion. “I can barely sit here civilized with your arse, ain’t no way in bleedin’ hell I could take one more bond on my girl.”
“Tell me you understand why.” For the first time in my forever, Leushus sounded unsure.
I sighed, almost at a loss for anything more to say. But I needed him to understand where my anger came from as much as he needed me to see his reason for doing what he’d done.
“I can see the reason for the protection.” I began slowly. “Any man would see that as honorable when it came to his woman’s safety. But to do it in a way that will forever connect her to another, that will for all eternity, keep him farther and deeper in her mind than I? No, I cannot fathom why you, Leushus the all knowing, would fuck me in such a way.”
I watched as my Dominus cupped his hands over his face and sighed loudly, defeated. “I am in so deep right now, Preacher. I am hanging on by a thread, dropping feathers of Brim
stone on my way.”
“What are you talking about mate?” There was fear in my voice… because there was fear in his.
“If I confide in you…” He didn’t continue, but I understood perfectly, had been here many times. He wanted a confession.
“I would take any sins you had Leushus, but the service I provide the clearly evil beings of this world, is a service I am no longer, in cloth or prayer able to guarantee.” I looked at standing in front of me, silent. I shook my head, placing my hand on his head in a move as natural to me as breathing had once been. Leushus fell to his knees before me. Scared the wits outta me seeing him there, kneeled down, not moving.
What the bleedin’ fuck.
“Bless me father for I have sinned…” Leushus’ voice was barely a whisper. A sound only a vampire would hear.
I debated this, I really did, but I have never been good at denying the lost. If something inside of me can somehow guide another to peace, to seek his own redemption, then who am I to deny them my comfort.
I step from beside him, and kneel in front of him. I reach in my pocket and remove my sacred rosary and begin blessing my Dominus. “Go ahead.” I say just as quietly as he had spoken.
“I have been chosen to fall. I blessed another in the Covenant of His name, without permissions granted. In return, the Cado do have the right to a soul. They are taking mine, seven feathers for each disgrace.”
“Explain that please.”
“Seven feathers for every disgrace. I saved London and in doing so, I lost my feathers at Bliss. I knew I couldn’t bind Tavern to me, so I bound her through Bastian. Again, it was seven feathers. Today I was the most disgraced. I called on Cain and Able, took them from a higher task to help us...”
“Seven feathers.”
“Seven feathers…” He repeated, and suddenly Leushus’ erratic behavior for the last six months made sense.