"Bree, what am I going to do?" Lissa's face crumpled. Well, this wasn't going to be easy for me. I did it anyway. I opened my arms. Lissa came to me. I sent her Love, just as I'd done for Tybus, and let her cry on my shoulder.
* * *
"Come," Conner motioned for Tybus to follow her. He was dressed in rags, covered in filth and had been starved for many years. Nevertheless, he followed Conner into an adjoining bedroom.
"You're Gavril Tybus Montegue, from now on," she informed him. "But you'll be known to most as Teeg San Gerxon." Tybus stared at the body on the bed, surrounded by tall, blue men. He recognized them with Gavril's memories. "Larentii," he said, his voice rough.
"Yes. You have all of Gavril's memories now, as well as your own. You know that, don't you?"
"Yes. Some of them I dislike greatly, however."
"I understand that. This is your chance to make him a better man," Conner said. "Treat his mother with respect. She's losing her child," Conner whispered.
Tybus watched as the woman who'd birthed Gavril walked into the room, supported by another, dark-haired woman. Lissa's eyes turned to him and she sobbed.
"Lissa, it'll be all right," the other woman soothed. "He's still here. Really. All of him is inside Tybus. I saw it. I read him."
"But," Lissa wept.
"I know," the dark-haired one said. "Someone said once that what we lose, we will find again. I hope that means something to you, someday."
"Lissa, it is time to say good-bye to the body on the bed," a Larentii spoke.
"Yes. Oh, God, where is Gavin?"
"I am here, cara." A vampire rushed inside. Glancing briefly at Tybus, Gavin went to Lissa's side.
"We will release the stasis when you say," the Larentii said.
Tybus watched as Lissa and Gavin knelt beside the bed and put their hands on their son.
* * *
Breanne's Journal
It didn't matter at that moment how Teeg had treated me. Lissa and Gavin had loved him, and now they had to let him go. Lissa wept openly, her face pressed against the covers. Gavin, his face rigid with pain, stared at his son. I felt numb.
"Do it again," Conner whispered next to me. "Send Love to both of them. They need it." I nodded and steeled myself before sending Love to my sire for the first time, and to my sister for the second.
Gavin dropped his head in his hands and wept at that moment. People react differently, I suppose, and I had no idea when Gavin had last released his sorrow by weeping. Lissa, tears still streaming down her face, lifted her gaze to Gavril's face.
"I love you so much, honey," she sobbed. "I remember when Karzac handed you to me when you were born. You were so tiny, and we were so proud."
"My child," Gavin sobbed and gripped Gavril's hand in his. I wept for him at that moment. For the time he'd missed with his son because of Kifirin's interference. For the hard man that Gavril had become, because of other interference. He'd been star-crossed, almost from the beginning, and his parents grieved for him now.
"Breanne?" Corent touched my hand.
"Corent?" I turned to him, only then realizing I was crying.
"Don't be afraid to weep," he said. I sobbed against his chest.
* * *
Tybus' Journal
I was led away by one of the Larentii—Gavril knew him as Renegar. "Come," he'd said, and pulled me gently from the room. I was given a bottle of something a servant called blood substitute. I drank it all and asked for another. It was provided quickly.
Then I was led to a bedchamber, and shown to a bath. "Clothes will be waiting when you come out," Renegar explained. I washed myself—several times—after I was left alone. I pondered, too, what my role might be in the future. If the dark-haired woman—her name was Breanne, I'd learned—hadn't done what she had for me, I might have been a fragmented wreck. As it was, I now felt something I hadn't felt in a very long time—hope.
* * *
Reah's Journal
I wasn't sure what to do. What to feel, even. Teeg had continued to pull farther away from me, and I'd allowed it. I hadn't gone looking for a reason, and now I learned that there was one. Oh, he'd been different, but that was to be expected. What none of us had realized was that he'd slowly been disappearing before our eyes, his soul sucked away by a prisoner from the past.
"Reah, you are not expected to," Aurelius began.
"We will talk with him. We will work this out," I said. "Even if we disagree, I won't dissolve the marriage. At least not right away. Auri, what are we going to tell Garwin Wyatt?"
"Let us wait on that," Aurelius pulled me against him. "Let us see how things proceed. Lissa, too, must be consulted. After all, this one will be forced to step into Gavril's shoes and run an Alliance. Any indication that things have changed may destroy a delicate balance."
"I know," I whispered. "Auri, what are we going to do? All those people saw Teeg get stabbed in a casino. The guards killed the assassin, but they know it happened. It's all over the news."
"Then there will be a recovery," Aurelius sounded determined. I nodded and huddled against him.
* * *
Breanne's Journal
"Breanne, I see nothing," Corent announced. I'd explained what happened whenever someone touched my tears, but they didn't appear to affect Corent at all. I blinked at him in surprise. He'd stared at everybody inside Lissa's kitchen, and couldn't read them.
"Let me read you again, then, and see if I can figure this out," I said, lowering my shield. Drawing in a breath, I stared. I couldn't read Corent, now. Yes, I could read everybody else in the kitchen so I quickly slammed the shield up again, but I was still confused.
"What happened?" Corent leaned in to kiss me gently.
"Honey, I can't read you now," I whispered.
"That's not a bad thing," Corent replied softly. "Is it?"
"I sure hope not," I said. Corent's hair turned a serene, royal blue as he kissed me again.
* * *
Lissa's Journal
Renegar released the particles of my son's body. I grieved over that as well, but there wasn't anything else we could do. Tybus would have to take his place, or the Campiaan Alliance would crumble. I just hoped a damaged former architect had enough strength to do what needed to be done.
Dee had to be contacted, too, as well as thousands of news outlets, thirsty for a story. The Campiaan Alliance was holding its breath, and we needed to present a living, breathing replica of my son to them or things would go bad in a hurry.
Gavin had disappeared once Gavril's body was gone, and I had no idea where he was. It didn't matter—I had to dry my tears and keep my back straight to get through the next few hours.
"Rigo?" I said. He, Drake and Drew had been beside me ever since I'd left the bedroom.
"Tiessa?"
"We need to get to Campiaa. Go get Tybus, and tell him everything he needs to know for a short news conference. We'll put him in a hospital bed in Campiaa City, and he can do it from there. At least it's night in Campiaa City. After the conference, I'll give Tybus blood and let him sleep it off."
"I will do this for you," Rigo nodded. If anybody knew etiquette and protocol, Rigo did. If Tybus had any kind of memory, Rigo would see this done right.
"We'll do transport," Drake offered.
"Thanks, honey," I said.
* * *
Breanne's Journal
Corent stayed with me, and we watched the newsfeed as Tybus, looking like someone who'd been through an ordeal (although not the one everybody thought) gave a short interview from a hospital bed in Campiaa City.
"I just wanted to take a walk," Tybus said, smiling slightly. "It was interrupted."
The journalist laughed before asking how long he might be away from his office.
"Not long," Tybus claimed. "The physicians tell me the wound wasn't deep, so I may be up and around in an eight-day. I can work from my bed, too, so that's not a concern. The appointments are the only things that will have to be reschedul
ed."
"Well, that's my cue," I rose and stretched.
"Are you going?" Corent rose with me, looking as if he were prepared to beg me to stay.
"I have to. Some things might turn out badly if I don't." I didn't add that if Hank, Bill, Jayson and Gavin found out I'd been missing, there would be hell to pay. Something was making my skin crawl, too, and I hadn't figured that out, yet.
"Breanne, you should go back six hours after you left." Wisdom appeared in front of me. "I realize you did what needed to be done here, but things haven't gone well in your absence," he added. "You can't change any of it, so don't try."
I stared at him in shock—I know I did. "What?" I began.
"Go back, like I said. The news will be waiting. I hope they are not too harsh with you."
"Harsh?" I was shaking, now.
"Breanne," Wisdom shook his head. "You know you cannot tell them where you have been or what you have done."
"You know, you may be smart and all," I gave him my best Texas accent, "But so far, your ass has been kind of useless." I bent time to get away from him.
* * *
"Breanne can fix Kay. I'm convinced of it, now," Ashe settled on a barstool next to Trajan.
"You saw Breanne?" Trajan growled.
"Yeah. We, ah, did something that needed to be done. She fixed what I thought would be unfixable. We have to get her here, Traje. For Kay."
"I don't count?" Trajan tapped his chest and stood, his body stiff with anger.
"I didn't say that," Ashe sighed. "We'll get her here for you and for Kay."
* * *
Breanne's Journal
I did as Wisdom dictated, and got back six hours after I left. I knew it when I landed. Kathleen was shut up in her room, Bill was handling the case and the rest of them were grieving and pissed at the same time. Trina was dead, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.
Chapter 15
Breanne's Journal
Did I feel guilty? Yeah. Not only did I feel guilty, I was guilty. If I'd been here instead of haring after Tybus, then Trina might still be alive. I couldn't bring her back now—the memory of what had happened the last time I Changed What Was still burned in my brain. Wisdom had known it too—somehow.
Nobody was speaking to me, that was certain. Night would fall in two hours, and I was waiting for the sire to wake and the surrogate sire to arrive so Hank and Jayson could tell them what a bad girl I'd been. And Trina was still dead.
"Where were you?" Opal settled beside me as I sat morosely on a deck chair, staring at the water behind the house.
"Opal, I can't explain that right now. All I can say is that I needed to be where I was. I needed to be here, too, but I can't be in two places at once."
"I sure hope the other thing was important."
How could I tell her that I'd had to sacrifice one life for millions of others? The Campiaan Alliance wouldn't survive without Teeg—or at least the image of Teeg—at the helm. Trina had been an innocent victim of violence, and I intended to find out why that was. I knew Bill wanted to take Gavin with him after nightfall to question the remaining prisoner. Well, I was going now. "Want to go with me while I question that asshole?" I asked.
"Yeah." Opal pulled a gun from the waistband of her jeans and checked the clip. "I'm ready."
"Good. Be ready for them to not speak to you, too, when we get back."
"I got this," Opal shoved the gun into the back of her waistband.
"You know, that gun might become an option," I said and folded Opal away.
* * *
"Hello, asshole," I said the moment we landed in Jeremy Brill's cell. I read him, too. It's a good thing I did—prescience kicked in and I turned Opal to mist as another chimera appeared, burning Jeremy to a crisp before devouring the body in three gulps.
* * *
"Bill, we didn't stick around after the chimera disappeared again," Opal said. "It happened so fast, and Bree was afraid I'd die. Otherwise, I think she would have taken that thing on." I watched as Bill and Opal had a staring and growling contest. Bill was pissed (even more than he was earlier) because we hadn't taken him with us.
Hank, Jayson, Winkler, Weldon and Trajan were happy enough just being pissed and settled for glaring at me from time to time while they listened. Did they think I didn't feel bad enough as it was?
"They were looking for you, Bill," I said. Bill jerked his head around at my admission. "I read Jeremy Brill before he was cooked and served for dinner," I added.
"Jeremy Brill. Werewolf rogue," Weldon growled low.
"Working for Obediah Tanner," I said. Well, somebody didn't want that cat out of the bag—that was easy enough to see. Too bad the chimera got there after I did. "They wanted Winkler, too, because they were offered a bonus for him," I said. "But the other one, James Brill, Jeremy's brother, saw Jimmy and started shooting. Trina was in the way."
"We couldn't get Jimmy to talk after he came home," Winkler sighed. "James Brill always had it in for Jimmy."
"So he had a feud with your cook and decided to end it in a grocery store," Bill tossed up a hand. "Instead, Trina dies and the second shooter gets cooked. I already heard from the sheriff—he says the cameras didn't record anything and they don't know how Jeremy escaped."
"What's worse is we have another chimera to deal with," Weldon pointed out.
"I didn't know they could fold space," I said.
"They can't. Somebody else got that thing in and out," Hank said, snorting a curl of smoke. Yeah, he was really pissed. "You could have exposed yourself, Breanne," he said. More smoke ensued.
"And we'd be left wondering what the hell was going on," Opal snapped at Hank. "Bree was smart to go when she did. The rest of you," she flung out a hand. "I have no words."
"Look, we need to talk to Bree for a minute. Hank, Jayson and I," Bill said, dismissing everybody else. Well, here it came. Time to pay the piper.
"I'm staying." Trajan crossed arms over his chest and dared anybody to remove him. Bill had chosen the media room to do his grilling, and I watched as Opal shot him a dark look before leaving with Winkler and Weldon.
"Now," Bill said, rounding on me, "I don't know where you went, but you didn't tell us. I don't care how important it was, you could have sent mindspeech." He was right—I could have. They'd have argued, too, and that would have taken time I didn't have.
"I made a choice, instead of taking time to fight with all of you about it," I said. "You have no idea how tiring that is."
"Here's what we decided," Hank began. Well, they'd decided. Yay.
"You can take five swats from each of us, on your bare behind, or we won't have anything to do with you for a week. Your choice." Hank's eyes were completely dark, and more smoke poured from his nostrils. Well, that was lovely. They wanted to hit me or hurt me another way.
"Fuck all of you," I snapped. "You have no idea that this day has been crap, from one end to the other, and all you want to do is punish me for it. Fuck you, and in the worst and most painful way possible." I was wiping tears away as I stalked out of the room.
* * *
"That went well," Trajan drawled.
"Trina died. What the fuck do you expect?" Jayson hissed.
"You don't think Breanne would have saved her if she could? I don't think you know her very well. I've been watching her for three days, and that's not how she is."
"She didn't tell us she was leaving," Bill pointed out. "I want to stop that behavior, if possible. Do you have any idea what that does to us?" Bill indicated Hank, Jayson and himself.
"I'm beginning to understand," Trajan said. "But sometimes, you need to pick your battles. Breanne is right—you don't know where she was or what she was doing. I'll wait until I have more information before I threaten her with punishment."
* * *
"I am incensed," Acrimus declared. Calhoun cringed—Acrimus was grimacing again. "Our prisoner has disappeared. We are forced to relocate and our assassin failed to destroy Teeg San
Gerxon."
"We followed, but the twists and turns through time and space," the Hound whined as he knelt before Acrimus.
"It was one of the Three," Acrimus waved the hound away. "I don't expect you to keep up with them. It was a noble effort. You may go." The Hound rose gratefully and turned to walk from Acrimus' presence. Acrimus leveled a blast at the Hound's back, relieving him of his corporeal body. "Do better next time," he shouted.
* * *
Breanne's Journal
Close to midnight, there was a knock on my door. Hank had moved his things out of the bedroom earlier—he'd known which choice I'd make. The trouble was, the fact that they'd offered swats was just as bad as handing them out.
"Breanne?" Charles's voice came through the door. Well, another country heard from.
"Come in," I said. No, Gavin hadn't weighed in, yet, and that worried me. I wanted to huddle into myself and wish the world away. One Gavin I'd seen today had been grieving. The one here refused to speak to me, now. And Charles was here. Joy.
"Breanne, I heard you disappeared for a few hours earlier," Charles walked in, shut the door behind him and came to sit on the side of my bed.
"I did." There wasn't any reason to lie.
"Was there a good reason?"
"Yes."
"I understand that your friend was killed while you were gone."
"She was." I'd spent the past three hours mourning that fact.
"Want to talk about that?"
"No."
"Have you been crying?"
"Yes."
"Here." Charles scooted closer and reached for me. "Now," he pulled me against him and settled my head on his shoulder, "This wasn't your fault. A criminal killed your friend. We will mourn her passing and keep her memory strong. Close your eyes. You look exhausted, my love."
* * *
I woke Saturday morning and realized I was expected to ferry Bill to D.C. Except that I didn't—they were keeping their word and not having anything to do with me. Hank was going to take Bill instead. Well, he could damn well skip to hell with the rest of them, too.
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