by Lissa Kasey
“Good luck,” Seiran said. “I’ve been trying to do that for years. We’re short staffed, and the Dominion is reluctant to give me more money to build up the department.”
“Afraid of the skeletons in their closet,” Max nodded. “But I am not a male witch to be discounted. The fact that you still let them underestimate you, is infuriating.”
“Sorry. I’ll remember to be more of a dick,” he promised. “I’ll even take lessons from Sam.”
“Fuck off, Ronnie,” Sam said.
“You first, Sammie.” At least Seiran felt lighter as he made his way to his people to let them know he was headed home. He had a baby who needed him and this was well under control. Sometimes it paid to be the manager, even if most of the time, it just pissed him off.
Chapter 14
The trip back to the Dominion to retrieve Seiran’s minivan, was done in silence. Gabe was grateful that Seiran did not close the bond, even as worn and faded as it was. The tie felt a bit like it was wrapped in cotton and covered in fog. But it kept him clearheaded, and had rewarded him with a slow trickle of memories.
A bonfire. A very young witch. Sam had been right; Gabe had seduced a barely legal young man. The glimpses were stuttered, and limited to snapshots rather than full replays of events, emotions, or even memories of conversations. The tears came back several times. Gabe had been good at making the witch cry. A thought that made the knot in his stomach tighten.
But his scattered memories made him realize, for all the shit Seiran Rou experienced, the witch was insanely good at surviving. No matter what anyone threw at him. Hopefully they could mend their bond and Gabe would have more details. The snippets he got weren’t enough to clarify the thousands of questions he had. Their time together short, but seemingly complicated.
With the close of the day—the full darkness overhead passing by as they drove—and even though he felt calmer, the hunger grew. He shuddered at the thought of drinking from more bags. But he’d do it. He hated to think he’d be a danger to the children he had yet to meet. How old were they anyway? The one on the phone hadn’t sounded very young, at least that he could tell. And since he’d been in the ground almost a decade and a half, they had to be under that, right?
The gates to the house finally appeared. Large looming things that really kept people out because they were so high a drone would be needed to see over them without triggering the security cameras or wards Gabe knew were all over the property.
“Drones?” Gabe asked suddenly, remembering the vague image.
“Yeah?”
“I remember drones were a thing becoming popular.”
“In the military back then, yeah. They used them during the Vampire Wars to scan for lower heat signatures at night. Now just about anyone can have a drone. They don’t all do fancy stuff like that, but Ki has one. He mostly takes pictures of birds with it,” Seiran said. He sounded tired, but was attentive at the wheel, steering them up the big circular drive and parking near the front door.
Jamie was there on the steps waiting, and so was another man that pinged something in Gabe’s memory. “Mike,” he said as the name popped up like it belonged. Dark hair, wide shoulders, and a tan skin tone that had him looking a bit Middle Eastern.
“You remember him?” Seiran asked, putting the car in park, but leaving the keys in.
“Um, no, but yes?” He had no idea how to explain.
“Sounds complicated,” was all Seiran said as he got out. Gabe followed his lead.
“Hey, Boss!” Mike said. “Wow, haven’t seen you looking this rugged since Ireland about a hundred-fifty-years ago. Not a bad look though.” Mike held out his hand, which Gabe took in a handshake. There was a flood of images then. A wave so strong it nearly sent Gabe to his knees. Lots of Mike and a dozen different names he’d called himself over the years. As well as a sense of kinship that locked into place.
“Sorry,” Gabe said, trying not to succumb to the desire to lay on the ground and let the memories fall where they may. It didn’t hurt, not really. More that it was too much. Information overload. A thousand ants in his brain all trying to find their way back home at once while traveling in different directions.
Mike didn’t let him go, instead tightening his grip which half helped Gabe stay upright. “Just breathe through it,” Mike said clapping him on the back with his free hand. “That first big rush is a real bitch.” He pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket and handed it over. “Nose is bleeding. That’s normal too.”
“Mike is going to take him to feed,” Jamie announced to Seiran.
Gabe felt a wall build against him almost instantly, like Seiran was gearing up to be hurt. Fuck.
“Is that a good idea?” Seiran asked. “He’s sort of hanging on by a thread.”
“I’ve got him in hand,” Mike said. “As one of his betas, I’m strong enough, if necessary. I think he’s just struggling with not having fresh blood, and too many memories out of place. It happens after a long bit in the ground.”
“What was the longest you were ever down?” Jamie asked him. He didn’t seem to have the same dislike for Mike that he had for Gabe, but then Gabe suspected Mike hadn’t done something terrible to Seiran.
“A decade,” Mike said. “After that excursion in what is now Egypt. Those fuckers really liked messing with death magic for a while. Pulled some crazy shit in the name of their gods, or whatever. Thankfully, the embalming crap was saved for the rich and powerful, so they just ignored the rest of us mostly dead looking things. Can’t imagine what coming back from an embalming would do to a vampire.”
“Ancient Egypt?” Jamie asked. “Like the Mummy?”
“Don’t get me started on mummies. Not at all like the movie. Much more terrifying when books of the dead are involved. Luckily, we destroyed the last of those.”
“Are you pulling my leg?” Jamie asked.
Mike laughed. “You’ll never know.”
The nose bleed began to slow, though now Gabe felt a little light-headed. “Is it safe for me to leave when we haven’t renewed our bond?” He asked Mike.
“Yes. The bond will never be completely severed. It’s just a bit withered right now. Probably best that you not feed on your Focus right away anyway. Too much at once. We don’t want your brain to explode.”
“Feels like it already has.” He had a throbbing headache all of a sudden.
“That’s the need to eat. Let’s get you fed.”
Gabe couldn’t help but look at Seiran as Mike led him toward a truck. His witch looked devastated. “Maybe I shouldn’t go.”
“You should. He needs to take care of his kid, and you need to find some sanity. Yeah?” Mike opened the passenger door of the pickup truck and motioned for Gabe to get in.
“Do I have a choice?” Gabe wondered as he got in and pulled the seatbelt on.
“Until you’re the normal Gabe, nope.”
“How will we know I’m normal?” Gabe asked as Mike got in the driver’s side.
“When you remember regular shit, like the fact that man is the love of your life. And you are one of the most powerful vampires left in the world.”
Gabe cast his narrowed gaze on the man. “I don’t feel like I’m some big and bad.”
“You weren’t. Not bad, not really. More indifferent.” Mike turned on the truck and waved to the group, before driving them out. Gabe felt the bond slowly stretch, already thin and weak, it felt like it would snap at any moment. Or maybe that was him. He clung to the door. “There wasn’t much that interested you until you met that witch.”
“It doesn’t sound like meeting him was a good thing.”
“On the contrary. It was probably one of the best things that happened for all of us.” Mike sucked in a long breath. He steered them back toward the city. “You needed to go to ground long before you met him, but refused. We all suspected it was because you weren’t planning on coming back. Then Seiran…”
“Was I me? The normal sort of me, at all when we�
��” Had he been broken? Would he remember all the details of his time with Seiran? A handful of broken memories weren’t going to help him mend ties, or even become a partnership if that was all they could have. He would need to know as much as possible.
“Yes. And no.” Mike shrugged. “Sounds weird, but you were different after you met him. First, you never went for pretty men before him. It was always the big and burly type. Your choices of women were a lot more lenient than the man who caught your eye.”
“I’m bisexual?” The word sounded like a memory, but didn’t feel quite right.
“Maybe? Lots of labels these days for nuances. Not sure it matters much. You were attracted to whatever, and never had trouble getting attention. Seiran Rou was an unusual distraction.”
“Young.” Gabe said.
“Yes. But you wouldn’t touch him until he was legal by law, even though he chased you.”
That was an interesting revelation. “Yeah? But a witch?”
“I think he was it for you. Once you’d had him. Blood, body, whatever poetic crap you want, he was it. You began crafting your life around him, even though he was skittish and refused to commit those first few years. He grew up abused in a dozen ways. I didn’t realize how many witch families rule through abuse until I met him. At least their male children. The other one, the water witch? And Jamie, Rou’s brother, run a sort of underground network to get witches out of bad situations. Not just the boys. There’s a line of vampires who help with that.”
Gabe thought about that. Seiran had said he’d been abused a lot in his life, though not from Gabe in a physical sort of way. It was little relief to know he hadn’t used his fists, though he suspected abandonment probably stung pretty deep too. “Still? At the Dominion office, many treated him with disdain. But he’s the Pillar of Earth, and insanely powerful. It makes no sense.”
“Right? We call that Darwinism at work. But Rou is wasted at the Dominion. He’s tried for years to change them. Succeeded in small ways. Males can be tested now for magic, even get education in some of the better schools. But very few witch families allow their males to test, or attend classes. And almost none get jobs dealing with magic within the Dominion. Any who try outside of it are shunned.” Mike drove them into downtown and an area that brought rise to a handful of vague memories. Gabe let them come and go as they might, not trying to grab on for fear of losing them. “In fact, Dominion membership is down. Witches are opting out, keeping under the radar per se. Not attending witch classes, although I don’t think that’s a good idea, and often turning down offers to work for the Dominion. But Seiran still tries to change them.”
“Why does he still try?”
“His kids. Doesn’t want them facing the same things he did. Isn’t that what most people want? Well, rational people anyway. There will always be assholes. And technically, they’re your kids, too.”
Gabe blinked, “What?”
“It was an agreement, between his very powerful mother and yourself, that Seiran would provide a Rou heir. You negotiated it to gain his freedom, but he was coerced. He’ll never say that he didn’t want kids, not out loud where they can hear. He loves them, would give up everything for them, but had never intended to be a father. You were supposed to be there to help. Their mother is actually Jamie’s half-sister, though she and Rou are not related by blood. But her spouse drove a wedge between them, so she’s not involved with the kids much. Kaine’s conception was a bit more complicated, but no less coercion. This time by the fae. Dominion bullshit pissed them off, and Seiran bore the brunt of that too.”
“I went to ground before they were born?” Gabe tried to process the fact that he’d been part of that coercion, and was supposed to be a father. Abandoned. Not just Seiran, Gabe realized, but the children. No wonder they were all mad.
“The twins were born before. A few months, I think. Those last months you were bad. Never seen you like that before. Tresler’s influence, maybe? You were very scattered.”
“I feel very scattered now,” Gabe admitted. They turned into a parking lot, that looked mostly full, and a bar that brought up a wild dash of memories. He hissed in pain and pressed the cloth back to his nose as he felt more blood trickle. “Bloody Bar and Grill?”
“Your bar. We closed it for a private party tonight.”
“Not sure I’m up for a party.”
“Your nest is all here. And with them, volunteers, cibos, those your flock feed on, who are willing to feed you. You need real fresh blood. Even after your witch allows you to drink from him again, you’ll need to find a handful of willing donors. There is no more bottled blood. And while the bagged stuff can work in a pinch, it will not keep back the revenant.”
“Seiran strikes me as the jealous type.”
Mike laughed. “Yes, but only because you never did explain vampirism to him. He’s been learning from Sam. That punk is all attitude.” Mike parked and turned off the truck. “You’ll want to find donors who don’t irritate your Focus.”
“What about sex?”
“Blood and sex are nice together. Hell, it’s part of what being a vampire is. But it’s like regular folks and food foreplay. Not required, just an extra spice. You can enjoy your Focus that way, but your regular food sources don’t have to be sexual. And really, who’s got the time for all that? I have almost a dozen regulars I cycle through. I help fund their college education, and they are good.”
“Pay for blood.”
“Cibos are a regular thing. Common. There’s an entire application and interview process. Max has it streamlined on the network he built for us. I’ll have to make sure you download the app.”
“There’s an app? For vampires?”
Mike got out; his grin huge. “Of course. Welcome to the modern world, buddy. How do you think it makes it so easy for stuff like this?” He waved at the building. “Let’s go meet your people.”
They headed to the door and Mike greeted a woman who opened it. She appeared almost as a Viking, tall with hair in a thick braid, sides shaved, ice-blue eyes. “Hey, Zoe,” Mike said, stepping past her into the space of the bar.
Gabe made his way in too, the scent of alcohol and food strong in the air, as well as blood. The room was lousy with vampires, and a couple dozen humans. Maybe witches? He couldn’t really tell without getting closer.
Zoe closed the door behind him and locked it. “Heard you’re a bit out of sorts,” she said with a thick accent. Not Viking then, not unless Vikings were very British. And how he knew that was another puzzle piece falling into place.
“Yes,” Gabe agreed.
“Let’s get you a seat and we’ll go slow. Do you remember how this works?”
“No,” Gabe said.
“Each time you touch one of your get, it should trigger a renewal of the sire bond. Which should bring rise to memories. Too much at once…,” she shrugged.
“I sired all of you?”
“And many more. Only Max has more fledglings than you. And that’s likely only because he took Tresler’s get after Mueller killed him. Those that survived his destruction anyway.” She directed him to a booth with plush seats laid into carved mahogany wood. The outside of the building hadn’t looked quite this posh, but the inside appeared better than well-kept. Hardwood floors that gleamed as though they were cleaned and polished often, walls a pale blue, with whimsical art scattered around the room. The bar appeared to be something carved out of wood and topped with marble. All very high end, and almost none of it triggered memories. New perhaps?
“I’ve heard Mueller’s powerful.”
“Your first get in almost a century, so sure.”
Wait, he had created Sam? “Sam?”
“Yep. That little monster. The original bond was created by another, whom you killed, and not many vampires can take over that sort of bond to raise a vampire.” She shrugged. “I’m sure it will all come back. Mike says you’re getting the oldest stuff first? Maybe we’ll start with the oldest and work our way forward?�
��
“Okay,” Gabe said somewhat hesitantly.
“Each will offer you one of their servants. A nip from the wrist, usually. Nothing more intimate unless you negotiate with the cibo’s vampire. Then a touch to renew the bond. It should ease the memories to have a bit of blood first.” She looked around the room. Many of the cibo’s were eating, and drinking, though it didn’t smell like alcohol was on tap tonight. “All of these are well-bonded to their vampires. Most have been with them for years.”
“I’m not really hunting?” Gabe clarified. Perhaps he could explain that to Seiran and gain forgiveness. Though the idea that he would have to ask for forgiveness chafed. This all seemed to be part of what it meant to be a vampire. Maybe that was his fault too, as he hadn’t seemed to have educated the witch on how vampires worked. On purpose? Or had he been that lost? He wondered if he would know by the end of the evening.
“Only a little. You may find some among this group you wish to make your permanent cibos. Those you’ll have to make an appeal to, negotiate with their masters, seduce, if you will. But stalking the night as a shadow to feed? Very few do that anymore. Though I know Sam still does. He enjoys terrorizing people who hurt others. He’ll actually spend the wee hours of the morning stalking downtown, looking for car thieves or some other random crime, to feed on them and scare them into not doing that shit again.” She laughed. “Crime rate in the cities has gone down substantially. Politicians and media attribute it to cops, and law.”
“But it’s Sam stalking the night?”
“Seems to be. Anyway, let me send Waverly over. He’s got a handful of cibos you’ll like, and he’s almost as old as you.” She pointed out a mountain of a man who sat near the bar with a handful of pretty college-age girls. His gut clenched at the idea of drinking from them. Too young, his head said. Not Seiran, his gut chimed in.