by Lucinda Dark
I nodded. His presence wasn't a surprise. I knew this would be coming. We'd been dancing around the subject—the subject being Barbie—for weeks now. The tension between the two of us slithered through my back and shoulders, whipping through me even as I tried to shake it off, tilting my head and cracking my neck. "Take a seat," I suggested, gesturing to the chair across from the lounge.
Maverick strode through the suite until he stood before me. His shadow blocked out the light of the chandelier above for a brief moment as he took the chair and leaned forward, balancing his elbows on the edges of his knees. "This can't continue," he announced. "This bullshit between you and me."
He was right.
I sat up and turned towards him. "What do you suggest?" I inquired, curious. I had expected him to come sooner than he had. Three weeks was a long time for him to not get something off his chest, but until now there hadn't really been an opportunity for this little discussion.
"It's less about what I suggest and more about what we need to decide," he replied. "About Barbie." Three weeks ago, her name on his lips—especially after knowing what had happened between the two of them—would've sent me into a vampiric rage. But now ... I stared back at him. Waiting. "I'm not giving up," he said. "She's ... Barbie is ... she has—fuck—you know what I'm trying to say," he growled as he leaned back and glared my way.
My lips twitched in amusement. "Yes, I do, but it's so much fun to watch you struggle with yourself."
His scowl deepened. "This wouldn't be so fucking hard if you just fucking told me what the hell was going on. I didn't know about the mate issue."
"Would it have changed anything?" I asked curiously. He paused, his gaze dropping away from mine. "I didn't think so," I said. He'd answered me with nothing more than that small movement.
Silence stretched through the room, filling the space up. "This is so fucked," he finally said. "Everything is."
"True," I agreed. We were balancing precariously on a cliff, he and I. "But regardless of what you want, Mav," I continued, "you need to think about what you can handle. Humans don't belong in this world. Barbie didn't belong before she made a deal with a demon and I would've preferred for her to be left out of it. Now, though..." She'd made her choice and I couldn't deny the small part of me that was happy to have her in the shadows with me even if it made me a conniving and selfish bastard.
"Is your only issue with me being here the fact that I'm human?" Maverick asked. I blinked at his tone, lifting my head and narrowing my gaze. Precise. Careful. Low. He spoke as if he had more to say, a secret he was hiding. He met my gaze. "I don't think it is," he continued. "I think you don't want me here because I mean something to her, too."
I stared at him. My mind rolling with my thoughts. I'd burned the bridge between us two years ago. I'd walked across it—away from him—and turned to watch as it burned. I'd once believed that when a relationship had been destroyed beyond repair that there was no way to ever get it back. I'd believed that once something was truly lost there was no going back. Yet, now, here he was. Here we both were.
I'd done what I had to keep him safe. Maverick McKnight was a loyal man, and I'd hurt him. I'd ripped myself away and I'd done it in such a way that I made sure he wouldn't come back. To destroy someone's loyalty like I had for him left scars. But he was nothing if not resilient.
We'd been brought back together by the fiery, mouthy hunter named Barbie Steele. She was like a tornado, tearing through our lives and in the blink of an eye, she'd dropped a bridge back between the two of us. It was weak and rickety, but not impassable. My deepest, darkest of secrets had been revealed to him and he hadn't run. A part of that, I knew, was because of Barbie.
"Tor," Maverick said, "answer me."
"She is mine," I said, the words pouring out as my brows drew down over my eyes. I frowned. "And I can't deny that I want to tear your throat out every time I think about the two of you..." I trailed off, swallowing hard against the desire to do just that right now. My vampire clawed at my insides, a mad demon that ripped my chest to shreds in a bid to take over. "I will continue to hold myself in check, until she chooses," I finished.
"And what if she chooses me?" he asked.
I stiffened. "She can't deny her mate." This time, as I spoke, my voice dropped. A burning fire swelled behind my eyes and I knew the red of my vampire was bleeding into my irises. For a human, Maverick hid his emotions quite well. If it weren't for the single whiff of his scent, I wouldn't have guessed that he was unnerved. Who wouldn't be though, when faced with a monster?
"So you expect her to choose you, regardless," he said. "You're just waiting for what you think is inevitable."
I shrugged lightly, hoping it hid the growing disquiet within me. The truth was that I didn't know. I had no clue if she would choose me. Barbie had a way of throwing me off and doing the exact opposite as I would have expected.
"And it's because you think I'm human?"
That question—spoken more like a statement, though it was phrased as an inquiry—made me frown. "What do you mean 'think?’"
Maverick hesitated a beat, the fingers of his left hand clenched into a fist just before his right rose up, delving into the neckline of his shirt. He withdrew a long leather band with a circular object dangling at the end of it and then finally lifted it up and over his head. He stretched his arm out and let the thing hang between us. It was a medallion.
"I asked Esperanza to help me attain the power I needed to protect Barbie," he said.
"What?" I was hearing his words. They were clear, and yet ... I couldn't believe them. Esperanza wouldn't ... oh, but she would, I thought. "Maverick," I growled. "What have you done?"
"I've accepted her offer of help," he said simply, but there was nothing simple about this.
"What did you promise her?" I demanded. Witches did not give something for nothing. There was always a sacrifice to be had. "What will befall you for this gift?" I spat the word out as I rose from my seat. Maverick stood as well and lowered his arm. The slim metal coin shaped object hung from his grip. I wanted to rip it away from him, and it took a concentrated effort to keep from doing so.
"She told me there would be a sacrifice," Maverick answered. "I'm willing to give it."
"What. Is. The. Sacrifice?" Each word brought me closer to him until we were chest to chest, eye to eye.
"I don't know yet," he said.
"You don't ... know?" I gaped at him, a mixture of horror and shock. "How could you accept something like that when you don't even know what the price of it is?"
He slipped the medallion back around his neck. Before it disappeared under his shirt, I caught a glimpse of an image forming. A beast, curling in on itself. Then the image was gone—dropped beneath the fabric and I brought my gaze back up to his. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep her safe, Torin," he said. "Whatever it is that you have to do to keep your vampire in check around me, I suggest you figure it the fuck out. Because I'm not leaving her. Ever."
"I ... see..." But I didn't. I couldn't understand how very foolish he was being. I took a step back and then another and another until I felt the lounge at the back of my legs again. I sank onto the seat and leaned forward, blowing out a breath. What a pair the two of us were.
"Can you accept that?" he asked.
"Do you give me much of a choice?" I laughed harshly, the sound dry and unamused. I shook my head. There was only one thing I could do for him now. "Come here," I said, lifting my arm and gesturing him forward. But Maverick being Maverick didn't move. He stood and stared down at me, his lips pulled into a deep frown. I put a bit more force into my voice as I looked up and locked my eyes with his. "Maverick." I let the hypnotic quality of my vampire's tone flood my vocal cords. "Come to me."
He blinked as his legs began to move. I knew exactly what he was thinking. "A-are you fucking controlling me?"
I didn't answer him as he came to stand before me. "Bend down," I ordered. He did so, cursing me the entire time. My lips twit
ched the smallest amount. "Regardless of that cursed medallion," I said, "right now, you're still human."
"Torin, release me right fucking now," he commanded.
"I will," I said. "In a moment." I'd promised Barbie this and she would still have it. My vampire only wanted to tear him limb from limb because of her, but as he and I had talked, an idea had formed in my mind. I wasn't sure if it would work, but it was worth a shot. If he truly was going through with this asinine idea of attaining power, then I couldn't risk my vampire slipping control. There was only one way my vampire would be okay with Maverick's relationship with Barbie.
"Torin, don't fuck with—" Maverick's words were cut off as I turned my head and sank my fangs into his throat. "Fuck!"
His emotions flooded my mind. A sharp pain before endorphins slipped through his system. I didn't take much. Just a few mouthfuls, enough to start the process. I wasn't changing him. I wouldn't do that. But he had to belong to my vampire in some way or else, our friendship this time would end in blood rather than fire.
I pulled back, my fangs sliding from his neck. Lifting my arm, I sank them into my forearm and before the wound could close, I jerked Maverick's head down and shoved his mouth against the blood welling up.
"Drink it," I commanded when he pressed his lips together and glared at me.
Against his will, Maverick's lips parted and sealed over the open holes. I waited patiently as he drank. It needed to be deeper and more than Barbie ever had for this to work. I'd only ever seen it done once—by Katalin to her favorite servant. The only difference was that Katalin had taken the human man as a lover and as much as I cared for Maverick as a brother and friend, I wasn't attracted to him. He made his choice, I'd made mine. Neither of us would give Barbie up? Fine. But that still left me with the problem of my vampire and his possessiveness of her.
Finally, it felt like he'd had enough and I lightly pushed his head back, letting the wound breathe as the holes sealed over and began to heal. I licked the remainder of the blood from my skin as I released Maverick from my control.
Immediately, he rounded back and punched me in the face. I'd known it was going to happen. I would've done the same thing. What I hadn't expected, however, was the strength behind it. Maverick's fist connected with my face and my neck snapped to the side as I felt the skin over my cheekbone split open and the bone beneath cracked. My body turned away automatically, the force of the blow shoving me from my seat as I hit the floor. I reached up and swiped my thumb over the lesion.
"What the fuck was that?" Maverick gripped the back of my shirt and whirled me around, yanking me up from the floor.
I dropped my hands and waited for my vampire to rise to the forefront. The beast cracked an eyelid and sniffed before shrugging and relaxing back. Relief suffused my limbs. "It worked," I sighed.
"Explain," Maverick spat through gritted teeth as he held onto my front. "Right now, before I fucking—"
"You knew you would need to take my blood," I started, interrupting him.
"You didn't have to bite me," he growled. "And you never gave Barbie that much."
I pushed him back with two hands on his shoulders as I straightened and cracked my neck once more. "You gave me very few options," I said. "You won't leave her alone and my vampire saw you as a threat. Nothing more could happen until we'd taken care of that issue."
"What the fuck did you do then?" he demanded. "What the hell was that about?" His fists clenched at his sides and I could sense the desire to fight pulsing in his veins. In fact, I felt it like it was my own desire. I swallowed roughly, shoving the emotions that I knew weren't mine down until I could think and speak logically.
“The only way my vampire would be alright with you being near her is if he sees you as part of himself,” I said slowly.
Maverick’s eyes blew wide open and he took one single, stumbling step back from me. “What … what the fuck did you do? Am I—I just told you I was taking care of it!” He reached up to his neck, fingers pushing against the wound of my bite. Two small holes where my fangs had entered darkened the column of his neck, the redness surrounding them already beginning to bruise. With my blood in his system, though, it would heal rather quickly. “Did you turn me into a vampire?”
“No,” I said as I turned away, striding to the window and turning to rest against the sill of it. I crossed my arms over my chest. “It takes a bit more blood than that to turn someone.”
“Then what the fuck did you do, Torin?” Maverick growled. “Don’t make me fucking ask again.”
“I started the process and stopped it partially, but it doesn’t turn you into a vampire. I’m not even sure if I could—I’m a dhampire and I’ve never attempted to turn anyone before. No, what I did to you was different. The process itself is similar, I think, to turning someone, but it’s interrupted. It’s more like laying a mark on you, an aegis.”
“What does that mean?” Maverick regarded me with suspicion, but I could already feel the anger inside him dissipating. The irritation and wariness was still there, but his muscles were loosening, the rage falling away in the face of my words.
“The word aegis translates to ‘protection.’ It’s like a warding. I’ve heard that it’s mostly used for other vampires, though. Since vampires can’t usually have children, they can’t have families. This is a substitute for that. Transferring blood is like adopting you. My vampire now sees you as a part of him and will therefore have more of an urge to protect than he does to kill. I only knew it could happen with a human because I saw Katalin do it once with one of her favorite servants.”
“Were there any ill effects?” he asked.
I shook my head. There hadn’t been, but there also hadn’t been much of a chance to see the long-term consequences because she’d been ordered to dispose of the servant not long afterwards. I shuddered to recall Katalin’s face the night she came back from killing her lover. Coated in blood and colder than I’d ever seen. She’d locked herself away for weeks and Eloise had been forced to send human after human into Katalin’s rooms until she’d finally cracked and fed—killing three in quick succession. We hadn’t talked about it then, but I was sure Arrius had been the one to give that particular order.
“So, what does this mean now?”
I refocused my attention on Maverick. “We’re good,” I announced. “It shouldn’t cause any disturbance with the medallion.” I unfolded my arms to gesture towards the covered object against his chest with a grimace.
Maverick grew quiet, staring at me from across the room. “Did you really need to control me to do that?” he demanded.
I shrugged. No, perhaps not. But I also couldn’t risk that he’d turn the option down. That and my vampire quite liked making him feel a bit powerless in the face of what he’d done with Barbie. It was a small bit of revenge, childish as I knew it was.
Maverick made a small noise in the back of his throat and turned away. I watched him as he strode across the room and paused with his hand on the doorknob. “Don’t do it again,” he said, low enough that I knew the words were difficult for him to say. Because they were a request, not an order. “If we’re going to be working together, being with her—together—then we have to trust each other. Don’t ever take the option from me again, Torin. Or you won’t like the consequences.”
I didn’t answer, but I’d already resigned myself. He was no longer separate, no longer torn between the two worlds—the human and supernatural. Even if he hadn’t made his choice to take the medallion from Esperanza, what I’d just done had sealed his fate. I closed my eyes and leaned back.
Brother of mine.
Blood of my blood.
And so we were bound.
Master and Aegis.
Chapter 37
Barbie
I stood at the gateway to Hell. Okay … maybe not literally, but it sure fucking felt like I was about to meet the devil. I glanced up as voices drifted toward me in passing from down the hallway. Olivia’s cherry red hair was the
first thing I saw and for a moment, I thought about calling out to her. Then I saw the guy at her side—the one she’d been talking with. It was Ben. The guy who’d asked me about her and it looked like he’d taken my suggestion to come on the school trip.
I watched silently as Olivia paused, turning her face up towards him, laughing at something he’d said. For some reason, it sent a pang through my heart. In another life, I could’ve been her. If my parents had been normal. If they’d left well enough alone and hadn’t devoted their lives to finding the creatures of the night and hunting them down—if they hadn’t trained me to be the hunter I was…
So many fucking ifs, so little time.
The door in front of me opened and a pair of steady hazel eyes stared down at me. “You going to stand out here all night or are you going to come in?” Torin asked. “You’ve been out here for the last ten minutes.”
“How the fuck do you know that?” I asked.
“I can scent you,” he replied before turning to look Olivia’s way. “What are you doing out here anyway?”
“Just debating on which theme song to use as my knock,” I retorted dryly, pushing past him to the middle of the room. I glanced around, noting the empty space. A four poster bed was across the small sitting room, but there was no one else but the two of us. “Where’s Maverick?”
“He already stopped by,” Torin answered. “And left.” The door closed with what seemed like an extra-loud click. I turned, slowly, to meet him as he came towards me. Arching my neck, I returned his gaze even as a sense of entrapment skittered down my spine.
“He left?” I sucked in a breath. “Did he drink—”
“My blood?” Torin smirked down at me. “Yeah, he did. He wasn’t too thrilled with it either.”
“You know we have to keep him safe, don’t you?” I crossed my arms—a movement that only served to widen his smirk. I frowned. “He shouldn’t have come in the first place. This is far too dangerous for—”