Cain's Identity (Scanguards Vampires Book 9)

by Tina Folsom

  “Roast in hell!”

  Abel tossed a look at the tied-up human. He’d expected John’s reaction, but he knew how to make the stubborn guard change his mind. “Or your lover will pay for your defiance. Slowly and painfully.”

  John’s gaze shot to Nicolette, who now pulled on the handcuffs. “I won’t let him hurt you,” he assured her now.

  Abel grinned. “So, we’re in agreement then?”

  John pinned him with a furious glare, but Abel knew he’d won.

  “Good. Make it look like a rival clan is responsible for it. It will appear that we’re under attack.” He grinned to himself. He would kill two birds with one stone: Cain would be dead, and because the kingdom would be believed to be under attack, Abel would ascend to the throne instantly. The waiting period which would start rolling from Cain’s actual death once again—one year, one month, and one day—would be waived in a time of war.

  Without taking his eyes off John, Abel instructed his guard, “Baltimore, make sure he’s healed completely before you release him so Cain won’t become suspicious. Then get two of your trusted men to watch the woman and return to the palace. I don’t want your absence to be noted.”

  “Yes, Abel.”

  “Good, then my work here is done.” He turned to the door, then looked back over his shoulder. “And just so you know how generous I am to those who serve me well, I’ll grant you and your woman safe passage after the coronation. Releasing you from your position as leader of the king’s guard is the only way for you to keep her, as you’re well aware. I’m doing you a favor. Don’t forget that.”

  Without waiting for John’s response, Abel opened the door and left.

  17

  Cain noticed that the door to Thomas’s room stood open and announced his presence with a knock before opening the door wider and entering.

  Thomas, cell phone pressed to his ear, wasn’t alone. Haven leaned against a desk, while Wesley slouched on an armchair, his legs hanging over the armrest. All three turned their heads to Cain, acknowledging him.

  Haven pointed to the phone and said quietly, “Eddie.”

  “Keep monitoring that,” Thomas now said into the phone. “Cain just got up. Yeah, I’ll fill him in.” Then he turned his face away and lowered his voice. “I miss you, too.”

  Tucking the phone back into his pants pocket, Thomas turned back to them.

  “Have they found John?” Cain asked.

  “I’m afraid not. They’re in New Orleans right now, keeping their ears to the ground, watching for any vampire-related activities, anything that could lead them to John. But so far nothing.”

  “Crap!”

  “Don’t despair yet.” Thomas lifted his hand. “I’ve messaged HQ to have them run a trace on John’s cell phone. I don’t have the right equipment to do anything from here, but I’m sure they’ll be able to help us pin down his location if he’s used his phone since he disappeared.”

  Cain nodded. “Good. In the meantime, let’s get to work. We’ll start with the king’s guards. I want a full accounting of where everybody was and what they were doing the night I was attacked. Any inconsistencies and we’ll spot them. If John told us the truth that he was indeed lured away from his post, then we’re going to have to find out who might have done so.”

  “It’s going to be hard to get an accurate account of what happened that night,” Wesley threw in. “It’s been over a year. They won’t all remember exactly what happened and in what order. Hell, most people can barely remember what happened a month ago.”

  “This is different,” Cain cut him off. “People have a much better memory when it comes to significant events. Just like we all remember where we were when 9/11 happened. Well, all except myself. But that’s beside the point. The guards will remember where they were or what they did the night of the assassination, because their king being killed would have been a significant event.”

  “Point taken,” Wesley admitted. “But that still doesn’t mean they’re gonna tell you the truth.”

  “That’s what I’ve got Thomas for, right Thomas?”

  Wesley stared at the IT geek. “You gonna put them on a lie detector?”

  Thomas smiled and shook his head. “Of course not. I’m simply gonna watch their reactions, how their eyes move when they talk, how they breathe.”

  Wes sat up. “Oh, I know. I saw that show. What’s it called again?”

  “Lie to Me,” Haven answered.

  “But those guys are like PhD’s and stuff,” the witch said.

  “Trust me, I don’t need a PhD for that,” Thomas assured him. Then he gave Cain a questioning look. “Shall we?”

  “Ready when you are,” Cain agreed, though he wasn’t as confident as he let on. Without John by his side, he was bound to trip himself up. For starters he didn’t know any of the guard’s names other than the man who’d recognized him: Marcus.

  Not letting his apprehension show, Cain marched through the double doors and along the corridor, his colleagues following him. Strange, he still thought of them as his colleagues, his equals, although he was king now. Granted, not their king, since Haven and Thomas didn’t belong to his clan, and Wesley wasn’t even a vampire.

  “Anybody else hungry?” Haven asked.

  Only now Cain realized that he hadn’t had any blood since they’d arrived in Louisiana.

  “I brought a few snack bars, but I could do with something,” Wesley answered.

  Haven tossed him a get-real look. “I doubt they have human food here.”

  Cain set his foot on the first step. “Let’s find out. Haven, I think you should be the one to ask whether they serve bottled blood here. If the question comes from me, they’ll become suspicious of me. In the meantime I’ll ask for human food to be ordered for Wesley.”

  “Agreed,” Haven said.

  They walked up to the first floor in silence. A guard stood at the top of the stairs and stepped aside quickly when he saw them.

  “Your Majesty,” the vampire greeted him.

  Cain nodded and walked past him, while Haven stopped.

  “My colleagues and I need some nourishment,” Haven addressed the guard.

  “Would you prefer packaged or fresh?”

  “Packaged will be fine,” Haven answered.

  Cain turned briefly, casually calling out to the guard, “Bring sufficient for all of us.” Then he motioned in Wesley’s direction. “And have some human food ordered, too.”

  “Human food, sir?” the guard asked, looking confused.

  “You heard me. Get it done!” Cain ordered, raising his voice, and continued walking down the corridor. If he remembered John’s directions correctly, at the end of it lay the king’s reception room, part office, part living area.

  When he reached another double door, he stopped and cast his friends a sideways look. “This had better be it.”

  Cain pressed the door handle down and pushed the door inward. His three Scanguards colleagues followed as he entered the room.

  They weren’t alone. Abel sat at a massive desk with elaborately carved legs and trim. His brother’s head instantly shot up.

  Cain hesitated. It appeared that he’d opened the wrong door and barged into Abel’s office without knocking. Searching for something to say, he merely stared at his brother who now shuffled the papers he was perusing into one stack and jumped up.

  “I was just cleaning up for you,” Abel said, and motioned to the chair. “Didn’t want you to start your first day back with a disorganized desk.” Then he dug into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys, placing them on the desk. “And here are the keys to everything, of course.”

  Cain’s feeling of relief was instantly replaced by displeasure. It appeared that his brother only hesitantly wanted to relinquish the power he’d had during Cain’s absence.

  “Thank you,” he forced himself to say and walked to his desk.

  Abel stepped aside and let him take his seat. Cain laid his hands on the cool wooden surface.
“I would like you to inform the members of the king’s guard that I’d like to speak to them.”

  “All members?” his brother asked with a frown on his face.

  “Yes, every single one of them.”

  “But they can’t just leave their posts. They have responsibilities that—”

  Cain narrowed his eyes. “Are you the king or am I?”

  Abel appeared taken aback by his question and raised an eyebrow. “Whatever happened to you, it seems to have made you very irritable.”

  “You would be irritable too if you were trying to find out who was responsible for your abduction.” Cain knew full well what the reason for his irritability was: the knowledge that his brother had touched Faye. It made it hard to be civil to him.

  “I understand, of course.”

  “I’m glad of that,” Cain said in a less commanding tone. “Then maybe you can arrange for the members of the king’s guard to come and see me. One after the other.” He motioned to the door, nodding briefly, then buried his head in the stack of papers on his desk, pretending to know what he was actually looking at. Only when he heard the door close behind Abel did he look up again.

  “A bit presumptuous, your brother,” Haven commented. Then he grinned. “But you’re doing a heck of a job pissing him off. Frankly, I think you were born to be king.”

  Wesley chuckled. “Totally! You’re like a natural!”

  Cain jumped up from his chair and pounded his fist on the desk. “That’s because I am the king!”

  “Hey, what the fuck?” Wes complained.

  Cain rubbed a hand over his face and took a calming breath. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to lash out at any of you.” He motioned to the door. “I just can’t stand that prick!”

  “Understandable under the circumstances,” Thomas said evenly and took a seat on one of the large sofas. “But I would caution you to keep your feelings about him under wraps. He’s bound to notice that you resent him—for obvious reasons—and until we’ve gotten a lay of the land and figured out who’s still loyal to you, you don’t want to draw his wrath on you.”

  As much as Cain wanted to dispute Thomas’s words, he couldn’t. As so often, the wise vampire had hit the nail on the head. It was important to refrain from starting an open war over a woman whose motives Cain wasn’t even sure of. What if Faye was playing them both?

  Slowly he lowered himself back into his chair. “What are you suggesting, Thomas?”

  “Play nice with your brother for a while. It doesn’t mean you have to trust him. In the meantime we’ll launch the investigation into the attempt on your life. Somebody is bound to know something. And now that you’re back, everybody will want to get back in your good graces. Let’s turn that to your advantage,” Thomas suggested.

  “Very well,” Cain said, when a knock at the door interrupted him. “Come.”

  A middle-aged vampire carrying a serving tray with several glasses of red liquid entered and inclined his head toward Cain. “Your Majesty, the blood you ordered.”

  “Thank you, uh.” He wanted to address the vampire by his name, but couldn’t. “On the coffee table please.” When the man turned his back to bend down and place the tray on the table, Cain shot Haven a look. Luckily his friend understood immediately.

  “What’s your name?” Haven asked casually and reached for a glass.

  The vampire straightened. “I’m Robert. I’m the master of supplies for the palace and have been so for many years,” he said with pride in his voice.

  Cain rose and walked to the seating area. “It’s good to see you again, Robert.”

  “It’s good to see you well, sir.” Despite the friendly words, Cain sensed some apprehension rolling off Robert.

  “Thank you, Robert.”

  The vampire nodded, then looked at Wesley. “I ordered human food for you. Should I bring it as soon as it arrives?”

  “Oh, yeah, I’m starving here!” Wes confirmed.

  With an acknowledging nod, Robert turned to the door and left. Cain joined his friends and snatched a glass of blood from the tray. He set it to his lips and took a sip. Within seconds, he’d emptied the glass. Instantly he felt better. So far his bluff had worked. Nobody had an inkling that he suffered from amnesia. And the way things looked at the moment, nobody would ever have to find out. Whatever obstacles lay in his way, he would manage to overcome them.

  “Let’s get to work.”

  18

  Faye walked through the hallway and noticed several guards waiting outside of the king’s office. The door to it was closed.

  “Marcus,” she called out to one of them, who immediately looked in her direction and gave a short nod. “Is Abel with the king?”

  “No, I believe he’s outside in the garden.”

  “Thank you.”

  Taking a deep breath, Faye walked through the entrance hall and opened the door to get outside, past the two guards who flanked the door. She might as well get this over with or it would be looming over her all night.

  Outside humid night air greeted her. A million stars hung in the night sky and the moon was still almost full, bathing the palace’s grounds in enough light that even a human would not have needed an artificial light source to find his way around.

  Faye glanced around the veranda, but Abel wasn’t sitting in any of the comfortable chairs that were dotted on the porch. She’d loved sitting here with Cain when he’d had a moment to take a break from his business as king. She’d cherished those short moments where he’d shared his vision for the kingdom with her, before withdrawing again to implement whatever changes he thought would bring the clan further into the twenty-first century.

  With a sigh, she walked around the palace, remaining on the porch that wrapped around the entire building. Maybe Abel was at the back of it, enjoying the beautiful evening. Her light summer dress clung to her skin, though she couldn’t entirely blame the Louisiana humidity for it. She knew she perspired for other reasons. It was anxiety that made her skin feel clammy.

  The back porch was empty too, and Faye was about to turn back, when she perceived a movement from the corner of her eye. She shifted her gaze to the area that had caught her attention: the white gazebo that stood several dozens of yards out in the vast garden, surrounded by bushes to lend it some privacy.

  Knowing that the guards rarely ventured there because Abel had declared the place his own personal domain, Faye stepped down from the porch and strolled along the walkway leading to it, the sound of her flat shoes absorbed by the soft moss beneath her feet.

  Apprehension rose the closer she got to the gazebo. She’d practiced her speech while in her room, but now that she was about to face Abel, her throat was dry. She took a deep breath. With it, the scent of human blood filled her nostrils.

  Abel wasn’t alone.

  Faye stopped in her approach, but it was too late. Abel had already lifted his head and spotted her. His fangs were extended and dripped with blood.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb,” she said hastily and attempted to turn.

  “Don’t go. I’m done anyway,” he claimed and waved her to join him.

  She crossed the remaining distance and took the three steps that led up to the gazebo. Comfortable benches lined the interior of the wooden structure, and on one of them a human woman was stretched out, her clothes disheveled and two puncture wounds gracing her neck. Abel had been feeding.

  “Apologies,” he said lightly, then bent down to the woman again and licked his tongue over the spot where his fangs had been lodged only moments earlier.

  The woman didn’t stir, though her eyes were open. She was under his thrall, made numb by mind control. Every vampire possessed this skill, although Faye herself rarely used it. She had little contact with humans, preferring to remain in the safety of the palace’s grounds. And using mind control on another vampire was an undertaking fraught with deadly risk.

  Abel wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and pointed to the girl. “Woul
d you like some?”

  Quickly Faye shook her head. She preferred the packaged blood stored in the refrigerated cellar of the palace. “Can we talk in private?”

  “We are in private,” he said with a sideways glance at the woman who’d provided him with sustenance. Whether willingly or not, Faye couldn’t tell.

  She’d always known that Abel had never given up feeding from humans directly, whereas Cain had substantially reduced the incidences of feeding from a human, and then refrained from it completely when she and Cain had become lovers. Almost as if he’d wanted to show her that he didn’t need to feel the sexual high that accompanied a feeding. Instead he’d switched entirely to packaged blood, and then, that last fateful night when he’d disappeared, he’d taken Faye’s blood for the first time. Not to nourish his body, but his heart.

  Faye pushed the memory away, not wanting to be reminded of how happy she’d been then. And how different everything was now. Cain’s rejection when she’d snuck into his bedroom stung as much as it was confusing.

  She turned away from the human girl and Abel. “I’m sure what I’m going to tell you won’t come as a surprise.”

  Faye heard him rise from the bench and take a step toward her.

  “No, it doesn’t.”

  “I still love him. I never stopped loving him, and you knew that when you asked me to marry you.” She swallowed, trying to moisten her dry throat. “Had I known he was alive, you know that I would have never agreed.”

  Abel’s hands cupped her shoulders and she flinched at the contact. “You don’t need to say anything else, Faye. I know how you feel. And I’m not going to stand in your way.”

  Choking up, she turned around.

  Abel smiled at her. “Oh, Faye, did you really think I would keep you to your promise? Of course, I’ll release you. I would be fooling myself if I thought that you could ever love me the way you love him.” Then he dropped his lids. “I just wish I could protect you from the heartache you’re going to face.”

  “Heartache?” she echoed. “He’s alive. He’s back.” She hesitated, wondering whether Abel referred to the coldness with which Cain had greeted her. “It will take a little while until everything will be like before.”