by E. M. Moore
His soft lips landed on my forehead. I breathed in, internalizing the moment his lips met mine. These instances were precious, and not something to be taken lightly. Who knew when I’d have a chance like this again with Nicolai? What if I never had a chance like this again with Nic? All I had were memories, and those memories had to be enough to last me a lifetime.
“I love you, Stephan.” I pulled away and kissed his lips, enjoying the way he fell into sync with me like we were one person on one mission with one thought. When I pulled my lips from his, I bit down on my cheek. “Don’t think I don’t know what you did there. You’re supposed to be the nice one, too.”
He smirked. “I am the nice one.”
“I don’t know. You might have to give that crown up.”
“Yeah? Who would you give it to?” His eyebrows arched and he looked at me, challenging.
It only took me a beat to realize that though the other ones were nice at times, Stephan really was the epitome of kind. He didn’t have a successor and he knew it. “That doesn’t mean you still can’t be evil, apparently.”
“By making you see that you’re wrong?”
“Yes, that’s an evil thing to do, Stephan. I was just laying here minding my own business and then you come in with rational…thought. It’s not fair. It was mean, and uncalled for.”
He chuckled into our shared pillow, hiding his stunning eyes from me for a brief moment. He stared at me for a long while after that and then shook his head. “We need your help, Ariana. All of us. I think a preoccupied mind would do you a world of good right now.”
My mouth dropped open a little as realization struck me. Stephan had literally just ‘treated’ me. That’s why it had come out of no where because I didn’t expect it. Nothing was physically wrong with me. That I would expect him to take care of right away, but something was mentally wrong with me, and he’d just waltzed in here and diagnosed and treated me like he would have with a regular injury. Sneaky, sneaky. I’d have to keep an eye on him from now on if he was going to start pulling that stuff.
He shifted on the bed and brought me to a sitting position with him. “Come on, let’s go do something productive.”
He placed his hand on my hips and pushed until I was on my feet. My phone fell to the floor. At the exact same time it hit, it started to ring. At first, I thought it was just a tech malfunction, but then it played the digital jingle again. In that moment, I froze. The phone was faced down against the carpet. Turning the phone over to see the screen felt like it would reveal my destiny and that was just too big of a step for me at the moment. The princes knew not to call me right now, so I could rule them out, and there really wasn’t anyone else who called me except for maybe T.J. and Lex.
I looked at Stephan and Stephan stared back at me. I didn’t move. Neither did he. I knew he could’ve bent over at the waist and had the phone in front of me within a fraction of a second with his superior quickness, but we were both frozen in time, stuck like gum on the other side of a shoe.
Then, we both moved at once. I dropped to snatch it up, but Stephan beat me of course. I had just enough time to briefly glance at the screen before he pushed the pickup button.
Dark, Sexy, & Badass.
My breath lodged in my throat. This could be every hope come true, or every fear. This was a defining moment. One I would remember for the rest of my life.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Hello?” Stephan said into the receiver.
His eyes closed. It felt like forever until the first bit of news hit me, until the realization set in that it was actually Nic on the other side of the line instead of Dumont claiming his victory over us. Stephan breathed out and relaxed all at once before bringing my phone down and putting the call on speaker.
“—in the backseat, knocked out cold.”
“Nic?”
“Ri.” I could hear his smile through the miles that separated us, and my heart lifted in my chest. The anger, the hurt, the angst rushed out of me all at once and nothing mattered but the fact that he was talking to me right now. That he must have been alive and unhurt because his voice was as natural as it could be. It was as if he was calling from his room down the hall rather than Georgia. For several seconds, he didn’t say anything, but the realization of the situation returned.
“Are you okay?”
“Barely,” he said. “I’m not hurt, but I’ve got a tail. Quick, loyal bastards. That’s not all.” He heaved a sigh, then a pounding sounded as if he’d hit his hand on the steering wheel several times. “It’s worse than we thought. Dumont doesn’t just have a few followers. He has several hundred. He has a freaking community of human blood suckers. He’s made them all throughout the centuries, and then he’s won a clan or two over who used to support us who now support them, and they’ve grown. It’s not just a small contingent that wants to take over The Council, it’s not just Dumont himself, it’s a whole other world. They rival us in numbers, and when I say us, I don’t mean just the Council family clans and the other predominant clans, I mean us, as in people who use blood banks for food.”
“That’s not possible,” Stephan said, his brows furrowing. “They wouldn’t be able to keep secret. There’s no way.”
“I’m telling you,” Nic said, his voice hard. “I know what I saw. I know what I heard. I don’t know how else to say this, but there’s no way we’re defeating this guy. His people won’t stop. They honor him like he’s a God damned deity, Stephan. I’m not even sure how I got out of there. In fact, I’m almost sure they let me go. Maybe this was Dumont’s plan all along. Who the hell knows? But I’m heading back to the estate. I’ve got Dumont, and we need to make about a thousand decisions before I get there. I know Father wants to put him on trial and make him pay for his sins to us, but I’m telling you, that’s not going to work. We’ll have several hundred, if not thousands, of people banging on our doorstep. It’s like he’s been nurturing a cult. His reaches go further into society than you even want to know. It’s not just a ‘kill him and everything will smooth out afterward’ moment. It’s far more fucked up than that.”
I closed my eyes, listening to Nic as he spoke about the impossible. Part of me just wanted to rejoice in the fact that he was okay. He was alive—well, as much as he was ever alive—and breathing. He had Dumont. That’s what he had set out to do. But at the same time, I was reeling. When was anything going to play out like we thought it would? It seemed like the world was constantly changing around me and nothing was set in stone. It was always turning, twisting, like a kaleidoscope with new colors and patterns always emerging, some more screwed up than the others.
“You have to tell Father all this,” Stephan said.
“I know. I just wanted to make sure Ri didn’t hate me.”
Stephan grinned at me over the phone. “The complete opposite, actually. She hasn’t stopped moping since you hung up on her.”
“I don’t know if I would call it moping,” I said, sending Stephan a dirty look.
“It was moping.”
“You’re a traitor.” I scowled at him, which only made him smile more. “In any case,” I continued. “Gregor’s not going to like this. He’s out for blood and I can’t say that I blame him. Dumont’s been behind everything from the beginning. Capturing me, the attack on The Estate and The Fort, the bomb… Who knows what else he’s done, and what else he’s planned?”
“I think the correct question is what else he’s capable of,” Nic stated. “Can you guys get Dad on the phone? Alone? I don’t care if the family’s there, but I’d like to tell him this in private so he has a chance to think things over before he updates everyone else.”
Stephan and I made our way downstairs, Nicolai still on speaker phone, to the Council room. Stephan immediately pulled Gregor, Christian, and Connor aside. I didn’t bother following them. I already knew what Nic was going to say and I was pretty sure I could gauge Gregor’s reaction. Relief at hearing Nicolai’s voice, then outright fury at what he h
ad to say. But like all good leaders, he would come around. He would realize what was best for everyone and at least entertain what Nic was telling him before decisions could be made.
I watched them retreat through the back door and then turned around to find Lex staring at me. I walked up to her, a little ashamed at keeping my distance from the actual following through of the plans that I suggested. It wasn’t smart, or brave of me. I’d showed my cowardice when it came to thinking I was going to lose Nic and here I was coming back with the proverbial tail between my legs.
“Nice to see you here,” she said, nodding once at me.
“Sorry,” I told her, already shaking my head. “I know I haven’t been the best guardian, and—”
Lex held her hand up. “We all have to be human sometime.”
“I guess everything just caught up with me, but it’s still no excuse. I should’ve been down here.” Lex wasn’t even listening anymore. She shuffled papers around on the desk in front of her and then pulled out a phone transcript. “What’s this?” I asked after she handed it to me.
“Something of interest, I think. Since all this was your idea, I thought you might want to take a look at it. It gives a little behind-the-scenes idea on why Dumont is doing all this from someone who claims he knows.”
I took the paper from her and read through the transcript complete with the volunteer’s responses who’d answered the phone from this room. In it, the vampire tells the operator that Dumont tried to get him to change his allegiance from the Ravana Clan to the Dumont Clan ages ago. He tells the story about why Dumont feels the Ravanas shouldn’t be in charge, making it seem like it was Dumont who was the martyr. It was Dumont who’d been cast out of society unlawfully and without honor.
Within the story itself, the caller weaved the idea of honor and pride in and out. Honor was an attribute I wouldn’t have said Dumont possessed. He’d tried to have me killed along with the Ravanas. He used others to carry out his plans. He wasn’t honorable. Far from it. But I guessed when you fought for something, you believed strongly about it. Even those who did the worst things in history thought they were doing what was best for their people, their world. If the vampires under Dumont didn’t find at least something about him worthy, no one would follow him. According to Nicolai, he’d even been able to get others to change sides. He must’ve said something worthy of hearing if he was able to do that.
“Honorable Dumont, huh?” I asked, my brows rising.
Lex shrugged. “I thought it was interesting. Almost like a motive in a murder case. You don’t always agree with it, but it’s the reason that makes people do things.”
“I guess I just have a hard time believing that someone so evil thought that the takeover by the Ravana Clan was a dishonorable thing. How about trying not to be a jerk? It’s not like it’s that hard.”
Lex smirked. “You sound like Nic.”
My muscles tensed. With Gregor talking to him right now, they didn’t need me spilling the beans about Nic actually having Dumont, and that he was being trailed closely. Then again, Gregor might make the decision for us to go out there and bring Nic and Dumont back in. Confront the enemy before they even made it back to the estate. There were so many things up in the air right now. Like Nic said, we had to make about a thousand different decisions before Nic got here with Dumont. He was enemy number one and it wasn’t just Gregor who would have a hard time calming down. I didn’t even know how I would react the first time I saw him.
I shrugged, going for nonchalance. “I hear Soren’s been asking for me. Stephan said something about maybe transferring him here. Is that happening?”
“I think we should,” Lex said. “He’s not doing us any good at The Fort right now since we moved our headquarters here.”
“Makes sense.” Plus, what Lex didn’t know was that it was a very real possibility Dumont was going to be imprisoned here soon too. Having both of them in the cells might make it interesting.
The back door burst open and a stricken, honey-colored head searched the room. When Connor locked gazes with me, a tremor rattled my body. “Come.” He looked at Lex. “You, too. Now.”
Lex started out at a normal gait toward the back door, but I pushed past her, my feet eating up the floor between being in the dark and what made Connor look like that. Connor held the door open for us and we both rushed forward, Lex picking up the pace now since she saw my reaction. He waved us further into the dark hallway and then took a right through a doorway I hadn’t noticed the only other time I’d been in this hall. All of us spilled out into the family room through a hidden door.
Gregor paced in the middle, my phone clutched in his hand.
“What is it?” Lex asked. “What happened?”
Gregor stopped, turned toward us, and inclined his head. “Nicolai has Dumont.”
Lex gasped, a smile curving her lips. “That’s great.”
Gregor held up a hand. “Dumont also has Nicolai.”
My gaze narrowed as I stared down Nic’s father. What did he mean by that? Last I heard Nicolai was just bringing him up-to-date so we would have things in place when he got here. Now what was going on?
Stephan moved toward me, which immediately made my hackles go up. Something else had happened.
Finding his father mute, Christian stepped forward. “Although Nic got Dumont, he also has a trail of dedicated, annoyed, angry Dumont followers on his heels. There are too many to fight, and we don’t want to risk relinquishing Dumont now that we finally have him.”
“I’ll get a team together. We can leave within a half hour,” Lex said, her voice rising.
Her hand fluttered for the cell phone she always kept in her pocket, but Gregor moved forward. “That won’t work. The careless stunt my son has pulled off has also gained us some insight into Dumont. He has far more followers, and a bigger reach than we expected, or dare I say, even thought to consider. We must change our tactics. It is no longer possible to try Dumont through our usual methods. He has made it impossible for his mission to fail. Unfortunately, we need him alive in order to calm his people. Killing him would do nothing but entice them to throw everything they have at us, and since he’s been plotting his revenge for some time longer than we even knew he was still around, I think it best if we get him here and he and I can sit down in a civilized manner to discuss things.”
“Sir…” Lex started. “You’re not actually thinking of letting his behavior go unchecked, are you? A truce of some sort? That’ll be why his people won’t quiet. We should use brute force to squash them.”
Gregor’s lips thinned. “I refuse to behave like those we shook off this pedestal. I have worked hard and long to live peacefully, and I will not live like Dumont just to defeat him. Nor will I risk our guards in what will sure be a fight to end all fights. There has to be another way.”
Lex’s jaw clenched. I looked back and forth between the two while they stared one another down. I could see both points. Gregor would stick to his wishes, though. First it would be brute force to rid the world of Dumont and anyone who wanted to avenge him, but how would others perceive that? Would they see the Ravanas acting that way and remember who it was they threw from the throne centuries ago? It would go against everything Ravana believed in to fight amongst his own species. And that didn’t even bring into account the fact that Nic said they rivaled us in numbers. The chances of winning such a war were slim, and as he said, put all of us in jeopardy.
Interrupting their stare down, I said, “I guess the bigger question at the moment is how do we get Nic here faster to give Gregor and Dumont more time to talk without his hoard of angry followers? He’s in a car and they’re not far behind. To ensure his safety, we need to see about getting him here quicker than driving. Can anyone fly? Does anyone have a plane at their disposal?”
“Pavone”, Connor and Stephan said at the same time. Stephan eyed me warily and although I recognized the name, and why I recognized it, having him help wouldn’t bother me. I’d thought h
is tastes were vile, but now that I’d experienced the same thing, they weren’t as heinous as I imagined. Not that I wanted to be in that situation with him again, with Zeke telling him I loved being fed off of for sexual purposes.
Lex pointed at Stephan. “Get him on the phone. Tell him we need him at the airport as soon as he can.” She looked at Connor. “Start researching small air fields or places to land a plane between here and your brother’s last known position.”
The people in the room scattered. Gregor walked forward, handing me back my cell. He looked around the room briefly, finding Stephan talking quickly into his phone the only other person left in the room besides us. “If you’ll excuse me, Ariana, I have to go tell my wife the news we’ve just heard.”
I nodded and he left. As soon as the door closed behind him, Stephan’s hands wound around my middle from behind and he pulled me back to him. I laid my head back against his shoulder. “Did Nic say anything else when I wasn’t here?”
Stephan kissed my cheek, his lips lingering. “No. He just reiterated that he thought it may have been a little too easy to get to Dumont, like he wants to be in our custody for some reason. Father thinks that sitting down and discussing things with him like men, like world leaders, might do some good.” He sighed. “Maybe they’ll come to some sort of compromise. Then again, maybe that’s just me and my wishful thinking. I hate to see anyone get hurt. Not our people.” He squeezed me tight to him. “And not those who are following him. They can’t know what kind of man he really is. I hate to see them fight, or worse, die, for something—someone—so unworthy.”
I closed my eyes and lifted my chin up. I prayed that Nic’s count on Dumont’s followers was off. Like Stephan, I hated the thought of senseless bloodshed, but in my experience, you didn’t move forward without giving something up. If Dumont refused to back down, I really didn’t see any other way out of this. I’d love to shield Stephan and the rest of the princes from something like an all-out war with actual armies on each side, but at this point in time, I didn’t see another way out of it.