The Calm Before the Storm

by Mandy Rosko

  “Likewise, sir. I’m sorry to say I can’t stay and talk. I’m late to take my rotation with Dacielle.”

  Cyricus waved away the notion, and an annoyed twist curled on his lips as he did so. “That girl hardly ever leaves the property. Let her mother watch her for another ten minutes. Come. Come with me.”

  Thank God his eyes were hidden by his shades, otherwise Cyricus might have seen the concern in them. Cyricus was technically no longer head of his household. That title fell to Sheila ever since Cedric “died” and Cyricus could not pay his debts without Dacielle’s dowry money.

  Cyricus was still treated with the air of being head of house simply because that’s how all the servants knew to treat him, but on more than one occasion so far, he and Sheila had butted heads over something, and when Sheila gave an order, regardless of whether or not Cyricus approved—putting that inground pool in where his labyrinth hedges had been for instance—it was Sheila who was obeyed.

  It was this reason that made Cyricus despise his sister-in-law, even though she was the one allowing him to remain living in this mansion, and why Ben was weary to put off his duty to Dacielle, even for the sake of an employer who gave him back his job after he quit in front of the entire household.

  Cyricus brought him into his study, the one place he had fought and kicked and shrieked for before Shiela would relent and allow him to keep the space unchanged.

  He quietly shut the door behind them. Ben went to stand in the center of the room on the plush Victorian rug. Cyricus did not go to sit behind his large writing desk. He had no need to keep his books and ledgers behind it now that he was no longer head of house.

  It wasn’t until Cyricus began pulling the curtains to the ceiling-high windows shut that Ben stiffened.

  “Sir?”

  “What I say to you does not leave this room,” Cyricus said, pulling another heavy velvet curtain shut. Did he think another sprite was going to flash into the room on them? Why all the darkness?

  “I don’t understand, sir.”

  “I received a missive this morning, not a quarter hour ago from the Veturious clan.”

  And that was when everything beneath Ben’s feet began to sink.

  His mouth dropped, and Cyricus finally took the time to look at him to see the shock.

  “That was my reaction.”

  Ben removed his shades. Other than the fact that it was now too dark to be wearing them, Cyricus saw him as a sort of confidant.

  There was only one thing Wiktor would be sending a message to Cyricus for, but he needed to play dumb.

  “What did the sucker want from you?”

  Cyricus moved to his liquor cabinet, a twisted, half-mad smile on his lips. “Apparently, there is a recently turned vampire on the loose that he wishes me to be aware of.”

  “Why would you care about any sort of vampire, sir?”

  Cyricus opened the cabinet, grabbed the glass decanter filled with amber liquid, and poured himself a generous glass. By generous, Ben meant he filled that little glass all the way to the rim.

  “Apparently, it is the one that allowed that first vampire,” he said with a curl to his lip, “who killed himself along with my son, to run free. Had it not been for him, Silus would have been properly bled to death by his betters, and he would not have escaped and put his fangs—”

  He stopped himself, shut his eyes and hissed, as though the memory brought him real physical pain.

  It was all very dramatic and good. Ben had no doubt that Cyricus felt a little remorse over what had happened, but also that, if Cedric were to miraculously show up today and announce he was alive and well and living with Silus, the war between their two clans would start all over again.

  Cyricus could play the heartbroken father, just not the accepting one.

  “Regardless, I need someone close to me to discover if there is any truth to this.”

  “There’s no one else that can be trusted for this task?” Ben sure as shit didn’t want to do it. “I doubt very much that Dacielle or Lady Sheila will want to free up any of my time.”

  “I do not want them knowing of this. I could care less what that old bitch thinks, but if Dacielle were to discover that there was another creature involved in the suicide of her fiancé, it would destroy her.”

  Ben seriously doubted that. Cedric had been right about Dacielle.

  She’d had a crush on him, mourned his death for about a week, and by day eight, was already accepting new suitors. She was having the time of her life being single and having her pick of wealthy, young, or sometimes old, men.

  Not to say the news wouldn’t shock her, but that girl wasn’t nearly as delicate as everyone seemed to think. Hell, having her choice in men had gotten her so high on the freedom that she’d once even made a pass at Ben.

  Ben shivered. The memory of him explaining to her just why she was barking up the wrong tree wasn’t a pleasant one.

  Cyricus seemed to take that as some sort of sign that Ben agreed with him. “You see? We must keep this between you and me. Besides”—here, he cleared his throat and colored a little in the face—

  “I am asking this as a favor for my son. I no longer have the funds to pay for such a job, and Sheila would never give me any more money for such a task.”

  Ah, so here was the meat of the issue. Yes, Cyricus hated his sister-in-law for taking over his family mansion and rubbing her wealth in his face, but Cyricus didn’t want Sheila knowing that he was hiring one of her guards, or in this case, volunteering one of her guards, to do a side job.

  “You have my word, sir, if there is any truth to the sucker’s claim, I will find it, but”—he had to ask—”what if it turns out to be a cruel hoax?”

  The first thing Ben was going to do was pretend to look around, ask questions, and then come back stating exactly that. He needed to know what Cyricus’s reaction would be to it.

  Cyricus sneered. “It’s not a hoax. That vampire, Wiktor Veturious.” He spoke the name with some trouble, the same way a seven-year-old would struggle around swallowing a mouthful of vegetables. “He and I have come to an understanding, if you will. This is only his second missive to me since Cedric’s death, and I see no motive for him to make such a claim.”

  “Then why did he make it, sir?”

  “He asks for my help. According to him, the vampire escaped twice and he would like some assistance in tracking him down. He is also receiving the aid of another, a teleporter.”

  Cyricus looked pointedly at him. “Would you know anything of this?”

  Thank Christ the man was no vampire, otherwise he’d hear the frantic beating of Ben’s heart.

  “Humans with powers are rare enough. There aren’t many other teleporters other than myself who live in the area, that I know of. Even that wouldn’t help much since they can travel long distances in so little time. I’ll ask around, see if I find anything,” he said, pretending not to notice the way Cyricus stared at him.

  If he suspected him of anything, then Ben’s dismissive attitude must’ve steered him off course. He nodded. “I will give whatever small resources I have in aiding him. Find this vampire. I care not for the teleporter, so put all of your efforts onto finding that sucker, but I want him before he is handed over to Veturious. I want to give him a hell that can only be seen in nightmares, so that when I do give him to Wiktor, he will welcome that as a blessing.”

  Ben nodded. “Understood. I will begin immediately.”

  He was about to leave the study to get to it when Cyricus stopped him. “Mr. Volio, I hope you will forgive me when I say that, in the reply missive I sent to Veturious, I mentioned you as a teleporter. Forgive my lack of faith, but I have no doubt the werewolf guards will be sniffing around your place of residence. Standard procedure, I’m sure you understand.”

  Ben grinned and slid his shades back on his face. “Of course.”

  The grin melted from his face the second he gave Wiktor his back and left the study.

  Jesus Christ
. Ben needed to get home.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Seth was not happy about having a babysitter come to watch him, especially this babysitter in particular. Ben could’ve warned him that he was calling the sun sprite over, the prick. Seth nearly had a heart attack when the buzzer sounded. Cedric’s voice calling through the intercom had been the only thing to calm him down enough to answer and let the man into the building.

  Wasn’t Cedric’s fault, Seth reasoned with himself. He’d been nearly as shocked as Seth had been when he’d found out Ben hadn’t told him he was coming over. The guy didn’t even know why Ben wanted him over. Seth had a good idea, and it made him want to kill the other man that much more.

  Suicide watch, he’d called it, and now Seth had to sit here and try to make small talk with the man Ben was in love with. Seth swore that if Ben told the other man about his serious lapse in judgment last night, he would murder him.

  Seth had said he wasn’t suicidal, and he meant it, previous poor judgment aside. He would suck up any hurt feelings and get over it.

  Cedric had a life partner, and, from the little that Seth had seen and the amount he knew of him, pretending to commit suicide and all that, he was very loyal to that life partner as well.

  Still, it took some kind of strong friendship to keep Ben’s feelings for him from destroying everything between them.

  Don’t be jealous. Don’t be jealous. Don’t be jealous.

  “So,” Cedric said, that air of awkwardness when two strangers were put into a room together floating all around them like smog.

  “You and Ben, huh?”

  “There’s nothing going on.”

  “Not what I heard.”

  Freshly filled with blood, Seth blushed easily at the comment.

  Guess his hosts had heard the fun that last time he and Ben were together in their house.

  Cedric stretched his arms out along the back of the tiny couch. He was attempting to be chummy. To his credit, Seth didn’t sense any jealousy or sarcasm in his demeanor, just a genuine thrill for his best friend getting laid and, maybe, finding a lover.

  Seth couldn’t help but relax a little. At least the guy was easy to get along with. “It’s just a thing we’re doing.”

  “Huh, well, you both sure were doing things.” Then he proceeded to laugh at his own lame innuendo. Or maybe he was laughing because of how lame it was.

  For some reason, that wasn’t annoying coming from him.

  “Want to watch TV?” Seth asked “Sure.”

  At least they were getting along. The sun sprite had been here for about a half hour, and up until ten seconds ago, it had been all silent and weird.

  Though Seth had offered it, Cedric was the one who reached for the remote.

  Seth couldn’t take sitting down anymore as an insane craving for last night’s pizza came over him. He got up and went to the fridge.

  Ben had some sodas cooling in there, to which Seth fully intended to help himself and consume all of them as Ben’s punishment, but he could still share. “Want anything to—”

  He halted in his tracks.

  “Want what?” Cedric asked, flipping channels.

  Seth looked back at him. “Did you hear that?”

  Cedric immediately took on a concerned look, and he muted the TV.

  They were both stock-still, hardly breathing. The only sound was the drip from Ben’s faucet.

  Then the door was kicked in, in an inward explosion of splintered wood, and a swarm of giant men in suits rushed inside.

  There was so little space in the apartment that he had no room to react, nor any time, considering he’d been right beside the door when the weres broke in. Two pairs of hands grabbed hold of him instantly, and Seth was pushed against the kitchenette counter. The wind was knocked clear out of him as his gut made impact.

  The empty coffee pot and toaster were pushed out of the way, and Seth’s cheek was pushed down into the crumbs left on the counter.

  Then a shout from the deep voice of their leader. “There’s the teleporter!”

  Fuck, Cedric. He couldn’t flash away. The heavy curtains kept out all direct sunlight.

  The only thing he could do to remotely defend himself was—

  Seth snapped his eyes up at Cedric, waiting for him to bring on the light show of blinding UV light. While he couldn’t flash himself to safety, he could still let loose that bright light from his skin that would disorient the weres, create a distraction for himself to escape, and turn Seth into a burned hunk of meat.

  His heart pounded as everything suddenly happened in slo-mo, but no painful, deadly lights came. Cedric stood and slowly lifted his hands in surrender. He allowed Joey to grab his arms and twist them behind his back with no struggle.

  Cedric looked at Seth, and in that brief contact of eyes, Seth understood that the other man was deliberately holding back on his power just because Seth was in the room.

  Idiot was going to get himself hurt or killed for that.

  Joey worked, putting the plasticuffs on him, same as what Seth was getting from Gregory and Damon, only he was getting triple the fun.

  “Don’t try and break ’em,” Damon warned as Gregory worked.

  “I’ll knock you out before you get them off.”

  “Thanks,” Seth said, grunting as Gregory tightened the plastic to the point of cutting off circulation. “Do you mind?”

  “You’re the one who had to change his mind about coming quietly,” Gregory said, taking hold of Seth’s other arm. “Gotta do it this way now.”

  Joey grabbed Cedric by the crook of his arm when he was done, pulling his gun out with his other hand. “Sorry to do this to you, guy, but I’m not letting go until we get back. So don’t even think of teleporting us out of here or you’ll regret it.”

  Seth’s eyes widened. “Wow, Joey, gotta give you props. You sound like you mean it.”

  Joey looked at him and actually grinned like Seth was still a superior or something. “Thanks.” The kid had been working at making himself seem fierce so he could stay a guard. Whatever he was doing lately, or whatever motivation he had over his head, it was clearly working.

  Seth couldn’t help but feel glad for him despite the fucked-up situation.

  Cedric rolled his eyes, his jaw clenching in annoyance. “All right, you caught us. Fair and square. Can we go now?”

  Eager of him, but Seth knew what he was doing. The second the weres brought him outside and into the sun, he could safely flash away. Sun sprites couldn’t take travelers with them when they flashed, unlike real teleporters who could. It would be the perfect opportunity for escape, and he could get help from…

  Whoever in the world still gave enough of a shit to save Seth’s sorry ass.

  Perfect.

  “Hey, guys,” Joey said, his eyes never leaving Cedric’s face. “I don’t think this is Benjamin Volio.”

  Seth’s insides turned to ice. The look on Cedric’s face suggested the same.

  “What?” Damon demanded.

  “Look at him.” Joey pointed a finger under Cedric’s jaw. “This guy doesn’t match the description we got at all.” Joey sniffed. “He doesn’t even smell the same.”

  Description. Of course. The werewolves hadn’t needed to sniff him out this time. They’d known he was taken by a teleporter last night. Ben was known by both clans to be a teleporter. Of course they’d come here first.

  “No, his scent is different.” Damon narrowed his eyes then looked at Seth. “Do we want to know who this guy is?”

  “My name is Peter,” Cedric said quickly. The eyes of all werewolves snapped to him. “Peter Laurence. I’m a teleporter from Boston, I heard another was living here, and so I came for his help.”

  “Help with what?” Gregory asked.

  “In saving my friend from all of you,” Cedric snapped, pulling against Joey’s grip for the first time.

  “We’ve known him a while, buddy,” Damon said, jerking his head toward Seth. “He’s never spo
ken about you.”

  “I never told you guys lots of things,” Seth said. He had no idea where Cedric was going with all this, but if it kept Ben’s name out of Wiktor’s hit list, then he’d go along.

  “Like what?” Damon said.

  The asshole was being so cocky, thought he knew so much about Seth just because they’d laughed together over jokes they’d made on lunch breaks, or had played pool together in the servants’ lounge after hours.

  “Like my brother Sammy, who had leukemia. Never told you about that, did I? You guys didn’t even know about that until, when?

  Two nights ago?”

  It had the effect he was hoping, cricket-style silence from everyone.

  “Why do you think I would purposely go against Wiktor’s orders and get Silus to transform me? Why the fuck do any of you think I’d bind myself to a vampire like some kind of mindless servant? I did it so I could cure him.”

  Still the awkward nothingness. “And you think telling us something like that will make us release you?” Damon asked, his voice calm and even instead of cruel.

  No, he wouldn’t be cruel about something like this. The man felt guilty because he had to obey his master.

  “No,” Seth said, looking at Cedric. “It’s like he said. We heard another teleporter was living here and we came for help, but no one was here.”

  He waited with bated breath for the three men to eat the lie he fed them.

  Joey looked uncertainly between his captive and superiors, Gregory’s face gave the impression that he’d swallowed something not right, and Damon clenched his jaw.

  They knew he was lying.

  “All right then,” Damon finally said. “Let’s go.”

  “Yes, sir,” Joey said, gripping Cedric’s arm and pulling, leading him toward the door.

  “Wait, wait,” Gregory said, leaving Seth in Damon’s hands. “If there’s more of his kind around, he could teleport you into the middle of an ambush.”

  “I can handle anyone who comes at me.”

  “But we don’t want to lose either of you, so you gotta do this. Sorry, man,” Gregory said to Cedric as he lifted his fist.