Fifteen minutes later, we arrived back at the house, a mournful atmosphere among the group. Everyone was tired and silent, suffering from a touch of after-shock. PTSD, maybe.
Cristescu handed Lucas over to two waiting vampires, and they carried him to an upstairs bedroom where I presumed he was going to sleep and heal. I was vaguely aware of Tegan going from room to room, searching for something. When she came up empty after searching through the entire house she started to panic.
“Rebecca’s gone!” she cried. “Theodore’s taken Rebecca.”
Oh shit.
What with everything that had been going on, I’d completely forgotten about the little girl.
“Don’t panic,” Alvie said, placing a hand on Tegan’s shoulder. “He’s probably given her to Emilia. She won’t harm her.”
Tegan’s face turned red with anger as she stormed from the room, and seconds later, a loud crash came from the kitchen. I’d never seen her so furious. Cristescu hurried to her, and everything went silent. I tugged Alora down onto a chair with me and wrapped my arms around her middle.
A couple of minutes later, the two returned from the kitchen, and Tegan looked considerably calmer. Cristescu clearly managed to calm her down.
“I don’t understand,” she said, shaking her head in bewilderment. “We cast a spell that was supposed to protect Rebecca from anyone who would do her harm.”
“There are few spells that a sorcerer like Theodore can’t break through. He knew about your blood even though your mother cast a spell to hide it,” Gabriel reminded her.
“Theodore cannot be allowed to get away with this,” Cristescu cut in angrily as he stood by the window with an arm around Tegan.
“What exactly do you propose we do?” Gabriel asked. “He basically manipulated all of our bodies to do his bidding with magic. You might be unkillable, Ethan, but the rest of us aren’t.”
An argument ensued between the two half-brothers before I interrupted them. “Hey, calm down the both of you. Fighting amongst ourselves won’t achieve anything.” At my statement, they lost some of their steam.
Cristescu cast Gabriel an apologetic glance. “I’m sorry. I spoke out of turn.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Gabriel replied, looking surprised that Ethan actually bothered to say sorry.
“I could ask Roman if he has any ideas,” Tegan offered, and Cristescu’s smile vanished. So, he didn’t like Tegan’s long-lost sorcerer grandfather? I bet there was a story there.
“We’re not going to Roman,” Cristescu snapped.
Tegan shot him an irritable look. “Why not?”
“Because he wants to get in your pants, that’s why.”
“Your granddaddy wants to get in your pants? Eww, TMI, way TMI,” Alvie exclaimed.
Tegan exhaled tiredly. “Apparently the magical families are down with the whole incest fandango. In fact, they favour it to keep their bloodlines pure.”
Well, that certainly explained why Ethan didn’t want to enrol the sorcerer’s help.
No one spoke for a few long moments before Cristescu broke the quiet. “A number of my people didn’t manage to escape the bombs tonight and have perished. As a mark of respect, I’m not going to act on this until the morning. Tonight, we rest. Tomorrow, we will devise a plan to kill Theodore once and for all.”
I had to admire his determination. In fact, it was a relief. Theodore needed to die, so we could all get to work restoring normality and bringing peace to the city. The sooner we could start on that, the better.
Ethan strode from the room, and Tegan followed him out. When I looked down at Alora I found her asleep in my lap with her head resting on my shoulder. I carried her to my room and laid her down on my bed. When I started to undress, I found a piece of red plastic buried in my shin and grimaced.
I’d been injured so many times over the years that my body was starting to get used to certain levels of pain. Clenching my jaw tight, I pulled the plastic out of my leg and managed not to make a sound even though I kind of wanted to swear up a storm. I tossed the plastic onto the floor and grabbed some bandages from the main bathroom. When I returned, I found myself staring at the piece of red plastic, suddenly recognising where it came from. It was a piece of the glowing red “Crimson” sign that used to hang over the front door of the club.
The place was ground zero now.
It was funny how, for so many years, I imagined blowing that building up in my head, fantasised about how satisfying it would be to see a club full of vamps burn. Now it had happened, and I didn’t feel satisfied at all. I only felt a mixture of sadness for the lives lost and relief that we’d managed to get out of there alive.
Tegan
In the bathroom adjoining Ethan’s room, I stripped down to nothing and stepped inside the shower. He was already in there, his forehead leaning against the expensive tile, his hand braced on the rail, holding his body up. I rested my head against his back. He was so tall that my face barely met his shoulder. Some of his tension fell away when I pressed my lips to his skin, and one of his back muscles twitched in response.
I glanced down and saw the debris that had been stuck to our bodies washing away down the drain. I had scrapes and cuts all over, and they stung when the water touched them. Even with a vampire to whisk me away from the explosion, I didn’t avoid all of the blast.
Then I noticed a slightly pink tinge to the water. There was a small gash on my arm that was bleeding. Ethan’s body went frighteningly still.
“Fuck, Tegan,” he whispered, his breathing harsh.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realise I was bleeding,” I said, moving to leave, but he stopped me.
“Don’t go. Stay and drink from me. You are hurt.”
“Remember we said we weren’t going to do that again?” I tried to remind him, even though my mouth was already watering. While my mind was determined to quit, my body hadn’t forgotten the addictive pleasure of his blood.
Ethan whipped around shockingly fast and then his lips were on the wound on my arm, his tongue licking away the last remnants of my blood. I moaned from the feel of it.
“I know what we agreed, but we can also agree that tonight has not been an ordinary night? I need to be with you as deeply as I possibly can. I need to feel you drink from me, to heal you, to be in control of this one little thing.”
“You’re in control, Ethan,” I murmured as I ran my hands through his hair. “Don’t let Theodore undermine you. That’s what he wants.”
Ethan’s face turned angry. “He blew up my club! Of course I’m not in control.”
My gut instinct was to get away from him when he was like this, but I didn’t do that. Instead, I stayed and kept touching him.
“A club is a club. You can always open another one. It’s inconsequential. Theodore is obviously running out of ideas, and resorting to using bombs when he has so much magic is the act of a desperate man. Surely, you can see that, right?”
The anger in Ethan’s features dissolved. “Yes, I see that.” His strong hands slid along my neck. “Lumina mea, you are wise beyond your years.”
“No, I’m not. It’s just easier for me to see clearly because I’m not letting anger cloud my vision.”