Vampire's Soul

  The part of him that loved to deny, to wait until the gratification was overwhelming, wanted to keep things going another hour, but he hadn't lied to Giles. Or Rand. He knew time was ticking away, and, if nothing else, the sooner he gave Lady Lyssa whatever pointless info she needed, the sooner they could leave and they could spend hours at this. Well, if the wolf didn't say so long and that was the end of it.

  Cai released, jetting seed into the tight, gorgeous ass. Rand climaxed at the same time, hips jerking in a way that made Cai see bliss and stars and every damn version of Heaven there was.

  This was just a quick, casual fuck on some nice linens. They'd made a hell of a mess. Well, Rand had. It pleased Cai to see it. He wanted to take the shifter all over again.

  Stroking the male's back slow, he laid another kiss on the middle of it. Cai felt an unsettling urge to stay there, press his face into heated flesh, sink into the male's strength. Let the clock tick away so he didn't have to face whatever was outside this door.

  Yeah, like that ever worked. Annoyed that the thought had unfurled anxiety and urgency in him, Cai straightened and took hold of his emotions. As he eased out of Rand's ass, he gave it a satisfying swat that left a handprint and earned him a startled and delightfully dangerous look.

  "Grab clothes or fur, your preference, wolf. We have to go rap with the queen."

  Chapter Seven

  When they were ready to leave the room, it was once again as vampire and wolf, for Rand had shifted by the time Cai put on his clothes. The garments did fit reasonably well, a black button-down shirt over stressed designer jeans that made him look a step above homeless vagrant in this crowd. Fortunately, he still had his scarred and bloodstained hiking shoes to keep anyone from thinking he was too civilized.

  When he made that observation to Rand, the wolf's expression suggested there was no risk of that. Rand gave him an odd look as Cai took the armload of clothes Giles had brought for Rand and tucked them into a pillow case in the closet. "They're too nice to leave behind," Cai explained. "I'll make an excuse to come back up here before we leave and toss it out the window, pick it up on our way out."

  At Rand's disapproving look, Cai snorted. "Lady Helga's on the Council. Torrence probably has new clothes for every day of the year. Man, he was a big son of a bitch. Probably no more than a nickel's difference in your dimensions. Maybe he's from your same litter and just didn't get the shifting bug."

  As they stepped into the hallway, Rand chuffed a response which Cai assumed equated a snort. "You know, that stern look you did while sitting on my junk, your arms crossed over your sexy chest?" Cai tapped the wolf's head with a finger and grinned at the show of teeth. "Maybe we'll play 'student takes ruler away from school master and paddles his ass.' And see there? Who knew wolves could roll their eyes? It's a miraculous world."

  They moved down the hall toward the staircase. However, at the cracked door to the missing girl's room, Rand slowed and came to a halt.

  Peering in discreetly, Cai saw Leona was still that same motionless lump beneath the covers. Well, not so motionless this time. Her shoulders were quivering and Cai could detect the muffled weeping.

  "Rand..." Cai hissed, but the wolf had already pushed open the door with his shoulder and moved into the room. He went to the bed, jumped on it with surprisingly light-footed grace, turned a circle and lay down, resting his heavy head on Leona's hip. Giving comfort.

  Cai braced for screaming, but the figure became very still. Slowly, the covers were pulled down enough to show a silken fall of chestnut hair and a slim shoulder. She was wearing what scent and appearance suggested was one of Lord Greenwald's shirts. Her hand slid out of the linens, reaching back to rest on Rand's head. Then the fingers convulsed, slipping down to clutch his ruff as a harder shudder went through her. Cai studied the tableau and nodded.

  Catch up when you're ready.

  Rand didn't feel happy about Cai going on without him, but he looked even more reluctant to leave her. Cai was good with that. It bothered him, the woman lying here all alone. Because she really was alone, wasn't she? Greenwald's episodes of Ennui meant he was accelerating down the slope toward losing his mind. There was no good end to the disease. His term as overlord would end soon and, not long after that, he'd walk into the sun or be taken down by other vampires. Though from Lyssa's surprising patience toward him, Cai thought the vampire queen might provide him more protection than Cai would have expected.

  But Leona lying there crying, while her vampire master stomped around and had tantrums and delusions that sent his cronies to beat people up and look for demons? Greenwald had said he was going to check on Leona, but when Cai and Rand had come down here, not more than a couple minutes later, he'd been nowhere in sight. It kind of sucked that Greenwald hadn't even thought to post another servant like Giles to watch over her fulltime.

  Most times, Cai didn't think of humans beyond their purpose as food. He had no particular liking for them as a species. He'd lost the empathy a long time ago, no matter his own human origins. But he didn't torture his food and, when he took a life for his monthly blood needs, he made it pleasurable or quick, depending on the circumstances. He had no desire to make them afraid or suffer.

  This was the problem with being social. You thought about shit you didn't normally consider. It was hard to stay dispassionate, seeing those quivering shoulders and her fragile fist curled in Rand's fur. In the vampire world, twenty-two was pretty much a baby. Dovia was a fledgling whose wings were still wet. Was Leona blaming herself? Probably. Every parent did when they had a child taken, right?

  An image came to his mind, so quickly and viciously tamped down that Rand's ears twitched, as if feeling the concussion from the slammed door in Cai's head.

  If anyone should be blaming himself, it was Greenwald. He was the overlord, the guy in charge, who kept everyone in line. Yet Trads had stolen his daughter right out from under his nose.

  Having been beaten by his minions, Cai experienced some petty satisfaction about that, but it was short-lived. This was his child, to protect against every possible harm. And he'd failed.

  Thinking of it that way made it hard to get any mileage out of the gloat. Cai worked hard to be a soulless monster, but today he was falling short. If Leona was blaming herself, a servant who was subordinate to her Master, where important decisions were his, not hers, to make, how much more of that was Lord Georg experiencing? Cai could understand the guy letting the disease take over more of his mind, if it gave him respite from the agony he must be feeling.

  When he felt a glimmer of reaction from Rand's mind, Cai realized he didn't have to look further than the shifter to know how the loss of a kid could eat someone from the inside. But making that connection still took Cai into not-fucking-going-there territory for himself.

  He was still leaning in the door. Cai told himself his unwillingness to leave had to do with the distasteful task of meeting with the contingent upstairs, but that wasn't all of it. Rand lifted his head, gold and blue eyes focused on him.

  Maybe he did have some information that would help them find the girl. Cai wouldn't hold back on that. But he gave himself one more second to step away from the uncomfortable blowback of feelings about the situation and remember just an hour ago. Rand beneath him, the strong body flexing as they wrestled. The tilt of his head as Cai stroked his back. He didn't have to think when he was around the wolf. Crazy thought, right? They'd known each other like two minutes. But maybe that wasn't a relationship thing. That was Rand's animal nature, making it as easy to be around him as if he truly was all animal.

  It suggested Cai enjoyed fucking a wolf more than a human or vampire, which so didn't sound right to say. At least not at cocktail parties. A real problem, because he went to tons of those. Not.

  Suppressing a sigh, he pushed off the doorframe. Feeling Rand's attention upon him as Cai left sent a weird spike through his chest. Pushing that away, too, he headed up the stairs, following voices to a spacious ground level sun po
rch. It provided a nighttime view of a pond with a lit fountain in the middle of it.

  Greenwald, Lyssa, Mason and Helga were sitting on the porch. An in-depth discussion of some kind was happening, but Cai wondered if Greenwald was hearing any of it. His bloodshot eyes lifted at Cai's appearance and filled with malevolence. Yeah, if the Council hadn't been here, the torture fest would have continued. Cai had no doubt of that. Took care of his empathy, that was for damn sure. Dried that well right up.

  "Where's the wolf?" Voltaire demanded. He was standing behind his lord's chair. Lyssa's admonition may have toned down his behavior, but he was keeping himself front and center. A reminder he was the one who should be considered as a replacement when Greenwald faltered just enough. It made Cai want to see his limbs tied to a foursome of tractors. Their slow amble away from one another would make his dismemberment a satisfying spectator sport.

  "He's with the girl's mother. She needed comfort. Being a big goofy dog lying next to her was more desirable to him than sharing your company," Cai said.

  Greenwald gestured to Voltaire and the younger vampire headed for the door. Cai stepped in front of him, bringing Voltaire to a halt.

  "If you're checking on her wellbeing in his care, I've no objection to that," Cai said, and meant it. The overlord's quick dispatching of his minion to her side was the first evidence he'd had that her state of mind mattered to Greenwald. "But you fuck with him in any way, and I will rip your fucking head off. We clear?"

  Voltaire's fangs showed. Cai didn't give a shit. He stood his ground. Voltaire wanted to throw down with him, but with the Council here and Greenwald, he was hampered. Cai wasn't.

  "If all is as you say it is, Voltaire will cause no harm to the wolf," Lyssa said. "I've stated you are a guest, and your beast belongs to you, Cai. He's safe."

  Yeah, as long as circumstances didn't change, which they could in an instant. But it was as good as he was going to get. Giving Voltaire another hard look that was answered with barely veiled contempt, Cai made a mocking gesture of courtesy toward the double doors. He also sent a message to Rand that the vampire was coming and his intent, and received a push of acknowledgement.

  Greenwald rose. "I've waited long enough. Tell me everything you know, Trad. Or nobody here will be able to save you."

  "You're going to have to narrow that down. I know lots of things. Like how to navigate by the stars, fix a great PB&J, get blood out of clothing so your fabrics last longer..."

  He could have tried to move out of range, but Greenwald had him by a few hundred years and they were only a handful of feet apart. Avoiding the blow would have been pointless, so Cai merely braced himself.

  Even so, the face punch sent him to the floor, hard enough his elbow cracked the tile. Son of a bitch, the guy could hit. But it confirmed Rand's blood had done a good job for him. He didn't feel any residual twinges from his previous injuries. No yelping.

  Rolling to his back, Cai propped himself on his elbows. As he ran a thumb along his split lip and considered the blood, he angled a look up at the furious overlord. Deliberately, Cai crossed his ankles, squinting through the throbbing pain to blink at Greenwald.

  "Should I stay down so you can do some kicking? Will that get her back faster? Make me talk sooner?"

  Mason was up. For as fast as Greenwald had moved, the copper-haired vampire made him look like a snail. Which meant he could stomp Cai like a bug. Fortunately, Mason had more impulse control than Greenwald.

  Greenwald struggled against Mason's hold, but the Council vampire held fast. "Easy, my lord. His behavior may deserve your ire, but he's correct. This is solving nothing."

  "I cannot tolerate this despicable...thing, in my home," Greenwald said through gritted teeth to Lady Lyssa. Cai noted she sat quietly, with regal straightness, but her eyes were missing nothing of the interchange. "Pain is the only way to break Trads, my lady. We are wasting time."

  "Hey. Georg."

  The overlord's head swiveled around, his eyes widening. "You disrespectful--"

  "Georg's your name, right?"

  "Get to the point and do not goad him needlessly," Mason said. The vampire's gaze was cold, but it wasn't the implied threat that reached Cai as much as the look behind it. While the vampire might understand the reason for Cai's behavior, the even tone was a clear admonishment for Cai to grow up and be the bigger vampire.

  Else Mason would rip his arm off to reinforce the point.

  It wasn't threats that brought Cai back to his feet, but he did try to tone his abrasive nature down. Somewhat. He squared off with the overlord. "Georg Greenwald? Did you escape from a Harry Potter book? Torture me all you wish, vamp. You can carve every inch of skin off my body and cut off my balls, and you'll still get squat. But here's what will work. How about some fucking courtesy? Instead of saying I'm your guest, actually treat me like one."

  Cai turned his attention to Lady Lyssa. She was five feet nothing and should have seemed diminutive compared to the males, and even the voluptuous Helga. Yet she was the only one he felt compelled to address by her title, even if only in his mind. That told him how he wanted to do this.

  "I'll provide the information you seek," Cai said. "But I'll tell you. Alone."

  Mason's amber eyes glinted. Yeah, he was a scary bastard. So the fuck what? "You do not demand a solo audience with the Council head," the vampire said.

  "Why? Is a thousand-year-old queen afraid of being alone with a two-hundred-year-old vamp?" Cai tossed a look at Lord Georg. "It's sure as hell not going to be here, with him interrupting every other word. She can share with him what she wants to tell him. Then I'm out of here, and fuck the lot of you."

  As the Council members stiffened and Cai thought he might truly be in danger of being limbless, clicking toenails brought everyone's attention to the door. Rand shouldered open the cracked door and entered the room.

  Without a word, he moved to stand at Cai's side.

  Leona had fallen asleep again, so when his ears, nose, and the mind linked to Cai had detected the blow, the blood and pain, Rand had left the room, run up the hall and bounded to the top of the stairs, passing a surprised Voltaire on the way.

  It had been a kneejerk, protective response. He should have remembered Cai's nature. Now inside the sunroom, Rand could tell the vampire father was quivering with a rage so overwhelming that the one called Lord Mason was staying close, as if anticipating having to restrain him once more.

  Stop being asshole, he thought hard at Cai, but met only a silent wall. He was going to pummel the vampire himself.

  The other vampires had broken off their conversation as he entered, and Rand was uncomfortably aware all eyes were on him. Evaluating, assessing... Lady Helga's gaze coursed over him from head to toe, so thoroughly it might have been her hands. It suggested Lyssa had shared what she'd guessed he was with the other Council members. He didn't think Georg knew, however, for the way his gaze passed over Rand, dismissing him, suggested he only saw a pet.

  "Based on how I was brought here, and what you're all so eager to know, I've earned the right to demand the terms for the information," Cai said, continuing the conversation.

  "Oh?" Lyssa's brow lifted, her expression tightening. Rand noticed the room dropped by about twenty degrees. Everyone else registered it with uneasy looks. Could all vampires do that?

  You think I'd be sweating my ass off in the summer if I could? She's supposedly part Fae.

  "What terms are those, Mordecai?" Lyssa asked.

  Cai blinked. "Exactly what I just said. A solo audience." His expression cleared, and he let out another harsh laugh. "You thought I was going to demand something for the information? Money, power? A position?" He snorted in derision. "You all have nothing I fucking want. Except an exit door."

  Lamb and pork chops in kitchen. To-go bag nice.

  Where his earlier comment hadn't penetrated, he saw an easing to Cai's shoulders at that one, and a deprecating side glance from the vampire. Figures, a wolf would think with his sto
mach.

  Better than dick. Live longer.

  Blah blah blah.

  Voltaire had slipped back in the room, taking his position behind Greenwald with another baleful look at Cai.

  "Very well." Lyssa drew Rand's attention as she rose, stopping his internal dialogue with Cai. "You and I will retire to the study." She paused, her head tilting as her servant, Jacob, who'd been standing attentively behind her chair, took a step from the wall. Her lips curved, her eyes reflecting mild reproof, but also something else. Deep regard. Rand sensed Cai's surprise at seeing it.

  Rand's cousin had strong feelings for his female vampire, which were acceptable, but he'd told Rand that if a vampire had reciprocating feelings for a servant, they kept them hidden. It was pretty taboo, vampires being in love with their servants. But the connection between Lyssa and Jacob was impossible to miss, even without wolf senses.

  "My servant will accompany us," Lyssa said.

  "Then so will he." Cai jerked his head at Rand.

  She nodded. "I'll meet you there. Third door on the left down the hallway, once you exit these chambers." Her gaze slid to the others. "We will return shortly."

  Mason looked the least thrilled by her decision, though no one looked overjoyed. However, they all held their comments, respecting the queen's command. As she disappeared through an alternative exit Jacob opened behind her, Cai turned on his heel and strode out of the chamber, not giving anyone a further look. Rand followed.

  Once in the hall, the heavy double doors closed behind them, though Cai caught a last glimpse of Voltaire's sneering face. He was probably planning how to dissect Cai with the help of his buddies, Tyra and Chavez.

  Rand bumped Cai's leg, hard enough to knock him off track, and moved in front of him. He brought Cai to a halt with his body and an unexpectedly angry stare.

  His daughter in danger. You play games.

  Cai knew Rand's emotions were running high, having just come from Leona's side. But Cai was dealing with his own shit, and the accusation in Rand's eyes knocked some of it loose. Maybe that was for the best. Letting it lead him, Cai shoved him out of his way. The wolf moved back, his eyes flickering with annoyance.