Текст книги "Alasdair"
Автор книги: Ella Frank
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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 15 страниц)
Alasdair ran a hand down Vasilios’s arm, and when he got to his fingers, he brought them up and placed them over his chest—over the heart Vasilios had once stopped to give him life eternal.
“But surely you don’t suspect them? Gods?” Alasdair scoffed. “What would they want with us? And why now, when they’ve never shown their faces before?”
Vasilios laughed, but the sound was not one of joy. “Oh, I do not suspect the deities themselves. They would never deem this task worthy of them. They would send someone in their place…”
Alasdair remained silent, trying to absorb all that he’d learned to decide how to proceed.
Our lineage.
Back where it all began.
My death.
Our destruction.
Myths…Greek gods.
As all the words jumbled through his mind, Alasdair’s eyes shifted to the motionless man beside them.
The one who could paralyze him with his blood.
Who could somehow remember what happens during a compulsion.
And the same one who was a walking, talking encylofuckingpedia on everything Greek—gods included.
The coincidence was too much for him to overlook, and the confusion inside him turned to blinding rage.
He’d known betrayal in his life. He’d lived through too many generations not to know the bitter taste of it. But as it finally fell into place, ending Leo’s life seemed like the easier task.
He ordered his mind blank, not wanting Vasilios to see what he was thinking.
Not yet.
“Don’t overly worry yourself, Vasilios. Nothing has managed to kill me yet,” he said in an effort for them to move on or end the conversation so he could find Isadora and Thanos. He desperately needed an opinion that wasn’t his own.
He expected the usual smirk or perhaps a slap at his own arrogance, but instead, Vasilios said, “They created us, Alasdair. They know our strengths and weaknesses because they’re the ones who gave them. Do not be fooled. They do have the capability to end us. And to do that, they know they must start with you. “
ISADORA SAT ACROSS from Thanos and watched him pour another finger of bourbon.
It was his third in under thirty minutes, and she envied his constitution. If she had his fortitude when it came to alcohol, she’d be joining him. As it was, she was forced to sit there with an excruciating ache in her right shoulder joint courtesy of Diomêdês, who had dislocated it.
He’d instructed her, not a second after it was done, to leave it as it was until Alasdair returned. Maybe then she’d be less willing to play the faithful right hand to an impulsive fool. If she did not, he’d been more than clear that he would think up something more atrocious to remind her that his word was her law.
That’d been over two and a half hours ago, and she was getting to the point that, when Alasdair did show up, she might just willingly rip her own arm off and beat him with it.
She couldn’t believe the colossal fuck-up they’d made, but at the same time, it was hardly their fault. The three of them had been kept in the dark. She understood that the Ancients had been trying to protect them, but in the process, they’d hidden important information. Information about their very existence.
When she’d emerged from her sire’s chambers after an hour-long lecture, she’d immediately gone in search of Thanos. Since Alasdair was out—no doubt chasing around that fool human—she figured the sooner she tracked her other cousin down, the quicker she could find out what he’d been told. She soon discovered he knew nothing more than she did.
“Maybe you should let up on those,” she suggested, looking pointedly at the half-full glass in Thanos’s hand.
They were sitting in the Adjudication Room, awaiting Alasdair’s arrival. The copious amounts of alcohol Thanos was downing and the way she was twisting the rose charm on her choker were both clear indications of their nerves.
But who can blame us? Threats of your impending death and the entire race’s termination will do that to you.
“Don’t concern yourself with me. I’m fine. I’m bored…but I’m fine.” Thanos stood, holding the bottle of bourbon. Then he paced back and forth across the plush rug she was stretched out on. “Maybe you should start drinking, Isa. Especially if what we were told tonight is true.”
Cradling her lame arm across her waist, she pursed her lips, contemplating the idea. Then she shook her head. “No. I want to be coherent when Alasdair gets here. Not so drunk I’m passed out on the floor.”
Thanos raised the glass and took a swig of the amber-colored liquid. “Well, you’re already lying on it. Why not make this more fun for me? Tell me, Isa. What’s it like to be the only vampire who can still become inebriated?”
She glared over at his smirking face. “Painful, because I have to lie here one hundred percent sober and listen to you.”
“Aww, don’t be bitter. I’m not even a little bit drunk.”
“I’m not. It’s just one of the many unfortunate by-products of my human genetics. Nothing I can do about it.”
“No, I don’t suppose there is. But come on. Just one glass while we wait.”
She rolled her eyes. “Stop it, Thanos.”
He winked at her, and as she was about to say more, Alasdair appeared inside the room, dressed in all black, his human draped over his shoulder.
He looked like the devil himself—and the scowl he wore spoke of bloody murder. He let the male in his hands fall at his feet with a thump, and as Isadora looked over at the human, Alasdair asked, “Did you know?”
She brought her eyes up to his and indicated her damaged arm. “Do I look as though I knew?”
His eyes swept over her, and once he’d registered the loose limb, he inspected Thanos. “Of course you are in one piece, as always.”
Thanos shrugged and slid his free hand into his pocket. “Well, Eton is away at the moment, and I didn’t partake in the beheading of an informant.”
Isadora sat up then, and snapped around to face him. “We didn’t know he was an informant.”
“Yes. Well, apparently, your sires don’t really care about that little fact.” Thanos sighed. “I have to say, Alasdair, I’m surprised you are still able to walk.”
“As am I,” Alasdair muttered.
“Why’s he here?” she asked, nodding beside her.
“He took ahold of me when I faded from his workplace,” Alasdair said, but Isadora had a feeling there was a lot more to it than that.
“And you let him?” she asked, incredulity in her tone.
Alasdair’s dark expression told her that he certainly had not, and then Thanos’s laugh echoed around the room. They both looked at him, and the smile on his mouth was full of devilry.
“No, I did not let him,” Alasdair said. “He seemed to know I was going to do it before I did it.”
“And he just grabbed on to you?” Thanos laughed again.
Alasdair growled. “What the fuck is so amusing about this to you?”
Thanos finished the drink in his hand and gave him a pearly white grin fit for a toothpaste commercial. “I just saw where you both ended up in your mind, cousin. Gotta say—brave for a human, isn’t he? How did Vasilios react to his unexpected guest?”
Alasdair glared so hard at their cousin that Isadora thought she was going to have to get between the two males.
“He was fine.”
Thanos chewed on a piece of ice and then wagged his eyebrows. “Yes, I see. He looks very fine kneeling behind you.”
“Get out of my fucking head, Thanos,” Alasdair warned.
“Or else what? Your threat on my life is not the first tonight. So please take a number. There is a line.”
Isadora got to her feet. Thanos could be frustrating at times, so she stood in front of Alasdair and looked him over. When it appeared he was in perfectly good health, she pouted.
“I assume by that expression and your arm that you received the same dress down I did?” Alasdair said.
“Apparently not exactly the same. You are in one piece.”
Thanos scoffed. “As far as we can see. Any bite marks under those clothes we should know about, Alasdair?”
“Ignore him,” Isadora advised when Alasdair’s jaw bunched. “I was told by Diomêdês that I wasn’t to heal myself until you arrived.”
Alasdair winced, and then he did something he very rarely did—he rolled his sleeve up and offered her his vein. “Feed.”
“But—”
He took a step towards her and clasped her left shoulder in his strong hand. Then he raised his arm until it hovered in front of her lips and said softly, “Let us say I am returning the favor.”
She shifted her eyes to his, and her fangs descended. Feeding from Alasdair was as much a privilege as it was pleasure. Because, while each of them was the first sired of an Ancient, Alasdair was sired to Vasilios, the most powerful of them all. It was Vasilios’s blood that made Alasdair’s all the more sweet.
Her top lip pulled taut across her teeth, and then she took his arm with her left hand. Lowering her head, she licked the spot where she could see his vein, and then she slowly sank her teeth into his flesh. When the intoxicating blend of his blood entered her mouth, she closed her eyes, and as it flowed through her veins to her wounded shoulder, she caught glimpses of Alasdair’s mind.
The human, standing with him in a room full of photographs. Then again appearing at his feet in Vasilios’s room. And then the human…watching the two of them as they fucked.
Alasdair’s mind was a mass of confusion, tangled between his reality and his obsession. When Isadora withdrew her teeth from his wrist, she licked the wound so it would heal and whispered, “It’s time to end this.”
Alasdair pulled his arm free of her but said nothing. She knew he understood, just as she knew he would rebel against any voice of reason. Once Alasdair’s mind was set, it took something monumental to dissuade him.
“So, there’s something I don’t quite understand,” Thanos spoke up, reminding her he was still in the room with them. “If you were told what we were, dear cousin, why are you still toting the human around? There are much more important things to focus on now besides your cock.”
“I agree,” Alasdair said as he rolled his shirtsleeve down and walked over to where Thanos had sat back in the chair. “Which is exactly why he is still here. I think he has something to do with it.”
Isadora’s mouth fell open, and then, without warning, she laughed, much like Thanos had earlier. But while his had been mocking and full of sarcasm, hers sounded oddly crazed even to her own ears.
“You think he has something to do with it? Look at him, Alasdair. We could kill him right now and he’d be none the wiser. How could someone as small as he, be involved in the destruction of something as large as us?”
“Think about it,” Alasdair suggested. “That night I tried to feed from him, his blood dropped me to the floor like poison. It paralyzed me to the point that, if he had known how, he could have ended me. He can also remember what happens during a full compulsion.”
As that little tidbit was revealed, Isadora thought Thanos’s eyes would pop out of his head.
“What? And you still have him around? Alive? What the fuck is the matter with you?”
“That’s the whole point, Thanos. I don’t know. I don’t know why I’m drawn to him the way I am—or why he can do what he does. But now, something else has started.” Alasdair paused as if daring either of them to interrupt. When neither of them did, he continued. “Something happens whenever we kiss.”
Thanos’s lips twitched. “Like what? Did the Earth move?”
“You’re such a fucking comedian, Thanos. Aren’t you paying attention? He is a threat. A threat I’ve never come across, and he’s one I haven’t been able to stay away from.”
The two of them looked at Alasdair, their mouths parted in shock. Then Thanos stepped towards their cousin and said, “I assume you have a plan? You always do. A way to test your theory?”
Alasdair grimaced as though he’d swallowed a razor blade, and as the plan entered his mind, they all saw what he thought would work.
Thanos laughed. “Oh, Alasdair, I thought you’d never ask.”
VOICES.
ONE, TWO…no, three voices.
That’s what Leo heard when he cracked his eyes open. A shooting pain splintered inside his skull as he tried to move his arms—he wanted to rub at his temple. But he couldn’t move them. His wrists stung, and as he tugged on one of them, the rough abrasion of rope scratched his skin.
Disoriented, he shifted, trying to sit up so he could get a better look at his surroundings, but from the awkward position he was in—Lying flat on my damn stomach—it was difficult to push himself up.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he took a deep breath. There was a stabbing sensation in his temple coming from a transport that had to have happened—recently.
The last thing he remembered was… Alasdair, the other vampire, and then…oh fuck.
Then he’d woken up in the middle of a flashback. Under that Vasilios guy, who’d been about to bite him. He remembered the way his body had reacted as the powerful male had loomed over him.
As Alasdair, Leo had wanted Vasilios with every fiber of his being. His cock had been harder than it had ever been, his flesh hot to the touch, and when the vampire had told him it was time, Leo had felt the pride and desire swirl through Alasdair’s blood.
He’d wanted to be owned by that male. More than he’d wanted to live.
Shaking his head, hoping to free his mind of memories that weren’t his, Leo rolled to his side and used his shoulder to shove himself up. The voices in the room increased in volume.
“I’m not sure that would be the smartest thing to do in this case, Thanos, are you?”
The question ended abruptly, and it seemed to echo around… My office, Leo realized, as he finally got himself upright and seated. He was back in his office, on the couch.
“Your human,” a low voice noted, “is awake.”
Leo’s eyes skidded to a stop on the three figures across the room. They had their backs to him, and when they turned, he realized he recognized them all.
Alasdair was standing between the male and female from the Walk. The same male who’d wanted… Yeah… best not to think about that while they’re within mind-invading distance.
“Huh,” the male vampire pondered, his eyes roving over Leo. “His thoughts are rather amusing, aren’t they? No wonder you kept him around, Alasdair. But he doesn’t seem to fear us much, does he?”
Leo’s eyes darted to Alasdair for… What? Reassurance? Why did he think he would protect him? If the stony expression on his face was any indication, he could quickly dispel any hope of that happening. Alasdair’s frown made him look homicidal, and just like that, the other male in the room got the reaction he wanted. Suddenly, Leo feared them very much.
Alasdair prowled over to him, his eyes never wavering from his face, and when they were toe-to-toe, he looked down at him and stated in a tone so bone-chilling that Leo’s heart almost gave out, “Stand up.”
The command was issued verbally, and Leo could still feel the choice was his. He wondered at that for a brief second, but then he glanced at the other two vampires in the room and knew why he wasn’t being compelled to act. He had nowhere to go. He was like an animal of prey surrounded by a pack of hungry lions. If he made one wrong move, they would pounce, attack, and kill.
Ever so slowly, Leo scooted to the edge of the couch and then stood until he was level with Alasdair. He raised his head, and when their eyes connected, he sucked in a swift breath. He’d only ever seen this look in Alasdair’s eyes once—when he’d thrown him across the room that first night they’d talked.
The intensity in his eyes had the hairs on Leo’s arms standing tall. He then dropped his gaze to the lips that had kissed his twice now and watched them pull into a tight line as if Alasdair had read his thought and was displeased with it.
“I’m going to ask you a question, human.”
Ahh, so we’re no longer on a first-name basis. Something had really pissed Alasdair off. Those furious eyes turned to slits, but he merely continued with his thought as though he hadn’t heard Leo’s at all.
“You are going to answer me. If you answer wrong, I will kill you this time.”
Leo’s mouth fell open, and an unintelligible sound came from him as he looked over Alasdair’s shoulder to the two flanking his office door.
“Do you understand?”
The curt question brought his eyes back to Alasdair’s, and Leo shook his head. “No,” he managed. “I don’t understand.”
He thought he caught emotion flicker across those livid eyes, but he must’ve imagined it, because Alasdair reached out then and grasped the material of his shirt, yanking him forward. His tied hands were trapped between their bodies, and then Alasdair leaned in and whispered, “I warned you not to lie to me.”
Leo bit down on his lip hard, trying to stop his protest, and sought out the eyes of the female across the room. He wasn’t sure why he looked at her, but he thought maybe she would show some kind of compassion. Maybe she would come to his rescue.
But why should she? Because she’s a woman?
She might have been female, but the cold way she was observing what was going on indicated she was as unforgiving as the vampire currently holding him.
Leo angled his head the best he could to look Alasdair in the eye. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But I didn’t lie to you. Not once.”
Alasdair gave him a grim smile, and the laugh that came out of his mouth was anything but joyful. “No?”
“No,” he stressed, his lips close to Alasdair’s. So close he could– What? Fucking stop this already! He’s about to kill you, not kiss you.
“See, now, that is where you’re wrong.”
Before Leo knew what was happening, Alasdair pulled him in the final distance and took his lips in a ruthless kiss.
IT WAS NEVER smart to act in anger. Alasdair was more than aware of that. But as he stood in front of Leo with his fingers curled into his shirt, he wanted nothing more than to shake him until the truth fell out of him like loose change. Just as he’d suspected, the human was stubbornly holding on to his story that he knew nothing.
After learning what he had in Vasilios’s bedchambers, Alasdair had been on a mission. Somehow, he knew Leo was involved in the threats they’d received. It was far too much of a coincidence to think this man, this enigma, was enough to keep him twisted up inside without some kind of power. Then add in that his blood was practically a tranquilizer and something was happening when the two of them kissed and that brought him back to his plan.
As his mouth met Leo’s, a gasp left him and drifted between Alasdair’s lips. His fingers eased in their hold on Leo’s shirt, and when he pushed his tongue between his lips, it happened.
The pale eyes, which had been wide with alarm, started to swirl and the color completely engulfed the surface. Leo’s hands moved up to grip his, and Alasdair heard a growl rumble in his own throat. Even though there was a very obvious threat to Leo’s life right then, the man was responding as if they were naked and on a bed, which brought his own response to the surface.
But Alasdair would be damned if he acted on it. He was doing this to acquire knowledge, and he needed his cousins to witness it.
He kept their mouths aligned, angling his head for a deeper connection as he dove in to really taste Leo for the first time. They’d kissed before, but they had been hurried, quick matings of their mouths, which he’d pulled away from whenever the incident had occurred.
But not this time.
This time, Alasdair made certain to really savor the lips moving under his own, to lick and flick every corner and crevice he could, as he rubbed his cock against Leo’s bound hands. This would likely be his final chance to taste him, and with the safety net of Isadora and Thanos there in case anything should happen, Alasdair really let go.
He released Leo’s shirt and slid his hands into the short strands of his hair. Leo’s body vibrated against his, and the moan that emerged was blissful. No matter what was happening behind those filmed eyes, Leo was definitely feeling what he was.
Alasdair pushed his hips harder against Leo’s restrained hands, and he grunted when several fingers stroked over him. His cock was pounding between them, and the flavor of Leo on his tongue was flooding his heightened senses. He wanted nothing more than to strip him naked and fuck him right there on the couch, not caring one bit that his cousins were there. But then Thanos was inside his head, urging him to pull back.
We cannot hear anything, Alasdair. His thoughts, they are blank, and usually, we would at least hear him thinking about his cock… like you are thinking about yours.
Alasdair pulled his fingers free of Leo’s hair and lifted his head, grasping his bound arms as Leo swayed away from him. He couldn’t help himself from looking one final time at the glistening lips only inches from his, and when Leo ran his tongue along them as if savoring the lingering taste, Alasdair moved in, about to take more.
Don’t, cousin. We know nothing of what he is. Isadora’s voice was a sharp warning inside his head, and though she was right, he couldn’t stop himself from baring his teeth as he glared over his shoulder at her.
You want to fuck something? Thanos is here and salivating over your display. I daresay, in about two minutes, he’ll be more than willing. Until then, move aside. We are here to test your theory, remember?
Thanos sauntered towards him and Leo, and as he got closer, Leo’s mind came back into focus.
Why’d you stop?
Leo’s eyes had returned to their usual shade. Alasdair wanted to speak, to ask questions and demand answers of him, but that route had proved unsuccessful in the past, so testing his theory was the only other option.
When Thanos stepped up beside him, Leo’s gaze shifted to him. Alasdair could sense Leo’s unease, and when he looked over at Thanos, the expression in the vampire’s cerulean eyes was enough to have him issuing a warning.
Once. You get to do this once, and then you stop. Do you understand?
Thanos faced him, and when one of his eyebrows rose and his lips tipped up in a provocative smile, Alasdair recalled the couple hundred times they’d shared a bed with, and without, others. Thanos was an extremely greedy lover, renowned for being insatiable. His appetites were unequaled. That alone would have been enough to cause concern, but add in that he was performing for an audience and they were about to get an eye-opening display.
Why, I understand perfectly, cousin.
LEO SHOOK HIS head as Alasdair stepped aside and the taller vampire took his place. No! he screamed in his head as he glared at Alasdair. Why are you doing this?
He backed up, and when the backs of his knees hit the edge of the couch, he fell, only to find himself trapped under the male who was now straddling his lap.
“This is a much more comfortable position,” the vampire taunted and took his chin in a tight hold. Then he tilted Leo’s face up, and as he gazed down at him with blazing, blue eyes, he grinned, exposing his fangs. “Thank you for being so thoughtful.”
Leo tried to yank his head back, but when Alasdair’s voice entered his mind, he froze. Sit still and he won’t hurt you. You might actually enjoy it.
Too angry to keep his thoughts private, Leo fumed as he glowered at the one he’d foolishly started to trust and spat out, “What do you care?”
Before he could hope to get an answer, the male on top of him fused their mouths together.
WHEN HE’D FIRST thought up this plan, Alasdair had believed it to be a good one. He wanted to see if he was the only one causing a reaction in Leo or if it was all of their kind. But as he stood off to the side and watched Thanos kiss his yielding, any thought of discovery and revenge changed to possessive anger.
He moved forward to haul Thanos off Leo, but Isadora appeared at his side and clasped his wrist between her fingers.
Let him, Alasdair. You came to us for a reason. Now, see if you can hear anything.
Alasdair’s gut churned as a groan came from Thanos, and he wanted to hit something—hard.
I came to you to test a theory. Thanos doesn’t have to enjoy it so much.
Isadora’s husky chuckle sounded as her thought was relayed inside his head. He made no secret of wanting to taste your human. That should’ve clued you in. Perhaps it would’ve been better had I been the one to test the theory.
Alasdair shook his head. You are not his type, ómorfo korítsi. I need him to respond, not turn ice cold.
He returned his attention to Thanos and ground his teeth together as he watched the back of Thanos’s head. He tried to concentrate beyond the red blur of anger he felt at seeing him on top of Leo, but it was fucking difficult. He hadn’t thought this far ahead, and he hadn’t expected to want to kill anyone who touched the human. But that’s what he wanted: to fucking kill Thanos for touching what was his.
Isadora’s fingers tightened, and she warned under her breath, “Don’t make me hurt you, Alasdair.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
“We both know I can’t defeat you. But I would make you suffer. Look inside your human’s mind. See what you can see.”
Alasdair focused on the two over on the couch and then closed his eyes. If he couldn’t actually see what was going on, his cousin had a better chance at survival. He shoved past Thanos’s depraved thoughts, not wanting more of a reason to strangle him, and then delved into the human mind beyond.
Not sure what to expect, Alasdair was stunned when, Why is Alasdair doing this? Was Leo’s primary thought.
He’d thought he would see lustful imaginings of Thanos naked and inside Leo. No one usually had the willpower to resist his cousin’s seductive tongue, and that he wasn’t in Leo’s thoughts at all pleased Alasdair more than he cared to admit.
He quickly pushed that emotion the fuck out of his way, though, when he recalled what he was supposed to be doing, and continued to listen to Leo’s thoughts.
Is it because of what happened between the three of us? Is he upset that I saw him and that Vasilios guy? It was his fault. He made me do it. Or maybe it’s because of what happened after—
Before Leo could finish that thought, Alasdair was behind Thanos and tearing him away.
“Calm down, cousin. Your possessive streak is completely unnecessary. He thought of you the entire time.”
Not the entire time. He reached for the rope around Leo’s wrists and yanked him to his feet. “What do you mean what happened after?”
LEO’S HEART WAS thumping. It was thumping so hard he thought it might pound clear out of his chest. Alasdair’s lips were so close Leo could taste his breath, and suddenly, he couldn’t remember the question.
“Wh…what?”
“Don’t play coy with me, file mou. Not now. What did you mean when you said what happened after?”
Leo glanced at the vampire who’d just been all over him, feeling nothing in the way of a response. He was surprised, because the guy was his usual type. But when he looked back at Alasdair, his erection seemed to have its own fucked-up idea about where it wanted to go.
“Tell me what you saw,” Alasdair demanded. “What’s happening when your eyes glaze over and my mouth is on yours? Because nothing happened when you touched Thanos.”
He should’ve been frightened. Terrified, actually. But he’d had enough of being played with like a mouse before the cat’s meal—so, instead, he smiled.
“I see you,” Leo finally admitted, letting his eyes trail down Alasdair’s frame. “I saw you before you were this. With long hair and flushed cheeks. I saw you the night he turned you into this.”
As the words left his mouth, Leo wondered when he’d developed a fucking death wish. He figured it was around the time he’d woken up and discovered that a vampire was the master of his fate. But Alasdair had asked for answers, and if telling him what he wanted to know might save his life, he wasn’t dumb enough to keep it a secret.
Alasdair’s eyes darkened, and then he hissed. “You’re lying.”
Leo tried to yank his hands away, but the action was no use. Alasdair had too tight of a grip on them.
“Why would I, omorfo mou agóri?” Leo asked, using the Greek words he’d heard Vasilios whisper to him in his visions.
“That proves nothing. You continue to try to fool me. Vasilios said that the night in the Adjudication Room. You were there. Your deceptions are sorely lacking, Leonidas. I am disappointed.”
Leo gave a slow nod and blinked once. Then he tilted his head up and whispered, “I’m sorry you find me lacking, Alasdair, son of Lapidos. You do not know how long I have waited for you.”
As those words registered with the vampire, Leo saw a flash of disbelief in his eyes. There was no way he could’ve known his full human name without it being the truth. But before anything more was said, Alasdair faded the two of them from the room.
