Blood Ascendant (Blood Stone Book 5) Read online

  Patrick was already in the kitchen, sitting in the chair at the head of the table, while Jake, Simone and Eloise were ranged on either side, their books out in front of them. However, all four of them were talking, their faces serious.

  Simone seemed to be upset. Blythe went to her and touched her arm. “What’s wrong, honey?”

  Dominic pulled out the chair next to Eloise and sat down.

  Simone bit her lip.

  “There’s a boy at school. He asked her out on a date.” Eloise rolled her eyes.

  Patrick didn’t smile. He was watching Blythe and she could almost feel his caution.

  Tendrils of wariness threaded through her. Blythe said carefully, “Well, I hate the idea of any boy going out with you, sweetheart, although that’s just me being a mother. You’re sixteen. It’s kinda natural to think about dating at your age.”

  “You don’t get it, Mom,” Jake said. His voice came out unevenly. Since it had broken, a month ago, it was inclined to give out on him whenever he was tense. He was going to end up with a beautiful baritone once it settled out.

  Why was Jake tense? Even though he was younger, he was protective of the twins. This, though, was something more.

  “What don’t I get?” Blythe asked.

  “It’s Kiati,” Eloise said, as if that explained everything.

  Simone chewed her lip. Her gaze flickered up toward Blythe and away.

  Blythe frowned.

  Patrick caught her gaze. “He’s Elah,” he said gently.

  Ooohhhh…. Blythe mentally sighed as the tensions and stress around the table explained themselves.

  Dominic rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “What do you want to do?” he asked Simone. “Do you want to go out with him?”

  “It’s not that simple,” Blythe said.

  “Why not?” Jake asked, puzzled.

  “Mom, you live with a vampire and a telepath,” Simone said defensively.

  “A difference that makes no material difference at all,” Blythe replied. “This is completely different.”

  “Is it?” Dominic asked. He wasn’t smiling anymore.

  “We don’t even know if the Elah can interbreed with humans,” Blythe said hotly.

  “Mom, it’s just a date!” Simone cried. “We’re not even thinking about sex, for God’s sake!”

  “Simone!” Blythe said, shocked.

  “She’s saving that for the third date,” Eloise said.

  “Eloise!” It was Dominic using the chiding tone this time.

  “What?” Eloise demanded. “Like we don’t know what kinky sex is, with the three of you around us?”

  Patrick muffled a laugh and turned it into a cough, while Blythe floundered mentally for an answer. When had her kids become so damn sophisticated? Had she done this to them?

  She grasped for the one fact in the sea of surprise and speculation her brain was paddling in. “You can’t date an Elah, Simone,” she said flatly.

  “Why not?” Simone shot back.

  “There’s a bigger issue here,” Patrick said, using his commander-in-chief voice, that could bring a whole room to attention. “Is Kiati the only Elah at the school, still?”

  “There are three others,” Jake said, his voice flat.

  “And how do they fit in?” Patrick asked him.

  Jake shrugged. “Most people like ‘em just fine. Some though…”

  “How many kids pick on them and make fun of them?” Patrick said, his voice harsh.

  Jake glanced at Simone, almost as if he was apologizing. “Lots of them.”

  “And how many humans have dated one of them?” Patrick demanded.

  Jake didn’t answer. He just sighed.

  Patrick looked at Simone. “If you go out with him, Simone, you’re going to be vulnerable to all the teasing, the harassment. It will go even worse for you because some people will think you’re betraying them.”

  “Betraying who?” Simone shot back. She was getting angry.

  “Humans,” Patrick said softly. “Think about this. Think about it hard. If you really like him, then go out with him. Just do it knowing there will be backlash. Don’t open yourself up to trouble because you think it might be cool.”

  Simone looked unhappy. “It’s just a date,” she repeated.

  “It’s never going to be just a date,” Dominic said gently. “Not with him. Make sure it’s worth it before you say yes.”

  Simone looked up at Blythe. “Mom?”

  “I have to think about this,” she said honestly. “I have to wrap my head around it. Don’t give him an answer yet, Simone. In a day or two, I’ll let you know.”

  Simone shook her head. “You were fine about it when you thought it was a human. Now you’re not. That’s…it’s hypocritical.”

  “I’m not saying wait because he’s Elah,” Blythe said hotly. “I’m saying wait, because there’s a real chance you could end up hurt. I mean physically hurt. People react badly to change, honey. It’s not unreasonable to want to protect you from unnecessary harm.”

  Simone was back to biting her lip again. Then she nodded.

  Relief touched her. Blythe gave her an effortful smile. “Thank you.”

  “Two days, Mom. Okay?”

  Dominic got to his feet. “Your mother said she would. I trust her with my life. You should at least trust her to keep her word.”

  Simone flushed a heated red. “I guess…I’m sorry.” She glanced at Blythe.

  Blythe hugged her. “It’s tough sweetheart. I know it is. Even normal dating is like water torture at times. Hang in there. We’ll sort it out.”

  Then Dominic picked up her hand and drew her away from the table. “Bedtime,” he said in his musical voice.

  Patrick smiled up at both of them as Dominic pulled her out of the kitchen and toward the stairs. Blythe knew she would get very little sleep, now.

  Yet, halfway up the stairs, Dominic stopped and pulled her up against him, his hands sliding under her tank top, making her shiver at his touch. His gaze was heated. “You will sleep,” he assured her.

  Blythe sighed. “Privacy,” she chided him.

  “You were shouting it. I couldn’t not hear your thoughts.” He kissed her. “I know exactly what will make you sleep,” he murmured against her lips.

  Blythe shivered again, her body tightening. “Prove it,” she whispered.

  He did.

  * * * * *

  Sasha moved through the big house, looking for people. He found Kate in the dining room, bent over a computer and looking harried. He withdrew without distracting her. The next room he tried was full of computer equipment and was empty of people.

  There were soft voices in the next room and Sasha stepped through the interconnecting doors. The room looked like a typical business conference room, with a big table, chairs all around it and not much else.

  Sasha scanned the room. There were a number of people he already knew lived in the house that were not here. He had not located them anywhere else in the house, either.

  Nial looked up from the table. “Come in, Sasha. This is an open discussion.”

  Marcus was sitting next to Nial, his hands linked loosely together. He looked even more haggard than he had when he had arrived at the house four hours earlier. Whatever rest he had got had not done him any favors.

  Sasha’s gut squeezed. He slid onto the spare chair next to Garrett. “It is very quiet in this house, now, yet there are even more people in it than there was this morning.”

  “All those who hunt at night that still must sleep are sleeping,” Roman said.

  “Sebastian must sleep?”

  “It’s a sort of sleep,” Nial said dismissively. “Marcus, they were really after you? Not just focusing their efforts to take you both down one by one?”

  Marcus had a book of matches hidden behind his twined fingers. Now he picked it up and started shredding the cover into tiny pieces. “Rick fired four bullets when he came back downstairs. He waded into the middle of them and they
still didn’t take any notice of him. He had to haul them away from the cellar door where I was, in order to reach me.” He gave Nial a hard smile. “They were after me, personally.”

  “Why you?” Patrick asked, his tone reasonable. “CIA?” he added.

  Marcus shrugged. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

  “It does if they still want you,” Nial said. “Knowing why would give us an edge.”

  Marcus shrugged again. “Sorry.” Half the matchbook was a tiny pile between his hands, now. There was a tremor in his fingers that made tearing the card a challenge, yet he was persisting.

  Sasha had seen Marcus working delicate lab equipment, his fingers steadier than a surgeon’s as he dealt with some of the most noxious and lethal substances known to man. He handled them as if they were of no more concern to him than cold tea.

  “What if it’s the Pyrrhus they want?” Sasha asked.

  Everyone looked at him, even Marcus. Marcus blinked and drew in a heavy breath.

  Nial sat back. “That’s a possibility.”

  Marcus shook his head. “They’ve never shown that much imagination before,” he said, his voice strained. “Kill, eat, repeat. That’s all they do.”

  “Maybe they’ve learned how to think strategically,” Garrett said.

  “Or someone is training them how to think that way,” Roman said darkly.

  Everyone looked at him.

  Roman’s smile was wry. “You think someone out there hasn’t weighed up the odds of humans winning this war and decided to help the best prospects, instead?”

  “We’re not losing,” Nial said sharply.

  “We’re not winning, either,” Roman replied. “I’ve seen a shit-ton of wars, Nial. By my estimation, we’re at a stalemate. Soon, something has to give. It could go either way when it does. If the Summanus have learned how to strategize, that could be the deadlock breaker.”

  Sasha stayed silent. He had heard such predictions a year ago, by GRU analysts who, at the time, he had considered to be typically pessimistic Russians. Now, Roman was saying the same thing and he was a clear-sighted man.

  Nial shifted uneasily on his chair. “It doesn’t matter if they have developed an ability to think or not. It doesn’t matter if they were after Marcus, or not, either. Their tactics speak volumes regardless. A small unit that broke into a human habitat. That alone, is unusual enough to warrant consideration.”

  “They’re acclimating,” Patrick said softly. “Learning how we think. How we live.”

  Nial nodded. “I’ll bring this to the attention of the cross-concern committee next week. In the meantime, Marcus, you’re grounded. Right here, where we can all keep an eye on you.”

  Marcus gave a small nod.

  Nial looked around the table. “No war talk while half the house is sleeping. We’ll end up having to repeat ourselves later, if we do. We’re all hunting tonight. I suggest everyone relax until then.” He got to his feet.

  Patrick rose to his and plucked the shirt away from his chest. “There’s a swimming pool out there, calling my name.”

  “In this heat?” Roman asked, rolling his eyes.

  “Best time to swim,” Patrick replied.

  “I think he meant the sunlight. It’s dazzling out there,” Garrett said.

  “That’s why sunglasses were invented.”

  “You wear them while you’re swimming?”

  “It’s not so much swimming as floating.” Patrick smiled. “Now I don’t have to breathe much, I can float fully submerged. It’s better than an isolation tank.” He left.

  “Whatever cranks your dial,” Roman muttered. He stood up.

  “Where are you going?” Garrett asked sharply.

  “Swimming,” Roman said. “Coming?”

  Garrett hesitated. “Kate’s in the middle of editing….”

  “So she can do without you hovering over her, jogging her elbow,” Roman said. “Come and get wet, you cranky old Highlander.”

  Garrett got to his feet and followed Roman from the room. That left Sasha alone with Marcus.

  There wasn’t much left of the matchbook, except the matches themselves. Marcus peeled one off the pack and started shaving the head off with his fingernails.

  “Building a bonfire?” Sasha asked. He moved around the table to the chair at the top, where Nial had been sitting. It was also next to Marcus.

  Marcus looked down at the small pile of paper flakes and red powder, surprised.

  “You never could resist things that burn and explode,” Sasha said, with a smile. “And now you have sulphur all over your fingers.”

  “Actually, it’s mostly potassium chlorate,” Marcus said absently. He turned the remaining matches over and over in his fingers.

  “Marcus.”

  He looked up at Sasha, then away again.

  Sasha reached out and gripped his hands, holding them still.

  Marcus sighed.

  “Was it very bad?” Sasha asked him, although he could guess most of it just from the very little he already knew. It might get Marcus talking if he led up to it sideways.

  Marcus didn’t answer. Not straight away. His lips worked. Then, very low, “He died, Sasha. He died. He should have outlived all of us.”

  “Is that what’s biting you? The injustice of his death?”

  Marcus flinched. Then his jaw rippled. “Oh, I’ll even up the score on that count.”

  Sasha sat back, puzzled. “Then I don’t understand. You’re hiding something. I’ve known you long enough to know that silence of yours. You normally talk the ears off people. Anyone who will listen. Yet you’ve barely said a hundred words since you got here.”

  Marcus looked at him directly for the first time since Sasha had stepped into the room. “He died. I loved him and he died. You want me to party down?”

  Sasha shook his head. “I’m the one who stays in the corner, remember? Yes, you loved him. Yes, he died. Only, this is not how I expected you to mourn him.” Sasha hesitated. “You’re not mourning him at all.”

  Anger made Marcus stiffen. “What would you know about it?” he ground out.

  “I know that when my sister died, ten years ago, the man who loved her came and found me and made me face her death because up until that moment, I was in full denial.”

  Marcus swallowed. “That was a long time ago.”

  “And you found others to love and I was very happy for you. You’re the one doing it now,” Sasha said. “There’s a reason why you won’t acknowledge Rick is really dead and it’s not just because you loved him. You’re too smart to not be able to recognize something that simple, so it’s more complex than that. It’s something you don’t want to admit, even to yourself.”

  Marcus shook his head. “I’m just tired.”

  “You’re beyond tired. When did you last sleep?”

  “This morning.”

  “You’re lying. You might have laid down, but you didn’t sleep any more than Ilaria did.”

  “You have no idea how I’m feeling.”

  “I can guess.”

  Marcus scowled. “Stop badgering me. I don’t need psychoanalyzing.”

  “You need a punch to the jaw, my friend,” Sasha said grimly. “Ilaria needs you. You’re not doing her any favors, damming up everything inside you like this.”

  “Don’t you dare try to use Ilaria against me.”

  “What happened when Rick came back to find you in the cellar?” Sasha asked.

  Marcus slumped, all the anger draining from him.

  “What happened?” Sasha repeated.

  Marcus shook his head.

  “Something happened. I mean, before he died. How did Rick really die?”

  “The fucking Summanus killed him!” Marcus cried.

  “Why?”

  “He was in the way!”

  Sasha stared at Marcus, putting it together, his heart squeezing painfully. “He protected you….” he whispered. His admiration for Cyneric Pæga soared.

  Marcus was
shaking. “He knocked me out and stuffed me under a cast iron bathtub, then blew the entire fucking building up around him. He took every single Summanus out with him and I didn’t have a fucking scratch on me!” His eyes filled with tears. “He died because of me!” he said helplessly and covered his face with his hands. His shoulders shook.

  Sasha sighed and gripped the back of Marcus’ neck. “It was not your fault,” he said firmly. “He made a decision, the only decision someone like Rick could have made.”

  “He fucked up,” Marcus said hoarsely, his voice muffled. “He miscalculated.”

  Sasha grimaced. “I don’t think he calculated anything. He knew they wanted you and had no intention of letting them have you. So he reacted.” He patted Marcus’ shoulder. “You would have done the same, had the positions been reversed.”

  Marcus dropped his hands. His eyes were red. “Yes,” he said softly. Wonderingly.

  Finally, he was thinking. Feeling.

  Sasha sighed. “Ilaria, too. She’s a fighter. If she had been there, she would have thrown herself at them, to save either of you.”

  Marcus nodded. Fresh tears spilled and he wiped them away impatiently. “Screaming blue murder while she did it,” he whispered.

  “I bet Rick was cursing them, too,” Sasha said gently.

  “In Anglo Saxon, probably,” Marcus added. His face worked and he covered his eyes once more. “Shit…”

  Sasha waited. When he thought Marcus would hear him once more, he said, “You need to go upstairs and hold Ilaria.”

  Marcus drew in a deep breath and let it out. He got slowly to his feet and stood swaying with exhaustion. The tension had gone. Acceptance had taken its place. He looked down at Sasha. “Did you know vampires could cry?”

  “No.” He was genuinely surprised.

  “I watched her do it. After I told her. Then she…passed out.” He swallowed. “I thought she wouldn’t look at me because it was my fault.”

  “Maybe you should ask her.”

  Marcus nodded. “Maybe I will.” He gave Sasha a small smile. “After I’ve slept for a week.”

  Sasha watched him go. He was walking with an easy gait, albeit a tired one.

  That left Sasha in the room with only his thoughts for company.