Forsaken by the Others (3 page)

I said his name, the sound mangled by the lingering crud lining my esophagus. Then
cleared my throat, trying again. “What’s happening to me?”

“You,” he said, voice thick with what sounded like regret, “are no longer entirely
human. Nor are you quite Other. This is some kind of transition. I cannot say how
long this will last, or what the end result will be.”

Tears—real ones this time—trickled down my cheeks, mixing with the condensation from
the shower.

“I would not have asked you to become permanently bound to me until you had more time
to adjust, but it is possible if you take more of my blood that it will keep you from
succumbing to whatever this sickness is. I cannot promise it will work, but it may
help.”

Swiping my hand under my nose, I closed my eyes and bowed my head. I’d already known
that I’d chosen a hard road, but I hadn’t expected my descent into becoming less than
human would include permanent servitude to the vampire. Or, at least, that it would
come this soon.

While I would remain attracted to him for the rest of my life, no matter what I’d
felt about him before, and while he could call me to his side or influence me in other
ways if we were in close proximity, agreeing to being permanently bound was a whole
new ball game. I wasn’t ready to take a leap off the edge of that cliff.

“I can’t, Royce. Not now. Not this soon.”

He didn’t say anything else, just held me, the two of us silent and unmoving as the
water sluiced over us and washed the last remnants of the black liquid off our skin.

Later, once I stopped leaking the black crap and the two of us had cleaned up—without
the fun and games I’d been planning on, unfortunately—Royce gave me some clothing
that he must have sent someone out to get for me. The sweater and designer jeans still
had tags on them. I wasn’t about to ask how he knew my bra or underwear size, but
the underthings that came with the new clothes were far more silky and revealing than
I was used to, and a shade of green that was a bit more daring than I would have chosen
on my own. It looked better than I was expecting, but neither Royce nor I were interested
in doing anything about that after the scene in the shower.

He brought me downstairs with him. Some of the other inhabitants of the building were
waiting for us, watching with eyes that glittered like red gemstones in the dark as
we passed. The atmosphere was a hell of a lot more sinister in here sans the night
vision and superhuman strength granted by the belt. Royce looked back at me as a shiver
crept down my spine when Wes fell into step behind us.

After that, Royce took my hand. It was creepy how he’d known something was wrong without
even looking at me. The cool press of his fingers curled around mine was comforting,
but didn’t make me any less afraid of the crimson embers burning in the depths of
Wes’s eyes when I glanced at him over my shoulder.

No doubt the dread pirate vampire was still pissed at me for the cheap shots I got
in during our fight last night.

Royce led me to Mouse’s apartment. The door was open, and I did my best not to stare
at all of the swords and daggers and other sharp, pointy objects the house guard kept
in her living room.

“Analie. You remember Ms. Waynest, do you not?”

There was a young girl with mousy brown hair in the kitchen, furiously stirring something
in a bowl. She used a flour-covered arm to move some stray strands of hair out of
her eyes and gave us a sunny grin. “Sure. Hi, Shia.”

I lifted a hand and gave her a halfhearted wave, wondering what all this was about.
Analie was one of the three werewolves who were currently “guests” in Royce’s home.
I didn’t know the specifics of how Analie had come to be the vampire’s ward, but I
knew it wasn’t something she’d been happy about. The other two—Ashi and Christoph—had
done something stupid and tried attacking the vampire to save her from his clutches.
Since their actions hadn’t been sanctioned by their alpha, they had been magically
neutered by some collars that suppressed their ability to shift and gifted to Royce’s
household. When I was stuck recovering from the blood bond to Royce, I had met the
three of them in passing, but I wasn’t supposed to spend much time around any of them.

Royce ushered me before him, settling his hands lightly at my waist. It struck me
as a strangely possessive move, but I wasn’t about to complain. “I have some errands
to attend to. Give her a sample of your new skills. Perhaps you two can keep each
other entertained until I return.”

That made me stiffen. “You’re leaving?”

He leaned in to kiss my cheek. Analie, blushing, nodded and turned away from us.

“You’re staying here,” he said, cool lips lingering against my cheek. “I won’t be
long.”

With that, his grip tightened in what I assume was supposed to be a reassuring squeeze,
and then he pulled away.

Dismissed so easily. It served as a reminder of what I was now. Something I wouldn’t
ever be able to forget. Feeling a little sick, I sat in the chair Wes pulled out for
me, not surprised when he settled down across from me. Royce nodded to Wes and left
without another word.

Analie put the bowl down and shook her spoon at Wes. “Stop glaring at her.” It wasn’t
until she said anything that I realized Wes had been giving me the evil eye. Which,
when it’s coming from a very old vampire, is pretty disconcerting. “If you’re going
to hang out in my kitchen, behave yourself.”

Wes continued glaring at me a moment longer, then eased back in his seat, blinking
the crimson glow out of his eyes. The crystalline blue that took its place as his
pupils contracted and darkened was as chill as the red was hot, the sleek lines of
his carefully trimmed goatee bristling as the muscles in his jaw tightened.

“I’ll behave if she does.”

“I don’t have the belt,” I said, suddenly tired beyond measure. “I’m no threat anymore.
Not to you.”

“No? You still stink of desperation and sickness under the sex. Did you think no one
would notice?”

Analie’s spoon jangled as she dropped it on the counter, her gasp lost in the sound
of my indignant sputtering. I rose, the chair clattering to the floor. Before I could
do anything more, Wes was in front of me—I hadn’t seen him move—and his hand had closed
around my wrist, preventing me from running off or falling as I jerked away from him.
It wasn’t until I felt warmth trickle down my arm that I realized he’d cut me, too.

“Look at it. You’re filled with corruption. Tell me that isn’t a threat.”

It didn’t exactly hurt—the cut he must have made with a fang or a nail when he grabbed
me wasn’t deep—but he was right. I didn’t bleed red—I bled black.

“What’s wrong?”

Wes and I both tore our gazes off of the dark trickle at my wrist to look at Analie.
She didn’t look afraid or upset, as I had expected. Just curious.

When Wes didn’t answer the question, I realized he was waiting for me to tell her.
Like I had any answers to give.

“I wish I knew,” I said, pulling experimentally to see if Wes would let me go. His
fingers tightened reflexively, then released me. “Royce didn’t know. He said it has
something to do with being bound by . . . by having vampire blood in me and the infection
from a werewolf at the same time.”

Now didn’t seem like the right time to discuss how Royce had bitten me while we were
doing the horizontal tango. I didn’t doubt now that he must have known something was
wrong, though I wondered as to his motivation behind remaining quiet about the illness
he must have tasted.

As for Analie, the look she gave me was hard to decipher. She put the bowl down, absently
licked some batter off of her thumb, and came closer. I didn’t resist when she took
my wrist, sniffing gingerly at the blood. Her nose wrinkled, and she quickly backed
away.

“I doubt it will kill you, but yeah, he’s right. That blood stinks of infection something
fierce.”

Bowing my head and pressing my fingertips to my temples, I did my very best not to
growl something uncomplimentary at them both.

“Just stay there, keep quiet, and I’m sure we’ll all get through this evening unscathed.”

I put my hands down and gave Wes the most baleful look I could muster. He stared back,
clearly unimpressed.

“Well,” Analie said, her voice full of false gaiety, “you two can stay and keep me
company. I don’t mind. It’s better talking to you guys than listening to Christoph
and Ashi complaining about their collars again.”

So Wes and I stayed at the table, listening with half an ear as Analie chattered about
her cooking lessons with someone named Jacques. She occasionally pulled out a dish,
utensil, or a spice and held it up for us to see as she made a point, and we nodded
along, making obliging sounds at the right times, though I honestly have no recollection
of most of the stuff she told us. My mind was too busy considering what might be wrong
with me (aside from an obvious and complete inability to make good decisions) and
what the rest of the night might hold in store for me once Royce returned.

After a while, I came out of my introspection long enough to notice that Wes kept
glancing at his phone, and was occasionally typing something on it. E-mailing or texting.

He shrugged at my questioning look and put the phone on the table. “Alec says he’s
had a change of plans and will take a little longer than expected. He’ll be back as
soon as he can.” At my dispirited nod, he continued. “Don’t look so glum. He’s bringing
your friend back with him.”

That got my attention.

“Sara? He’s picking her up?”

“Yes. So no running off while the master is out, eh?”

That wasn’t a moniker I wanted to associate with Royce anywhere other than in my head,
but the thought of seeing Sara again had me too happy to be upset about it. I grinned
and leaned across the table. Wes jerked back from my touch, but I yanked him into
an awkward, sideways hug anyway.

Analie, smiling, gave my shoulder a pat. “How about we make some cookies for them
while we wait? Christoph and Ashi wanted more of these things Jacques showed me how
to make. They’re these cinnamon cream-filled pastries. . . .”

I nodded and rose to join her at the counter, hoping the mundane activities would
keep my mind off of all the craziness going on and busy enough until Sara arrived
that the passing minutes wouldn’t feel like hours. Doing something so normal might
also help distract me from little details. Things like my fellow chef’s being a werewolf,
our babysitter’s being a vampire, that we were using a vampire’s kitchen to make goodies
for other werewolves who occasionally doubled as walking Slurpees for the vamps, and—say,
what did a vampire need a kitchen for, anyway?

A few hours later, Royce returned, and he wasn’t alone. By then, I had tried somewhere
in the range of forty to fifty different kinds of cookies and pastries Analie had
made. Somehow she got it into her head that all my worries about what was going on
internally could be smothered by sugar and chocolate.

And I’ll be damned if she wasn’t right.

By the time Royce entered the apartment with Mouse, Christoph, Ashi, Clarisse, and
Sara on his heels, I was near ready to explode from sugar shock. I barely registered
the others—seeing Sara for the first time in a month was enough to stun me into immobility.
Which is quite something considering how much I had been vibrating from the sugar.

She looked fabulous. Not that she didn’t usually look like every man’s wet dream—damn
her frizz-free blond hair, model-perfect body, blue eyes, and perfect skin—but whatever
she’d been doing while I was gone really agreed with her. There was something different
about her. A blush of health to her cheeks, a sparkle in her eyes, something not entirely
tangible that I hadn’t seen before. Even though she was currently frowning and glaring
at me from where she’d stopped in the kitchen doorway, giving me a look like I’d kicked
her favorite poppy

The others (except for Mouse, of course) had been chattering away, but that died down
when I stood and took a few halting steps toward Sara. That awkward silence probably
would have lasted longer if I hadn’t thrown my arms around her and hugged her hard
enough to force all the air out of her lungs.

She stayed stiff and unyielding at first, but soon gave in and hugged me back as best
she could considering how her arms were pinned. Her voice was a bit thick as she wheezed
out a few words.

“Don’t you ever run off like that again. You had me worried sick, you bitch.”

All the regret in the world wouldn’t bring back the lost time and resources or reverse
the bad decisions I’d made over the last month. It had hurt to leave her behind when
I had first abandoned her to Royce, but it hurt even more to know that she’d so easily
forgiven me. I squeezed my own eyes shut so I wouldn’t start leaking tears all over
her. In the last thirty days, I’d already cried enough to last a lifetime.

“Much as I like seeing two chicks all over each other, you’re blocking the path to
the cookies. Mind shoving over?”

Sara and I both made sounds that were a combination snicker and snort, pulling away
from each other to give Christoph room to get past us. Mouse gazed after him with
a look of mixed dismay and amusement, her hands on her hips. That was when I noticed
that all the newcomers, save for Sara and Royce, had returned in clubbing clothes.
The leather-and-chains look was pretty distracting now that I’d noticed it, though
I did my best to keep my eyes above Ashi’s and Christoph’s belts. Holy
wow,
could those two pull off leather pants. . . .

Analie was more than happy to stay busy preparing plates of sweets. First one for
Christoph, and then one for Ashi, too, once he pulled away from Clarisse’s arm and
slipped past Royce with a look of undisguised contempt.

Though I hadn’t dealt with them much on my prior visits, their behavior didn’t come
as much of a surprise. The two were werewolves, though relatively harmless since the
leather collars around their necks prevented them from shapeshifting. I had never
asked for specifics—honestly, I hadn’t even known what they really were until Christoph
had told me last night—but the two were almost always hanging out together even though
they didn’t seem to like each other very much.

The pair wolfed down the cookies Analie gave them (ha—see what I did there?) as Clarisse
and Mouse trailed inside, taking seats at the table with Wes, while Royce leaned against
the granite breakfast bar. Seeing as almost all of the seats were taken, Sara and
I joined Royce, who pulled out stools for both of us. Sara and I each took a seat,
grinning and leaning against each other like a pair of happy drunks. Though she was
startled by it, Sara didn’t protest when Royce positioned himself behind us, a hand
on either of our shoulders.

Mouse’s hands moved, signing something. Wes, Christoph, and Royce all nodded when
she was done.

Wes then glanced in my direction and, for the first time all evening, didn’t look
like he wanted to throttle me. Instead, his facial muscles tensed, and the rest of
his body went into that unnatural stillness I associated with a vampire experiencing
a pang of guilt or discomfort. “You might want to advise them about what’s been happening
over the last twenty-four hours.”

“Oh, give it a rest, love. This is just cozy—no time for that sort of talk,” Clarisse
said, her green eyes positively gleaming with mischief. “I don’t suppose you’d reconsider,
Alec? Just for a few nights.”

“Reconsider what?” I asked.

“Something I’ll discuss with you two later. Privately. ”

Clarisse pouted but didn’t protest, though she was clearly disappointed that she’d
be missing out on what I assumed was going to turn into some quality drama the minute
Royce dropped whatever bomb he’d saved up for us. The others shrugged and kept quiet
as Sara and I exchanged mystified, and slightly alarmed, looks.

The vampire’s grip tightened on my shoulder, as he was probably sensing just how much
I was bothered by his decision to wait to tell us whatever the heck it was he was
hiding this time. “Try not to worry. I’ve found a way to keep the situation contained.
For the most part, everything is under control.”

Sara twisted around to face him, shrugging his hand off her shoulder. “Hiding things
from us is not ‘keeping the situation contained.’ If whatever you’re up to involves
us, we deserve to know what’s going on.”

Mouse and Clarisse nodded, and Wes shrank down in his seat, while the trio of werewolves
watched us with the kind of rapt attention I would expect them to devote to a good
movie or daytime TV. Royce was not amused, and his clipped tones reflected that.

“Yes, you do. However, I had thought you might appreciate some time to relax and catch
up with each other before discussing business.”

While Sara wilted under the pressure of Royce’s gaze—not that I blamed her, since
he was pretty damned scary even when he wasn’t intentionally being so—I didn’t like
the idea of backing down so easily. His words might have been thoughtful, but his
tone was downright frosty, which told me he was more interested in putting it off
than in telling us what was going on. Still, I thought it might be best to tread carefully
since I didn’t want to make him genuinely annoyed with us after all he had done.

“We appreciate it,” I said, placing my hand over his on my shoulder, “but so much
has already happened that we haven’t had any time to relax as it is. If we know what’s
going on, at least we can come to terms with whatever else has gone wrong instead
of incessantly worrying about what’s coming next.”

Sara was eyeing the way I touched him with undisguised speculation. No doubt she would
demand to know what had happened between me and the vampire as soon as she could get
me alone for a few minutes. Considering my phobia of vampires, and my prior obvious
distrust of Royce, to say that times had changed was quite an understatement. Not
a conversation I was looking forward to, but it wasn’t something I was going to be
able to put off for long.

Royce, for his part, seemed less than thrilled about the way everyone else in the
room was watching him, just waiting for him to reveal the latest bombshell. For the
moment, I felt too emotionally drained to be terribly worried about what he had in
store for us. After all I had been through, there was little left to get worked up
about.

“You two can’t stay here.”

Except for that.

“You both must leave the city. Tonight. I’ve made arrangements for you to stay with
an ally of mine across the country.”

I just looked at him.

“You know,” he said, his tone turning dry, “I did try to tell you that it would be
best to wait until we had more privacy to discuss this.”

“Oy, lovey, are ye sure they can’t stay another day or so?” Clarisse seemed exceptionally
put out, which led me to believe she had a bet riding on our presence here. “Seems
a shame to send them away seeing as they’ve both just returned.”

Royce tilted his head down and lifted a hand to press his fingertips against the bridge
of his nose. I got the distinct feeling he was as annoyed about the situation as I
was, which was unexpected. After spending the last couple of hours thinking he was
going to make a grab for any excuse to rid himself of me now that he’d finally had
me in bed and tasted my blood, the thought that he would feel any sort of annoyance
or regret over sending me away was beyond belief.

“Why do we have to go? I don’t get it—I just got here.”

He must have either read the hurt in my voice or felt it through whatever connection
it was we now shared. His brow rested against my temple briefly, followed by the brush
of his lips on my cheek. “I’m not doing this because I’m trying to get rid of you,
Shiarra. If I could, I would keep you here, but it’s too dangerous. Not just for you,
but for the rest of my flock. Until I can remove the threats and guarantee your safety,
it would be best for us all if you stayed with one of my allies. It’s only temporary.”

Christoph mumbled a question around a mouthful of cookies. “Where’re you sending ’em?”

“Los Angeles.”

Christoph choked on his cookie as Analie and Ashi both straightened and started talking
at once. I couldn’t make out a word since the three were talking over and shoving
each other to get closer to us. Startled, Sara and I both shrank back, but there wasn’t
any place for us to go. Royce’s grip on my shoulder tightened, keeping me from slipping
off the chair.

His voice took on a note of command, a shiver tracing up my spine at the chill in
the words. “Do not get your hopes up. She will not be contacting your pack while she
is there.”

Christoph and Ashi’s faces fell, the twin looks of disappointment almost comical to
see on the pair. Analie, on the other hand, looked close to tears, wringing her hands
as her gaze flicked between me and the vampire.

“Please, I haven’t seen Gavin in so long. Can’t she just take him a letter for me?
Maybe some cookies?”

As tough as the vampire’s attitude had been a moment ago, the frosty edge was soon
replaced by a far gentler tone than I’d thought Royce capable of. “Analie, it would
be dangerous for Shiarra to meet with him without me there to protect her. You know
how your pack feels about vampires. What do you think they might do to her if they
knew she was staying with one of my friends?”

“Gavin wouldn’t hurt her,” she insisted, turning that pleading look on me. “Please,
I know I’m asking a lot, but if I give you a package can you bring it to him? Please?
I’ll do anything to repay you, and I’ll call ahead and everything so—”

“Analie,” Royce interrupted, “don’t disobey me in this. You can mail a package to
him, if you wish.”

“But I—”

“No.”

She ducked her head and hunched her shoulders, backing away. Christoph gave her an
awkward pat on the back, but she twisted away from us, gripping the counter so hard
I thought I heard the marble crack. Mouse glared daggers in Royce’s direction, which
meant Sara and I were on the receiving end, too. We shared a look, uncomfortable meeting
the mute vampire’s accusatory gaze.

Royce did not appear troubled by any of this. He shifted to rest his hip against the
counter in a casual lean. “Clyde Seabreeze has agreed to take you two in while I sort
out matters here in New York. I do not want to risk either of your lives, which is
why I am sending you away. The White Hats have become unstable with the loss of their
leader—”

I cut him off, alarmed. “Wait, what? What happened to Jack?”

The casual shrug Royce gave did not fit with the words coming out of his mouth. “I
upheld my end of our bargain. Since he was turned, the local White Hats have fractured
into two factions: those who believe that not all of us are monsters, and those who
still feel that every Other must be exterminated. There are quite a few who blame
you for Jack’s fall from grace.”

Turned. That meant Jack had finally caved. He was a vampire now.