Successors (23 page)

Vince didn’t wave or offer any words of apology. His stone cold face turned from her view. He walked on with long strides until he was around the bend in the drive and out of sight.

Cori stumbled into the small cottage and slipped to the floor just inside the door. She sobbed long and hard over the slight and wondered how much longer she could endure this humiliation.

42

The elevator doors to the part-time level opened and Vince walked out, this time handcuffed and flanked by guards. Danato waited for him at his cell. He signaled the guards to stand down and Vince walked the remaining fifty feet on his own.

In his human form, Vince was nearly four inches shorter than Danato and eighty pounds lighter, but Danato never made assumptions about size with Vince. They had never come to a physical altercation in human form, and hopefully never would, no matter what foolishness Vince had undertaken.

For a moment, neither spoke. He saw Vince sniff the air, trying to determine his mood.

Danato had always been fond of a good long silence before an argument. It offered just a moment to reflect on each other before introducing semantics. It also unnerved the crap out of people.

“She’s safe,” Vince opened.

Danato’s face broke character for a moment, revealing his relief that Cori was still with him. “She damn well better be.”

“I think we both know what happened here.” Vince glanced at the floor; his guilt was apparent. “That is, I think you know how determined Cori is.”

“I should have seen it coming. That was my fault,” Danato said.

“I should have brought her back,” Vince contributed his own fault.

Danato nodded and broke their face-off positions to meander along the cells. “Why didn’t you? Bring her back?”

“I…” Vince paused. Danato looked back and saw him too pained to form the right words.

“You love her,” Danato said it for him.

Vince exhaled a breath he must have been holding onto. “If I brought her back, she would hate me, and we would be done. I guess I just wanted to be with her for more than a few hours before and after the full moon. Besides, I don’t even know if she loves me back. I might have just been part of her plan, and she even said I was, but…” He shook his head and broke the handcuffs from his wrists with little more effort than breaking a rubber band. They clanked on the glossy concrete floor, now useless.

“I’m being stupid,” he said, absorbed in his thoughts. “I see that now. I should just bring her back. I know the trouble you could get into. That she could get into.”

“You’re only saying that because she isn’t here. Once you return to her, you will change your mind again,” Danato said.

Vince shook his head, but when he looked at Danato, he started to nod. “You’re right. I’ve avoided this for so long, and now I can’t resist it.”

“Are you sure you want to do that to her?”

“Is it selfish?” Vince looked forlorn. His eyes pleaded with Danato to give him the answer he wanted.

“Not if you both choose it.”

Vince’s face fell. Danato knew that wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “I can’t tell her. She’ll pull away. I know it. She’ll protect herself from me. I don’t want that. I want normal, two normal people in love.” Vince stepped into his human cell and closed the door. “I will bring her back, when it is all said and done. I promise. I will make her promise me.”

Danato moved to the cell door and locked it. He reached his hand between the bars and gripped Vince’s shoulder. “I won’t look forward to that day.”

With a nod of agreement, they left their feud behind.

43

Cori waited four days. She expected Vince home by supper, but he never showed. The dining room table, previously the paint table, had been cleared off to make room for a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers she picked from the gardens outside.

Floral china from the cabinet in the hallway sat on white linen place mats. A pitcher of crisp lemonade in a metal pitcher waited to be poured into the crystal glasses by the plates. The smell of turkey with roasted potatoes permeated the house from the kitchen oven where it was drying out. Two big hunks of meat had already been removed when Vince didn’t show.

The tall candles on the table were down to nubs, leaving very little light for the room. The sun was already gone, and so was Cori’s anticipation. She had curled up on the couch to sleep. She expected to wake up in the morning alone, or to find Vince asleep in his own bed without her. Either way, she was done. She had been walked on enough. She had no more room left in her ego to bolster his trust.

She was content enough with that scenario that she didn’t even hear the door open and shut. By the time she realized she wasn’t alone, her company was standing over her at the foot of the couch watching her.

As awareness kicked in, she jumped and pushed back on the couch. Her heart was in her throat and a shiver of adrenaline coursed through her. She blinked at the shadow before her. “Vince?”

He didn’t say anything. He looked over to the table where two place settings invited a romantic dinner.

Cori rubbed her face, and caught a glimpse of something pink on her hand. Her lipstick had become a casualty of the evening as well. She wiped the remainder of her lipstick off and wiped it on her jeans.

Vince looked back at her. “You’re still here,” he said in a low voice.

Cori scoffed. “Don’t worry, not for long. I’m going in the morning. Dinner’s in the oven if you’re hungry. Do me a favor and stick it in the fridge when you’re done. I’ll take the couch tonight. You can have your bed.” She scooted back down on the couch to return to her slumber.

“I saw the lights out when I came around the drive,” he whispered almost to himself. “I thought you had gone.”

“I should have,” she mumbled through her hands tucked under her cheek.      

“Yes, you should have.”

Anger filled her heart beyond the pain of the statement and she pushed back up to her knees to face him. “I said I will leave tomorrow. Do you expect me to wander the streets at night?”

The room was dark, but she was close enough to see him now. His eyes were red and the skin below them moist. She leaned back, not prepared for this emotion from him. She looked him over and saw something in his hands.

He followed her gaze and lifted the small bouquet of baby roses adorned with baby’s breath. He looked them over as if he forgot he had them. “I treated you so horribly. Why did you stay?”

“I don’t know. You wanted proof that I wanted to be with you. If you can behave like that much of a jackass and have me still stay, then I must really love you.”

Vince’s eyes widened. She felt her cheeks flush. She hadn’t meant to say that aloud. She had thought about saying it so many times, but controlled the urge. Now she had just blurted it out right into his ears, where it could never be recovered.

“Love?”

She shrugged, unable to talk herself out of the admission. “Yeah, well, I thought so.” She sat back on her heels. “Just as well I didn’t say it sooner; you might have kicked me out sooner.”

Vince shook his head. “Cori, I’m glad that you’re here. I’m relieved you’re here. I never wanted you to go. I have never
not
wanted you.”

“You were just testing me, to see how much I would take?”

“No, I was giving you the opportunity to leave. I didn’t want you to stay with me out of obligation or convenience.”

She could see the pain in his eyes. She had not expected that. “I’m sorry I made you betray Danato.” She paused, rolling the ring on her thumb. “How is he?”

“He’s angry about the situation, but he’s coping. We can discuss that later.” Vince’s tears had dried up and he was looking at her hard, like he was angry. “I’m sorry for… the last month.”

She nodded and looked away. She wasn’t entirely ready to say it was all forgiven.

“I will make it up to you. I promise.” He tossed his flowers on the table and slipped out of his trench, which he folded neatly on the back of the couch. “Starting with tonight.”

Vince crawled onto the couch, easing her supine on the way. He rested his body against her and stopped there. Her heart was back to racing and images good and bad flashed through her mind. She wasn’t in control of this encounter and it was making her tremble and sweat.

He drew his finger along her cheek. “I won’t hurt you,” he said, apparently sensing her apprehension. She nodded and tried to kiss him. He pulled back. “I can wait until you’re ready.”

It was another minute before she started to feel the heat of his body more than the fear in hers. He kissed her softly. Waited. Kissed her again.

The slow motion foreplay eased her mind and riled her spirit. She soon found herself leading. She pulled off her clothes and helped with his. She drew him in, and wielded him. He did everything she asked, and some things she only thought.

As if trying to make up for the last three weeks in one night, he exhausted her anxiety, her cynicism, her boundaries, and finally her stamina. She collapsed in a ball on the couch mumbling, “I love you” into the sofa cushion. He curled up around her, pulling the drop sheet from the sofa back over them.

He whispered into her ear, “I love you too,” before squeezing her and falling asleep.

44

Ethan looked down at the “protein drink” Danato had poured for him. The same lime-colored smoothie sat on the desk, just as it had every morning for the last three months. The thick slimy beverage tasted slightly sweet and grassy.

He had obediently downed the beverage every day, but his not-so-gradual muscle gain had left him concerned about the contents of it. He wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t being drugged.

Danato was deep in his paper work, unaware that Ethan was having second thoughts about his nutritional supplements. Belus was watching him from the open office door. He was waiting for him to drink so they could be on their way.

“Come on, kid,” Belus urged.

He picked up the glass and examined its contents. He couldn’t deny that his strength had improved. Nor could he deny his increase in speed. And one would be blind not to notice his change in muscle size. But at what expense was he to achieve all of this? What would the side effects be? He had a right to know what he was putting in his body.

“Drink it,” Danato said, eyeing him over his glasses.

“What’s in it?” he said, lifting the glass to examine it up close.

“The same as yesterday,” Danato said flatly, still watching him. “The same as the day before that.”

He looked back to Belus who bowed his head at the beverage. “I just don’t want to be taking steroids. I think this is too much.”

Danato shook his head. “It’s not steroids.”

“What is it?” he asked again. Belus groaned and came all the way into the office. He closed the door, giving up on an early start. Danato shook his head. “What?” Ethan pleaded. “Shouldn’t I be allowed to know what goes in my body?”

“Yes.” Danato rested his cheek on one of his hands.

“Well?” He motioned to the glass.

“It’s just…” Danato looked to Belus. His second threw his hands up, imparting no assistance on the matter. “It has an ingredient that sort of…”

Danato’s apprehension only disturbed Ethan more. “Is it dangerous?”

“No, it’s perfectly safe. I’ve taken it for years.” Danato posed a bicep. “Still do, occasionally.”

“Then what is it? God help me, I couldn’t drink it now for fear of it anyway.”

“It has a biological element, mixed with wheat grass and citrus.” Danato stopped there, but Ethan wasn’t that easily satisfied.

“What the hell
is
it?”

Danato glanced once more at Belus before his face turned somber and he mumbled the missing ingredient. “Dragon semen.”

The lime-green smoothie slipped from Ethan’s hand and dropped back to the desk. Shards of glass, and the biological element it held, splattered the room and its occupants.

“
What?
” Ethan shrieked.

Belus dropped his face into his hands and laughed. Danato and Ethan, wearing the majority of the beverage, didn’t share his jovial outlook.

“Now you know why I didn’t tell you,” Danato grumbled as he scraped green gook from his face.

“That’s disgusting!” Ethan spat the beverage from his lips.

“Of course it’s disgusting!” Danato pulled tissues from his desk drawer and cleaned up more thoroughly. “I drank the stuff for years.”

“I can’t drink that now.” Ethan motioned vaguely to the splayed contents.

“Bullshit you can’t. You wanted to know; now you know.” Danato jabbed at finger at him. “Instead of having a protein shake potentially laced with steroids, you will now drink dragon sperm laced with wheat grass.”

“No way,” he said resolutely.

Danato’s face hardened. “Let’s not pretend that you have a choice here.”