Notturno (22 page)

following Santos for undead border and customs violations and

had a hunch he was dealing in stolen art. No one was more

surprised than I was that he picked you up at the airport. We

thought he already had your stolen manuscript. It’s a good thing

you’re safe. Edward would have killed me.”

When Adin awoke, hazy, late-afternoon sunshine filtered

through plastic miniblinds. His first thought when he looked

around was that he’d have to reexamine the Kabuki as an

adequate hotel, but then he remembered everything that he’d

been through the previous day, and he closed his eyes again,

sighing. He heard movement next to him and felt a delicate

touch on his hand.

“Hey,” said Edward, whose usually mischievous eyes

showed only concern.

“Hey.” Adin tried a smile and failed.

“I guess you had a little adventure with the bite club.

Welcome to my world.” Warm eyes gazed into his. “Isn’t Tuan

just the hottest?”

“I…yeah. Thanks fucking loads for keeping that a secret.”

Adin tried to glare but didn’t have it in him.

“You wouldn’t have believed me.” Edward sighed. “Tuan

says you should take up kendo. Once you know they’re there,

and once one’s marked you…”

“No one’s marked me.”

“Yes, someone definitely has.”

“Edward, nothing’s changed. It’s over; life goes on. Santos

thought he could use me to get to Donte. He found out now

that he can’t. End of story. I was fast food.”

Edward almost sizzled with indignation. “You have no idea

what you’re talking about. And you need to listen, at least keep

an open mind. Everything has changed for you. Talk to Tuan.”

“All right.” Adin sighed. “All right, I’ll talk to Tuan, but I

think you’re overreacting. Did you call Deana?”

“Yes, and she thinks you were mugged. So does the hospital

staff.”

154 Z.A. Maxfield

“When can I leave?”

“Deana wants you to come back to L.A., and unofficially,

I’m supposed to see to it that you aren’t released until you agree

to do that.”

“I see.” Adin raised his bed.

“She promised me cosmeceuticals.”

“You are such a slut.”

“Gotta keep the eye candy sweet.” He grinned. “You’ve

seen my man in action. Think I’d jeopardize that with crow’s

feet?”

“That man will love you when you’re a hundred, even if you

look it.”

“Your lips to…” Edward pointed up. “Look.” He picked up

his messenger bag and got out his keys. “I’ve got to get you

something to wear, and maybe some decent grub, and then I’ll

come back and see if we can’t spring you. You can stay at our

place tonight, and then you can make arrangements to go back

to L.A. in the morning. Did I mention how glad I am that

you’re okay?”

“You can mention it again.”

Edward came over to the bed and kissed Adin almost

reverently on the forehead. “So glad.” He sighed. “Best

friends…yeah?”

“You know it,” said Adin. “Get me something that makes

me look hot.”

Edward smiled and sailed out the door.

Later that evening, Adin was watching with particular

interest the way light from the television illuminated the dust

motes that probably shouldn’t have been floating in hospital air,

when the door opened again and Santos walked in, followed by

Boaz.

“
Shit!
” Adin muttered, trying to sit up, to prepare himself to fight. Boaz’s hand came down gently on his chest.

“Relax, Adin,” Boaz said. “It’s all right.”

NOTTURNO
155

Adin didn’t waste time listening to him but struggled to get

away.

“Adin,” commanded Santos in the compelling voice Donte

sometimes used.

“That doesn’t work on me, Santos,” said Adin through

gritted teeth. Boaz pushed him down harder. He was hopelessly

trapped. He would have to clamber over the metal bed railings

and run past the two men to get to the door anyway, so he quit

fighting.

“Well?” He reserved his frostiest expression for Boaz, who

seemed to have changed sides. Boaz looked back at Adin

blankly as he sagged back onto the pillow.

“Don’t thrash, Adin. I came to say good-bye.”

“Thank you. Don’t bother lingering over that.”

Santos popped Adin gently on the forehead with his index

finger. “Spicy food.” He adjusted Adin’s sheets a little,

completely creeping Adin out in the process. “It was never

personal with you. I just wanted you to know that.”

“I told you Donte cared nothing for me. You could have let

me go.”

“Ah.” Santos seemed to consider this. “I rarely confide in

anyone, Adin. You should know this is almost a first. So pay

attention. I like you.”

“Oh, holy crap—”

“I said
pay attention
. First, I am sorry that you were almost eaten. That sort of thing is a regrettable fact of life when you

are required to keep up appearances with underlings. In truth,

I’m actually glad you remain unharmed. Second, I am certain

that Donte Fedeltà cares about you, and that this was a most

difficult thing for him. He is, above all, a man who will not

allow himself to be ruled by his passions. A good general, if you

will, willing to sacrifice a soldier to win a war.”

“Okay, will someone just unenlist me? Because I couldn’t

care less, except I want my manuscript back.” Adin slapped

Santos’s hand away when he realized it was stroking his hair like

a pet.

156 Z.A. Maxfield

“That is unlikely. Now that Fedeltà has it, it will never be

returned to you.”

“Have you seen it?” Adin asked.

“No.” Santos closed his eyes. “I don’t wish to. My father’s

shame isn’t something I would wish to…”

“You should,” Adin insisted. “You should see it. It’s

beautiful.”

“It’s an abomination.”

“He talks about you,” Adin whispered. “And your father.

And how your father loved you.”

Santos’s eyes opened to his. “You read this?”

“I did.” Adin paused. “Whatever you think of Donte

Fedeltà, he loved your father. He treasured him. He cherished

every moment they had, and he lives in those memories five

hundred years after the fact. He told me Renata deliberately

killed your father and then had him ‘turned’ to separate them

for all eternity. He suffers.”

“My father died unshriven, thrown into a hole in

unhallowed ground.”

“Knowing what you know now, having lived five hundred

years…do you think that’s the worst thing that could have

happened to him?” Adin asked.

“You know nothing.”

“You can know everything,” Adin offered. “I can give you

the manuscript, and you can read it for yourself.”

“What?” Santos was interested, although Adin could tell he

hated himself for it. “Fedeltà has the manuscript.”

“Boaz?” Adin turned to the smaller man. “If you can find

out what they did with my trousers, there’s a flash drive in the

pocket.” He turned back to Santos. “I photographed the

manuscript. The file is on that memory stick.”

Boaz rummaged through a plastic shopping bag with the

hospital logo on it that he found hanging over a doorknob. He

returned to Adin’s side with a slim red plastic jump drive in his

hand. “This is it?” he asked.

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157

“Yes. If it still works.” He looked at Santos pointedly.

“Somebody broke my laptop.”

“I returned your memory device,” Santos pointed out. Adin

rolled his eyes.

“I will give you this on two conditions,” Adin told him.

“You really are a piece of work.” Santos shook his head.

“They are?”

“One, that you send me a copy of the file, and two, that you

read it with an open mind.”

“Why would you do this? I almost had you killed.” Santos

met his eyes, regarding him closely.

“
For Donte.
” Brown eyes seemed to peer into Adin’s soul as

he met Santos’s gaze without flinching.

“I see.” Santos took the drive. “I will do as you ask.

However, five hundred years of enmity…”

“I understand.”

“Actually, I believe you do. That must be what Donte sees

in you.” Adin made a
tch
noise. “Don’t be a fool, Adin. For a man like Donte, ordinary rules of human behavior do not apply.

Don’t imagine your moral code can withstand the pressure of a

life lived almost half a millennium. I make no excuses for him. I

can see that he had a difficult decision to make, and I actually

rather admired his choice.”

“You would. You weren’t about to be eaten.”

“Technically, you weren’t either. You would probably have

been…played with and turned.” At this, Santos walked to the

doorway. “Recycling, you know? When you finish with your

drink, you redeem the container. Very PC. Very green.” He

grinned, and Adin felt a chill wash through him. “Coming,

Boaz?”

“A minute, please.” Boaz looked at Adin.

Adin glared.

“I did say, when we met, that there were more things…”

“You lied to me. You said you were working for Donte.”

158 Z.A. Maxfield

“I was.” Boaz shrugged.

“What are you? Some kind of double agent for the mortally

impaired?”

“I’m complicated,” snapped Boaz. “I took care of you for

Donte, and now I’m taking care of Santos for Donte. Santos

knows that my loyalties lie with Fedeltà. He just finds it

convenient to keep me around for now.”

“I’m going to be glad to get home and forget any of this

ever happened.”

“Yes, well. Good luck with
that
. I wanted to say good-bye.”

Boaz peered down at him. Adin thought he looked sincere and

perhaps a little younger than he’d first appeared. “Really, good

luck, Adin.”

“Good luck to you too,” Adin replied.

“Awkward.” Boaz turned and walked to the door.

“See if you can get Santos to send my jump drive back.”

“I will. Or I’ll copy the files and send them. I’ll think of

something.”

“I don’t doubt that.”

Boaz grinned and gripped the door handle. “See you

around.”

The rejoinder “not if I see you first” came to Adin’s lips, but

he didn’t say it. “Bye.”

When the door closed behind Boaz, Adin relaxed. A man in

scrubs entered the room with a phlebotomy tray and pulled

down the guardrail. He had a kind face and an unnatural

enthusiasm for his work.

“I’ll just need to get some of your blood,” he chirped,

catching Adin’s good arm by the elbow and thumping the veins.

“Just take a fucking number,” said Adin, laughing in spite of

himself until he found he was crying so hard he could hardly

catch a breath.

A loud knock on the door of Deana’s bungalow shook Adin

awake. He was jumping at shadows, he noted with disgust as he

gingerly swung his legs over the side of the couch. Still sore,

damn it. He pulled himself up to standing, annoyed that he still

needed his formerly dislocated arm in a sling. Deana came

sleepily from the hallway but deferred to him immediately when

he held up his hand. Two in the morning was no time for

civilized humans to visit.

“Didn’t you go to bed yet?” she whispered as they

approached the door warily. Leave it to Deana to nag him when

they were being woken in the middle of the night by—Adin

looked through the peephole—a stranger. He backed away,

allowing her to look.

“Anyone you recognize?” he asked, but already knew the

answer. He could hear the noise inside his head that vampires

used when they chose to make their presence known. What had

Donte called that? Using beaters to flush out prey? He looked

at Deana carefully to see if she could hear it and decided that

no, she probably didn’t. He didn’t have time to think about that

because the pounding started up again.

“No,” she said, drawing her robe more closely about her.

Adin stood indecisively, waiting. He knew their visitor couldn’t

come in unless invited, and he was reluctant to expose Deana to

the frightening new reality he himself still felt unprepared to

face.

“Go back to your bedroom, Deana. I’ll take care of this. I

think I know what it’s about,” Adin told her quietly, knowing

full well that whoever was on the other side of that door could

hear him.

That loud knock blasted through the silence again.

A voice came from the other side of the door. “Open up,

puny earthling.” Adin looked through the peephole and found a

160 Z.A. Maxfield

man who had an engaging smile and clear blue eyes that

sparkled
.
Not very foreboding. Probably a trick. “I come in peace. Take me to your leader. Klaatu-Barada-Nicto, Adin. I’m

here because Boaz asked me to deliver a package. That’s all.”

The voice was a full-bodied tenor that spoke to Adin of Ireland.

“Why should I believe that?” He motioned for Deana, who

was still staring at him, clearly questioning his behavior, to go to her room.
I’ll tell you later. Go!
he mouthed. She left, scooting down the hall until he heard the click of her door as she closed

it.

Adin took a deep breath and opened the front door.