Vigil (27 page)

How had Tuan known to be there at all?

Adin began walking at a ground-eating stride and eventually

he came to the end of the trolley line and turned, not toward

the wharves and the food but in the other direction, heading for

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181

Aquatic Park on the San Francisco Bay trail, toward the beach

and maybe Golden Gate Bridge if his feet held out, and he didn’t

need to stop for food.

His mind was reeling.

By the time he got to the Palace of Fine Arts buildings, the

sun had come up and the fog was dissipating. The seabirds could

be seen wheeling overhead, looking for food. The city was waking

up and so was Adin. He checked the time on his watches. Six-

fifteen a.m. that meant three-fifteen in the afternoon in Paris. He

hesitated before taking out his cell phone. While he was making

up his mind whether to try Donte again, or to phone Boaz or get

a cab, it rang in his hands.

“Tredeger.”

“Are you
sightseeing
?” Boaz’s voice held undisguised contempt.

Adin closed his eyes. “Thinking,” he answered.

“It’s about fucking time.”

“I’m at the Palace of Fine Arts and I need—in no particular

order—a ride home, breakfast, and to visit Bran at Edward and

Tuan’s.”

“Anything else?”

“I’d like a pedal powered airplane,” Adin told him. “Or a

zeppelin.”

“
Adin
,” Boaz growled.

“Oh, all right. I’m sorry, Boaz. You were right and I was wrong

and I’m so very, very sorry.” Adin swallowed. “I presumed a great

deal. Maybe I don’t have
relationship skills
. I only hope I’m able to

say that to Donte in person sooner rather than later, and to make

up for allowing him to wonder whether he comes first with me.”

Boaz hesitated. “In that, you may be in luck.”

“
What
?”

“It’s possible that he might be on his way.”

“Don’t be cryptic. When?”

182 Z.A. Maxfield

“I’m not being cryptic, it’s just something Santos told me, that

Donte might be well enough to be on the move again. I have no

idea if it’s even true.”

“Does he know where we are?”

“Yes.”

“Then why hasn’t he called, damn him?”

“We’ll have to ask him when we see him.” Boaz hung up.

Edward ushered Adin and Boaz into the kitchen where Tuan

was already sitting with his coffee, reading the paper. He looked

up, owlish in his glasses, and grinned over a vase of freshly cut

Irises. “Morning.”

“Good morning.” Adin dropped into a chair, still pathetically

grateful to sit after his long walk.
Thank heaven he hadn’t had to walk

back to the hotel.
“Boaz and I brought donuts and I’m ravenous.”

Boaz handed a bag to Edward, who opened it and exclaimed

“
Zeppole
! I love these.”

Adin sighed dramatically. “I asked for a zeppel
in
.”

“Technically, you asked for a ride, breakfast, to come here and

see Bran, a pedal powered aircraft,
and
a zeppelin.” Boaz seemed

in a much better mood.

Adin took one of the still-warm, eggy fritters. “These are

delicious.”

“How’s Bran?” Boaz asked.

Edward grinned. “He’s brilliant. A terrific kid. Asleep like a

stone still this morning.”

Tuan rolled his eyes. “Edward is already scouting private

tutors to get him up to speed for school, and I’m going to have

to fabricate a number of documents for him. His current identity

is already proving to be far too pedestrian for Edward.”

Adin peered at Tuan as if his earlier conjecture might be

discernable on his face. Did Tuan and Donte know one another

before Adin introduced them? “Is that going to be a problem?

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183

Will it conflict with your job?”

Tuan hesitated. “Actually, documentation of otherworldly

immigrants seeking asylum is part of the job. There are restrictions

on travel and special requirements for foreign entities. Someone

like Bran will be easy to document, and he’ll sail through the

restrictions because he’s a minor, an orphan, and he has a family

here to sponsor him.”

“Namely, us.” Edward grinned.

“Dear heavens.” Adin raised his eyebrows.

“We talked about it last night,” Tuan said. “Well, I listened

mostly.”

Edward cuffed Tuan lightly on the arm.

“Have you thought this through?” Adin asked.

Boaz coughed, and it sounded a lot like
look who’s talking
.

“As much as we can in such a brief time,” Edward answered.

“I can’t think of anyone better suited to care for someone like

Bran, but have you really considered what it will mean to foster

a teenage boy?”

“We don’t plan to foster him, we plan to adopt him,” Edward

explained. “He needs a
family
.”

Adin couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Tuan? Is that what

you want?”

“I like him,” Tuan said carefully. “I’ve always wanted to have

a family, but I’m not as confident as Edward is that we’re Bran’s

best choice.”

Boaz spoke. “This doesn’t have to be settled right away.

What’s important is that we keep him safe. Adin and Edward are

both impulsive, and now isn’t the time to allow that to dictate our

thinking.”

“Do you know something I don’t?” Tuan frowned.

“Not for a fact.” Boaz returned Tuan’s grim expression. “But

from what little Adin has told me, I doubt Harwiche will go

gently into that good night. Nor will the men who sold Bran to

184 Z.A. Maxfield

him, if they realize where Bran has gone.”

“Adin, when you saw him, what exactly did Harwiche say?”

Adin tried to explain that Harwiche set out to locate a

changeling whose process had been interrupted and whose

contract went unfulfilled, and how he believed the boy could

somehow be a universal donor for bone marrow and organs that

wouldn’t be rejected by his body. “I got the feeling he meant to

keep him prisoner and harvest—”

Edward blanched. “He’s a lunatic.”

Tuan seemed puzzled. “How did he know where to look for

someone like that? An orphan on both sides.”

Adin blanched. “I believe Harwiche hired someone to… help

that along.”

“
No.
” Bran’s voice cracked like a whip from the doorway

where he stood, his sleep-rumpled figure standing frozen with

shock. Everyone fell silent.

Bran swayed on his feet. “My
entire family
was killed so they

could sell me to—”

Edward leaped up, his chair skittling backward over the wood

floor. He caught Bran’s arm before he could fall. “
Bran
.”

Tuan put his paper down and yanked his jacket off the back

of the chair. “If it’s true that Harwiche has further plans, I need

to find out exactly where he is if I can.”

Adin agreed wholeheartedly. “He said he was done coming

after Bran, but I don’t trust him. Then there are the men who

sold him to me. They might come after me because Boaz took

the money back.”

Bran sat. “I’m glad you got your money back, Adin. I don’t

want those people to have your money, even if that means they

kill me.”

Tuan laid a hand on Bran’s shoulder. “It won’t come to that, I

promise. Edward, I’m heading out. I’ll look into those men and

get the paperwork started. Set the alarms, and use the damned

panic room if you need to.”

“You have a panic room?” Adin asked. “How cool is that?

Well. I guess you might need one, in your line of work.”

“We needed the security system because of Edward’s art

collection.” Tuan nodded and smiled at Edward. “But I had the

panic room added because when I’m working I need to know

that Edward is safe. Otherwise, it’s hard to focus.”

Edward offered Tuan one of his sweetest smiles. “Now we

can keep Bran safe as well.”

“See to it.” Tuan leaned in and kissed Edward, and everyone

politely looked elsewhere until they were finished. “I’m going to

learn what I can. Boaz, maybe you can stay in touch with Santos

in case he hears something?”

186 Z.A. Maxfield

“I planned to take Adin to the house Donte uses while he’s in

this area,” said Boaz. “Unless you have a better idea?”

“That’s fine. Stay on your toes, Adin.”

“I’ll try.”

“I have some tricks up my sleeve, Tuan,” Boaz told him. “And

I’m charged with Adin’s safety.”

Adin glanced at Boaz but his impersonal mask was firmly

back in place.

Tuan left first, then Adin hugged Bran and Edward tightly.

He and Boaz left as Edward extolled the virtues of his safe room

as though he and Bran were going to live in a tree house like the

Swiss Family Robinson. It sounded very enticing, Adin imagined,

especially to someone so young. Adin doubted the reality would

live up to the promise, and he hoped to hell they didn’t have to

use it.

Adin avoided any comparison between his current stay at

Donte’s borrowed estate in Marin County with the last time he’d

been there. Then, he’d been injured in a bar, attacked by a group

of vampires determined to pull on Donte’s figurative cape and

piss him off. When Boaz had driven him up the private, tree lined

drive and the large attractive Tuscan inspired home had come

into view, Donte had swept from it like the hero of a Bronte

novel and carried him inside.

This time since it was spring, the trees were flowering

optimistically, the air was redolent with the scent of newly mown

grass, and there was no brooding master to be seen. It was simply

a big house that looked as empty as Adin felt.

Boaz didn’t speak but helped him carry the things they’d

retrieved from the hotel up the stairs to the room he’d shared

previously with Donte.

“It’s nearly time for lunch, I’m going to see what’s in the

pantry, but I’ll probably have to shop for provisions.”

“I didn’t sleep well,” Adin told him. “If it’s all right I’ll just lie

Vigil
187

down for a while.”

“I’ll leave you to it then.” Boaz started to back out of the

door.

“Wait.”

“Sir?” Boaz waited politely.

“About that. About last night. You were right, and I’m sorry.”

Adin turned to look out the window, held his good hand behind

his back to keep from fidgeting while he made his apologies.

“I was overtired, Dr. Tredeger, and therefore my tongue ran

faster than my brain.”

“Stop it,” Adin ordered. “Just stop pretending you care what

I think. I heard you loud and clear.”

Boaz frowned thoughtfully and repeated, “I was exhausted

last night and I said things in anger that I didn’t necessarily mean.

I crossed a line and I regret it.”

“It’s fine.” Adin waved him away. “You have a right to your

opinion. We’re stuck in this situation together. Feel free to share

your thoughts with me anytime, even if they aren’t…even if it

might not be something I want to hear.”

The tension seemed to leave Boaz’s small frame, but not

so much that he wasn’t still entirely formal. “I do like you, Dr.

Tredeger. That’s never been an issue.”

Adin’s spirits rose a little. “In that case, please—for heaven’s

sake—no more eggs.”

“Yes, sir, Dr. Tredeger.” Boaz bowed out of the room. “I’ll

give that all the consideration it deserves.”

Adin shook his head. He heard the sharp
snap
of the door

when Boaz shut it and prepared himself for a quiche maybe,

or another omelet at supper. He rummaged through his bags

for a while, hanging up his clothes, putting others aside for the

cleaners. One thing about travelling light, it was easy to unpack

and shove the pilot case under the bed, or into the back of a

closet. He found a split of champagne from the airline in his

carryon and used it to wash down his pain reliever. His sister, the

188 Z.A. Maxfield

chemist, seemed to sit on the shoulder of his good arm saying

no
, while his arm on the other side said,
yes, yes
as soon as the pain

began to diminish.

Within minutes, Adin was so tired he could barely hold his

head up. He peeled off his clothes and dropped them at the foot

of the bed, then slipped between the welcoming sheets. He was

aware of Boaz asking him if he wanted lunch, but he answered

that the thing he wanted most was sleep, which wasn’t entirely

true. What he wanted most was
Donte
.

Donte might be on the move again. That sounded so…

ominous. As though Donte were a malevolent spirit or a

marauding army. If he were
on the move
, Adin could only pray that

at some point he’d look for Boaz, or call him to find out where

they were now, and come to him.

Adin’s yearning was so powerful he could almost see Donte

fidgeting on an airplane, looking at his watch and gauging the

position of the sun when he arrived. If he arrived after dawn,

it would require that he wait in the airport for evening before