Cain's Identity (Scanguards Vampires Book 9) (13 page)

“A bit presumptuous, your brother,” Haven commented. Then he grinned. “But you’re doing a heck of a job pissing him off. Frankly, I think you were born to be king.”

Wesley chuckled. “Totally! You’re like a natural!”

Cain jumped up from his chair and pounded his fist on the desk. “That’s because I
am
the king!”

“Hey, what the fuck?” Wes complained.

Cain rubbed a hand over his face and took a calming breath. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to lash out at any of you.” He motioned to the door. “I just can’t stand that prick!”

“Understandable under the circumstances,” Thomas said evenly and took a seat on one of the large sofas. “But I would caution you to keep your feelings about him under wraps. He’s bound to notice that you resent him—for obvious reasons—and until we’ve gotten a lay of the land and figured out who’s still loyal to you, you don’t want to draw his wrath on you.”

As much as Cain wanted to dispute Thomas’s words, he couldn’t. As so often, the wise vampire had hit the nail on the head. It was important to refrain from starting an open war over a woman whose motives Cain wasn’t even sure of. What if Faye was playing them both?

Slowly he lowered himself back into his chair. “What are you suggesting, Thomas?”

“Play nice with your brother for a while. It doesn’t mean you have to trust him. In the meantime we’ll launch the investigation into the attempt on your life. Somebody is bound to know something. And now that you’re back, everybody will want to get back in your good graces. Let’s turn that to your advantage,” Thomas suggested.

“Very well,” Cain said, when a knock at the door interrupted him. “Come.”

A middle-aged vampire carrying a serving tray with several glasses of red liquid entered and inclined his head toward Cain. “Your Majesty, the blood you ordered.”

“Thank you, uh.” He wanted to address the vampire by his name, but couldn’t. “On the coffee table please.” When the man turned his back to bend down and place the tray on the table, Cain shot Haven a look. Luckily his friend understood immediately.

“What’s your name?” Haven asked casually and reached for a glass.

The vampire straightened. “I’m Robert. I’m the master of supplies for the palace and have been so for many years,” he said with pride in his voice.

Cain rose and walked to the seating area. “It’s good to see you again, Robert.”

“It’s good to see you well, sir.” Despite the friendly words, Cain sensed some apprehension rolling off Robert.

“Thank you, Robert.”

The vampire nodded, then looked at Wesley. “I ordered human food for you. Should I bring it as soon as it arrives?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m starving here!” Wes confirmed.

With an acknowledging nod, Robert turned to the door and left. Cain joined his friends and snatched a glass of blood from the tray. He set it to his lips and took a sip. Within seconds, he’d emptied the glass. Instantly he felt better. So far his bluff had worked. Nobody had an inkling that he suffered from amnesia. And the way things looked at the moment, nobody would ever have to find out. Whatever obstacles lay in his way, he would manage to overcome them.

“Let’s get to work.”

18

Faye walked through the hallway and noticed several guards waiting outside of the king’s office. The door to it was closed.

“Marcus,” she called out to one of them, who immediately looked in her direction and gave a short nod. “Is Abel with the king?”

“No, I believe he’s outside in the garden.”

“Thank you.”

Taking a deep breath, Faye walked through the entrance hall and opened the door to get outside, past the two guards who flanked the door. She might as well get this over with or it would be looming over her all night.

Outside humid night air greeted her. A million stars hung in the night sky and the moon was still almost full, bathing the palace’s grounds in enough light that even a human would not have needed an artificial light source to find his way around.

Faye glanced around the veranda, but Abel wasn’t sitting in any of the comfortable chairs that were dotted on the porch. She’d loved sitting here with Cain when he’d had a moment to take a break from his business as king. She’d cherished those short moments where he’d shared his vision for the kingdom with her, before withdrawing again to implement whatever changes he thought would bring the clan further into the twenty-first century.

With a sigh, she walked around the palace, remaining on the porch that wrapped around the entire building. Maybe Abel was at the back of it, enjoying the beautiful evening. Her light summer dress clung to her skin, though she couldn’t entirely blame the Louisiana humidity for it. She knew she perspired for other reasons. It was anxiety that made her skin feel clammy.

The back porch was empty too, and Faye was about to turn back, when she perceived a movement from the corner of her eye. She shifted her gaze to the area that had caught her attention: the white gazebo that stood several dozens of yards out in the vast garden, surrounded by bushes to lend it some privacy.

Knowing that the guards rarely ventured there because Abel had declared the place his own personal domain, Faye stepped down from the porch and strolled along the walkway leading to it, the sound of her flat shoes absorbed by the soft moss beneath her feet.

Apprehension rose the closer she got to the gazebo. She’d practiced her speech while in her room, but now that she was about to face Abel, her throat was dry. She took a deep breath. With it, the scent of human blood filled her nostrils.

Abel wasn’t alone.

Faye stopped in her approach, but it was too late. Abel had already lifted his head and spotted her. His fangs were extended and dripped with blood.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb,” she said hastily and attempted to turn.

“Don’t go. I’m done anyway,” he claimed and waved her to join him.

She crossed the remaining distance and took the three steps that led up to the gazebo. Comfortable benches lined the interior of the wooden structure, and on one of them a human woman was stretched out, her clothes disheveled and two puncture wounds gracing her neck. Abel had been feeding.

“Apologies,” he said lightly, then bent down to the woman again and licked his tongue over the spot where his fangs had been lodged only moments earlier.

The woman didn’t stir, though her eyes were open. She was under his thrall, made numb by mind control. Every vampire possessed this skill, although Faye herself rarely used it. She had little contact with humans, preferring to remain in the safety of the palace’s grounds. And using mind control on another vampire was an undertaking fraught with deadly risk.

Abel wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and pointed to the girl. “Would you like some?”

Quickly Faye shook her head. She preferred the packaged blood stored in the refrigerated cellar of the palace. “Can we talk in private?”

“We are in private,” he said with a sideways glance at the woman who’d provided him with sustenance. Whether willingly or not, Faye couldn’t tell.

She’d always known that Abel had never given up feeding from humans directly, whereas Cain had substantially reduced the incidences of feeding from a human, and then refrained from it completely when she and Cain had become lovers. Almost as if he’d wanted to show her that he didn’t need to feel the sexual high that accompanied a feeding. Instead he’d switched entirely to packaged blood, and then, that last fateful night when he’d disappeared, he’d taken Faye’s blood for the first time. Not to nourish his body, but his heart.

Faye pushed the memory away, not wanting to be reminded of how happy she’d been then. And how different everything was now. Cain’s rejection when she’d snuck into his bedroom stung as much as it was confusing.

She turned away from the human girl and Abel. “I’m sure what I’m going to tell you won’t come as a surprise.”

Faye heard him rise from the bench and take a step toward her.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“I still love him. I never stopped loving him, and you knew that when you asked me to marry you.” She swallowed, trying to moisten her dry throat. “Had I known he was alive, you know that I would have never agreed.”

Abel’s hands cupped her shoulders and she flinched at the contact. “You don’t need to say anything else, Faye. I know how you feel. And I’m not going to stand in your way.”

Choking up, she turned around.

Abel smiled at her. “Oh, Faye, did you really think I would keep you to your promise? Of course, I’ll release you. I would be fooling myself if I thought that you could ever love me the way you love him.” Then he dropped his lids. “I just wish I could protect you from the heartache you’re going to face.”

“Heartache?” she echoed. “He’s alive. He’s back.” She hesitated, wondering whether Abel referred to the coldness with which Cain had greeted her. “It will take a little while until everything will be like before.”

Abel stroked over her hair as if comforting a child. She’d never seen him so gentle.

“He’s changed. You’ve noticed it, too, haven’t you?” he asked.

“A year in captivity can do terrible things to a person.” She knew that from her own experience. “Whatever wounds he has will heal.” And she would be by Cain’s side and wait as long as it took. As long as there was hope that he still loved her, she would wait for him to come back to her.

Abel sighed. “I spoke to him last night before he retired. Brother to brother.”

Faye lifted her lids and looked at him. “About what?”

“I told him about us.”

His confession didn’t come as a surprise to her. Cain had confirmed as much.

“He didn’t demand from me that I break our engagement. It surprised me. You know him. You know what he was like before. You couldn’t have chosen a prouder and more possessive man than Cain. When he congratulated me on our upcoming wedding, frankly, I was stunned.”

Faye’s heart started to beat uncontrollably. “But . . .” Why would he do that?

“I think he’s changed more than we can know. I didn’t ask him what happened. I think he wasn’t ready to tell me. But . . .” Abel’s gaze drifted past her.

Anxiety tore through her. “What?”

“I think there might be another woman,” Abel finally said and met her eyes.

It felt as if somebody had plunged a knife into her heart. “No,” she managed to choke out.

“Listen, Faye, I can’t be a hundred percent certain, and I truly hope that I’m wrong, but the way his men talked . . . I shouldn’t have eavesdropped, but Cain’s strange behavior worried me.” Abel dropped his hands from her shoulders.

Faye shook her head in disbelief. Cain had another woman? “No, that can’t be.” She didn’t want to believe it.

“Maybe I misunderstood what they were talking about. But it sounded like they were discussing when to bring her to court and present her to the clan.” Abel turned his back to her. “I’m sorry, Faye. I wish I had better news. I’m worried about Cain. Whatever happened to him during the last year, it might have changed entirely who he is. What if he’s being unduly influenced by the men who’re now his guards, or by the woman they talked about? I’m worried for the clan.”

Faye barely heard the words, because all she could think of was what had happened in Cain’s room. He’d punished her for not having waited for him and then he’d rejected her. He’d been so angry and mistrusting of her. She’d felt it in her bones. Just like she’d been keenly aware of the absence of affection in his gaze. Had he stopped loving her because he’d fallen in love with another woman?

A sob tore from her chest before she could suppress it.

“Oh, God, Faye, it pains me to see you hurt,” Abel said.

A moment later she felt his arms around her, pressing her to his chest.

“Don’t do anything hasty. Maybe I’m wrong and he still loves you, but I couldn’t help but notice the indifference with which he greeted you yesterday.”

So Abel had seen it, too.

“What am I going to do?” she sobbed.

“Give him some space,” Abel counseled. “Show him that you’re not pressuring him. I can tell you from my own experience that no man wants a needy woman. Don’t show your feelings. It will only make things worse.”

She nodded, desperately trying to dry her tears. By visiting Cain in his suite she’d probably already made a huge mistake, but she couldn’t tell Abel about it. She needed no confirmation of her own stupidity. Why hadn’t she read the signs Cain had so clearly exhibited upon his arrival? Why hadn’t she seen that his love for her had died?

19

“There’s not much point in interrogating the guards who were with me yesterday.”

Cain stared at Marcus who sat in the chair in front of his desk. “Meaning what exactly?”

“They’re new recruits. That’s the reason they didn’t recognize you. They came to us after your disappearance. Abel hired them,” Marcus informed him. “I apologize again for the attack, but from where I was I didn’t see your face. Had I known it was you—”

Cain lifted his hand to interrupt him. “Well, that explains why I didn’t recognize them either,” Cain lied. “When we’re done here, give Wesley their names. I’ll have my men do a background check on them.”

“But that’s already been done,” Marcus protested.

“Not by me.” He motioned to Wesley, who was leaning against the wall, watching them. “Wes, you know what to do.”

The witch nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”

Cain glanced to the other end of the room, where Thomas had set up his computer and was busy typing away on his keyboard. Haven had left the room and was canvassing the property, familiarizing himself with its layout and inhabitants.

“Now back to you,” Cain said and looked down at the pad where he’d noted down the vampire guard’s answers to his previous questions. “Why were you in the French Quarter the night of my abduction?”

“It was my night off.”

Cain looked back at his notes and scanned them until he found what he was looking for. He tapped on the paper with his pen. “You said earlier that your regular night off is Wednesday. I was abducted on a Monday.”

Marcus dropped his lids. “I will regret for as long as I live that I wasn’t there that night. I shouldn’t have done it. Maybe if I hadn’t, I could have prevented it.”