Cronin's Key (9 page)

Did Alec want people to die? No.

Did he want Cronin to starve? The thought twisted his gut and bothered him more than thinking about innocent humans who’d had their lives cut short to feed vampires.

And it was this toing and froing between accepting the situation he found himself in and rejecting it that was wearing him out. One minute he found himself drawn to Cronin, then the next he was irrationally angry at him. It was emotionally tiring. He had to remind himself that Cronin was in the exact same position and he probably didn’t want Alec as his fated partner either. And as Alec let the hot water run over his head and shoulders in the shower, he realized that it was
that
thought—how Cronin wouldn’t have chosen him if it weren’t for fate—that bothered him the most.

Looking at his reflection as he shaved after his shower, Alec knew he’d have to tell Cronin how he felt. If this was the forever thing they said it was, then it was also an honesty-at-all-costs kind of thing too.

When he walked out into the kitchen, he found Cronin frowning at the coffeemaker and five full cups of black coffee lining the countertop. He looked very human, and it made Alec smile. “Has the coffee offended you?”

“I tried to make it for you,” he said, still looking at the machine. “There are various settings, so I read the instruction manual, but it was then I realized I wasn’t sure which type you preferred. So I tasted it…”

Alec laughed at the look of absolute horror on Cronin’s face. “Not a fan?”

“I’ve never tasted anything so horrid.”

Still smiling, Alec picked up a random cup and sipped it. It was strong, warm, and bitter. It tasted expensive, not like the swill he was used to at the police station. “Mmm,” Alec hummed. “It’s very good, thank you.”

Cronin seemed pleased. He smiled shyly. “You’re welcome. I know you like coffee in the morning.”

“You been up long?”

“Since before the sun,” he answered. “I trust you slept well.”

Alec sipped his coffee. “Not really. Can I ask you something?”

Cronin looked alarmed. “Of course.”

“I have to be honest with you. I’m struggling with this. Not just the lack of free will in the whole fated thing or the fact I can’t go anywhere for risk of being seen by police or killed by vampires,” Alec said, not even shocked at how absurd his life had become in just three days. “But I’m struggling with how I feel. These highs and lows are doing my head in. Is it the same for you? I mean, you didn’t choose me either, and yet you’re stuck with me, like it or not. Does that piss you off?”

Cronin looked to the floor, then out the window and across the city, anywhere but at Alec, it seemed. He blinked a few times. His voice was quiet and hurt. “I am not angry, no. I have waited a long time…”

“Please don’t be offended,” Alec urged him. “I know you’ve waited, for a length of time I can’t begin to understand. You’ve been alone for a long time, and I’m sorry if I’m not gushing about hearts and flowers, but I need to be honest with you. I don’t know how any of this works. I don’t know what’s expected of me or what’s expected of you. And I have these feelings that I don’t even know are real. How do I know what’s real or what’s not?”

“Do you feel it?” Cronin asked softly.

“Feel what?”

“Anything. Nervous, happy? Do you get a warm thrill when you lay eyes upon me?”

Alec swallowed hard. “Yes.”

A flicker of a smile played on Cronin’s lips. “If you feel it, then it is real. Is it not?”

“I guess.” Alec sighed. “What I mean is, if we weren’t fated or destined or whatever you call it and we met at a bar or through mutual friends, would I still feel that way?”

Cronin’s brows furrowed. “That is a question I cannot answer.”

“See, what’s normal for humans is to date and spend time together, getting to know the other person. And emotional involvement is a gradual thing,” Alec explained. “I think that’s what I’m struggling with. This instant thrown-together-forever thing is hard to believe. I don’t know…” Alec shook his head. “I can’t explain it properly. I don’t want you to think I’m not… attracted to you, because I am, not just physically, but emotionally as well. And that’s what I can’t get my head around. The logical part of my brain—the part that says it can’t be real in just three days—won’t seem to let go, that’s all.”

“I understand your concern. It’s very fast, immediate even, and that’s a difficult concept,” Cronin said.

Alec felt the need to apologize. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to hurt you by saying that, I just need you to know where I’m at.”

“No, I thank you for your honesty,” Cronin said. He smiled at Alec. “May I make a suggestion?”

Alec wasn’t sure he was going to like this, but he answered anyway. “Yeah?”

Cronin hesitated. “Eiji and Jodis won’t be back until tonight, so while privacy allows, how would you feel about treating today as a… date?”

A slow smile spread across Alec’s face. “I’d like that.”

Cronin let out a held breath and smiled in relief. “Given the custom is one from your generation, I’ll let you choose what it is we do.”

Alec was still smiling. “Well, normally we’d go out for dinner, see a movie, have a few drinks. But taking into account the no-public, no-sunlight factor, and not to mention we have slightly different ideas on what constitutes as a good meal, I think I have the perfect idea.”

* * * *

“Netflix?” Cronin looked confused.

“Yep.” Alec was certain. Cronin had admitted to rarely watching television, and Alec was determined to bring him up to speed on popular culture. “You have a home theater in your apartment, and you’ve never used it!”

There was also a study-cum-library and another living room that Alec hadn’t seen before now through what he had assumed was an access door in the kitchen. Boy was he wrong. It opened up a whole other side of the apartment.

“The other apartment I looked at contained a gymnasium for which I had no need. Not that I needed a television screen as large as this one either, but to choose between the two, I thought this more practical.”

Alec snorted. He couldn’t imagine having the finances to have those kind of apartment decisions. His last apartment dilemma was to choose between a working elevator and an eat-in kitchen. He chose the apartment with an elevator and just ate in front of the TV most mornings when he finished his night shift.

“You’ve obviously accumulated some wealth over the years.” It wasn’t a question. Though Alec thought it was probably rude to ask, he said it anyway.

“Yes.” Cronin smiled and watched as Alec hooked up his laptop computer to the projector. “It wasn’t always so. When I was human, currency wasn’t even really a thing.”

Alec stopped what he was doing and stared at Cronin. “No currency?”

“Well, there was. Though my village was quite removed and rather poor. We tended to barter and trade goods or skills instead. My mother would sell baskets for fish.”

Alec blinked. “Jesus.”

Cronin chuckled. “No, he wasn’t there.”

Alec snorted out a laugh, still in shock at this admission. Cronin’s age would never cease to surprise him.

“Then, as I…
happened
across personal wares, I would sell them for coins.” Cronin cringed.

“Happened across personal wares?” Alec laughed. “You mean you took silver rings and watches from your—” He searched for the right words. “—dinner dates?”

Now it was Cronin who laughed. “If that’s what you’d prefer to call them.”

“It’s nicer than saying ‘the man you just killed’.”

Cronin shrugged, completely not offended. “True. I’ve also been known to leap into bank vaults to take what I want.”

Alec forgot about the computer cords he was holding and stared at Cronin. “Bank vaults?”

“On occasion. Not in a long time, though.”

Alec finished connecting the cords between his laptop and the projector, and—using a skill learned during years of police work—he hacked into someone else’s Netflix account. He assumed the NYPD were now watching everything he did, so he needed the anonymity. He’d also just wittingly crossed the cop/felon line but couldn’t bring himself to care. It wasn’t as bad as robbing bank vaults, but still, illegal was illegal. It did, however, make him think of something else.

“So how does one go about purchasing prime New York City real estate but avoid attention?”

“I did the deal from London. It was all done via email, phone calls, and lawyers, and I met with the agent and lawyer here once, at night of course, and signed the paperwork. You’d be surprised how discreet they can be when large sums of money are involved.” Cronin smiled at Alec. “It’s easier to be someone from out of town.”

“What about identification?” Alec pressed. “I’m pretty sure your driver’s license doesn’t have your date of birth on it.”

Cronin sighed wistfully. “Once upon a time and for many hundreds of years, identification was taken by name alone. You were who you said you were. Identification papers were only introduced after World War I, and photographic evidence much later. False identification is harder with the introduction of certain technologies, but really, money can buy a lot of things.”

“I spent years as a cop hating that fact,” Alec grumbled. “So what name is this apartment under anyway? I assume not your real name.”

“I am currently, whilst in America anyway, Mr. James T. Furst.” Cronin smiled when he said the name.

Alec studied him for a long moment and wondered what he found so amusing. “Wasn’t James the First the King of Scotland?”

Cronin barked out a laugh. “Yes. Eiji thought it would be funny.”

Alec shook his head and laughed along with Cronin. “I’m starting to think the sense of humor trait glitches out when you guys become vampires.”

Cronin ignored the jibe. “To answer your question, my very first real estate purchase was done in England. I had taken some personal effects such as clothes and shoes from a…
dinner date
here in America. I leapt back to London and pretended to be American. They took in my newly acquired American clothes, my fake accent, and my bankroll and the rest, as they say, is history. Then as decades passed, I posed as the son or grandson of myself and resold the properties for profit. It’s best not to stay too long in one place.”

“I guess not. You collect artifacts, though. Like the ones in your living room. Do you sell those?”

“No, they are my personal collection.”

“Will you tell me about them one day?”

Cronin smiled. “Yes. Anything you want to know.”

“Have you always lived in such nice places?”

Cronin shook his head slowly. “I’m fortunate that I can leap to wherever the sun is not, though most of my kind cannot. It was not uncommon in earlier times that vampires would have to bury themselves in dirt or sand to avoid sunlight. Most found abandoned houses or caves if they were lucky; some took any house they fancied by killing every inhabitant.”

“Oh.”

Cronin cringed. “We might prefer a more pleasant topic of conversation for our… date?”

“Good idea.” Alec picked up the remote and jumped on the huge sofa. It was cinema-like but wrapped around the room with reclining seats and footrests, and came complete with drink holders. He patted the seat next to him. “Take a seat.”

Cronin hesitated.

Alec rolled his eyes. “I don’t bite.”

Cronin smiled. “And you complain about my humor. Yours is questionable, more so than mine.”

“Well, it’s a bit difficult to have a
date
when you won’t sit next to me.”

Cronin chuckled nervously. “It isn’t that I don’t want to sit next to you. I want it very much, but”—he sat down beside Alec and slid back, trying to look relaxed—“I’m afraid I have no experience in such matters as human dating.”

Alec held out his hand closest to Cronin. “Would you like to hold my hand?”

Cronin grabbed his hand quickly, only then seeming to remember Alec’s question. “Yes.”

Alec didn’t bother trying to fight a grin and pointed the remote at the projector. “I picked a movie you might find interesting.”

“What is it?”

“
Blade
,” Alec said. “It’s a vampire flick. I thought you might like to see how you’re portrayed by society. And believe me, it’s one of the better ones. There are some I wouldn’t let you watch.”

The movie had barely started when Cronin’s cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered. “Eiji? … Yes. And the location? … Understood.”

Cronin ended the phone call and sighed. “Alec, I’m afraid our date will have to wait. The meeting of our coven will be tonight, so if you wish to see your father, I suggest we do it today.”

Cronin didn’t want to rush Alec. He didn’t want to expose him to the dangers that were coming any more than he had to. With every fiber of his being, he wanted to protect him, save him. But it was all happening too quickly.

Eiji and Jodis had left to scout information, to put together the pieces and rumors to see if there was a clearer picture of what the Egyptians and Illyrians were doing, and hopefully, by association, figure out what the key could be. Whatever it was, whatever the grand plan was, Cronin knew it couldn’t possibly be good. But without any evidence, speculation and imagination were all he had to go by.

The meeting of the coven to be held later that night was paramount, and vampire representatives from other covens from all over the country and even Canada would be there. Cronin couldn’t miss it, yet he didn’t want to leave Alec unguarded for any amount of time. He certainly didn’t want to bring him into the meeting—the only human amongst a few hundred vampires—but he feared he had little choice. He simply could not leave him.

“Okay,” Alec said. “So you have the address and you just need to think ‘hallway’ or ‘kitchen’ and that’s where we’ll leap to?”

Cronin gave a nod. “Yes.”

Alec pressed the call button and put the phone to his ear. It was a simple prepaid phone, untraceable, to be used only once, then replaced. It also meant Alec’s father wouldn’t recognize the phone number calling him.

The call was answered on the fourth ring, and Cronin could hear every word. “Hello?” The voice was gruff, older in years, and, as expected, Scottish. It made Cronin smile.