DeLeina, Maya - Veil of Seduction [Ambrose Heights Vampires 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (10 page)

Alex fired back. “But Anya is his mate!”

“
Exactly
. Since he probably touched something’s of Ryan’s to gain his mate connection to Anya, according to our laws, he will need to fully understand Ryan’s relationship to her before he starts any type of quest.”

“But what if Ryan had blackness in his turning? He may not even recall her.”

“Then this will be our first true test on Steffan to know if he is upholding the creed and abiding by his own laws. Will he come to us for information, or will he simply ignore everything and mate abduct instead?”

“Let me get this straight, he comes to us for information but you’re not even giving the man a fair chance at anything with this report? Steffan is relying on us. This sounds like entrapment.”

“No. Don’t you see? We won’t claim to know anything about Anya. Background info on her family, yes, but that’s it. If Ryan can’t recall her, and he doesn’t get any straightforward information on her in the transgression report, Steffan has to fully investigate everything on his own. Look, if he is as virtuous as he appears to everyone, then there’s no harm, no foul. But, if my gut is correct, this decision to secretly test our leader could be our legacy. It could change our ranking among our kind.”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with what you’re asking to do here.”

“We
need
this, Alex. Remember, Steffan has
absolute power.
He sets the creeds, doctrines and laws…hell he even judges the cases of improprieties and determines punishment. He sits at the head of the council! No one questions him…no one tests his true self.”

Alex ran his fingers through his hair and let out a sigh.

“Alex, if it turns out we need a new leader, I can’t think of anyone more fitting for the title than you. And as our leader, you could even persuade Eilian to work on a serum to help you recall all your vampiric memories.”

The thought of being figure of status did sound appealing to Alex, not to mention, a cure to help him remember his past which he desperately longed for.

Alex buried his hands deep into his pants pockets. He resigned all efforts to argue with Madeline. And in a way, she was right. Who was watching over their leader?

Chapter Six

Steffan sat across from Eilian at the lab table.

A soothing hum emanated from the lighting source, a therapeutic quality in its resonance.

Laptops, folders, notebooks, and glass slides containing red and black blood smears covered the cold cement slab. The glass slides lay in a perfect row next to individual labels.

Eilian, Catrin, Griffin, Rhys, Brynne, Aeron, Gwynn, Haydn.

Steffan read off the names to himself, noticing his sample was clearly out of the mix.

“Don’t worry,” scoffed Eilian from behind the microscope, breaking the long silence that suspended in the room. “You won’t be in this batch of testing. This is a Defender testing phase for the families, not Consumption. And, since you refuse to take Defender…”

Steffan ignored his jab and began to slowly twirl himself on the rotating seat of the stool in a childlike manner. With his eyes fixed at the eyepiece and his hands making slight adjustments to the controls, Eilian continued, “So, they still remain black?”

Steffan responded with a sigh of relief. “They finally are receding. By this evening, his eyes should return to human form.”

Steffan got up from his seat, walked behind Eilian, and peered over his shoulder at his meticulous notes on the testing results.

Eilian looked up from the eyepiece and turned around on the stool. Long strands of hair fell to his green eyes as he peered up at Steffan. “I know this doesn’t interest you and you would rather be upstairs with your music. So, what is it?”

“He remembered his name. His name is Ryan—Ryan Evans. Looks like we don’t have to name him after all.”

“Damn! I was so looking forward to a fine Welsh name to bestow on him to fit his stature and transformation.”

Steffan chuckled. “I thought we agreed to break from the Welsh name tradition. I mean, you and I are from South Wales, but Rhys is from Greece, Griffin is from Russia and everyone else is from here…America.”

“Tradition, I guess…from Idris,” Eilian said as he shrugged.

Steffan nodded in acknowledgment and rubbed his hand around his bracelet. How he missed Idris, his maker and his friend.

Despite their banter, Steffan remained plagued with anxiety. As the leader of the family, Steffan always masked any apprehension or doubt in front of the family members, but Eilian was different.

Eilian was his confidant.

They had been turned in unison by Idris and had remained side by side ever since. When Idris passed, they sought to form their own family, seeking a society that would uphold civility and pursue scientific discoveries that would advance their kind. Their connection allowed Eilian to pacify Steffan’s racing thoughts and Steffan to ignite Eilian’s intellectual capabilities.

“All right, so he remembered his name. His eyes turned black. So maybe his blackness is egotistically based,” Eilian announced

With his hands cupped behind his back, Steffan walked slowly down the row of bookshelves lining one side of the room “I think he has a slight ability to shield.” Steffan stopped pacing the room and rubbed his chin. “This is a very dangerous ability for someone with blackness.”

“Is that what worries you?”

“Somewhat.”

“Shall we rethink his purpose then?” Eilian voiced more of a solution rather than a question. “Have him train with Rhys so we can monitor the level of his ability?”

Steffan leaned back on the bookshelf. “No. We’ll stick to the original plan of why he was supposed to be here in the first place. He’ll just be like one of us now all because of that damn accident.”

“I still can’t believe that happened on his way up here. I mean, we were just talking about him earlier that day and making all of the necessary arrangements for his arrival and then…bam. He drives his car right off the side of the mountain.”

“This is what fate has dealt us.” Steffan sighed.

“Hmm…” Eilian sounded as he drifted in thought.

“What?”

“I was just thinking…can you imagine what you must’ve looked like that night, dressed all in black and with that hooded coat of yours, nonetheless? You probably scared the bejesus out of him,” Eilian explained.

Steffan smiled. “Yes, I believe I gave him quite a stir, especially when we took flight.”

Eilian chuckled. “I can’t believe I missed going out and getting in some air time with you and the guys. Catrin and I were…umm…busy.”

“Yes, we know. You would’ve loved to have seen Rhys teaching Brynne—it was quite amusing. But look, winter hasn’t even officially begun…there will be many more storms for you to join us in. I’m sure of it,” Steffan remarked playfully.

Then his demeanor turned serious.

“About Ryan, he recalls pieces of his human life that centered on him—his car, the house, his name, and most importantly, his career. His lust for material possession will actually serve our family well. He’ll be loyal and devoted as long as he’s rewarded with the possession he desires.”

Steffan moved to take a seat on the stool next to Eilian at the lab table.

“But with this retention, he’ll be eager to get back out there again. Eilian, he was high profile in his community and we’re too close to the action. I don’t feel like moving the family just for him. We’re not even ready with another suitable location. We’ll have to craft a story for his absence, make sure to plug any possible holes. We cannot put the family in danger of being discovered.”

“I know. I’ve thought about this, too. I’m figuring anxiety—a nervous breakdown with a little rehab stint. We can give the Tucson family a major discount on their next supply order in exchange for a patient entry record for Ryan.”

Eilian entered comments in the Tucson family’s record on the laptop.

“And I’ll make the necessary arrangements for the mass enthrall once we identify everyone who knew Ryan. Don’t worry. It’ll be taken care of.”

Steffan took in a long, deep breath. “All right, with our investments safely in the hands of family, you and I can concentrate on the serums.”

“Sounds like a great plan. But, I can still feel you harboring something. What is the real issue here?” Eilian asked.

Steffan latched on to the red jasper that sat in his pocket, allowing little bits of lightning to penetrate him.

“It just angers me. He has no recollection of their love. He speaks of no woman…anyone, as a matter of fact. I enter his mind and find emptiness. Absolutely nothing! Not an image of a woman, a scent of a woman, or a voice of a woman. I never turned anyone before, and the one time I follow my heart, I’m dealt a bad case of blackness.” Steffan released the jasper and balled his fist in his hair at his forehead as he leaned his elbow on the table. “I made the choice of this life for him. I based my decision on what he said that night, what came out of him effortlessly, above the pain and anguish he was in. I mean, if there’s nothing there, what in the hell was he referring to as
needing her
?”

Steffan released his hair from his fist and grabbed the edge of the table with two hands. “When I first saw the black, I should’ve stopped it, but I didn’t.”

“Look, you did what you thought was right. You can’t compare what happened when Rhys turned Dominic.”

Steffan pounded his fist on the table. “How can I not make the comparison to what happened with Dominic?”

Eilian jumped back in response.

Steffan combed his hand through his hair. “What have I done? Money, power, greed—this is what Ryan was all about. We knew it. I knew it. It was exactly what we wanted for our human feeder who controlled our investments. He was supposed to still be mortal, damnit! But I turned him, knowing full well that deep down he could’ve turned black! Eilian, I ignored my better judgment all because that damn second of hope he gave me. And he’s one of us now. An eternity’s worth of material possessions and sexual conquests, that can’t be enough to satisfy him. He’ll eventually want a mate, and then what? I mean, we can teach him about the mate claiming, but the blackness in him could cloud his judgment. He could even view the claim as a simple possession in itself. The blackness can overpower him. It could be embedded from the transference of his human existence so deep that it’s purely innate, and all of our teachings could just fall on deaf ears. Worse yet, he could select a mate for the wrong reasons and face depletion and suffer an agonizing death from a blood-claim rejection. How could I live with myself if that happened?”

He paused and frowned.

“And if he can’t find a mate, he could go completely mad. I am responsible for him. I am responsible for everything that happens to him.”

“You are responsible to a point, Steffan. Don’t do this to yourself. And who knows, he could surpass all of it, understand and embrace the theory of the claim that we teach him, and come out of this all right,” added Eilian.

“I don’t know. I just fear it’s going to be another Dominic,” Steffan explained. He bit down on his pinky, deep in thought.

“Look at it this way, Steffan, you haven’t found your mate and you haven’t gone mad. At least…I think you haven’t gone mad.”

“Number one, I don’t have the blackness inherent in me. And number two, I have other interests and endeavors to occupy my time. If I had a mate, how would I have created Ambrose Heights, oversee our lair, or come up with the possibilities of Defender or Consumption? ”

Steffan headed toward the metal door, and Eilian followed closely behind. The door had no handles. No locks. Steffan balled his hand and tapped the silver disk embedded in the wall with the side of his fist. The metal door rotated on its center hinge, allowing Steffan and Eilian to freely pass through. They walked side by side through a long corridor system that had been carved out of the solid earth. A few dim overhead lights and wall sconces washed down the meandering path that lead to a freight elevator.