DeVante's Coven (16 page)

“He’s not a regular vampire,” Roderick said, reaching for the worry-stone he wore about his neck.

DeVante’s eyes narrowed, his whole face tightening. “What does that mean?”

Okay, Roderick thought. Spill it fast. “He doesn’t sleep. And I mean I made him six nights ago and he has not slept. Not in the day, not in the night. He hardly craves blood, though he likes it, and has an amazing natural knack for lulling his victims into a trance and taking the ‘little sip.’ And then his victims walk away. I’ll grant that they walk away a bit drunkenly, but they walk. His first drink was like that. No urgency. No loss of control. No death.

“The morning after his first hunt, he simply got up while I slept and went home. He walked outside in the morning, in the daylight, in the sun. He did not burn. He told me later that his eyes were incredibly sensitive to light, so with complete Tony-logic he purchased a pair of sunglasses. No killing. No daytime sleep. And yet he made Lily, and she seems normal enough. Her thirst drives her wild. The sun drives her to sleep. And guilt drives her to her knees. He made her completely by accident.

“And… maybe the most awful thing of all… I can’t see into his mind. Not a shadow of a thought. He is completely closed to me.”

DeVante finally reacted. He stood and advanced until he pressed Roderick against the wall. And then just looked at him, stared into his eyes, probed his mind for the truth. Roderick stood still and let him. Actually, Roderick opened his mind wide to DeVante’s probing, gave him all the images of Tony, dying in the street, standing naked and unselfconscious in Roderick’s bedroom, ‘dancing’ with his victim. Roderick gave it all up to DeVante, and with it his bafflement, fear, and helplessness.

DeVante soaked it all into himself, then reached a hand to Roderick’s face, caressed his cheek and chucked him under the chin like a child. “You are my impulsive one, are you not? Ah, we shall see what comes to pass.” He cut Roderick’s dramatic tale short. “Now come and see Daniel’s creation.”

DeVante led Roderick through the house, peering into each room. There were mortals everywhere, drinking, dancing, watching movies, lounging about as though they belonged. Two of the mortals were even fucking in one of the bedrooms.

Roderick was mystified. “What is all this?”

“It is Daniel’s continuous house party. His food chain. Of the mortals, he knows each and every one, for they have been invited to seek shelter here by him. Most of those you see now will be gone by morning. A handful have moved in. It is a club-house, and Daniel is the organizer—well, Daniel and Trina,” he paused to watch Roderick’s face. “Do not look so shocked. The boy had to find some way to pass the time.”

“I imagine you will,” DeVante said. “He does tend to be around, coordinating things. Although Trina handled almost everything for him.”

A flicker of something passed over DeVante’s face, sadness or disapproval, Roderick wasn’t sure which. Mortals. Who’d ever expect DeVante to get soft on them? He ignored the flicker of emotion. “I mean, may I see him tonight?”

DeVante turned to face Roderick, to glare right into his eyes. “So you seem to think. But I never signed on to raise a teenaged human.”

“The hell you didn’t. As I recall you butted in right where I didn’t want you.”

“Ah, that. It was never about raising a young boy. It was about training a young vampire. They are two very different things. Remember I once told you that Daniel needed you to show him the fun. You left him. Now he finds his own fun.”

“I’ll find him then.”

“And leave Tony and Lily to me, hmm? Roderick, I have always been… careful… about how and when to be firm with you, and how and when to let you go your own way. Your spontaneity is part of what drew me to you in the first place. Joy suits you. But you have crossed the line of behavior I can accept from you. You are far too quick to make fledglings.”

Roderick tried to interrupt, to explain, but DeVante held up his hand. “Too quick. So going forward… I forbid you from doing it. No more fledglings. No more messes dropped in my lap. And before you disregard this edict, know this—if you should disobey me, I will hunt you down. I will suck the immortal blood right out of you and hold you in my arms while you die.”

A chill went up Roderick’s spine.

DeVante glared right into his eyes. “Do not let your cockiness lull you into thinking that I will not do it.” He sighed. And then said, “You might find your Daniel at one of the clubs in the Castro.”

“The clubs? He goes there alone? What if something happened to him?”

“What could possibly happen to him, Roderick? He has already met the most dangerous creatures of the night. He is one of them. He is stronger than any human. He can protect himself.”

“What if he doesn’t get home? What if he can’t avoid the sun?”

“Surely he has learned that lesson by now. It was one of the first. So go. I expect you will find him. But Roderick—I also expect you will return to me before dawn.”

“I will. I will.” Roderick turned toward the front door. “Thanks. For staying with Tony and Lily, I mean. And Daniel, too, of course.”

Chapter 18



How to prove a myth

When the door to his room opened, Tony’s head snapped up and he clenched his fists—ready to defend his Lady Lily to the death.

The lord of the manor, DeVante, entered the room on silent feet. He nodded towards Lily asleep on the bed. “Good, she rests.”

“Finally.” Tony smoothed his hands over his face. “She cried herself into exhaustion. She really is horrified. I think she’d kill herself if she knew how.”

Tony felt a paralyzing fear crawling up his spine. “Well I don’t plan to. Lily and I are… I don’t know, exactly… each other’s mirrors, I guess. We reflect back what we see, and learn together how to survive.”

“Mmm,” was DeVante’s only response.

Tony found himself marveling at how still DeVante was. It seemed his every movement, every gesture, was plotted and made only after thought. He did not fidget. He did not pace. He stood perfectly still, his eyes staring into Tony, as if there were no urgency to anything, ever.

Tony supposed there wasn’t, if they were truly immortal.

“So what will happen to Roderick, you know, with the punishment and all?”

“He is forbidden from making fledglings. He has a penchant for young boys, and I have no patience for it. He will endure whatever I ask him to. And I will make a ceremony of it—declaring him in need of punishment before all his young fledglings. That will make it worse for him. He tells me you do not sleep, so perhaps you can assist me. I will call for you when it is time.”

Cryptic, Tony thought, but did not ask for explanation. It was more urgent for Tony to find out what DeVante had in mind for him. And for Lily. “Now that we’ve come here, and caused you pain, and brought Roderick to needing discipline, are Lily and I free to go?”

“Ah, Tony, this…” DeVante spread his arms wide. “This is meant to be a haven, not a gilded cage. I could keep you here, of course, but being a keeper of fledglings is not my preferred role. I wonder, however, how you expect to take care of Lily on your own? Particularly as she is a very different creature from you. You are a very different creature from any I have known.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Tony knew he wasn’t what Roderick expected. Roderick wanted to be able to read his mind, and couldn’t, even when Tony tried to relax and let him. And when the sun rose, both Roderick and Lily fell into a death-like slumber. He did not. He walked in the sun without injury. And he hadn’t slept since he met Roderick. Part of him missed sleep, missed the sweet release of oblivion and the entertainment of dreaming. He was not the same boy he used to be. There was no denying that, like there was also no denying that he enjoyed the taste of blood.

Tony startled momentarily when DeVante reached for him, taking his head in his hands, fingertips touching at the back of his skull, thumbs resting just at the bottom of his chin. The vampire tipped Tony’s head back and stared into his face. Their eyes met and Tony gasped, shuddered. He felt suddenly like his soul was in DeVante’s hands, and that he no longer had control over his own destiny.

“What sort of creature are you?” DeVante mused while searching Tony’s eyes, his voice so soft it was a murmur. “To drink blood, yet still walk in the sun?” He stared into Tony for a long time.

“It’s there,” DeVante whispered, finally. “Lurking at the edges of your soul, an entity even more ancient and timeless than we. And it is astounding that Roderick should find you at all. I can hardly think it was an accident.”

“What do you see?” Tony begged to know. “Tell me.”

Now DeVante released him and shook his head. “Are there any Native legends surrounding your specific family line?”

“I’m not sure.” Tony closed his eyes, trying to grab bits and pieces of memory from his early childhood on the Ojibwa reservation, but they were elusive. He was so young when his mother had moved them from Minnesota to Nevada. His grandmother, well, he hardly remembered her at all, and so her stories were lost to him.

“Absolutely not. You are free to go. But you should stay. We should explore your limitations and your gifts. But Lily…” DeVante paused, almost as if waiting for Tony’s outburst, and Tony obliged.

“What about her?” He knew his voice was sharp and defensive. “Lily stays with me. Always.”

“Lily should stay here, at least until she learns discipline and self-control. She needs to choose to survive no matter what has befallen her. No one can choose that for her. But once she makes the choice, I can show her how to do it.”

“Trade Trina for Lily?”

“No,” DeVante said, and his voice was suddenly sharp and he turned his back on Tony, walked away from him across the room. “Trina was Trina, Lily is Lily. Trina was part of my household, and Lily will certainly not replace her. I am not so crass as to have any such thought. Your princess is deeply damaged. I can make her whole.” He turned and leaned against the far wall, speaking from across the room. “What are you going to do, Tony, should you choose to leave?”

“Go back to Las Vegas; kill the shit-head who tried to kill me.”

“It is not necessary, you know. He will die long before you, even should you do nothing. You are immortal. You are Vampire.”

“Am I? It seems I am only part vampire. Maybe I am not immortal, as you are. I already know from Roderick that I have abilities and differences that terrify him. I think that’s why he brought us here—he didn’t know what to do with me, and so he comes to you. He certainly doesn’t know what to do with Lily.”

“You are Vampire… and something more. Not something less.”

“Well, whatever.” Tony shrugged. “I want to seek my attacker. Someone murdered me and I need to find him. Take my revenge. I deserve revenge.”

He didn’t know how to explain it, that no matter who he was now, no matter who he would become, some asshole had taken away his old life. A life that Tony had been enjoying. If he hadn’t been dying in that alley, there would be none of this. He and Lily would still be in their little self-created home, still exploring the meaning of life together. Lily wouldn’t be going through this catastrophic grief, this unendurable knowing that she had caused death. She would be closer to whole.

“Revenge can be sweet,” DeVante acknowledged.

Then DeVante had Tony by the shoulders, holding him, and Tony was startled because he’d had no indication that DeVante was moving. One moment DeVante was across the room, the next he was holding Tony immobile.

“You understand it was Roderick who took your human life and gave you this one.”

Tony tried to draw back, but DeVante held him still. His hands didn’t hurt, just held him in place against his will. “Yes, he gave me this one. But I was almost dead when he found me. I would be dead, in the ground and buried, if Roderick had not done…
this
. I need to find the bastard who ripped me apart in the first place. So am I free to leave or not?”

DeVante let him go, but stood so close that their bodies almost touched. “Would you consider having Roderick accompany you? It is his responsibility to ensure your safety.”

“I don’t know,” Tony shrugged. “I guess that would be okay. And Lily? Is she then my responsibility, or Roderick’s also? I don’t know how she’ll survive all this. She’s too sensitive for what I’ve done to her. Oh! If only I had not done it.”

“I will keep her with me. I will teach her to feed slowly and gently. How to choose willing victims to sustain herself. I will teach her not to kill.”

And Tony realized with sudden clarity that it would be the only way she could endure. He wondered at DeVante then, that first he disavows himself of fledglings, but then would take on Lily, whom he had just met, and who had already made a mess in his house. And he held tenderness in his voice for her all the same. “And Roderick?” Tony asked. “You think he’ll go to Vegas with me, help me put the clues of my broken memory together, find this man, kill him?”