King of Darkness (36 page)

Siddoh hiked his shoulders. His eyes were full of sadness, and Thad hadn’t really been prepared for that. Cocky and defensive was generally more Siddoh’s gig. “Honestly, that was pretty mutual. I think I would have if I’d thought she wanted it. I don’t wish to talk out of school, but she had some issues. You know, growing up without her mother and all.”

Gritting his teeth, Thad nodded once more. He and Tyra had never discussed the matter at length, but it had been a struggle for her. She had been the first born but always felt like second fiddle because she was half human and because her mother had all but dropped her on the mansion’s doorstep and left her like an unwanted orphan. Thad thought of his mother fondly. He couldn’t imagine growing up without that.

Dropping his hands from his hips, Thad looked up at Siddoh again and crossed his arms over his chest. “So what else is there, eh? I already knew Tyra was MIA so I assume there’s something else.”

Siddoh’s hazel eyes fastened on him again. “Lee’s gone.”

Jesus. “Gone where? I just talked to him a few hours ago.”

“He sent me a somewhat cryptic text a little before dawn, saying he had to take off and I was in charge of all his shit till he got back.” Siddoh held his hands out to his sides, palms up. “No clue where he is.”

Thad rubbed his temples. “What would make him go off half-cocked like that?”

“Well, when I came up through the tunnel, I passed by his room. You could smell that gardenia perfume from a mile away.”

Thad clenched his jaw tightly. “Christ. Agnessa?” He sighed wearily at Siddoh’s obvious implication. “What the hell would she be doing in his room?”

Siddoh shrugged again. “Fucked if I know, but if anything would drive a male to run off into the sunrise, it would be that bitch.”

And didn’t Thad know it. He hadn’t known Agnessa well, and Lee had always been private about the relationship, but Agnessa had done a real job on the poor guy and that was on top of the royal head-fuck Lee had gotten from his father.

The she-bitch had even managed to make Thad an unwitting party to it all at one point. It had always been a wonder that Lee seemed so normal, given the circumstances. It was also a wonder that Lee had never tried to beat the shit out of him.

Thad scrubbed his hand over his face hard, as if that could get the disturbing images and holy-fuck-I-didn’t-really-do-that, did-I? out of his head somehow.

“Okay.” Thad clunked his head against the wall behind him. “So I assume you’ve tried calling him?”

Siddoh produced a cell phone from a pocket in his fatigues. “Found this in his room. Guess he forgot it.” He flipped it through the air to Thad, who caught it easily despite his bone-weary exhaustion. “I took a quick peek around. Good news is that it looks like a lot of his gear is missing so we can assume he’s armed. The bed was a little rumpled but not slept in. Hopefully it doesn’t mean that he and Agnessa had a quick tussle for old time’s sake.” Both males shivered in unison at the thought.

“So,” Siddoh continued. “I got the troops all squared away before coming over here. Franklin’s hanging in there, just barely. I heard about Eamon. How’s Theresa holding up?”

Thad winced and shook his head. “It’s not good. I’ll tell you that much. Brayden had her drain Eamon’s body before the blood was no good anymore.” He stared down at the shadows on the floor.

“Shit,” Siddoh muttered.

Thad bobbed his head slightly in agreement and continued to stare at the floor. “Can’t even imagine what that must have been like. Watching it was…”

“Yeah. At least she’s due soon,” Siddoh said with a sigh. “Think she’ll make it through?”

Thad shook his head. “Hope so.” When a vampire female was with child, she needed extra blood to sustain the pregnancy, and only the blood of her mate would do. Losing Eamon was a huge risk for Theresa, as well as her unborn child.

Having to drink from her dead mate had been the only solution, horrible as it was. “Brayden’s going to keep a close watch. Worst case, she goes into early labor or needs a C-section so the baby doesn’t put her at risk, too. She’ll have to be transferred to St. Mary’s so the baby can go into the VNICU.”

St. Mary’s was a private hospital run by vampires near downtown. It masqueraded as a private church-run clinic, giving them the ability to strictly regulate who received treatment there.

“You know what you need to do? Get a bunch of the other females, the soldiers’ wives and whatnot. Have them throw her one of those shower things. The females love that. Might help her feel a little less lonely, ya know?”

Thad weighed the idea for a minute. It was easy to forget that Siddoh was often a lot more insightful than he let on. “You know, I have to acknowledge that’s actually a decent suggestion.”

“I have ’em sometimes,” Siddoh said lightly. “So how’s it going with your female?”

Thad grunted. “She’s heading out soon.”

Siddoh’s brows shot up in surprise. “She’s leaving? I thought—”

“I don’t care what you thought. I said she’s leaving,” Thad snapped impatiently. The subject was closed. He wasn’t ready to have that conversation with anyone. It had been hard enough to say good-bye as it was.

Siddoh nodded. “Sure thing, buddy. I assume the human is leaving, too? I should go say good-bye.”

Thad cocked his head to the side. Okay, the bastard was insightful, but he’d bloody well hit on anything that moved. “Why? Getting it on with my sister’s not enough for you?”

“Meh,” Siddoh said dismissively. As usual, he was not riled in the slightest by Thad’s insulting remark. “She’s really cool. Friendly. Never been friends with a human.”

Rubbing his forehead, Thad deflated. “Sorry, man. I’m being a dick.”

“Nah.” Siddoh leaned against the opposite wall, shaking his head slightly. “Gonna be a rough road, my friend. You’re entitled to be a dick once in awhile.” He headed down the hall, turning to talk back over his shoulder. “Besides, bro, you’re the king. You can act however the fuck you want, and we’ve all gotta bend over and take it, right?”

“Don’t remind me,” Thad muttered tersely to Siddoh’s retreating form.

Holy hell, could he go anyplace in this house where nobody would hear him scream? His sister and his right-hand man were both gone, one of his soldiers was dead, and more were in bad shape. He had a grieving pregnant widow to take care of, and his supposedly destined mate was about to blow town. That, of course, was on top of all the other run-of-the-mill stuff that he was still supposed to get up to speed on.

And mother of God, he was freaking exhausted.

The shakes and sudden inability to breathe slammed Thad all over again, right there in the hall. Sure, it was daytime but anybody in the house could walk by anytime, and he was so, so screwed if word got out that the king had cracked up. He staggered toward the nearest unused room in the house. He could never tell a soul about this.

He had never been more alone.

He didn’t want to do any of this without Isabel. The prophecy had said she would be there to help him lead, for fuck’s sake. Why would he be destined for somebody who didn’t want to be with him?

A tear slipped down his face, and Thad tried to wipe it away casually as he glanced around for signs of life. He was so damn lame that it was embarrassing.

Destiny was a big fucking cheater.

“So, are you psyched about life getting back to normal?” Alexia tossed a pack of Famous Amos cookies into the shopping cart and kept wandering down the snack aisle. No road trip could commence, as far as she was concerned, without first picking up “car food.”

After a fitful day’s rest, they had made the decision to road-trip it back rather than fly, which was just fine with Isabel. Her mixed emotions churned in her stomach like wet cement and made the prospect of turbulence unbearable.

Isabel folded her hands on the bar of the shopping cart. “I guess so.”

Alexia’s sympathetic smile gave Isabel the squirmies. “You look miserable, sweetie.”

“No, I’m good. Really. It’s just all been such a whirlwind. I’m not really sure what to make of my life now, but I don’t want to just go back to being a party-girl.”

Alexia raised her eyebrows and took an open bag of pretzels from Isabel’s hand. “Aren’t you hungry? I figured after all you’d been through you’d be starving.”

Yeah. Isabel scanned the veritable cornucopia of munchies but couldn’t muster enthusiasm for any of them. It was the oddest thing. She’d been starving when they’d arrived, practically ripping bags of chips and boxes of Little Debbie snack cakes off the shelf.

She sighed. “Maybe I’ll be hungry later.”

Alexia half smiled. “It’s okay, sweetie. It’s the breakup diet. You wallow in junk for awhile and then you don’t wanna eat anything. I guess you hit stage two pretty quickly. Lucky you.” Alexia chuckled.

“I dunno.” Lucky was not the word Isabel would have used. “I hate to sound like a broken record, but I just feel so confused.”

“It’ll take time to get perspective and sort it all out. You just need some distance.”

“Or a lobotomy,” Isabel grumbled.

“Hey now,” Alexia brandished a pack of Twizzlers in Isabel’s face. “Those things are not all they’re cracked up to be. I knew a guy in high school who’d had one, and everybody thought he was drunk all the time. It seriously messes with your coordination.”

Against all odds, Isabel managed a weak laugh. “I guess I just shouldn’t have let myself get so attached to him. I didn’t try hard enough to keep my distance.”

“Or maybe you tried too hard. It’s human nature to be attached.” Alexia lowered her voice to a whisper. “And, uh, you know, the same is true for other species. Think about it. You wouldn’t have made it very far past birth if you didn’t have the love and care of others, would you?”

Isabel rolled her eyes a little. Damn Alexia for being so smart and reasonable. “I guess that’s a good point.”

Alexia continued. “They’ve actually done studies, you know. Babies
need
the touch of another in order to survive. Other species, too, like I said. Monkeys, for example.” Monkeys. This prompted Isabel to glare and toss a bag of Baked Lays at her. “K, I’m sorry about the monkey comment, but you see what I’m saying?”

She did. “I’m just not entirely sure how it’s supposed to be helpful.”

Alexia shrugged. “I guess I’m just trying to say you shouldn’t beat yourself up for finally allowing yourself to fall for someone and get attached. Me, I fall in love all the time. I just get right back on the horse when it bites me in the ass. Makes life interesting,” she said with a giggle.

“Like that little crush you managed to get on tall dark and whatsisname? Lee?” Isabel fired back with a smirk. Somehow she had shifted into bitch mode without really noticing. But it served Lexi right for her thinly veiled vampire-monkey comparison.

“Touché.” Alexia rounded the corner and grabbed a six-pack of Diet Coke. “Like that. See, and I know he’s got
zero
interest in me, but I would back over my own grandmother just to get with him. Eventually it’ll pass, but until then I just have to ride it out. At least with Thad, you knew that to some extent the feeling was mutual.”

Isabel rubbed her head and neck. If she didn’t know better, she’d think she was about to come down with that flu thing Lexi got every year. “Yeah, I’m not all that sure.”

Damn, she loved Lexi to death and appreciated her concern, but this conversation was more than she could handle.

Alexia frowned with concern. “You feeling okay, hon? You keep rubbing your head.”

“Yeah, you know…” Isabel closed her eyes. “I really don’t feel well. I thought it was just nerves, but it just keeps getting worse.”

“Well, listen,” Alexia patted her hand. “Why don’t we just stay in town another day? I’m sure Thad would be willing to let us crash for awhile longer if you’re not feeling well.”

“Hmm.” Something was definitely wrong with her stomach. Very wrong.

“Izzy?” Alexia tried to make eye contact, but Isabel suddenly wasn’t able to focus.

“I have to go.” Abruptly, Isabel slapped her hands on the cart and did a 180, speed-walking out to the parking lot.

She had never thrown up in her life, except the night her parents had died. Fear, disgust over the body she had been forced to leave on the morgue floor, and the dark knowledge that she’d been seconds away from the business end of a Y-incision had turned her stomach inside out almost as soon as she’d gotten off the hospital grounds. As nauseated as she was, she didn’t honestly think she was gonna do it this time. She just needed fresh air, right?

Until she found herself heaving like it was her job in a dark corner of the Food Lion parking lot, next to their shiny loaner Land Rover.

“Izzy?”

Isabel’s head started to pound. “S’all right, Lex. I think I’m feeling better,” Isabel said weakly. Okay, so she was a filthy liar. Really, it was the least of her worries at the moment.

“Hon, no offense but you are far from fine. Should I… try to call—”

“No!” No, she couldn’t have Thad riding to her rescue again. Not after the trouble she had already caused him. “I’ll be all right… I really am feeling better now. I think maybe whatever it was has pas—”