Vigil (33 page)

Vigil
225

whether he’d smuggled them in through the nurses or had Boaz

lay them out while he slept. It wasn’t enough. It had never been

enough, really, but Adin had fooled himself into thinking that

someday it would be. That someday Donte might love him

enough to forgive him his humanity and take him as he was.

That day had not come. In fact, Donte had handed him the

betrayal of a lifetime, along with the tremendously thoughtful

little gifts he no doubt imagined would make up for his callous

disregard for Adin’s autonomy. Adin looked back at the tiny gifts,

spread out on a rolling table intended for use by patients who

could still eat food, and it broke his heart.

“There’s nothing in there I want to take with me.”

Tuan pushed Adin’s wheelchair toward the elevator with

Santos following along behind them like a paid mourner at

a funeral cortege. They made their way up from the dimly lit

basement like moles. When the doors opened to the lobby, Adin

blinked his eyes against the shocking, bright fluorescent lights.

He knew Edward and Bran were in the hospital somewhere, but

they wouldn’t come to him. He would have liked to see them.

Tuan leaned over to speak to him. “I imagine this must seem

like too much, but it’s the middle of the night and about as quiet

as it’s going to be. Santos has a limousine waiting to take you

someplace where you can get your bearings. Boaz has gone ahead

to pull it around.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll go on some sort of rampage, and the

villagers will have to come with pitchforks and torches to put me

down?”

Santos chuckled. “Those sorts of things are usually only

required when someone is turned and abandoned.”

Tuan nodded his agreement. “Generally speaking, when the

initial transition is medically supervised and the newly made

vampire has a mentor, the most problematic results can be

avoided.”

“Thank heavens I have a sponsor.” Adin tried not to point

out that the subject they discussed with such sangfroid was his

worst-case scenario. “Like AA. Will I get a chip? I’ve been in for

a month. Shall I call you whenever I feel like a drink and I don’t

know if I can say
when
?”

“There’s the Adin I know and want to bludgeon...” Santos

placed a casual hand on his shoulder. They rolled past the sensor

that triggered the automatic sliding doors, exiting into the night.

Once outside, Adin’s newly enhanced senses overwhelmed

him. The chilly air hit him and he felt every hair follicle tingle as

228 Z.A. Maxfield

his skin drew up against the cold. The clouds that filled the sky

spattered rain intermittently and he heard each drop as it seemed

to thunder to the earth. He perceived everything Donte ever

shared with him and more. He could see as if it were daylight

and his sense of smell was so acute that he was aware of each

and every individual odor; from the hospital laundry, to burning

fuel from the highway, to the aroma of French fries, carried on

the wind from a restaurant he couldn’t see. The darkness teemed

with living things. Adin felt it quicken with life even as he heard

the faint scrabbling noise of insects and the sound of a thousand

different heartbeats.

It was too much, though, too new, and he felt inundated by it.

He put his hands to his ears while he tried to accustom himself

to the vast and varied sensory input, even as Boaz edged the

limousine to the curb. He had to pull deep within himself to keep

it from swamping him.

Tuan put a hand on Adin’s arm to help him rise from the

wheelchair. Adin straightened and tested his strength and his

balance while Santos pushed the chair away. He felt unbelievably

strong, in a way, but uncoordinated, as if he had been placed in a

new body and didn’t yet know how to make it work.

He stepped back and pivoted around when he felt some sort

of imminent danger like an icy slap from behind. His newly

honed senses went on red alert. He started to brush Tuan’s hands

away in order to face the threat except Tuan must have felt it too.

He flanked Adin, crouching low, emitting a rumbling growl that

made the hair on Adin’s arms stand up. A ripple of air brushed

Adin’s skin in the charged atmosphere, telling him Santos had

moved to his other side.

Adin’s skin tingled and it took a while before he realized he had

given up breathing. He waited for what seemed like an eternity,

watching the shadowy alley beyond the well-lit emergency room

entrance. He couldn’t see anything but felt something coming, an

imminent menace, from the darkness there.

What finally materialized and stepped into the light didn’t

make sense. It was Donte as Adin had never seen him before,

Vigil
229

wearing a sleek black turtleneck and soft-looking leather pants

that fit like skin. He wore nothing flowing or fashionable as he

normally did, he was garbed for function, for ease of movement,

and armed with a wicked-looking katana.

Donte was dressed for war.

“
Donte
.” Adin heard his voice and couldn’t believe the power

of it. That one word blew out of him like thunder. Adin’s nascent

inner monster was determined to protect itself.

Donte stopped where he was. “This is between Santos and

me.”

Adin turned to Santos with a frown.

Santos froze. “I beg your pardon.”

“You heard me,” Donte growled. “For the record, you may

arm yourself or you may die where you stand.”

In the blink of an eye, Tuan pulled a telescoping steel baton

from his pocket and flicked his wrist to open it. “What is this

about Fedeltà?”

Donte didn’t take his eyes from Santos. “I should have killed

you when you took Adin the first time, Christiano. I should have

let you die five centuries ago. I allowed sentimentality to cloud

my thinking and it ends tonight.”

Santos stepped forward, still relaxed. He held his hand out for

Tuan’s baton. He took it and hefted it, whipping it back and forth

experimentally. “Have you nothing with a blade?”

Tuan shook his head.

Santos turned to Donte. “While I can appreciate that you

might wish to kill me, what can I have done to you that you feel

it must be here and now?”

Donte didn’t answer Santos’s question. He merely lifted his

sword in preparation to attack and said, “Tuan, take Adin and

go.”

“I don’t think so.” Adin’s angry words ricocheted off the

damp pavement. “Explain yourself, Donte.”

230 Z.A. Maxfield

“Adin is right. I’m not going anywhere.” Tuan rolled his

shoulders. “And I’m sure you know that I don’t need a sword to

fight.”

“Do you defend Santos?” Donte asked Tuan incredulously.

“What if I do? This makes no sense, Fedeltà.”

Adin caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. Boaz

opened the driver’s side door of the limousine and got out. He

came around the car to stand on the curb between them off to

the side.

Santos stopped posturing with the baton and spoke. “Adin

will be under my protection.”

Wind whistled and the steel of Donte’s sword sang when he

leaped forward. “Like hell he will.”

“Stop!” Adin stepped between Donte and Santos, giving

the latter a firm shove back toward where Tuan stood, waiting.

Donte barely had time to pull back his strike. “Santos will see

to my needs until I am less angry with you, Donte. You should

thank him.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Donte moved into the light so

that Adin could see his face. His dark eyes were angry and hurt.

“You are angry with
me
?”

“Wait.” Tuan caught Adin’s arm when he would have turned

away. “Donte, are you saying you didn’t turn Adin?”

Donte gripped his sword tighter. “I did not. You must know

I did not.”

“How would I?” Tuan asked.

“You never left his side while I was there.” Donte shook his

head as if the question were ridiculous. “I had no right. He told

me he didn’t want—”

“You think
I
turned him?” Santos asked, genuinely shocked.

“Why would he accept my protection if I turned him?”

Santos didn’t move, even as Donte advanced, even as the tip

of Donte’s blade pressed against his throat. “If you lie…”

Vigil
231

“I swear on my father’s soul—the soul of a man we both

loved—that I did not,” Santos said evenly. “Can you say the

same?”

Donte lowered his sword. “I can. On that same soul I swear.

I did not.”

“What the fuck?” Adin sagged. Both Donte and Santos

reached for him then, although it was Tuan who finally thought

to bring Adin the wheelchair. When Adin was seated he massaged

his forehead absently. “I don’t understand.”

“This is troublesome,” Santos remarked, shooting Donte a

look loaded with meaning that Adin didn’t comprehend.

Adin looked up at his lover’s face. He stood tall and appeared

more coldly unemotional than Adin had ever seen him. It was

impossible to guess what he was thinking. It was enough to

swallow the pain of his betrayal. If they’d all been wrong…

At that moment Edward emerged from the hospital with

Bran in tow. When he took in the scene at the curb where Donte

and Santos stood, still armed, he froze.

“What’s going on here?” Edward asked carefully.

“It seems,” Tuan frowned, “we have a mystery on our hands.

Both Donte and Santos insist they had nothing to do with turning

Adin.”

“Well…
shit
.” Edward folded his arms and glared at both men.

“He didn’t get it from a toilet seat. Who the hell else
could
have

done it?”

Donte turned to Edward and sheathed his sword. “Who

knew he was here?”

“Just us.” Edward gestured toward the group of men who

surrounded Adin and ticked them off on his fingers. “You. Tuan,

Me, Bran, Boaz, Santos, and Adin himself…”

“Surely you don’t think I turned myself,” Adin growled.

“Would there be any reason, any advantage for one of the

medical personnel to turn me?” He looked up at Edward and saw

Bran standing stock still under the overhead lighting, staring at

232 Z.A. Maxfield

Boaz with an expression of shock on his face. “Bran. What is it?”

Boaz gazed back at Bran without expression.

“
Boaz.
Why?” Bran asked.

Boaz said nothing but suddenly every eye was on him.

Edward was the first to speak. “Boaz? Did you do this?”

Boaz sighed. “Do you mean did I put an end to Adin’s rubbish

and move everyone forward to the inevitable outcome of the

situation in order to protect Donte Fedeltà to whom I am sworn?

Yes
. I did.”

“How?” Tuan asked.

Boaz held his hands out palm up. “I’m not without resources,

and this is a hospital full of vampires and vampire blood. How

do you think?”

Adin gripped the arms of the wheelchair. “You tried to make

me think it was Santos.”

“Or Donte. Frankly, I was surprised to see that it mattered

one way or the other. But it certainly wouldn’t do for Donte to

kill Santos. I never expected that.”

“What did you expect?” Donte asked. “That I would welcome

the violation of my lover in such a fashion?”

“Well. Frankly, yes.” Boaz eyed Donte. “Because he weakened

you. And we couldn’t have that.”

“
We
couldn’t…” Donte seemed to have no words. Tuan’s

hand dropped onto Adin’s shoulder when he would have risen

from the wheelchair.

Santo turned to Boaz sadly. “This was a grave impertinence,

Boaz, even for an imp. But it’s Donte’s to deal with. You are no

longer welcome in my home. Don’t make it necessary for me to

refuse you aid in the future, and steer well clear of my family.”

“I will,” Boaz said calmly.

Adin wanted to slip his hand into Donte’s, his face was so

pained it was hard to look at him.

Vigil
233

“Boaz,” Donte said finally. “Every breath you take from this

moment on is the direct result of the love I bear your parents. I

never want to see you again.”

“Fair enough,” Boaz agreed. “Because we both know that

every breath Dr. Adin Tredeger has taken since he met you has

cost you the respect of your peers, your time, your safety, and

every resource you have. We both know that the love of this

human
pet
of yours would have been your undoing, and we both

know that it was my loyalty to you, the love I bear you, and the

responsibility my family undertook centuries ago to keep you safe

that made me the only person—the only entity on the planet—

who cared for you enough to do what was right in the face of

what was comfortable and convenient.”

“Get out of my sight before I change my mind and tear you

apart,” Donte spat.

“I’m going.” Boaz sauntered back around to the driver’s side