Dark Solace (32 page)

I almost told him he was as bad about waiting
for food as Theo was, but the joke died in my throat. Shaking off
my melancholy along with Theo, I cut Lash a few pieces, and one for
myself. After dishing the rest of the cooked bacon and sausage to
Lash and myself, I threw the last uncooked pieces in the skillet to
brown and sat down next to Lash to eat. He had finished his first
helping, and was eating with relish his last piece of
cornbread.

“This is so good!” Lash said, giving me a
happy smile. “This is just like my mother used to make. Every
Sunday, she would make us cornbread. We would all wait in the
kitchen, for it to come out of the oven—”

“All”? How many siblings had Lash had?

“—
and finally it would, and she would
divide it up between us,” Lash sighed. “Thank you for making this
for me, Sar.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied, curious, but not
wanting to pry. I got up, and turned the last pieces of bacon and
sausage. “Do you want some more?” I offered, and then flushed
immediately.

Lash saw me flush, and gave me a knowing
smile. “Yes, please.”

I handed him two more pieces of cornbread,
which he devoured while I finished my meal. The last sausage and
bacon was done by that time, and I gave them to him, too, with one
more piece of cornbread for each of us.

“So you like Robin?”

Lash looked up at me and nodded. “I was
worried initially,” he said, his tone serious and measured. “I’d
known some werewolves a few decades ago who had made a lot of
trouble for Dev and me. But Robin’s been fine. She seems to really
just want some peace, and she does her job well. She doesn’t shy
away from me either, which is nice. She’s made a point of keeping
the kitchen stocked, or as stocked as she can, with this many
weremen around. That’s why I call her Kitchen Goddess.”

“I’m happy that she’s working out,” I said,
finishing my bagel.

“Me, too,” Lash said, nodding. “Now that I
don’t need to—”

Lash cut off abruptly. I was motionless, too,
suddenly ill at ease.

Lash had had to eat people before, because of
the potion he’d taken for years. It contained a lot of demon blood,
and it was fact that demons needed to ingest bodies as part of
their required diet. Months back, Dev had made a comment about Lash
eating Robin if she caused any trouble. Apparently, it hadn’t been
an idle one.

Lash was carefully not looking at me, silent
and motionless as a statue. I reached out, and touched his hand. He
looked up, apprehension in his dark eyes for what I was going to
say.

“I know,” I said softly. “I know what Titus
has to do to live, and what you had to do before.”

Lash looked at me in shock, then went dark
red with embarrassment. “How long have you known?” he whispered,
his words hoarse. “Did Dev tell you last night, because he’s angry
with me?”

He’d never looked so vulnerable and young.
“No. I’ve known since sometime in July or so. Theo alluded to it
one night when he was talking to Danial.”

“And you still came to save me?” Lash hissed,
unbelieving. “Even though you knew that I’d had to...that I...what
I’d had to do to keep living?”

Now it was I who couldn’t look at him.
“Yes.”

“I need some wine,” Lash hissed. He got to
his feet, and went over to the counter. Two seconds later, he was
uncorking a bottle of the Groom Shiraz that Devlin seemed to keep
on hand at all times. He poured us both a glass, and handed me one.
We both sipped for a little, not saying anything. Hell, I’d needed
the alcohol as much as he had.

“I didn’t want you to know that,” Lash hissed
almost inaudibly. “Of all the things to have you not know about me,
that would have been at the top of my list.”

It would have been at the very top of my list
of things not to know about, too, but I didn’t say that. “It’s
okay,” I said, sipping my wine. “You did what you had to do, Lash.
Titus can’t help what he is. You had to do it, or die. There’s
nothing more to say.”

Lash stared at me, his dark eyes
unreadable.

“I’m glad you’re here with me, having
dinner/breakfast with me,” I said firmly. “It doesn’t matter to me
what you had to do to get here, Lash. It just matters that you’re
here.”

Lash reached over and touched my face gently
with his hand. I put down my glass, and did the same to him, and as
before, he closed his eyes, savoring my touch.

Feeling welled up in me in a sudden
encompassing wave. I hated that I couldn’t touch him, that I
couldn’t take him in my arms, and tell him that it didn’t matter
what he’d had to do, or what he was before he met me. I wanted to
tell him I cared about him, that I...

Stop, Sar. Don’t you dare utter another word,
not even in your mind, much less aloud.

I gritted my teeth and kept my mouth shut.
Dev would be down soon. He wasn’t stupid, and he’d be livid to walk
in on us. It wouldn’t matter to him that we weren’t kissing. He
would know this for what it was at a glance: two people who cared
about each other sharing a tender moment.

“Why is Dev angry with you?” I asked.

Lash opened his eyes, and gave me a sad
smile. He turned then and brushed his lips across the back of my
hand in a quick kiss. “You know why,” he whispered, and then got
up.

“We should go watch the movie. Dev will be
awake and around soon. He’s likely got plans for you together.”

I nodded, and got to my feet. “Can you put
the ingredients away while I load the dishwasher?”

After everything was cleaned up and put
away—including the remaining cornbread, which Lash labeled with his
name to deter all would-be tasters—Lash poured us both some more
wine, and we went into the living room.

Lash sprawled on the couch, putting one of
his feet up behind me on the back of the couch, the other on my
lap, and then he rested his hand on my arm. Instead of telling him
to move over, I rested one of my hands on his leg,

“Do it. Go,” I said.

Soon, we got to the scene where Dr. Doom was
proposing to Sue Storm.

“—
four words that can change our
world—”

“I want oral sex,” Lash said bluntly.

I gaped at him in shock. He laughed.

“You pervert,” I said, appalled. “Shut
up.”

As the movie progressed, Lash made more
comments like that on and off, with me amusedly responding for him
to shut up. Soon, we were at the crux where Richards whipped out a
pad excitedly, saying how he’d make a machine to recreate the
cosmic storm.

It was too much, even for a comic book movie.
“How fucking long is that going to take?” I said, disbelieving.
“He’s got to build an entire machine, power it, and he’s got no
plan for that but a cute color drawing of it—”

Lash writhed in unbridled laughter and fell
off the couch, shaking the TV in its stand when he hit the floor. I
roared with laughter.

He gave me a dark look laced with a smile. “I
should pull you down here with me,” he hissed, reaching for my
foot.

I yanked it quickly out of his reach, still
laughing. “Get back up here.”

I looked over to see Devlin standing in the
doorway, watching us, his expression neutral. I froze, as he seemed
a hair’s breath away from sliding into rage.

Lash was unconcerned. “Dev, come on in and
sit down,” he said, moving over away from me to make room on the
couch. “We’re watching Fantastic Four. It’s nothing like the comic,
so you might hate it, but—”

“I had another movie in mind,” Devlin purred,
going to the DVD player.

I looked over at Lash, unnerved, but he just
shrugged.

The menu came on, indicating the movie was
called Swept Away. Devlin settled down on the couch between us, his
body sandwiching me between him and the end of the couch.
Immediately, he pulled my upper body into his arms, so I was laying
on him, my back to Lash.

“He loves this movie,” Lash said, as if this
was all just normal.

“I do,” Devlin purred. “I find it
romantic.”

Dev wasn’t just jealous, he was also angry.
He’s clearly chosen the movie to make some point. Apprehensive, I
leaned back against him to watch.

I expected the movie to be off the wall in
some way, and I was right. The male lead was tearing off the female
lead’s underwear before too long. Worse, he was also striking her.
It was clear that the movie was meant to be humorous, especially
via the dialogue in subtitles. The female lead had treated the male
lead like shit, and some of what she got was him getting revenge.
There was some kind of political statement here about the upper
class and the lower class, too. But I was leery of the dark
undercurrent that was Dev’s reason for watching it now.

“Lash, you know, your hair looks a lot like
the male lead’s,” Dev said after a few moments.

“Dev, you know I’m not Italian,” Lash
answered, surprised. “I’m not even European.”

“What are you, Lash?” I said curiously,
feeling slow on the uptake. Here I’d thought he just had a good tan
from all the laying in the sun he did.

“I’m part Spanish, Hispanic, and part
American,” Lash said proudly. “My mother—”

“Hush,” Devlin said flatly. “We are getting
to the good part.”

I turned to him a few minutes later. “Getting
hit does not make sex better,” I said, disgusted. “Not for the one
getting hit.” I took another look at the screen, and blinked in
disbelief.

Enough was enough. “You call me when this
scene is over,” I said, getting up. “I’ll be in the kitchen—”

“Stay here,” Devlin commanded.

“Not unless you fast forward this,” I
replied.

As he began to do so, Lash got up and walked
toward the door.

“Where are you going, Lash?” Devlin asked
sharply. “You’re going to miss the end—”

“I’m on duty at the gatehouse,” Lash said
bitterly. “And I’ve seen the ending, Dev. See you, Sar.” He walked
out and slammed the front door hard enough that dust rained down
out of the doorframe.

I turned to Dev. “What does he know that I
don’t? Does the blonde woman get killed or something?”

Devlin settled back on to the couch. “No. Why
don’t you watch and judge for yourself?”

* * * *

When the credits were rolling about a half
hour later, I turned my head up to look at him.

“Why do you find that romantic? She deserted
her lover. Much as he might have treated her like dirt at the
beginning, he seemed to really love her by the end.”

“I find it romantic because she went back to
her husband,” Devlin said. His wide smile didn’t reach his angry
eyes.

I stared at him. “What?”

“You see, Sar, she didn’t really love
Gennarino,” Devlin whispered, his eyes almost glowing. “Though he
unquestionably loved her. She just gave in to him because she was
swept away in the moment. As soon as she was back in the world she
knew—with her rightful partner—she remembered where she belonged
and who she belonged with—”

I struggled to my feet, livid. “You have any
other cute movies you want to teach me lessons with?” I said
coldly. “Or are you done for the night?”

“Why, Sar, I’m sure I don’t know what
you—”

“Save it,” I said icily. “I’m going to leave
now. I’ll be at Danial’s.”

“You are going nowhere!” Devlin shouted,
leaping to his feet, and locking his hand onto my arm. “Except
maybe upstairs with me.”

“I’ll be glad to,” I jeered. “So long as
sleep’s not all you want to do.”

Devlin took a sharp breath, then bared his
fangs at me. “How dare you—!”

Maybe I’d taunted the tiger too far this
time. “Let me go,” I ordered. “Now.”

“I’m never letting you go,” Devlin hissed
back, his eyes red. “Never, Sar!”

Time to have it out, and then, maybe, I was
leaving. I moved closer to him, making his eyes widen in surprise
when I touched his shoulder with my hand, squeezing gently.
“Devlin, let’s drop the bullshit. What is it really? You told me
you forgave me for being with Lash. He and I haven’t been together
since then. So why are you so jealous? Because of a few kisses and
laughs?”

“I know,” Devlin said heavily, the fire going
out of him as he sat back down on the couch. “I know you’ve both
done as I asked. Forgive me, Sar.”

“So what is it, then?”

“I’m not taking the mood drugs anymore,”
Devlin replied. “I stopped yesterday. Titus said I’d have a period
of emotional instability—”

Just fucking great. I sat down beside him.
“Why? Why go off them now?”

“Because I need to be what I am, who I am.”
Devlin sighed. “I am usually very, very careful, Sar. I almost died
when Ulysses took me, and by all rights, I should have. Lash and
you saved me against all odds. And it was my fault I was ensnared.
All I was thinking was how good we’d be together alone. Some of
that was love, but some of that was the drug, dulling my senses,
telling me that we’d be fine so long as I was armed. I can’t afford
to let that happen again, ever. I need to be edgy, ruthless, and
ready to kill! Ulysses is still out there. I got word two days ago
that he reentered the country this past week.”

I hadn’t known he was gone in the first
place. “We knew he was still alive. That he’d attack again was a
given.”

“Sar, I’m a Ruler,” Devlin said patiently.
“No one attacks Rulers, save sometimes other Rulers. Certainly not
a human, even one who knows some magic as Ulysses does. It is
simply not done, and when it happens once a century or so, it is
vampire law that the culprit be exterminated. Samuel, Perseus,
Zane, and Michael all want Ulysses dead, and he’s being hunted from
place to place, not only by them, but also by all vampires in their
territories. We have enough vampire hunters to worry about in the
U.S.; we don’t need one who doesn’t fear the vampire ruling
class.”

This explained Devlin’s abhorrence of my
book. I’d thought he was just being pissy, but it was in his wary
tone that there really were vampire hunters, and that they were
dangerous. “You just said that Rulers aren’t in danger from vampire
hunters. So why do you care if a few other vampires get
killed?”