“I thank you all for coming, please enjoy the evening.”
Adin stepped away from Chandler and watched as Charles and Shep
moved back into the crowd. When they walked past, Charles bent his head
as if to kiss Adin on the cheek and growled, “Don’t carry hard feelings,
Adin. The first cut is always the deepest,” into his ear. Adin pulled back,
his pasted-on smile still beaming. Right then, Adin’s heart froze around the
vow that he would never allow any man to make that second cut.
When Chandler finished answering individual questions, she looked
neither right nor left but made a beeline for Adin, taking his hand and
pulling him from the room. He followed her quietly, saying nothing. It was
fairly clear that she was in control of the situation. She’d handled the possible
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scandal with the tact of a Medici prince, and she would tell him in her own
time what would happen next. He didn’t ask, for instance, how she could
praise him for his honesty in one sentence and then utter the obvious lie that
he was headed for Williams in the next.
Adin heard the tapping of leather dress shoes behind him and turned
to find Charles and Shep following, hot on their heels, obviously determined
to have an audience with Chandler to tell their side of the story. When
Chandler and Adin reached her office, she unlocked it and entered, pulling
Adin inside.
The last time he saw Charles Holmesby’s face was when History
Department Dragonslayer Evangeline Chandler snapped the door shut
firmly on it.
A jolt of awareness hit Adin when the drink cart rattled noisily
next to his ear as the flight attendant pushed it toward the back
of the plane. Turbulence. His lashes rose as Bran turned his head
to stare out the window at the dark sky. Although in the months
just after leaving Princeton Adin had dreamed of Charles quite
often, he hadn’t had that dream in years.
“Are you messing around in my head again?”
Bran looked at his lap. “Maybe a little.”
“I promise there’s nothing terribly interesting in there, Bran.”
“Did you go? To Williams?”
“Yes,” Adin replied. “Eventually. After I fled home for a while.
Professor Chandler helped me greatly, and I went to Williams
the following fall. I spent a year at Exeter, one of the Oxford
colleges, later, which was very nice because my friend Edward
was there, and he helped me to fit in.”
“You trusted them and they were just using you. They
threatened you.” Bran lowered his voice and looked around him
at the other passengers. “They should have paid for what they
did.”
Adin shrugged and tried to explain. “I had a choice, Bran.
They never tried to force anything on me, except to look the
160 Z.A. Maxfield
other way when that letter came to light, and in the end I believe
I did the right thing.”
Bran pressed his lips together.
“What?”
“You thought you were in love, and they knew that. They
treated you like shit, and told you they did it because you were
special. They told you if you were smart enough, you’d see things
the way they did. There’s a fairy tale right there, if you ask me.”
It was Adin’s turn to be surprised. “And what does that make
you, the boy who says, ‘Look, everyone. The king is bare ass
nekkid?’”
Bran grinned. “Not everyone is like them. Not even Donte,
and he’s a monster.”
“He’s not a monster,” Adin said impatiently.
“Yes, he
is
.” Bran put his hand on Adin’s soft cast for emphasis,
momentarily forgetting that Adin was injured. Adin tried not to
wince as he disengaged Bran’s hand. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right. Donte isn’t… He’s not what you think he is. Not
everything, anyway.”
“Donte
is
a monster. He’s
your
monster. I think he knew it was
me making him sick, but he didn’t say anything.”
“Why on
earth
would he do that?” Adin asked. “Vampires are
hard-wired for self-preservation. It would go against his nature.”
Bran raised his eyebrows. “But he promised you he would
protect me, didn’t he?”
Adin looked across the aisle at Boaz to see what he thought
about the matter, but the man was fast asleep, leaning heavily on
the shoulder of the woman next to him. She didn’t seem to mind.
Adin turned back to Bran.
“I never wanted that. Surely he knew if he’d told me what was
happening I would have let him out of his promise.”
“Maybe he didn’t want you to have to choose?”
Adin’s heart sank like the Titanic. “Maybe he was afraid of
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what
I would choose.”
“Maybe,” Bran said carefully, “every once in a while you should
give Donte a hard squeeze so he can feel you there, because I’m
starting to think he’s not what you think he is either. He’s not like
me, he can’t see everything that’s in your heart.”
“Stay out of my heart,” Adin muttered. “And my head.”
Bran didn’t reply. He turned back to the window and the night
sky.
“Do you really think that?” Adin asked a few minutes later,
after the drink cart finally stopped next to his chair and the flight
attendant handed him a couple of nip-sized bottles of whiskey
and a plastic cup.
“I think he loves you.”
“You said it yourself, you can’t read Donte the way you can
read a human,” Adin reminded him quietly.
“But I have eyes.” Bran shot him a look.
“How’d you get so wise?”
Bran took time before he answered. “In the end, no one
thinks about what went wrong, Adin. They just long for the
people they love.”
Adin swallowed hard. “What a mess.”
Adin stayed silent for the remainder of the long trip, then led
Bran off the plane to get their bags and grind through customs.
He held his breath when Bran’s passport was checked, but no one
gave it more than the cursory look they gave Adin’s. Boaz had to
be fingerprinted for his entry to the United States, because he
carried a British passport, but everything checked out cleanly for
him as well.
As soon as they were through the official business, Adin
phoned Edward and left a message. He’d made arrangements to
stay at his favorite hotel, but wanted to see Edward as soon as he
could. The sooner he could speak with Edward’s lover Tuan about
162 Z.A. Maxfield
their situation, the better he would feel. In Tuan’s official capacity
in the government agency dealing with the paranormal world—
what Tuan jokingly referred to as “undead management”—he
might have far more insight into Bran’s situation than any of
them did. Adin was wholly new to this esoteric world, but he
knew how Edward and Tuan would feel about the kidnapping of
what appeared to be a very human young boy.
Adin hoped Tuan would be able to provide answers for Bran
as well. As they left the airport he wanted to put an arm around
the boy’s shoulder, but couldn’t because he had to pull his bag
with his good arm. Bran looked so young. Maybe he was anxious
from his first plane ride or intimidated by a new city in a foreign
country, but the events of the past few days were taking their toll.
He had smudges under his eyes, and his usual bravado seemed
faint. He went wherever Adin and Boaz led him, fairly quietly,
following along like a baby chick. Once they’d piled their luggage
into the trunk of a taxi, he sat next to Adin in the back while
Boaz chatted up the driver in the front passenger seat.
Adin continued to observe him in silence until he heard
his cell phone ring. Both Bran and Boaz watched him when he
pulled it out. “It’s Edward, calling me back,” he told them, far
more disappointed than they were that it wasn’t Donte.
“Finally,” he answered, gazing out the window as San
Francisco seemed to fly by.
“You’re here?”
“Yes. We’ll be at the hotel in a few minutes. Did you get a
chance to ask Tuan about my new friend?”
Bran raised an eyebrow at him.
“I did,” Edward answered. “Tuan wants to see you right away.
Can you come straight here?”
“I can.” Adin leaned forward and gave the driver Edward’s
address. He might have wanted to go to a hotel first, maybe get
cleaned up, but he’d learned recently that Tuan’s expertise in a
situation like this could save his life.
Boaz turned around in his seat and shot Adin a curious stare.
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Adin shrugged. To Edward he said, “Boaz is here as well as
Bran. Should they come too?”
“Absolutely. Tuan wants to talk to everyone. What have you
gotten yourself into this time?”
“I haven’t got the faintest clue.”
“How’s Donte? Have you heard anything?”
“No.” Adin clenched his teeth. He would
not
blow his cool.
“It’s going to be all right,” Edward said gently.
Adin swallowed hard. “I know. I’ll be there soon.” He ended
the call and leaned his head against the window.
Edward opened the door of his attractive Victorian row
house and immediately enveloped Adin in a hard hug. Adin
clung to him, pressing his face against the colorfully inked skin
of Edward’s neck, inhaling the familiar scent of the best friend
he’d ever had.
“
Fuck
.” He tried not to cry, but the emotions of the previous
days and the fact that Edward was crushing his soft cast between
their bodies got the better of him. Edward rocked him for a
second, soothing Adin until he couldn’t help but wince from the
pressure. Adin pushed him gently away.
“I’m so sorry. I forgot about that.” Edward put an arm that
jingled with the music of multiple bracelets over Adin’s shoulder.
“I’m so glad to see you.”
They ushered Bran inside while Tuan stepped out to greet
Boaz and help the driver with the luggage.
Adin watched them briefly from a window in the vestibule, as
always admiring the fluid grace with which the bookish-looking
Tuan moved. His jacket stretched across his back as he easily
lifted Adin’s case from the trunk of the car.
“Oh, my man.” Edward sighed. “Isn’t he the bees’s knees?”
Bran appeared to be stifling a laugh as Adin nodded.
“Right then.” Edward turned to Bran. “Let me get a look at
164 Z.A. Maxfield
you. Bran, yes?”
Bran nodded, running a nervous hand through his hair.
Under the long, elegant coat Adin had purchased for him he
wore a vintage suit, one of Adin’s crisp, colored dress shirts, and
a spectacularly horrible tie. Adin knew Edward, who still flogged
the bad boy vibe in a tight T-shirt and low-slung jeans, would love
Bran on sight. Bran stared open-mouthed until Edward—who
was pierced and tatted everywhere, which lent him a somewhat
fierce air—gave him a playful growl.
“What are you looking at?” Edward folded his thin arms and
grinned.
“You look exactly the same as you do in Adin’s dreams.”
Tuan walked in the door at that precise moment. “Adin
dreams about you?”
Bran flushed. “Not like…you know.
Dreams
, dreams.”
“Careful, Bran. We don’t know if Tuan’s the jealous type.”
Edward answered for Tuan. “He’s got no reason to be.”
He carelessly grabbed Bran’s hand to pull him into the parlor.
Adin’s eyes were on Tuan at that moment, but he felt a shudder
all around him, a shockwave that rocked his body back like a light
earthquake. His muscles tensed, and he put a hand to the wall.
Everyone fell silent for a minute, waiting, Adin thought, to see if
the quake would turn out to be a big one. When nothing further
happened, Adin looked to Tuan again.
“Did you feel that?”
Tuan frowned. “Yes.”
Boaz’s face held surprise as he too, looked to Tuan. “Was that
a quake?”
Tuan shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
Adin glanced from the vestibule into the beautifully furnished
room. Not an ornament was out of place. “What could it have
been? Nothing seems to have fallen…”
Boaz whispered, “Look,” and nudged Adin’s good arm,
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focusing their attention on Bran and Edward. They simply stared
at one another, hands linked, oblivious to the people watching
them or the time that passed.
“Edward?” Gently, Tuan placed his hand on Edward’s
shoulder. “Come back lover.”
Edward dropped Bran’s hand and shook his head as if to
clear it. “
Tuan
.”
Bran was pale and dazed. He stared at his hand for a minute,
saying nothing.
“What just happened?” Adin touched the small of Bran’s
back. “Do you need to sit down?”
“No.” Bran continued to look at his hand. “Not really.”
“What was that?” Adin asked Edward.
Edward shook his head again, this time looking to Tuan for
an explanation.
Boaz, standing forgotten in the hallway, asked, “Did that