Cake (63 page)

Marcus was motionless behind me. His forehead was resting easily at the nape of my neck, but the tension in his arms as he hugged me told me a different story. If I could have turned around, I would have gathered him close and held him tight.

Claudius let out a deep heavy sigh. “I would keep going back on House business, and if I were unable to leave before dawn, I would be escorted to that room of mirrors. Each time, Marcus would be taller, his hair longer. But as his eyes got older, they grew colder. He was thirteen when I finally took him away from that place. If I’d had any sort of conscience, I should have taken him out of there when he was far younger.”

I stared at Claudius as he talked. His own arctic blue eyes were bright but not with unshed tears. They were like pieces of chiselled ice. They looked so cold…cold enough to burn. I instinctively cringed back from him and Marcus’s arms tightened around me in comfort.

“
Yes, I was a Libertine when I was a younger vampire,” Claudius recounted. “I took pleasure when and where I found it. But what did I know about raising a child, especially an abused human child? Marcus was so brutalized that just glimpsing a mirror would send him into fits. I ended up getting rid of them all and banning them from my House. We grew together, Marcus and me. I went from thinking of only myself to placing him first. I forced myself to change, to be someone he could rely on as he grew up.”

“
I still do not like mirrors,” Marcus sighed into my ear. “But if you want one, Xavier, I’ll get one installed in your closet, in a corner.”

“
Hell, no! I know I can be an asshole at times, but I’m never deliberately cruel,” I shot at him. Shit, my childhood had been all hearts and candies compared to his.

I turned now and hugged him, laying my head on his shoulder as I squeezed him gently. I had no problem touching him, in fact, it felt good hugging him. And damn, it felt good to feel good. I didn’t have to see his smile to feel it. Even though we both had our shields in place, I was aware of Marcus’s present state of mind. I don’t know if it was the sharing thing we did, or if it was the emotional shrapnel we’d been pelted with. All I knew was that I felt comfortable around him. I might never feel safe, but comfortable was something to start with.

“
Now that that particular dilemma has been dealt with, Marcus, another has to be addressed,” Claudius said, letting out another sigh, one that spoke volumes; not wanting to say what he had to, but knowing that it had to be said.

“
Father?” Marcus looked puzzled.

“
You should know that the House has finally finished deliberations, and they have come up with a ranking.”

I glanced over at Claudius as he held up two fingers, wondering what the hell they were talking about. “The letter, ‘V’?” I asked curiously.

The raven haired man shook his head negatively.

“
Five!” Marcus’s voice sounded incredulous.

Claudius shook his head again. “He’s ranked second in the House.”

“
They ranked him as a Two? Based on what?” Marcus exploded.

“
You know the criteria the House uses,” Claudius said simply.

Marcus sniffed to show his annoyance. I tried to slip off his lap again but ended up going nowhere, just pulled back tighter to his chest.

“
We are here, Marcus,” Claudius said a few moments later. “Let him go in alone. We need to talk.” He turned his attention to me as the limo stopped. “Xavier, you need to Flame. Drink someone. We will not be long.”

And with that, I was kicked to the curb, as Shade would say. My brow furrowed as the car pulled away. Whatever the hell that had all been about, it only brought me to the conclusion that I still had a heck of a lot to learn about my new existence.

Holy crap…they’d left me alone. I almost did a little happy dance where I stood, but then I noticed the queue of people waiting to get in the Golden Pheasant. Those bastards! I was just a placeholder in line while they had their cosy little tête-à-tête. I’d show them.

I’d started to move down the street, away from the club, when the doorman blocked me.

“
Sex?”

“
No thank you,” I answered smartly.

“
No, sir, I mean your name is on the guest list,” he explained. “Will there be others joining you?”

I glanced down at his chart before he pulled it tight to his chest. Guest list, eh? It was probably his grocery list, and I seriously doubted that the word sex fell between milk and bread.

He gestured me in, and I followed. What the hell, I’d never jumped the line before in my life, and it gave me a thrill to finally be able to do so.

It was like a smorgasbord inside…a moveable feast before my eyes. I didn’t even have to do anything, people came up to me, smiling, asking me to dance. This was a novel experience, but I took myself off to a small table which was out of the way and secluded so that I could pick and choose who I wanted to dine on in peace.

I barely sat down when a waiter came over, setting a drink in front of me. He’s got a nice smile I thought, as I mouthed the words, “How much?” at him. He leaned in closer to me to hear over the music, and I took the opportunity to take a little bit of his essence before clearing his memory and reaching for my wallet.

“
Compliments of the house. Your drinks are free here, Sex,” he told me. Then he turned and left, none the wiser that anything had been taken from him.

Picking up the glass, scanning the surrounding area for my next little pick me up, I took a sip of the drink and gagged. Fucking cranberry juice!

“
Hello.”

That one word had been said in stereo, and looking up, I saw two blond twins standing in front of my table. Well, well…now, isn’t this every man’s fantasy? Okay, most men would probably want female twins, but I was happy with what I’d got.

“
Hello, gentlemen. Please, take a seat. What can I do for you?” I asked courteously. As they took their places I walked through their minds, and damn…while it was an arousing game of twin and Sex, the laws of physics would never allow us to do in the real world what I was seeing as imagery in my head. “And what else can you boys do?” I squeaked.

In answer, they started kissing each other in a slow, practiced way, and my jaw hit the floor. Holy…wow.

Hot blond twin number one reached out and pulled me towards him, his mouth covering mine. His kiss tasted like cotton candy…sugary sweet but light, leaving you wanting more. He buried his face into my neck, and I returned the favor, fanging him gently but drinking deeply, taking the full ten swallows before licking his wounds closed.

I didn’t even get a chance to sit upright as hot blond twin number two took up from where his brother had left off, his soft, warm lips caressing mine in another kiss. This one tasted of candy apples…tart, sweet, and filling.

It felt as if I’d finished off a vendor’s cart at the carnival when I’d finished with him, and now I was having to fend off four hands that were roaming all over my body. It was so hard to block them as their fingers squeezed in past my waistband or slipped up under my shirt. That was all I needed, to go into Flame without my relief being around. I really didn’t want to know what would happen if I was driven to finding a partner, so finally, regretfully, I had to send the twins on their way.

Go dance.

They automatically stood up and sauntered onto the dance floor while I leaned back in my chair and expelled a satisfied breath. Oh my God, I felt full. I’d only hunted three, and I already felt really, really full…Thanksgiving-turkey-day full. It wasn’t the quantity of blood I’d drunk, it was the quality. I felt like I wanted to unbutton the top of my pants and belch. Instead, I checked my watch and saw that almost forty minutes had passed since I got dumped here. What the hell were Marcus and Claudius talking about?

I gestured to the waiter for a beer and tensed as I felt a vampire approaching. Turning my head I watched as a girl…no, a young woman, walked towards me. She was tiny and looked stunning, except she had bright green hair. Coming up to my table, she hesitated for a moment before bowing her head at me.

“
What can I get you?” the waiter asked. He was the same one I had nibbled on earlier, and I found my eyes quickly glancing at his neck, feeling safe when I saw that my fang marks had healed.

“
Anything on tap,” I answered casually.

The waiter went to take the untouched juice away, but the green-haired woman caught at his wrist. “I’ll take that, if you don’t mind,” she said.

He glanced at me to see what I wanted to do with it, and I shrugged. I wasn’t drinking the damned stuff. If she wanted it, she could have it.

“
Master Xavier, I would like to speak to you.”

She’d kept her head tilted forward a little as she’d spoken. I did a quick sweep of the club with my mind. There were other vampires here, but…

I was startled as she sat beside me and set her hand on my inner thigh, more so when she began to slide her fingers upwards.

“
What kind of conversation are you looking for?” I snapped, catching hold of her hand and pulling it away from me. “If you’re looking for a fuck, I’m already spoken for.”

“
That is too bad.” She raised her head and showed off the biggest pair of gray eyes I had ever seen. “I had hoped that this was from a bottle,” she said, reaching up and touching my hair. “But this color is for real isn’t it? You are more gorgeous in the flesh than in your pictures. They don’t do you justice.”

I pushed her hand away from me irritably. Personal bubble, woman. Ever heard of it? “Thank you. What do you want?” I asked, keeping my voice calm.

“
What do I want? What do I…want?” She said as she stood up and straddled my lap, sitting herself down on my legs. I’d just moved my hands to her shoulders to shove her off when I felt the cold metal tip of a blade tapping at my jugular vein. Another vampire had snuck up behind me. Fuck.

“
What I want…is for Marcus to stop killing us off. And you, beautiful, sexy Sex, are going to help us achieve that,” the girl stated as she reached behind her, picking up the cranberry juice. “I had heard that this was your preferred drink,” she pouted, sounding a little disappointed as she looked at the still-full glass.

“
Then you heard wrong,” I said smugly.

“
It doesn’t matter,” she said, shrugging. “It’s spiked for our protection as well as yours, Sex.”

“
Xavier,” I corrected.

“
Huh?”

“
My name is Xavier.”

She held the glass to my lips. “Drink it. We need to get moving before your family comes in. If we are still here when they arrive, you know as well I do that people are going to die, human and vampire. Cooperate, we mean you no harm.”

Whoever was holding the knife at my neck was jumpy. I hissed as they pressed too hard against my neck, and blood began trailing down the column of my throat. The girl leaned forward and lapped up the trail lazily, and I shivered as her tongue flicked the small cut closed.

Taking the drink from her hand, I drained the glass as quickly as I could, grimacing at the sour taste.

“
Yum, vanilla cake,” the girl enthused, licking at her lips.

“
What?”

“
You’re so damn sexy, I’d never have thought you would taste like vanilla cake. Maybe passion fruit or chocolate. But vanilla? Interesting.”

I was sitting there in a crowded gay bar, with a woman of dubious intent plastered to my crotch, and her accomplice holding a knife to my neck, waiting for whatever drug they’d given me to work, and the most stupidest of thoughts crossed my mind…Marcus had sent Chesterton to a bakery.

Oh my God. He’d done an ‘American Pie’ skit on some poor unsuspecting confectionary. That big, perverted monkey. I burst out laughing, and I continued until tears fell from my eyes. The mental images I was seeing were killing me.