DeVante's Coven (17 page)

DeVante’s voice brooked no argument. “Roderick will do whatever I tell him he will do. And I would like him to stay with you a bit, the way he ought to with a fledgling. It is his obligation, and a responsibility that he needs to accept.”

“Obligation and responsibility,” Tony parroted, and knew he sounded sarcastic. “What about connection? What about care?”

“Ah, there is care, young one, and even love, given time. But above all else, we protect our existence.”

Chapter 19



How to bait a mortal

Roderick found Daniel in the trendy gay dance club called CK Teasers. It had been his favorite because it was filled with young, beautiful, half-naked men. His eyes picked out his boy on the dance floor at once. Daniel stood out from the rest, a shining blaze of blond innocence among the buff male bodies that danced and gyrated, groped, and glistened with sweat. Daniel somehow looked older, and the observation caused Roderick pain. But he was still Daniel, Roderick’s sweet Daniel, and he was still so stunning to look at that it took Roderick’s breath away. Daniel was shirtless like so many of the young men, a corner of his t-shirt tucked into the back of his jeans, the rest hanging free like a tail.

Roderick wove his way to Daniel through the dancing crowd. “Hey, Beautiful One.”

“Hey, Evil One,” Daniel replied, staring past Roderick toward the club’s entrance. He didn’t seem the least bit surprised that Roderick was here.

“It seems you’ve been busy.” Roderick reached to finger Daniel’s soft hair, but Daniel ducked under his arm, his eyes scanning the room.

Daniel shrugged. “I have,” he said. “It’s been okay.”

Roderick flinched a little because he caught the “without you” that Daniel did not voice. Rather than start a stupid argument, Roderick asked, “Who are you looking for?”

“No one,” Daniel said, still scanning the crowd.

Yeah, right. He was looking for someone. “So DeVante tells me you’ve been making friends while I’ve been gone.” He received no response.

He was at a loss, didn’t know what to do, what to say. This was his boy, the boy who would have followed him to the ends of the earth, yet now hardly looked at him. What the hell? Maybe he had broken Daniel’s heart and needed to atone. He tried to guess what Daniel wanted to hear. An apology? “I’ve missed you.”

“Um, yeah.” Daniel flicked him a look, but then his gaze swung back to the club’s door. His eyes lit up. “Hey, I’ll catch you later,” he said, and took off through the crowd.

Roderick watched him go, watched his boy approach a man who had just come in. A mortal man who moved like a predator, moved like a vampire. He had to be thirty, thirty-five, even—way too old for Daniel. His hair was brown, cut in short layers, rakish locks falling over his forehead. Sexy. Intense brown eyes searched the room. But not searching the room for Daniel, because as Roderick watched, Daniel approached the man, spoke, and was rebuffed. And even from across the room, a hundred dancing bodies between them, Roderick could see the hurt on Daniel’s face.

Daniel’s face always showed everything.

The man prowled into the crowd and Daniel followed him.

Ah shit, what the hell is this? Roderick followed them both. When he reached them Daniel was beside the man, face lit up, eyes shining. “I was hoping to see you.”

The guy barely even looked at Daniel. “Yeah, well, I really wasn’t.” His eyes penetrated the crowd, looking to line up something.

A sexual conquest, Roderick realized, dipping briefly into his mind and feeling the man’s impatience with Daniel’s fawning, but then more, that the man liked the fawning but wished he didn’t. And he was trying to escape by looking for someone else.

And here was Daniel, gazing up at this asshole as if he were in love.
Ah, Mavis, help us all.

Daniel finally gave up and pushed through the crowd toward the bar, unshed tears filling his eyes as he glanced back at the man. Tears in the eyes of his boy.
His
boy.

“Reed,” the guy introduced himself. “Why do you give a flying fuck? He’s just some fucking kid that needs something to do. If he’s looking for love and romance, he’s in the wrong fucking place.”

“So how about you keep your hands off.”

As soon as he said the words Roderick knew they’d been a mistake. He caught a flash of cold calculation in Reed’s eyes. But all the other man said was, “You must be the guardian’s son. He’s a little young for you, isn’t he?”

Guardian’s son? What the fuck? Must be some story Daniel had told him. “Yeah, and you, too. What’s your excuse?”

Reed smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve had him, and he loved it. But now I’m done and you can have him back.” He stalked away.

And there was Daniel at Roderick’s elbow, anxiously questioning. “What did he say to you?”

Roderick looked at his boy, so young and naïve, and filled with hope. He wrapped his arms around him and asked, “What the hell are you playing at?”

Daniel scowled at him and turned to leave. Roderick grabbed his arm. “What are you doing, anyway? Playing mortal? Pretending to be human?”

“So what if I am?”

“You’re going to get hurt. He might have fucked you, Daniel, but he’s not in love with you. He’s trying to get rid of you.”

“Yeah, well, I’m different than the others, aren’t I? You’re jealous because you know I’m different, you’ve been there, remember? You planned to feed from me, and then you couldn’t let me go.”

“Jealous? I don’t think so. I’m only trying to protect you, stop you from being hurt.” Roderick reached out to gather Daniel close.

“Oh, that’s funny.” The look Daniel turned on Roderick was full of venom, and it hid his innocence and made him appear damn near grown up. “You weren’t trying to stop me from being hurt when you took off and left me behind. But hey, I’m fine. I always knew you’d leave me. I could tell you weren’t the staying kind. So if my playing the scene here bothers you, why don’t you just go?”

Daniel’s eyes found Reed, and the innocence returned.

“That wasn’t about you, Daniel. It was about me. I left DeVante, not you.”

“Now that’s an interesting perspective. Of course it was about you. It always is, isn’t it? But that doesn’t make it any better. It’s the same difference. Now go. I’m busy with Reed.”

“You don’t look busy with Reed. Daniel, come on, I knew DeVante would take care of you.”

“Of course he would. But I didn’t choose him. I chose you. And now I choose Reed.”

“Reed’s not interested in you.” But even as he said the words, he realized Reed was watching them from across the club, stilled in the manner of a jungle cat stalking its prey.

Roderick grinned at Reed, reached his hand behind Daniel’s head and pulled him into a possessive kiss.
Mine. My boy.
He let the words leak from his mind into Daniel’s.
Mine, Fledgling
. But even as Roderick pulled him close, Daniel was struggling to pull away. Roderick looked up to see Reed watching it all, his mouth pulled into a small frown.

Reed came toward them across the dance floor, all his grace centered on his goal. Others tried to catch his eye, lure him in, but he just stalked past, his gaze and focus on Daniel.

And Daniel, damn it, had eyes only for Reed. Roderick had a split second to decide if he should step back, giving Reed permission, or hold his ground and force Reed to try to claim the boy.

No, he wouldn’t give permission. He was Daniel’s Master, Daniel belonged to him. He wrapped his arms tighter around the boy, and met Reed’s gaze as the man approached. He pushed power into Reed’s eyes, and Reed paused, went still. “He’s mine,” Roderick said out loud, voice firm. “My boy. You cannot have him.”

Roderick and Reed stared into one another for a long moment. Roderick could feel Daniel watching them, and he heard Daniel in his head wondering just what Roderick would do to force Reed to back off.
Would you kill him, Roderick, to get your way?

Of course I would. He’s nothing.
Roderick let the power flow between himself and Reed, a standoff similar to two vampires trying to hunt the same prey. And although Reed was human, he withstood the power for a very surprising minute.

Once they were clear of the club, Daniel pulled away from Roderick and asked, “What would you have done if he didn’t let you win? Would you really kill him?”

Silly boy. As if it were any real contest. “I won. He didn’t ‘let’ me anything. Of course I would kill him. I might anyway, just to keep him away from you.”

Roderick shrugged. “I’ll try, but you never know what will come about. Now, DeVante is waiting for us. He wants to punish me before dawn.”

“Why? What did you do?”

Roderick sighed and deliberately bypassed any real explanation. “I violated his unalterable vampire code of ethics. Again. But he charitably gave me leave to find you first. I think he wants you to watch.” Daniel looked horrified, so Roderick added, “Oh, don’t worry your pretty blond head. DeVante would never really hurt me. Now, what’s the story with this fucking guy?”

“Reed,” Daniel said, his face going soft and dreamy. “He’s beautiful, isn’t he? Everybody wants him, everybody hits on him. We’ve had the most incredible sex. He’s just… I don’t know… hot. Gentle, sweet.”

“Well, he should be gentle—he’s a fucking pedophile.”

“No more than you.” Daniel said. “He picked me up one night when I was hitchhiking in from Oakland, and counseled me to be careful. And besides,
I
want
him
. He’s amazing. Mmm.”

Roderick shook his head, didn’t know what to say, because Daniel had a point. Reed probably wasn’t any worse than Roderick himself, seeing Daniel, drawing him in. Roderick didn’t know how amazing Reed was, but he knew that Daniel was pretty fucking amazing.

He had to say something, talk sense into the kid. “Daniel…”

Daniel’s hand shot up, stopping Roderick from speaking. “Don’t. I hate it when you belittle me, undermine me. When you… push me to become like you. I’m not like you. You left me—don’t deny it—and I was lost. But now I’ve created something, something that’s mine alone, out of the pain and the ashes—and I will not give it up.

“Roderick, we’re not the greatest love story of all time. We’re just a boy, just a man, stumbling along with what we’ve been given, and that is all we will ever be. We will always belong to each other… but you’ve got to let go of the boy—he’s not here anymore, and you never loved him anyway. Not the way he deserves to be loved.”

Roderick opened his mouth to deny it… and couldn’t. Fuck. Daniel was now quietly crying.

Whatever punishment DeVante planned to mete out, Roderick hoped it might atone for all his sins, even this one.

Chapter 20



How to pay for folly

It was still hours before dawn when DeVante assembled them in the master suite; Daniel, Roderick, and two black-haired vampires Daniel had never seen before, a boy and a girl. Daniel found himself shifting from foot to foot because there was something going on here that everyone knew except him, and because anger rolled out of DeVante in aching waves. He stared at the boy and girl, keenly interested in who they were and where they had come from.