Rosko, Mandy - Night and Day (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) (18 page)

A sprite. Not a vampire. Silus heaved a heavy breath. Had a vampire been the first to arrive, Cedric would have been in real danger, and then their plan would be for shit.

Silus retightened his grip and held the blade more prominently to Cedric’s throat. “Unless you want his blood on your hands, you will come out.”

He projected a mental apology to Cedric, which was received with a mental snort.

The sprite’s jaw dropped, and he did as he was bade and came out into full view, not stopping until he reached what remained of the marble banister. The sprite’s golden hair was shaved nearly to his skull, and blood and vampire dust matted into his robes.

Silus cursed. “If that is my mother you are wearing, I shall never let you die.”

Cedric shivered in his arms. Silus hated for his lover to hear him say such things, but he would not take it back.

“It’s not your mother.”

Silus turned as quickly as possible without slicing Cedric’s neck. Luckily, ever the dutiful hostage, Cedric spun gracefully with him and there was no blood spilled.

Silus’s father, along with a number of warrior vampires ranked in a neat row behind him, stood in the broken glass of the destroyed windows. Some began removing their helmets, or lifting their tinted visors. The capture of the son of the sprite who arranged the attacked no doubt seen as the victory they’d fought for.

Wiktor Vaughn Veturious stepped forward, a little smile twitching his lips. “My son, I know not what has brought this miracle before me, but I welcome it.”

Silus’s insides tightened. This was even worse than if a single vampire had been the first to arrive. He needed to stalemate both players, but he could hardly do that with only a single sun sprite above him for defense.

“Stop! Stop!” Cyricus yelled, his palms up and pointing out as he appeared from the same doorway as the startled sprite before him. Ben was at his side, and a hundred or so other sun sprites who had survived the attack filed in on both floors.

Now Silus could breathe. Even Cedric’s energy gave off waves of relief. This was what they had hoped for.

Wiktor did indeed halt, and his small army of werewolves, humans, and vampires resumed their fighting stances, the werewolves and humans pointing their guns while the vampires hissed and lengthened their claws and fangs.

The sprites merely stared, as did Cyricus, only his stare contained much more shock, and a gaping mouth as he hung over the rail, staring at his son in Silus’s threatening grip.

“It’s as I told you, sir,” Ben said, his arms folded over chest, and standing at an angle so everyone below could see the weapon he had strapped to his hip.

“Y–Yes, I see.”

When the plan had been explained to Silus, Ben had run off in search of Cedric’s father, spouting a lie about how his son had wished to return home, had been tricked into becoming Silus’s lover, and wanted revenge for being made a fool of… only to be taken captive.

After heroically slaying many vampire foes, of course.

Cedric had insisted on the latter part being added to the story. Not because of a grudge against vampires, he’d assured Silus, who had been glaring at him at the time, but because he didn’t want to seem such a damsel.

And Ben was here now. That made Cedric safe as he could teleport the both of them away should things become ugly.

They could both begin their statements. Silus’s wrist, the one with the blade at Cedric’s neck, went slack, as did the hand that held Cedric’s arm behind his back.

The vampires gasped, and the sun sprites watched with fixed intensity as Silus released his bargaining chip. Yet Cedric did not move away to safety. The two remained within touching distance as Cedric addressed what were once his people and the man who, in a few moments’ time, may just disown him a second time.

“I’m sorry for the lie, Father, but my feelings for Silus are unchanged.”

The sun sprites on the above and below floors looked amongst themselves curiously at the statement. Silus had no doubt that none of them had been informed of the true reason for this idiot’s game of a challenge. The men behind Cedric’s father all looked like soldiers, not the gentlemen who had collectively cast him aside.

Cyricus sputtered, his face actually turning red and his body glowing with rage.

The vampires hissed and put their helmets back into place, all but for Wiktor, who stared at Silus with equal amounts of confusion and pain.

Silus felt no twinge or pain in his heart. Though he loved his father, he did not forget the man had attempted to kill him for his choice. “’Tis true.” He took Cedric’s hand and squeezed it for added measure.

There was a collective hiss at the sight from both sides this time.

“You should all know that this is why you’re here.” Cedric didn’t just address the sun sprites in the room, but the vampires as well. “Because of us. Our parents couldn’t stand the thought of a vampire and sun sprite being lovers. That’s why you’re all fighting to the death, and that’s why some of your friends have already been slaughtered. For this.” Cedric raised their joined hands to emphasize his point.

Silus spoke to the vampires, all of whom stared, some with their hands at their mouths, as though he’d confessed to having relations with farm animals. “I know this is difficult to understand, but there really is no need for this fighting. None of you need to meet your end for this feud. I have found my life-mate in a sun sprite, and I will not turn away from him.
That
has been my decision. I have not been tricked, hexed, nor do I wish for any deaths on either side. I implore you all to walk away from this fight and return to your families. We do not have to be enemies.”

“The same goes for me,” Cedric said, his eyes moving intently along the stunned faces. “I recognize some of you from my home. You all know about how I broke off my engagement.” He took a deep breath. “Now you know why. I don’t want to see any more of you dead.”

Wiktor hid his face in both hands and, his back slouching, turned away from the both of them.

Cyricus’s hands clutched at the marble rail so tightly his knuckles turned white while the tips of his fingers shaded to a blood red.

They both waited. Silus held his breath. If they had any impact at all, both teams would turn their backs, leaving both of their fathers alone with their hatred. No one else would lose their life, and perhaps this cold war between sun sprites and vampires would end.

A furious roar shook the foundation upon which they stood.
“Traitor!”

One of the sun sprites picked up a chunk of the broken off marble and hurled it down upon them. Silus was forced to relinquish Cedric’s hand as they leapt apart to dodge the rock.

It broke in two pieces that left another crack in the already destroyed tiling, both bits of stone sliding in opposite directions, and landing at both Cedric’s and Silus’s feet.

Silus could only look at the fist-sized rock at his shoes. It was the perfect metaphor to his and Cedric’s situation, precisely how the warriors surrounding them wanted this to end.

With him and Cedric separated.

Then a racket of voices shouting to be heard over each other began. Some of the affronted screams were pointed in their direction, others amongst each other. It was a chaotic ball of arguing where no one was being heard.

Silus turned to his father. The vampire lord was rubbing his face with his hands, horrified at the shame Silus had brought upon him with the confession. Their eyes met for the briefest of seconds before he did something that Silus had never seen him do.

He burst into tears.

With a twist under his breast, Silus knew the man truly would rather his son had died. A death could be mourned at least, sympathized with. What Silus had done, could not, and his family would suffer as long as he lived.

He turned in the other direction and followed Cedric’s gaze to Cyricus. The old sprite did not weep, as the proud Wiktor did, but he glared at his son, body trembling with rage, his face still scarlet. ’Twas the same situation for Cedric, it seemed.

For the first time since hearing of the plan, Silus whole-heartedly agreed with it. He stepped over that blasted bit of rock and took Cedric’s hand into his, and when Cedric turned his face, he kissed him.

That only seemed to make the noise twice as loud.

Cedric’s arms wound around his back, sliding up past his shoulder blades into his black hair. Silus gripped Cedric’s hips and pressed him close.

The roar of the room tripled. Someone fired their gun into the ceiling, but the crowd did not calm.

Cedric pulled down the neck of his button-down, exposing his throat.

That act alone silenced the room. “Be quick, babe.”

He had to drink as much as possible for what Cedric was about to do. He did. His fangs sank into their familiar sheaths, reopening the punctures, and the blood that brought the sunlight behind his eyes pooled into his mouth and down his throat.

“What is he
doing
?
” Cyricus shrieked. “Stop him! He’s killing my son.
Stop him!
”

Wiktor was screaming similarly. “That sprite blood is poison! Silus!”

Despite the screams from both heads of household, neither army moved to separate them. Both sides stared, fixated, at what they perceived to be a gruesome sight.

Silus sucked back more, and with what he’d already drank before they came into the ballroom, his body luckily remained vertical. Cedric’s knees weakened and bent. Unable to hold straight, Silus had to grab him to keep him from collapsing to the broken floor.

He growled, waiting for Cedric’s light to consume them.

“Not yet,” Cedric said, his voice hoarse and fingers weakly clutching at Silus’ shoulders. “Drink more.”

Silus did. He sucked back three more strong mouthfuls hard and fast, nearly choking on it, some of the blood erupting out of his mouth and staining Cedric’s clothing.

Suddenly, both armies came out of the hypnotic state that watching a vampire drink from a sprite put them into. As both sides of angry warriors began their charge, Cedric began to glow. An order was called out, and in his peripheral vision, Silus caught sight of the vampires all putting their visors back down and protecting their leader. The sun sprites did not stop. They charged as Cedric released a glow that rivaled the explosion of a star.

* * * *

Though the vampires had their protection, they still had to blink the dots from their eyes when the room’s radiant glow diminished to a more acceptable illumination.

It was the same for the sun sprites, who, although they were made to handle such bright blazes, also staggered around, reaching with blind hands to steady each other until their eyes adjusted.

Silus and Cedric were both gone from the center of the destroyed ballroom. A pile of ash and a burn mark were all that remained.

Wiktor stepped forward, his mouth opening and closing, broken sounds escaping him, but no words. He reached for the charcoal spot where they once stood, as though his son could reappear unscathed.

“Could—could that sprite have flashed him away? He was strong enough to survive the bleeding. He could have survived.”

“He didn’t flash away.” Ben stepped forward, guns in his hands. He bent down and left them on the grainy floor, then approached with his palms up until he stood in front of the vampire with the pleading eyes. “Sun sprites can’t teleport like that outside of direct sunlight, and they can’t take anyone with them.”

Again, Wiktor’s face broke with sobs.

“Murderer!”

Everyone raised their heads to the sprite who screamed out. Cyricus leaned over the rail, a long finger pointed directly at Wiktor. “Your demon child destroyed my son! Bit him and forced him to defend himself.”

Three vampires rushed forth to hold Wiktor back when he attempted to charge the accuser. “My child would still be here had it not been for your sun-loving wretch!”

“Stop it, stop it!” Ben had his hands to his ears. “Jesus, you both shriek like chicks. They were both standing there, barely thirty seconds ago, asking you both to let it go, but you wouldn’t. It’s the fault of both families they’re gone.”

Both men seemed to choke on those words.

Ben turned his face up, addressing Cyricus. “Sir, as you know, Cedric and I are—were—friends. He’s dead now because of all this, so I quit.”

Ben made a show of unstrapping his bulletproof vest and threw it down on the floor, the thud echoing like everything did in the silent space, and then he walked out, leaving both sides to stare at each other.

Chapter Fifteen

The morning sun was just turning the horizon from black to navy and pink when Ben teleported back to Silus’s cabin. It was still dark, but not enough that he was night blinded as he went up the deck two stairs at a time to let himself in.

Silus and Cedric were exactly where he’d left them when he teleported the first time, cuddled on the rug on the floor. The empty plastic bag they’d carried all those ashes in, hidden under Cedric’s shirt before it had been dumped, was on the floor next to them, making a grey mess of what was no doubt an expensive tapestry.