Vigil (24 page)

“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