room, welcomed by Boaz. Adin had trouble reconciling the fact
that Donte’s right hand man seemed to work for Donte’s mortal
enemy, Cristobel Santos. He wasn’t adept at the vagaries of
vampire politics, but it seemed to him that the entire world was
one big episode of
Survivor, the Undead Edition
.
For good or ill Boaz was here, and even though he’d brought
Santos with him, it was a safe bet Donte had instructed him to
clean up whatever messes Adin got into. Again.
Adin sighed.
Santos approached the boy on the bed. Adin noticed that he
kept his distance. “Well, well.”
“Vampire.” The boy’s voice—while it seemed to hold
contempt—was laced with fear.
“Yes. You, on the other hand—”
Bran hissed something and Adin didn’t hear the rest of what
Santos said. Boaz entered the ensuite bathroom then returned
with a damp towel, which he pressed against Adin’s forehead.
“Hello, Santos.” Adin took hold of the compress. “To what
do I owe the pleasure of your company?”
“Ask Boaz. I’m here because he insisted we come.” Santos
went to the door and closed it. He pulled the wood bits off, threw
them away, and let the chain dangle. “I suspect he was ordered
here.”
“Boaz?” Adin addressed his friend. Boaz had entered Adin’s
life in the guise of a hotel limo driver, but Adin later found out he
worked for Donte Fedeltà. Boaz was only the first of the many
safety measures Donte put in place when he’d become interested
in Adin, whom he’d considered his oh-so-fragile human lover.
“Donte telephoned.” Before Adin could vent his frustration,
Boaz held up his hand. “He’s right. If you didn’t get yourself into
Vigil
13
these things in the first place…”
Adin ground his teeth again. He worried this new habit would
wreak havoc on his bite.
“That’s not important right now.” Santos turned and barked
at Bran to freeze, and Bran backed into the corner of the room
behind the bed. “Boaz, lie down on the bed and be…
impish
. I’ll
deal with this.”
Adin felt the need to speak. “Santos, I hardly think—”
“I’m beginning to believe that, Adin. At first I thought Donte
was exaggerating the problem.” A knock sounded on the door.
“Now, do you believe you can be quiet, or shall I have to tear your
head off and put you in the bathtub to bleed uselessly down the
drain.”
Adin pressed his lips together.
“Very good.” Santos opened the door to the hotel manager
and four uniformed police officers. The look he gave them
was one of surprise as he spoke to them in heavily American-
accented English.
“What can I do for you gentlemen this evening?”
“Dr. Tredeger?” The manager looked beyond Santos to where
Adin stood.
“That would be me,” Adin acknowledged with a nod. He
continued to press the towel to the wound on his forehead and
wondered what
les flics
would make of that.
“My name is Villiers, I’m the hotel manager. May we come
in?” he asked politely. Adin’s heart slammed against his ribcage as
he turned to find Bran’s terrified eyes on him.
Santos spoke. “Certainly you may, M. Villiers. I confess Dr.
Tredeger and I were expecting you, under the circumstances.”
“
Santos
,” Adin hissed.
“Now, Adin, you’ve been a very, very naughty boy. Admit it. I
had to break the door down to our own room. And you got hurt
in the process.”
14 Z.A. Maxfield
Adin gazed at Santos, uncomprehending, as the vampire
came to him and pulled the compress from his face. “Poor baby.
Our Boaz has been naughty too. What did I tell you about taking
play too far? Someone always ends up needing stitches. Say you’re
sorry, Adin.”
Adin’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not sorry.”
“No you’re not, you stubborn man.” Santos chided, even as
he tapped the tip of Adin’s nose affectionately with his index
finger. “Well, M.Villiers my partner and I normally have rules,
but I admit that he broke some of them this evening. And a few
commandments. And the door, I’m afraid, for which Adin and I
will gladly pay. But no actual French laws, I think.”
As M. Villiers and the police officers advanced into the room,
Adin held his breath. He didn’t dare look anywhere but at Santos.
He was trying to figure what Santos’s game was, when one of
the police officers, a woman, uttered a startled exclamation and
backed from the room.
Adin’s gaze went to the bed and even he was shocked by what
he saw there. Boaz lay on the bed, nude, stroking a monstrous
erection with manacled hands. He was the very picture of erotic
abandon, all dark eyes and wavy hair, like one of the boys in a
Caravaggio painting. His lips glistened and his cheeks and chest
bore the flush of his arousal. He was chained at his neck, wrists
and ankles just like Bran, who still cowered in his chains against
the wall of the small room. Adin’s gaze flew to Santos, who simply
stared straight ahead. He didn’t have time to wonder whether it
was an illusion, and if so, who was creating it, because M. Villiers
cleared his throat by coughing and politely placing his closed fist
tightly over his mouth as though to hold in a shout of alarm.
Adin glanced at the police officers. They had furious color
high on their cheeks, but none of them spoke.
“Boaz, my dear, please tell the nice M. Villiers that you are a
guest and not a hostage.”
Boaz pouted, and Adin could see he was having fun in his
new role. “What’s in it for me?”
Vigil
15
“What is always in it for you, my dear? Whatever you choose.
So, M. Villiers,” Santos asked. “What may I do for you?”
“I’m very sorry. Dr. Tredeger, I received a report of an
underage boy…”
The police officers rolled their eyes when Santos said, “Did
you hear that, Boaz? A pretty compliment. Thank the man.”
Boaz licked his lips deliciously and stroked himself again. The
head of his cock was darkly engorged, glistening from within a
hood of foreskin, and Adin found it difficult to take his eyes off
it. Through half-closed eyelids, Boaz gazed at M. Villiers whose
own eyes nearly bugged out.
Boaz uttered a breathy “Thank you.” And his lips curled into
a satisfied smile.
“Adin, is there anything you’d like to add?” Santos gave the
back of Adin’s neck a gentle pinch.
Adin tore his gaze away from the figure on the bed—not an
easy thing by any means, as Boaz appeared to be an erotic fantasy
come to life—and finally found his wits. “I stay in this hotel
whenever I’m in Paris, M. Villiers. Has the management suddenly
become interested in my personal life and my…hobbies?”
Bran still stood frozen in the corner of the room behind the
bed, but for whatever reason, M. Villiers and the police officers
said nothing about him.
“I apologize for the intrusion. It is, as always, your business
how you spend your time.”
“Well, I thought so. Provided that I’m careful with the
furnishings, and kind to the staff.”
“And you’ve always been that, Dr. Tredeger. Please forgive
the intrusion.”
“Of course.”
“Thank you.” Villiers motioned for the police officers to go
ahead of him and saw himself out.
When they’d all left, Adin let out the breath he’d been holding.
16 Z.A. Maxfield
“How the fuck did you do that?” He turned to find Boaz sitting
demurely on the edge of the bed, fully clothed, while Bran looked
on from where he remained with his back to the wall.
“Does Donte never tell you anything?” Santos murmured.
“I daresay he’ll be fit to be tied over this.” Santos used a finger
to pull the compress away from Adin’s face and then, to Adin’s
horror, he licked the skin there, teasing at the wound with his
tongue to close it.
As if someone had reached out and snapped Adin’s spine
at the place where his head met his shoulders, Adin felt the
tremendous zing of an electric shock all over his body, and his
knees buckled.
“
Ow
.” Adin lost his footing.
“That will be your master—” Santos chuckled, helping
Adin sit next to Boaz on the side of the bed, “—expressing his
displeasure.”
“I have no master, Santos,” Adin ground out, holding a hand
out to Bran to indicate that it was safe for him to sit. “I have a
lover. And he can see how much it pleases you to mess with him.”
Bran sat down warily. Adin wondered if he was subdued
by a visit from the local police or by the presence of what was
obviously a very powerful vampire.
“You have a master, Adin. To him, you are no more than an
exotic pet. I suggest you keep in mind that vampires are easily
bored. I’m already bored, but I thought we might take a walk.
Have a late supper. Boaz will watch the child.”
“Are you kidding?” Adin asked. “The last time we were
together for a meal, I was very nearly the main course.”
“But you can’t accuse
me
of ever trying to eat you,” Santos
said playfully. “Except once, at the airport in San Francisco, and
then only a little to soften you up. You are perfectly safe with me,
for now. Tell him Boaz.”
Boaz nodded and Adin shrugged. “All right. What the hell?”
Boaz reached for Bran’s hands where the manacles had chafed
Vigil
17
his wrists. “Poor baby. I’ll see what we can do about these while
you’re gone, Adin.”
“You’ll see if you can get them off?” Adin asked.
“
No
.” Santos said abruptly. A look passed between Boaz and
Santos that Adin didn’t understand. “We can’t take the iron off.
But Boaz can make him more comfortable.”
“What do you think, Bran?” Adin reasoned that if the boy
could see inside of him, perhaps he could see inside Boaz as well.
“He means me no harm,” Bran answered, indicating Boaz.
“What about this one?” Adin gestured toward Santos.
“He is un-living. His mind is closed to me.”
At this, Santos laughed. “Un-living. That’s certainly the glass
half-full, boy. Adin is an optimist as well.” Santos took Adin by
the hand and began to lead him from the room. “Do you know
what an optimist is to a vampire, Bran?” Santos opened the door
and motioned for Adin to pass through before him.
Bran showed no outward trace of what he was feeling, but
Adin could sense he was frightened. “No, what?”
Santos grinned. “A happy meal.”
Adin looked back past Santos as he started to leave, giving
Bran a last opportunity to speak. “Say the word and I won’t leave
you here by yourself, Bran.”
“Well,
thanks a lot
,” Boaz grumbled.
“It’s all right,” Bran answered. “But…you should never trust
a vampire.”
Santos shot Bran a glare but Bran stood his ground, his face
impassive.
Adin winked at Bran, and he colored furiously. “Got it.”
“
Zut
,” Santos exclaimed, extending his arms in an
encompassing, embracing gesture. “I love Paris. I never get tired
of it. Walk with me?”
Adin hoped for the best as he walked beside the vampire for
a while, enjoying the way the chilly night air clung to his skin and
clothing. He imagined what it might feel like to walk on the quays
by the Seine with Donte, and it caused such a wave of longing to
come over him that he clasped his hands behind his back to keep
from reaching out.
“Doesn’t it just fill you with an indescribable contentment
to walk the streets of Paris at night? It’s such a mixture of the
old and new, of history and hope and passion and humanity, all
brazen and tarted up.”
Adin grinned. “I feel the same way, but you put a far more
poetic spin on it. I wish Donte were here.”
Santos growled, “Why ruin a lovely night?”
Adin followed Santos in almost complete silence as he led the
way to the Pont Neuf, and across the river to the Île de la Cité,
stopping—finally—when they were standing in the park-like
square in front of Notre Dame’s cathedral doors. The cathedral
was lit, like all the monuments, and glowed beautifully in the
velvety blue darkness.
“This is arguably my favorite place on earth.”
Adin gazed up. The cathedral was at once monstrous and
brilliant, beautiful and grotesque. He’d certainly never tire of
looking at it, and he didn’t think if he had the advantage of
Santos’s years it would diminish his love for the place. “Mine too,
maybe.”
Santos sighed. “You may have guessed I don’t like to have my
plans disrupted.”
“The thought occurred to me, yes,” Adin said drily. He’d
20 Z.A. Maxfield
more than upset a few of Santos’s plans, and he knew Santos had
definitely been unhappy with him at the time.
“You derailed any hope I had of destroying Fedeltà’s diary.
Even though he’s your lover, you preserved a journal chronicling