Wicked Circle

After they “read” their Maker to death, Menessos was asked to intervene. He chose to anchor their spirits in three of the six caryatids of the famous porch of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis at Athens.

“Those marble maidens were as lovely as the sisters once were, but I chose them because I felt they would safely exist for as long as mankind.” He paused. “At the time, a friend warned me that someday the shabbubitum would serve me comeuppance.”

My thoughts centered on the pagan’s Threefold Law: What you do comes back to you in triplicate.

“Congratulations,” Johnny said, his tone a little too happy. “Someday has arrived.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Johnny listened to the story but heard only how the vamp was setting himself up to play the wounded hero. Persephone was eating it up, too. He was going to have to apologize or something to show her he was concerned about her, too.

Then Persephone yawned.

She had given Menessos what he needed: blood. She’d given Johnny what he needed: sex. In return, he’d pissed her off. Now what she needed was sleep, and it was obvious.

Johnny rose from his seat. “Those of us who have shit to do during the day tomorrow need to go to bed.” He approached her, letting his genuine concern for her show. He reached up gently and massaged her shoulders. She exhaled contentedly, so he positioned himself behind her to massage more efficiently, all the while giving the vamp, who was still holding the hand that fed him, a pointed glare.

“Indeed,” Menessos said, releasing her. “You must rest.”

“What about you?” she asked.

“I will ponder my tactics until the dawn forces me to retire.”

“But shouldn’t we—”

“No,” Johnny said with a squeeze.

“The two of you must kiss and make up, Persephone,” Menessos said.

Johnny felt her shudder when the vamp said her name.

“I will plan for the safety of us all, then retire here. Go. Rest.”

Persephone nodded in acquiescence. Johnny guided her away from the vamp, and the two of them headed up the stairs.

Menessos called, “You will go with me to the haven tomorrow, yes?”

Johnny ground his teeth.

“Yes,” Persephone said.

Johnny didn’t answer. The vamp wouldn’t care if he accompanied them or not.

In the bedroom, Goliath lay reclined on Seph’s bed, toying with the cell phone. Johnny glared at him. “Out.”

Silent but wearing a broad smirk, Goliath complied.

Johnny shut and locked the door behind him, then wrapped his arms around Seph and nuzzled into her hair. The smell of her was so sweet that he couldn’t help tasting the tip of her earlobe.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Sorry we had words, or sorry that jealousy made you act like an asshole?”

“Both.” She waited expectantly, as if he should expound on the subject, so he did. “There’s a whole lot of shit going on that I can’t control.”

“The rest of us have that too.”

“I know. I know.” He sat on the edge of her bed. No one in the pack, male or female, would dare presume to make a decision that affected the pack without consulting him. But Red’s not pack. That was part of the allure and part of the problem. He wanted a similar authority over her, yet he knew he’d never have it. “You got bent when Menessos put that spell on us because he didn’t get permission, but it let us talk telepathically, and that was kind of cool. Then you go and get rid of it without asking me.” He gave himself a point for keeping his tone even, and went on. “I get it that you had reason, but you did the same thing he did, and even on top of all the current hubbub, I want you to let me be part of the decision-making process.”

At the last, her face fell. She sat on the bed beside him. “I did a ritual with my mom and Nana. It didn’t go like I’d planned, and the short version is I ended up in meditation and I discovered what Menessos had done, and I acted while it was there before me to be dealt with. The way it happened, I didn’t have the option to ask you. But.” She bit her lip. “You remember what I told you about Michael LaCroix?”

The name caused a new pang of jealousy in his heart. “I remember he’s your ex-boyfriend from college and our adevar’s big brother.”

“We broke up because I wanted to be kept in the loop of his business decisions. I didn’t want to make his decisions, but he opened a whole second location without so much as a ‘Hey, the business is doing well.’ I knew we couldn’t have a future like that.” She touched his leg. “I want to have a future with you. I’ll consult you as much as I can, but sometimes I have to make on-the-spot decisions. So do you. I trust you, Johnny, or you wouldn’t be in my bedroom right now. Don’t you trust me?”

That was a loaded question. There was no way to say anything except yes. He did trust her, but the vamp would use any opportunity he could to muscle his way between them. With his self-control wavering, he wasn’t sure if all these doubts were all in his head or if they were based in some reality.

Clearly troubled by his hesitation, Seph seemed like she might cry.

Johnny put his arm around her shoulders and answered, “Yes. Yes, of course I trust you.”

At 10:00 a.m., Johnny’s cell phone rang. He scrabbled at the bedside table, came up with nothing and figured out it was still in the pocket of the jeans he’d dropped on the floor before crawling into bed. Leaning over the mattress edge, he snatched the bottom of one pant leg and dragged the denim close enough to dig into the pocket. “Hello?”

“You asleep?” Todd asked.

“Not anymore,” he told the local pack’s second-in-command.

“The Zvonul made their official announcement a few hours ago. CNN picked up the story for their around- the-world snippets, and ten minutes ago they flashed your picture and name full screen. Thought you should know the world has gotten a glimpse at the Domn Lup.”

Johnny grunted in reply.

Todd hung up.

“Could you do the forced-change spell for the men today?”

Persephone blinked away sleep. “Huh? What happened to Monday?”

Johnny had just finished showering. He rubbed a towel over his head and said, “I checked, and the moon will be midsky about four o’clock today. If you and the men go to the roof of the den, you could do the spell and be done before Menessos even rises. And the den is closer to the haven than here.”

“Menessos said he wanted us to go to the haven together.”

“No, he said he wanted you to go with him. Personally, I think you’d be better off to stay the hell away from the haven and the shabbubitum.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

He knew he couldn’t talk her out of it, but he had to try. “It’s not safe. They’re going to blame you no matter what.”

“Menessos said he’d have a plan.”

“I don’t trust him.”

“I do.”

Of course she did.