Scorched

“He’s mostly wolf,” Constance amended. “Part vampire. Human to begin with. It was a curse. They’re not real werewolves. Atreus made Viktor and Josef into his personal guard back when he still walked the world.”

“Before he came to the Castle?”

“Atreus had keys. He came and went at will. I think Atreus might be as old as the Castle.”

Now we’re getting somewhere. “Then I need to speak to him.”

“I said, he’s mad.” Constance made an impatient gesture, flicking his words out of the air. The sudden movement made Mac jump and grab for his gun. Constance froze.

“Nervous?” she asked, dryly amused.

“Cautious.”

“Good.” She smiled grimly, an expression that looked wrong on her elfin face. “Be afraid. Atreus doesn’t give anything without a price.”

“What kind of price?”

“I don’t know. It could be anything. But I might convince him to help you.”

“Who are you to him?”

“He took me in when I got here. I was his servant for hundreds of years. I kept a home for him and those close to the throne. He was my protector.”

That made sense to Mac. Centuries ago, a person was either lord or servant without many options in between. A small, young female, vampire or not, would seek out someone powerful enough to keep her safe. Politically incorrect by modern standards, but a good survival policy in a hellhole like the Castle. That didn’t mean Mac liked it. There was plenty of room for abuse in a system that traded service for safety.

“Before I take you to him, I need you to help me,” she said.

“What do you want?” he said, more because he was curious than anything else. “And don’t say blood.”

“The saints above only know what sort of indigestion a half demon would give me,” she said flatly, but there was still a flicker of speculation in her eyes.

She paused, a strand of her dark hair stirring in an air current. She smoothed her hair down, its dark length part of the shadows. The Castle felt even emptier and more cavernous than usual, the torchlight seeming to fade before it fully touched her features.

“You should realize that Atreus might kill you.” She closed her eyes for a long moment. “But I’m the only one he has now. Maybe I can still make him listen. Maybe.”

Her voice held a world of devastation. Mac fell into the spell of her soft lilt, past the fangs and the quick tongue and the pretty face, and wondered where all that unhappiness came from. I really can’t afford to get emotionally invested in a vampire.

Mac ignored the warning. There was too much he needed to know. “I thought Atreus had a big court with lots of soldiers and retainers. At least that’s what I heard.”

“That was long ago. As he lost his wits, he lost those who followed him. Now there is only me.”

“King Lear and Cordelia,” Mac said softly.

“Who are they?”

Things must be bad if I’m thinking Shakespeare. “Characters from a play.”

“Ah.” She lifted her chin, huffy. “I wasn’t a fine lady, to go spending my time at the theater. There was always work to be done.”

Mac couldn’t stop a smile.

“What’s so amusing?”

“Nothing. So, to get back to what we’ve agreed to so far, you will help me with Atreus. What do you want from me?”

She nodded, looking even more pale than the usual vampire white-on-white. He wasn’t sure why, but interceding with Atreus wasn’t going to be easy for her.

She pressed her lips into a flat line, her gaze shifting away. “First let me say I’m sorry I tried to bite you. I thought you were human. I need to bite a human to get my—well, like you, there is still a bit of human in me.”

A faint flush rose to her cheeks.

A bashful vampire. Who’da thunk. Mac helped her out. “You need to hunt to fully Turn.”

She nodded, averting her face from him. “Yes. I’ve escaped that fate for a long time. I can’t any longer.” She looked like she was about to start crying again, her lower lip tucking in.

Mac put his hand on her shoulder, the cloth of her dress soft from long wear. He could feel the bones beneath. “Why not?”

Her head jerked, her tear-starred gaze going from his hand to his face, but she didn’t shake him off. “The guardsmen took my son by force—I mean the foundling child I raised. I have no one to help me get him back.”

Mac caught his breath. He was suddenly and unexpect edly on familiar ground. A crime had been committed, and he had a witness. “They kidnapped him.”

The skin around her eyes tightened, as if she were pulling him into focus for the first time. “Yes, you could call it that.”

“How old is he?”

She touched a bronze pendant that hung at her throat.

“Sixteen.”

He had to make a mental shift to envision her child as a young adult. She looked so young. “What do the guardsmen want with your son?”

“Sylvius is an incubus.”

“Oh, shit.”

Mac dropped his hand from her shoulder, his fingers unconsciously seeking the shape of his weapon beneath his coat. An incubus added a whole new layer of complication. They were the so-called angels of lust, sought after like a drug.

“Atreus protected my son until now, but he’s lost too much of his power, and Sylvius is just coming into his. The guardsmen said taking him was for the safety of everyone in the Castle, but I think it was for their own pleasure. I trust the captain to keep his word, but not the rest.”

Angels of lust, Mac thought again. This one was going to be angel puree. Incubi were not fighters. The guardsmen would make mincemeat out of the kid. What a train wreck.

“Was there a demand for ransom?”

“No. They have Sylvius, and that’s what they wanted.”

Constance studied his every expression, as if she were trying to find hope. “They put him in a demon trap. The only good part is that Captain Reynard led the guardsmen. He is not as cruel as the others.”

Mac knew who Reynard was. “But Bran is his second-in-command.”

Constance bit her lip. “I—”

“Sh!” Mac held up a hand. He could hear the distant sound of voices and tramping feet, the clank of weapons against armor.

Constance lifted her head, suddenly alert. “It’s the patrol. We have to leave here. We can’t be caught near the door.”

Swiftly, they got to their feet. Then Mac caught a glimpse of the approaching men. It was dark and they were distant, but their shapes looked wrong. Not human. He pushed Constance further into the shadows. “That’s not the patrol.”

“Come this way,” she said, grabbing his hand. Her fingers were so cool that Mac felt like he had a fever. “Reynard said Miru-kai’s spies are in these parts. The warlords want Sylvius, too, and they probably don’t know he’s gone.”

“Oh, great.”

She started to run, a quick, effortless glide through the shadows. He followed her down the corridor, sliding the Sig Sauer out of it’s holster as they moved. The cop in him was on high. For the first time in ages, he felt completely alive. Useful.