Demetrius (22 page)

“I’ll start at the beginning.” Demetrius recounted the events of the past week, stopping before the
it’s not you, it’s me
conversation with Callista that put him in the foul, shitty mood.

As he spoke, John’s eyebrows rose higher; Sylva became increasingly rigid; Demke was a combination of them both. Zoey remained quiet, fearing her position on the Synod was toast.

If she lost her position, it’d be his fault. She’d always been one badass female, reliable in the field. But in the last six months, he’d watched as she flourished in a leadership role. He hadn’t seen that type of drive fill her since she’d lost her true mate years ago. For a time, he thought she’d take a short walk into the sun.

He would witness the fire in her die again if she was removed from the Synod. And it’d be because he’d been too proud to approach them.

“Your pride and arrogance,” Sylva echoed his thoughts, “reaches far beyond yourself to get others hurt. We should have never trusted you to do what’s right by all our people, not just your race, or yourself. To not be too self-absorbed to see the danger demons present to all of us.”

Yeah, he deserved that, but he was pretty damn tired of Sylva’s constant attack against his personality.

“Did it ever occur to you, Sylva, that there’s more to me than your opinion credits me with? That I developed my persona out of necessity?” She scoffed and he pressed on. “When I was sixteen, a team came to kill my sister.” He shocked them into giving him all their attention. “They thought she needed to be put down, or even better, sold to Sigma for study. They didn’t see her as loving, innocent. They saw her as stupid and useless. I watched my parents throw away status and risk everything to save her. The fight was so bad, so bloody, we were able to fake her death. One hundred and four years, we’ve been hiding her existence. A vampire who acts like he’s hiding a secret doesn’t get very far. Especially a secret Sigma would’ve killed handsomely for.” He needed to be completely honest. “Because she’s gifted in ways even I don’t understand.”

Sylva’s face dissolved into disbelief that one, he had a sister he cared deeply for, and two, he protected her so fiercely. He saw Zoey out of the corner of his eye, standing stoic, filled with relief all of their secrets were bared, and rising dread that they’d be forced to protect Isabelle against those who have—almost—become friends.

“Does a timid vampire lacking confidence infiltrate the most deadly organization we’ve ever created? Are people willing to confide their fears to a weak leader? You despise my arrogance, but it serves the Synod as well as it has served my sister.” And Callista. His true mate who hated being identified as the weak female who was nothing without being bonded to a male.

He was such an insensitive dick. A cocky, inconsiderate bastard who thought Callista should drop everything and be with him, just because she was his true mate and he saved her. She wanted time. That’s all she’d asked from him.

“I’ve been an insensitive prick,” he mumbled.

“That’s nothing new,” Sylva snorted. Her voice softened, “Tell us about your sister.”

“She’s special. I don’t know if she’s crazy or if she’s fucking brilliant. But she taught me that we need people like her in the world. People we love because they don’t make sense.” People we should get to know before determining their fate.

He needed to woo Callista. Buy her flowers and shit. What did males romance?

John nonchalantly stretched his arms over his head like he was more than ready to return to his own mate’s bed. “So you decimated an entire organization that’d been around for centuries because they went after your sister?”

“It needed to be done.” That shit made an impression on a young boy.

Demke shook his head, Sylva looked at him like one of his heads didn’t look so nasty.

It was time to be humble. “I want to attack the Circle, wipe the demon stain off earth. All I ask is you allow me to keep doing that. I understand if you need to remove me from the council for keeping information from you.” He’d beg for Zoey’s fate, but she’d kick his ass for speaking on her behalf.

The muscle in Zoey’s jaw tensed and flexed. They needed a majority rule to remove someone from the Synod. With his and Zoey’s integrity in question, only the other three were able to vote, so he needed two to not despise him. Not a small request.

Finally John spoke. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You just told us everything.”

Sylva didn’t look happy, but she inclined her head in agreement. “We don’t always see eye to eye. But now that I know you’re not a complete womanizing douche, I’m willing to give you another shot. I hope this Callista makes you grovel.”

Demetrius grinned. “She won’t have to make me. I will beg and plead until she’s ready to submit.” He looked at the remaining member who hadn’t spoken.

“I’d hate to break someone new in. You and Zoey get shit done. I’m willing to consider you on probation.” Demke took a deep breath and Demetrius dreaded what he was going to say next. “However, we need to address your…friends. You and Zoey can’t govern on the Synod, then go back to Freemont and lead an exclusive group of vampires who do your bidding. Not when we’re trying to integrate shifters and vampires with our Guardian ranks.”

He grudgingly agreed with the conflict of interest, but didn’t like it. There was no way Rourke, Bishop, Creed, and Ophelia would quit policing their species. But there was also no way in hell they would join the Guardians to do it. It was stubbornness and pride that could cost them.

Next to him, Zoey nodded in agreement. “We are closely tied to this conflict, personally invested in the governance of our people, and to the cleansing of our race from the underworld threat. Stepping away entirely, with our experience and knowledge seems unfeasible. What do you suggest?”

She had always been more diplomatic than him. Her tone and words would go over much better than his
what the fuck do you think we should do, then
?

“Zoey has a point.” John stared at the papers on his table. Demetrius hoped he crapped out an excellent idea because he couldn’t think of one. All he knew was he didn’t want to turn over Callista and his sister’s safety to someone he didn’t know or trust. “The Circle of thirteen needs our sole focus and we can’t afford to give it. The Guardians are already taxed training new recruits, dealing with normal business, and addressing the new issues our merging is causing.”

Demke had adopted the same introspective manner as John. “Perhaps we need to keep them, those who’ve been working with Demetrius and Zoey. Keep them assigned to demon specific missions, reporting to us.”

Sylva spoke and Demetrius expected immediate disagreement. “I agree. The Guardians’ packs will be briefed. Any suspicious incidences referred to this special team.”

Sylva was down. John and Demke helped come up with the plan, and Demetrius had to admit it was a damn good idea.

“Then we’re decided,” John confirmed after Zoey and Demetrius inclined their heads. “That demon book, we all need to study it, disseminate pertinent information. As soon as possible. We’re going to hunker down while you bring us up to speed on everything demon. Then we’ll iron out the terms of our of our new demon hunting division.”

Demetrius’ heart sank. He wanted to run back to his apartment, see if Callista was still there, make her swoon. But John was right. The others needed to be brought up to speed and that meant teaching them everything they knew about the underworld and how it was influencing earth.

Chapter Twenty-five

Calli headed into the kitchen. Opened the fridge. Closed it. Opened a cupboard door. Closed it. Wandered back to her laptop. Brought up the internet and stared at the home page.

Come on, princess. The world is at your fingertips, only this time, it’s not online.
She was free to leave, free to go wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted. She was even free to hang with whoever she wanted. Had all the time in the world to pack what she planned to keep and find a new home. Except there was only one place she wanted to go.

That thought brought an image of laughing pale green eyes peering out from behind wavy brown hair.

No, she couldn’t move in with him. She’d lose herself again. Blood hunger gnawed at her but she had time before she needed to decide. It’d only been five days. Five long, long days. Learning there were ways around the biological restrictions of encountering a true mate didn’t make her feel better. Being intimate with someone else was repulsive, not being intimate with Demetrius was getting damn near painful.

She could finally go all the way with a male. With Demetrius. With her true mate, the vampire destined for her and her alone.

What the hell was she doing wandering around her house feeling like the last survivor of a zombie apocalypse?

Calli headed toward the garage, keys to the Rolls in hand. The tags were expired and she doubted there was any insurance on it, but vampires had their ways of getting around pesky human law enforcement.

Pulling up to the sprawling nursing home, Calli mused over how much had changed since she’d been here last.

There was no one particular she wanted to visit, her only goal was to see familiar faces. Her only friends, really. Leaving the way she had, she doubted Rourke or Ophelia would use the word friend to describe her. The charge nurse gave her a friendly wave before rushing off to deliver meds before bedtime.

All the residents were in their room settling in for the night. The end of their day had always signaled the beginning of hers. That used to amuse Calli, but now was just depressing. She had a whole night to kill. Going home to watch another movie marathon made her want to shank herself, but she couldn’t afford the blood loss.

She tapped softly on a door and smiled at the little old lady watching
Law and Order
. “Hey, Ethel. Mind if I come in for a bit.”

Ethel gave her a toothy grin and waved her in. “Calli, what a nice surprise. Where’s your gentleman friend?”

“Oh, he’s working. We’re kind of…” On break? Separated? Thinking about things?

He’d texted her one time since he had her keep his backup phone, the one she’d taken the night she escaped. Made sure she was okay. Two nights ago he’d tried to call. She even answered, but his voice was too much for her—too sexy, too many memories with him attached—and she made a chicken-shit excuse to hang up.

“Ah, young love.” Ethel sighed. “Always so unnecessarily complicated.”

Calli didn’t know how to respond, so she sat in the chair next to Ethel.

The woman leaned her head back against her chair and closed her rheumy eyes. “When Jim and I first met, I wanted nothing to do with him or his plans. I had my own big plans to go to school. None of that settling down business, even though that’s what was expected of me at the time.” Her lids lifted, revealing a dreamy expression. “But I couldn’t resist him. We got married and fought about everything. He wanted to start a business. I wanted to go to graduate school.”

Settling back, Calli listened, amazed at the amount of life humans packed into their short stay on this earth.

“Then we had our first child, Beatrice.”

Confused, Calli glanced at the picture on Ethel’s shelf. It was a picture of her at Jim’s funeral, dressed in a plum dress surrounded by four men in suits. Ethel loved showing off her four boys, her pride and joy.

“Beatrice became my world, for the whole three years I got to keep her. Leukemia, doctors said. We tried to fight it, but Bea didn’t pull through. I was shattered and Jim was the glue that kept me together. While Bea was sick, I realized how petty our arguments were. We had gone from fighting about whether Jim made the bed or not, to fighting for the life of our child. It bonded us when it could’ve torn us apart, showed us we never know how long we get with those we love. I didn’t know how much time I had left with him, so I figured I might as well be nice to him!” Ethel cackled good-naturedly.

How could Calli not cry and hiccup after that story. “I missed you, Ethel.”

Ethel’s soft, wrinkly hand patted her own. “You’re a sweet one, Calli. Always taking such good care of us. Whatever’s going on between you and that handsome gentlemen will work itself it out if you let it.”

Hiccup
. “I need to work myself out first.”

“Oh dear, you don’t need to be alone to figure yourself out. The right person will share their strength, allow you time to figure it all out. Jim wanted to open his own car dealership so I’d have the freedom to pursue whatever work made me happy, without worrying about bringing in a second income just because we needed the money.”

“So did you finish school?”

Ethel shot her a mischievous look. “I sure did. Barely finished my master’s degree before I stayed home to raise kids for twenty-five years. But,” the woman shook her finger at Calli, “when Jim died and left me in charge of the dealership, I was able to not only run it, but my sons and I expanded it.”

Calli studied the little lady who loved crime dramas and crocheted blankets for all her grandkids. “You’re incredible.”

Ethel waved a hand. “I do all right.

A cloud threatened to dampen Calli’s mood when she thought about how she’d miss Ethel when she passed away. Going to the funeral wasn’t even an option. It would likely be held in the middle of the day.