Twice Dead (5 page)

The book in Nathanial’s lap snapped shut. He tossed it on the table and leaned back in his chair. He reached up, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. If he’d been human enough to sigh, I think he would have at that moment, but he only wasted energy on breathing to speak and for show. As if a silent alarm went off in his head, his hand dropped, and he turned, peering into the darkness where I stood.

Caught.

I stepped through the doorway, and Nathanial flowed to his feet.

He glided across the kitchen. Awareness of his presence filled the space around me before the doors had time to swing shut. His grace wasn’t feline like the shifters I’d grown up around, but it was definitely predatory. And it was all male.

He ran a finger down the side of my cheek then pressed his lips, feather-light, across my forehead.

My heart lurched like it could propel me to step closer to him, to move into his embrace. Instead I scooted away.

“When did you get back?” I asked, hoping he hadn’t been home long enough to note my absence. I doubted I was that lucky. Very little got past Nathanial. Besides, the pile of books on the table was impressive.

He frowned, and I squirmed under his measured gaze until I finally looked down to escape it. My palms were gray with dust from the sarcophagus, and flakes of red rust clung to my fingers like spots of dried blood. I brushed my hands on my thighs. It didn’t help, and I scrubbed harder. Nathanial stepped forward. His hands slid around mine, stilling me.

“Where were you, Kita?”

I shrugged without looking up. “With Gil.”

It wasn’t an answer. Not really. But, after a beat, he stepped back as if he’d accepted more than I said. “The council wants to speak to you.”

He’d changed the subject? Seriously? He never let me get away with half-answers this easily. Of course, it wasn’t every day I discovered a body and got summoned by Haven’s vampiric council.

I nodded and tugged my hands free. Without a word, he ushered me out the door and onto the porch, but when he turned, the frown melted off his face, leaving in its place a look of nonchalant arrogance. His expression, as empty of true emotion as if he’d put the opera mask back on, spoke volumes about the emotions he
wasn’t
sharing.

At least, it did to me.

It was his public face, the one he hid behind. The fact he was wearing it while it was just the two of us made my anxiety level skyrocket. “What?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. “You’re starting to creep me out, Nathanial.”

He blinked, as if startled. Did he think I wouldn’t notice he’d shut down and was being all secretive?

“I am going to say something you will not appreciate,” he said, his tone as guarded as his face.

Like I hadn’t figured that out. I tapped my fingers against the gray elbows of my coat, waiting.

“Tatius will not approve of your current condition. He instructed you to feed. You need blood before we go.”

My hands clenched, my fingers digging into my arms until the pain became small red points I could focus on. I wanted to stomp my feet, to yell. I’d hunted not once, but
twice
tonight.
Can’t he be satisfied with
—I cut that thought off.

Sucking in air, I filled my lungs with the scent of night, of the nearby woods, of the spicy scent of Nathanial’s skin. I kept drawing in air until my lungs pressed against my ribs and expanded in my diaphragm. Then I let all the air rush out of me, emptying my body of every drop, every scent, every breath. If I yelled, Nathanial would wait me out. If I ran, he would come after me. If I hit something, it would break. So I stood there, perfectly still, perfectly empty.

The mask slipped from Nathanial’s expression as his eyes warmed. One edge of his lips quirked like I’d amused him.

What, had he expected me to have an outburst?
Probably.

But I wasn’t going to. Not this time.

“I’ve hunted. I’m fine.”

Nathanial stepped closer and moved into my space, filled it. He wasn’t a big man, but his presence, maybe even his power, closed around me. His fingers traced the edge of my face as he studied me, and my pulse quickened. It was like his touch pulled a girlish giddiness from deep inside to the surface, made me want to smile against my will.
Focus, Kita.

“I’m fine. I’m not even cold.” Not much, at least, but I didn’t add that.

“You look drawn, tired.”

Gee, isn’t that what every girl wants to hear? I backed away from him, though it felt like losing a part of myself to pull away from his touch. “Let’s just go.”

“You need blood. Blood that is not from an animal. Take from me.” He lifted his wrist, but I grabbed it before he could open a vein.

“No.” Taking blood was too weird, too intimate. And he was already too… everything. Just the idea made heat lift to my cheeks. I shook my head. “No.”

“I have been patient these last two weeks. I have let you try to survive on animals. I have never forced you—”

“So don’t start now.”

We were standing close enough that I had to tip my head back to meet his eyes, but I didn’t dare look away as he studied me. The silence built between us, growing sharp.

Then he shook his head, a low chuckle rumbling from his chest.

“If attitude alone determined power…” He brushed a strand of hair behind my ear and smiled. “Or denial.”

“I’m not in denial,” I huffed under my breath, which only made the edge of Nathanial’s lips twitch higher.

“Of course.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and drew me closer to him, engulfing me in his scent. “Tatius will want you to recount the events of the night. Please, mind your tongue,” he whispered the last into my hair, the amusement fading from his voice.

Then we were in the air, the little cabin disappearing below us as we hurtled toward the council.

Chapter Five

I dragged my feet through the underground rooms of Death’s Angel. I most certainly wasn’t anxious to reach the council’s chambers. Of course, I could only walk so slowly, especially with Nathanial steering me ever onward as Anaya sauntered down the dark hallway in front of us. She and Clive had been waiting for us when we arrived at the club, gleefully anticipating delivering us to Tatius.

Anaya stopped at a pair of double doors. I expected her to knock. She didn’t. Instead she threw the doors open, the knobs slamming into the inside walls with a resounding boom.

Every undead eye turned toward the doorway. I cringed, inching behind Nathanial.

“The favored child and his companion have arrived,” Anaya announced into the stunned silence enveloping the room.

Then she turned and sauntered back into the hall.

Her name was so going on my shit list.

Tatius shook his head from the center of the room where he sat atop the council table. His gaze raked across me, bearing down as he hesitated. Then his eyes moved on and the weight lifted from my skin, but not the feeling that I’d been worn down just by the brush of his attention.

“Everyone out.” Tatius’s voice was smooth, not even lifted, but the non-council vampires in the room jumped. Then as one, they turned and headed for the door.

“Hermit, thank you for gracing the rest of the council with your presence. You’ll understand that we moved on without you, so show yourself and your companion to the sitting room. I’ll be there when I have time to deal with you,” Tatius said, his attention returning to the vampires around the table.

Nathanial nodded and led me past the large council table before lifting a cloth panel and revealing the doorway to a small, dark room. Plush carpet muffled the sound of my steps as I followed him to a dark leather couch in the center of the room. Paintings instead of fabric lined the finished walls. The only thing missing was electric light. Instead, unlit candelabras were scattered around the room. Anywhere else, the room would have been unremarkable, but its very normalcy made it remarkable compared to what I’d seen of the underground parts of Death’s Angel thus far.

Nathanial sank onto the couch. He crossed an ankle over his knee, and I frowned as he pulled a small book from the inner pocket of his tux jacket.
How can he read at a time like
this?

“You should take a seat,” he said, glancing up from the book. “We made Tatius wait. He will return the favor.”

I didn’t take his advice. I was too jittery to sit. Instead I paced a circle around the room and fidgeted with a marble from my coat pocket, rolling it through my fingers.

It was hard to mark time in an underground room, but it felt like we’d been waiting for over an hour when Nathanial leaned back, his gray eyes fixing on me. “Kita, sit.”

“Sorry. I’m a cat. Not a dog. I don’t do tricks.”

The edge of his lips twitched in an almost smile, and the small change lit his face, breaking the mask of indifference I was growing accustomed to seeing tonight. The change was small, subtle, but even the air in the room responded, seeming less thick, less dangerous.

Okay, so we were waiting on the head of the vampire council, and yeah, Tatius had considered killing me once, but I hadn’t done anything wrong this time. I’d found a body.

Hell, he’d been in the same room when I’d discovered it. He couldn’t have that many questions. I’d tell him what I knew and we’d leave. Simple as that.

I sank onto the couch beside Nathanial, and his hand slipped around mine, entwining my fingers with his. The warmth of his palm pressed into mine, spiraling up my arm to gather in a burn across my cheeks. Or, at least, I hoped it was just his warmth that made my cheeks hot.

“Uh… how much longer?” I asked, freeing my fingers and clamping my hands in my lap. “At this rate, it’ll be dawn before we’re dismissed.”

The door banged open, and flames flickered to life on the wicks of the many candles scattered around the room. I jumped, squinting in the sudden glow of light.

“You have rooms here,” Tatius said as he strolled through the door. “Dawn is not a concern.”

He lowered himself onto the chair across from us in one smooth movement, then threw one leather-clad leg over the chair arm. Nuri followed. She sat perfectly straight in her chair, not leaning against the plush cushion.

Silence, aside from the slight hiss of the candles, filled the room. I held my breath, willing my racing heart to slow, to not disturb the stillness or draw attention to itself. Nathanial leaned back. His arm stretched along the back of the couch, his elbow bent so his fingers rested lightly on my shoulder. He looked relaxed, but the blank mask consumed his features.

“You summoned us?” he asked, the words as casual as if he’d mentioned a recent sport’s score or offhand current event.

Tatius cocked his head to the side, making the pointed tips of his blue hair sway around his face. “I summoned her, Hermit. Just her. You’re here as a courtesy because you are her sire.”

I flinched. I couldn’t help it. Tatius scared the crap out of me. I’d grown up in a society of predators, and no matter how often I was told I’d be
Torin
, clan leader, one day, it had been pounded into my small kitten body that the biggest predator made the decisions. Tatius was, by far, the supreme predator in the room.

“You found a body,” he said, his tone deceptively cheerful.

I nodded. He knew I did. He was there.
Everyone
was there.

“Words, Kita. Unless a cat’s got your tongue.” He laughed at his own joke, and I gritted my teeth. “Why did you touch the body?”

“I smelled the blood,” I said, and Nuri nodded.

The pre-teen council member stared at me. She wasn’t just watching and listening, but studying me like she could read secrets under my skin. I readjusted my weight on the couch, uncrossing my legs and recrossing them.

“So before you smelled the blood, did you notice anything unusual about her? Did you see anyone else near the body?”

I shook my head.

Tatius frowned at me. “I need your words. Speak.”

Okay… because that isn’t weird or anything.
I glanced from him to Nuri. She was still watching me with that same intensity as she perched perfectly straight at the edge of her seat.

I cleared my throat. “I didn’t notice anything remarkable except that the couch was mostly free. I don’t remember anyone else close to her.”

Tatius looked at Nuri and she nodded. “All truths,” she said.

I frowned at her, but she continued to stare at me, her over-expanded pupils absorbing the entirety of her irises. I swallowed, hard. Vamp powers—it had to be. I looked away.

“Why were you at the couch alone? Why weren’t you with your master?” Tatius asked.

“I needed… air,” I said, and Nuri frowned at me.

“Truth,” she said, but puzzlement made her voice turn the single word into a question.

Tatius huffed under his breath and swung his leg around to the front of the chair. “Air.” He shook his head, and, propping both elbows on his knees, he leaned forward. “You sought out a hiding spot because you were hungry. You followed the scent of blood because you were hungry. And now you sit in front of me, still hungry.”

Nathanial’s fingers tightened on my shoulder. A warning? I couldn’t deny anything Tatius had said, so I didn’t answer.

After a moment, Tatius’s gaze left me to bore into Nathanial.

“I ordered you to feed your companion. Could you not find her an adequate meal?”

Nathanial’s arm behind my head turned to unmalleable wood, like he’d frozen and dared not move.

I frowned. “He didn’t need to feed me. I hunted.”

Nuri cocked her head to the side. “Truth?”

The word was definitely a question that time.

“I did.”

Tatius rolled to his feet in one liquid movement. He crossed the short distance between his chair and the couch and gripped my face between his thumb and fingers. He tilted my chin back, and I let my gaze follow sluggishly. I wasn’t looking forward to meeting his intense eyes, but as I finally dragged up my gaze, I found him studying my face, not staring me down.

“You haven’t hunted. I’d wager you haven’t fed well in a week.”