Page 53 of Between Imminent Fates

Clearing his throat, Torrin replied with an even, “Lucius.”

“I’ve been asked by the Accords leaders to speak with you,” he replied evenly.

“To what purpose?” The curt tone almost tore a flashback out of Lucius, and he deliberately pushed down the sensation of being strapped to a chair, powerless, and under Torrin’s control.

“A peace treaty.”

“Peace?” Torrin actually laughed. “After you’ve destroyed millions of dollars’ worth of weaponry and most likely killed Derek? When you gorge yourselves on humanity like parasites? Why would we ever agree to such a ridiculous thing?”

Lucius shouldered off the building, rising to his full height several inches above Torrin. “If you want to know what’s in it for you, then you’ll agree to speak with me.”

“When?”

Resisting the urge to grin, Lucius said, “Now. I’ll even let you choose the location.”

Torrin gave him a dry look. “How very magnanimous of you.”

“My altruism has been applauded in the past.” Lucius’ noncommittal shrug had the other man rolling his eyes, almost succeeding in breaking the intensity of the meeting.

“Certainly not in the future.”

Lucius saw the threat for what it was. “You’re stalling.”

It was a challenge, and Torrin knew it. “Fine. But we’re going to a human venue, where we’ll be surrounded by thenaturalpublic.”

“Your choice, Torrin Scayde.”

The short, three-minute walk to an upscale restaurant was fraught with tension. Neither spoke, and when they entered the establishment, Torrin wouldn’t allow the vampire behind him. Though it killed a part of him to have his torturer at his back, Lucius ceded and entered first.

By the time they were seated, Lucius’s skin felt tight. It was as if one idle twitch would succeed in breaking him, piece by piece. Though everything was going according to plan, he couldn’t help the way he subconsciously reacted to the one who’d ordered that he be blinded.

And suddenly, Lucius had to know. “Why do you hate us, Torrin?”

“Vampires in general, or just you?”

“Both.”

“A vampire drank from my fiancée. After that, my life was never the same.” With the way Torrin’s gaze hardened, the likelihood of a lie seemed minimal.

“Did they kill her?”

“I managed to interrupt the monster in the process. I was waiting for her, sitting outside her apartment in my car,” the other man explained. “When she came out of her building, a vampire took an interest. Under the thrall of his mind control, she walked with him quite happily into the alley behind her apartment.”

Torrin continued, a tick starting in his eye. “She was so calm about it, that I didn’t do anything as that vampire took her neck. At first, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, was too shocked to jump out and save her. When I snapped out of it, I sprinted toward them to stop what I thought was an in-progress murder. The moment I got there, I tried to shove the vampire off her. It threw me against a wall and stopped feeding. The creature altered her mind to forget the entire event. Then, it attempted the same on me, except it didn’t take. I remembered everything, and she did not. She believed the lie.”

Lucius’ lips pinched together. “Let me guess, it soured the relationship?”

“Yes.”

Not for the first time, Lucius deeply regretted the period in vampire history when that had been accepted. It’d taken Gideon’s perspective—and Rona’s campaign—to make them see the error of their ways. Though the change had been difficult and there were still areas they could improve upon, their nation no longer took what they needed without consent.

“Several years ago, the vampire council banned drinking from humans,” Lucius said, “and suggestion is no longer wielded as a means to an end. When we looked at the practice and reflected on what it meant to those suffering for it, it made us realize it was barbaric.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does,” Lucius reiterated. “Your entire premise—the reason you hate us—is because we were taking from humans what they haven’t consented to. That practice has been outlawed, and in some cases, it is punishable by death. We acknowledge that what we were doing was immoral.”

“You’re demons. It doesn’t matter that you’ve temporarily stopped drinking from humans. Your blood has to come from somewhere, and eventually you’re bound to return to the source.”

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