Page 22 of Happily Undead in Dark River

“It is hard to be on the other side of the door,” X said quietly. He turned to me. “How could you be so bloody stupid? Now Lucius knows your name, knows your face. Saw the way his brother looked at you. You’ll forever be on his mind now, a way to needle his twin for the rest of his immortal life.” He let out a frustrated huff.

To be fair, adrenaline probably increased my rage at that moment. But I just saw red. I shook out of Judge’s arms and stood toe to toe with the arrogant dickhole. “Look, you arrogant asshole. I wasn’t going to let them take you away to be executed because you didn’t want Lucius to see my face. How do you think I would live with myself for eternity if I let that happen?” I poked him in his chest, which hurt my finger but still made my point. “I don’t know what you are used to, but I protect my friends. So you can stop being so bloody stupid,” I finished in his poncy British accent.

He glared down at me, his nostrils flaring rhythmically. Then he leaned down and kissed me, the hard line of his lips punishing. I gripped the front of his shirt and kissed him back, no softness between us. Just fear, and desire and a shit load of lust.

I vaguely heard Judge whisper to Tex, “When did this happen?”

“In the bath, I think.”

It shocked me out of my rage, and I jumped away. My eyes felt too big in my face, as I looked between X, Judge and Tex. “I… Uh…”

Then I hightailed it back to the bedroom like my ass was on fire.

Chapter Twelve

It took three hours to suck up the courage to head back out into the main part of my house. I was surprised to see everyone was there, even Nico.

I looked at him, noting the differences between him and Lucius. “Was no one going to tell me that Nico had an evil twin?” Nico should have told me; he knew how worried I was about this mythical Lucius.

“I didn’t want him to taint the way you look at me like he has done with everyone else for so long. You were so new, you didn’t know the whole sordid back history, the cruel things he had done in my name. For the first time in so long, I just wanted to be Nico.” He looked so forlorn, it was almost heartbreaking. “Do you forgive me?” It wasn’t a throwaway question. I narrowed my eyes at him as I was forced to say the truth.

“Yes. As much as I hate being the stupid one in the room, I can understand why you didn't want to tell me.” I looked to the rest of the guys in the room. Both Judge and X looked uneasy. Was it because of the kiss? “Is there anything else I need to know?”

Judge cleared his throat. Well, this couldn’t be good. “Lucius is my grandsire.” He looked at X and winced. “Our Grandsire. Our makers were nestmates. Normally, he would be able to compel us to do things, but Miranda put a permanent anti-compulsion geas over us when we worked together. We could never be compelled by anyone of our maker’s line while ever our maker was alive. Fortunately, mine is dead,” Judge said bitterly. “Which means Lucius’ control over me disappeared as soon as she was a husk in her grave, and so did Miranda’s compulsion geas. X isn’t quite so lucky.”

My head was spinning. “What does that even mean?”

“It means, Love, that Miranda left a little bit of her witchy jizz in me and it means I don’t have to worry about Lucius telling me to cut your pretty throat even though my degenerate maker still exists. It means I could walk into your apartment when your maker was trying to murder the good Sheriff while the rest of the Council could not, and why it zapped Judge in the nuts every time.” He chuckled. “What a fucking bitch.”

I had to agree.

I looked around the room again, so many concerned faces. Walker’s was the worst. When he looked at me, it was like he was already witnessing my second death. I didn’t blame him. I seemed to have brought trouble with me when I died outside the town not that long ago. It was attracted to me like ants to honey, a constant threat just hanging there, waiting for me to fuck up somehow. I’d never really shaken the specter of death.

I went over and wrapped my hand in his. “It’ll be okay, I promise. They’ll get bored with bullying the town, and then they’ll leave. There’s not enough here to keep them entertained.”

Walker’s jaw tensed. “I want you to leave. Go to Brody’s Pack lands until they do go. Take Tex and run.”

I was shaking my head before he’d even finished. “No, I’m not letting them chase me out of my home. It makes me look guilty and I have done literally nothing wrong. None of us have. If they are here in the official capacity that they say they are, they are constrained by the rules as much as the rest of us.” I also might have been talking out of my ass. I really needed to read the history of Vampires. But I’d left my copy at Angeline’s apartment, and whenever I was in the room with Walker or Judge, we ended up making out instead of talking about the laws of the Vampire Nation. This is what I get for being a horny bitch. “Who’s Titus? What's the Convocation?”

For some strange reason, everyone looked at Nico. I raised my eyebrows at him. “Titus is my older brother. He sits on the governing body for all supernaturals, The Convocation. All paranormals have a seat, and it is where treaties are formed, disputes are heard and resolved, lives are played with like it is a game of chess.”

I shook my head. “Do you have any other powerful siblings that I should know about?”

Nico smiled and shook his head. “That’s it. We are very old, that is why we have reached such heights of power.”

I frowned. “Yet you created a little village in the middle of nowhere instead?”

Walker rubbed my back. “Nico once sat on the Vampire Nation.”

I couldn’t connect Nico with the cruelty of the Vampire Nation and Lucius. There were flashes of his brutality though, like when he was saving me from Doc Alice. He wanted to tear out her heart.

“Yes, used to. A long time ago now. It wore away at me until I left.” He looked so beaten then, so exhausted by life. I sent him a sympathetic look, even though I really wanted to hug him right now.

“Is Titus like Lucius?” I shuddered to think that our very highest ruler had such casual cruelty. Nico smiled, it reaching his eyes. “No. Titus is a thinking man, very evenly tempered.” His smile slipped. “But you don’t rise to those heights because you won a popularity contest. He is as brutal and unforgiving as any in power. But he can be reasoned with, and he doesn’t torture the populace for the fun of it like Lucius.” Well, that was a win I guess.

I went over to the couch. I needed to sit down. Or sleep for a hundred years. Before my butt hit the cushions, Brody had vaulted the back of the couch and was sitting behind me, making sure I landed in his lap.

“Sorry, Red. But I need to hold you in my arms. Just pretend I'm the couch cushion.”

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