Page 68 of Love Bites
"You're probably right about that." Luke had invited me to one of his gaming sessions with his friends once and I'd been totally lost. Besides, my idea of a fun night didn't usually include dice.
My phone chimed to alert me to an incoming call. The ringtone I'd set for Talon. I wanted to ignore it, not ready to hear any more bad news, but at the same time, I knew that I couldn't close my eyes on this. Whatever Talon had to tell me, I needed to hear it.
"What's up?" I asked, answering the phone.
"Aldrich just called," Talon informed me.
"Good news?" I tried, even though I wasn't feeling super optimistic. Talon wasn't sounding like someone who had good news. I rubbed my face, kind of wishing I hadn't bothered getting up that morning.
"I'm afraid not. They took him in for interrogation, but..." Talon sighed, sounding weary. "Vampires sometimes forget how frail humans can be. He's gone, Sparkles. I'm sorry."
I nodded even though Talon couldn't see it. I just couldn't get myself to speak. My mouth was far too dry. I glanced at my little brother who was watching me with the faintest glimmer of hope in his eyes.
Fuck.
I had to be strong for him. "I gotta hang up," I told Talon before disconnecting the call and facing my brothers.
"What did he say?" Luke asked.
My mouth opened but no words came out.
How to put this?
Damn it, why couldn't Remy do this? He was better at this shit. I glanced at him again, but of course, he couldn’t deliver news that he hadn’t received, so I focused back on Luke. "I'm so sorry," I started, because I truly was. None of this might have happened if I hadn't hooked up with a vampire. I wasn't sure exactly how my making out with Talon had led to the vampires attacking the rest of my family, but there had to be a connection somewhere.
"Why are you sorry?" Luke demanded. "Do they know where Damian is? What did they do to him?"
"They..." I exhaled and shook my head. Nothing for it. I just had to get this out so Luke could start to process. "He's dead, Luke. They killed him."
My little brother made the most pitiful sound I'd ever heard come out of his mouth. My heart broke for him in an instant as his walls came down and he started crying all over again. I drew him into a hug and held him tight, saying nothing because there was nothing more to say. I knew what it felt like to lose someone and words weren't going to do anything to soothe the gaping hole in his soul at this point. What I could offer him now was my presence, so I closed my arms around him and let him cry on my shoulder, offering a silent promise.
I would always be here for him.
Now and forever.
Chapter Twenty
"It's too bad about the kid," Aldrich said, taking a slow sip from his wine glass, sitting opposite Talon at one of the tables at their favorite club—the only club in the district that served blood.
"It was unnecessary," Talon agreed. He hadn't known the kid, but he knew that his death had hurt Collin's family, which was unforgivable. "Does anyone suspect us?”
"Not that I can tell." Aldrich shrugged. "You know we're gonna get in trouble for ditching on the job we weresupposedto be doing, though."
"I'm aware."
"I hope Zenon's not too mad," Aldrich said. "I don't want to get one of those scars." He pointed at Talon's face.
"I didn't get these for running off on a job." Besides, even if Aldrich acquired scars, he could easily make them disappear. Talon’s specialty was memory alteration, Aldrich’s was simple magic tricks like the glamour charm that changed his hair color every other month.
"Well,technically, that is what you got it for," Aldrich corrected, obviously remembering the story even though Talon had only shared it with him once several years ago. It wasn't a story he liked to relive.
"My transgression was fully intentional and showed total disrespect toward our sire."
"Ourglorioussire." Aldrich raised his glass. "Seriously, though. You let a small child get away. It shouldn't have been the end of the world."
“I disobeyed orders. Zenon wanted that child dead. His parents had already been dealt with by the kill squad…” Talon trailed off, remembering that night. He hadn’t knownwhyZenon had wanted these people dead. It hadn’t been of any concern to him. He'd been there on clean-up duty. Remove any traces of a vampire attack. Clean up was usually pretty straight-forward. Figure out if anyone in the near vicinity had seen anything and clear their memory. It was easy enough.
But that night he'd spotted a survivor. And he'd decided to spare the child because he hadn’t seen any reason for the little one to die. He hadn’t know anything about birthmarks, or that they were the reason that family had been targeted in the first place.
