Page 45 of Absolution
The babies woke around four for a diaper change. I got to them before they even began to cry. Luca was surprisingly efficient with baby clean up. And I was thrilled that we got them fed and back to sleep without waking Seiran, the man probably hadn’t slept well in a while, and there was no sign of Gabe.
I texted Jamie, wondering just what was going on there. His phone buzzed back some auto text about him working a shift at the hospital and would be available when the shift was over. I was a little surprised when he showed up just after five a.m. looking tired but a lot relieved.
“You’re awake,” he said as he stepped off the elevator.
“Yep. What was your first clue?” I groused at him.
“Forever a smart ass.” He fought a smile and shook his head, then frowned at Luca.
Luca sighed. “Yeah, yeah. Persona non grata. I get it. I’ll go upstairs and crawl into bed with Con. He won’t mind the company.” Luca pulled me into a hug and kissed me lightly on the lips before letting go to smack my ass and head to the elevator. “Text me when you’re up later.”
I nodded. The sun would be up in a little more than an hour. There would have to be a changing of the guards. Luca left and I stared at Jamie wondering if he’d answer questions, and where to start.
“What the fuck is going on?” I began because bullshit wasn’t something I liked to wade through.
“You didn’t look at the news?”
“Not that.” I waved my hand dismissing the whole vampire chaos. That was more my problem than his. “With you, Seiran, Kelly, and Gabe?”
Jamie sighed and seemed to deflate. He sat down on one of the barstools at the kitchen counter. “It’s complicated.”
“Right, ‘cause that’s new? I’m pretty sure you all have complicated for middle names. What the hell, Jamie? I thought you’d be here to help Seiran with the babies?”
His face flushed pink. “I want to. Gabe and I have had some screaming matches about that. He doesn’t want me to interfere. Kelly wants me to take Seiran away from him. But…”
“But what? Gabe is unstable. I watched him walk out as Seiran and the twins were crying. That’s not him. I barely know the man and know that’s not him. He’s lost weight and was dressed like he was headed to a kegger. What the flying fuck?”
Jamie flinched. “I thought they were perfect for each other. Gabe took such good care of Seiran. Now he’s just—cold.”
“I don’t think Gabe is really Gabe anymore,” I offered.
“That’s what your friend Luca says.”
“I don’t think Luca is as young as he looks. His dad also happens to be one of the most powerful vampires in the world, so maybe he knows what he’s talking about?”
Jamie scoffed. “Yeah, I looked him up. He’s seventy-five. And his dad…Maxwell Hart, how do we know he didn’t do something to Gabe? Start all this mess?”
Luca was seventy-five? Holy shit. Talk about good genes. “Now you sound like Seiran, paranoid and afraid of everything.”
“Isn’t that how we should be? Aren’t you the king of that yourself?” Jamie threw back.
Well yeah, experience was a bitch. “I have seen nothing so far that leads me to believe that Max is fucking with Gabe. Seiran said Max refuses to talk to him, even on the phone. Max has kept out of Gabe’s side of the city and seems more focused on business than vampire bullshit.”
“Which is weird.”
I shrugged. Who was I to tell old vampires how to socialize? “What about you and Kelly? Seiran said you’ve been fighting.”
“About all of this.” He let out a long deep breath like he was trying to keep calm. “And he has another training offer from the former water Pillar. She wants to help him dive. The Dominion thinks spending time in his element will increase his control of his power.”
And Kelly was afraid to swim in the ocean for fear of never returning to humanity, but I had often wondered how much it limited him. “He has you to come back to.”
“And if I’m not enough?”
“Fuck you, Browan. That boy adores you. He’s as moon-eyed over you as Seiran was over Gabe.” Was. Fuck. Were Seiran and Gabe over? And since they were metaphysically bound, how could that be possible.
Jamie bowed his head. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t leave unless I know Seiran is taken care of, and Kelly really wants to go.Needsto go, I think. Kelly thinks they need time apart. He believes Luca when he says something is wrong with Gabe, with most vampires. But what’s the solution to that? Kill them all like the government suggests? Even if we went to that extreme, killing Gabe might kill Seiran, which in turn would cause a catastrophic world event which could kill millions if not the entire planet.”
“Whoa, big guy. Hold up those black-eyed horses of doom for a minute. No one is suggesting we kill Gabe.”