Page 65 of Absolution
Seiran looked at me. I gave him a raised brow. I’d be fine just as soon as my limbs stopped feeling like lead weights. He gripped the book and headed up the stairs. I was pretty sure the book he had was a guidebook on vampires. I hoped it helped settle some of his worries about Gabe. He needed a break from all the madness. Too bad his kids weren’t older so he could take them to Disneyland or something instead of basking in the paranormal bullshit that was our lives.
“So you wanna tell me how you know Gabe?” I asked Max once Seiran was gone, and I heard the door close upstairs.
“I don’t,” he said.
“I saw him in your memories. He’s in there. Just like Seiran’s grandfather was in there.” The man with dark hair and sapphire eyes. I recognized him from pictures in history books. John Ruffman. He’d been executed, supposedly for crimes against the Dominion, which of course I wondered now if it was propaganda. Apparently Max and John had been lovers of some kind. He hadn’t been the only one in Maxwell Hart’s memory that I recognized. I glanced at Luca. “And Luca.”
“The vampire you know as Gabe and I have never met.”
“You knew him before he was changed?” Luca asked.
Max shrugged. “Several lifetimes ago. Neither of us are the same as we were then.”
But Gabe was super old. That meant Max was just as old? No wonder he was so powerful. “I didn’t feel Gabe like this,” I said. “In my head.”
“Then he was already gone when he brought you over. That he managed to bring you over at all is a surprise. Perhaps that was Roman’s power rather than his.” Max said. “You should know I don’t take apprentices anymore.”
“I didn’t exactly ask you to.”
“No, your friend Seiran did. I got the call from Riley that you weren’t right, but they thought they could distract you in the ring until I got there. They expected me to put you down. I’ve done it more than a handful of times in the past few months. Vampires have been losing themselves to the revenant far too frequently lately. Then Seiran called to tell me Santini had revoked his mentorship, leaving you floundering. I knew you’d be a revenant by the time I got here. I explained to Seiran you might be unreachable. He asked me to try anyway.”
So I owed Seiranagain, for saving my lifeagain, without asking meagain. I sighed. “Are you going to cut me loose too?”
Max didn’t look at me at that moment. He looked at Luca who was staring down at me, eyes half-lidded. He was tired too, but happy to be wrapped around me with Con’s hand in his hair. Max hadn’t done it for Seiran or even for me. The son of a bitch actually did it for his kid. It made me think better of him.
“Consider yourself bonded. I expect rules to be followed to the tee. You’ll be learning business, helping Luca with management, taking some of his workload, so I expect you to work hard. I also expect you to read every book on those shelves.” Max pointed to the wall of books.
“I’m not a big reader,” I admitted.
“You will be soon. I don’t give second chances, and I will put you down if I have to, even if you’re not a revenant.”
I gulped back that bit of news. “Is there a book of rules I should be following?”
“Luca will walk you through it. You have twenty-four hours before I come for you to begin your training. Expect to be busy, exhausted by the work.” He glanced at the elevator. “You’ll also be fighting regularly. Riley will put you on the schedule. Luca can help train you.”
“Hmm,” Luca hummed. He combed his fingers through my hair. “I like sparring with Sam. Gets me all riled up.”
Max’s expression changed a little, just the barest glimpse of a smile on his lips. He met my gaze and I saw the challenge there, knew his unspoken deal. Luca was something I wasn’t supposed to fuck up ‘cause then the big man would kill me. I nodded my agreement. All I could do was my best. At least I wasn’t taking care of the masochist porn star all by myself. Con wrapped one of his long legs around Luca and I, and snuggled close. I was tired, but being curled in their embrace made me struggle to keep my eyes open.
“I wanna know about other stuff too,” I told Max. “Like the mind control Gabe did.”
He pointed to the bookshelf, “Best get reading then.” He looked thoughtful. “You speak and read Chinese, correct?”
“Uh, yeah.” Had spent the first seven or so years of my life only speaking Chinese. But had picked up English pretty quickly in school. Some things you never forgot.
“Fantastic. I have several business ventures I’m working on with China. I will see you tomorrow evening.” With that, he left. And that was okay because I seriously needed a nap.
Chapter 20
Idreamed of being Max. Or maybe I was just in his head as I slept. He sat on the couch in a very posh looking apartment, which didn’t appear all that different from Luca’s, petting a man’s head with absentminded affection.
The sleeping man was one I vaguely recognized from somewhere. He had to be some sort ofother. His muscular frame and short cropped hair made me think he’d been some kind of soldier. Maybe a shifter?
Max waved off my thoughts as it didn’t matter to him, all the titles and judgments of humans. I was still very human in his opinion. The man in his lap was simply food, and he assured me that someday I’d have my fair share of those. Humans of all kinds couldn’t sustain a vampire forever, even the hybrid types.
Good to know, but I was happy with Luca at the moment.
Max nodded, pleased at my affection for his son. There was also an underlying threat there, akeep him happy and safe or elsetype of feeling. Yeah, yeah, I’d try.