Page 67 of Absolution

“You ask for war.”

“No,” Max said. “That is what you’re asking for. It’s what you’ve been planning for years. I will have no part in it.” Max clicked the end button and glared at the screen. This was all coming to a head, and he was not thrilled by the direction in which it was leading. He let me feel his frustration and worry for a few minutes as he thought of options.

Funny how a vampire who claimed to feel nothing, felt so much. Perhaps he just didn’t understand what he felt was still human?

“You think so?” Max said out loud, asking me. “Are they not muted?”

I couldn’t tell that by being in his head. Only that he was angry with Tresler, worried about protecting Luca and the vampires he’d created, and frustrated with how his hands were tied with human diplomacy. All strong emotions in my opinion.

“Hmm,” he said. “I will have to think on that.” And with those words he pushed me back into myself, a sensation that felt a little like falling. I jerked awake. My limbs snapping back to full function hurt more than I thought anything should. The fire through my nervous system burned until my eyes twitched.

The energy began to fade, leaving my fingers tingling and me blinking at the ceiling, the room dark. I could feel eyes on me. Not Con or Luca who were asleep. Seiran sat in a chair and stared out the window instead of at me, though I could feel his attention.

“Creepy, Ronnie,” I whispered. “I dreamed of Max.”

“Like sexing him up?”

“Um, ew, and no. Why does your brain go there?”

“’Cause I’m talking to you and that seems to be where your brain goes.”

“Jerk.”

“Bastard.”

“I might know some stuff.”

“Okay,” Seiran said.

“Do you know if Gabe accepted a blood bond from Tresler?”

“I don’t know. He doesn’t talk about vampire stuff with me. It’s almost like he was embarrassed to be one.”

“’Cause sucking on people to survive is embarrassing?”

“See!” Seiran said pointing at me. “Your brain.”

I waved off his comment. “Seriously. I think Tresler put his blood in the QuickLife and that’s how he’s controlling all the vampires.” No wonder that shit tasted like ass. “Or maybe it’s not control so much as lack of control? Breaking their bonds with their sires?” Was that a possibility? Fuck, I needed to know more about vampires.

Seiran seemed to think on that for a minute. “Gabe’s sire is long gone as far as I know.”

“But a blood bond to another vampire works the same way.” Could it let the demon loose, as much as it could reign it in? That felt right, even if I wasn’t sure. Gabe’s bond to me had done something for me, and its loss had nearly been my undoing. Even if he’d already been broken when he’d done it, he’d kept me from going revenant.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, both of us processing the implications behind all of this. Finally Seiran said, “Why?”

“Why does any crazy ass bastard do anything?”

Seiran sighed. “Power corrupts, but does it really make us all mad? Is that what I have to look forward to?”

“We’ll keep you sane, Ronnie,” I promised him.

He nodded, but I could feel his worry. This link between us wasn’t fading. “Mike is coming to pick me up. I need to talk to him.” More like interrogate him. “Find out how much of Gabe I really know.”

“Okay. You gonna be okay?” Where those really answers he wanted?

“No,” Seiran said honestly.

“I’m sorry.” And I was. I hadn’t created the problem, though I was pretty sure I was part of it. There was also no way I could fix it either.