Page 68 of Absolution
“Let me worry about Gabe.”
“That’s the plan.”
“I need you to find out about Tresler,” Seiran said.
“Find out what? If he’s nuts? Pretty sure most vampires are nuts. Me included. Even if what I dreamed was just a dream, it’s a pretty solid theory. Though it felt pretty real to be a dream. Can a blood bond let him in my head? Max, I mean.”
“It’s different for each vampire,” Seiran said. “At least according to what I’ve read so far. Though there is some level of metaphysical bonding that goes on with a blood bond. Some vampires report being about to hear each other’s thoughts, some merely feel their sire’s presence. You didn’t feel anything with Gabe?”
I thought about that for a few minutes. “Faintly. Sort of like I could tell if he was in the room and what direction? Sometimes I’d get an edge of his emotions, but nothing else.”
“Hmm. If Tresler put his blood in the QuickLife and Gabe’s been drinking it by the ton…how long has it been there? He’s been drinking that stuff as long as I’ve known him.” Seiran got up and began to pace. “Would going to ground even help him at this point? Or is it Tresler’s bond that is driving him mad?”
“Only one way to tell,” I said. At least if Gabe was out of the way we could maybe deal with Tresler head on. “Gabe’s a pretty powerful vampire to have under his control, especially since he’s bonded to you.”
“But he’s been closed off to me for months. I only get tiny glimpses through our bonds every once in a while.”
“Maybe Gabe’s still in there,” I pointed out. “Maybe he’s trying to protect you.”
Seiran stopped pacing and looked at me, his eyes looking watery in the dark. He clutched a book to his chest, holding on to it like it was a life raft. “If Tresler’s the reason the vampires are going nuts, is it a loss of control of vampires that is making them all crazy, or is he doing it on purpose?”
“I thought that was a given.”
“Maybe he’s not strong enough to control them all?” Seiran shook his head. “It could be the unraveling of the ties. Tresler takes a strong vampire but he’s not strong enough to control all the vampires that vampire sired? The government thinks it’s Gabe. But he hasn’t made enough vampires to be causing this mess. When I asked, Gabe said he’d only created two dozen vampires in his life.”
“He could have been lying.”
“Maybe. But why about that? He also has never seemed the type to just go and create vampires for the hell of it.” Seiran sighed. “I mean, back when we first met, he always came across as responsible. Not an act, not just words, his actions.”
“Stuffy,” I agreed. If there had ever been a word to describe Gabe, it was stuffy.
“Responsible,” Seiran amended. Which was why his collapse hurt so much now. Everyone relied on him, maybe too much so.
“Okay, so what if it’s all Tresler. Whether it’s his control or lack of control or whatever? What then?” I wanted to know.
“You killed Galloway.”
“By accident.” And by going revenant which I didn’t want to ever experience again. “Do you want me to go nuts again just to kill that monster? I might not come back.” And that was what terrified me the most.
“Are your bonds with them strong enough to keep you here?” He asked and waved at Luca and Con who were wrapped around me.
“They weren’t enough to call me back just a few hours ago. I think the whole revenant thing is a little more than just losing your shit. That bond unraveled something in me. I wasn’t me anymore. I was just hunger, rage, and destruction. Love doesn’t conquer all, Ronnie. No matter what the romance novels tell you.”
He sniffled. Fuck.
“Death magic is pretty strong,” I said. “I think that’s what the revenant is.”
“The Dominion has never recognized it as its own element.”
“And yet it takes us all, doesn’t it?”
He resumed his pacing. “So say we take down Tresler then. Would his death end this madness or just add fuel to the fire? Let’s say that death is an element like earth or water…”
“What happens when an earth witch dies?” I asked.
“The earth takes them back.”
“And a water or air witch?”