Page 74 of Absolution

Con and I laughed.

“He doesn’t talk about anyone. Never has. Not in a relationship sort of way. He’s all business,” Luca said. Max did have a very black and white view of food so maybe that was true.

“Is that why you went off your rocker? ‘Cause you thought Kenrick had taken your dad’s attention and was trying for mine?” I asked.

“You make it sound like I was screwing my dad. It’s just instinct to protect those I’m feeding on. Don’t you have an instinct to protect me?”

I laughed. “My instinct to protect you has nothing to do with the fact that I occasionally munch on you.”

“Is it ‘cause I’m hot?” Luca asked.

“You are hot,” Con agreed.

“Stop fishing,” I told him. “I’ll be all over you like Donkey Kong later. I protect you because I like you,” I admitted.

“That’s a rousing endorsement,” Luca gripped.

“Helike likesyou,” Con said laughing.

“This is not high school,” I said. “I’m not in love with you yet, but it’s more than just plain like. Is that good enough for now?” No more bullshit. It wasn’t likely they were walking away now. Not with all the super vamps trying to rule the world and the Pillar of earth falling apart. I loved Con. Had for a while now, and Luca wasn’t there yet, but he also wasn’t far out of that zone.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I said. “You’re more than a blood bag with a hole to me,” I said with a straight face.

“Another rousing endorsement.”

“I like all his holes,” Con pointed out. “Can’t wait to explore more of them.”

“That sounded kind of creepy,” I said, but the idea still made me hard. “Like you could be cleaning wax out of his ears or something.”

“Or fucking his boy pussy,” Con said.

“You can fuck my boy pussy anytime,” Luca promised. “Either of you.”

Okay, totally hard. Fuckers. “You both realize I have to do magic shit with the witch, right? So we can’t show up at his house and fuck like bunnies?”

Luca shrugged. “He said we could have a whole wing. Once he’s got his little magic shindig done, we can go play. I brought lube.”

“Is that all that’s on your mind?” I wanted to know.

“No, but it sure makes life worth living sometimes. You still need to sleep some today and then get started at my dad’s business tonight. He wasn’t kidding about you being busy. You’ll be begging me for a blow job in the bathroom just to get your mind off contracts for five minutes.”

“Okay, now I want a job with you guys. As long as I get blow jobs during the work day,” Con said. We all laughed.

The drive was long. I began to wonder if the GPS had sent us to the wrong place or if we were moving to Wisconsin or something, but finally we pulled onto a street lined with a massive brick fence and in the distance a giant house.

“Boonies…” Con grumbled.

“Better have Wi-Fi,” Luca agreed.

I laughed. What better place for a bunch of crazy powerful witches and a vampire who just happened to amplify their power than the middle of fucking nowhere? “It looks more modern than I was expecting,” I admitted when we pulled through an open metal gate and onto a long circular drive.

“McMansion is right,” Con said.

The towering building was easily four stories high, though it didn’t seem to have enough windows to accommodate that many floors. It was painted a pale shade of green, almost so pale it looked white in the dark, but when we stepped out of the Hummer and up to the entry, I could tell it wasn’t white. There was a huge double door entry, columns on each side and an awning overhead. I expected something with gargoyles on the top, or turrets, but it looked like a normal house from the front. Just huge. There was a wraparound porch, but no furniture or adornments outside.

The wall encased the house and what appeared to be a couple acres. There were already gardens planted in the front and trees around each side. I had to admit, that despite the giant, starkly new feeling of the house, the grounds pulsed with warmth and life. I’d have to walk the grounds to know for sure, but I could almost feel the pulsing of ley lines. Seiran’s father’s estate had intersecting ley lines that blew power out of the universe. It didn’t feel quite that level here, but still strong. Perhaps not intersecting. Or maybe the intersection just wasn’t through the middle of the house, which I thought could only be a good thing. No one needed to live in that constant buzz of energy.