Page 59 of Resurrection
Seiran shrugged. “Can’t expect a dog to change his spots, right?”
Gabe didn’t reply.
Seiran guided the car to a lot near the loft. It was one of the only enclosed parking garages that wasn’t residents only. Everything else in the area was street parking, paid lots near the river, or resident owned parking garages. Being the only non-residential lot in the area, meant parking for any length of time was insanely overpriced. He pulled the ticket, wondering if he could get Sam and Luca to pony up the thirty-dollar fee for his fifteen-minute trip. Could he bill the fee to work since the golem was technically a work issue? He hoped so. Sending three kids to college wasn’t going to be cheap.
Max said Seiran was rich, but he never touched any of that money. The accounts, overwhelming in scope and volume, that Gabe had created before he’d unraveled, had never felt like Seiran’s. He let them do their thing, and left Max to handle whatever was necessary. Seiran had even refused the attached checking account that Max had tried to give him, indicating he could use it for whatever. He survived on his MI salary just fine. Balancing a very limited budget every month, while working hard to provide the best he could for his kids. He had accepted the house from his mother, paid in full. Still had to pay taxes on it every year, which was more than most people’s rent, but his kids never went hungry, or wanted for much. He tried not to spoil them, but admitted to indulging them likely more than he should have.
Seiran found a spot near the elevator stashed between the garage and the main building, and parked. Added the ticket to his pocket and got out, Gabe following. The garage was fairly dark, set to a mild vampire safe level, which meant dim lighting.
“You okay?” Seiran asked as he headed to the elevator and pushed the button.
“Smells like vampires and shapeshifters in here.”
“That’s the area we are in. Makes sense.” The doors opened and they stepped in. Seiran had to enter a special code to get up to the residential floors, as the top two were all that were inhabited. The doors opened to a dark narrow hall in the building across from the parking garage. He made his way to Sam’s door. No windows or big banks of sunlight here. Seiran knew the outside of the building looked like a wall of windows, most of them being the new sun-proof glass, and maybe blocked off to create more interior, light-safe rooms.
He knocked on the door, and waited. Heard movement from inside, but was surprised when Sam opened the door, fully dressed, but looking tired. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Seiran asked with a raised brow.
“I’m your bitch today, so the boss says,” Sam did not look happy about that.
“I only need Forest. You can go back to bed.”
“Did you bring cake?” Luca appeared from behind Sam dressed in nothing but a pair of too tiny bikini undies in bright purple. He looked every bit the boyband rock star Sam had accused Seiran of being. Pretty, and not overly muscled, but defined enough to be a model in just about any market.
Seiran held out the container. “Your blackmail, sir.”
“He’s mine,” Sam growled.
Seiran squinted. “No debate, Sammie. Golem?”
Luca stepped past Sam to take the cake and kiss Seiran on the cheek. “Thanks, love. Can’t wait for a taste of the divine.”
Sam looked about ready to kill.
“Are you trying to get me killed, or rev your boyfriend up for something?” Seiran asked. Gabe wisely stayed behind Seiran, silent, and staring down the hallway rather than into Sam’s space. Vampires could get very territorial. Something Seiran had forgotten. Was Gabe struggling with that? Now that he had some memories of Seiran?
“Happy,” Luca teased, doing a little roll with his hips, “for cake.”
“Forest, come,” Sam snarled as he shoved Seiran out into the hallway. A second later, Forest appeared, looking like himself, or at least like the golem Seiran had sent off with the vampires. No release of the souls, and the magic keeping it human in appearance still seemed to be working, even over the distance. Sam closed the door behind the golem, leaving Luca alone to his cake fetish.
“Share some with Con,” Seiran called, hoping he heard through the thick door. He turned to Sam, wondering if the grump was from being awake or something else. “Fill me in?”
Sam stalked to the elevator, Forest dogging his steps and Seiran and Gabe trailing behind. “They aren’t decomposing,” Sam said.
“Huh?” Seiran asked, trying to figure out what that meant as he walked.
They got in the elevator. Sam hit the down button and folded his arms across his chest. “The vampire bodies. The ones that don’t feel like anything? They should be more broken down than they are. We’ve got some missing for months and still looking fresh. Well, mostly fresh. Like they were put in the ground and then their souls pulled later?”
But that wasn’t possible. Vampires decomposed just like regular humans did once they were true dead. Gone to ground was a different process, their souls would still have been present, the magic of a vampire allowing their bodies to turn to dust and reform, but they didn’t decompose. Not decomposing at all sounded like something else. Seiran frowned, trying to think of a reason for the bodies to still be protected by vampire magic when they were soulless.
“There are more golems,” Gabe said as the elevator brought them back to the parking level. “The souls pulled from the bodies, but not released to true death is keeping the bodies from decomposing. Means there is nothing left in them but the revenant.”
“There are more golems,” Seiran repeated feeling the bottom drop out of his sanity. Like an army worth of golems.
“Or vampire zombies on call,” Gabe added.
“Fuck my life.”
Chapter 20