Page 98 of Call of the Blood

I hate it.

He walked out, knowing he and Everly were about to be on the bedside vigil once she woke up. Declan would probably not wake up right at sunset.

He went toward his office, but as he drew near, something was wrong.

Or it was right.

There was someone in his office, and Alexius hoped it was the one he had been waiting on.

He opened the door and saw Isaiah sitting behind his desk.

“Get up. That’s my seat,” Alexius ordered.

He ignored the obvious. Isaiah had sunken eyes, with dark circles underneath them. He was thin and angry. He hadn’t been taking care of himself while he was doing whatever he was working on.

“You went to Maria?” Isaiah hissed, not moving. “Did you forget who you were loyal to?”

Alexius stopped walking, studying Isaiah further before quickly deciding he didn’t care for Isaiah’s tone or his words. He started walking and went around his desk, Isaiah only watching him but not moving.

“Move,” Alexius ordered.

Isaiah still didn’t move.

Alexius grabbed the vampire by his neck. Isaiah’s eyes went wide. Alexius lifted him with ease and tossed him across the room, not surprised by the loud thump of Isaiah hitting the wall next to the door. Isaiah didn’t recover quickly enough and slid to the ground with an undignified sound. He slowly sat down at his desk, watching Isaiah try to comprehend what happened.

“Everly wanted to visit her brother. I decided to help Maria with a job, so I had access to her nest’s assets to make the trip easy. Things didn’t go as planned.”

“You went against me for⁠—”

“Say her name with that tone, and I’ll rip your tongue out,” Alexius warned. He’d wanted this. He’d wanted Isaiah to show up. It was the only way to drag the vampire back to reality, the present, and get him back on track properly. Isaiah seemed slapped by the threat, so it was working.

“You…” Isaiah’s nostrils flared as he pushed himself up, glaring daggers at Alexius.

“Don’t. I am a patient man who respects you, but never forget who is the more powerful vampire here. You don’t insult me by coming into my home and claiming my place. You don’t put me under unofficial house arrest. You don’t tell me that I can’t go where I please or who I can and cannot associate with. You, the man my son loved, get to do many things other vampires don’t, but you don’t get any of those.”

Isaiah stepped back, so Alexius continued his attack.

“You have locked yourself away, and I assume you’ve been torturing the same vampire for the last eleven months. Just because you can. Six months I would have tolerated, but now I’m going to tell you that if you don’t execute him within twenty-four hours, I will fly up there and do it myself. There’s nothing that vampire has to say at this point, and you will not become the monster Jacob despised.”

“Jacob isn’t here,” Isaiah hissed. “Because of them.”

“That doesn’t mean you get to throw away everything he cared about,” Alexius growled, standing up, his hands on his desk. “You will not go down that path any farther. I’ve indulged your avoidance of what needs to be done long enough.”

“Indulged?” Isaiah’s face betrayed how incredulous he found that statement. “I am the Master of the Tribunal! Ruler of the vampires! I get to do whatever I want!”

Alexius only stared at him. The words fell powerlessly in a room where no one cared about them.

Then Isaiah broke. His fierce expression crumbled, his eyes empty of anything, and his posture slumped.

“I can’t stop dreaming,” Isaiah whispered, sinking to the ground. “Every memory. Every possible enemy. Anyone who ever looked at Jacob the wrong way. Every time Jacob tried to say power was corrupt and that people would pay for my mistakes. It was never supposed to be him. How am I supposed to survive the night without him? My compass. The midnight sun. I can’t stop until I find every enemy, Alexius.”

“Then you could ask for help,” Alexius said softly. “Why didn’t you?”

“I wanted to be able to avenge him, like you can,” Isaiah said, looking away. He started to laugh, but it was a sad sound. “I can’t believe it took us this long to get to this point. Me, desperate. You, angry.”

“I was… distracted. It took the trip to California to really consider what was happening,” Alexius admitted.

“With her. I heard all of it. You and Everly are lovers now, huh?” Isaiah snorted. “Honestly, took you two long enough. Then there’s Henry Abbott, killed by his niece for valid reasons, and Declan Abbott, to make a matching pair of Orphans, also here to be trained by you.”