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“You look like shit,” Kaleid says, when the private SUV shows up and we shuffle into the back row behind him.
“Thanks,” I tell him.
“Obviously I meant Solon,” Kaleid says. Then he frowns at me. “Though you did look better the other day. Granted, you were barely dressed.” He gives me a salacious grin.
Solon stiffens beside me, and I’m worried he might throw a punch or tear out his jugular or do something bloody and violent. I kick his foot to tell him to calm down, especially since we don’t want an appearance from you know who thirty-five thousand feet up.
“Well, it’s like five a.m.,” I tell Kaleid. “You’re lucky you don’t look like a troll.”
“Speaking of trolls, Solon, did you tell her about the real trolls back home?”
Solon just clenches his jaw, looking out the window as we pull away from the house and make our way through the foggy streets. Either the driver of the SUV is a vampire too, or he can’t hear us.
“What trolls?” I ask.
“You’ll see,” Kaleid says. “And anyway, the both of you need blood right away. I’m surprised you’ve been able to hold off like you have.”
Okay, the driver is definitely a vampire, since he hasn’t flinched once at our conversation.
“It’s called discipline, Kaleid,” Solon says. “You should try it sometime.”
“Ah yes. Always trying to make a point. Amazing how many centuries go by and yet people never really change.”
“Except for you, right?” Solon asks. “Because you’ve had the biggest change of heart in a millennium.”
Kaleid’s face goes grim. For all his easy breezy charm, the moment his face darkens, I can see the dangerous side of him coming through. The one that I believe takes after his father in ways that Solon never will. The one that I could easily see leading beside a vampire king, perhaps one day taking over the throne itself.
I clear my throat, wetting my lips for a moment. “I guess I should be making sure, before we board this plane for your kingdom, for lack of a better word, that you aren’t doing all of this just to take a seat on your father’s throne.”
Kaleid meets my eyes, looking straight into my soul with a vibrating energy that makes my skin crawl. “I’m not cut out for the job,” he says. “Frankly, I don’t think the job should even exist.”
“Well, he did create vampires,” I point out, playing devil’s advocate. As if the Dark One needs an advocate. If humans only knew what a stupid saying that was.
Kaleid smiles, dimples appearing in his cheeks, that boyish feature attempting to hide the malice in his eyes. “Who says we should ever have been created?”
Solon snorts beside me. He’s looking out the window still, shaking his head. “It pains me to think we’re on the same page about something.”
I look between the two estranged brothers, wondering if they’ll ever be close or if they’re forever doomed to be distrustful of each other. Hell, I guess the best I can wish for at this point is for us to actually get through this without anyone dying. Maybe that’s asking for too much.
I was prepared for a commercial airplane, like United or something, leaving SFO, but instead the SUV takes us to a private airfield where a private jet is waiting.
I would like to say that I was totally cool about it all and acted like I took private jets all the time, but alas, that isn’t the case.
“Oh my god,” I say as I boarded the plane. “I feel like a celebrity!”
It’s a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but obviously big enough to get us halfway across the world. But unlike any of the jets I’ve seen on Instagram and whatnot, this one has black leather seats, black flooring, and red walls.
“Gee, I wonder if a vampire owns this,” I say as I walk down the aisle to the couches at the back.
“Kaleid has never been subtle,” Solon says from behind me, sniffing distastefully.
“Says the man who lives in the Addams Family house,” Kaleid speaks up. “Seems it must run in our blood.”
Solon ignores that. He takes my carry-on and stows it, and then we take our seats. We each get a row of three seats that look like a leather couch, and I’m a little bereft at having to be across the aisle from Solon. The ride to the airport was the closest I had been to him in days. When I’d stayed in my old room in the house, I only would see him in passing, or we’d talk in Dark Eyes, but Amethyst, Wolf, or Ezra was always around. I think he thinks other people keep the beast at bay, and that might be true. But still, I’ve missed his contact something fierce.
And now, as I buckle my seatbelt, I wish he’d come over and sit next to me. I’m sure if he turned beast, Kaleid would be able to put him in his place, or I might be able to activate the powers that saved me the last time.
