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“It’s a bit late for that. Don’t you think?”
Dominique’s world shuddered.
“It’s the prophecy,” she explained. “I am the key to something momentous happening to the vampires. Something other than killing them all, or I think Serge would have just killed me that first night he saw me. Right?”
Serge made no response. He stared at her, mouth agape, lost in whatever it was he saw when he witnessed time unfold around someone.
“Okay, let’s assume that’s a yes. So, what better way to make that happen than to work with a powerful vampire? One that has influence over many others?”
Desperation scraped at Dominique like rusty nails. “You cannot work with Kambyses. He is bound by no law and has no conscience. He is unpredictable. Insane.”
“You know I’ve seen all that in your memories. But Dominique, my love. Look what knowing me has done for you.”
The room closed in on him now. Black thunder rolled in his bones. “No. You can’t—”
“Kambyses is your—let’s call it your serum sire, which means your so-called true nature is genetically his offspring. Whatever happens between us when you feed from me, there is a good chance it would also happen if he fed from me.”
“My God, no,” Samantha burst out. “You can’t be serious.”
“She’s not,” Dominique growled.
“Serge, I’m right, aren’t I? If I’m the key, this has to be the way.”
Serge swayed as though buffeted by an invisible wind. “You know what you have to do, sweet one.”
Dominique bolted out of his seat, and in the next instant, landed a solid slap to the back of Serge’s head. He yelped. Sand sprayed everywhere. “Shut up, old fool. Play with my head all you want, but not hers.” Pivoting to Cassidy, he continued, “Absolutely not. I will never allow that madman to lay his claws on you. Even if I have to make a million corpses to stop him.”
As his fear exploded through her, she lowered her head and clasped her hands into a white-knuckled fist before her. “Then what do you suggest? Do we run? For how long? The rest of my life? The rest of time? The world is only so big.” She met his eyes again. “You need to talk to him, if nothing else. Find out what he really wants from you.”
“You know I have tried.”
“More than a year ago, yes. He might be more willing to discuss it now that you’ve proved he doesn’t control you.”
“There is no reasoning with him. There is only obedience or death.”
“Since you’re still alive, I’d say that second option is off the table. Talk to him,” she added emphatically.
Dominique plowed both hands through his damp hair and clutched his shoulders. Knots bunched in the muscles beneath his fingers. “There is no point.”
“I see.” A sensation like a bristling hedgehog rustled through their link. “So, you’re forcing me to live in the same house with my lying, manipulative father, but you won’t even talk to yours, who searched the world for you?”
“He is not my father.”
“In this life, he’s the closest thing you’ve got to one. And you need to talk to him.”
He shook his head. He couldn’t even imagine such a conversation, but he knew how the attempt would end—with him in chains, literal or figurative. Or both.
She tucked her hair behind her ears, got up, and stalked around the sofa, where Serge and Samantha swiveled their heads like breathless spectators at a sporting event. Facing Dominique, her hands moving to underscore her words, she said, “Let me sum this up for you out loud, because you’re so deep in these woods, I don’t think you hear my thoughts anymore. You are going to go talk to Kambyses like the capable adult vampire you are, not the clueless youngling he last saw. You’re going to do it tonight, and I’m going to come with you, because the closer I am to you, the more you can draw on your human strength from me.”
“The more I will be distracted by worry for you.” This would not happen. Could not. Not now. Not ever.
“Dominique, we do this together tonight,” she said, closing the distance between them and placing a hand over his heart. The storm raged in her deep-ocean eyes—and swept him along without mercy. “Or I’ll go there during the day, and tomorrow night do this my way.”
19
SOL
All the way down the highway, Dominique obeyed every speed limit and traffic law. Keeping the fragile human clinging to his back safe was one reason for this, but the fragile human also recognized a delaying tactic when she saw one. Cassidy decided not to point this out. The trip was a short one, and the winter night long.
