Chapter 34

Wet blanket that he was, Siddoh had cut Alexia off after only two martinis. She managed to pull him onto the dance floor, sort of, for “We Found Love” before they left. If they’d been lovers, it was the kind of song they could have done a little sway and grind to. And after a couple of drinks and desperately needing to drown out all the odious shit in her head, it had been a little tempting.

He was an impressive-looking vampire. Why the hell didn’t he get her motor revving? Not like he didn’t fit the bad-boy category the way Lee did. In some ways he was worse even—more of a rule-breaker. It was a wonder Thad didn’t throw him in the brig or… whatever happened when the soldiers got in trouble around here. Siddoh sure seemed to get into plenty of disagreements with Thad and Lee.

The house was quiet when they got inside. This close to morning, a lot of the household was probably getting ready for bed. She was tempted to tell Siddoh that she needed him to hang out and talk, but she couldn’t do that. Once in a while, she needed to be able to handle things on her own.

When she got to her door, though, she paused and squirmed a little, like the time she and Isabel had watched The Ring right before going to bed. It hadn’t seemed that scary, and then she’d found herself completely unable and unwilling to go to bed for the next twenty-four hours. Okay, days. Or to watch anything recorded on a VHS tape, lest she accidentally cause an angry spirit to crawl out of her television the way it had happened in the movie. Hey, if vampires could exist, anything was possible.

“Need to pick a sleep schedule, Lex.” She wound up giving her room a pass entirely and heading down to the kitchen. She was waiting for the sleek Krups kettle she coveted to boil water for tea when the unmistakable double-tap of high heels came into the kitchen behind her.

Only one vampire in the place came to mind who would be wearing shoes like that at this hour.

“There’s a little adage about how a watched pot doesn’t boil, I believe.”

Alexia didn’t turn around. What was she doing here? “No, it boils eventually. Whoever made up that adage was an impatient asshole.” She bit the inside of her cheek before anything even bitchier came out.

Agnessa laughed one of those not-a-care-in-the-world laughs. Did she know the things everyone said about her, or did she just not care? She had to know, right? Alexia would have given almost anything to be able to hold herself with the kind of confidence Agnessa had.

“May I make a suggestion?”

“Uh.” Suggestion about what? “Sure.”

A box of tea Lexi hadn’t realized she was holding was pulled from her hand. Agnessa crossed to the pantry and returned with another box.

“Sleepytime?”

Agnessa smiled, showing a definite pair of fangs. The rumor Alexia had heard was that Agnessa needed other body fluids than blood to stay alive. Why, then, did she have fangs? Curious. “You’ll have a terrible time getting to sleep with green tea.”

That was actually kind of the point. “Thanks.”

Agnessa slid a ten-pound jar of organic raw honey across the counter. “This wasn’t here until a week or two ago, and neither was the tea selection. I guess both of them must be yours.”

“That would be a clever guess.” Alexia smiled slightly. According to Isabel, Agnessa was Thad’s royal spiritual advisor-oracle-priestess-seer-whatever-person. One would think she could do better than guess.

“Is it all right if I join you?” Agnessa surprised her by pulling down a second mug. It had a caption that read “Smile, it makes people wonder what you’ve been up to.” Agnessa’s lips were almost as red as the cartoon ones on the mug.

Alexia poured hot water into her favorite X-Files mug that insisted “The truth is out there” and handed the kettle over. “Knock yourself out.”

Agnessa pointed down to the floor. “I adore your boots.”

“Thanks.” She tried to picture Agnessa, in those pricey stilettos she always wore, tromping around in Lexi’s cherry-red Doc Martens.

Agnessa threw her head back and laughed. “I know what you’re thinking. I couldn’t pull off the look. But they’re so cute on you.”

“Imagine how you’d make everyone’s head explode if you started wearing boots and cargo pants,” Alexia murmured. Immediately her hand flew over her mouth. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

But Agnessa laughed harder. “I would, wouldn’t I?”

Lexi stirred a dollop of honey into her tea and offered one to Agnessa as well. She hated to think it, but Agnessa actually seemed pretty cool. This was Lee’s ex she was standing here talking to. And Lord knew, everyone knew the rumors. Isabel had discovered a whole new brand of jealousy when Thad had told her about why Lee and Agnessa weren’t together anymore. Alexia didn’t really want to like her.

Wasn’t as if she had a ton of friends, though.

“I’ve never had it this way,” Agnessa said when she sipped the tea. “It’s delicious.”

Damn. Alexia was still blowing on hers. Vampires and their pain thresholds. “Honey’s my big weakness. I rationalize it, though, because even though it’s sugar, it’s good for you. Lots of antioxidants and stuff,” Alexia said.

Agnessa’s heels click, click, clicked over to the sink to drop her spoon in. “Smart and good fashion sense.”

Lexi didn’t take compliments well. Getting one from the estate’s resident whatever-she-was? Lexi hiked a shoulder up to her ear. “I’m pretty average, actually. Unless you’re talking height. I’m definitely below average on that count.”

Agnessa flipped her glossy platinum hair over her shoulder. A diamond choker that probably cost more than every vehicle Lexi had ever owned adorned Agnessa’s throat. Thad’s spiritual advisor would definitely fall into the high-maintenance category. Or what Alexia would refer to as the “likes expensive stuff” category. Lexi’s theory, really, was that almost everyone fell into that category. Some people just didn’t wear it in public the way that Agnessa did.

“Don’t sell yourself short. You went dancing?”

Lexi gulped her tea, and it was still way too hot. Shit. Damn. Ow. “Siddoh and I went out for a little while.”

“It’s good that you’re doing that. It can be isolating here when you’re the only one of your kind. Believe me, I know.”

Yes, she probably would, wouldn’t she?

“And it would be hard for you to leave, too.”

Alexia almost choked on her tea. Did Agnessa know she’d been considering that? “I guess it would.”

“You can’t simply pluck out a memory when a human has lived among vampires for so long. You lived with Isabel for years before you came here, didn’t you?”

“Two years. And she tried back then, but it didn’t work.” Fuck, she was crying. When the hell had that happened? Holy shit, she hated to cry more than almost anything, and here she was doing it for the second time in as many nights.

Agnessa click-clacked over to the pantry with the Sleepytime. She kept her back to Alexia while she arranged boxes of tea. “I hate when things are out of order, don’t you?”

Lexi pressed herself against the counter. Clearly, Agnessa hadn’t seen her bedroom. Only a couple of weeks in this place, and they hadn’t let her bring anything from their apartment in Orlando. She’d still managed to make a mess of her new room. She managed to make a mess everywhere she went.

“I’m going to put the black, green, and white on one end, and the herbal on the other so you can find it all easily.”

Alexia scratched her arm. “Great. Thanks.” It would be out of order again in a couple of days, tops. Not that she could bring herself to say that aloud.

“It’s a soul-mate kind of thing, you know?”

Alexia’s head jiggled. No wonder everyone said this chick was weird. “I’m sorry, I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

Agnessa slid a tin of Tazo’s Joy tea into place and pushed the pantry door shut. “You and Isabel must have connected on a deep level when you met. Sisterly or like soul mates or whatever you want to call it.” A flip-floppy hand gesture made the light catch on another sparkly bracelet. Were those all real diamonds? Who needed that much bling? “The soul-deep connection makes a memory harder to erase. Get it?”

“I… guess?” Agnessa clicked close again, and Lexi popped a spoonful of raw honey in her mouth to avoid having to say more on the subject. She still didn’t really have a clue, but the direction of the conversation had passed uncomfortable and was heading down the road toward Squicksville.

Each of the albino vampire’s long, scarlet-tipped fingers touched each of Alexia’s fingertips, and a tangible ball of something formed between their two hands. “Every two beings that come into contact, they exchange energy. I’m sharing mine with you right now. You feel that?”

Alexia’s mouth fell slack. Talk about wacky. The überdisturbing part was that Alexia couldn’t have pulled her hand away if Lee himself came in and held a gun to her head. And in this place, who knew if he might? But hell. Whatever this shit was, the invisible press against her fingers was as real as anything. “Yeah. I don’t know what it is, but I definitely feel it.”

“I told you,” Agnessa said brightly. “Energy.” She pulled their hands further apart, and the ball in Alexia’s hand grew. “Hang on to that. You might need it later.” At last she stepped away. Alexia could have sworn the ball stayed. “So you see, when you get your hooks into someone energetically, it requires abilities on another plane to remove the associated memories. Spiritual surgery, if you will.”

Creepier and creepier. Alexia curled her fingers around her mug. The peculiar ball went away. Halle-fricking-lujah. Spiritual surgery? She’d run out of the room if she weren’t so afraid of making sudden movements. “O… kay.”

Agnessa turned on one narrow heel. “Think hard. It wouldn’t be reversible. Maybe wait until after the baby comes.”

What a crazy wench. Alexia blinked and dumped the Sleepytime tea in the sink. After all that weirdness, no way was she going to be able to relax.

***

Tyra had left Xander on the porch. He had said he’d see himself home, though she wondered if he might not stand out there looking at the sky until the last remaining dark.

She found Thad and Anton on opposite ends of her living room having a staring contest like two silent, wary cats.

Thad spoke without moving. “Everything okay out there?”

“I think so. I hope so.” She looked out the window through the partly open blind. The crowd had dispersed, everyone scattering back toward their homes. “Xander seemed to convince them all to leave.” She turned to Anton. “Not sure what you did to get him in your corner, but good job on that.”

Anton’s only response was to nod grimly. That left her curious. What had he done?

She turned back to Thad. “So what’s the word, Brother?”

Thad cleared his throat. “I have serious concerns, and I am holding you personally responsible. I’m also pulling you off active duty for a while because you’re going to need to get a handle on things. And you two,” he gestured between Anton and Tyra, “need to figure out what the hell you’re doing.”

Tyra almost—almost—jumped up and threw her arms around Thad. He wasn’t going to make Anton leave. They would figure out how to deal with the rest one way or the other.

“Thad, thank you.”

“Don’t thank me.” Thad leveled a stony glare at her, and she put on her best serious-sad face. It wasn’t like she didn’t take the road ahead sincerely. They had a lot to work out, and she got that. But… God, she hadn’t realized it—truly realized it—until she saw that Anton had come back. She couldn’t handle him leaving again.

Anything else she could fight against, but not that.

She took a deep breath. “I know you’re mad. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say that, either. I am so beyond angry right now. That doesn’t even cut it.” His fists opened and closed. “For fuck’s sake, Tyra, if you weren’t my sister, you probably would be strung up in an interrogation shed right now. Do you know that? You have bungled this whole thing so unforgivably, and no offense, pal,” he pointed at Anton and then back at Tyra, “but hundreds of us live here on this compound, and we’re all fucking lucky that he turned out to actually be one of the good guys because you put us all at risk with this Rambo shit you tried to pull.”

Tyra scowled. “I don’t think Rambo is really an accurate comparison, Thad.”

Anton’s hand landed on her shoulder. “Let him talk.”

Thad snapped his fingers loudly and pointed at Anton. “Smart. Man. Ty, shut the fuck up and let me talk. Whatever human movie reference you happen to find appropriate. My point is that it was fucking stupid. It’s still fucking stupid. First fucking thing when the sun goes down I want this asshole sitting down with me and my generals, and I want him helping us to work up a profile on that brother of his.”

She moved to advance on Thad, but it was Anton, oddly enough, whose hand held her back. “He killed one of our greatest enemies, Thad. Doesn’t that speak for itself?”

“Some might not see it that way,” Anton murmured.

“No,” Thad said quietly. “Some won’t. Anton’s going to need to watch his back, and you’re going to need to help him. And if it comes down to it, if there’s a situation of civil unrest brewing inside this estate, then you’re going to have a decision to make.”

Acid churned in Tyra’s stomach and her head throbbed angrily. “Okay,” she said.

He left after that, and Anton’s arms came around her. “It may come down to that, you know. I don’t want it to. I’ll do my best not to make waves, but I can’t promise anything. We need to discuss a plan B.”

Her stomach lurched and her vision swam. “I can’t think about that right now. I know we need to, but I’m so overwhelmed.”

He gathered her into his arms and sank with her onto the sofa. Somehow, she’d managed not to really think about it until that very moment, but what if Anton wasn’t truly safe there? She didn’t want to believe that vampires in their own midst would kill without cause.

It was possible, though, wasn’t it? Anything was. Maybe believing that they could make things work between them—that they could find peace here together—only made her a fool.