Chapter Seventeen

Cyrus woke sometime later, Cella snuggled perfectly against him. The chamber was dark save for the red glow of the digital clock on the nightstand. He looked at it, seeing it was nearly four in the afternoon. He willed one of the electric candles to life to give himself enough light to find his jeans. He was aware of the power that sang through his veins, some combination of tiger and vampire that allowed him to have powers that were part of both his dual natures. The human side of him was the bridge that linked the two.

Without disturbing Cella, he slipped from the bed, found his jeans on the floor, and tugged them on, then grabbed his phone from where it had fallen on the floor and left the chamber. He closed the door silently and leaned against the wall, finding his dad’s number in the contact list. His mind was filled with questions over what had happened between him and Cella, and although he knew his parents didn’t have any sort of answers when it came to exactly what he was now, he still needed to talk to them.

“Cyrus!” his dad said as he answered on the second ring. “We were just talking about you. How are you doing?”

He smiled. “I’m good, thanks. It’s all new still, of course, but I’m alive and we’re safe and that’s what matters.”

“Exactly. So you’re a vampire. How does it feel?”

Cyrus rubbed his cheek. “I’m not fully vampire.”

“Um, what?”

His dad put the phone on speaker, and after Cyrus greeted his mom, he explained what happened as best he could. He didn’t understand everything that had occurred, and he definitely needed to find some more information and explore his powers.

“I’ve never heard of a tribrid,” his mom said. “Can you shift?”

“I don’t think so. I can feel my tiger, but it’s not like when I could shift. Cella said my eyes change color depending on whether I’m feeling more tiger or more vampire.” He let out a breath. “I think that I was close enough to death that even though she shouldn’t have been able to change me into a vampire, something about our bond as beloveds saved my life.”

“When she told us that you’d been turned, we didn’t believe her at first,” his dad said. “It was too fantastical. We’d always heard that shifters and wiccans were unable to become vampires. But here you are.”

“Yep. We became beloveds earlier today. We shared memories, and I saw her anguish at losing me. She didn’t think it would work, and if it did, that I’d be angry at not being a shifter anymore.”

“Were you?” his dad asked.

“Yes and no. I wanted us to be joined together before we became beloveds because I wanted her to be under the protection of the ambush, and able to be with us on the full moon. She has her vampire family, but I wanted her to have my tiger family too. I was upset that I couldn’t do that for her. For us.”

“She’s still our daughter through your mating,” his mom pointed out. “You becoming other than a tiger shifter hasn’t changed that. We love you, and we love her.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“When can we see you?” his dad asked. “We can come visit or you can come here. You might not be a full tiger anymore, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t our son and welcome in our home.”

He smiled at his father’s kind and emotional words. As soon as the thought entered his mind, he remembered nearly attacking the shifters in Mishka’s office. He didn’t want to put his parents’ safety on the line if he couldn’t control himself around shifters.

“I need to figure some things out first,” he said after mulling the situation for a few moments. “I’m still not entirely sure about my abilities and my needs, and it would be horrifying if I harmed either of you, or anyone else, while I’m processing what I am.”

“We understand,” his mom said. “Maybe we can video chat next time.”

“I’d like that.”

“You’re being safe and careful, right?” she asked, her voice taking on a stern quality.

“Of course.”

“Good. We’ll talk to you soon, son.”

He ended the call and rested his head back against the wall with a sigh. A door creaked as it opened and Brone stepped out into the hall and shut the door silently.

“I wasn’t eavesdropping,” he said. Then he cleared his throat. “Well, I was, I guess, since I heard you end the call.”

“No worries,” Cyrus said, putting the phone in his back pocket. “What’s up?”

“While we were all resting, I had some of our coven members working on finding the bomber’s sedan. With the information you provided on the windshield sticker, they were able to narrow the search parameters and we now have a name and address.”

“That’s fantastic. I’m assuming that the family will be going to apprehend the bomber after the sun sets?”

“Yes. We’ve got a team ready to go as soon as it’s dark out, and I’d like for you to join us.”

“I’d be honored.”

And he wanted to kick the ass of the person who almost took him away from Cella and endangered the coven.

Brone nodded in approval. “Meet in Mishka’s office in an hour.”

Cyrus nodded and headed back into his chamber. When he closed the door, he looked at the bed and saw Cella sitting up, the blankets under her arms and a curious smile on her face. “Hi.”

He sat on the bed next to her and gave her a kiss. He kept it short and sweet though. His beloved was very tempting, and he didn’t want to take things too far when they only had an hour before he had to take off. “Hello, sweetheart.”

“You have to go?” she asked.

“I have an hour. They found the bomber’s residence.” Cyrus was thankful that his cousin Aeryn was going to culinary school, otherwise he wouldn’t have known that the pineapple sticker on the windshield was a campus parking permit. That they’d been able to figure out who the sedan belonged to despite the license plate being blacked out was pretty damn cool.

“I know I don’t have to tell you to be careful. I think after the bombing, you’re the definition of that.”

“I’ll do anything to keep you safe, and in order to do that I need to keep myself safe too. It’s a win-win.”

She chuckled, and then sobered. “We’re beloveds.”

He nodded. Reaching for her hand, he brought it to his cheek and kissed the inside of her wrist. He could see both sets of marks on her neck, one side for his tiger’s mating bite, and the other for his vampire. Inhaling abruptly at that thought, he said, “It’s so weird, isn’t it? I almost died, and you brought me back as something more than anyone could have anticipated. I just thought about my tiger and my vampire, and they’re not fighting for dominance inside me.”

“That might be your human side keeping things steady.” She tilted her head slightly. “I can tell when either side is dominant. Your eyes are gold for the vampire and blue for the tiger.”

“What are they now?”

“Gold and blue swirled together. It’s pretty spectacular looking. I think it’s from Mishka, because he’s the only vampire I know with golden eyes.”

“His eyes were gold when he was human?”

“He said they were light brown, but they turned gold once he changed. Brone’s eyes are purple, and that’s unique to his lineage, as well as his double fangs.”

“You didn’t get Mishka’s golden eyes though.”

She shrugged. “When it comes to supernatural things, oddities can be normal. Maybe the combination of mine and Mishka’s blood is what caused you to have the unique eyes. But regardless, I’m glad you’re here with me.”

“Me too. I need to figure my abilities out, the sooner the better.”

“Do you think you can shift?”

“No. I still have some of my tiger, but I can’t really feel him fully.”

“You’ve got telekinesis, that’s pretty unique.”

“Is there a comprehensive list of vampire abilities?”

Her brow rose. “A list? No. Generally speaking, the main ability for vampires is compulsion, to mess with the freewill of humans. It’s an ability that grows over time, but also is stronger in some vampire lines than others. Mishka’s power is very strong, so you should have that ability to some degree. And there’s an inherent beauty with vampires, even if they weren’t attractive as humans, turning makes them better looking. It won’t turn an uggo into a supermodel, but it does up their allure factor.”

“I suppose that’s helpful when you’re trying to convince humans to donate a vein.”

She nodded. “But you’re clearly unique. Even though you were turned and are part vampire, we also became beloveds which means that whatever being a tribrid is, you’re still a shifter.”

He twisted his wrist and looked at the mark she’d given him. “I don’t know what this means for us when it comes to the ambush. I need to know more about what I am.”

“You’re worried about trying to feed from your family.” It was a statement, not a question. And right on the money.

“If Ven hadn’t held me back, I would have attacked Harmony’s bandmates. Once I smelled a shifter, I couldn’t control myself.” He shuddered, thinking about attacking his parents or one of the ambush members. “You said that new vampires have to be watched to ensure they can control themselves. Have you ever seen a newbie try to tackle a human to feed?”

“Um, no. But I have seen some newbies struggling with their control. Some are able to establish control easily and can feed on their own within a short period of time. For others, it can take longer. I knew a vampire who’d been a drug addict when he was human. That tendency to overindulge to the point of almost killing himself carried over into his immortal life, and he was actually imprisoned by the Hunters for a while because he was attacking humans and overfeeding.”

“I didn’t know it was possible to overfeed.”

“I think it’s possible to overdo anything, really. He didn’t want to drink SyBl, and his coven didn’t have a big group of food, so he went out on his own looking for donors, and if someone would refuse him, he’d just use compulsion and force them.”

“How long was he in Hunter jail?”

“A few decades. He’d get released and go right back to his old habits. Eventually he force-fed from a human who was the lover of a large coven’s master, and the master killed him. But that’s depressing, and I don’t want to think about that happening with you. I believe we carry some of our baggage into our immortal lives. He was a drug addict, and as a vampire he couldn’t indulge in that anymore, but the need was still there, it just became about blood.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“I don’t think you will. But it’s a good idea to figure out what you can handle when it comes to shifters before you go walking into a town full of tigers.”

“I’m also wondering if I am still tiger enough to be in the ambush.”

“Midas will have to decide that, right?”

He nodded and kissed her cheek before climbing off the bed. “Right now I need to focus on finding the despicable human and then we’ll figure out the rest.”

“While you’re gone, I’ll reach out to Mishka to see if we can gain access to his book collection. We might be able to find out more about tribrids and your abilities.”

“Sounds good. Anything that might help.”

He changed into black tactical pants and a black form fitting shirt. His gear was stored in Brone’s office.

He looked at himself in the mirror over the bathroom sink. His eyes were mostly gold, with little dots of blue. He let his fangs extend, the tips sharp and dangerous. Cella joined him and slid her arm around his waist.

“Sexy male.”

“Don’t sweet talk me, woman,” he said turning to face her. “You’re tempting enough as it is.”

“I won’t apologize.”

“I wouldn’t believe you if you did anyway.” He kissed her gently. “I’ll keep you posted. I don’t think this will take long.”

“I have to go to the food office for a bit, so I’ll see you when you’re finished.”

He didn’t want to leave but he forced himself to let his beloved go, after a few more kisses and whispered promises for when he returned. In the hall, he fell into step with Ven and Temple as they headed to the elevator.

“How’s it going?” Ven asked.

“Good. And if I didn’t say thank you in the office earlier, thanks. You stopped me from hurting anyone.”

“No problem,” Ven said, pushing the button for the elevator. “We owe you a debt anyway. You saved countless lives finding the bomb, and also helping to figure out how to find the asshole.”

The elevator stopped and they walked out. “I’m not happy I nearly died, but I’m glad I was there to help.”

They met Brone and Rage in Mishka’s office and went over the plans. It was fairly simple – find the human, get him to tell all he knew, rough him up for good measure, and turn him over to the human authorities. 

“Everything needs to happen by the book,” Mishka said. “We don’t want the human getting out of prosecution on a technicality.”

“We’ve got it, Boss,” Temple said. “No worries.”

As the males turned to leave, Mishka called Cyrus and he faced him.

“Are you hungry?”

“No.”

“I wouldn’t normally allow a newly turned vampire to go on a mission like this, but you’re not normal by any stretch.”

Cyrus snorted. “Thanks.” Then he shook Mishka’s hand. “Thank you for helping to save my life and also for trusting me to help bring justice to our people.”

“You’re welcome. Cella texted me about going to my storage facility to look for information on tribrids and I’ll give you the codes and keys once you’re back. You can go tomorrow night.”

“Your antiquities are off-site?”

Mishka nodded. “Some things need to be kept in temperature-controlled rooms, and the club doesn’t lend itself to that much spare room. I also like having them separate and secured, in case something would ever happen to the club.”

Cella told him the church had set fire to the club at one point, and while no one had been hurt it could have been a disaster. It baffled him that the church was so callous as to set fire to a building where people were sleeping, in the hopes they’d drive them out into the daylight to die, assuming the fire itself didn’t kill them. Thankfully, the club had daytime guards who put out the fire.

“Thanks.”

Cyrus left the office and caught up to the males in the empty reception area. He glanced at the reception desk, where a framed sign offered assistance to visitors by pressing the “0” button on the phone.

“Where’s Angie?” He took the bulletproof vest Brone handed him.

Rage gave him a long look, and then glanced at Brone. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why reception was empty.

“Ah,” Cyrus said. “Because of me.”

“I don’t want to offend you, but until you know for certain how you’ll react around shifters, we’re unwilling to take a chance on Angie being in harm’s way.”

Cyrus put his hand up. “I understand completely. I wouldn’t risk Cella’s safety for anything or anyone.”

Rage nodded.

The group headed to the garage, where they split into two SUVs. Cyrus was in the lead vehicle with Ven driving and Brone in the second row. Temple, Rage, and two other coven members followed. Forty-five minutes later, they were stopped a block away from a cozy-looking ranch on a quiet street, with the sedan he’d seen parked in the driveway. It was baffling to consider that a place as wholesome looking as this was hiding someone who’d tried to murder a bunch of vampires for no reason other than the fact they were vampires.

Cyrus listened to the plan as Brone detailed it. They would first attempt what Brone called a “nice” approach, where they sweetly asked for whoever the asshole owner of the car was to come with them for questioning. And if that didn’t work – and the general consensus was that it would not – they’d take the male by force. Cyrus climbed out of the SUV, adjusted his vest and cracked his neck. It was time to kick some ass and ensure his beloved was safe.