Cronin's Key (14 page)

Alec didn’t want to be told who he
had
to be with. He didn’t want to be forced into something he might not otherwise choose. Yet when he thought about Cronin, a warm thrill charged his blood.

It was a heady mix of wanting to throw his arms around him or wanting to wring his freakin’ neck.

And thinking about Cronin when in the shower did little for Alec’s hard-on. Whether the vampires in the apartment could hear his soft grunts as he jerked his cock or if they could hear how his heart hammered or whatever, Alec didn’t care. He stroked himself to mental images of Cronin, on his knees, underneath him, on top of him, inside him, until he came so hard the room spun and his knees gave out. He leaned with his head on his forearm against the tiled shower wall, catching his breath and clearing his mind.

Wow.
Alec chuckled to himself.
Intense, and still not enough
. His dick was still hard and a thought ran through his mind that it would never be enough until Cronin took care of it for him. Alec shook his head, startling himself out of the orgasm-haze he’d been in. Alec didn’t know whether that was just an errant thought or it was a stark realization.

He turned the hot water off and finished his shower under the cold.

Dressed, showered and shaved, Alec made his way out to the kitchen. Cronin was by himself, leaning against the kitchen counter with a coffee in his hand. He looked so… human.

He handed the cup to Alec. “As you like it.”

Alec took the cup, breathing in the aroma as he sipped it. He put the cup on the counter, and leaning against Cronin, he slid his arms around him. Alec wasn’t even sure why he did it. He couldn’t remember the conscious decision to do it, only that it was a physical decision, not a mental one. Cronin was rigid, obviously shocked at Alec’s embrace, but from the way he soon returned the sentiment, it was pretty clear to Alec that he certainly didn’t mind.

Alec whispered, “Thank you.”

“What for?” Cronin asked, his voice a gentle rumble in Alec’s ear.

“The coffee. For letting me sleep in your bed.” Alec pulled back. “Did you sleep?”

Cronin gave a small nod. “I took your bed,” he said with a shy smile.

Alec wanted to ask if his scent affected Cronin as much as Cronin’s scent affected him, but thought better of it. “And you only need a few hours?”

“Two or three.”

“Is that where Sammy went?” Alec asked. “He was gone when I woke up.”

“He seems to seek me out, yes.”

“He’s a traitor.” Alec sipped his coffee. “I’m considering having him tried for treason. Either that, or I might get a dog.”

Cronin smiled. “Did you want breakfast?”

“Yep,” Alec said, trading his coffee cup for a pizza box from the fridge.

Cronin looked appalled. “Dinner leftovers?”

“Leftover pizza is the breakfast of champions,” Alec said. He put two slices in the microwave and bit into a third piece cold.

Cronin’s nose crinkled. “I will have to take your word for it.”

“Does the smell bother you?” Alec asked.

“No.”

“Did you want to try some?”

“I have as much desire to eat human food as you would to eat furniture. It is simply not a source of nourishment to me.”

“So you drink only blood?”

“Yes.”

“Is that where Jodis and Eiji are now?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me about them,” Alec said. “Jodis and Eiji. What’s their story?”

Cronin smiled warmly. “Jodis is my dearest friend. A sister, if you will. She was from the village of Tromso, Norway. She was put on the Viking ship as a serf, and when they came ashore in Scotland, she met her end with a careless vampire. Whether he chose to change her or did not care of the outcome, she doesn’t know.”

Alec was intrigued, and he ate quietly, not interrupting once.

“And yes, she ended my human life and you may find this difficult to believe, but I bear no hard will toward her. It was a difficult time in Scotland, one you can’t rightly imagine.”

Cronin’s lips curled into a small smile. “I was a soldier. We’d fallen in the war of the Picts, our numbers were decimated. I was one of many lying on a battlefield almost dead when Jodis found me. She’d come to the scent of blood—I can still recall the stench of death and peat and piss.” Cronin’s eyes were unfocused, seeing only memories. His voice was a whisper. “Jodis was young and hungry, scavenging from those clinging to life, feeding while their hearts barely managed to beat. They were going to die anyway, as was I. But by the time she found me, she’d had enough and pulled away before my heart had stopped.”

Alec swallowed his mouthful of food. “Is that what does it?” he asked. “Bite, but don’t kill?”

Cronin nodded. “Yes.”

“And what about Eiji?” Alec pressed. “I mean, in the year two hundred and something… I can’t even get my head around that.”

“Eiji’s story is an interesting one.” Cronin smiled. “He was a guard to Queen Himiko. The palace was set upon by three vampires and, though small in number, that is more than enough to do serious damage. He defended his Queen and saved her life, but at the cost of his own. The Queen tried to save him apparently, but when he woke from fever, it was apparent he was no longer human. Even a newborn vampire, he was still devoutly loyal to her. She showed mercy to him for saving her life by sparing him, telling Eiji to leave and not kill any of her people. A true disciple, he did as she asked. He wandered alone for many centuries until he found Jodis.”

“And it was fate at first sight?”

Cronin laughed. “Well no, as Eiji said, she scared him. Such beauty and the pull of fate—you’ve felt it, you know how unsettling it is—and he panicked. He didn’t get far, as he told you the other night. He ranted at her in a language we didn’t understand. Believe me, we can count our blessings we both speak the same language.”

Alec snorted out a laugh. “I guess.”

“I left them alone for some months. For my benefit as much as theirs,” Cronin said. He blushed a little. “And when I came back, they had learned each other’s native tongues.”

“I bet they did.”

Cronin chuckled. “Language, Alec. Native language.”

Alec grinned at him. “How many languages do you speak?”

“Most of them. There are a few dialects from different regions that I don’t need to know.” Cronin shrugged.

“Just a few dialects, in all the world?” Alec asked, putting his plate in the sink. “Jeez, overachiever, much?”

Cronin fought a smile. “A lot of years, a lot of reading, and a lot of traveling will do that.”

“You’ve done so much,” Alec mused. “It’s all so fascinating. I can’t even imagine…”

“I can take you anywhere you want to go,” Cronin said. “When all this is over, I can leap us anywhere you choose. I can give private tours of museums anywhere in the world at three o’clock in the morning, if you so wish. Or take you to the field of Yankee Stadium. Whatever you want.”

“That sounds pretty cool,” Alec said with a smile. He patted his belly, which was now full of pizza and coffee. Then he thought of something. “When was the last time you fed?”

“Two days ago.”

“Is that too long?”

“I will need to feed soon, but it’s bearable.”

“What is not bearable?” Alec asked. “I’m just curious. I guess I should know these things. I mean, is it uncomfortable for you to be near me right now?”

“Of course not.”

“Is it a hunger or a thirst? Does your throat burn until you feed or what?” Alec asked out of pure curiosity.

“It is a hunger,” Cronin answered. “Though not like a human hunger. It affects the whole body, not just the stomach. The whole body craves it.”

Alec considered this. “I can see that, I guess.”

Cronin gave a smile. “You talk of such matter with ease. Does it not bother you?”

“Not as much as I thought it would,” Alec said. “I try not to think about the human loss of it, to be honest. Kinda like how I try not to think about the pigs that die to give us the amazing thing that is bacon.” Alec stared out the kitchen window for a while, looking over the city as he thought about what he just said. “I’m not sure when I stopped caring for human life… I’m a cop, I shouldn’t…” He shook his head. “I don’t know when that changed.”

“When you changed,” Cronin said softly. “When you met me.”

“I changed when I met you?”

Cronin nodded. “As I did when I met you.”

Oh.
Alec paused. “Is that part of the fated thing? We change?”

“Yes. Fundamental changes to our psyche to adapt to the needs of our significant other.”

“But I’m still me,” Alec said quietly.

Cronin gave him a small smile. “You will always be you. You just adopt certain tolerances.”

“So, normally if something pissed me off with someone, like something they did—like snoring! If they snored—I’d hate it, but if
you
snored, I wouldn’t care.”

“I don’t snore.”

“That wasn’t my point.”

Cronin chuckled. “Your point was correct, yes.”

“So what pisses you off in other people but not in me?”

Cronin thought for a moment. “I don’t like being interrupted when I’m talking. It is frustrat—”

“Like that?” Alec said with a smile. “Like me interrupting you like that?”

Cronin huffed. “Yes, like that.”

Alec snorted. “But it still annoyed you.”

“It’s a work in progress.” Cronin let out a half laugh, half sigh. “It frustrates me far less with you than someone else, believe me.”

“Then I shall try my very hardest not to interrupt you ever again,” Alec said with a smirk and flick of his eyebrow that meant he shall try his very hardest to interrupt Cronin every chance he got.

Cronin sighed. “I also find sarcasm rather tiresome.”

“Excellent.” Alec laughed and finished his breakfast and made himself more coffee.

As Alec leaned against the kitchen counter with his second cup of coffee in his hand, it was as though Cronin was waiting for him. He cleared his throat. “So, given the events of yesterday, I wondered whether you wished to continue our date? Considering it was cut short.”

Alec hid his slowly spreading smile behind his coffee cup. “I would love to, but I thought research might be in order, given the events of yesterday.”

“Research of what?”

Alec was stunned.
Research of what?
“Uh, everything we learned yesterday, none of which makes sense.”

“Jodis and Eiji are seeking out information as we speak.”

“I thought you said they were eating out?”

Cronin smiled. “They are doing both. They’ve gone to the Egypt—”

“They’ve
what
?” Alec cried, interrupting him. “By them
selves
?”

“They’re safe,” Cronin told him. “They’re verifying the information Bes gave us yesterday. Though we’ve no reason to doubt him, I wanted to be sure.”

“You asked them to go?”

“Yes. I took them.”

“You
what
?”

“I was only gone for one second. The apartment is well alarmed, and you were sound asleep.”

Alec put his cup down and ran his hands through his hair. “And?”

“And they are searching out any other information we might use.”

Alec sighed. “And what about me?”

Cronin blinked. “I don’t know what you mean. What about you?”

Alec took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I’m a detective. Figuring shit out is what I do. I research, I study, I figure shit out.”

“Alec, I cannot risk you being out there. Please understand, it’s not my wish to see you confined here, but until this risk is over…”

“I don’t need to leave here,” Alec replied. “As much as I’d like to.” He rolled his eyes. “But we have this thing now called the Internet. I mean, it is only recent in your perspective of timelines, and I know you think Shakespeare is still classed as popular culture, but it is the
twenty-first century
.”

Cronin glared at him for just a moment. “I take back what I said before. I do believe that I detest sarcasm more than being interrupted.”

Alec ignored him and went to his room to get his laptop bag they’d brought back from his apartment. He’d just dumped all his belongings in the room, and everything was just as he’d left it. He didn’t really have any intention of unpacking anything—his cheap, everyday things didn’t exactly compliment Cronin’s expensive furniture and antiques.

Alec tried not to think about what that said about him—about where he stood in comparison to Cronin—and he grabbed his laptop satchel and went back out to the living room. He pulled out the two-year-old laptop and upended the bag, letting the contents of cables and adapters fall onto the sofa. “Have you got Wi-Fi?”

Cronin looked at him for a long second. “I have an office that may suit you better. You know, with that modern Internet technology you speak of.”

Alec sighed, long and loud. “You’re gonna make me look like an ass for the Shakespeare comment, aren’t you?”

Cronin fought a smile. “Come with me. You can make your own conclusion,” he said, walking through the kitchen toward the other end of the penthouse where the cinema room was.

Alec followed, and Cronin stopped at a door Alec hadn’t paid any attention to. Cronin told him this was the office when they’d gone into the media room the day before, but he didn’t think any more of it. “Any other rooms in this place I should know about?”

“No.” Cronin said simply. “I have other houses, though.”

Alec’s eyes widened. “You do?”

“Yes. In Japan, though that’s more for Eiji and Jodis. And another in London. I don’t really have a need for another house, I can just leap to and from here as I please, but it helps to move around a little.”

Alec was flabbergasted. “Right. Of course you do.”

Cronin gave him half a smile, then opened the door he stood in front of. It was an office library of some sort, with hundreds of books on the walls, the gilded leather bindings, some hand-stitched, giving Alec a clue to their age. There were some more artifacts that looked very old on one shelf, and all the relics were juxtaposed by a very new-looking dual-screen computer system sitting on the center of the desk.

“Is this the technology you speak of?” Cronin waved his hand at the chair, signaling for Alec to sit in the chair. “I may be old, Alec. But I am not naïve.”