Cronin's Key (17 page)

Cronin was quick to take his hand and gave his fingers a gentle squeeze. He closed his eyes again and took a deep breath. “That was too close.”

“Yes, it was,” Jodis said. She still had her calm demeanor, though there was a fire in her eyes. “Alec, please tell me you are okay.”

“I’m fine,” he said. “Thank you. For saving me.”

Eiji stood beside Cronin, but he spoke to Alec. “Do you understand now?” Eiji said. “Can you see the danger now?”

Alec nodded.

“They know where we are,” Jodis said. “Cronin, you must take him. Just for an hour or so. It will be safer if he’s not here right now.”

Cronin nodded and looked at Alec. “It is not my intention to remove your free-will, but you must understand—”

“I’ll go,” Alec said. And he would. He’d go anywhere with Cronin. “I’ll go with you.”

“Grab a coat,” Cronin said.

Still in shock, Alec took the first coat he could find in Cronin’s closet, and with shaking hands, he put it on. When he went back out to the living room, Cronin was talking quietly with Eiji, and Jodis had a phone to her ear. Cronin was quickly by Alec’s side. “Are you ready?”

No
,
I’m really fucking not
. But he nodded anyway, slid his arms around Cronin and held him as tight as he could as they leapt.

* * * *

Whatever place they’d ‘landed’ in was dark, windy, misty, and cold. Alec shook off the aftermath of leaping, and although he didn’t want to let go of Cronin, he did.

“Are you okay?” Cronin asked.

“Yeah.”

“You’re still shaking,” he whispered.

“It’s been a helluva day,” Alec said. “And it’s freezing.”

Cronin did the buttons up on Alec’s jacket. “I should have suggested gloves as well, sorry.”

“’S’okay,” Alec said. “Just a bit of a shock coming from a climate-controlled apartment to being outside in the cold in half a second. I’ll get used to it.” Looking around, he tried to take in his surroundings, but it was too misty and his eyes had not yet adjusted to the dark. “Where are we exactly?”

“Scotland.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Can you not smell it?”

“Can I smell Scotland? Uh, no.”

Cronin snorted. “The moors and damp heather. It is wood and peat, yet there is an underlying sweetness.”

“You just described how you smell,” Alec said quietly. “Though I would have just called it an earthy smell.”

“I smell of earth?”

“You smell of moors and damp heather, apparently,” Alec said. He didn’t have time to be embarrassed for noticing such a thing. He looked around again, and this time could make out large stone walls, mossy and wet, and Alec had the distinct feeling he was outside. Was it an open corridor? “Are we safe here?”

“Yes. For now.” Cronin took a step back from Alec, putting a foot of distance between them. “I wanted to bring you here the night before, though you were tired.”

“Your accent seems a little thicker here,” Alec noted. “I like it.”

Alec’s eyes had adjusted enough to see Cronin smile. He could also see that they actually were in some kind of open corridor, stone walls but grass underfoot. “Where are we in Scotland
exactly
?”

“This is Dunadd Hillfort, or Dún Ad as it was known, in the Kilmartin Valley, Argyll,” Cronin said in thick Scottish brogue. “It is an open fort, long abandoned. We are completely secluded. No one will find us here.”

“Why did you want to bring me here?” Alec asked. He leaned back against the stone wall to keep out of the wind and folded his arms for warmth.

“To keep you safe. Are you okay?” Cronin asked. “You had quite a fright.”

“I, uh, yeah. I really wasn’t ready for that,” Alec admitted. “I was just talking to Eiji and Jodis about how none of the so-called danger felt real because it had just all been talk.” Alec let out a laugh that sounded a little tight-strung. “Well, it’s fucking real now.”

Cronin took Alec’s hands in his. “You’re safe here with me.”

Alec knew he was. He felt nothing but safe with him. “Can we stay here forever?”

Cronin laughed. “Ah, no.”

Alec felt better already. The cold air, the closeness of Cronin almost made him forget two vampires had just tried to kill him. “You wanted to bring me here last night…” Alec prompted.

“Well, yes… I wanted to discuss a private matter. The other night when you asked about the elders,” Cronin said. “The elder vampires who came before Eiji, Jodis, and I, who were slain by the Yersinians in 1346.”

“The time of the Black Plague.”

“Yes.”

“You weren’t telling me something then,” Alec remembered. “Eiji and Jodis both looked to you but you stayed silent. Why was that?”

“I wanted to tell you about someone I was…
intimate
with,” Cronin said quietly. “I didn’t want you to hear it from someone else, and I don’t want secrets between us.”

“What was his name?”

“Willem.”

An irrational acid burned in Alec’s stomach at the thought of Cronin being with someone else. “Was he… did you… were you fated to him?”

Cronin smiled sadly. “No. I am fated to only you.”

Alec tried to let out a breath of relief slowly. “But you loved him?”

“No.” Cronin shook his head adamantly. “Not love. Though I respected him.”

And somehow that hurt Alec more than if he’d loved him. “Oh.”

“He was an elder. He was four hundred years older than I.”

“Cradle robber.”

Cronin chuckled. “He was an intellect and he was kind, but what we had was nothing more than physical. A convenience.” Cronin looked at Alec and waited a moment before speaking again. “He took me to his bed chambers no more than eight times in all those years. I don’t mean to hurt you by telling you this, but I wanted to be the one to tell you. I didn’t want you to hear this from someone else. I’m not naïve to Johan’s affection to me, although I’ve never entertained the notion of taking advantage—”

“It’s okay, Cronin.”

“I didn’t want him to tell you with vain hope that you’d grow angry with me.”

“I’m not angry,” Alec said softly. “How could I be? I can’t expect that you wouldn’t have been with other people in all those years. I mean, really? One other guy in seven hundred years is… actually that’s pretty lame. You’ve lived a helluva lot longer than me, and I’ve certainly had my share—”

Alec’s words were cut short by a low growl in Cronin’s chest.

“Are you growling?”

“I can’t help it,” Cronin said. “It’s an involuntary reaction. I thank you for being honest with me, but I’d rather not hear of your… physicality with other men. It might not be reasonable of me to expect you to hear of Willem yet I am not able to hear of yours. It makes me…”

“Growl?”

“Irrationally angry. Those who have touched you in such ways are still living, and I—”

“You can’t kill them.”

Cronin pouted and seemed thoughtful for a moment. “Well, I could.”

“Yes, but you won’t,” Alec said. “I thought I’d imagined it before, you know, when I heard you make that noise. I mean, it sounded like a growl, but I didn’t know it was an actual growl. You sound like a lion.” He slowly put his hand to Cronin’s chest, over his breastbone. “Do it again.”

It took a moment, but Alec could feel a faint vibration under his hand before he could hear the sound. Even in the darkness, Alec could see Cronin’s face—the intensity in his eyes. As they stared at each other, the rumble got louder. Though it wasn’t a growl at all. “You’re purring.”

Something flashed in Cronin’s eyes. Vulnerability? Alec wasn’t sure. “I can’t help it,” he whispered.

“I love it,” Alec murmured. He inched forward, sliding his hand up to Cronin’s neck, then his face, and Alec slowly, slowly leaned in, and for the briefest moment, their lips touched.

And Cronin was gone.

Alec fell forward a step before he caught himself, blinking at where Cronin was, or rather, where there was now only misty air.

“Sorry,” Cronin whispered behind him.

Alec spun around, startled. “Jesus!” He put his hand to his heart. “Two heart failures in twenty minutes probably isn’t good for my mortality.” He took some deep breaths. “And you know, if you don’t want to kiss me…”

Cronin scoffed out a laugh. “Quite the opposite,” he said. “I want it too much. Maybe Jodis is right. Maybe my desire to have you overrules my other faculties.”

Alec’s heart tripped in his chest. “Your desire to have me?”

“She fears if we are… intimate… my urge to bite you will be too strong.”

“Oh.”

Cronin chuckled, obviously embarrassed. “You see my dilemma?”

Alec was beginning to, yes. “So, when we have sex you’ll bite me?”

Cronin’s eyes went wide. “You are not shy to just say that out loud, are you?”

“I’m a man of my times,” Alec said with a shrug. “But that’s what you mean, isn’t it? That when we do end up in bed together, you’ll inevitably change me into a vampire.”

Cronin swallowed hard. “Yes. It is in our nature to bite when… coupled.”

“Oh.” Alec paused for a moment. “Is that why she keeps interrupting us?”

“I believe so, yes,” Cronin said with a smile. “Also that Eleanor said she saw you as human when we are in Egypt.”

“When will we go to Egypt?” Alec asked. He knew it was now only a matter of when, not if.

“I would think soon,” Cronin said softly. “I would rather see you there on our terms than have them take you.”

Alec swallowed. “Me too.”

“I won’t let them touch you, Alec,” Cronin whispered.

“Tonight, with those two attackers, that was really close, wasn’t it?”

Cronin nodded. “Yes.”

“Eiji and Jodis saved my life.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t think I really took it all too seriously,” Alec admitted. “Until now.”

“Is that what Eiji meant?” Cronin asked. “When he asked if you understood now.”

“Yeah. I’d told him none of it felt real. All the talk of crazy Egyptian vampires and ancient pharaohs. I mean, it’s all a little out there, even for me. And I’m pretty good with weird.” Alec looked at the stone wall before he reached out and touched it. It was wet and cold, and it made him shiver. “I believe it now, though. Those two vampires would have killed me if Eiji and Jodis weren’t there.”

“I shouldn’t have left you.” Cronin reached out and touched the wall too. “It is not a mistake I will make again.”

“You need to feed, Cronin,” Alec said. The old stone seemed to crumble a little under his touch. “Did you… you know, feed tonight when you left?”

“Yes.”

“Well, good,” Alec said. “I’m glad.”

Cronin raised an eyebrow.

“I can’t bear the thought of you being hungry,” Alec answered honestly. “I didn’t eat. I dropped my food on the patio floor when Eiji stabbed some vampires with my chopsticks.”

Cronin smiled at that. “Probably not something you’d ever thought you’d say.”

“Ah, no.” Alec scoffed.

“We will need to get you some more food,” Cronin said.

Alec nodded. “What did you say to me when you took me inside?” he asked. “When Eiji was fighting those guys, you picked me up and carried me inside. You put your hands to my face and said something in Gaelic. What was that?”

“Oh,” Cronin said, ducking his head. “You bring out my native tongue.”

Alec put his hand under Cronin’s chin, lifting it. “Don’t be embarrassed,” he said. “It was something about a rug?”

“I said
rug mi ort
,” Cronin said with a smile. “It translates roughly to ‘It’s okay, I have you, I have you.’”

“And the rest of it? Shab something, then Mac something?”

“
Sàbhailtcachd
,
m’cridhe
,” Cronin whispered. “You don’t miss anything, do you?”

“No.”

Cronin’s eyes looked impossibly black compared to his pale skin in the dark. “It doesn’t translate well, but it means, ‘You are safe, my heart.’”

“Oh.” Alec was grinning now. “I think it translates just fine.” His heart was beating triple time, which he had no doubt Cronin could hear. “You might want to teach me your native tongue sometime.”

Alec was going for all the puns and sexual innuendos, but it was ruined by his chattering teeth.

“You are cold,” Cronin said.

“No, I’m freezing,” Alec said. “Are you not cold at all?”

“No. Our bodies acclimatize to our surroundings.”

“Of course they do,” Alec grumbled.

“Come.” Cronin held out his hand out. “This way.”

Alec wasn’t sure if he was offering his hand to hold on to or if he was showing him the way, but Alec didn’t hesitate. He took Cronin’s hand in his, and from the way Cronin hesitated, it was pretty clear his proffered hand was for direction, not for holding. But he didn’t let it go. Alec smiled at him. “What? No leaping this time?”

“It is within walking distance, though I could leap us if you want.”

“Ah, no thanks. Walking is fine.” Alec let Cronin lead the way, thankful he did so at a human pace. It was dark, downhill, and the grass was slippery with dew. “You can see where you’re going, right?”

“Very clearly,” Cronin replied, still holding Alec’s hand.

“You can see everything in the dark?” Alec asked as they walked along a grassy path. “All vampires have super-sight, right?”

“Night or day is the same, just a different color,” Cronin explained.

The night looked dark and misty to Alec, nothing more. If it weren’t for the cold, Alec wouldn’t have believed he was in a different country. The smell, though, the scent of damp heather, as Cronin had identified it, was very distinct. It was very Cronin.

Alec really couldn’t see where he was, though as their walk became more even-footed and less downhill, Alec thought he was in what looked like a field. The grass was long and heavy with dew, making Alec’s jeans damp to above his knees. The wet added to the cold, but Alec never complained or stopped walking. Wherever Cronin was taking him must have been important, and even if it weren’t, just being outdoors, walking and holding hands despite the cold, felt wonderful.

Then Alec realized why Cronin had brought him here. He gave his hand a squeeze. “This is where you’re from?”

“Yes,” Cronin said. “I grew up not far from here. The village to the north, but it was not exactly where it is now.” Cronin laughed a little. “My brothers and I would go to the River Add and fish for eel. Oh, I’d not recalled that for a long time,” he said. “I’d not given thought to that in so long! My mother would be so cross. We were supposed to toil fields or collect reeds to be dried, but when the weather was warm, we’d make off, hunting rabbit in the glen.”