Cronin's Key (31 page)

Eiji spun to look at Alec, his face shockingly calm and at peace. He smiled.

Alec turned to Ra, who stood, brown and mummified, yet returned. His mouth bore horrid teeth and fangs, and his bony hands still held the sun-disk above his head. Alec threw the wooden stake he was holding as hard as could at Ra’s chest.

Five seconds:

Alec launched himself at Eiji, scooping up the small Japanese vampire, shielding him from the sunlight, and with all the strength he had left in him, screamed out, “Cronin!”

The room went dark.

* * * *

Encased in darkness, Alec found himself in familiar arms, and he welcomed the pain of leaping. He
welcomed
it.

Then he was on the floor of Cronin’s apartment, holding Eiji against his chest like a child with Cronin’s arms around them both.

Jodis fell to her knees before him, a silent tortured pain across her face, and she put her shaking hands to her lover’s face. “My Eiji,” she whispered. Kole stood some yards away, white-faced and wide-eyed, his hand to his mouth.

Alec pulled his night vision goggles off and threw them away. He ripped the Velcro tabs on Eiji’s bulletproof vest, exposing his burned torso. That vest had no doubt saved his life.

Eiji went rigid and sucked in a ragged breath, only to let out a scream. Alec had never heard anything so painful, so heartbreaking. Eiji fought against Alec, and Jodis quickly took him in her arms. Alec did the only thing he could think of.

He pulled at the cut on his hand, stretching and ripping it open until blood pooled in his palm, then put his hand to Eiji’s mouth. “He needs to feed,” Alec said. “It will help him heal.”

At first the blood just ran into Eiji’s mouth, but after a few seconds, he began to suck. “He’s taking it,” he told them, flooded with relief.

It was then Alec realized Cronin was growling. He was still kneeling behind him and had his head down against Alec’s shoulder, and his grip on Alec was tight.

Alec turned the best he could in Cronin’s arms without moving his hand from Eiji’s mouth. “He’s not hurting me,” Alec told him.

Cronin lifted his face, his eyes a haunted,
haunted
black. “I know.”

“He saved my life.”

“I know,” Cronin said again, his voice trembling as he spoke.

Jodis sucked back a sob, and white snow-like tears ran down her face. She put her forehead to Eiji’s. “My sweet Eiji,” she cried.

“We need to get him more blood,” Alec said. He was starting to feel woozy.

Cronin shook his head. “I cannot leave you.”

“You have to,” Alec said. He knew he was paling.

Cronin pulled Alec away, removing his hand from Eiji’s mouth. “It will mean bringing a human back here…”

“He will die if you don’t,” Alec urged him. “Please.”

“Get him into the shower,” Cronin said quietly. He then turned to Kole. “Please go to the theater room. Close the doors, turn the volume up, and stay there until we tell you it’s safe.” Cronin looked to the floor. “You will not wish to witness this.”

Kole nodded and did as he was asked. Jodis carried Eiji into the first bathroom, and Alec quickly followed. They had Eiji on the floor in the shower under the stream of cool water immediately, shirtless but otherwise fully dressed and trying to cool any damage the burning sunlight had done to him. He screamed again through gritted teeth, and his whole body shook.

Alec knelt beside them and brushed Eiji’s hair from his forehead, then a burst of shouting came from the living room.

Alec jumped up just as Cronin came through the door. He had his hand to the throat of a man who was struggling against him. The man, with wide, feral eyes and a shaved, tattooed head, was shouting obscenities, which Alec knew to be Russian. His Russian prison garb and tattoos left no doubt as to where Cronin had plucked him from.

The man yelled again, his neck corded and his face an angry shade of red. He thrashed against Cronin, but the vampire held him easily. Cronin lifted his free hand, and with a simple tap to the head, the man was quiet. Unconscious, he slumped in Cronin’s hold.

“Alec, you need to leave,” Cronin said.

Alec didn’t argue. He simply walked out of the bathroom, not even stopping to see if the door closed behind him. He found himself in the kitchen, wet, dazed, overwhelmed, and shaking. Only then did his hand start to hurt.

He wrapped a dishcloth around his injured palm, though the bleeding was now almost stopped. Realizing he needed sugar or something to replenish his own system, he opened the fridge door and pulled out the orange juice. When his hand shook too much to pour any into a cup, he drank it straight from the bottle.

Then Cronin was behind him. “I’m sorry you had to witness that,” he said.

Alec wiped his mouth and shook his head. He didn’t think he could speak.

“If it rests your conscious, the vile human was imprisoned in the worst of prisons in the depths of Russia, reserved for crimes that don’t bear repeating.”

“Will Eiji be okay?” Alec asked. He didn’t care about the Russian guy. He just simply… didn’t.

Cronin took Alec’s shaking hands and held them softly. He looked him all over, over every square inch as if to make sure he was okay. “You were brave today.”

Alec’s eyes filled with tears, the shock of what he’d witnessed and what he’d done starting to take hold of him.

“You risked your life today,” Cronin said. His tone was impassive, but Alec could tell he wasn’t happy.

“I did what I had to do,” Alec said. “Is Eiji okay?”

Cronin nodded. “He is getting stronger already.”

Alec let out a relieved breath, and his tears finally fell. “Oh, thank god.”

Cronin wrapped his arms around him, and each man held on as tight as they dared. Alec ignored how the skin on his hand protested, he simply let himself cry and let himself be held in the strongest, safest arms he’d ever known.

Eventually Alec pulled back and wiped at his face. “Who else made it out?”

“I don’t know,” Cronin said, putting his hand to Alec’s face. “You were my first concern.”

“Thank you for coming back for me.”

Cronin barked out a hard laugh. “Like you gave me any choice.”

“I didn’t…” Alec shook his head. “I didn’t make you leave me there—”

“That is
exactly
what you did,” Cronin countered.

“I just needed you to be safe,” Alec said. “I knew what I had to do. As soon as I saw the hieroglyphs of Ra… He held the ankh—the key—in every painting, and the sun-disk was always painted red like blood. I don’t know how I didn’t see it sooner, but as soon as it all clicked into place, I knew what I had to do.” Alec swallowed hard and wiped his face again. “I would never send you away if it weren’t to save you.”

“You asked me to leave you behind,” Cronin said. “Is it difficult to believe that those six seconds seemed longer than a century?” He shook his head and looked at their joined hands between them.

“I will never ask you to leave me again,” Alec whispered.

Cronin looked up at him then. “Do you promise?”

“Yes,” Alec swore to him. Then he shrugged. “Unless I need to bring an Egyptian god back to life with my blood and he can make sunlight from a round dinner plate. Then yes, I’ll need you to leave.”

Cronin almost smiled. He reached up and swept Alec’s wet hair off his forehead. “I’m still mad at you for making me leave you.”

“For what it’s worth, I am glad you did,” Alec told him. He put his hands to Cronin’s face and leaned in to kiss him, but Cronin pulled his face away.

He quickly took Alec’s cut hand. “Probably best not to put that hand so close to my face,” Cronin said quietly.

“Cronin.” Jodis spoke from the hall, and when Alec turned around, he saw that she was carrying Eiji. “He’s done.”

Cronin gave a nod, and whispered to Alec, “I must dispose of the body. I won’t be gone for long.”

Alec nodded. “Okay,” he whispered back, then leaned in and pressed his lips to Cronin’s before he disappeared. Alec smiled into thin air, but followed Jodis down the hall and into the bedroom he’d slept in the first night.

Jodis lay Eiji on the bed, his hair wet and swept back off his face. She pulled the sheet to his waist then kissed his forehead before sitting beside him on the bed, holding his hand. Alec gave a soft knock. “Can I come in?”

Jodis smiled, only briefly taking her eyes off Eiji to look at Alec. “Yes of course.”

Alec stepped tentatively into the room. Eiji opened his eyes and tried to smile. “Hey,” Alec said. “You saved my life.”

“And you mine,” Eiji said, his voice just a whisper.

“You feeling okay?”

“Been better,” Eiji said, his voice quiet and harsh. “The blood helped.”

Alec nodded. “You’ll need a lot more, yes?”

Jodis nodded. “Yes. But it was your quick thinking, Alec, to let him feed from your hand that in all likelihood saved his life.” She gently rubbed Eiji’s arm. “And by association, mine as well.”

Alec smiled at them both and touched Eiji’s hand. “Well, it was worth it, even if Cronin’s really pissed at me,” Alec said, shrugging one shoulder.

Jodis gave a laugh that sounded more like a sob. She wiped her eyes, and her lip trembled as she spoke. “You both left us! You have no idea what it was like to leap back here without either of you.” She looked at Eiji and slowly shook her head. “I had my hand on you, then you were gone… We got back here and our hands were empty of both of you… I thought I’d lost you. And Cronin,” she said, looking at Alec, “he was—”

“Distraught,” a voice said from the door. Alec looked up to see Cronin leaning casually against the door frame. Cronin never took his eyes off Alec. “Upset. Angry. Hurt.” He took a deep breath and added a quiet but profound, “Helpless.”

Alec quickly got to his feet and stepped in front of Cronin. “I never meant to hurt you. I did it to save you.”

Cronin gave a small smile and he shook his head. “I was also proud and honored that you would sacrifice yourself for us. But mostly I was pissed off.”

Alec put his non-injured hand to Cronin’s face, then ran his fingers through his rust-colored hair. He never said anything, just leaned in and kissed his temple before sliding his arm around Cronin’s waist and staying there.

Cronin put his arm around Alec as well, but he looked at Eiji. “You saved my Alec, and I will be forever grateful.”

“You’ve saved us countless times, brother,” Eiji said weakly. “It was the least I could do.”

Cronin gave a nod. “You need to rest. I will bring you more blood in a few hours.”

“Thank you, Cronin,” Jodis whispered. “We’d be at a loss without you.”

Cronin smiled. “It is the least
I
could do.”

Smiling and grimacing at the same time, Eiji slowly closed his eyes. Jodis lay down beside him, their hands joined on his chest, and Sammy the cat was now purring beside them. Cronin pulled Alec out the door to the hall and gave a small nod toward his bedroom door with a hopeful, suggestive smirk, but Alec shook his head and walked out to the living room. He picked up the four wooden stakes that were thrown on the sofa.

“What are you doing?” Cronin asked, his eyes wide.

“We need to go back to Egypt,” Alec said simply.

Cronin blinked. “What on earth for?”

“To make sure it’s done properly,” Alec said. “No loose ends, no stragglers left to take up the cause. It ends today.”

Cronin shook his head. “There was no one left in the chamber when I leapt back to collect you.”

“There were others,” Alec said. “The ones who didn’t make it into the chamber when they smelled my blood, or maybe they fled when they saw the sun, I don’t know. But we need to make sure.” Alec shoved the stakes into the waistband of his jeans and reclipped a fresh magazine of wooden bullets into his pistol and slid it into his shoulder holster. “Will you take me?”

Cronin’s jaw bulged, his words spoken through clenched teeth. “You are impossibly frustrating.”

Alec grinned at him. “You’re welcome.” With a black glare from Cronin that was clearly supposed to menacing but only made Alec smile harder, Cronin slid his arms around Alec. Just before they leapt, Alec chuckled and said, “Stay behind me.”

Cronin was still growling when they arrived in complete darkness, though the familiar putrid air told Alec they were back in the Gallery. There was also only silence.

“Shit. I forgot my goggles. I can’t see,” Alec whispered.

“The room is empty,” Cronin replied, but he took Alec’s hand and led him just a few feet. “Your knapsack.”

Alec was handed the canvas backpack. Going by feel alone, he found the zipper and rummaged through the bag until he found what he was after. He put the backpack on, held out the flare, striking it to illuminate the chamber.

The room was empty, just as Cronin had said, except for piles of blackened sand covering most of the floor and the bloodstained sun-disk laying disregarded amongst the mess. Alec picked it up and slid it inside the backpack.

“What are you doing?” Cronin asked quietly.

“Figure I’ll start adding my own things to your wall of memorabilia,” Alec said. “So in a thousand years, we can look at them and say ‘Do you remember when?’ like the old folks do.”

Cronin’s grin was immediate and warm, just as someone far off called out his name. “Cronin?”

Alec had the flare in his injured left hand, his pistol drawn in his right, and he instinctively stood in front of Cronin. “Stay the fuck where you are.”

Alec could see three figures coming toward them, hands raised. “It is I, Bes,” the first man said.

Cronin stepped around Alec, and putting his hand to Alec’s raised gun, he pushed it down. “It is Bes.”

As they approached and walked into the light of the flare, Alec could see Bes and two of his coven members. The smile Bes wore was huge. Despite the fact Alec was holding a gun, Bes drew him in for a quick embrace, kissing both cheeks before letting him go. “We owe much to you, Alec. A human who would save vampires! One would never believe it!” he cried.

Cronin smiled, but stood protectively close to Alec, as the three Egyptian vampires all thanked Alec, touching him. “Who remains?” Cronin asked.