henri dunn 01 - immortality cure (20 page)

“Cazimir?” I asked, ignoring the rapid-fire pounding of my heart.

He shrugged.

“Thanks,” I said, not bothering to temper my sarcasm.

Aidan wasn’t in there, so it was a good bet Caz wasn’t wasting his time at this sad excuse for a senior prom.

I headed upstairs.

CHAPTER 21

C
azimir’s apartment was on the fifth and top floor of the Factory at the end of the hall and probably took up as much space as the library below. Mortal security guards flanked the top of the stairs. They had guns and stakes in holsters. A stake is not the most efficient weapon because it’s hard to hit an immortal’s heart, but if wielded correctly, a stake can stop a vampire dead—literally—for several minutes.

The guards watched me approach.

“I need to see Cazimir,” I said. “It’s urgent.”

They exchanged a look. One of them said he wasn’t to be disturbed and the other nodded along.

“Do you need to me to define ‘urgent’?”

The security guards exchanged a look. The woman finally shrugged and lifted her radio. “A woman is here—”

“Henri,” I supplied.

“Henri is here to see Mr. de Roi. Says it’s urgent.”

The radio crackled. Aidan’s voice came over the airwaves. “He’s occupied.”

The woman glanced at me, eyebrows raised, in what was a half question and half “I told you so” look. I mouthed “emergency” and she went back to the radio. “She says it’s an emergency.” She paused. No response.

“It’s about the guy who killed Thomas,” I added. She relayed this information.

More silence. The other security guard started to tell me to wait downstairs, but then the radio crackled.

“Let her in,” Aidan’s voice instructed. Relief washed over me. It was possible it was too late for Jake and I’d signed his death warrant by bringing him here. But if he was still alive and innocent, I needed to rectify the mistake.

I started to move past the guards, but the woman stopped me. “Need your purse.”

“My purse?” I asked, stunned.

She shrugged and held out a hand. “That’s the rule.”

I sighed and pulled the purse strap off my shoulder. I hated to be without my Taser and mints, but it wasn’t like either of those things would protect me against a vampire if it came to that. Once she had my purse, her fellow security guard patted me down, and then they waved me on down the hall.

I passed several doors until I reached a set of ornate double doors, like something from a swanky hotel suite in a five-star hotel. I hesitated and then knocked. There was no answer. I knocked again, got impatient, tried the handle. It was open.

I shot one look over my shoulder at the guards, who had resumed their positions at the end of the hallway and were facing forward, away from me. Then I slipped inside.

Cazimir’s apartment was huge. The entryway had a fountain carved out of marble, because of course it did. It opened onto a living room, with a kitchenette off to the side in an open floor plan. The furniture was modern, with sleek lines and square edges. The fridge was small and sleek, stainless steel, and probably full of blood. His personal space was the opposite of the showy, flowery Royal French Court aesthetic he employed downstairs. The floors were hardwood, and the windows were high and tinted but let in plenty of moonlight, which cast the room in blue. He probably had steel shutters to keep his room dark and free of sunlight during the day.

The main room was empty, with no sign of Cazimir or his mortal lover. Halls splintered off at either end of the living area and led in opposite directions to other rooms. I stood in the center.

“Hello? Cazimir? Aidan?” I called.

Finally, Aidan called, “Back here!” I was terrified about what I might be walking into, but I hoped they’d have the presence of mind to at least be decent before inviting me back.

When I reached the end of the hall, there was another set of ornate white double doors, trimmed with gold paint. I shook my head at Cazimir’s style choices and edged the door open. My heart leapt into my throat and starting vibrating like a jackhammer.

Caz had a silver stake sticking out of his chest. His head drooped against his chest, and a low moan emanated from his lips. That meant he’d probably been staked moments ago. Stakes, especially ones with silver in them, will incapacitate a vampire when driven through their heart, but not for long. And the older and stronger a vampire is, the less time a stake will buy you. A vampire’s healing powers would push the stake out if they weren’t killed first. Metal chains were wound around his body, tying him to a big, fluffy chair, a king bound to his throne.

“What the fuck?” I asked. Theories ran through my head: that it was some weird sex game, that Jake’s werewolf buddies had come to free him and started their rescue mission by tying up the lead vampire. All of that evaporated as Aidan stepped out of the adjacent bathroom, aiming a gun at my head.

He was still very human and alive, his skin still tan with melanin, his eyes bright but mortal. His blue hair was damp and stylishly messy. He wore dark denim jeans and a soft-looking cotton t-shirt. He wore no glasses.

“Hello, Henri,” he said, grinning. “Glad you could make it to my special day.”

I
LOOKED
from the gun to Caz. It was a pistol, modern and sleek. The metal gleamed. I didn’t know much about guns; vampires didn’t need them, so neither had I. But sure as hell I didn’t want one aimed at my forehead.

“Shut the door, love,” Aidan said, almost a mockery of Cazimir’s affected speech patterns. “This is a private affair.”

I didn’t move. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Getting what I deserve,” Aidan said. “Now, shut the door or I’ll shoot you in the face and you won’t get to witness my glorious transformation.”

I’d seen vampires being turned. It wasn’t glorious; it was gross. Death is the body failing and it’s never beautiful or dignified, even if that body is restored by vampire magic. I suspected that argument wasn’t going to gain a lot of traction with Aidan, though. After all, even a disgusting, undignified death was a fair price for the prize of immortality, and it was no secret that I was willing—more than willing—to endure it again.

I shut the bedroom doors.

Cazimir moaned again, his head lolling to one side. Caz’s elaborate outfit had been discarded and he wore only lounge pants and a t-shirt, the kind of outfit I doubted he donned outside the confines of his private chambers. Which meant he’d retired for the night. No doubt Aidan had managed to stake him because Caz hadn’t been prepared for it. The chains were wrapped tightly around him, but I doubted how effectively they’d keep him in place when he woke up.

Aidan paced two feet to either side, his hands shaking so the gun vibrated in his grip. He was fidgety, unable to keep still, the exact opposite of a vampire.

I put my hands up in the air, more to demonstrate how idiotic I thought this was than to avoid being shot. “So what’s the plan, sailor? Mutiny your way to vampirism?”

Aidan scoffed. “Mutiny,” he spat. “I earned immortality. Do you know that I’ve given a third of my life to this asshole?” He pointed the gun at Caz. “Doing his bidding, giving him anything he asked for. And what does he give me? Jack shit. So now I’m going to fucking take it.” His lips curled into a malicious smile. “Can you blame me? Tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing given the chance, and maybe that’s exactly the chance I’ll give you.”

I frowned, trying to understand his offer. Another low moan came from Caz, and his hands spasmed. The stake was going to get pushed out of his heart any minute by Caz’s healing abilities, and then Caz would be awake and very fucking furious. The chains would probably keep him in place long enough for Aidan to stake him again, but maybe not much beyond that. Aidan’s plan became clear, in a convoluted way: drink Caz’s blood until it was enough to make Aidan immortal. It wasn’t a good plan—usually a person has to be drained to the point of death first, and then drinking a vampire almost dry will do the trick—but I guess desperate times and all that jazz.

“I wouldn’t stake my boyfriend,” I said matter-of-factly, although I immediately thought of Sean and decided that wasn’t entirely true, even if “boyfriend” was not the right word for what he was to me.

Aidan laughed bitterly at my comment and shook his head. “Boyfriend. You know after all this time, he won’t even call me that? He uses the words ‘
amour
’ and ‘lover,’ but never anything that suggests the faintest hint of commitment. And like an idiot, I didn’t even realize it until a few months ago. But joke’s on him. Unlike the rest of his useless blood bags, I’m not going to lay down and die.”

“I doubt he wants you to die,” I said, remembering how lost Cazimir had looked when the other mortals passed away.

Aidan snorted derisively. “He sure as hell doesn’t want me to live forever.” Cazimir’s head lolled to the other side and the stake hit the ground with a metallic
clank
. Cazimir’s head shot up. His laser-like green eyes fixated on me. He tried to stand but the chains held him in place and he strained against them for a second before letting them go slack. How long they could hold him, I didn’t know. When he looked up again, his expression was so murderous I actually took a step away from him. He turned his head slowly to Aidan and fixed his glare on him.

“Aidan.” The word held a warning that was barely contained by it. “What are you doing?”

“I want you to turn me, Caz,” Aidan said, his voice steady even as his hands shook. “And since you were so reluctant last night, I decided to help the process along.”

“You impatient fool.” His voice was edged with steel. “After you took your birthday in stride last night, I had decided to gift you Ascension when things calmed down. But now that you’ve shown yourself to be a disloyal rat, I cannot proceed.”

Aidan sneered. “You lying son of a bitch! Eleven years I gave you! Eleven years of unwavering devotion and loyalty and love. And I was nothing but a servant to you! A goddamn babysitter for your stupider mortal pets. I was a plaything! You mourn the idiot junkies but refuse to save me from their fate!”

There was a pause. I shifted uncomfortably. Then Caz said, “You killed them. James and Ellen.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact. “I should have realized it sooner.”

I watched Aidan’s face, waiting for signs of shock and a staunch denial. Aidan looked almost hurt for a moment before his sneer returned, but he didn’t deny it. Ice hardened in my veins. “You didn’t need them,” he growled. “You should have seen that. You should have seen what you had in
me
.”

“You killed your mortal friends?” I asked, using the word “friends” precisely because I knew it would tick Aidan off. It was dangerous to agitate the guy with the gun, but sometimes being irritating is the best weapon. Besides, it was easier to act cavalier than let the shock sink in.

“Friends,” Aidan spat, shaking his head, letting the pistol drop to his side. “Useless wastes of oxygen. Not worth the tainted blood they had.”

Caz rattled the chains, attempting to pull loose.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Aidan said. He opened the nightstand and pulled out a second gun. Only it wasn’t a normal gun like his pistol, but a syringe gun, a medical tool. The vial loaded into it was full of a crimson liquid, like blood. Confusion froze me in place as Aidan pushed the tip of the syringe gun against Cazimir’s cheek. “If you don’t want the Cure that made Thomas explode from the inside out coursing through your veins, you’ll do exactly what I say.”

My veins froze solid and cold washed over me. I saw the horror and realization dawn on Cazimir’s face at the same time as it slammed into me like a fist. Suddenly, it all made perfect, terrible sense: Aidan had the Cure. Aidan had killed Thomas. This arrogant blue-haired mortal boy had murdered his mortal housemates, a vampire, and probably Ray. My mouth went dry.

I glanced down at the gleaming silver stake. It had rolled a little ways toward the bed, and it was only a few yards in front of me. Closer to me than Aidan. If I could grab it, I’d have a weapon. Aidan was juggling two guns now, which was less than practical unless he was a very practiced shot. If I moved fast enough, I could disable him before he could use either one.

“You murdered Thomas?” Cazimir asked, not bothering to mask his surprise.

Aidan waved a hand, as if he’d killed a housefly and nothing more. “Thomas was a casualty of war,” Aidan said flippantly, turning the syringe gun over in his hand.

“What does that mean?” I demanded, shifting myself a few inches forward under the guise of shifting my weight and crossing my arms over my chest.

Aidan shrugged. “It means, I didn’t intend for the arrogant fuck to die. I was going to grant his greatest wish and make him human again. I didn’t know the Cure wouldn’t work on him. I wanted to see how it worked. And—bonus—I knew another Cured vampire would send the rest of the vamps running scared. Thomas was just an experiment gone wrong.”

Bile drove up my throat at the memory of Thomas’s body covered in pulsing, pus-weeping wounds. I swallowed it back. Aidan had done that and he didn’t give a damn.