Alasdair ran a hand down Vasilios’s arm, and when he got to his fingers, he brought them up and placed them over his chest—over the heart Vasilios had once stopped to give him life eternal.
“But surely you don’t suspect them? Gods?” Alasdair scoffed. “What would they want with us? And why now, when they’ve never shown their faces before?”
Vasilios laughed, but the sound was not one of joy. “Oh, I do not suspect the deities themselves. They would never deem this task worthy of them. They would send someone in their place…”
Alasdair remained silent, trying to absorb all that he’d learned to decide how to proceed.
Our lineage.
Back where it all began.
My death.
Our destruction.
Myths…Greek gods.
As all the words jumbled through his mind, Alasdair’s eyes shifted to the motionless man beside them.
The one who could paralyze him with his blood.
Who could somehow remember what happens during a compulsion.
And the same one who was a walking, talking encylofuckingpedia on everything Greek—gods included.
The coincidence was too much for him to overlook, and the confusion inside him turned to blinding rage.
He’d known betrayal in his life. He’d lived through too many generations not to know the bitter taste of it. But as it finally fell into place, ending Leo’s life seemed like the easier task.
He ordered his mind blank, not wanting Vasilios to see what he was thinking.
Not yet.
“Don’t overly worry yourself, Vasilios. Nothing has managed to kill me yet,” he said in an effort for them to move on or end the conversation so he could find Isadora and Thanos. He desperately needed an opinion that wasn’t his own.
He expected the usual smirk or perhaps a slap at his own arrogance, but instead, Vasilios said, “They created us, Alasdair. They know our strengths and weaknesses because they’re the ones who gave them. Do not be fooled. They do have the capability to end us. And to do that, they know they must start with you. “
ISADORA SAT ACROSS from Thanos and watched him pour another finger of bourbon.
It was his third in under thirty minutes, and she envied his constitution. If she had his fortitude when it came to alcohol, she’d be joining him. As it was, she was forced to sit there with an excruciating ache in her right shoulder joint courtesy of Diomêdês, who had dislocated it.
He’d instructed her, not a second after it was done, to leave it as it was until Alasdair returned. Maybe then she’d be less willing to play the faithful right hand to an impulsive fool. If she did not, he’d been more than clear that he would think up something more atrocious to remind her that his word was her law.
That’d been over two and a half hours ago, and she was getting to the point that, when Alasdair did show up, she might just willingly rip her own arm off and beat him with it.
She couldn’t believe the colossal fuck-up they’d made, but at the same time, it was hardly their fault. The three of them had been kept in the dark. She understood that the Ancients had been trying to protect them, but in the process, they’d hidden important information. Information about their very existence.
When she’d emerged from her sire’s chambers after an hour-long lecture, she’d immediately gone in search of Thanos. Since Alasdair was out—no doubt chasing around that fool human—she figured the sooner she tracked her other cousin down, the quicker she could find out what he’d been told. She soon discovered he knew nothing more than she did.
“Maybe you should let up on those,” she suggested, looking pointedly at the half-full glass in Thanos’s hand.
They were sitting in the Adjudication Room, awaiting Alasdair’s arrival. The copious amounts of alcohol Thanos was downing and the way she was twisting the rose charm on her choker were both clear indications of their nerves.
But who can blame us? Threats of your impending death and the entire race’s termination will do that to you.
“Don’t concern yourself with me. I’m fine. I’m bored…but I’m fine.” Thanos stood, holding the bottle of bourbon. Then he paced back and forth across the plush rug she was stretched out on. “Maybe you should start drinking, Isa. Especially if what we were told tonight is true.”
Cradling her lame arm across her waist, she pursed her lips, contemplating the idea. Then she shook her head. “No. I want to be coherent when Alasdair gets here. Not so drunk I’m passed out on the floor.”
Thanos raised the glass and took a swig of the amber-colored liquid. “Well, you’re already lying on it. Why not make this more fun for me? Tell me, Isa. What’s it like to be the only vampire who can still become inebriated?”
She glared over at his smirking face. “Painful, because I have to lie here one hundred percent sober and listen to you.”
“Aww, don’t be bitter. I’m not even a little bit drunk.”
“I’m not. It’s just one of the many unfortunate by-products of my human genetics. Nothing I can do about it.”
“No, I don’t suppose there is. But come on. Just one glass while we wait.”
She rolled her eyes. “Stop it, Thanos.”
He winked at her, and as she was about to say more, Alasdair appeared inside the room, dressed in all black, his human draped over his shoulder.
He looked like the devil himself—and the scowl he wore spoke of bloody murder. He let the male in his hands fall at his feet with a thump, and as Isadora looked over at the human, Alasdair asked, “Did you know?”
She brought her eyes up to his and indicated her damaged arm. “Do I look as though I knew?”
His eyes swept over her, and once he’d registered the loose limb, he inspected Thanos. “Of course you are in one piece, as always.”
Thanos shrugged and slid his free hand into his pocket. “Well, Eton is away at the moment, and I didn’t partake in the beheading of an informant.”
Isadora sat up then, and snapped around to face him. “We didn’t know he was an informant.”
“Yes. Well, apparently, your sires don’t really care about that little fact.” Thanos sighed. “I have to say, Alasdair, I’m surprised you are still able to walk.”
“As am I,” Alasdair muttered.
“Why’s he here?” she asked, nodding beside her.
“He took ahold of me when I faded from his workplace,” Alasdair said, but Isadora had a feeling there was a lot more to it than that.
“And you let him?” she asked, incredulity in her tone.
Alasdair’s dark expression told her that he certainly had not, and then Thanos’s laugh echoed around the room. They both looked at him, and the smile on his mouth was full of devilry.
“No, I did not let him,” Alasdair said. “He seemed to know I was going to do it before I did it.”
“And he just grabbed on to you?” Thanos laughed again.
Alasdair growled. “What the fuck is so amusing about this to you?”
Thanos finished the drink in his hand and gave him a pearly white grin fit for a toothpaste commercial. “I just saw where you both ended up in your mind, cousin. Gotta say—brave for a human, isn’t he? How did Vasilios react to his unexpected guest?”
Alasdair glared so hard at their cousin that Isadora thought she was going to have to get between the two males.