“I can’t. I would do anything for you, but I can’t do that.” He closed his eyes, his expression pained.
Surprise lit her violet gaze, but her chin firmed. “You feel bad about what you did to me, don’t you?”
“You know I do.” The muscles around his mouth tightened, and Selina tried to quell her triumph. A little more, and Delta would have him. She’d break him.
“Then make it up to me, sugar. Now.” Her lips brushed his ear, and the man shuddered, naked lust mixing with the shame in his gaze. “You know who did this, who killed all these poor people.”
“No, I—”
“Yes, you do,” Delta said, her voice softer than a whisper. “Tell me the truth, Gregor. You owe me that much.”
His hands shook, and he swallowed hard. “I did not kill any of your victims. That’s the truth.”
“But you could have stopped it, couldn’t you?” Selina demanded, leaning forward.
“No!”
Delta slapped her hand against the table, making them all jump. “You know who did this, and you could have stopped him if you wanted to. You let this happen. Tell me the truth, Gregor!”
“I can’t stop him.” His head bowed, and Selina could almost hear the sound of him cracking inside. “I’ve never been able to fucking stop him. He’s never listened to me. Not once in our entire goddamned lives!”
“Who?” Delta waited until he looked at her. “Who wanted to be turned and didn’t get his wish, Gregor? Who hates anyone who gets to play with magic when he doesn’t?”
“My brother,” he whispered, the words strangled out of him. “Isaak.”
She leaned back, glaring at him. “If he was Normal, he shouldn’t know anything about magic.”
“I know.” He closed his eyes, shook his head. “I may be a criminal, but even I know not to break that law. There’s a difference between those laws that’ll get you in trouble and those that will get you dead, no questions asked.”
Selina scrawled the name on her notepad. “So, why does Isaak know? How did he find out if you didn’t tell him?”
“I was ...” Gregor folded his hands in front of him on the table. “At the time, the Conclave down there wasn’t exactly ...”
“Ethical? We know.” Delta crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing further.
“Right. Right, of course you do.” He swallowed. “My brother and I were working for them for a couple of years, doing what I do now, but as Normals. We didn’t know what they were, just that they paid well. When they decided I was too useful to risk mortal death, they turned me. I was more or less willing.”
“Uh-huh.” Less was more like it, but Selina had been part of the task force that had cracked down on that Conclave in the late 1980s. Corruption, lies, murder ... and that was just the starting point. Gregor wouldn’t be the only vampire whose turning hadn’t been quite legal. Then again, he’d passed the favor along to Delta. “And that involves your brother, how?”
“He found me when I was turning.” He stared down at his hands, his gaze distant. “I got out of the Conclave leader’s house and stumbled home in this psychedelic fog. I didn’t really understand what was going on, but he found me and took care of me. He knew ... something was different. He knew I could do things I couldn’t do before. See things, hear things, react faster. He also knew the Conclave gave me better assignments, paid me better, let me deeper into their circle. He was a smart kid, and he put it together.”
Selina nodded. “And he wanted it, too.”
“Yeah. He wanted me to turn him, but I wouldn’t.” His gaze lifted to Delta when she made a derisive noise, and Selina almost thought she saw pleading in his eyes. “I couldn’t go out during the day, and the Conclave owned me. It wasn’t a job anymore. They owned me. They could force me to do anything they wanted. They told me they’d kill my brother, they could throw me out into sunlight, they could take away everything if I didn’t do exactly what they said. I refused to put anyone in my shoes. Not my brother. Not my lover.”
Delta’s jaw jutted mutinously. “One night doesn’t make you a lover. And dumping me in Atlanta doesn’t make you a nice guy.”
He shook his head. “Isaak didn’t believe me when I told him what they were like. Or he didn’t care. He just wanted to do what I could do. He ... became obsessed with vampirism and magic, learning everything he could from me about how to assassinate a Magickal and how to cover his tracks from the most enhanced senses. Every day that passed, he just got more pissed off and more bitter that I wouldn’t turn him.”
“What did the Conclave have to say about you teaching your brother about how to kill Magickals?” Selina rested her elbows on the table.
Choking on a laugh, he gave her an incredulous look. “They liked it. It made him more useful to them. All that rage inside of Isaak turned to hate when every petition he put forward to the Conclave was refused. Nothing I said could make my brother believe he should stay human. He never listens. He’s hardheaded and stubborn.” He shrugged. “The last time I saw him, he said he would prove he was strong enough to be a vampire. But he wouldn’t even have known about vampires without me.”
Selina decided to push him a little more. “He’s after me, you know.”
“You?” His eyebrows arched, genuine surprise crossing his face. “No, he’s after me.”
“You know what his pattern is, right?”
He rubbed his hand down his face. “He kills five people in one city and then he moves on.”
“He tortures them first,” Delta helpfully pointed out.
“I know.” He stared at her, and Selina had the same feeling she did when Luca watched Tess. A man eating his heart out over a woman who loathed him. She wondered if that’s how she’d look when she saw Jack again, and then slammed the lid on that thought. Her chest throbbed, and it had nothing to do with the kick she’d taken. Those wounds had been healed. Her heart was something else entirely. And now was not the time to be worrying about heartache.
“How many did he kill in New Orleans?” she asked.
“A lot.” He spread his hands. “We were assassins for the Conclave.”
She cast him a chastising glance. “I mean in his signature style. Faking being a vampire and draining them dry, leaving them dead in their own bed.”
“Four.” The answer was immediate.
“I was supposed to be the fifth.”
“Shit.” He slumped back in his chair. “I thought ... he was in Seattle for me. His last hurrah before ...”
“Before?” Selina prompted. “Before what?”
“Before he dies. The last time I talked to our mother, she told me he’s dying of a brain tumor. It’s not yet large enough to affect him, but it’s inoperable. His time’s run out.” He looked at Delta. “And he blames me, because I didn’t make him a Magickal.”
She made a disgusted noise and jerked to her feet. “I’d feel sorry for you if so many people hadn’t died because you didn’t come forward and tell anyone about how twisted your brother had become. You may not have killed those people, but you stood aside and let them die because you’re a gutless wonder who’s incapable of doing the right thing.” She turned away. “I’m gonna see what I can dig up on your brother. I’m betting he’s got a record.”
He swallowed hard when Delta slammed out the door. “I have done a lot of bad things in my life. Before and after I was turned. There are only two that I regret. My brother ever finding out about magic. And her.”
“What about her?” That he’d hurt her? That she hated him now? There was a lot of potential regret there.
He dropped his face in his hands. “I ... turned her. Accidentally.”