Jared shook his head. “That won’t happen purely because no one would ever believe it was possible. Besides, Antonio came up with good excuses for why you’re more powerful and stuff. Don’t worry about that. In fact, don’t worry about any of it right now. We’re spending some time together – you and me. Let’s shove this shit aside for a while and move on to a lighter but extremely important subject: Have you come up with any new rules for us to put into place after the Coronation?”
Despite my mood, I actually smiled.
“Come on, baby. Don’t go retreating into that head of yours again. I know what’s happening is fucked up on so many levels, but you’re stronger than this. And I’m here.”
Still feeling bad for having held back from him before, I relented. “I’m still working on the rules, but I’ve come up with a few. I’m thinking that the whole consort thing should be banned from The Hollow.”
He laughed – a sound I hadn’t heard in a while. “I really shouldn’t be surprised, should I?”
“Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying flings or one-night stands shouldn’t be allowed or that anyone has to be celibate. If the males here want to get randy, that’s fine. But if they want to make things exclusive, they can give the females the respect of calling them ‘girlfriends’, and vice versa.”
Still laughing, he nodded. “Sounds fair.”
Surprised, I looked up at him. “Yeah? I was expecting you to defend the concept of consorts, considering you once had some.”
He shrugged. “Vampires having consorts has always been the norm. And if you spend a long time with people who consider it the norm, it’s easy for you to do the same. That was why I never really saw the whole thing the way you did. Plus, those women had been using me; I didn’t see why it couldn’t work both ways. But looking back, I can see it was kind of…seedy. We can’t stop all vampires from having consorts, but we can at least ban it from happening in The Hollow.”
“That’s not to say I’ll force all the vampires who are currently consorts to leave The Hollow, but they’ll have to find another way of fitting in.”
“That’s fair.”
“Although…it wouldn’t be so bad if Joy left.”
“She’ll probably do it of her own accord after the Coronation. The last thing she’ll want is to directly serve us.”
I hoped he was right – not just for my sake, but for Joy’s. There was a high chance I’d severely hurt her if she kept pushing me.
“Enough about her.” He kissed my hair. “Don’t let her get to you.”
I barked a laugh. “Says the bloke whose mood turns homicidal whenever he’s around a particular Sventé by the name of” I laughed again when he clapped a hand over my mouth.
“Don’t even say the fucker’s name,” growled Jared. “Whenever he looks at you, I can tell he’s trying to picture you naked.”
When he released my mouth, I said, “Joy knows what you look like naked, as does Eloise, so I’d say I’ve got the shittier end of the deal here.”
He twirled me so that I was facing him and then plastered me against him. “But they don’t matter to me. You’re what matters.” He slid a hand under my hair to cup my nape as his mouth landed on mine. He sucked and bit my bottom lip, toying with my mouth and coaxing me to open for him. Then his tongue swept inside, teasing mine. “I love how you taste. Everywhere.”
I nipped his bottom lip and then licked over it to soothe the sting. “When we get back home, you can prove it. And then maybe I’ll return the favour. Be aware that this time, you’ll be the one coming first – no matter how much you tease me.”
His devilish, lopsided grin surfaced. “Hmm, I accept your challenge.”
Laughing, I kissed him again.
CHAPTER SIX
(Jared)
My gut twisted at the sight of Evan’s hollowed cheeks and sickly complexion. Lying on one of the mattresses in the cell, he looked exhausted and full of utter despair. Max was gagging in the far corner of the room while Stuart watched with eyes that were disturbingly vacant. It was always the same – within an hour of drinking an NST, they would be vomiting, totally unable to digest it, totally unable to quench what had to now be an overriding thirst.
They had been tainted for almost two weeks now, and I had come here each and every evening to visit. I knew that I was just torturing myself by witnessing as my brother increasingly deteriorated like this. I knew this wasn’t helping me. But how could I stay away from my own twin, especially at a time like this? How could I not visit him, despite that neither of us derived any comfort from me being there?
I didn’t want him to feel alone. Being away from him at a time like this made me feel guilty, like I was abandoning him, even if that didn’t make an awful lot of sense. Right now, though, he wouldn’t even look at me. I wasn’t sure if he was pretending that I wasn’t here or if he was simply hoping that if he ignored me, I’d leave. Maybe he didn’t like that I was seeing him like this. While I understood that, it couldn’t keep me away. Not from my twin brother.
I wished I was there to give them some good news, but the truth was that neither Sam nor I had found anything that could help. I’d forced myself not to even think of giving up, and to remain hopeful. For a while it had worked. But I could feel my original optimism beginning to fizzle away, leaving me with only pain, fear, and anger – all of which I had buried so deep that Sam couldn’t pick up on them through our bond.
Hiding my pain and fear was a childhood habit that had stayed with me. My narcissistic mother had practically fed on those things, so I’d done my best to deprive her of them. I hadn’t wanted the twisted bitch to see just how much she could hurt me. As a kid, it had been my way of fighting back. And it was the ultimate form of revenge if your foe got kicks out of any pain that they could cause you. Really, it was no wonder I was pretty fucked up.
For Sam, I had been doing my best to snap out of that habit of burying everything deep. She wasn’t my mother; she wouldn’t use my emotions against me. She wasn’t someone who I needed to protect myself from. For once in my fucked up life, I’d allowed myself to need someone. And I did need Sam. Hell, without her, my optimism might have disappeared altogether. But I couldn’t share my deeper emotions on this subject with her, couldn’t lean on her this time. We were too at odds on what we believed was best to do in this situation, and I didn’t want to give more weight to her solution of involving Paige West by revealing that my optimism was beginning to dwindle.
Still, although I hadn’t felt able to totally confide in her, Sam had been the anchor that had enabled me to stay focused and keep from losing my shit. She probably didn’t know it, but she was the only thing that was keeping me relatively sane throughout all this chaos – or as sane as I could ever hope to be.
Hearing soft footsteps, I knew it was Antonio. I didn’t look away from Evan though. I stood there willing him to meet my eyes, willing him to see my determination to help him – as if that determination alone could encourage Evan to fight, to not give up. But no, my brother was refusing to acknowledge me. And it fucking hurt.
Reaching my side, Antonio sighed sadly at the sight behind the glass wall. “It is difficult to remain positive when confronted with the effects of The Call.”
Translation: ‘Stop coming here before you lose all hope’.
“It’s hard to stay away. I feel like I should be here for him. I want to be. I want to help him.”