Page 129 of Golden Eagle

“Will told us a bit about it,” Sasha said. “Something about some very old, very dark magic in the Old World.”

“And Monsieur Philippe gave you his own lie-filled version of it back when you were first turned, I dare say.”

Sasha nodded.

Val sighed. “The thing is: I don’t know exactly. I don’t know that anyone does. What Vlad showed me…” He frowned at the tabletop. “It’s all wrapped up with our uncle.” His gaze lifted, and swept across them. “Romulus.”

An unbidden chill skittered down Sasha’s back.

“When he turns someone, it goes very, very wrong.”

“We saw the video,” Trina said. “Lifted it off the Institute computers. Those people were–”

“Out of control? Mindless? No longer rational?” Val said. “Yes, I know. There is an…absence. Of all thought. Perhaps even of a soul.”

“They’re zombies,” Lanny said.

Val’s lips quirked up in a brief smile. “Mia’s explained the concept to me. More or less, yes. Zombies with the dietary needs of vampires – because theyarevampires.”

“Great,” Trina deadpanned. Then: “Not to be historically ignorant here, but hasn’t Romulus been dead for a really,reallylong time?”

“Vlad sent him into a sleep in the fifteenth century. He buried him deep, he said, and it would have taken a wolf to awaken him.”

“Wolves can be found, and sleepers can be woken up,” Nikita said. “Your brother’s a shining example.”

“Yes. That’s what Vlad’s going to find out, I suppose: whether or not he’s awake again. If he’s not, then it’s possible his taint has lingered long after him, and is being passed along from carrier to carrier – Vlad believes someone is intentionally spawning these creatures for some reason. And if he is awake…well, that doesn’t bear thinking about.”

“Let me guess,” Nikita said, “you’re here to recruit us, too.”

“Too?” Val’s brows went up. “Locksley’s people wanted you, then? Hm. No offense, darlings, but you don’t seem that useful in this case.” Before anyone could get indignant, he went on: “No, I don’t want anything to do with this war. I’m here for purely social reasons.” He smiled, and it looked hopeful.

“Social,” Nikita repeated.

“Like…to hang out?” Lanny asked.

“Hide out, perhaps. I suppose I’m something of a fugitive.”

Mia turned to look at him, lips pressed together. “I thought we weren’t gonna use that word.”

“I’m trying to stir up their sympathy, darling,” he stage-whispered to her. To them, he said, “You can turn us away, obviously. This is your pack’s territory and I won’t force myself on you all. But. Should you have any sympathy for a wayward former prince only just released from five centuries of imprisonment, I find myself almost desperate to explore this marvelous city of yours.”

It was quiet a beat. “You’re being charming on purpose,” Trina accused.

“He does that,” Mia agreed.

Sasha leaned in to catch Nikita’s attention, and thought Nik turned toward him with reluctance. His expression told it all already: he didn’t personally want Val to stay, but would go along with whatever Sasha wanted in this instance.

He should have expected that reaction, he thought; Nik was mostly bark in these instances. He hid his anxieties behind a prickly outer shell. At this point, Sasha was convinced he resisted things just on principle, and to keep up appearances.

This, though. This was different. Nikita had never trusted Val, not the way Sasha always had. And now here he was, in person, finally. And not simply a vampire – a potential rival in all things – but a notorious one, with an even more notorious brother.

Sasha could have saidno, for Nik. To spare him any angst. He even thought Val would understand.

But he remembered being just a boy, swaddled in sable and fox fur, staring up at the beautiful man in the velvet coat, his hair golden ribbons in the sunlight. He remembered kneeling over Nikita’s cold, pale body, and a voice telling him what to do, how to save the person he loved most.

Val had given him Nikita that day, with the ravens flapping overhead and the stink of burning flesh in his nose. He would give Val a place to find his feet; it was the least he could do.

“Nik,” was all he said, perhaps a little helplessly.

Nik sighed, but one corner of his mouth twitched into a half-smile. “Alright,” he said, turning to Val. “You can stay.”

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