Page 23 of The Death God
Thanatos looked at him again. “I can’t see my death. I’ve prayed for it to come many times, but I don’t know if there’s anything I can do to change the outcome.”
Gregory opened his mouth only to snap it shut. “Can you change mine?” It was said hesitantly, as if Gregory wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.
“No. I don’t know what leads up to anyone’s death. I see it, can tell you what the surroundings look like, but in your case, I can’t see anything of the person doing it, so I can’t tell you who to kill to avoid being killed.”
The car swayed on the road, and Thanatos clung to the handle above the door. “Zidane will be killed by someone with claws on his hand. I told him it was a yeti since there is snow all around, but now when you’re talking about werewolves, I think, maybe it’s some kind of shifter.”
Gregory swallowed hard. “So he’ll die during winter.”
“Unless he’s in Antarctica or somewhere the snow never melts.”
“Right, didn’t think about that.”
Thanatos shrugged. “The thing is many think they want to know, but knowing how you’ll go doesn’t let you know what leads up to it. Zidane can avoid snowy places, it might help, but the outcome hasn’t changed during the two months he’s been in the castle. Maybe because he hasn’t done anything to change the choices in his life, but I can’t promise that’s the reason. With a vampire, I can’t see age. I don’t know if he’ll die this winter or seven hundred years from now, assuming there will still be snow on Earth then. Maybe we’ll be in a new ice age and there is snow everywhere.”
Gregory glanced at him as if he was considering Thanatos’ words. “And Prophecy? You check his death every day.”
Thanatos grinned. “The fucker goes peacefully in his bed, old and wrinkly. But if you tell him, I’ll behead you.”
“That’s how I’ll go?”
Thanatos was about to say yes, then he studied the way Gregory clung to the steering wheel. “Are you sure you want to know?”
Were there any other ways for vampires to go? Before he came to the castle, he’d believed staking them would do the trick, but nope. He frowned. What if there were staked vampires lying around who’d remain conscious and paralyzed long after humans had destroyed the planet and gone extinct? Could a vampire starve to death?
“Yes.” He nodded only to then shake his head rapidly. “No. I don’t know.”
“I’ll tell you when you’ve made up your mind, but if you get angry with me, I won’t pretend to be your boyfriend.” He’d hoped the last bit would help Gregory get rid of some tension, but he was staring blankly at the road.
Chapter 9
Gregory grabbed a bottle of gin from the basement and walked into Zidane’s room on the way. It wasn’t his room. It was a storage room, and he lay on a table.
“Thanatos told you how you’ll die. Are you pissed about it?” He slid open his eyelids and leaned over him, so he could look into his eyes. “He says people get angry when they learn how they’ll go, but it has to be a human reaction, right? No vampire would beat the crap out of a psychic for telling them how they’ll go.”
It wasn’t Thanatos’ fault people died. Everyone would die. He would do all he could to avoid it, but he wasn’t foolish enough to blame Thanatos for it when it was his time to go. Unless he had something to do with it, of course.
“Some paid a lot of money to learn what he had to say, and he’s looked at me with those creepy eyes twice today. It’s a fortune right there, and I’m not sure if I want to know.”
He uncorked the gin and took a swig. “I think I’m gonna go get him drunk now. He doesn’t sleep. A drink or two should help make him drowsy, don’t you think?” He didn’t wait for a reply since there wouldn’t be one. Instead, he reached out and closed Zidane’s eyes.
It was starting to feel a little silly to keep him staked down here. He dropped by to talk to him every day, Thanatos hung out here, and Rufus ventured down here daily too. Once or twice, he’d even seen Minerva here. They might as well pull the stake out and give him a room. Except he didn’t trust him.
Iris might be dead, but if they allowed him mobility, would he kill them? Report everything they did back to Silas? Destroy the life they were trying to build? There were a lot of possibilities.
If they could trust him—which they could not—it would be good to have another vampire. He’d never fully trusted the others in the coven, other than Orla and Rufus, but he was acutely aware of how vulnerable they were now.
“I wish you’d been someone else.” He patted Zidane’s knee and walked out of the room.
Walking through the ground floor of the castle, he located Minerva and Prophecy in the TV room watching a movie. Jaki was there too, but it didn’t look as if he planned on staying.
“Where’s Rufus?”
“Shower.” He took a couple of steps in Gregory’s direction. “Did you want something? We’re about to head to bed.”
“Nah, I just haven’t seen him in a long time. Thanatos?”
“Feeding his sourdough in the kitchen.” Jaki rolled his eyes, but there was a smile tugging at his lips.
