Page 62 of Concluded
“Vampire limitations must be frustrating at times.”
Clay’s big hands were wrapped around his mug, dwarfing it.“I mostly don’t mind.I was a night person before.And if Marek hadn’t turned me, I’d be dead.Now I won’t go bald, my knees and back won’t give out, and as long as I avoid sunshine, decapitation, and wooden stakes, I’ll be around a long time.It’s worth the trade.”He gazed at Achilles from under his brow.“I bet you’ve also given things up to be where you are.”
“Yeah.”And if, right after the bear mauled him, someone had asked Achilles whether it was worth it, he’d have said no.His answer might be different today, however.
They sat in silence for a long time, nursing their respective drinks.It was a cozy kitchen.Abe and Thomas must have updated it in the fifties, and since then very little had been done.The current owners, of course, didn’t do any cooking.It was a wonder they’d even possessed the basic cookware and cutlery that Achilles had needed to prepare breakfast.
But Abe and Thomas had lived here a long time; from what he understood, they’d been together for decades.Abe, who was aging very slowly due to his weird association with the dead, had watched his partner get old, fall sick, and die.From what Achilles had heard, Abe was heartbroken when Thomas passed.But even then, Abe didn’t give up.As he told Achilles once, “I’ll keep fighting the good fight, boychik.I still have to face myself in the mirror, don’t I?”
“Grimes is here,” said Clay, seconds before the doorbell rang.Vampire hearing was a wonder.
When Charles entered the house, he looked uncharacteristically disheveled and his pallor was even more pronounced than usual.One of Tenrael’s horns was broken.“It will grow back,” he said when he caught Achilles staring.
“What the hell happened in Seattle?”Achilles demanded.They were all crowded into the vestibule, and he smelled gunpowder on Charles’s clothes.
Charles shook his head.“It’s bad.But I need to see—” He stopped and visibly calmed himself.“Thank you for what you did.Is Dee all right?”
“Just tired.He was fucking amazing, Chief.He didn’t just grant wishes—he saved my neck.”
“And… the angel?”
Clay answered.“The same.He’s upstairs.”
Charles took off at a near gallop, Tenrael hard at his heels.Clay apparently decided to stay downstairs, but not Achilles.He didn’t need to be there when Charles and Ish met, but he was curious as hell.
They all burst into the bedroom in a manner that would have startled anyone but a vampire.Marek, however, was already standing.He nodded at Tenrael and left the room.
Charles froze when he reached the bedside.He stood there, gazing down, looking more vulnerable and more human than Achilles had ever seen him.The resemblance between him and Ish was unmistakable now.They shared the same arched white eyebrows, high cheekbones, and slightly beaky nose.The same prominent chin.They were both ageless.And when Charles touched a tentative finger to Ish’s wing, Ish’s lids lifted to show eyes the same bottle-green as Charles’s.
“I am Charles Grimm.”
Ish stared at him silently before letting out a long sigh.“I failed your mother.I failed you.”
And then Charles began to sob.It was far more than Achilles thought he should witness, so he gave a single pat to Tenrael’s arm and then left the room.
Downstairs, Dee was sitting upright on the couch while Clay and Marek hovered nearby.“Is it him?”Dee asked.“Is Ish his father?”
“I think so.”
Achilles sat next to him.He didn’t know what Clay and Marek were thinking about, but he suspected that Dee’s thoughts were running the same direction as his own: memories of parents long gone.Some wounds were incredibly slow to heal and would always leave a scar.
* * *
An hour later,Dee had eaten breakfast and the vampires had retired to their room.It had been interesting to see Clay and Marek together.Clay had always been dour, and becoming a vampire hadn’t changed that, but in Marek’s presence he seemed more comfortable in himself.And Marek, elegant and urbane, seemed as if he felt more grounded with Clay’s earthy presence.An odd match, perhaps, but in Achilles’ estimation, a good one.
Tenrael and Charles came down to the living room.Now Charlesreallylooked like he’d been dragged backward through hell, but some of the perpetual iciness in his eyes had warmed.He sat in the armchair, and when Tenrael knelt beside him, Charles immediately reached over and stroked his wings.
Emotional support demon, Achilles thought, but he managed to suppress a smile.
“My gratitude to both of you,” Charles began.
Achilles raised a hand.“It can remain unstated.We would have done it regardless of whether he was your relative.”
“Is he going to be all right?”Dee asked.
Charles sighed.“He’s… badly hurt.I need to find a place where he’ll be safe as he recovers.But there are no safe spots now.”
“I can make him one.”
