haul.”
“Yes, I did. But I could not let anyone threaten my family. Not even the woman I loved and hungered for. I’d loved her like no other in half a century. But my family—Melaphia, Renee, and you—are the most important things to me on earth. And I would do anything it took to protect you all.” William gave me a meaningful look. “Do you understand, Jack?”
It wasn’t like William to go all touchy-feely. And goodness knew, if the situation were different, this little speech of his would have made me feel all warm and fuzzy. He and I had butted heads many times over the years because he used to treat me like a hired field hand. It had been only recently that he admitted how important I was to him, like a real son almost. Even though we looked the same age in human years, William was my sire and more of a father to me than my human father had been.
But what he was hinting at was out of bounds. “If you’re suggesting what I think you are—”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“I want to hear you say it,” I challenged, although in fact I didn’t. I really, really didn’t. Maybe I thought William wouldn’t put it into words, that he’d back off. Perhaps he’d show some humanity. After all, it was William’s love of humanity that had led him to make me his offspring, his undead son. He’d told me so once. He said he’d seen the kind of humanity in me that would not go away even after he’d made me a fellow demon. It was William who taught me never to take a human life without the most dire provocation. Surely, I thought desperately, he would never, ever ask me to harm the human I loved the most.
“Very well, then,” he said. “Maybe you do need to have it spelled out for you. I expect you to do everything you can to preserve this family. I have no doubt that you would lay down your life for me as well as for Melaphia and Renee—”
“I can’t make that choice for Connie,” I said, interrupting him before he got to the part that would break my heart. “I can’t choose to lay down Connie’s life for our family.”
“The day will come when Connie will try to take your life. That is the point at which you must destroy her. If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for Melaphia and Renee. If anything happens to me, who is to protect them from the forces that are coming? They are the last remaining pure sources of the voodoo blood. The old lords will kill them for it, and their deaths won’t be quick and painless.”
I heard myself make a choking sound. “There has to be something I can do,” I murmured, my mouth as dry as ashes. “There has to be a way around this.”
William grasped me by the shoulders, getting all up in my grill with those cat-green eyes of his. “This is bigger than you or me. Do you think that you, Jack McShane, can reverse a prophecy of two ancient cultures? Even Lalee herself could not do that.”
I swallowed hard and shook off William’s grasp. “You can’t ask me to kill Connie. You just can’t.” I staggered a few feet away, desperate to put some physical distance between us before I took a swing at him despite myself.
“That is precisely what I am asking you to do,” he said calmly. “For the sake of this family, for Melaphia, Renee, and all the vampires whom you have come to know and love—Werm, Olivia, Tobey, Iban—”
“Stop!” I fought the urge to clap my hands to my ears like a child. “I love her, William. I love her more than anyone I’ve ever loved.”
“The way I loved Eleanor,” William said stoically.
“And the way I loved Diana.”
I’d never seen William’s face like it was now—a twisted mask of grief. I’d been so shocked at seeing Eleanor being turned into a sideshow-worthy snake woman and horrified to hear that William had had to kill her that I’d forgotten all about William’s former wife, Diana. She and her mate, Hugo, had been the ones who kidnapped Renee. When William had left for Europe, he was so
“Yes, I did. But I could not let anyone threaten my family. Not even the woman I loved and hungered for. I’d loved her like no other in half a century. But my family—Melaphia, Renee, and you—are the most important things to me on earth. And I would do anything it took to protect you all.” William gave me a meaningful look. “Do you understand, Jack?”
It wasn’t like William to go all touchy-feely. And goodness knew, if the situation were different, this little speech of his would have made me feel all warm and fuzzy. He and I had butted heads many times over the years because he used to treat me like a hired field hand. It had been only recently that he admitted how important I was to him, like a real son almost. Even though we looked the same age in human years, William was my sire and more of a father to me than my human father had been.
But what he was hinting at was out of bounds. “If you’re suggesting what I think you are—”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“I want to hear you say it,” I challenged, although in fact I didn’t. I really, really didn’t. Maybe I thought William wouldn’t put it into words, that he’d back off. Perhaps he’d show some humanity. After all, it was William’s love of humanity that had led him to make me his offspring, his undead son. He’d told me so once. He said he’d seen the kind of humanity in me that would not go away even after he’d made me a fellow demon. It was William who taught me never to take a human life without the most dire provocation. Surely, I thought desperately, he would never, ever ask me to harm the human I loved the most.
“Very well, then,” he said. “Maybe you do need to have it spelled out for you. I expect you to do everything you can to preserve this family. I have no doubt that you would lay down your life for me as well as for Melaphia and Renee—”
“I can’t make that choice for Connie,” I said, interrupting him before he got to the part that would break my heart. “I can’t choose to lay down Connie’s life for our family.”
“The day will come when Connie will try to take your life. That is the point at which you must destroy her. If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for Melaphia and Renee. If anything happens to me, who is to protect them from the forces that are coming? They are the last remaining pure sources of the voodoo blood. The old lords will kill them for it, and their deaths won’t be quick and painless.”
I heard myself make a choking sound. “There has to be something I can do,” I murmured, my mouth as dry as ashes. “There has to be a way around this.”
William grasped me by the shoulders, getting all up in my grill with those cat-green eyes of his. “This is bigger than you or me. Do you think that you, Jack McShane, can reverse a prophecy of two ancient cultures? Even Lalee herself could not do that.”
I swallowed hard and shook off William’s grasp. “You can’t ask me to kill Connie. You just can’t.” I staggered a few feet away, desperate to put some physical distance between us before I took a swing at him despite myself.
“That is precisely what I am asking you to do,” he said calmly. “For the sake of this family, for Melaphia, Renee, and all the vampires whom you have come to know and love—Werm, Olivia, Tobey, Iban—”
“Stop!” I fought the urge to clap my hands to my ears like a child. “I love her, William. I love her more than anyone I’ve ever loved.”
“The way I loved Eleanor,” William said stoically.
“And the way I loved Diana.”
I’d never seen William’s face like it was now—a twisted mask of grief. I’d been so shocked at seeing Eleanor being turned into a sideshow-worthy snake woman and horrified to hear that William had had to kill her that I’d forgotten all about William’s former wife, Diana. She and her mate, Hugo, had been the ones who kidnapped Renee. When William had left for Europe, he was so
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