Rosko, Mandy - Night and Day (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) (14 page)

There was a gasp. He cared not where it came from. Silus’s gaze remained locked on his mother. Her face was a mess from her earlier weeping, her eyes red from tears shed rather than anger.

Her tiny arms were folded across her chest, and she turned her face away, as though merely looking at him caused her pain. “Speak not to me, for I shall not say a word.”

Silus’s heart sank, yet he stood from his bed, back straight, his soul determined. “This is how it is to be then? My decision cast aside as inconsequential? Doctors brought in to examine me?” He shook his head. “My good doctors, I am sorry to have wasted your time, but I will not agree to an examination. In fact, after I have had time to collect my belongings, I will be leaving my family’s house.”

Cedric had requested he give his parents a chance, and he had. They failed.

Despite the strength of his words, his inner self was in turmoil. If he had known this was going to happen, known there would be no chance for him to make his case, he would have left with Cedric immediately, regardless of his word.

He had lied once to his parents already. What would once more have been?

Dr. Winchester removed his spectacles, lifted a square cloth from his suit pocket, and polished the lenses before returning them to his sunken face. “I am the one who must apologize, my lord.”

He did not like the sound of that. “What for?”

His father took his mother’s arm, and, heads bent low, the pair of them left Silus’s chamber. Three of the household guards replaced them, large werewolves whose suit jackets stretched when they folded their hands together in front of them, and every nerve in Silus’s body tightened.

He wanted to run, his legs ached for it, but even if he managed to pass them, there were at least a hundred others on the grounds and in the manse that would catch him.

“My lord,” Dr. Winchester said, “your parents are under the impression that this sun sprite may have cast a spell on you, a sort of mind altering hex. Dr. Crowley and I have assured them that sun sprites are incapable of such magic.”

“However, that is not to say he could not have paid for someone else to cast the hex for him,” Crowley said. “We simply wish to perform the examination and ask you some minor questions.”

“To satisfy the belief that I have indeed been hexed,” Silus spat, rage making his body shake.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way, my lord. Your sire has given us total control of your care,” Crowley said, and one of the werewolves in sunglasses stepped forward in case he should be needed.

No matter what he told them, they would assume Cedric had brainwashed him. Though he could certainly fight off a single werewolf on his own, three of them would put him down with little effort.

Damn him, damn himself to hell! He should have left when he had the chance. “I refuse to cooperate with you,” Silus said.

Winchester sighed. “Very well. Take him.”

All three of the werewolves in shades stepped forward this time. Silus didn’t move as his arm was grabbed by one of them. The rest surrounded him, as if to keep him from going anywhere. He wanted to rip the throats from the lot of them. Calm. He needed to maintain his focus and calm.

“How long have you been fornicating with a sun sprite?” Winchester asked him.

Silus didn’t answer.

Winchester sighed and shook his head. “We only wish to help you, but if you refuse, I can do other things until you are ready.”

The good doctors used the opportunity to search around in his room. Silus growled at the complete invasion of his privacy, but both men ignored him. They searched in his drawers—Winchester lifting a brow when he pulled out the lubricant—and under his bed for possible signs of witchcraft, perhaps burned into his carpet, but then Crowley snapped on a pair of gloves and began lifting his sheets around.

He squawked and dropped them within seconds, his mouth wide open. Because it was impolite, he lifted his hands to cover it, but then must have remembered where they had been before quickly dropping them again.

“What is it?” Winchester asked, coming around to look at where Crowley pointed.

Winchester gasped, then looked up at Silus. “Is this blood?”

Shit! Some of Cedric’s blood must have dribbled out of his neck while they were rolling around. Now those fool doctors found it.

“Well? Is this the blood of that sun sprite? Answer, you fool!”

Silus’s jaw tightened. “It is, but as you can see, it did not kill me.”

“Good God, this man is in even more danger than we thought,” Winchester said. “He has been drinking sun sprite blood!”

“I agree. He must be bled at once.”

Bled?

Crowley snapped his fingers, and this time all three werewolves grabbed onto Silus.

“Release me!” Silus screamed, this time attempting to fight them off. Their hands were like steel shackles on his body, holding him steady, making him helpless, even when he used all of his strength. He hated it. “Release me! I order you to release me!”

“Disregard that order. Put him on the bed. Tie his arms and legs,” Crowley said, throwing the sheets from his mattress. “Dr. Winchester, go to his parents, tell them the news but be gentle. All hope is not lost. Tell his mother that four salad bowls will be needed, his father’s shaving razor, chains, and Lord Wiktor must also be present for when the bleeding commences.”

“
Bleeding?
Are you mad?”

Winchester bowed, and the lousy, filthy, blood-whore had the audacity to stare at Silus with sympathetic eyes as his own guards tore his blue sheets into strips and tied his hands and feet to the bedposts. “We will help you, my lord, fear not,” one of them said.

Silus’s struggles eventually tore the rags he was being tied with, and more guards had to be called in to pin him down. His struggles did not cease, nor did his roars of rage, until Winchester returned with the items required of him and, in front of his father, cut his wrists and ankles.

Silus hissed and cried out, his struggles instantly becoming lax lest he rip his own limbs off.

“Will this work?” Wiktor asked, staring down at Silus as he bled into the bowls. He felt the slow drain, the taking of his energy. He grew tired, his eyes turning heavy, and his body became limp and weak without the blood to sustain him. The room began to spin.

“My lord,” Crowley said, voice low. “There are no guarantees. This is the only known method to flush the sun sprite blood from his body. You are required so that he can feed pure blood back into his veins. But I will not lie to you. Most vampires do not survive the process.”

Had Silus the strength, he would have laughed. Perhaps this was the true reason most vampires did not live long after biting sun sprites. Not because the blood itself killed them, but because their insane families killed them trying to remove the blood later.

As he was pulled into unconsciousness, his thoughts were of Cedric. He’d promised his lover he would join him, but now that would not be possible.

As he slipped away, his father whispered into his ear, “My son, lost to me or not, I will find and kill every last sun sprite in your name for this, including this
Cedric
.”

Had he been able, he would have opened his mouth and roared.

Chapter Eleven

Silus’s
cottage
turned out to be a mini mansion made of logs with arched windows and a wraparound deck.

Whoa. Silus wasn’t really one for accurate descriptions, it seemed.

A fine layer of dust inside indicated he hadn’t been there in a while, but also that he’d told the truth about no one but himself ever visiting the place, not even a maid, otherwise the wooden banisters would gleam like intended, there would be food in the fridge, and perhaps fresh sheets on the beds.

Oh yeah, Silus’s
cottage
had guest rooms. Even Cedric knew that a cottage didn’t have guest rooms. Or stainless steel appliances, or a giant gleaming grassy yard with no neighbors for, like, four miles. Just the house and the lake, all to himself.

Definitely obvious that a man with money had purchased the place.

On a shelf placed beneath the flat screen on the wall sat an Xbox 360, a PlayStation, and the cable box. The cable box he kind of expected. The game consoles, not so much, but this was just one more thing they could do together.

Off to the side, sat another longer shelf that reached the ceiling, with a library of movies, games, and books. Cedric had to smirk at the sight of a couple of pornos in plain sight among all the rest. It was more proof Silus never brought family or friends here, otherwise these would be hidden.

He contemplated watching them, but quickly banished the thought away, recalling the feel of Silus’s hand between his legs, squeezing and ordering in that sexy voice of his for Cedric
not
to touch.

He picked out a few of the more promising ones for later instead. Maybe he’d get lucky, and Silus would have another TV and DVD player in his room, then they could watch while getting it on. Not that either of them needed the help, of course.

After a little exploring, he found that, indeed, Silus kept a Sony flat screen in his room directly in front of his king-size bed. Cedric eyed the thick sheets with longing. He could not wait to roll around in them with Silus.

But, as Silus was not here, he was the first to test it out. Alone. He slept away the night in Silus’s bed, killing the hours until dawn when he awoke excited for his day. Tonight, Silus would be meeting him.

Because he would go crazy if he sat around playing games or watching television, Cedric first went out to grab some food, and since he was pretty sure his credit cards had been canceled by now, he’d have to make do with the hundred dollars he had in his wallet.

He wasn’t a cook. There had always been someone else to do that for him while growing up, so even the shopping itself was an adventure. By the end of it, he had salads, pre-cooked chickens, desserts—especially the cans of whipped cream—all nicely tucked away in the fridge. Then he cleaned the dust off everything and opened windows to make the air fresh. He even remade his bed with fresh sheets he’d found in the closet. He wanted everything to be perfect for when Silus came home to him.

Cedric stopped as the word flitted through his brain. Home.

Then he grinned a stupid, little-boy-with-a-crush grin. Yes, while Cedric was busy driving him crazy, Silus had said that no matter what, whether his parents accepted his choice or not, he would be leaving their house.

Though Cedric himself was also out from under his parents’ thumbs, the thought didn’t scare him. It was freeing. Vampires and sun sprites always remained in the home with their families until the head of the family died, passing it on to the eldest son. Had he married his cousin, she would have moved in with him permanently, and yet they still would have both been considered the children of the house. The same went for Silus, even though he was not leaving behind a fiancée.

But now he was here, and soon Silus would be, too, both totally free from their families and independent.

Well, Cedric was almost independent. He wished he’d been as smart as Silus had and had saved some of the allowance his father had afforded him. But he hadn’t. Cedric would have to find suitable work. He refused to let Silus take care of him.

Silus.

Cedric kept on thinking of the name and kept looking at the clock. He’d never wished for the sun to vanish into the horizon before, having always taken pleasure and strength from its shine. Today he wished it away like never before.

He swam in the lake then jogged along the property, anything that would kill time without making him think of Silus and the agonizing wait.

Eventually the sun did go down, and he waited for the one hour mark when Silus would drive in.

And waited. And waited. And waited.

A hand shaking his shoulder woke him.

Cedric jumped at the nightmare he was having, disappointed to see Ben looking down upon him with worry instead of Silus.

“Hey, you kinda looked like you needed me to wake you there. You okay, man?”

Cedric winced and lifted his hand against the sunshine that half blinded him. Morning so soon? What the—?

He straightened himself, or tried to. He stopped halfway, wincing again at the painful crick in his neck. The couch was definitely not as comfortable as Silus’s bed.

Slower this time, he sat up, twisting his neck around to crack it and maybe release some of the tension in his sore bones. “What time is it? Is Silus here?”

Ben blinked his big brown eyes at him. The only reason why he knew where to find the cottage was because Cedric had told him where it was when he grabbed his things from Ben’s place. “He didn’t show?”

Not what Cedric wanted to hear.

He flew up from his chair, ignoring his protesting muscles, and ran up the staircase to Silus’s room. He tried to tell himself not to panic. Maybe something had held him up, preventing him from coming until nearly dawn. Though he’d developed a tolerance to the sun, Cedric doubted Silus would want to stay in any direct sunlight. If he’d come home, he’d likely seen Cedric, left him to sleep, and went to close himself off from the day.