"I don't have a diabolical plan to rule the world, little man." Maximus leaned over me and showed his fangs. "Not that I should expect anyone of your limited years to understand. I want a better world. We have the gift of immortality. Imagine it! Mankind could live forever. Think of the achievements we could make."
His coppery breath was making me nauseous. "With you as the Grand Poobah, right?"
He shrugged. "Perhaps temporarily. The Master has already indicated he has no desire to rule. He would advise me."
"What happens when there are no more humans to feed the vampires? What about the people who don't want to be vampires? The Red Syndicate keeps your numbers low so they don't run out of food, not because they don't want everyone having the gift of immortality." I felt dirty just defending the vampire nation. "Face it, Maximus, you want power, plain and simple. Your whole Vampire's Revolution is just the kind of crap you know people will listen to so you can justify a massive power grab."
"Food will be no issue. Even now we only accept those with the desire to see deeper into themselves. To become more than they are. Those noms who are sheep, who don't care about advancing, will be used as cattle because they deserve nothing more."
"So you get to choose who's predator and prey? Who receives immortality and who gets to be a vampiric pincushion?" I pulled my mouth into a sneer. "You're not a god. You're a sicko."
Maximus opened his mouth as if to argue then clamped his teeth shut with a click. His fist pounded the table right next to my head. "Obviously, you're beyond reason. I'd hoped to convince you I'm right. Perhaps then you'd donate blood to the cause, and I could free you."
Son of a bitch, I could have gotten free!
Talk about screwing myself over. "Uh, actually, you are making sense," I said. "Maybe I was just angry and felt the need to lash out."
Maximus laughed. "Too late." He leaned in close. "Too late. I gave you a chance and you slapped my helping hand away. Perhaps in another year or so I'll reconsider. If it isn't too late by then."
I ground my teeth.
The vampire sat back down on his stool. "I know a little of your history, Justin Slade. Your former classmate Brad Nichols had plenty to say about you."
"Yeah, great job turning him into a vampling, by the way." Brad hadn't been my BFF or anything, but I wouldn't wish turning into one of the walking dead on anyone.
"I regret our original serum was unable to fully turn him, but he accepted the risk. I knew people like this Brad Nichols when I was young. Kids who thought they were better than everyone else and took what they wanted from the weak. I, too, was bullied and harassed."
I gave him an incredulous look. "Dude, you're huge. Who would mess with you?"
"Believe it or not, I was short and scrawny. I grew up in New York and attended a Jewish school. This wasn't popular with the Catholic kids in my neighborhood."
"You're Jewish?"
"I was adopted by Jewish immigrants who found me abandoned when they arrived at port. My real parents left me behind a rat-infested warehouse. I probably would have been eaten to the bones had not my adopted father gone around the back to urinate and found me naked on the ground."
I grimaced. "That's horrible. What kind of people would do that to a baby?"
The look he returned sent chills down my spine. "Believe me, I asked them the same question when I found them." His fangs slid out an inch.
Somehow, I managed not to gulp. "What made you decide to become a vampire?"
"The Master, persecuted by his brethren, fled here from Britain and took a teaching position at my school. He saw how poorly my peers treated me and took me under his wing. When I reached a mature age after university, he offered me the chance for immortality." Maximus held out his hands. "And here I am."
Try as I might, I couldn't make myself hate the guy. After all, he hadn't really kidnapped my sister, although, yeah, I guess he'd kidnapped me and my father. But it wasn't for an evil cause or anything. In fact, the more I thought about his crimes, the more reasonable they seemed. Maximus was an all right guy who wanted what was best for me and everyone else. And he had the prettiest glowing red eyes.
Something from recent memory prompted me to look away from those glinting rubies and squeeze my eyes shut. The positive feelings I had for him faded and a dull ache settled into my head. "Stop using your little vampire tricks on me," I said. "Maybe you had a rotten childhood. Maybe rats almost ate you. It's sad—tragic even. But it's no excuse to kidnap me or my father and start Overworld War One or whichever war you guys are on now." I opened my eyes and looked him full on. "So cut it out."
A surprised look crossed his face. "How did you—" He shook his head. "You're right. Compulsion is obviously not the way to convince you. Perhaps one day you'll see and agree with me. Until then, I regret to say, you must be confined. Once we've dealt with the impending Templar attack, I'll see about relocating you to more comfortable quarters."
"Templar attack?"
"Oh, yes." He smiled. "Their fearless leader, Thomas Borathen, has a very sneaky plan in mind."
"And you know this how?"
"How else? Daelissa has eyes and ears everywhere. One of her minions delivered the details to me. I regret to say we'll have to kill any Templar who sets foot in my domain."
Fear stabbed into my chest. Would Elyssa be in the attacking force? "What do they plan to do?"
"How about this—I'll tell you all about it for your next bedtime story." He checked the time on his phone. "In fact, we have only a few more hours until our uninvited guests show up."
"No, please, Maximus. I'll do whatever you want. Don't kill them."
He leaned down until his face was half an inch from mine. "You spurned my offer earlier, Slade. I may be kind to my allies, but I am unforgiving to my enemies. Bear this in mind for future reference."
With that, he left the room.
"I think your friends are in dire trouble," said the nearly monotone voice of my roommate after a moment of silence.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Chapter 16
Elyssa
Bella opened Jean-Claude's apartment with a swish of her wand.
"Finally," Fausta said and pushed past the other woman. "Took you long enough."
"They had wards protecting this place." Bella followed her in. "If I'd opened it without disarming them, every Templar in the compound would have come running."
Elyssa touched Bella's arm. "Can you check the locks on the other apartments? Maybe disarm them in advance?"
The Arcane smiled. "What a wonderful idea, Elyssa. I'll be back soon."
As soon as the other woman vanished, Elyssa stormed over to Fausta and jerked her away from the kitchen drawer she was rifling. "What the hell's your problem with Bella?"
"Let me go before I—"
"Before you what? Start a fight in an officer's apartment, which you've just illegally broken into?"
Fausta freed her arm and resumed looking through the drawer. "Fine. I'll treat her nice." She flicked her eyes to Elyssa. "Happy?"
Elyssa rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I swear you're the grumpiest, most volatile Templar I've met."
"I'm not grumpy!"
"You'd never even know how pretty you are with that frown always on your face. It's like someone pees in your oatmeal every morning."
"I don't frown all the—wait, you think I'm pretty?" A look of astonishment crossed Fausta's face.
Elyssa felt acutely uncomfortable. "Uh, yeah—but don't let it go to your head."
"Well, well, what have we here?" said a male voice from the door.
The two women jumped.
Adam Nosti waved from his position where he casually leaned on the doorframe. He arched an eyebrow. "I knew you guys had that furtive look to you." He pushed off the jamb and glanced around the room. "Isn't this one of the officer's quarters?"
"Shhh," Elyssa said and snatched him by the arm, jerking him further inside. Half a dozen lies ran through her head before she decided to tell him the truth. Adam, after all, was quite the conspiracy theorist, so he might believe her. "We think there's a traitor in Christian's upper brass."
"A traitor?" said a horrified voice from the doorway. Meghan came inside, eyes wide.
"Madre de dios," Bella said, coming in behind Meghan. "Who let the dogs out?"
All eyes settled on her, and for a brief moment, there was absolute silence.
"Does that not mean what I think it does?" the Arcane said, her eyes uncertain. "I'm practicing my American idioms."
"If they know we're in here, who else is going to just stumble in?" Fausta demanded, arms akimbo. "We haven't even searched the first apartment yet."
"Looking for incriminating evidence?" Adam said, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "I have a practiced hand at that."
Meghan crossed her arms and glared at the others. "Nobody's doing a thing until you explain what in the world is going on in here."
Elyssa gave her the short version, leaving out the details about Underborn's involvement.
"I can't possibly believe a Templar would do such a thing," the healer replied. "And even if they did, what do you expect to find in their living quarters? A signed invitation from Maximus to betray Christian? Emails? A video of the suspect calling the vampires and telling them what to do?" She shook her head. "You need to question the suspects and find out what they know."
"Honey, you never know," Adam said in a placating voice. "Sometimes, if you look hard enough, you can find all sorts of telltale signs people leave behind."