Chapter 59
~Tony~
I left Rien to his family drama. I had no interest in getting involved in their politics, and frankly, it was too good a day to waste watching them argue. I made my way across the garden and batted away the yellow butterfly that came swirling around my head like I was in some fucking Disney movie.
Okay, I could admit that I was a little annoyed by his brothers' sudden appearance. After all, ever since he'd plucked me from the Army I hadn't exactly given him a chance, and on our one good day we still couldn't find the time to get to know each other again.
I had no doubt that I had changed a great deal over the five years we'd spent apart, but this Rien wasn't much different from the Rien I'd known before (as far as I could tell). His was a comforting presence. I liked that he was familiar. I liked that he was consistent and unchanging. I liked that he was the same man that I'd met so long ago on the dirty streets of my home town; the same man I'd spent days stalking because I'd looked into his eyes and had immediately fallen for what I had seen in them.
"Your smile looks very sinister."
I glanced up when I saw Kaio coming down the path, and I pressed a hand to my cheek and rubbed. I hadn't even realized that I was smiling.
"I'm contemplating all the ways I can conquer the world." I told him with a chuckle, but of course, being Kaio, he took it seriously.
"Lord Riener shall be far too busy with the goings on of the coven to keep an eye on you while you attempt such an improbable feat." Then he looked me up and down slowly. "In any event, I cannot imagine you getting very far with such plans. Many blood-drinkers, who are far less delicate than you, have tried and failed."
I rolled my eyes. "I was kidding Kaio."
He placed his hands behind his back when he reached my side, and turned to walk with me back the way he had come. "How was your traipse through gardens with my Master?"
"We didn't get very far. "I told him. "So, pretty uneventful."
"Yes, I have been made aware of the fact that he was summoned to a court meeting. There are busy days ahead."
"Hmm." Was my only reply.
"How come you're not in that meeting? I thought your job was to stick to his side during all life altering events." Yes, I was still annoyed...and a little bit snarky.
"Drudges are not welcome to court meetings." He said simply, and I frowned.
"I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure you once told me weeks ago that you were headed to a court meeting."
When I looked at him, he nodded. "Once in a while Lord Riener summons me to such meetings when he finds himself is in the mood to test his father's patience."
"Doesn't that put you in the crosshairs?" I asked, and Kaio smiled, looking particularly pleased with himself.
"No lasting harm will come to me here, for our leader knows that once he takes such action against me, he will lose his hold over my Master." I raised a brow and he continued. "It is what Lord Riener has threatened many a time in the past."
I chuckled. "Is that why you walk around here acting so self important?"
"No. I think my confidence may have much to do with my mate." He said.
"What do you mean?" We paused when we reached the end of the path, just behind Rien's place.
"He grounds me. He makes me feel as though I am more than just a lowly drudge."
"Ah." I walked to the ledge that separated the back yard from another massive garden below, and Kaio followed. When I sat, swinging my legs over the ledge to face the garden, so did he.
"We are friends, are we not?"
I glanced at him and nodded. "Of course."
"And friends do on occasion, grant each other favors, yes?"
Again I nodded. "Yeah."
"Then will you do me the honor of granting me one small favor?"
"Anything." I said, and when his small smile turned wide, I modified the statement "Within reason."
Very well. Since your plans with Lord Riener has been interruption, and your day is now a blank slate, I wish for you to spend what time is left with Malik."
"No."
"You have already granted me this favor, and I am very certain that I have satisfied your one condition. Therefore, it must be done."
I snorted. "I didn't sign a damn contract Kaio."
He frowned. "Have you no honor? An agreement between friends, binding or not, should be upheld for the sanctity of the friendship."
"I'm the only friend you've ever had, how would you know how friendships work?"
"I do have a large helping of common sense."
"I don't trust your mate. I'm not about to spend the day with him."
"You are my very best friend therefore you must grant me this request."
I raised a brow in surprise. "Since when are we best friends?"
"I have decided that this is what you are to me. I have come to care for you as though you are family. Therefore, the title 'friend' will not suffice." Kaio's face turned tomato red as he cleared his throat and looked away.
"You're a child. Do you know that?" I asked as I shook my head,
"Does this mean you will not do me this favor?" When he looked back at me, I couldn't read his expression.
"My instincts are telling me to stay away from the guy."
"No, you have simply set your mind against him since the very start and you are far too stubborn to change your thinking."
I pressed two fingers to my temple and closed my eyes for a moment.
"Alright, I'll do it." I announced and Kaio beamed at me like a little kid at Christmas.
"He is still asleep. For whatever reason he has decided to wile away the day in bed today. So you must wake him and tell him of your plans. I shall of course accompany you both if you choose to walk about the coven... for protection."
He stood. "Where are you going?" I asked him.
"I must inform the drudges that I may be indisposed for the day." He said, but when he turned again to leave, my next words gave him pause.
"The last best friend I had betrayed me then ran off with his lover."
Kaio turned back to me; his expression serious. "I am not Noah, but in any event, you should not begrudge him this, for he is merely in love, and when one is in love, he should be allowed to follow his heart."
I watched him cross the yard and disappear through the back door of Rien's place. I sighed.
It took me another thirty minutes before I finally got up to go in search of the man who called himself my brother. When I pushed open the door to Kaio's room, I found him just as Kaio said; fast asleep in bed.
............................
I sat in the only chair by the window and watched him with a frown. There were no similarities between us that I could identify. Shouldn't you instinctively know if someone should mean something to you? If he was really my brother, shouldn't I feel something other than dislike and distrust when I look at him?
"Hey asshole." I called loud enough to jostle him from his dream world. His eyes opened slowly, and he blinked once, twice, three times before he finally noticed me sitting in the chair across from him, and his head shot up from the pillow.
"Tony? He questioned in clear confusion, and I sighed.
"I'm leaving with or without you in ten minutes." I said, and when his brows knitted deeper in confusion, I stood and left the room.
Exactly seven minutes later, when I was downstairs in the kitchen plucking grapes from the woven basket on the counter, he stepped in; face washed, and body clothed; though he looked like he'd done it in a hurry; if his rumbled clothes were anything to go by.
"What's going on?" he asked as he stood watching me from his spot by the door.
I popped two grapes into my mouth and chewed carefully before responding.
"I'm doing Kaio a favor."
He frowned. "I don't understand."
"Looks like we're spending the day together brother." I mocked, then brushed past him when he only stood there blinking at me.
When I stepped outside Kaio was already there. "What's there to do around here?" I asked him, though I already knew the answer; nothing.
"You once wished to visit the arcade. Perhaps we can stop by."
"Last time I wanted to go to there everyone was against it. Why now?"
"The coven is in mourning. It will be empty."
I gestured ahead of us. "Then lead the way." I said, and as Kaio took the lead, Malik fell instep beside me. he didn't say a word, but every now and again, I'd spot him looking at me from the corner of my eye.
"I'm not about to start growing wings, if that's what you're waiting for." I said the next time I caught him staring.
"I'm just surprised you're doing this." He said.
"Yeah well, you can thank your boyfriend for this, but I'm not about to make a habit out of it."
Malik nodded. "Well I appreciate it anyway."
I remained silent, and we made our way through the coven without a word. I chose to take in everything around me. I'd seen a great deal of the place already, but no matter how many times I walked through, it still had the power to fascinate me.
The coven was like a whole other world so it was hard to believe that such a large, uninterrupted place was somehow able to coexist alongside my world. The stone buildings that had aged well throughout the decades, the well-manicured grass and trees; even though I'd yet to see a single lawnmower, and the general cleanliness of the streets even though there was not a trash can in sight.
It was crazy to think that such a beautiful place was home to bloodthirsty monsters. Just as it had been earlier today, there weren't many blood-suckers roaming about. In fact, since we'd set out, I'd glimpsed exactly one vampire robed in all black. The place was just dead and quiet; a far cry from how it had been just weeks before we'd left.
"How long will they officially be in mourning for?" I asked Kaio as we walked.
"Many more months to come." He said. "Though in a matter of weeks we should see some change in this somber atmosphere.
"Do you think they're going to retaliate?"
Kaio glanced back with a smile. "This is the warrior coven Tony. Retaliation is inevitable."
"I thought the plan was to stay with the wolves a little bit longer. Why did you guys come back early?" this from Malik.
"Rien was attacked." I said, and though I saw the surprise in Kaio's eyes when he glanced back, he didn't ask questions. Beside me, Malik frowned.
"By the wolves?" he asked in clear surprise.
"We don't know."
"He was attacked at the camp and you don't know if it was the wolves?" he asked. I could hear the skepticism in his voice.
"It happened in the woods. We have our guesses but we can't be sure. It was safer to come back here."
Malik shook his head. "And here I thought human life was complicated. Everyday it's something else with these people."
"Regret searching for me already?" I said with a mocking grin, and he frowned.
"If I did I wouldn't still be here."
"If you say so." I said, then a thought occurred to me, and I blurted it out just for the heck of it. "If you were trapped in a burning building and Kaio and I were hurt and you could only save one of us, which one would it be?"
"Tony." Kaio warned with narrowed eyes, and I shrugged.
"You wanted us to bond Kaio, I'm just giving you what you want." I feigned innocence.
"I'm not playing this game." Malik said, and I took special note of his frown and grinned.
"He'd leave us both there to die Kaio." I said with a chuckle. They sighed and shook their heads in unison. The sight of it was so strange that I couldn't help but laugh. "I'm messing with you. I really couldn't care less." I told him, and it was the truth.
"Have you always been like this?" Malik questioned.
"Like what?"
"Cruel and cynical." He shot back.
I genuinely thought about it for a while. "Yeah I think so."
"So what, if it's not Rien or Kaio, the rest of the world means nothing to you?"
I smiled and shook my head, but refused to answer.
"I'm right aren't I? he asked. "You don't even look at the rest of us. but Rien and Kaio can do no wrong."
"Did you miss the part where Rien and I were at each other's throats for weeks after I got here?"
"Pushing people away in a place like this is a bad idea." He said, and something about his tone grated on my nerves.
"I'm pushing you away Malik. Just you, because something about you is off and I don't trust a word that comes out of your mouth."
"Why? because I didn't tell you right away that we're brothers or because in my search for you I ended up in the wrong army? Or is it something else?"
"Is there an option for all of the above and more?"
"We have arrived." Kaio announced, and I glanced up and realized for the first time that we were standing before two massive brown doors. Kaio pushed them open, and gestured for us to enter. As I passed him, he frowned down at me like a mother on the verge of scolding her child. I patted his shoulder and entered.
"Well shit." Malik said when we were over the threshold. I could only agree with him.
"This doesn't look anything like the other one." I murmured to myself.
"What other one?" Malik's question went unanswered as my eyes roamed the place.
"I've only seen weapons like these in history books." I said as my eyes traveled along the stone walls which were lined off with ancient weapons.
I identified a few from World War I, but it was the ones from earlier times that held my interest; the primitive ones that were made of wood and stone.
"I thought vampires didn't use weapons in war."
"These were not used for war. These were merely for sport."
I gestured to one weapon in particular that looked like the grim reaper's scythe.
"You hacked each other's heads off for sport?" I said mostly as a joke, but my smile slipped when Kaio nodded.
There were tables and chairs stacked against the walls and a large sand pit in the center of the room. I assumed it was where all the fighting happened. I took note of the large bar counter that stretched from one end of the room to the next, lined off with about fifteen stools in front of it. It wasn't alcohol in those bottles behind the counter, of that I had no doubt.
"So you guys just fight each other here all day?" Malik asked. "And that's fun for you guys?" he continued. Kaio nodded on both counts.
"I'm down for a good fight." I announced. "I'll choose the scythe as my weapon of choice." I said with a wide grin. Malik rolled his eyes and picked up something from the table closest to him.
"How about a game of darts?" he asked and held up a dart for me to see. It took me awhile to find the dartboard hanging on the wall between a row of weapons.
"Alright." I inspected the first one he handed to me. If was heavier than I was used to, and there was nothing modern about it. It looked like something that had come up from the berry gathering and loin cloth days, but it would have to do.
I gathered all the darts that were tied with blue strips of cloth and set them down on a table two feet away from Malik.
Kaio stood off to the side watching in silence, and Malik volunteered to go first. I'm sure it wasn't exactly the bonding experience Kaio had been hoping for, since the game was played in complete silence, and neither of us was exactly interested in the outcome. For me, it was just a way to past the time.
Though I could admit, that by the end of it, I was starting to wonder if what Kaio had said earlier had been true. Was it really my instincts that were telling me to stay away or had I simply convinced myself that he was no good. I sighed.
Wasn't this what I had always wanted? A brother for my very own. I glanced at him. He threw the dart and hit the bull's-eye with ease, but it was clear he didn't care one way or another.
"What are the odd's that two brothers are gay?" I asked out of the blue. He looked at me as though he was surprised I'd said a word to him, then his brows furrowed, and he seemed to think about the question.
"I don't know. The same as as when two sisters turn out to be straight I guess. Being gay isn't exactly an anomaly.
I shrugged. "I guess." When I threw the dart, it missed my intended target. "Could have used a gay big brother growing up though." I said. "You wouldn't imagine the hate I got for something I had no control over."
"Malik shook his head. "Your mood changes are giving me a whiplash. Just five seconds ago you hated my guts."
I shrugged. "I was just stating a fact." I said. "And I don't know you well enough to hate you. I just don't trust you."
"I'm not lying to you Tony. We are brothers. You were kidnapped from our backyard and I did search for you for years."
"I believe that part." I said.
His eyes widened. "You do?"
"Yeah. If you were lying about that Rien or Kaio would have figured it out easily enough. The heart's a dead giveaway."
"Then what's the problem?"
"I think there's something you're not telling us."
"I think you've grown up always expecting the worst, so when someone you don't know tells you the truth plain and simple, it's hard for you to take it for what it is." He responded.
"If it turns out I'm wrong I'll be the first to admit it."
"Then how do I convince you? You don't seem particularly interested or open-minded."
When it was my turn again, it hit the bulls-eye with a loud thud.
"Family don't lie to each other, at least not when it counts."
I laughed at the absurdity in his statement. "Have you met Rien's family?"
The corners of his lips rose slightly, but his smile didn't reach his eyes; if anything they looked somber.
"Our family wasn't like that. Our parents weren't like that." He said so softly that I had to strain to hear him. This time when he threw, it missed altogether and fell to the floor.
I thought about the only parents I had ever known. I remembered their warmth. I remembered only good things about them; like huge hugs and wide smiles; kind eyes. I couldn't even begin to reconcile who they were to who Malik was making them out to be. I'd been young when they had died, maybe too young to have decent judgment, but I found it hard to believe that those people who I'd held in my heart all my life had kidnapped me and raised me, for the most part, as their own.
I pulled out a stool and sat; giving up on the game entirely. Malik watched me; his eyes wary. The pictures I'd seen of him online in his expensive power suits had shown a confident, if not cocky, man; a man who knew exactly what he wanted and exactly how to get it. The man standing in my presence didn't look the part.
He looked tired actually; tired and unsure. Why would a man of the world search me out and choose to stay in a place like this, Kaio or no Kaio, if he had a hidden agenda? If he really was hiding something, what could it possibly be?
"What do you hope to get out of this?" I asked then. He glanced at Kaio, and when Kaio gave no assistance, he looked back at me.
"I don't follow."
"Now that we're 'reunited.' What is it that you expect?" I asked. He set down his dart on the scratched surface of the wooden table.
"I don't know that I expect anything, but I was hoping I could gain a brother from all this. I was hoping that eventually...we'd get to know each other and become a family."
I looked for all the cues that pointed to a lie and found none. I frowned.
"Let's go for a walk. I want to show you something." I said, stepping off the stool. Kaio's eyes narrowed at my tone of voice, no doubt suspicious, but Malik was non the wiser.
I glanced at him when Malik turned and mouthed the words 'play along', before I followed his mate out the door.
The pond where Kaio had very nearly succeeded in giving me a heart attack so many weeks ago, was close by. It took us a short fifteen-minute walk to get there, and when we stood close to the edge, Kaio nodded at me in understanding.
It wasn't fool-proof but if I had any hope of getting some answers from him this was it.
"Do not walk too close to the edge Mal." Kaio called out, and Malik chuckled at his words.
"Yes mom." He mocked.
"He's serious." I said. "This isn't just some ordinary pond. It's poisonous."
This time he frowned, moving a step closer to the water and peering in. It was as clear as crystal, just as it has been the day Kaio had played this very trick on me.
"Rien told me that the poison is the reason it's so clear." I said. "Not to vampires , but to humans."
Malik looked at me. "Then why is it here." He practically recited the words I'd asked Kaio all those weeks ago.
"Look around." I said. "Other than us, there aren't any humans here, so of course they don't care if it's dangerous to humans."
"What's it poisoned with?"
I shrugged. "All I know is that it's fast acting, so if it touches your skin, it quickly absorbs into the bloodstream and you're dead almost instantly."
This time Malik took a step back. "I almost made the mistake of stepping foot in there once. If Rien hadn't been there, I wouldn't be here right now. Apparently not even the blood of a vampire can compete with the poison. You'll be dead in seconds."
Malik glanced at Kaio who was standing several feet away; giving us space to talk, he'd said.
"He speaks the truth. Perhaps you should step away, love." Kaio played along with the ruse, but before Malik could move a muscle, I grabbed the collar of his shirt and shoved him onto the concrete rim of the pond. He fell to the ground; landing awkwardly on his arm, but received no injuries. I braced a knee in his abdomen and clamped a hand over his throat.
"Stay right where you are Kaio." I shouted. "We both know that I can dunk him into this water faster than it would take you to save him!"
"Tony do not do this." Kaio said, and when all this was done I would praise him on his acting skills. He somehow managed to sound the way a worried lover should.
"Tony what are you doing?" Malik coughed out. He clutched at my wrist with his one free hand, but I didn't break my hold. He would bruise, but at least he could breathe.
At the angle I held him, his head was poised over the water. His eyes bulged when he realized his predicament, and he sunk his nails into my wrist, trying to break my hold. I didn't budge.
"You think I give a shit about what happens to you?" I began. "If it touches your skin, you're a dead man, so stop fighting me." I gritted out when his sharp nails began to draw blood.
"Don't." he gasped when I pushed his head even closer to the water. The back of his head was now only inches away.
"Tony Please!" Kaio shouted. He was sitting on the grass now, legs stretched out before him as he watched it play out. He was nowhere near Malik's line of site.
"Answer me honestly and you're free." I said simply. By now Malik's brow was dotted with sweat. I could feel his pulse racing under my hands. "What are you hiding?"
"Nothing I swear." He gasped out. I frowned.
"I don't care if you're Kaio's mate." I said in that steely voice I only reserved for my subordinates in the army. "I'll be doing him a fucking favor as far as I'm concerned."
"Tony think about what you are doing. Mal is here under no negative pretenses." Kaio shouted over again.
"You move a muscle and you'll fall." I told him quietly. Just tell me what I need to know."
There was no real pressure on his neck, I merely held him down, but his fear had him frozen beneath me.
"You're my brother. That's why I came. I swear to God."
"I was in the army for five years. You'd be amazed by the things I've learned to do in that time." I continued. There was no hiding the real fear in his eyes as they darted toward the water and back. "Don't think anything changed because you claimed to be my brother. You're a stranger to me and I don't trust you."
"I swear I'm not lying." His voice shook as he tried to convince me. "I searched for you, I found you, I fell in love with Kaio. All of it's true Tony. I would never—"
"Last chance asshole." I said, shoving him closer to the water. This time he shouted and his hand shot out to latch onto my shoulder. I reached a hand up and pried it off. He gasped and as his body began slipping, his legs kicked out, searching desperately for something to hold.
"Tell me the truth." My eyes met his, and I saw the genuine terror in them, but when he spoke his next words I saw no deceit in them.
"I swear. I swear. I swear. Please." I sighed, and released him. He went over the edge with a shout. I watched him flail in the shallow pond for about a second before he righted himself and ran like a man on fire and pulled himself over the ledge, and onto the grass below.
I stepped aside when Kaio reached out a hand to pull him from the ground. It took him about thirty seconds of jumping around like a madman, trying flash the water off his body before he realized he hadn't actually been poisoned.
I saw the moment his fear turned to rage and he was in front of me in a flash. His fist smashed into my mouth without warning, and I did nothing to stop it because the truth was, I deserved it.
I was an asshole, and apparently he'd been telling the truth. That, or he had balls of steal and could lie even in the face of certain death.
I fell to the ground, and I had expected him to come at me again, but he didn't. Instead, he dropped himself next to me in the grass; face to the sky, hand over his heart and panted.
"You're a fucking asshole, you know that?" he panted. I nodded, reaching up a hand to touch my bloodied split lip. Luckily I still had all my teeth.
"I had to be sure." I said, rolling onto my back as well.
"Are you fucking sure now?" he glanced over at me with a glare.
"Like...ninety percent." I said with a grin, then groaned because grinning did nothing to help my current condition.
"I love the smell of fresh blood in the evening."
Jorlon's face appeared over me, blocking out half the sky, and we both scrambled up from the ground in surprise.
"Is this how you spend your free time?" Another voice boomed, and this time when I glanced up, it was to see Rien sitting on a bench watching us with a frown; though his eyes gave away his amusement.
Jorlon looked us up and down. "You realize that a pond is not made for swimming. Do you not?"
We ignored him, and Malik shot Kaio a dirty look when his mate moved to stand next to him.
"You were in on it." He accused, and Kaio nodded.
"I very quickly caught on to his plans. I decided to allow him his chance so than we could prove to him that you are hiding nothing." He explained. "And now he believes."
"Ninety percent." I called back.
"I will never understand the ways of humans." Jorlon commented. I watched as he made his way over to the bench and sat beside Rien. A stray leaf from a tree high above him, fell into his lap the moment he sat, and he crushed in his fist.
"How long have you guys been sitting there?" I asked, dabbing my lip with the tail end of my shirt.
"It was quite a spectacular performance, I must say." Jorlon continued. "I particularly enjoyed the scene when you told him about the skills you had honed in your Army. Quite entertaining."
I rolled my eyes, and Rien stood. It took him four quick strides to reach my side, and then he was tipping my head back to inspect my lip.
"I'm fine." I batted his hand away, but he latched onto my chin anyway, and I stood waiting in annoyance as he finished his inspection.
Satisfied I wasn't about to die from one weak punch to the face, he released me.
"Is the meeting over?" I asked.
"In a manner of speaking." He replied.
"True to form, Riener insulted our father, and in a fit of anger, we were all banish from his sight." Jorlon finished his report with a dramatic sigh
"So what happens now?" I asked him.
"My father is a fool. I will simply do what I can for my people."
"We should have slaughtered him when we had the chance." Jorlon mumbled to himself.
Malik and I both groaned.
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