When Three Points Collide: Ra's Story, page 10
“Sir, I must protest.” Yakov’s eyes darted between the departing guards and Ra who was checking out what was in the refrigerator. “This coven is run to the highest standards. It meets and exceeds all paranormal laws relating to our kind. To have your guard dogs sniffing around, it’s… it’s… it’s an insult to our Master.”
“Is it?” Ra pulled out two bottles of beer and threw one at Zeus. “I doubt Kirill will think so, especially when he totally understood my need to confirm there were no unattached humans in this estate. If I’m going to think about living here, then I can’t have humans dazzled by my brilliance every five minutes. It’s quite annoying. Now, enough. I trust my guards to do their job. We’d like to see Kirill’s office now. Zeus wants to check out his computer system.” He opened his bottle and took a swig. It wasn’t bad as far as beers went.
“I can hook you up to our general system.” Yakov’s eyes kept glancing down the hallway where the guards had gone. “My master’s computer system is entirely separate to everything else and I don’t have access to it. It’s password protected.”
“Not against a god, it isn’t.” Zeus swigged down the contents of his bottle and put it on a nearby table before cracking his knuckles. “Come along fang boy, show me the way.”
“It’s er… you’ve already passed it. It’s back down the hall – the large dark wooden doors with the gold handles.” Yakov twisted his hands together. “I just need to go and…”
“You’re not going anywhere.” A rope tied with a lasso knot appeared in Zeus’s free hand. Seconds later that same lasso was around Yakov’s middle and Zeus pulled the loop tight. “You’re going to sit in your master’s office, with us, until Ra’s Anubis guards are done snooping.”
“And you’d better hope we don’t find anything,” Ra added. “I can’t imagine how my beloved Kirill will react if we do, especially after the lengths he went to, assuring me there were no unattached humans ever allowed on the estate.”
From the pasty green tinge along Yakov’s jaw, it would seem the second knew exactly how Kirill would react. But Ra had to give it to the sneaky vampire, he still thought he was in the clear. “So,” Yakov said brightly, as though he wasn’t being dragged down the hallway in front of many of his curious coven members. “How did you meet our Master? Was it romantic? When he was on holiday perhaps?”
Ra turned, the weight of his headdress pulling on his neck as he looked down at the still grinning vampire. “I met him in a basement where he was chained to a wall. Apparently, he’d been drugged by someone too chickenshit to challenge him. You can imagine how he and his beloveds, including me, feel about that.”
Yakov’s gulp could barely be heard above the sound of Zeus’s boots on the marble tiles, as they made their way to Kirill’s office.
/~/~/~/~/
“What if they don’t find anything?” Kirill had given up sitting twenty minutes before and was now pacing the room. “What if Yakov hasn’t got hidden humans being kept in cages or whatever else on coven grounds?”
“Everything we’ve heard about him indicates that he hasn’t changed at all.” Paulie leaned on his palm, his elbow on the table, watching the screen dreamily. “Doesn’t my Zeus look amazing in a suit? And when he flexes those fingers over a keyboard, my knees go weak.”
Kirill tugged at his hair. “I don’t know what’s worse. If they do find something, the council’s going to be looking real hard at me, and I’m not sure if I could live with myself, knowing abuse had been going on under my nose, but if they don’t… then I’ve still got to kill Yakov for freaking chaining me up and threatening my mate. I can’t do that standing around here.” He paused by the screens. “What’s your mate doing in front of my computer?”
“Hacking into it.” Paulie looked up and grinned. “It’s kinda what he does, although not often. There’s not a device around my mate can’t work his magic on and get into. He’s so smart about things like that.”
“There’s a known murderer and sexual abuser sitting in the office with my beloved, and your mate thinks it’s time to see how many blood bags I order for the coven every month?”
“And what your porn tastes are like.” Giggling, Paulie put his finger up to his lips. “Shush. Looks like he’s found something interesting. Oh, and it looks like one of the guards are back.”
Kirill slumped back in his seat. He’d never felt so hopeless in his life. From the moment he became an adult, Kirill had prided himself on being in control of his life and had been happy to suffer any consequence of his actions. Having his coven “invaded” by two gods, while he was stuck in Montana of all places, was so outside his comfort zone he didn’t know how much more he could stand.
Arvyn’s smile was sympathetic, but Kirill could tell his wolfen beloved was as tense as he was. The tightness in Arvyn’s shoulders and his chiseled jaw line was a huge clue. Kirill wasn’t sure he could offer much comfort, but he reached over, settling his hand on Arvyn’s taut thigh. The muscle under his hand didn’t relax, but Arvyn covered his hand with his own, letting Kirill know his touch was welcome at least. While Kirill wasn’t sure he knew which way was up anymore, knowing Arvyn was on his side was a bonus.
Chapter Fourteen
Ra did not like his mate’s coven. In fact, he’d go so far as to say he hated it. The whole place had a chill that had nothing to do with the weather. It was a building full of pretentious people who all looked as though a couple of gods visiting was an everyday event, and they were certainly too refined to gush about it. But, oh, Ra wasn’t deaf, and he’d heard their hushed gossip as he walked past, vampires eagerly wondering what they could get out of a god their coven leader had the sense to claim.
We’ll be the most powerful coven in the world.
Untold riches will be ours for the asking.
There’s nothing stopping our master from taking over the council now – so much influence and power.
He doesn’t look like much, but hey, Kirill can always keep the lights off and his eyes closed. Imagine how much power a god’s blood would give to our master. Ooh, I see great things for our coven.
If the coven members weren’t bad enough, the slimeball Yakov made Ra’s skin crawl just being near him. It’d always fascinated Ra, how all beings could be born with a pure soul, and yet some of them turned out to be lower than slugs in terms of their behavior and the way they treated others. Yakov was worse than a slug. He gave slugs a bad name.
“Well, lookie here.” Ra looked over to where Zeus was busy sitting in front of a computer and tapping on a keyboard that was far larger than the one Ra tried using on his phone. “Yakov, you really have been taking advantage of your master’s absence, haven’t you?”
“I adore our master and am supremely loyal to him. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Our master will be furious when he knows someone’s been messing with his computer. No one is allowed to touch it. No one.” Yakov was still bound with the lasso Zeus had fashioned for him. It’s a shame it didn’t come with a gag.
“What did you find?” Ra turned back to the window he was staring out of, suppressing his urge to wipe Yakov’s face off. I have every right. That man chained my mate to the walls of his own coven for a week!
“In the week Kirill was imprisoned, someone, namely Yakov, has been busy sending out missives to other covens, seeking investment in what he’s calling a “pleasure palace” project.” Ra heard Zeus tap a few more keys. “It would seem our little rodent wasn’t content with trying to keep Kirill from his beloveds, he also wanted to leverage Kirill’s name to get money from other coven masters for a building development he describes as ‘a luxurious setting where vampires can be true to their nature’.”
“How do you mean, leveraging Kirill’s name?” Ra swirled, his eyes flashing.
“Exactly that.” Zeus tapped the screen. “Yakov has been writing to coven masters, as Kirill’s representative, claiming that his master felt shackled by the constraints of modern society, and wanted a return to the old ways.”
“Where blood was taken from the source rather from bags.” Ra clenched his fists. “Zeus…”
Ra didn’t get a chance to say anything else because there was a tap at the door, and one of the Anubis guards stepped in. Tapping his chest and bowing low to Ra, the guard straightened. “My Lord, there is something on the grounds we feel you must see immediately.”
Closing his eyes for one moment, Ra allowed himself a split second of Please, no, not what I think this is before snapping his eyes open again. “Get one of your brethren to take him.” Ra pointed his finger at Yakov who was now doing an impression of a grounded fish. “He is to be relocated to my realm and secured with Osiris. Inform the Lord of the Dead this person is not to be released for any reason without my command. And take the vampire he was being intimate with when we arrived too.”
“My Lord.” The guard bowed, and then pushed the door open, revealing two other guards who swiftly and silently did as they were ordered.
Yakov wasn’t going quietly. “You can’t do this,” he screamed as he struggled with the guards who didn’t seem concerned by his efforts. “You have no idea what shit you’re bringing down on your heads. I have friends far more powerful than you – friends who will take two washed up gods and render them powerless. Kirill! Kirill! Save m…” His last word was cut off and Ra sighed as Yakov left the building.
He looked up to see Zeus watching him, a worried look in his stormy eyes. “You sure you know what you’re doing, Ra? That’s awfully close to interference, taking mortals to your realm.”
“I haven’t killed them, and I don’t intend to, at least not yet. This is a matter for my beloved, not me. Are you coming to see what was found on the grounds?”
Zeus stood up, buttoning his jacket. “I’ll come but we already know what we’re going to find, don’t we?”
“I’m not going to be able to live here.” Ra placed one hand on Zeus’s shoulder and one on the shoulder of the guard.
“Earth?” Zeus raised his eyebrows. “I thought you loved it down here.”
“This coven.” Following the lead Ra saw in the guard’s head, he translocated the three of them to a barn at the back of the coven estate. His impression of the coven didn’t improve when he got his first look in the barn.
/~/~/~/~/
Arvyn gasped and then covered his mouth with his hand as the pictures of emaciated humans and shifters alike filled the screen. Their clothing was nothing more than rags. Skull and skeletal bones punctured skin stretched loosely over where muscle used to be. Many of the beings were chained, much like Kirill had been, their bodies hanging limply due to their lack of strength. Cages, some filled with shifters in their animal forms crowded one wall of the barn. In other cages, male and female human forms, some who looked like they’d barely hit twenty, lay huddled on the wire floors, barely moving when Ra and Zeus arrived.
“Why?” Arvyn railed at Paulie who’d turned his head from the screens and was sitting hunched in his chair. “Why, if these damn screens can show this now, why couldn’t they find those poor wretches before? Look at the state of them.”
“Gods cannot interfere in the affairs of mortals.” Paulie was rocking slightly, and Wes and Cass who’d said nothing up until now flanked him, resting their hands on his shoulders. “No matter the horrors we see, or how unjust a situation might be, by our laws, every being is entitled to free will and we have no right to change the outcome of their situation.” He raised his head and Arvyn saw tears pouring down his cheeks.
“The only reason Zeus and Ra can do anything now, is because of Kirill’s mating bond with Ra. Yakov’s actions directly threatened Kirill’s coven, his reputation and his life. If there hadn’t been that connection, then even if this had been something we’d seen, we couldn’t do anything unless the Fates themselves asked us to.”
“But that can’t be true,” Arvyn cried. “Only a being with ice water in their veins could see that amount of suffering and pass on by.”
“You think this is easy for Ra, Zeus, or any of the other gods that watch the earth?” Paulie leapt to his feet, his face still streaked with tears. “You sit there with your moral judgements and condemn the gods who have been around since the beginning of time. This,” he flung his arm at the screen, “this is nothing. The hatred beings have shown towards each other in the name of religion, or science, narcissism, or pure greed, has rippled around earth’s crust for eons. This was just the work of a few. In a global context, it’s a drop in the ocean.”
“How can you even say that?” Arvyn was shocked.
“Do you know how many babies die every single day in various war zones around the earth? Do you know how many innocent people are killed by their loved ones year after year after year? How many people are intentionally murdered, not an accident or by the hand of fate, but intentionally murdered every single year in the US alone? These people die because of hatred - the actions of other people. People hating others. People exploiting others. People who have such rigid views of what society looks like that they see nothing wrong in killing others who don’t fit their ideas of what is right or wrong. The gods didn’t do any of this. The gods are not to blame. It is people doing this to other people, like Yakov and other coven members being responsible for the atrocities in that barn. At least, thanks to Ra and Zeus, those people on the screens will live. Thousands and thousands of others aren’t so lucky.”
“But some of those…” Arvyn could barely speak. “Some of them… hell, they’re still children.”
“I said the gods still watched the people, but the truth is, very few do anymore.” Paulie sat back in his chair, looking drained. “Zeus is one of the few that takes an active role and tries to do his bit without being noticed. He works to save innocents, paranormals that can lead a good life with a loving mate or mates beside them, like me. Even so he’s skating the line and he knows it. Just be thankful those people at the coven were saved today. It might not mean much in the scheme of things, but to those individuals it will mean everything.”
“I don’t know how you can stand it.” Arvyn reached out for Kirill blindly, his eyes filled with tears. Kirill was motionless, his eyes bleak, his lips pressed tightly together. It might have been thirty seconds, it could’ve been an hour, Arvyn had no way of knowing. But when Kirill did speak, it was to ask Paulie for the use of a phone.
Tapping out a number, he said, “Hello, this is Kirill, master of the Dublin coven. I require the council to interview all of the vampires at the address and arrange for them to be transferred to other covens or provided the means to live independently away from the coven estate… yes, you heard me correctly… the Dublin Coven is being disbanded. I am no longer fit to rule, and there is none I trust there to take over for me… Yes, that’s right… No, they have not been informed, but this is my decision and it’s final. You’ll have confirmation of this decision typed up, signed and sent to you within the hour.”
Kirill listened for a moment, and while Arvyn had exceptional hearing, he couldn’t make out what was being said. “No,” Kirill said at last, his tone sharpening, “I am not a danger to myself or others and as far as I’m aware the majority of the vampires living under my roof have not been engaged in any criminal activity. Those that have been, have been punished accordingly.”
He dropped his voice and Arvyn heard a tremble in the bigger man’s voice. “I’ve been doing this too long,” Kirill’s voice was barely a whisper. “Six hundred years I’ve had my coven. Six hundred years of strife, and power grabbing, posing and posturing, and… and… I just can’t do it anymore. I’m done, I’m dropping out. Yes, that’s my final decision.”
Kirill tapped the screen and then handed the phone back to Paulie. Arvyn hesitated, unsure for a moment what he should do. But then Kirill’s lip quivered and Arvyn pulled his mate into his arms. Keeping his eyes closed, so as not to see what was going on in the screens behind him, Arvyn held his mate tight as the vampire cried in his arms. They were still huddled together when Ra and Zeus beamed back into the room.
Chapter Fifteen
Ra’s heart initially sunk as he saw his two men entwined in each other, the horror from the barn and the cleanup instigated still playing out on the screens behind them. Can’t they have the decency to keep their hands to themselves for five freaking minutes? Don’t they care…?
But Ra’s negative thoughts shut down as fast as they began as his brain registered more details. Kirill’s shoulders were shaking, his face buried in Arvyn’s neck. Arvyn’s face was so pale in contrast to his facial hair, and the only reason he was still upright was probably due to Kirill’s bulk and big arms wrapped around his waist.
They need me. This time Ra didn’t ignore his instincts.
Crossing the small space between them, still in his godly form, Ra pulled both men towards his chest, cradling them in his arms. It’d been so long since he’d held anyone except Egan and his body came alive as Arvyn’s heat, and Kirill’s strength pressed against him, the thinness of his robes offering him little protection from a natural reaction. A reaction Ra would ignore for now.
“Please,” he murmured as both men turned to him, their arms holding him just as closely, Arvyn’s nose working overtime against his pecs. “Please, let me take you somewhere.”
Kirill looked up first, his dark eyes red rimmed and puffy. “I gave it up. I gave it all up. The coven’s no longer my home. I can’t… after all that…” He waved a hand in the general direction of the computer screens. “I was living there… they suffered… I was right there… how could I not know?”
“Oh, Kirill.” Ra was floored by the despair in the vampire’s eyes. It mirrored the ache in his soul. “Can you trust me?”
“With my life, I swear.”
“Me too. I promise.” Arvyn looked up at him, his eyes just as bad, but Ra didn’t think he’d ever seen a pair of faces so beautiful. “Just take us. I don’t care where, but please…”
