Isadora (Masters Among Monsters Book 2) (19 page)

She closed her eyes and trailed a hand down to the rose lying against her throat as a salty tear fell from the corner of her eye. Why did it always end like this for her? Why were the ones she loved forever out of her grasp? Even Diomêdês, in his own way, would never really be hers.

The thought of eternity alone suddenly seemed overwhelming as she struggled to make it through the next second without her heart, or whatever kept her alive, shattering.

WAKEY, WAKEY,
AGÓRI
.
Vasilios’s silky voice slipped inside his subconscious and had Leo rolling to his side to burrow his face into the soft pillow.

“Come on,
file mou
. It’s morning. Time to open those pretty eyes of yours.”

When Leo’s eyes flew open and he saw Alasdair stretched out on the bed by his side, his breath caught.
 

 
“Ahh. There you are.”
 

Damn, he’s nice to wake up to
, he thought as he took in his luscious lips and those eyes, which were roving all over his face as though he couldn’t stop himself from looking at every single one of his features.

“How long have I been asleep?” he asked as Alasdair reached for the sheet and pulled it down his body before letting it pool at his waist.

“A little over ten hours.”

“
Ten hours
?” he asked as he sat up, his voice hitting the highest note in his octave range, he was positive.

“Apparently, you needed it.”
That
observation had come from across the room, where Vasilios was lounging on the recliner, his legs crossed at the ankles. “Something Alasdair and I will have to remember going forward, no doubt. Along with the fact that you also have to eat food.” Vasilios glanced at the small bedside table, where a tray had a glass of orange juice and—

“Is that a Pop-Tart?”

“It is.”

Leo reached for the pastry and brought it to his mouth, but before he bit into it, he asked, “Have you ever eaten one of these?” His stomach growled, and when he took a bite of it he moaned. The sweet center was like heaven.

“No. I am delighted to say I have not. It was something Alasdair found in one of the other yieldings’ belongings.”

Leo looked to Alasdair, who was still lying beside him, his head resting on his palm as he stared up at him. His gaze was intense, and the scrutiny had Leo taking another bite of the toasted goodness.
 

“It’s really good,” he said around a mouthful. “Thanks. What about you two? Did you eat?” As he asked, he frowned. Then he added, “I mean, do you need to? Or what… Ugh, don’t worry.”

“Are you asking if we have killed anyone this morning,
agóri
?”

When a rich laugh rumbled out of Alasdair, Leo glared down at him.
 

“I’m getting sick of you laughing at me.”

One of Alasdair’s eyebrows rose and a smirk—
yes, a full-on smirk
—kicked the corner of his lips up.
 

“Stop it, you two. No arguing this early in the day,” Vasilios said as he stood. He was dressed in a loose, black robe, and when he untied the belt and let it fall to the floor, Leo halted the last half of the Pop-Tart when it was halfway to his mouth. “I need to get ready. We have a hearing in less than thirty minutes, and you two are distracting.”

As he shut the door to the bathroom behind him, Leo returned his eyes to Alasdair, who’d rolled to his back and put his hands behind his head.

“
We’re
distracting?”

“He’s hungry and frustrated. A combination that leaves Vasilios…illogical.”

“Frustrated?” Leo asked. Then he popped the last bite into his mouth and slid back down under the sheets. “Does that mean that you and he didn’t—”

Before he could finish, Alasdair shifted until he was stretched out over him, his hands pinned by his head on the mattress. “It means you better be ready
later
.”

“Thank you,” he whispered sincerely.

Alasdair’s eyes narrowed. “You are most confusing,
file mou
.”

“Am I?”

“Yes,” Alasdair said, but he offered no explanation as he pulled away to kneel between his legs. “You need to get up and ready. The trial was called early this morning.”

“The… Wait. The trial?” he repeated. “Vasilios called it a hearing.”

“He lied,” Alasdair said as he climbed off the bed.

Leo shoved the covers aside and followed. “He
lied
?”

“Are you having trouble hearing this morning, Leonidas?” Alasdair walked towards the door.

But Leo flashed over and around him in an instant and plastered his back to the wood.

“Move.”

“No. Not until you tell me what that means. He lied? So it’s not a hearing, as in listening and being reasonable about things. It’s a trial for—”

“That human you call Elias.”

“I know that,” he pushed out between clenched teeth. “What happens
at
a trial in vampire land?”

Alasdair glared at him, and as his intention entered his mind, Leo reached for him. He was too late, though, because all he was touching was thin air.

“Motherfucker.”

He looked over at the shut bathroom door. He really shouldn’t, but…
Yeah, fuck it.
Balling his fists, he strode over and swung the door wide. There, standing in amongst the steam, the fog, and the scorching water, was Vasilios. Leo slammed the door behind him and waited.
 

The male in the shower didn’t flinch, didn’t even make a move to show he was aware of the intrusion. He didn’t have to. Vasilios was always a step ahead.
Hell, he probably knew the second I’d made the decision to come in here.

“I did, actually,” he said as he tilted his face up to the spray.

Leo couldn’t see the front of him, but the view from where he was standing was impressive as hell. The muscles of Vasilios’s back flexed as his arms moved, and his ass was tight and rounded.

“Careful, Leonidas. We don’t have time to explore
those
thoughts right now. Plus, you made your terms quite clear last night.”

Unable to help it, he grunted a frustrated sound, and when Vasilios turned, Leo’s eyes couldn’t help but take a quick trip over all of that wet, olive skin.

Hot, Greek, and male. Vasilios could’ve been a bronzed god people worshipped. But, as he walked out of the shower and snagged a towel to wrap around his waist, the wicked glint in his eyes made it obvious he was anything but a god.
 

Shaking himself out of his lustful imaginings, Leo said, “You lied to me.”

Vasilios sauntered over to him and admitted, “Yes. I did.” He stepped around him, opened the door, and made his way over to the impressive closet on the opposite side of the room.
 

Leo followed behind, not willing to leave it at that. He couldn’t stand by and watch Elias…
Oh god.

“You said you wouldn’t kill him. He’s my friend.”

Vasilios whisked the towel from around his hips and dropped it on the floor. “I am more than aware of what I said to you,
agóri
.”

Refusing to be distracted by his nakedness, Leo averted his eyes. “Then why are you doing this?”
 

He’d barely finished speaking when Vasilios appeared in front of him, his hands gripping his biceps as he dragged him so close that his damp skin soaked through Leo’s khaki pants.
 

“Your
friend
brought much pain to my kind over the last several days.”

Leo swallowed past the lump lodged in his throat as his heart jackhammered in his chest.
 

Vasilios placed his lips on his cheek and whispered in a voice he hadn’t heard since the vampire had threatened his life. “Do not think that, because I have a fascination with you, I can be swayed from conducting business that keeps my kind thriving. Survival comes first every time. You should keep that in mind the next time you open your mouth. Or I
will
punish you.”

As those threatening lips made their way to his ear, Leo trembled.
 

“How curious,” Vasilios murmured. “Are you disturbed or as aroused as I am right now?”

Leo bit the inside of his cheek and then angled his head so he could look Vasilios in the eyes. “Disturbed. You’re a liar.”

Vasilios swept one of his hands down and cupped him through his pants. “Sometimes,” he agreed. “Hmm, you really are disturbed. I will have to rectify that somehow. I prefer you when your cock is hard for me.”

Deciding to ignore that, Leo forged ahead. “Why lie to me and tell me you would keep him alive?”

 
“Because I
wanted
you. I wanted my blood in your veins, just as it flows through Alasdair.”

“So you told me what I wanted to hear.”

“Yes.”

“And now what?” Leo asked, pulling his head back. “Now you kill him? Kill Elias
and
Paris, who has done nothing to you?” He shoved Vasilios away from him with more force than he’d ever imagined possessing.

“Why are you so surprised? You know who we are. You have seen what we are capable of. Tell me, Leonidas Chapel, why is it acceptable for him to have tried to kill my family, yet unacceptable for me to avenge them?”

When he said it like that, Leo had no answer, nothing substantial.

“Tell me. Why should I let him live?”

Leo shut his eyes as he scrambled for something to grasp, some kind of reason that could sway the most powerful creature he’d been in the presence of to listen to him. In the end, he opened his eyes, looked into Vasilios’s, and whispered, “Because you can.”

Vasilios studied him for a moment longer and then simply answered, “No.”

THE SOUND OF footsteps could be heard through the wall Elias had his back pressed against. He’d been sitting in the same spot for hours now. Maybe the entire night. Legs drawn up, his knees against his chest, as he watched Paris closely. The young man hadn’t said two words since their last conversation, and he couldn’t really blame him. Elias had sounded like a lunatic.
 

Paris was directly opposite him in the oval room, but with the stretch of space between them, they might as well have been on different sides of the planet. As it was, he didn’t even know where
on
the planet they were.

When the footsteps stopped, he scrambled to his feet. He was about to cross over to his friend when Leo’s vampire, Alasdair, appeared directly in his path, followed by a behemoth of a male who accessorized with blades of all varying sizes.
 

During the previous times they’d met, Alasdair had appeared casual and everyday normal. Elias never would have thought he was anything other than a regular citizen in society. An extremely intimidating someone, but still, he came off human enough.
 

Right now was a different story altogether.
 

Dressed in some kind of formal attire, Alasdair had a regal air about him. His command and power radiated off him as he stood with his enormous henchman between him and Paris, who’d now gotten to his feet. Even if he hadn’t been aware of it prior to now, it was more than apparent that Alasdair was important to the hierarchy of this place.
 

“I am here to retrieve you. This can go one of two ways. Easy or difficult. The decision is yours.”

Elias glanced at Paris, whose back was to the wall. He was pale as a ghost as his eyes darted back and forth between the two standing in between them.

“If I make it easy, will you let him go?”

Alasdair walked towards him and clasped his hands together. “I don’t think you understand. I am not here to bargain with you. I am here to retrieve you.”

It was clear he would get nowhere going at this guy with that angle, but maybe… “Where’s Leo?”

Alasdair’s hint of hesitation at the question intrigued him. Apparently, the idea of his coworker at least made this asshole stop and think.
 

“How do you think he’s going to look at you if you hurt me? Or him?”

As Alasdair closed the final distance between them in menacing silence, Elias backed all the way up to the wall.
 

“Leonidas is no longer your concern.”