cake and share some laughs. But I suppose that’s a little too much to ask from you—isn’t it?” He scowls into me as if this must be true.
“Where’s my mother?” It comes out flat as if I were asking about an old jacket I left behind.
“She’s on her way with that annoying Fem she likes to lug around.”
“The other one—the real one.”
His milky blue eyes widen. His face elongates like that painting from Munch. I should do one myself and put Jones’s likeness in it. Maybe stick a sickle in his neck just for fun. God knows I’d love to make him scream.
He shakes his head, stunned by the horror. Jones was never one to hide the way he feels. If anything, he’s the opposite of Edinger.
“You know?” He tilts into me as if this were an impossibility.
“I know. And what should be more staggering to you is the fact that Laken knows, too.” I shoot daggers into him with my hardened gaze. “But you already knew that didn’t you? She never once believed that bullshit about falling from the tree house.” A dull laugh pumps from my chest. “You thought you had it in the bag. You were so close to pulling it off.” I lean forward, elbows to the knees. “You know what I can’t figure out? Why? Why pull two kids from the country and gift them with the riches of the world? What makes Laken and me so damn special?” I don’t bother including Fletch in that equation. Something tells me he’s here on someone’s coattails, and I’m guessing that would be mine since we drowned in the lake together. “And how the fuck did you get me to play along for so long?”
“Deep hypnosis,” he breathes it out as if he were in a trance himself. “You were the perfect Manchurian candidate—you all were.” He folds his hands together staring past me at nothing in particular. “Is she angry?”
“Hell, yes, she’s angry. She wants to kill every Count on the planet, and once she finds out you’re responsible, she’ll want to start with you .”
“You’re in that number, Wes.”
“You still didn’t answer my question. Where’s my mother?”
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you—she perished.” He cuts his hand through the air as if he were stating a fact, but something in that movement makes my head spin and triggers about a dozen different memories concerning that skeletal, pasty-faced version of my mother that doesn’t, in fact, have any relation to me at all.
“Whatever the hell it is you’re doing, stop . Where’s my mother?” It rips from my lungs with a ferocity I didn’t know I had. A part of me still doesn’t accept any “past” I had outside of Laken. It’s as if she were the only true bond I had. I remember my grandfather—my mother in the kitchen baking pies as if she were about to open a factory. I can still see her soft features, her mousy hair always away from her face and the scent of lavender whenever she held me. A pang of grief washes over me at the memory, and suddenly I want nothing more than to find her and hold her.
“Her body was interned. We always take care of our own.”
I sink down in my seat and take it all in. I can’t trust a word the bastard says, and yet I believe him, and my heart feels as if it’s just been wrung out by a giant. “I’m taking Laken to the Ensign meeting. She’s agreed to be my Essential.”
His face bleaches out at the thought of me fucking his niece on some stone altar.
I try to hide the smile forming on my lips. “I’d like to petition for our first request to be utilized immediately following the ceremony.” I know for a fact that the first request can only be utilized by upper echelon Counts after a coupling initiation. And that’s exactly what Laken and I will be, upper echelon. We’ll be committed to the Countenance for all eternity, as well as one another. Any thoughts of leaving the organization—leaving each other is cause for certain death.
“I see.” He nods. “I’ll make sure it’s granted. I owe you
“Where’s my mother?” It comes out flat as if I were asking about an old jacket I left behind.
“She’s on her way with that annoying Fem she likes to lug around.”
“The other one—the real one.”
His milky blue eyes widen. His face elongates like that painting from Munch. I should do one myself and put Jones’s likeness in it. Maybe stick a sickle in his neck just for fun. God knows I’d love to make him scream.
He shakes his head, stunned by the horror. Jones was never one to hide the way he feels. If anything, he’s the opposite of Edinger.
“You know?” He tilts into me as if this were an impossibility.
“I know. And what should be more staggering to you is the fact that Laken knows, too.” I shoot daggers into him with my hardened gaze. “But you already knew that didn’t you? She never once believed that bullshit about falling from the tree house.” A dull laugh pumps from my chest. “You thought you had it in the bag. You were so close to pulling it off.” I lean forward, elbows to the knees. “You know what I can’t figure out? Why? Why pull two kids from the country and gift them with the riches of the world? What makes Laken and me so damn special?” I don’t bother including Fletch in that equation. Something tells me he’s here on someone’s coattails, and I’m guessing that would be mine since we drowned in the lake together. “And how the fuck did you get me to play along for so long?”
“Deep hypnosis,” he breathes it out as if he were in a trance himself. “You were the perfect Manchurian candidate—you all were.” He folds his hands together staring past me at nothing in particular. “Is she angry?”
“Hell, yes, she’s angry. She wants to kill every Count on the planet, and once she finds out you’re responsible, she’ll want to start with you .”
“You’re in that number, Wes.”
“You still didn’t answer my question. Where’s my mother?”
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you—she perished.” He cuts his hand through the air as if he were stating a fact, but something in that movement makes my head spin and triggers about a dozen different memories concerning that skeletal, pasty-faced version of my mother that doesn’t, in fact, have any relation to me at all.
“Whatever the hell it is you’re doing, stop . Where’s my mother?” It rips from my lungs with a ferocity I didn’t know I had. A part of me still doesn’t accept any “past” I had outside of Laken. It’s as if she were the only true bond I had. I remember my grandfather—my mother in the kitchen baking pies as if she were about to open a factory. I can still see her soft features, her mousy hair always away from her face and the scent of lavender whenever she held me. A pang of grief washes over me at the memory, and suddenly I want nothing more than to find her and hold her.
“Her body was interned. We always take care of our own.”
I sink down in my seat and take it all in. I can’t trust a word the bastard says, and yet I believe him, and my heart feels as if it’s just been wrung out by a giant. “I’m taking Laken to the Ensign meeting. She’s agreed to be my Essential.”
His face bleaches out at the thought of me fucking his niece on some stone altar.
I try to hide the smile forming on my lips. “I’d like to petition for our first request to be utilized immediately following the ceremony.” I know for a fact that the first request can only be utilized by upper echelon Counts after a coupling initiation. And that’s exactly what Laken and I will be, upper echelon. We’ll be committed to the Countenance for all eternity, as well as one another. Any thoughts of leaving the organization—leaving each other is cause for certain death.
“I see.” He nods. “I’ll make sure it’s granted. I owe you
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