Dance in Shadow and Whisper (Marionettes of Myth #1)

Chapter Ten

CHAPTER TEN

  

The room was dark. Yuuhi's vampire mother liked to keep it dark. It was one of those stereotypes about evil vampire lairs that he watched her cling to like a child to its blanket—with unreasonable and incurable separation anxiety.

The chandelier above the table glimmered gold, casting tiny rainbows across the lacquered surface of the long, black oak table.

Ten of them occupied the cherry velvet-cushioned chairs, four across from the other four, with mother and father together in a loveseat at the head of the table. A number of other younger vampires stood, surrounding the table. Yuuhi had long ago lost count of how many there were. The number was always changing. Faces appeared and disappeared.

Hinako began with a smile, plum lips stark against her white teeth and long fangs, her slanted eyes pinched. She crossed one of her ivory legs over the other and rested a hand on her stoic twin brother's thigh. "How I've missed seeing each of you. We haven't lost anyone since our last meeting, have we? Well! Things are looking up, aren't they?"

She turned dark eyes to the central eight at the table, the oldest of all the children, and her gaze lingered a heartbeat longer on Yuuhi. He had made sure to grab the chair farthest from her, and he would have moved his chair even farther, perhaps to another country, if it didn't mean certain punishment.

And he couldn't risk punishment anymore.

She continued with her lavish greeting before handing the floor to her brother to discuss the recent logistics of their territory. Luck had certainly been on their side recently—although Yuuhi doubted Cassius would ever want to be referred to as 'luck'. Cassius was many things, but luck wasn't one of them.

Yuuhi's only neighbor turned a sideways look at him with her dark eyes. A frown tugged at her ruby lips, and she reached under the table to rest her fingertips on his fist clenched at his thigh. She tilted her head to give him a warning look, and he understood. Hinako would pick up on the scent of his disgust for her, and the last thing he needed was to have her decide to point it out in front of every leading vampire in the coven.

He shut his eyes as Hinako continued speaking. He tried to purge everything from his mind like he used to do, just like each of his brothers and sisters did in order to survive. But, more and more, it was like trying to swallow vomit. As soon as the gag reflex started, there was no damming the flood.

"Yuuhi."

His head jerked up.

Hinako cocked her head. The cascading waves of her black hair fell across her shoulders. "Why don't you tell your brothers and sisters how you're fairing with the mission, darling."

His mouth was dry. It took every ounce of strength to unhinge his jaw and unlock his lips to speak. "Well. Insofar. The lords of the Demon Allegiance are holding up their end of the deal for now, so there've been no issues."

The smirk deepened on Hinako's face. "And is he the one, then? Is that boy truly Ares?"

There was no doubt in Yuuhi's mind anymore. Not after the events of the day. He'd thought he'd had Jason entirely figured out, pegged him as an outcast who found protection with other outcasts and who'd rather spend his time with his nose in a book. Or an electric book. Either way, aside from being exponentially astute and the fact that Yuuhi somehow couldn't force himself into Jason's brain, he hadn't seemed anything special.

Until that dodgeball game.

Yuuhi still remembered it. Beyond the competitiveness in Jason's blood, there was a raw piece of something darker that revealed itself in the wide grin of his challenge. It was there, and it was real, and it was undeniable. It wasn't simply intelligence that had surfaced, but Ares.