actually. For now.”
“Happy Easter,” Adin said over the rim of his wineglass. “A
new life awaits.”
“I’d prefer you didn’t share that information with Donte. I
find I’m reluctant to let him relax.”
“Fine.” Adin watched as Santos’s eyes strayed every now and
again to the door. “Expecting someone?”
“I estimate I have about twenty minutes before Donte finds
you, and I’d rather he didn’t find you with me.”
“ What ?” Adin nearly knocked his chair over in his haste to
rise from the table.
“He may have called Boaz to aid you with your little problem,
but I doubt he’ll be satisfied to leave your safety to someone else
for long. I imagine he’s hopped a flight to be here and is even as
we speak racing to the rescue in a cab.”
24 Z.A. Maxfield
“ Shit .” Adin made for the coat rack even as Santos dropped
extra coins on the table for the waiter.
“How romantic you are.” Santos caught up with him at the
door. “Someday perhaps the thought of seeing me after a respite
will inspire some young woman to profanity as well.”
“You don’t understand. He’s only coming here to yell at me
and tell me I’ve proven his point. He’ll try to change my mind
about being turned and we’ll only argue until he goes back to
Spain.”
“Adin.” Santos’s brow furrowed as he caught Adin’s hand and
stopped him. “I hate him for turning me. I hate him for it. If it’s
truly going to come to that, you must accept protection from
me.”
Adin nearly gaped at Santos with shock. “ Why ?”
“Why what? Being turned is a horror I wouldn’t wish on
anyone, even those who desire it, although the chance to deprive
Donte Fedeltà of his pretty toy is an added incentive. The
process is painful and disorienting and the results are anything
but guaranteed. Tell me why you refuse him.”
“I want to remain who I am,” Adin whispered. “I never want
to be loved if only I were something else, even if who I am gets
sick and rots and dies. It’s my journey. And without its beginning,
its middle, and its end, I’m not ever going to be the man I was
born to be. Do you understand that? Does it surprise you so
much?”
“Yes,” Santos continued, holding Adin’s arm. “It’s
extraordinary, really, but not unexpected from a troublemaker
like you.”
Adin shrugged and retrieved his coat, then donned it and his
scarf before exiting the restaurant.
“Come to my place in the morning. I’ll be gone. As for your
boy problem,” Santos looked around at the darkened street before
he spoke again, “I have information that may change things.”
“What?”
Vigil 25
“Harwiche fears the men he’s dealing with, he used you as
an intermediary, and now that you have made the monetary
exchange, he will either try to trade for him or take him from
you.”
“That much I figured out all by myself.”
Santos cuffed Adin’s shoulder again. “Patience, pet,” he
warned, but without the usual sting. “Boaz can and will get your
money back.”
“But—”
“Don’t ask how. It’s confidential but I’ll tell him to do it. Or
Donte will.”
“Donte?”
“Yes, I never know who Boaz is serving from one moment to
the next. But there’s something Harwiche has recently acquired,
and Fedeltà will do anything he has to do to get it. Including
giving up the boy.”
“What could Harwiche have that Donte will want so badly?’
“My father’s letters.”
“Your—” Adin’s stopped, closing his mouth over an
expression of shock.
Santos’s eyebrows rose slyly. “I may have told Donte at one
time that I burned them.”
Adin grasped the lapels of Santos’s suit. “Your father’s letters?
Truly? Donte would kill for those.”
“Ah.” Santos peeled Adin’s fingers from his coat. “If that’s
the case, it might be wise to turn the boy over to him. Harwiche
will ask for Bran in return for my father’s letters.”
“But I promised to
personal demons by christopher fowler