Savannah reached over and pulled his fisted hand up to her lips, kissed the tightly clenched knuckles with sweet compassion. He relaxed his fingers to twine them with hers. "My brothers were the reason I came to Boston. I joined the Order t hunt Rogues, after killing the three who murdered the boys, as well as dozens more for good measure."
"Hundreds more," Savannah reminded him.
He grunted. "I thought killing Rogues would make the guilt about my brothers lessen, but it hasn't."
"How long have you been trying to make it better, Gideon?"
He exhaled a low oath. "Simon and Roddy were killed three centuries ago."
She lifted her head up and stared at him. Gaped at him. "Exactly how old are you?"
"Three-hundred and seventy-two," he drawled. "Give or take a few months."
"Oh, my God." She dropped her head back down on his chest and laughed. Then laughed again. "I thought Rachel was nuts for lusting after Professor Keaton, and he was only in his forties. I'm falling in love with a total relic."
Gideon stilled. "Falling in love?"
"Yes," she replied quietly, but without hesitation. She glanced up at him. One slender black brow arched wryly. "Don't tell me that's all it takes to scare a three-hundred and seventy-two-year-old vampire."
"No," he said, but he did feel a sudden wariness.
Not because of her sweet confession; he would come back to that tempting pronouncement another time.
Right now, his warrior instincts were buzzing with cold alarm. He sat up in the tub, frowning.
"Keaton," he said flatly. "When is he due out of the hospital?"
"He is out," Savannah replied. "I saw him yesterday on campus. He looked awful, but he said he'd made a full recovery and the hospital released him earlier than expected. He was acting kind of odd--"
Gideon tensed. "Odd in what way?"
"I don't know. Weird. Creepy. And he lied to me when I asked him about the attack."
"Tell me."
She shrugged. "He told me he saw who killed Rachel and attacked him that night. Keaton said it was a vagrant, but the glimpse I got from Rachel's bracelet showed me a man in a very expensive suit. A man with amber eyes and fangs."
"Holy shit." Why he didn't see it before, Gideon had no idea. The attacker killed Savannah's roommate, but left the professor alive. That was no accident. "What else did Keaton say to you?"
"Nothing much. Like I said, he was just acting strangely, not like himself. I didn't feel safe around him."
"Did Keaton know you were going to the bus station last night?"
She paused, thinking. "I told him I was going home to Louisiana. I might have mentioned I was taking the bus--"
Gideon snarled and got out of the tub. Water sluiced off his naked limbs and torso. "I need to see Keaton for myself. It's the only way I can be certain." He thought about the hour of the day--probably just past noon--and cursed roundly.
Savannah climbed out too, and stood beside him. She put her hand on his shoulder. "Gideon, what do you need to be certain of?"
"Keaton's injuries the night of the attack," he said. "I need to know if he was bitten."
"I don't know. I didn't see that much when I touched Rachel's bracelet." She stared at him in confusion. "Why? What will it tell you if Keaton was bitten?"
"If I see him, I'll know right away if he's still human or if he's been bitten and bled by his attacker. I need to know if he's been made a Minion to the vampire who took that sword from the university."
"A Minion." Savannah went quiet now. "If Keaton was bitten, that will tell you what you need to know?"
"Yes." He raked a hand over his scalp. "The problem with that is, I'm trapped indoors until sundown."
"Gideon," she said. "What if I see Keaton now?"
"What do you mean?" He bristled at the thought of her getting anywhere near the man. "You're not going anywhere without me. I won't risk that."
She shook her head. "I mean, maybe I can tell you if Keaton was bitten during the attack." At his answering scowl, she said, "I still have Rachel's bracelet."
"Where?"
"Here, with me. It's in my purse in the other room."
"I need you to go get it, Savannah. Now."
Chapter 13
Savannah woke up from an unusually heavy doze, in bed alone.
How long had she been asleep? Her head felt thick, like she was coming out of a light anesthesia.
Where was Gideon?
She called out to him, but the empty house was silent. Pushing herself up from the mattress, she made a bleary-eyed scan of the dark bedroom. "Gideon?"
No response.
"Gideon, where are you?"
She sat up and tossed the sheet away from her. Turned on the bedside lamp. On the pillow next to her lay a piece of paper. A note scribbled on the back of the unused bus ticket that had been in her purse. The handwriting was crisp, precise, forward-tilting and bold--just like him.
Sorry had to do it like this. You're safe here. Back soon.
Savannah looked around the bedroom. Gideon's clothes were gone. His boots and weapons. Every last trace of him, gone.
She knew where he went.
Through the fog of whatever he'd done to her, she recalled his explosive reaction when she'd used Rachel's bracelet for another glimpse of the vampire attack that night in Professor Keaton's office.
Keaton had been bitten, just as Gideon suspected.
No longer the man he was, but a slave to the command of his vampire Master.
An individual Gideon seemed hellbent to find.