The biggest concern of all was that Bram was the evil he feared.
There were times he woke in a cold sweat, having just dreamt that he’d taken her hard and rough in the most carnal of ways—right before his demon surged up.
Just thinking on it now caused his pulse to speed and sweat to form on his brow.
“You all right?” asked Harker.
Bram closed his eyes a moment. “I honestly do not know.”
“How often are you having these dreams of this woman?” asked Harker. “Still just a couple of times a week?”
Swallowing hard, Bram tried to ignore the smell of blood as he answered. “No.”
“More than that?” asked Harker.
Bram acknowledged the question with a slight tilt of his head.
“How much more?” Harker continued, worry in his voice.
“Every time I fall asleep as of late,” confessed Bram.
“You’ve been burning the candle at both ends, mate,” said Harker, as if that alone explained everything. “Did you feed today?”
Bram tried to recall the last time he’d stopped to drink from the bagged blood reserves he traveled with. He drew a blank.
You. Did. Not, said his demon, punctuating every word, annoyance rising as it did.
Harker refrained from lecturing him, which Bram appreciated. “I’ve got this if you need to step away.”
“Old friend, this is our cross to bear,” said Bram, the pun not lost on him. “We’ll face it together.”
Harker visually scanned the surrounding remains. “I can’t even begin to guess where they’ll strike next or what will be left in their wake. Each crime scene is worse than the last.”
Bram stared off into the tree line, his mind racing. “Everything in me says they’re headed to America. That this was just to make sure we knew it was them.”
“The Order has always had a flair for the dramatic,” said Harker as he nodded his head to one of the bodies.
The team member who was documenting the scene approached. “I’m done in this area. They’re going to start bagging the bodies.”
“Michael,” said Harker. “Can you be sure to get the outlying area too? I don’t want to miss anything. Spiral method, please.”
Michael Hutton walked off and began singing something about being turned right round—whatever that meant.
Confusion must have showed on Bram’s face because Harker snickered.
“From a popular song back in the ’80s,” said Harker.
“How young is he?” asked Bram, unsure of Michael’s actual age.
Harker snorted. “A right bit younger than us, old friend.”
Michael worked his way out in a pattern that left him widening the circle he was examining. He took his time, carefully logging the evidence. That would assure they had ample photographs, measurements, and notes for later reference.
Once Michael was far enough away to afford them privacy, Harker turned his attention back to Bram. “We should bring Seward and Morris in on this,” he said, listing the others who had taken part in defeating Dragos long ago. All the men also had direct ties to Dracula. “Of course, that will mean you and Seward will need to act like grown-ups and stop fighting like schoolboys.”
“He started it,” said Bram quickly, instantly falling back into old habits when it came to the feud.
Harker grunted. “Did he? The way I remember it, you got your knickers in a twist because he wanted to tell your daughter the truth of who and what she is after her mother passed.”
“See,” stated Bram evenly. “He did start it. Had he left well enough alone and allowed me to handle my own family affairs, all would be fine now.”
Harker couldn’t have rolled his eyes harder if he tried. “Come off it, mate. We both know you aren’t handling it, and you never were. Tucking your head in the sand and hoping for the best when it comes to Dana isn’t a working game plan, despite what you think.”
“Now isn’t the time or the place for this discussion,” warned Bram.
“Really? Seems to me that standing over fresh kills caused by an enemy you’ve been hunting for over a hundred years, who is clearly trying to send you a message, is a prime time for the talk. She needs to know the truth, Bram. You aren’t able to tell her. You know it. I know it. Seward knows it. Let him do it,” said Harker, no malice in his voice. “She’s special to us all, and while I know you and I are close, Seward is something like a brother to you. Trust that he can handle this. That he has only ever had your best interest at heart.”
“Dana’s been safe so far,” stated Bram.
“Because she had Daniella there for the first half of her life, as well as Wilma. How much longer does Wilma have left? She’s pushing a hundred.”
At the mention of Daniella’s mother, Bram cringed. Wilma detested the very air he breathed.
Harker continued, “Dana’s had Wilma’s magik protecting her as much as it can ever since she was born. Not to mention the New York teams of slayers checking in on her. Then there was the whole, you ordering Dwayne and his family to insert themselves into her life, only to rip them away the second you found out his son was dating her.”
“Do not remind me,” said Bram. When he’d sent one of Harker’s many relatives to New York to put himself and his family in Dana’s day-to-day life so that someone could be close to her at school, he never dreamed it would end in a budding relationship between Dwayne’s son, Kellan, and Dana, but it had. The second he’d learned as much, Bram had recalled Dwayne and his family, forbidding Kellan from contacting Dana again.
“You’re in charge,” said Harker. “We all know that, but that doesn’t mean you’re always right. On this, you’re dead wrong. Emphasis on the dead. It’s been twenty years since you and Seward had the falling-out. It’s past time one of you takes the high road. With The Order and what they’re pulling, that time is now, Bram.”
“It hasn’t been twenty years,” said Bram before thinking better of it. Truth was, it had been slightly over that since Daniella’s passing and the argument with Seward. He gasped.
“Did the math, I see,” said Harker with a snort. “I get time is on our side, being immortals and all, but be a big boy now, Bram. Call Seward. Say you’re sorry. Free him from the ridiculous blood oath you made him take back then that keeps him from telling her or anyone else the truth. Let him do what you should have done by now—let him tell Dana the truth. He’s pretty damn qualified when it comes to dealing with people and their emotions, wouldn’t you agree?”
He was right.
Not that Bram cared to admit that out loud.
Harker wasn’t done. “Bram, we don’t need history to repeat itself. Want what happened between you and Holmwood to happen again?”
“No,” said Bram, his body tightening as he remembered his friend, Arthur Holmwood. They’d gotten into an argument that had started over the amount of time Arthur was spending in the company of the Fae. While Bram wouldn’t have normally thought much of it, Arthur had been rumored to be romantically involved with a member of the Nightshade Clan of Fae.
While all Fae had ties to nature, some had other strengths. The Nightshade were well-known for their ties to death magiks and to The Order of the Dragon. Something best left untouched, especially by a vampire—which Arthur had been.