“And so you sold your soul to make up for your bungled attempt to become emperor?”
“Dara paid the cost of my conceit,” Gaius said, a visible shudder wracking his thin body. “I would have sold my soul a thousand times over to bring her back.”
Santiago furrowed his brow, assuming the seeds of his sire’s madness must have been planted in that moment. “Even knowing it’s a futile dream?”
“I will admit that I began to fear that I’d been taken for a fool. The Dark Lord”—he spit out the name of his former master—“proved to be a disappointment. Or so I thought.”
“What do you mean?” Santiago pressed. Not because he gave a damn. Gaius had proven over and over he was unworthy of Santiago’s forgiveness. But he needed to understand how the vampire could have become infected by the dangerous spirit.
“I awoke in the warehouse to discover that Dara was with me.”
Santiago shook his head. He’d been in the warehouse during the bloody battle with the Dark Lord. Even with all the chaos he would have known if Dara was near.
“You mean with you in spirit?”
“No . . . she’s here,” Gaius insisted. “In this house.”
Okay, enough. The vampire was either trying to trick him or so Froot Loops that he was imagining his deceased mate had been returned from the dead.
“I searched the house before coming into the cellars,” he said, his flat tones warning he wasn’t in the mood to be jerked around. “There’s no one here beyond the humans and Tonya.”
Gaius hesitated, his eyes shifting toward the open door as he used his senses to search for his missing mate. “She must have . . .”
“What?”
The older vampire frowned in confusion before at last giving a shake of his head. “She must be hiding until we’re certain that you can be trusted.”
“Me?” Santiago glared at the man who’d caused so much pain. “I’m not the one who betrayed my people.”
Gaius winced, holding out his hand in a silent plea. “There hasn’t been a night that has passed that I haven’t regretted leaving you behind, my son.”
Using the legitimate excuse to shift away from the gesture of reconciliation, Santiago edged to the side. Still, Gaius remained poised between him and the silent Tonya. He needed to get closer.
“It’s too late. . . .”
“But it isn’t,” Gaius harshly interrupted him. “Dara has been returned. We’ll be together as a family again.”
Santiago swallowed a growl of impatience. Obviously his sire’s insanity went beyond just thinking his mate was hiding nearby if he thought Santiago would ever consider him a part of his family.
“And that’s why you kidnapped Tonya?” he snapped.
Gaius glanced over his shoulder at the trembling imp. “In part.”
“What’s the other part?”
There was a long silence before Gaius turned back. Almost as if he was debating how much to confess.
“Dara is in danger,” he at last said.
Santiago didn’t bother to try and argue that Dara couldn’t possibly be in danger. He could only hope that they were at last getting to the point of Tonya’s kidnapping.
“In danger from what?”
“The Oracles.”
Santiago froze. Did Gaius simply sense that he was being hunted by the Commission? Or did someone—or something—whisper in his ear that the powerful Oracles were a danger to his dead mate?
He carefully considered his words. “Why would they be a threat to Dara?”
“Because she’s . . .”
“Gaius?”
“Because she’s not supposed to be here,” Gaius whispered in low tones, acting as if he feared his words might be overheard. “That’s all I know.”
Santiago studied the vampire’s gaunt face and the shadows beneath his eyes. Despite the blood staining his face that spoke of a recent frenzied feeding, he appeared like a man who’d been starved for weeks, if not months.
There was more wrong with Gaius than his missing sanity.
“What do you want from me?”
He again held out his hand. “Your forgiveness.”
Santiago deliberately folded his arms over his chest. Not even to gain information could he offer absolution.
“You didn’t kidnap Tonya for my forgiveness,” he pointed out, his frigid voice making Gaius drop his hand in defeat.
“You are my son,” he muttered.
“If you were so anxious for a reunion you would have contacted me when you first returned from behind the Veil,” Santiago reminded his sire. “Now tell me what you truly want.”
Gaius hunched a shoulder. “You will learn to believe me.”
“Fine.” Tired of the vampire’s insistence on pretending he gave a damn about his one-time son, Santiago called his bluff. “You want my forgiveness, then release Tonya.”
Predictably Gaius shook his head, his hands plucking at the cuff of his dark silk shirt. He didn’t seem to notice the material was frayed and coated with dust. Yet another indication that the vampire was out of his mind.
“I can’t. Not yet.”
“Why?”
“We must . . .” Something moved in Gaius’s dark eyes. Something immense and . . . aware. Like a great beast that was hidden in the shadows, just waiting to pounce. “There’s a book.”
Santiago’s muscles tensed, a sharp fear jolting through him.
Mierda.
He wasn’t mistaken. There was something inside Gaius. Controlling him without the older vampire even being aware of the creature.
Was this the spirit that the Oracles were hunting? The supposed creator of vampires?
And if it was . . . what the hell was he supposed to do about it?
For the moment it obviously preferred to keep its presence hidden. And Santiago was happy to pretend he hadn’t caught a glimpse of the terrifying creature.
At least until he could determine exactly what it wanted with him.
“What book?” he asked, giving up any rash idea of trying to simply grab Tonya and flee.
At the moment, he wasn’t sure any of them were going to get out of the cellar alive.
Or sane.
“A spell book,” Gaius said, a throb of frustration beginning to beat in the air. “It’s being protected by black magic. We need to destroy it.”
Santiago didn’t have to pretend his confusion. This was why he was lured to Wisconsin? Because of a book?