100% That Witch - Celia Kyle Page 0,47

deep calming breath, rolling her eyes the entire time.

“I thought Nero was gay!” she finally sputtered.

Nathan raised one eyebrow, giving a little snort. “What the hell gave you that idea? Your gaydar must be totally on the fritz, doll.”

“When you invited him to Aurora’s going-away party, I assumed he was your date. Now you’re always hanging out together…” Her sentence trailed off lamely as she realized her evidence didn’t even qualify as circumstantial.

Shit.

Nathan sighed, brushing his nails against his chest as if he was polishing them on a nonexistent shirt. He raised both eyebrows and smirked, playing up the affected, casual air.

“Nero is an old friend of mine, Tiff. Like, really old. You misunderstood. That’s all.”

“That’s all?” she echoed incredulously. “I think you owe me a bit more than that.”

“Owe you?” His eyes widened in mock shock. “Why would I owe you anything over such a casual, meaningless mistake?” His expression shifted into a sly smirk and his eyebrows bounced up and down, implying more than she was ready to admit.

“That’s it.” She slapped her hand down on the table, hard. “You know exactly what’s going on here. Don’t you? Don’t play dumb. Explain this shit to me before I go completely out of my mind.”

Nathan’s smile immediately warmed and his eyes softened. He patted the table gently as he sat up and put his feet on the floor.

“Come on, sit down. Get yourself a drink. I wasn’t sure it was my place to tell this story, but you’re right. You need to know. I was waiting for Nero to tell you himself, but the truth is, he probably never would.”

Tiffany came to the table with a fizzy, premixed cocktail-in-a-bottle, watching Nathan with wide eyes. Whatever this was, it sounded pretty serious.

“Go on. I feel like I’m not going to like whatever it is.”

“It’s not a pretty story,” Nathan agreed. “But here goes. A long, long time ago… Hey, isn’t that the start of a Don McLean song?”

“Focus, Nathan.”

He smirked and took another swig of his drink. “Both Nero and I were turned by the same vamp.”

Interesting but hardly earth-shattering news.

“So that makes you blood brothers or something?”

“Never really thought of it like that, but I guess it does. That’s not the important part, though. This vamp was a rogue, the worst possible kind. He killed without mercy and he turned humans against their will.”

Tiffany felt icy claws in her stomach. She knew this part, of course, but hearing Nathan say it with such visceral emotion made it even more real. Nathan had been there. His recounting of the memory was heavily significant.

“It was hundreds of years ago, so no one challenged this vamp. There were very few rules back then, and they were routinely ignored for the right price. Fuck knows why he did what he did, but I can say with authority, not all of his turnings were forced.” He jerked a thumb at himself. “Most of the rest grew to like the life sooner or later, or at least, dig the perks and get used to the downsides.” He paused to stare into his beer, as if he could find answers there.

“Thing is, for Nero it was worse than dying. He had always lived in complete harmony with nature. Did you know he was pals with that Thoreau chap? Never harmed a single soul unless it was a necessary act, and even then, he could cut down a large tree or end the life of an old or sick animal without causing any pain or fear.”

Tiffany heard a hint of pain in Nathan’s voice, and she realized how deeply Nathan cared for his friend. That was the closeness she had mistaken for intimacy, but it was a completely different kind than she’d assumed.

“He couldn’t let it go. He would rather have died than become a bloodsucker, but his personal moral code wouldn’t permit suicide. If he was still alive—even in that state—he believed the universe must have a purpose for him. But his soul was darkened with rage, and the thirst for revenge consumed him for the first time. That tenacity led to the Master being executed by the authorities, an unheard-of event in those times, despite the laws.”

Nathan looked off into the shadows for a moment, his eyes unfocused. She could tell he was deciding how much to reveal to her, so she remained silent, hoping for the whole shebang.

“That was not a pleasurable event for us, his other blood children. When the Master died, we