His nose was broken. Again.
Alex had disappeared, probably to check that her man was all right, but Janey was still in her seat watching him, her expression blank. She rose gracefully to her feet, strolled across, and handed him a cloth. He wiped the blood away and glanced at her.
“You want to take a punch at me as well?” he asked.
A grin flashed across her face. “Tannis doesn’t let anyone mess with her crew. She’s very protective.”
“I noticed.”
For a brief second, he wondered how it would feel to have Tannis protect him. Never going to happen.
He dabbed at his nose and winced. But the strange thing was, he didn’t blame her. He’d been an idiot, and he’d nearly gotten himself taken prisoner and Jon and Rico killed. He’d made a promise and he’d had to go, but maybe he should have explained the situation. They could have gone with him, made sure he stayed out of sight. He just wasn’t used to this clandestine stuff. He also wasn’t used to explaining himself.
The visit had depressed him as well. Rosalie had been so old. She didn’t have much longer, but she’d seemed strangely happy. He’d stayed and talked to her about the colonel. She was clearly still in love with him, but believed she had made the right decision.
Callum didn’t know. He’d never been in love…
He didn’t want to leave El Cazador. For all sorts of reasons. Some of which he wasn’t willing to examine too closely just yet. He hadn’t realized quite how restricted and stultifying his life had been. The first couple of hundred years had been a challenge. Planets to discover, finding out they were telepathic, then realizing they were immortal and almost impossible to kill. Extending the Collective and gaining great wealth in the process.
Gradually, their power had grown. But at what point had he decided he wanted to rule the goddamn universe? It had just happened, like ropes of responsibility, wrapping themselves around him and slowly tightening.
For the past century or so, he might as well have been buried alive. What was the point of immortality if you didn’t care whether you lived or died? But to care, you had to have something worth caring about. For him, it had always been things rather than people. Things had long ago lost their meaning, and he had no one he cared enough about to take their place.
He was in danger of getting maudlin.
Since he’d boarded El Cazador, he’d felt as though he was waking up. Even the pain in his nose reminded him he was alive.
Rico appeared in the open doorway and every muscle in Callum’s body locked solid as tension radiated through him.
Yeah, he might have deserved that punch from Tannis, but no way was he willing to stand still while someone else took a potshot at him. This time he was getting in there first. He spread his wings, his fist clenched at his side, and he came up on the balls of his feet ready to move fast.
Rico strolled into the room. He cast a glance in Janey’s direction and waved at the doorway. Her eyes widened slightly as she glanced from Rico to Callum, then left the room.
Rico reached up and pressed the panel by the doors and they slid shut, leaving Callum alone with the vampire. Why? An audience hadn’t bothered Rico the last time he’d hit him. What was different now? Had he come to finish the job and didn’t want any witnesses?
He was also armed, and Callum still hadn’t got hold of that gun he wanted.
“Stand down,” Rico said. “I’m not here to punch you…this time.”
So what was he here for? Maybe he was going to do the whole vampire thing and drain Callum dry. His hand moved up to his throat without conscious thought.
Rico must have caught the movement because a grin flashed across his face.
“I’m not here to eat you either.” He licked his lips. “Thanks to your stunt earlier, I’ve had plenty today.”
Callum frowned. He was supposed to be the mind reader, and he didn’t like the idea of anyone being able to read him so easily.
Rico must have caught that thought as well. “I can’t read minds, but I’ve had plenty of practice reading people, and you’re pretty transparent.
“I am?”
“Oh yeah. You’re not happy because no one’s doing what you say, but at the same time, you don’t want to go back. You’ve had a few hundred years of ruling the universe and you’re bored out of your mind. I bet that broken nose is the first thing you’ve felt in years.”
The words so exactly mirrored Callum’s earlier thoughts that he turned away to hide his expression. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he paced the room for a minute, trying to work out what it was the vampire did want. In the end, he decided the easiest thing was to just ask. Even if he had an inkling that he wasn’t going to like the answer.
“So what do you want?”