Christian leaned back in his chair and flashed him a dark look. “Would you like me to order another platter for your gob?”
Wyatt licked his fingers, unfazed by Christian’s usual gruff demeanor. “After refueling my brain, I’m going upstairs to poke around and see what I can find. There’s chatter on some of the boards about the power-surge thing. Some people think it’s the end times. Others think a solar flare or some natural phenomenon caused it. Bunch of weirdos.”
Shepherd folded his arms on the table. “And what do you think it is, Spooky? A new upgrade?”
Wyatt sputtered with laughter and slapped his hand on the table. “That was a good one!”
Shepherd gave him a frosty glare. “Button it up.”
Hunter giggled.
Gem picked at the breadstick on her plate. “The Relic didn’t have any answers. Viktor, isn’t there anyone else we can see?”
“Nyet. Mary is the best when it comes to strange Mage phenomena.”
Raven snorted. “She’s never met me.”
Christian gave her a wolfish smile and raised his glass. “Strange indeed.”
“Strange bedfellows,” Shepherd muttered.
Pausing the glass at his lips, Christian said, “I heard that.”
“Can we see him now?” Raven asked, staring at the platter. “It feels wrong to sit here and keep eating.”
“Speak for yourself,” Wyatt said around a mouthful of shrimp.
Kira placed a small bowl of melted butter in front of Shepherd and quickly left. Sometimes it was almost as if she wasn’t there. They’d all gotten used to it, but Gem couldn’t help but wonder what Kira’s story was. Everyone had a story.
Gem glanced to her right and noticed Shepherd rubbing at the scars on his hands. He sometimes did that when he wanted a cigarette, but he usually waited until everyone was done eating before lighting up.
Shepherd cleared his throat. “If it’s all the same to you, Viktor, I’d rather check on our buddy. Maybe I can do something.”
Viktor wiped his mouth with a cloth napkin and stood. “Fine, fine. Let me change his bedding and see that he’s decent first, then I will message you. Eat. There is no reason to insult Kira by letting our food get cold.”
Raven held the stem of her glass and stared vacantly at the wine. Christian’s hand was also on the table, and Gem spotted him brushing his pinky against Raven’s. No one else noticed, but that fleeting show of tenderness held her captive. It didn’t seem that long ago that Christian was a colder man. Something had changed in him. He didn’t care that Raven had mismatched eyes or that she wasn’t a pure Vampire. Older immortals were usually critical about defects. Gem often received tasteless remarks from gauche men because of her height. If only she had a nickel for every time some joker asked if she shopped in the kids’ section. She was barely over five feet tall, and being petite didn’t help matters. Height discrimination was a real thing.
“Gem, come with me,” Viktor said, touching her shoulder as he passed behind her chair.
“Moi?” she drawled, trying to avoid the curious stares.
“I need to speak with you privately about a project.”
It was the truth. Viktor chose his words carefully when Claude was present. Luckily, Claude was too busy scarfing down the basket of garlic breadsticks to bother parsing Viktor’s emotional scent. Hunter sipped his grape juice, his blue eyes wide and watchful.
Gem flashed down the hall and caught up with Viktor. She gathered her duster in the front and tied it with the cloth belt. “Are you sure there isn’t someone else you could call? Mary was knowledgeable and nice, but she can’t be the only energy expert in the whole wide world.”
Viktor started ascending the stairs. “She is the best in her field and has connections. If anyone knows something, it is Mary.”
Gem waited until they reached the second floor before asking any more questions. Christian had a tendency to eavesdrop, but his skills weakened with more walls between them. “What about Claude?”
Viktor tucked his hands in the pockets of his grey cardigan. “What about Claude?”
“Can he dreamwalk? Some Chitahs can enter people’s dreams. I’ve never asked him about it because, well, it just never came up.”
“Nyet. Claude cannot dreamwalk from what he has told me.” They turned a corner down a long hall, candles in sconces lit up the arched ceiling. “Besides, it would be useless to send anyone into his dreams. Niko—if he’s even in a dream world—would only be confused by a visitation. It is not as easy as you might think to convince a dreamer that you are real.”
When they reached Niko’s bedroom and closed the door, Viktor immediately crossed the room and started stoking the fire. Gem drifted over to the bed and stared down at the ancient Mage. Niko’s ebony hair looked spun from silk. She touched his arm, her fingers skimming across his brown skin. Stubble peppered his chin and jaw, but the hairs were sparse and would never become a full beard. How had she never noticed how beautiful he was? She already missed seeing his crystal-blue eyes and hearing his silken voice.
“I’ll get you out of this,” she whispered. “I promise.”
Viktor turned around, fire poker in his hand. “What is that you say?”
She straightened and looked around. “I was just wondering where you hid the book and all my notes.”
After putting another log on the grate, he approached the bed and pulled out a neatly folded blanket from beneath it. “The best hiding places are the most obvious.” He handed her the small blanket, which was heavy with the weight of the hidden book. “Since we are letting the others in to visit, you should keep this in a safe location, a place where no one will find it.”
Gem knew the very spot. Her private study.
Viktor sent a text message on his phone, then patted Niko’s hand. He said comforting words in Russian that roughly translated to “You are among friends. We’ll do everything in our power to bring you back. Feel like some company?”
Gem slunk out of the room with the blanket in hand. She didn’t want to be around when the others saw Niko in this condition. It would be too much negativity, and she had to surround herself with positive energy. She had even recharged all her crystals that morning and put them back in Niko’s room, hoping to keep the positive energy flowing. Maybe that would counter all the grim remarks from the team once they saw Niko in a comatose state. It amazed her how few people took positive and negative vibes seriously. After all, a Mage thrived on energy, so Gem’s beliefs weren’t as hocus-pocus as others assumed.
She flashed down the rear stairwell and past a long row of windows. When she reached the alcove, she pushed on the wall and slipped through the gap. The lantern outside the room was always lit at night, but in the daytime, she had to blindly light the first candle in the room. It wasn’t a big space by any means, maybe twenty by twenty with a tall ceiling and wooden shelves on every wall. After closing the chamber door, she set the blanket on her large worktable and struck a match. Each candle lit breathed life into her book collection. It was as if that golden light dancing off their spines would turn the volumes into living beings with stories to tell.
So much history.
So much knowledge.