Chapter Twenty-Three
Josh and I watched Nik storm out of the room, leaving a trail of wet footprints. I struggled not to laugh. One glance at Josh showed he was having the same problem.
“Fool’s errand, eh?” I asked in an almost nonchalant tone. Josh didn't really buy it. He let his small grin grow into a large, dimpled smile.
“C'mon.”
Josh led me up to Nik's study. It too had been cleaned from the blood splatter on both door and carpet. Did he have little fairy cleaners? If so, I had to get me some. I went to Nik's enormous desk and flipped open his very thin and fancy-looking laptop. He had very fast Internet. It would have made Bill Gates weep with joy.
I began my search while Josh went downstairs to get us something to eat and drink. To my surprise, he not only brought back blood, but also potato chips. When was the last time I'd eaten human food? That ill-fated date with Isaac? Seafood. At least my last meal had been a good one. I watched Josh as he crumpled a few chips into his tall glass of blood.
“Makes it more salty and chunky,” he explained with a glint in his eyes.
“I think I'll pass,” I said as I grabbed a chip and popped it into my mouth. It was good; the blood was better. Gosh, that's annoying, I thought as I scrolled through my search results.
Just when I was beginning to lose hope, I stumbled upon an article about the original break-in. As I neared the end of the article, Nik joined us, dressed in non-sea-smelling clothing. He glowered at me before turning his gaze on Josh. Evidently, it was a hint… or a command, because Josh quickly found a reason to leave.
Nik glared at me in silence for a few seconds, his arms twined across his strong chest. A tiny trickle of fear ran down my spine. Was he really that angry that I punched him and caused him to fall into the ocean? I was just about to speak when he prowled around the desk and lifted me by the shoulders. I dangled half a foot from the ground.
A new kind of fear tightened around my stomach. I swallowed while the fear pressed up against my lungs, making it hard to breathe. His lips compressed into a scowl, while his green eyes slowly began to glow with his barely controlled fury. I felt his hands shake as they held me up.
“Don't you ever strike me again,” he stated, pronouncing each word carefully.
“Or what?” I asked stupidly. “I'm not your minion to control. Nor am I your friend.”
I spotted a brief glimmer of pain in his green eyes. A second later it was gone, so quickly I almost doubted I’d seen it. It was easier, more comfortable, to believe he hated me like I hated him.
He set me down.
“You need to learn respect, child.”
“Respect? Did you respect me when you suggested killing me, or when you made your feeling oh so clear? The pipsqueak who got your people killed,” I snapped.
“I didn't mean that.”
“Oh yes, you did!”
“You said you sometimes say things before you think. I do that too. My mouth got away from me.”
“That doesn't mean you don't feel that way! Those slips, where you don't think, are when your true thoughts and feelings come out.”
“Fine. You want to know my true feelings? Here they are. I blame Isaac for turning you. I blame Josh for finding you. I blame Mikhail for dumping you on me. And I blame you for being so damn obstinate that you can't let things go. But the fact is I'm stuck with you.
“And as much as I want to dump you in Richard's lap, I know that would be a mistake. I can't just give him what he wants. I can't screw over humanity like that. As much as I might like to, I still know right from wrong. And it would be wrong for me to give into his schemes. So how about this: you start obeying me and I won't have any reason to kill you myself.” He paused. “Now, have you found anything?”
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and willed myself not to cry. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. “Yes,” I said in the firmest voice I could manage. It was little more than a whisper. I noticed Nik's eyes soften slightly before he turned his gaze the computer, gently nudging me out of the way. He scrolled down to the bottom of the article where a picture of a man caught briefly on a security camera was wedged into the text.
“It can't be,” breathed Nik.
“What?” I asked, the new subject providing a great distraction from my own emotions. I leaned over his shoulder to have a better look at the picture. Though it was in grayscale and very pixilated, I could make out the man's basic features, which included an eye patch—kinda like a pirate. Weird. “A one-eyed thief?”
“He's not missing an eye. The eye patch is named Gyges. It was made by Hephaestus. It makes the wearer invisible to the human eye, but not too modern technology, it would seem.” Nik waved his hand toward the grainy image.
“So who is that?”
“If I'm not mistaken, and I rarely am, that is Periphetes, son of Hephaestus.”
“Who?”
“A fae lord in the Winter Court… though I believe he has been out of Orithyia's good graces for many years, even decades. He's a thief. A damn good one. Periphetes could steal an entire collection from the Louvre and not get caught.” Nik fell silent as he reread the article, pointing out key factors, such as the sudden and unexplainable failure of their advanced security systems. Evidently, this was the only picture captured by the cameras before the system went kaput.
“So does this mean the Winter Court has it?”
“I don't think so. Periphetes is a renegade. I've never known him to abide by the rules, especially Orithyia's.”
“But what if this stuff was the ticket to his reconciliation with Orithyia?”
“Then he would have returned to the court by now and I would have heard about it,” said Nik in a tone that suggested I was very dense for not getting it. “Besides, Orithyia is not a very forgiving queen. One of the main reasons she’s stayed in power for so long.”
“What do you mean?”
“The queen’s position is not passed on generationally. In fact, it’s not always a queen. The leader of each fae court is based on whoever takes over. But Orithyia has been the Winter Queen for as long as I’ve been a vampire. Longer in fact.”
Nik scrolled through the article one last time.
“Not a fool’s errand after all,” I said with a wave of my hand toward the computer screen. I tried to drag the words back down my throat. For once, I didn't want to fight with Nik.
“Don't get cocky.”
“Ha! Says the king of cocky.”
“Let's go get Josh and move on.”
“Wait… move on? What's your plan?”
“Steal it from Periphetes, of course.”
“You want to piss off a lord of the Winter Court when they're already trying to take me?”
“I am honor-bound to get these things for Emma, not to mention Mikhail’s expectations. Once I get her off our backs, we can take care of your issue… ssss,” he hissed, adding the plural at the last second. “This would all be easier if Mikhail would just let me leave you at the seethe. Besides, I doubt Periphetes would tell his queen that we stole from him; he'd be too ashamed of a mere vamp getting the best of him.”
“I don't think this is a good idea.”
“I didn’t ask you.”
“You never do!”
“And for good reason.”
I felt another fight coming on, despite my efforts. I still had a knot in my stomach from our last argument. He looked up at me. With him sitting at his desk, I was barely taller than him.
“For good reason?” I asked. “Wasn't the whole Internet idea a pretty good one? And yet you still consider me nothing but baggage.”
“Now you're putting words in my mouth.”
“And yet they ring so true.”
“You have got to be… the… most…”
“Most what? Beautiful and intelligent woman you've ever met? Yes, I agree!” I stated, trying to keep the discussion from turning into anything too nasty.
“Let's not get ahead of ourse
lves!”
“Well, you accused me of putting words in your mouth; seemed like a good idea.”
“I was thinking more like the most annoying, pig-headed child I've ever met!”
“Pig headed… me? Look who's talking.”
Before he could respond, a soft cough reverberated from the doorway. We both tore our eyes away from each other and glared at Josh.