I glanced up at the long row of fluorescent lights. “Electricity?”
“Wyatt’s office is next door,” Gem pointed out while towel-drying her hair. “He said he originally set up this room for us to have our meetings in, but Viktor didn’t like the formality, so it’s been locked ever since.”
Claude, Gem, Niko, and Blue sat on the opposite side. Claude rubbed coconut-scented lotion all over his bare chest while Gem and Niko reminisced over the day’s feast.
I pulled out a leather chair and sat between Shepherd and Christian. Shepherd’s hands were laced over his stomach, his eyes shut.
“Just click on that file when you’re ready.” Wyatt shuffled to the empty seat to Christian’s right and sat down with a melodic yawn.
“A three-hour nap wasn’t enough?” Claude asked, smoothing lotion around his bicep.
Wyatt raised the seat on his chair. “I think they slipped Everclear in my margarita. I only had two beers, so it wasn’t that. I blacked out toward the end. I don’t even remember how I got in my office or why I was half naked.”
I rolled my leather chair back to see him better. “How did the Gravewalker do? Are all the dead people gone?”
He raised his arms dramatically. “Hallelujah, the demons are exorcised,” he said in an exaggerated Southern accent, probably the one he was born with. “Well, so far, so good.”
Gem giggled. “Maybe she put them all in your wardrobe, and the moment you open it—”
“I move out,” he finished, using air quotes.
“You’re still not using those correctly,” Blue remarked about Wyatt’s liberal use of air quotes. “You’re just embarrassing yourself.”
Claude put the cap back on his lotion. “He already embarrassed himself this afternoon during his impromptu music concert.”
Wyatt scooted his chair back and propped his feet on the table. “People don’t have good taste in music anymore.”
Shepherd grabbed a marble ashtray from the credenza behind us. “You were botching the hell out of whatever song that was.”
“You missed out,” Gem said to me while tying her damp hair up in two knots. “The band was leaving, and Wyatt refused to give up the guitar. When the musician yanked it out of his hands and one of the strings broke, he slapped Wyatt in the face.”
“I don’t remember that part.” Wyatt scratched his head with a look of confusion. “I have a vague recollection of someone trying to put refried beans down my pants. Man, best day ever.”
Viktor knocked on the table. “I need your attention. Normally we would do this in the morning when we are rested and sober, but I want to get to work as soon as possible. I have taken a very sensitive case. That is why we are in this soundproof room. While I trust our help, I cannot take chances.” He pushed a button on the laptop, and a blue image appeared on the screen behind him. When he tapped a few more keys, cursing under his breath, a video suddenly played. We watched cupcakes glide down a factory conveyer belt while a machine drizzled chocolate over them.
“Hold your ponies.” Wyatt launched out of his chair and rushed to Viktor’s aid.
“What the hell is that?” Shepherd leaned forward and squinted at the images.
Blue scoffed. “Food porn.”
Wyatt switched off the overhead lights and then tapped a few keys on his computer before a photo came up of three men talking. “There. Now don’t click on the wrong file or I can’t promise what else you might see.”
“Your fetish for gargoyles?” Christian offered under his breath. “There are fantasy clubs for that.”
Viktor cleared his throat, and we all quieted down. “Hundreds of years ago in Russia, thirteen oligarchs held all the power. They were the most influential men and women in the world, each a different Breed. Instead of warring with one another, they formed a powerful alliance that controlled all political decisions. Their goal was to begin in one country and slowly acquire power throughout the world.”
“Wait a second,” I said, counting on my fingers. “You said thirteen different Breeds? I’ve only heard of what? Eight? Shifters, Vampires, Sensors, Relics, Gravewalkers…”
“There’s always been more,” Gem cut in. “Most people only know the common ones, but lesser Breeds exist. It’s just impossible to keep track of whether they’re all extinct. No one keeps tabs on every person in the world.”
I sat back and rocked my chair. “Wow. That’s a lot to process.”
“I can lend you a book that describes most of the common ones. Many are extinct, and others we just don’t know. So it’s rather pointless to document them all. Some might even be fictional.” Gem quieted down when she caught Viktor’s look.
“Sorry to interrupt,” I said.
Viktor rolled the end chair away from the table and placed it in the corner. “Some of us called this groupZmei Gorynich. The name was an old fable about a serpent with many heads.”
