“He can see energy. Anyhow, he’s one crafty Mage.”
Crush missed the fourth shot and walked to Wyatt’s chair. He watched the Gravewalker study the ball positions before leaning in and lining up his shot. “Is that all the ink you’ve got?” he asked, noticingLost Soulon Wyatt’s knuckles.
Wyatt sank a striped ball. “I’ve got one more, but I’m not telling you where,” he said with a wink.
“Wouldn’t happen to be the same one Raven’s got on her hip of a bird with a backwardKon the head, would it?”
Wyatt gave him a peevish look.
“Raven doesn’t have any other tats, so that’s not something that goes unnoticed. She’s not the kind of girl who would get a butterfly or a heart. Tattoos mean something in our family. My guess is you all bonded with that tattoo. I get it. It’s a brotherhood thing.”
Wyatt aimed and then sank the cue ball in a scratch. “It’s a secret.”
“Say no more.” They traded places, and Crush got the cue ball out of the pocket. “Do you normally sit up in your room playing sad music?” he asked, chalking the end of his stick. “That’s the kind of shit a man does when he’s pining over a woman.”
Wyatt eased into his chair, his gaze fixed on the table. “My love destroys people. I bet Raven’s thinking the same about herself after watching her boyfriend get sliced open. Some of us aren’t meant to have all the regular things everyone else has. Maybe it has to do with our past life, and we’re supposed to learn something else here. All nine of my sisters are dead. They were older. Three went from natural causes, and two had grave injuries from accidents.”
“And the other four?”
Wyatt batted his stick between his hands. “Conducting Gravewalker business used to be a dangerous job. It still is. You deal with a lot of shady folks and pissed-off spirits. Once people get what they need, they don’t want witnesses. Sometimes they find out a spook is relaying sensitive information to a Gravewalker to blackmail them. There are a ton of different scenarios. Usually the easiest solution is to kill the middleman. No one lives forever. Not really. And all that falling-in-love business?” Wyatt rolled his eyes. “It’s just ten times worse when you lose them. Sometimes when I’m down, I go to my room, smooth out all the edges, listen to my tunes, and remember exactly what happened the last time I got the notion to live a normal life,” he said, using air quotes. “She suffered in lifeandin death, and all I could do was watch until I couldn’t watch anymore.”
Crush approached the table. “Let me tell you a little something about love. Maybe I haven’t been around as long as you, but I’ve lived a full life. We all want love. It’s in our nature to need someone who’s there for us. I get where you’re coming from, because I was destructive. I lost the only woman I’ll ever love, and that’s a fact. But I got Raven, and I got friends who I never thought would stick around this long. Love comes in different forms. Don’t get fixated on the one that everyone’s chasing, or you’ll never see what you’ve already got. Look around. You think the chuckleheads you work with are just temporary? You marked your skin to show unity, and you’re willing to lay down your life for the other. That’s love. It’s a different kind of love. You can’t pick and choose what fate deals you.” He leaned in and took the shot, sinking the ball. “Once you figure all that shit out, you won’t need the drugs anymore.”
“Maybe I just like the way they make me feel.”
Crush sank another ball. “I said the same thing. Then I almost lost my kid because of it. Some people can drink just fine without it becoming a problem. I convinced myself I wasn’t doing it to bury the pain, but that was a fucking lie.” He missed the next ball and stepped back as Wyatt circled the table. “You do whatever you want. I’m not your father. Just don’t ever put my daughter’s life in danger because of your habit, or I’ll hunt you down and feed you to my dog.”
“I’m not hurting anyone.”
“Keep that shit in your bedroom. Don’t go driving around stoned.” Crush glanced at the liquor table. “You ever see Raven drinking too much?”
Wyatt missed and sent three balls in different directions. “We hunt and kill people for a living, Columbo. If I’m a hexagon, your daughter is a dodecagon.” He grinned proudly. “I’ve been wanting to use that word for a while. Learned it in a crossword puzzle a few months ago.”
“Good for you.” Crush leaned against the table. “Just keep an eye on her. Hell, you got a kid living here now. Do you think he just belongs to Shepherd? He’s your responsibility too. Whether you like it or not, you’re gonna be a part of his memories—part of the man he becomes. Your life is more than a memory.” Crush knocked in the eight ball.
Wyatt reached in his robe pocket and tossed an unsmoked joint on the table. “Fine. I quit. For tonight. Tell me—if you’re so full of wisdom, how is it Raven turned out likethat?” he asked, angling his stick toward the door.
Crush walked to the next table and lifted the tablet. “You mean strong? Capable? Independent? Fierce? Smart? Loyal? I don’t know. I guess I did something right.”
“Touché. One more game?”
Crush patted the tablet against his leg and gave it some thought. “If it’ll keep you from blasting sad AM radio, why not?”
CHAPTER20
Igulped down a glass of orange juice and then set it on the end table by the sofa in the gathering room. Kira had made a delicious breakfast that included an egg casserole, a large bowl of fruit, and fresh bread. She seemed livelier this morning, and I caught her smiling when Shepherd told everyone a story about a camping trip he went on as a boy. Because Claude was out most of the night, disposing of the bodies and cleaning the van, he slept in.
After everyone finished eating, Christian asked Viktor for a moment alone. Viktor spoke quietly to Kira in that strange language they shared. After she made a large plate of food and carried it out, Viktor explained she was taking it up to my father. Niko and Gem headed down to the gym, and everyone else cleared out. Viktor and I waited in the gathering room for Christian, who was talking to Switch in the hall.
From my seat on the couch, I listened to the wind whistling outside. The gathering room had a mammoth fireplace, one the previous tenants must have also used for cooking. The windows along the same wall were all north facing, but the courtyard buffered some of that frigid wind. Viktor stood with his back to the fire. His double-breasted knit jacket must not have been warm enough. He rarely lit a fire this early in the day.
“The snow’s really coming down,” I said, watching it accumulate on the bottom of the windowpanes. “It’s too bad I’m not a Thermal. That would be nice right about now.”
Viktor chuckled and returned to his chair on my left. “Niko was fortunate. That would be a useful gift where I came from.”
Christian moved swiftly into the room and sat in the chair to Viktor’s left. “I’ll keep an ear out if anyone’s coming. I asked Raven to be here since I confided in her last night. But you need to hear this. The Mage, Li Han, he gave me a name of who he believes is behind this.”
“What name?” Viktor asked.
