“Well, there you go then,” I say. “I’m just glad you are feeling better.”
Jade lets out a huge sigh and sags even further into the mattress. I can feel all the pent up tension leaving his body.
A few minutes later, he starts snoring softly. Chuckling, I slide out of his bed, place his book on the nightstand, and flick the lamp off. Then I quietly head to the kitchen. The actions of making a warm cup of milk always seem to trick my brain into thinking it is time to sleep. Despite me being a vampire.
I can’t hear anyone else about, so I’ll be able to make my nighttime beverage in peace, free from teasing. Not that I care that they think making warm milk before bed is an old man thing to do. I am an old man. And a product of my time.
When I was human, everyone had warm milk before bed. It helped keep you warm in houses with no central heating. And it was filling and relatively cheap. These youngsters don’t know what they are missing.
I walk into the kitchen and yelp. Baltazar looks up from his seat at my frigging kitchen table, and grins.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I snap.
“Visiting my friend,” he smirks.
“I’m not your fucking friend.”
My outburst earns me an even wider grin from the motherfucker sitting across from me. Uninvited. Unwelcome and very much unwanted.
“We need to talk about Jade,” Baltazar says calmly.
My throat tightens as panic floods my body. “Why?”
The piece of shit vampire gestures at the chair opposite him. “Take a seat.”
I grind my teeth and sit down. Baltazar is a flight leader, as well as a member of the Council. He is used to obedience and respect. Showing him a little of both is probably good for my health. Especially since I piss him off all the time by refusing to swear allegiance to him.
“Your friend is part fey.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
“I suspect that is what caused his recent incident.”
I stare at the vampire and concentrate hard on my poker face. I don’t want to give a single thing away. Not until I know what the fuck is going on and if Baltazar means any harm to Jade.
“Jade is not the only part fey we are keeping tabs on. And he is not the only one who has had an incident recently.”
The Council are keeping tabs on Jade? Fuck. That cannot be good news. At all. Why would they do such a thing? Jade is a sweetie who wouldn’t hurt a fly.
“The fey have long wanted to come back to Earth. Their recent ploy appears to be whispering to their descendents to open a portal from this end,” says Baltazar, answering my unvoiced question.
Oh. Oh Lord. That is what’s going on. Well, that’s not good. And that’s the understatement of the century. All the rumors say the fey were evil, twisted motherfuckers. Stealing babies. Destroying crops. Making shady deals and disappearing people who stepped into toadstool rings.
I force a swallow down my tight throat. “Jade is not that good at magic. There is no way he could open a portal to the fey realm.”
Baltazar calmly steeples his fingers.
“He is not good at wielding his innate fey magic because he has never received instructions on how to use it.”
Behind Baltazar, a drop of water drips from the tap and hits the stainless steel basin of the sink. The noise ricochets around the dimly lit room.
Bollocks. If the fey whisper instructions to Jade on how to open a portal, and he does it and the fey invade ourworld, that would be deeply shitty. As in really, really shitty. This keeps getting worse and worse. And now my nerves are completely shot.
“What the fuck do you want me to do about it?” I snarl.
This old bastard must want something from me. He is not here to gossip. And I have a terrible, sinking feeling that whatever it is, I’m not going to like it.
The flight leader smirks and sits up straighter. His blue eyes gleam eerily in the light.
