“Dad was there,” I said, softer, not because I felt…well, anything. But because I wasn’t convinced my words were reaching her.
I saw how those words impacted Myra. Saw the flicker of surprise, then fear, then anger. All of which she covered up as she lowered her gun. Though she did not, I noted, put it away.
“Go through it again. All of it.”
I nodded. “I will. There’s coffee. Let me pour some.” I stood and walked out of the room. It occurred to me that every gaze in that room was on me, and then it also occurred to me that I was leaving a ticking time bomb behind me.
“Don’t kill anyone. Any of you. We are going to work together on this, understand?”
I could see a slice of the living room through the wide doorway to the kitchen. That angle revealed only Jame’s back—he still hadn’t moved—and Bathin over by the fireplace.
He must have known I was looking at him. He tipped his face my way and winked.
Whatever.
I pulled out enough mugs for everyone, including one for Rossi, and filled them all with coffee, except for Rossi’s which I filled with the instant-hot water at the tap and a bag of breakfast tea.
I fixed them the way I knew everyone liked, then carried the whole parade back into the room.
“Two sugars,” I handed Bathin his cup.
“Jame, Myra.” They took their cups with matching scowls. Huh. Maybe they’d settled down after a little caffeine.
“Rossi, breakfast tea?”
He stood very still and unbreathing as only a vampire could, his eyes laser-tight on Bathin’s every move.
“Tea?” I waved it in front of his face to break the stare-a-thon and he flicked his gaze to me.
“No, Delaney.” His voice was soft and carried a kindness that I hadn’t heard much of out of him. Like he was talking to a child. Wait. Was he treating me like a child?
Irritation pushed at the back of my mind and then just sort of fizzled out. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t a child, but it was too much trouble to get worked up over that.
That was normal, right? That was the adult response? Let it all roll off my back, no problem, no worry.
Rossi lifted his hand toward my face, his eyes still on me, peering into my own. It should be uncomfortable to be stared at like that. I found I didn’t care.
“Careful, old one.” Bathin’s tone was even, carrying the roll of authority. “What’s mine is mine.”
Rossi ignored him and placed his fingers, gently at my chin so he could tip my face to better stare at me.
“Can you wrap it up?” I asked. “We need to all get on the same page here so Bathin can find Ben.”
“Ah, child. If only your father knew.”
“He does. He was there. His soul, his…spirit. He knows.”
“Where?” Myra demanded. “Where were you? You just left the hospital an hour ago. How did you find Dad, get tangled up with a demon, and lose your soul in an hour?”
She made it sound like I’d lost my lunch money between putting it in my pocket and walking out the door.
“Talent?”
Oh, that was not the right thing to say. I didn’t know why she was so riled up. Everything was fine. This was fine.
Plus, we were going to save Ben. That was more than fine, it was great. Maybe I should be a little more excited or anxious about that, but even though I wasn’t jumping up and down with joy, I knew saving Ben was a happy thing, a good thing, and was going to be a huge relief.
Because then we could kill Lavius, no book of magic involved.
