Victor leans forward, almost nose-to-nose with Derek. “I might like it.” Derek’s face wrinkles with aggression, and then he vanisheslike the steam from the shower. Victor watches the vapors dissipate, trying to come up with his own conclusion of this unexpected, and possibly provoked, visit.
Victor turns off the shower and says aloud, “If he is a telepath, I hope he doesn’t know what we’re planning.” As Victor dries himself off, he looks at himself in the mirror. “There’s only oneway to ensure he doesn’t try reading my thoughts if he’s close by.”
Victor finishes getting dressed and hears a knock at the door. He opens it, and Leo is on the other side. “Come in. We need to talk.”
Leo walks into the room with a worried expression. “What’s the matter?”
“Derek visited me . . . in the shower,” Victor responds while gathering his shoes from the closet.
“What?” Leo hollers in shock.
Victor gets upset as he starts packing his clothes in his suitcase. “You’re going to need to have a word with that husband of yours. It was completely inappropriate to show up in a man’s shower without an invite.”
“He saw you–”
Victor cuts off Leo, “Naked? Yes. I think he was trying to size me up. No pun intended.”
Leo walks up to Victor. “I’m sorry. He shouldn’t have embarrassed you like that.”
Victor moves to the other side of the room tocollect his charging cords off the nightstand. “I’ve been naked with so many guys that I lost count. I’m not embarrassed. I didn’t appreciate that he thought visiting me in the shower was necessary.”
“What did he want?” Leo asks.
They hear some rustling at the door. They turn their heads when a small envelope slides under. “He wanted to tell me about that.” Victor walks over and picks up the envelope. He opens it and pulls out a pentagon-shaped black business card with a gold emblem.
Leo notices the card and is perplexed. “Is that an invite from Superior Tederich?”
Victor holds up the business card and studies it. “It’s interesting that Superior Tederich picked a pentagon shape forhis invite. It’s probably because a pentagon has five points, like a pentagram. How appropriate.”
Leo watches Victor put it back into the envelope. “You’re not going to consider joining his coven, right?” he asks.
Victor rolls his eyes and tosses the envelope in the trash can. “You really think I would want to be in a coven with that husband of yours?”
“Why are you upset with me?” Leo questions.
Victor spins around. “Because you need to gain a better grasp of your man. It’s becoming annoying that he accuses me of keeping you from him.”
Leo becomes confused and sits down at the foot of the bed. “What’s gotten into you?”
“What’s gotten into me? Maybe I don’t appreciate someone’s jaded lover approaching me while I’m trying to shower.” Victor shakes his head as he goes back to packing. “I don’t know how to feel about this. We’re not even dating, but I’m disgusted that you’re still with someone like him.”
Leo stands and strides over to Victor. “Victor, please, I would have left Derek years ago if I could. But I’m attached to him because of my ignorance of taking that blood oath. And if he knew that I was planning any harm to him, he could execute that oath. Which would ultimately kill me.”
Victor doesn’t look at Leo as he stops beside him. “We need to get going. Superior Charles needs to speak to us before we go to Mexico.” Leo places a hand on Victor’s shoulder. “Please, I don’t want you to be upset with me.”
Victor barely gives Leo a side-eye glance. “I’m ready to go.” Victor shrugs Leo’s hand off and walks out the door.Leo lets out a sigh of defeat, following behind him.
A short drive later through the metroplex of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, they come to a building. Victor looks up at a three-story 1950s art deco-style building. The stone exterior has beensun-bleached. Eagles, also made of stone, are perched on top as the building’s gargoyles. “Where are we?”
“We are at the library,” Leo replies subtly. “We need to get you some books to read.”
Victor sighs, “Great, more reading.”
Leo gets out of the car first and looks over at Victor. Victor exits through the other side. Leo observes Victor head up the stairs. Victor twists around and gestures to Leo,Are you coming?Leo’s shoulders slouch as he closes the car door and catches up to Victor.
They walk through a huge, heavy brass door covered with stained glass. When they enter, the odor of old books surrounds Victor’s senses.The interior resembles your average library, filled with both wood and metal shelves, covered with books. While walking toward a large circular desk in the center, Leo turns down one of the aisles. Victor follows behind until they come up to a wall of bookshelves.
Victor looks up and notes the signage of the section. “Self-Help?”
