I opened the Archives door with a determined smile. We’d get through all this. She—
Wasn’t here.
But Vladimir was, sitting in one of the armchairs while looking at his phone with an annoyed face. He turned his head toward me and his frown deepened.
“Where the Hell is my sister?” he gritted out. “I’ve been waiting here for her all day yesterday and today. Are you keeping her locked up somewhere?”
My confusion increased as I walked toward the small empty desk, looking around the quiet space.
“She was off yesterday,” I said. “But I thought she’d be here today.”
Vladimir lifted both his hands in annoyance, casting glances around himself. “Do you see her anywhere? Have you even told her that I needed to speak with her?”
Right…That.
“I had other things on my mind.” I placed the useless cup of coffee on the tidy desk and let myself fall in her chair. Maybe she somehow knew Vladimir was in here and decided to go to her old place…
“I don’t need to know about you and my sister’s sex escapades, I’ve been through enough in my life to have to deal with the thought.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Wasn’t she supposed to marry your mate? I’m sure that fact was harder to think about. Remember, I read that damn journal, I know what happened.”
Vladimir scoffed. “Barely the tip of the iceberg. You think Amyntas wrote everything in that damn thing? He didn’t. All that happenedafterLola sold her soul isn’t in there.”
That piqued my interest and infuriated me at the same time. “Andwhathappened, then?”
He scoffed. “I need to speak to her—”
“What. Happened—”
“Don’t you go and try to take that menacing tone with me,” he said coolly. “Pick up a fight, and see what happens.”
“So you did become a Hell of a prick over the years.”
Dimitri’s voice was calm and condescending as he strolled toward us, hands in his pockets, looking around the room the same way I did when I got here.
“Dimitri,” Vladimir greeted coldly.
“Aghen,” Dimitri spoke back. “To what do we owe the…honorof your visit?”
Aghen? So Vladimir wasn’t his real name either?
“I’m just visiting old friends,” he answered. I couldn’t help but notice the slight fear shining in his strange burnt orange eyes. “What areyoudoing here?”
Dimitri’s smile was everything but cordial. “You know that wherever my mate goes, I follow.”
That wasn’t entirely true…Didn’t they spend almost a century apart before finding each other here?
“Iknow. Like a parasite no one can get rid off.”
The Nephilim’s lips turned into a grin. “How’syourown personal Parasite, by the way? Last time I checked, he was still as mad at you as he was at your sister…”
“Leave him out of this,” Aghen hissed.
Dimitri shrugged before turning to me. “Where’s Lola?”
“Not here.”
His expression changed dramatically from annoyed amusement to what looked like straight up concern.
