Troy ignored the blatant insult. His arrogance was far too thick to be dented by the jab.
“What does it do?” he instead asked.
Levet forced himself to shake off his annoyance. It was going to take all his concentration to use the unfamiliar power of the stone.
“It will…” He struggled the think of the proper word. “. . . latch onto the essence of a person and lead me to them.”
Troy straightened. “Does it use your magic to make it go?”
“In part.”
“Damn.”
Levet tilted back his head to study Troy’s worried expressions. “What is wrong?”
“Don’t take this wrong, but your magic is like a powder keg that explodes without warning and usually does the maximum amount of damage.”
Levet clicked his tongue. “You are the rudest imp I have ever known.”
Troy shrugged. “Well, it’s nice to be the best.”
Levet turned back to concentrate on the footprint, carefully laying the stone in the center.
“Stand back,” he warned in absent tones.
Troy scurried across the vault. “If you kill me, I’m going to haunt you for the rest of eternity.”
Stuck for the rest of eternity with this imp? Levet shuddered. He’d received many threats over the long centuries. But none of them had ever sent a chill of terror down his spine.
* * * *
Xi leaned against the wall, studying the beautiful, stubborn Were stretched on her narrow bed. She had her arms folded behind her head and her eyes closed, but he knew she wasn’t asleep. There was an energy that hummed around her like a jet engine about to take off. Still, for the past hour, he’d allowed her to pretend.
It wasn’t just because he’d sensed she needed time to gather her composure. He’d poked and prodded until she’d confessed ancient wounds she’d kept buried for centuries. Of course, she wanted some space from his prying. But her silence gave him the opportunity to consider what she’d confessed.
It was one thing to battle against Brigette’s belief that she was impervious to the need for a pack. She’d been alone for a long time, and it would be only natural that she would be wary of letting anyone get close.
But now Xi understood that it was far more complicated than that.
She didn’t push people away because she was scared of being judged for her past. She did it to punish herself.
So how could he convince her that she’d suffered enough?
He wasn’t sure that he knew how. Unlike Viper, or even that ridiculous gargoyle, he wasn’t really a people person. He’d spent long centuries wandering the world alone. Then several more centuries as a Raven. It made him a formidable warrior, but he sucked at social skills.
Dwelling on a way to convince her that it was possible to overcome her grinding sense of guilt, Xi stiffened as Brigette slowly opened her eyes.
“I can feel you staring at me,” she said in dry tone.
Moving forward, Xi perched on the edge of the bed. “What will you do when we’ve defeated Maryam?”
She scooted to a seated position, her back pressed against the cement wall. “You sound very sure that we’ll succeed.”
“I don’t doubt it for a second.”
Her lips twitched. “Arrogant.”
“Confident,” he corrected her. “So what will you do?”
“Return home.” She shrugged. “It’s not like I have anywhere else to go.”
“That’s what I used to think. Until Styx.”
She hesitated, and Xi feared that she would ignore the opening he’d offered her. Then curiosity overcame her reluctance to offer him encouragement.
“Because of your past?” she asked.
Xi nodded, hiding his relief. He hoped that revealing his own journey to redemption, Brigette might see a future that didn’t involve endless penance for her sins.
“Like most newly turned vampires, I was heady with my power,” he admitted.
Brigette rolled her eyes. “As I said. Arrogant.”
“Perhaps,” he conceded. The truth was that he’d been puffed up with conceit. He’d truly believed that he was blessed above all other vampires. A blood-sucking superstar. “At first I didn’t fully understand my unique skills. I knew I could easily hide from others and sneak up on my prey.”
She tilted her head, her hair shimmering like fire despite the darkness that shrouded the room.
“Is it like a damper spell?” she asked.
Xi turned to fully face her, his hip pressed against her thigh. The heat of her skin seared through his jeans. Delicious.
“It’s hard to explain. Just as you can smell the dawn without thinking about it, I can draw my presence deep inside me.”
She arched a brow. “Like a turtle?”
“That’s as good an analogy as any other.” He smiled before his amusement faded. He never discussed the past. Not since he’d become a Raven. What good did it do to dwell on things that couldn’t be changed? But he’d do whatever was necessary to prevent Brigette from spending the rest of eternity alone in her festering village.
“As I gained command over my powers, I realized that I could become virtually invisible,” he continued.
“I knew you were Batman.”
Xi touched the marks on the sides of his head. They weren’t traditional tattoos. Instead, they’d appeared shortly after he’d been turned into a vampire. His sire had claimed they were the souls of his ancestors and that they offered him their protection. He thought it was more likely they were a visible display of his talents.
He could travel through the world as silent and deadly as a snake.
“Not as cool as Batman, but my clan chief often used me to spy on rival clans or to rescue prisoners being held captive,” he told her. “I swiftly earned a place of honor among my people.”
She studied him, the tension easing from her beautiful face as she became lost in his story.
“You make it sound like a bad thing.”
“It only made me cockier.”
“Shocking.”
“My sire warned me that my belief that I was impervious to danger would bite me in the ass.” He shook his head in resignation. His sire had been a unique male. Not only did he take in the children he created, but he’d personally trained them to become warriors for his clan. He’d been as close to a father as a vampire could get. “And he was right.”