"Then we will find another way," Ace said, shrugging.
They weren't really giving me much information. But I didn't think they would give me much more even if I asked for it.
"So what now?"
"Now, we need you to call Renwick and set up the meeting," Ace said.
"What? Me?" my voice squeaked out of me, a small, airless sound.
"This started with you," Ace told me. "It has to end with you too."
Chapter Fifteen
Nova
I don't know what I was expecting.
I only knew my heart was firmly lodged up in my throat as I made my way up the very path I'd just fled that very morning.
Renwick had been short on the phone, listening to me relaying Ace's desire to have a meeting to discuss Drex's imprisonment, then simply agreeing, and giving me a time before hanging up.
He'd never been an overly emotive man.
I had no way to know how he truly felt about the whole situation, what his plan was going to be, if we were all walking into a trap.
At least if we were, we stood a chance.
It wasn't just Ace and Aram along with me.
There was Lenore's man, Lycus, Bael, Daemon, Minos, and for some reason... Arick.
The missing members of the Seven Sins MC—Red and Seven—would likely have been along as well. But, from what I could gather, Red had taken off after some guy, and Seven had taken off to make sure Red was okay.
But six demons and one warlock against whatever number of vampires were inside the mansion seemed like relatively fair odds, seeing as vampires could die, and demons could not.
Still, my stomach was in knots as we waited for dusk, then made our way over toward Renwick's home.
It felt oddly unfamiliar as we climbed out of Ace's SUV, despite my having spent a large chunk of my life inside the walls.
"Kinda see why you'd give up your blood to live here," Daemon said, getting a smack on the back of his neck from his brother. It was hard enough for Daemon to stumble a step before catching himself.
Aram and Arick flanked my sides as Ace walked a few steps ahead of us.
Safe, I knew I was safe.
But my heartbeat was slamming in my chest. My blood was whooshing through my ears. My palms felt damp enough for me to wipe them on my pant legs.
Arick's hand lifted, hovering at the back of my neck. There was a cool tingling sensation in the air between our skin that slowly moved outward, spreading down my neck, shoulders, back, then wrapping around my front, moving upward until it enveloped me completely.
"That's a neat trick," I said, hearing a slowness in my voice, almost like I'd been drugged. Drugged by magic of some sort.
"It wears off in just a couple minutes, but it can come in handy," Arick agreed as we moved to the front stoop, all of us waiting as Ace rang the bell.
It was Irina, of all people, who opened the door.
There was no mistaking the disappointment in her eyes as her gaze fell on me.
I gave her a tight nod as Ace requested an audience with Renwick.
"Okay. Um, well, come into the library," she said, opening the door wide, and stepping to the side.
The library wasn't empty.
Several of Renwick's friends were hanging around. Their beautiful, curious faces turned in our direction as we moved inside.
Alice, the new thrall, everyone's current favorite, was dressed in a silk gown with a slit clear up her thigh. Red was the vampires' favorite color for obvious reasons, but it accented her blonde hair and pale skin beautifully as she draped over the arm of one of the sofas as one of Renwick's guests fed from her neck and another the vein in her inner thigh.
One of the other vampires—a tall, dark-skinned man in an all black suit—snapped his fingers, making Irina suddenly move from near me, pausing only to give my wrist a small squeeze before situating herself on his lap, leaning her head back on his shoulder, and offering him her throat.
I'd been in that position too many times to count. I'd seen vampires drinking from every vein of the thralls I shared a home with.
It never felt strange to witness it before.
But as I stood there with the demons and Arick, I felt my gaze sliding away, oddly embarrassed, like I was witnessing something private and too intimate.
"Well, I was anticipating a visit," Renwick's voice called, making us all turn to find him walking in from somewhere in the back of the house. "I can't say I was expecting so soon," he added, looking at Ace.
There was a chilly sort of animosity between them. I wouldn't pretend to understand the aversion some evil creatures had for other evil creatures, since it seemed they had more in common than not, but it was clear that the distaste was mutual, and likely long-held.
"Nova," he said, my name on his lips making me stiffen. "You seem... well," he said, one of those perfect brows of his arching.
I never really noticed before how perfect he was. Too perfect. Just like the others. Just a bit too beautiful. It was off-putting now that I could see it for myself.
Maybe that was why I liked looking at Drex so much. The careless imperfection. The lack of perfect symmetry. I liked his brows that didn't line up to the exact millimeter, that his nose had the smallest of curves to it from some fight or another in the past. I liked the scars on his hands and the unruliness of his beard.
"I am," I confirmed since he seemed to want an answer.
"Interesting, that. Don't you think? When you should be screaming in pain, nearly driven mad by it?"
"It is interesting," I agreed, feeling bolder than ever before when flanked with so many powerful creatures.
"You'll understand my confusion," he went on, barely sparing any of the others a glance. Until, of course, he noticed Arick.
That was when I saw a flash of some emotion on his cooly beautiful face.
"Renwick," Arick greeted him, something about the greeting seeming to make the air around him spark a little. Like static electricity. It pricked at my skin, made the little hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand on end.
"I wasn't aware you were an ally of the demons."
"I wasn't aware you opened your home to those who would abuse your hospitality. Yet here we are, now knowing those things."
"That is a serious accusation," Renwick snapped, making the others in the room stop feeding, pushing their thralls away, and moving to stand as they wiped the blood off their lips.
"Yet an accurate one," Arick said, waving a hand toward me, making Renwick's gaze follow.
There were several long seconds then. Both of us just standing there, looking at each other.
My former master's gaze was penetrative, seeing things I didn't want to share with him. All the pain and humiliation I'd endured at the hands of Davor.
"You should have come to me," he said, voice a hiss as he realized Arick was telling the truth.
"He never crossed that one unforgivable line," I said, lifting my chin a bit.
"Any line crossed should have been reported. I have always done right by my thralls, have I not?" he asked, sounding offended at the idea that anyone would think otherwise. "Have you not witnessed with your very eyes how I handle those who take liberties against what belongs to me? I should have been informed."