“Humans have glucose in their blood, so some of you do because you drink from us.”
“But the glucose passes through our systems the same way as certain vitamins do for humans. Like when you have too much vitamin C in your system and you piss it out.”
This happened to me a lot and was one of the things that used to drive my CO nuts back in the army. I asked too many questions, sometimes in life-or-death situations.
“Sorry, anyway, the armoire?”
“I believe that they are using thermal imaging to see inside the villa, but you’re the only one that will show up.”
I shook my head. “It’s a lotta crap that thermal imaging can see through walls. Thank Hollywood for that.”
“Really?” He was surprised.
“Yeah,” I said, getting out of the armoire so I could move to the bed and check Zev. He was breathing heavy, the half-drank bottle of blood still in his right hand. Taking the bottle from him, I set it on the nightstand before turning back to Dae-Jung. “Why aren’t you passed out as well?”
“I don’t require the same amount of blood the others do.”
“Why not?”
He grimaced but didn’t answer.
“Dae-Jung?”
“I’m older than Marcellus knew,” he confessed softly. “And as you know from speaking to the prince, the older the vampyr, the less blood is needed.”
I nodded. “What was Korea called when you were growing up?”
“Goryeo,” he answered, scowling at me.
Taking a breath, I asked the question and hoped I’d hear the truth either way. “Would you have ever told me?”
He was quiet a moment, thinking. “Yes, because I trust you.”
“Thank you,” I said honestly. “I know your trust is hard won.”
He gave me a slight tip of his head in agreement. “We were both fortunate in this instance, as I don’t need blood often, and you don’t need it at all, which is why the only thing that was going to make you sleepy was the Chardonnay you had with dinner.”
“I did nearly polish off that whole bottle myself.”
“Yes, but you had a lot of water as well.”
True.
“Which leaves you and me as the only two in the house that are awake.”
“Okay. Why don’t they come in?”
He tipped his head back and forth. “I suspect your barrier.”
“That fast?”
“You like it here; I could tell when you walked in. It’s very shabby chic, cottage-by-the-sea, and you’re comfortable.”
“That’s a lot of words I had no idea you knew.”
“You purchased me an iPad and an iPhone and a MacBook Pro, because you like Apple products,” he told me.
“I do, yes,” I agreed, smiling at him.
“I have spent my free time catching up on the world.”
“Got it.”
“And pinning recipes to my Pinterest boards.”
Of course he had.
“The point being, I don’t think they can get in, but we can’t call out. Neither the landline nor my phone is working.”
“I’m going to go downstairs and see what they want.”
“Go back to your room and put on some clothes first.”
It was a good suggestion. Talking to bad guys in my sleep shorts didn’t seem like the best idea in the world. “Make sure you have Wi-Fi calling enabled on your phone. Try calling out again, and if that doesn’t work, try texting or emailing Tiago,” I told him. “Sometimes the jammers are very specific, and they cut cellular but not Wi-Fi.”
“I will.”
“Do you have all the contacts in your phone?”
“Yes, Tiago made certain I had everything.”
“Okay, good,” I said and darted out of Zev’s room and back down the hall to mine.
Once I was changed into shorts and a T-shirt, I took the stairs to the first floor and walked toward the patio. The fact that the entire villa was open was interesting. No one had closed a window or a door. Kamari was passed out in the corner of the couch closest to the bookcases, and Eris was unconscious on an overstuffed chair by the fireplace, with her feet up on an ottoman. Moving to the arch that led outside, I was surprised to see one man pacing as four others moved in a blur by him.
“Hello,” I greeted him, and his head snapped up, and I realized I was looking at the same man from the night in the hall with Marcellus. What was his name?
“My consort,” he said quickly, and the others stopped moving to look at me. “What are—how are you doing this?”
“Who are you again?”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he apologized quickly, bowing lavishly. “I’m Count Judoc Teyrn, I was an acquaintance of ––”
“Right,” I said as it hit me. “You were the guy who wanted to watch Dae-Jung get raped before you beat him with a riding crop or whatever.”
“That’s not precisely what––”
“Did you do this? Did you drug all my people?”
“Most gracious consort, has something occurred to your household?”
I scoffed. “You know it has,” I told him, because seriously, how stupid did he think I was? “You’re out here on the same night my guard and my champion are attacked, and you think I’m an idiot who can’t put two and two together?”
“He’s a witch!” the man closest to him snarled, raising a one-handed crossbow and leveling it at me. “Just as Gideon said. Kill him so we can go in and search for the key.”
“My consort,” Teyrn said solicitously, “my associate speaks out of frustration. We are not here for you but only for the key that Gideon placed in your keeping.”
“I don’t have any key,” I assured him.
“If you would only lower this”—he gestured toward the house—“whatever this––”
“The barrier, you mean.” He growled at me. “I’m a witch,” I told him. “Just like your friend said, just as Gideon told you.”
He nodded. “I didn’t believe him.”
I shrugged. “Why would Gideon lie?”
“We can go and return with guns,” he assured me. “And though we cannot seem to get in, I suspect bullets may pass without any trouble.”
“Sure,” I agreed. “But by the time you go and come back, we won’t be here, and the second your jammer dies or is out of range, I’ll call the cavalry.”
“I only need the key,” he insisted.
“And I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do,” he snapped at me. “Gideon told me you, and you alone, were in possession of the key.”
I shook my head.
“He had no reason to lie!” he railed at me as his men started moving again to, I was certain, check for holes in my barrier. But since I had no idea how it worked, it would be impressive if they could find limits to its power. “He was asked, in the hall, what he had done with his treasure, and he said he granted the key to a witch.”
“You just said you didn’t believe I was a witch.”
“But Gideon believed!” he roared; hands fisted at his sides. “So I know he gave it to you!”