simply nodded.
“Quill, we’re going to need you to help us too,” I said in a soft voice, glancing at my old friend. “You need to teach us to think like my father thinks.”
He looked at me and smiled warmly, lending his handsome face a soft expression. “I will help you however I can. You know that, Dulce.”
I nodded. “You play a big part because you know my father better than any of us. That’s why I insisted on your participation.”
Quill sighed as he rubbed the blond stubble on his chin. “Well, I do and I don’t know your father well. Yes, I’ve been working for him for many years, but your father is a master in the art of surviving and that’s not by accident. He knows how to keep people close without letting them get too close.”
I was spared the chance to respond when there was a loud knock on the door. I immediately eyed Knight, since I had no clue who would be calling, especially so late at night. But the Loki also wore a blank expression. When I scanned the other people in the room, I noticed everyone shared the same general look of bewildered surprise. As far as we knew, with the obvious exception of Christina, The Resistance team was already present and accounted for. Furthermore, we were assembled out in the middle of nowhere, so who in hell would be visiting now?
I stood up, intending to answer the door, but Knight’s voice stopped me. “No, Dulce,” he said in a tone that forbade me to argue with him. Then he walked past me, to see to our visitor himself. Abandoning any argument, since it wasn’t worth waging, (hey, it was his house) I just sighed and watched him open the door.
“What a shame that I was not invited to your little rendezvous,” Bram’s accent rang out. The dashing vampire sidestepped Knight and showed himself into the living room. He was wearing black slacks and a navy blue, knitted sweater that looked especially impressive next to the pitch black of his hair. As soon as he entered the room, a draft of air followed him, which enveloped me in Bram’s unique scent. It was something very clean, but with a hint of earthiness.
“How the hell did you find us?” Knight asked in an acid tone. He closed the door behind him, though, so I figured he figured Bram’s visit wouldn’t be a short one.
Bram took turns smiling at each of the women in the room, his eyes settling on Rachel a little longer than was polite, before addressing the furious Loki. “Quite simple, my brutish friend.”
At the mention of Knight as Bram’s “brutish friend,” I had to laugh. Hearing Sam and Erica also giggling from the corner of the room, I wasn’t the only one to see the humor in Bram’s description of Knight.
“I tracked my phone, which still resides in our lovely fairy’s possession,” Bram finished. He extended his manicured hand, inspecting his nails as he smiled with visible pride.
Damn, I’d forgotten about the fact that I’d put Bram’s cell phone in my pocket. I reached down to feel the lump in my jeans pocket, the sure reminder that it was really still there. And, yes, it was.
“You aren’t welcome here,” Knight said.
“I realize you and I do not run in quite the same circles,” Bram answered with a phony smile. He turned away from Knight and began approaching all of us. When he strode past Erica, she wolf-whistled to Dia, who just nodded her silent agreement that even though Bram was more than aware of it; he was pretty hot.
Bram walked over to the fireplace and pretended to warm his hands in front of the fire. It was really all for show, because as a vampire, he was perpetually cold. No amount of outside warmth had any impact on his internal temperature. He stopped walking when he was just beside Trey. The hobgoblin remained seated on the hearth, gazing up at Bram with what appeared to be admiration.
“Hiya,” Trey said with a bucktoothed smile.
Glancing down at Trey, Bram half-smiled, doing little to conceal his distaste. He then patted Trey on
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley