“I did notice that our demons seemed quieter last night. Even around Henry and the switch-hitter, they were quiet. I can’t figure out why that would be.”
I thought for a minute as he worked on washing my hair. “I hadn’t thought about it, but you’re right. They were much more active with Battista’s associate than they were last night. But there were more demons there last night than with Battista’s associate. That don’t make sense. It does seem like they were hiding.” It suddenly hit me. I turned around to face him. “What if they knew that girl could see them and they were hiding from her?”
“Could she see them, though? She didn’t notice anything about Stephen or the Wonder Twins. It was only you, me, and Ivan that she saw something different about. Ivan has wings, even. Are you sure she was seeing our demons?”
“Well, no. I’m not. But I bet I know who is,” I said, grinning.
“Andrei. That kid can’t help himself sometimes. Which actually works to our advantage. I bet he knows,” he said. He was clearly amus prospect of Andrei snooping through that poor scared girl’s head.
“He’s gonna be so embarrassed,” I said. Can’t say I wasn’t excited about this pending conversation….
King of the UnderworldSephle
The guys were all laughing as we walked into the kitchen. They all looked to me, like they knew I was about to make their morning even better. I was taken aback by their knowing glances.
“We can feel your f**kery, gazelle. I, for one, am very excited about this development in my life,” Misha said.
Adrik caught my eye, his mischievous grin slowly creeping atross his face. “Apparently, I’m not the only one,” he said, kissing my temple.
“Not the only one for what?” Ivan asked.
“He can feel all of you the same way I can now. He knew you guys were here before I did this morning. He can tell you the order you came up, even,” I said.
They all looked at Adrik skeptically, like they didn’t believe him.
“Ivan, Stephen, Andrei, Viktor, Misha,” he said.
“Okay, so new level unlocked,” Ivan said, laughing.
“We were talking this morning. It feels like the connection is getting stronger each time we do something new,” Andrei said. “It used to only get stronger for Sephie, but now I think it’s getting stronger for all of us.”
“I agree, Bubba. I think you guys pick up more each time. Not just with me anymore, either. You’re picking up more between each other now, too,” I said.
“We were talking this morning too. It felt like our demons were quieter last night at the fundraiser than they were at the meeting with Battista. We can’t figure out why. There were more demons last night than at the meeting with Battista. It doesn’t make sense they’d be quiet last night,” Adrik said.
“I noticed that too. I was going to bring it up this morning. Any theories?” Ivan asked.
“Sephie thinks it might have something to do with that girl that could see my mother and Kostya. Maybe they knew and were hiding from her?” Adrik said.
I looked at Andrei. “Bubba, did you by chance do any snooping with her? Do you know if she could see everything? Or is she more like you, in that she can only see the good?” I asked. “I did look when I saw her zero in on Ivan. It worried me, so I ted to see what she saw,” Andrei said. He looked at Ivan. “You’re going to be shocked, man. I didn’t know how much you wanted Battista know, so I didn’t bring it up last night.”
He pushed what he saw when Jessica looked at Ivan, then me, then Adrik. She couldn’t see our demons, but she could very clearly see the outline of a pair of wings behind each of us. My dad had told me that Ivan’s wings were black, white, and red. Jessica could only see the whi te in his wings, but they looked different to her than what Kostya and Lena looked like. She saw the same difference when she looked at me and Adrik.
We all stood in stunned silence for a few moments. Andrei and Misha worked together to push it to Viktor and Stephen at the same time.
I finally got over my shock and looked to Ivan. “I wonder if she’ll be able to eventually see how much cooler yours are than everyone else’s.” It helped snap him back to reality as well. Adrik quietly slid his arm around my waist. I felt the pull in my chest from him, knowing he was thinking about how much more this made him love me, just as I was for him.
“She saw Boss’s m om and Kostya the same way, but they look different than you guys,” Andrei said. He pushed us the images of both Lena and Kostya that she had seen. “She called them ghosts because she didn’t think anyone would believe her and she wasn’t even sure if angels were real,” he said.
“The ghost angle makes sense, since you can see through them,” Stephen said after seeing what Andrei was sharing with all of us.
“It doesn’t explain why our demons were quiet, though. Just to bring it back around to that,” Ivan said. “I would like to know why that is.”
“Maybe they were quieter because you listened to them last time. They didn’t have to shout this time,” Misha said. “The more I used my gift at first, the more subtle it got. But it was also clearer. Maybe that’s what’s happening. They were louder the first few times, you got the message, now they can be subtle.”
I noticed Viktor getting a glazed over look, but I didn’t feel like he was uncomfortable with this conversation. I was hyper-aware of his comfort level when it came to any discussion of our demons. He was getting better, but I know he still didn’t like it.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.