No blood oozed from the gash on her foot, but the bloodstains told the story that she hadn’t been handled with care.
When Claude crouched in what was clearly a posture to lick her wounds, Shepherd yanked him back.
“You don’t waste time with introductions, do you? Keep your tongue in your mouth. I’ll get my bag.” Shepherd brushed past us toward the medical room down the hall.
Niko could have healed a cut that small, even after sustaining injuries tonight. But I had a feeling he wasn’t eager to reveal his Mage gifts to a complete stranger on the first night. Aside from that, he never wasted healing light on superficial wounds. Still, he remained in a genuflecting position.
Wyatt strutted toward her, hand extended. “I’m Wyatt Blessing. Affable, handsome, and your tour guide of the afterlife.”
Blue’s eyes rolled to the back of her head. “She doesn’t understand you.”
He peered over his shoulder, arm still extended. “How do you know what she does and doesn’t know, buttercup?”
“Because Viktor would have greeted her in English.”
Wyatt completed his unreciprocated handshake with a flamboyant bow, removing his hat and then stepping aside.
“How do we communicate with her?” Gem asked. “I don’t know the language you two were speaking.”
Viktor steadied Kira’s arm as she wobbled, not having used her legs for who knew how many hours or days. “Kira speaks a dead language known to very few. She’s a bright girl and will learn quickly if she chooses.”
“She doesn’t speak any Slavic languages? German? Russian?”
“Nyet. She only left the farm to deliver messages for her aging father. That is my understanding, but we have much to catch up on after she settles in.”
Shepherd reappeared with a medical kit. “Wyatt, grab that chair. I can’t do this with her standing up.”
Wyatt dragged a green upholstered chair away from the wall, and Viktor helped her to sit. I’d never seen anyone with such a regal posture—as if she were looking upon her loyal subjects. Viktor plucked a few pieces of straw from her hair, and between words, I caught our names. He must have been giving her the scoop on each of us. When he got to Shepherd, a flutter of laughter caught in her throat before she silenced herself.
Shepherd gave Viktor the evil eye as he pushed his sleeves up to his elbows. If I’d been a betting woman, which I was, I’d guess that Viktor had just given her the speech about Shepherd’s ability to offend.
Shepherd doused a white cloth with peroxide and wiped the dried blood from her foot. One of the nails in the crate must have cut her during transport. “It doesn’t need stitches, but it’s gonna scar a little.”
When he poured the antiseptic on it, she winced and tried to jerk her leg away.
Shepherd caught her ankle and held it tight. He met her gaze, his voice firm but gentle. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to help.”
She studied him for a moment before nodding.
Gem strode over to the crate and peered inside. “Where’s her luggage?”
Viktor asked her a question in that unfamiliar language, and she gave a quick reply. “She has nothing of value.”
I thought about how Breed didn’t take photographs of themselves—a longstanding tradition to stay out of historical archives. How sad to not have a picture of her father. It suddenly made me realize how badly I wanted one of my own.
Viktor approached Blue, hands in his pockets. “She should have the first bedroom behind the stairs.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to give her a room with a window? It’s kind of small in there,” Blue remarked.
“She would feel safer without windows in a new place. If you saw where she lived, you’d understand why smaller is better. Will you draw her a bath? Perhaps lend her some clothes?”
“Sure.” Blue held his gaze for a moment and finally turned away. The sound of her footsteps echoed against the tall ceiling, which Kira gaped at.
The newcomer took a minute to soak in the grandeur of it all. By no means did we have garish décor, but the farm girl was nevertheless awestruck by the architecture and medieval beauty of our fortress. The candles burned brightly enough to reveal the ominous winged soldier by the door and the grand staircase in the middle. Little did she know how big this place really was. Not just the maze of hallways and the beautiful courtyard but also the rolling hills and expansive estate.
Then again, she might not be impressed once she began mopping.
Gem reached down and unraveled the ribbons from her tall shoes. “I’d love to stay and chat, but alas, I’m dead to the world. Kira probably wants her privacy.”
Niko finally rose to his feet and bowed. “That goes for me as well. I bid you all a good evening.”
Shepherd dropped the bloody cloth on the floor and wrapped a bandage around her foot. Kira watched silently, resting her head in her palm, eyes hooded.
I saluted Viktor and gave Christian a pointed stare before steering toward the side hall that led to the back of the mansion.
“Follow me,” I whispered.
Once I reached the second level, I headed to a study in the back. The smell of old paper hit me as soon as I entered the room, and since I didn’t have any matches on me, I grabbed a candle stub from a lantern in the hall and used the dying flame to light up a fresh candle. Occasionally at night, I’d find Niko in here, savoring his drink in front of a warm fire.
I set the candles on a long table to the right of the door and hopped up next to them. The light barely touched the other side of the room, but my Vampire eyes allowed me to see the weathered spines.
Who did all these books once belong to? I wondered. They filled the room from wall to wall, each volume covered with dust.
“How many people used to live here?” I asked.
Christian emerged from the shadowy hall. “Viktor’s never spoken about his family. And unless you have a morbid interest in tales of woe, better to not ask an immortal about his past.”
“I’ll take that into consideration. So, my fellow insomniac. Are you up for a hunt?”
His dark eyes glittered.
“Remember when I was checking messages this morning? I’ve been following a few leads, and I got an offer on a message I left a few weeks ago. This could be our guy. I think he’s surfing human websites in search of willing victims—people who don’t have family or friends to miss them. Even if he’s not behind most of the big auctions, it’ll be one less fanghole we have to worry about.”
“Don’t you mean Vamp?” He gave me an indignant look. “Is that why you’re so gung-ho about this particular case? A chance to have your vengeance against Vampires?”
“I’m almost dating a Vampire.”
“Almost?”
I slid off the table. “We haven’t gone on a real date. We’ve barely gotten past second base.”
He stepped forward with a swing in his gait. “I thought we were being unconventional. Now you want flowers and candy?”
I circled around him. “Nope. I want to hunt an outlaw and take him down.”