Chapter Fifty-One

Sephie

We were all in Adrik’s office, waiting for Viktor to bring Dario back. Everyone was still tired from our late night with Trino the night before, but we’d all been on edge about Dario ever since Stephen brought it up. I, for one, was happy to get it checked off the list of things we needed to be worrying about.

Viktor walked in with Dario a few minutes later. He looked much better than the last time I’d seen him. He had shaved his beard; his hair was neater. He looked a little happier. I caught myself studying him more closely as he walked into the office. I watched Adrik as he shook hands with him, not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

Viktor had said that Dario had been grateful the entire time he’d been at the building. He never complained. He always asked the guards who were on him to send word to Adrik that he appreciated everything. He was really happy to get moved to a better room over the weekend, telling the guards he liked the bed better in the new room. He’d requested a few books to read, but otherwise, he was quiet and kept to himself.

The last time we saw him, he looked frightened. Scattered even. He couldn’t focus on one thing for very long. I was surprised when he wouldn’t look at any of us in the eyes for very long. It took me a bit to get him to look at me when we talked to him before. This time, he seemed more confident again. Calmer. It seemed like his time away from Massimo had been good for him.

He greeted everyone politely, taking a seat across from Adrik’s desk. I was on the cabinet behind his desk in my favorite spot to watch people. I glanced at Ivan when Dario sat down. He shook his head no.

“I can’t see anything. He doesn’t even have anything hanging around him,” he told me.

Andrei shared what he was seeing. Surprisingly, his aura didn’t look that bad. It was in need of repair, but compared to the man we’d seen before, I was surprised at how strong his aura was this time.

I didn’t feel Misha’s nausea either, which was also a favorable sign for Dario.

“How are things working out with the other bosses?” Dario asked. He’d been kept in the dark about everything that had happened with the other bosses. He didn’t know about any of it.

Adrik inhaled deeply. “There are only three left, along with Ricardo.”

Dario chuckled. “What of Lorenzo?”

“Dead.”

“Which three are left, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Niko, Vito, and Sal.”

Dario was quiet for a few moments. He looked visibly relieved to learn that Massimo was no longer among the living. “What happened to Massimo?”

“Trino lit him on fire and threw him off a cliff,” I said flatly.

Dario clearly didn’t believe me at first. He thought I was joking.

“She’s telling the truth. I can show you the video if you like,” Adrik said.

“I would, actually. I think that’s a fitting end to the horrors that man caused during his life,” Dario said.

Adrik scrolled through his phone to find the video and tossed it to Dario. He replayed it several times, obviously enjoying it.

“I never thought I would outlive him,” he said, almost in a whisper.

“What do you know about Ricardo De Luca?” Adrik asked.

“He’s close with Armando. Always has been. I think Sal has done business with him as well. There was always something about him that Massimo didn’t like, so we kept our business with him to a minimum. He was never into the illegal side of things, from what I know,” Dario said.

“Did Massimo ever say what it was he didn’t like about him?” Ivan asked.

“No, not specifically. It was much the same as with Sal. It was like Massimo didn’t want competition. He enjoyed knowing he was the most evil.”

“What do you know about Anthony? Did you know his mother? Was Sal with her or was she just a fling that resulted in pregnancy?” I asked.

Dario looked directly at me for a moment before he answered. “You already suspect something or you wouldn’t be asking me. Anthony wasn’t Sal’s kid. He was Massimo’s kid. Massimo was married at the time that his mistress got pregnant. She tried to break up his marriage, so he cut her off to get back at her. Sal found out and took her in. Raised Anthony as his own, just to have insurance against Massimo. He told Massimo he would kill Anthony if he ever tried to move against him.”

“But how did that work? If Massimo cut Anthony’s mother off, why would he care if Sal killed Anthony?” Misha asked.

“It was more the principal of it for Massimo. Not that he had any love for Anthony. He just didn’t want to live a life knowing that Sal had killed one of his children,” Dario said.

“Wow,” I said, under my breath. “Did Anthony know Massimo was his real father?”

“That, I don’t know. He should’ve at least suspected. He didn’t look anything like Sal’s other kids. He did look like Massimo’s other kids.”

“How many other kids did Massimo have?” I asked.

“Two others, besides Anthony. One girl, one boy. Neither were interested in the business, last I knew. Both are spoiled completely rotten and just want to spend money without having to work to earn it.”

“What about Sal? How many kids does he have, besides Anthony?” Ivan asked.

“Sal has a lot of kids and grandkids too. He started having kids when he was still young, so he has quite a few with a few kids of their own now.” He thought for a moment, like he was counting in his head. “I think he has ten kids, unless I’ve forgotten one. Anthony makes eleven.”

“No, he has ten kids. Along with the one less brother,” I said.

“Really?” Dario looked to Adrik, who confirmed my statement. “Huh. How did Sal take that?”

“Not well. He fled to Italy, with Niko and Vito close behind him,” Adrik said.

“What of their underbosses?”

“They’ve basically abandoned the bosses they work for. They stopped collecting taxes very shortly after the three bosses left. They all heard what happened to Anthony, Lorenzo, and Massimo. They all know that no one has seen you or Armando in months. They’re scared,” Adrik said.

“Is Armando dead too?” Dario asked.

“Yes,” Adrik said. We decided it would just be easier to tell everyone that he was dead rather than come up with an excuse for what happened to him. Saying, “He’s locked in his body with a demon being horrifically tortured until his body dies,” just didn’t seem like a plausible answer to the question of where Armando was.

“You work quick,” Dario said. “I can’t say I’m disappointed about that.”

“Anything strange?” Adrik asked everyone silently.

“Nothing from me. He doesn’t even have anything hanging around him,” Ivan said.

“Nothing from me. I checked. He really will live a quiet life if we let him go. Nobody will ever see him again,” Misha responded.

“He could use Viktor, but I found nothing that warranted worry. He’s actually much better this time than he was last time we talked to him,” Andrei said.

“I agree with Andrei. I think giving him hope again helped him cope with everything he’s been through. I don’t get anything bad from him at all. Bubba, can you check with Stephen?” I asked, since Andrei was sitting close to Stephen. He leaned over and brushed Stephen’s arm. Stephen shook his head no. He looked to me, giving me a quick thumbs up.

“You’re still going to be able to leave once this is over. I can’t tell you how long it will take though. Ricardo is a different sort of monster. It’s as much for your safety that I’m keeping you here as it is anything else,” Adrik said.

“I can get information from Sal, if you need it. He’ll think he’s going to get my area of the city if he helps me. I can tell him I got away from Trino and have been in hiding. I’m happy to help speed this process along as much as I can,” Dario said.

“He really does want to help, not just because he wants to disappear. He wants payback from Sal. I’m not entirely sure why yet though,” Andrei said silently.

I started to fish further in Dario’s head, looking for the answer to that question.

What I found in Dario’s head was not wholly unexpected, but it was surprising that it came from Sal and not Massimo. The reason he was so willing to help us get information from Sal was because Sal had been the one to tell Dario’s family about his family dying when he was younger. Sal is the one that told them Massimo killed Dario’s parents, but Sal also framed it like Dario knew about the plan and was in on it.

“Bubba, you’re seeing this too, right?” I asked, Andrei.

“Yeah, I knew Sal was evil, but this is past even what I thought he was capable of. Why would he do this?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but I want to ask him about it.”

I quickly shared what we’d found with Adrik, who was equally as shocked as Andrei and me. “That’s a good reason to want revenge on a person,” he said.

“I agree. I want to ask him about it and see his reaction. Just ask him why he wants to help us take down Sal. It can’t be just because he wants to go free,” I told Adrik.

Adrik looked at Dario. “Is there another reason you’re offering to help take down Sal, Dario?” Adrik’s gaze was intense enough that nine times out of ten, when he would ask a direct question like that, the person would always give a truthful answer. There was something about Adrik that usually compelled people to tell him the truth. That attribute had only grown stronger lately. His intimidation factor was ever-present, even when he didn’t mean to. Most people got the feeling that he was looking at their soul when he stared at them. It made many people uncomfortable.

Dario adjusted his position in the chair he was in, contemplating his answer. He decided the truth was the best option. “Sal is the one that told my family about Massimo killing my parents when I was young. That wouldn’t have been the end of the world, except he made it seem like I knew about the plan and went along with it. My family was so disgusted with me that they left. Massimo is to blame for a lot of things, and he’s partially to blame for that too, but Sal is the real reason my family left me and won’t speak to me.”

“Why would he do such a thing?” Misha asked, completely appalled at Sal’s behavior.

Dario shrugged his shoulders. “Evil doesn’t need a reason.”

“Dario, you keep talking about Massimo and Sal and referring to them as evil. Granted, they’ve done many evil acts. That’s not being argued here. I’m just curious if you’ve ever seen anything else that makes you think of them as evil?” I asked.

He looked slightly uncomfortable at my question; he didn’t answer right away. Everyone picked up on his unease.

I could feel Andrei looking further through Dario’s mind as well as feel Misha’s nausea as Dario thought about Massimo and Sal. Ivan still felt normal and Stephen still felt normal, so it wasn’t anything to do with Dario himself, but he knew more about Massimo and Sal than he was saying.

He opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped himself, trying to find the words to say.

“Dario, do you know if either of them made any deals? Like say, for their souls?” I asked, just to see what would happen.

His eyes went wide as he looked at me. “How did you know about that?” he asked.

“There’s a lot of things I know that I shouldn’t,” I said. “Which one was it? Sal or Massimo?”

“Sal. Massimo never knew about it, from what I know. He would’ve wanted his own deal had he known.”

We all breathed a sigh of relief to know that Massimo hadn’t made a deal with a powerful enough demon that he would reincarnate into roughly the same person each time. Now that we all knew what we knew, I was slightly disappointed that we’d let Trino kill Massimo. It would’ve been better had Stephen broken him, the same as Armando.

“Do you know the details of that deal?” Adrik asked.

He shook his head no, as he said, “No, not specifically. Sal just told me that he made a deal with something very powerful. He tried to talk me into doing the same. Said he could get my family back. He also promised I could have exponentially more power if I did it.”

“So why did you say no?” Ivan asked.

“Something didn’t feel right. It wasn’t that long ago that Sal told me about it. After that night at the restaurant when Ghost came back, for sure. I think it was when he found out that Sephie knew everything about Massimo. He said then he was going to use her to get to Ghost so he could kill him and that he had enough power to do so now,” Dario said. “It was shortly after that when Massimo and I went to Colombia, so I never heard any more about it.”

Adrik laughed. “His demon also oversold and underdelivered.” A few of us snickered at Sal thinking he would be successful in overthrowing Adrik.

“What do you mean? His demon?” Dario asked.

“That’s what he made a deal with. Basically, he literally sold his soul,” Adrik said.

“That would imply he had one to begin with,” Dario said thoughtfully. While he was not trying to be funny when he said it, it did make all of us laugh. We unwittingly made him nervous by laughing at him, until we assured him none of it was a joke.

“Dario, there are things happening that are not easily explained and Sal and Ricardo are at the center of them. There is a network of people around the world trying to take them down. Not just us,” Adrik said.

Dario thought for a few minutes, then looked at Adrik. “I can get information. I don’t know what else I can do, but I can at least do that. If what you’ve said is true, then he must be stopped. His entire family must be stopped. His children take after him in every way. Even the girls. Anthony was not an anomaly.”

Adrik looked at Ivan, the two of them clearly having a silent conversation that the rest of us weren’t privy to. I didn’t get anything but honesty from Dario, nor did Andrei. He passed Misha’s tests as well. We really could use all the help we could get at this point. If he was able to get information directly from Sal, it would make our lives much easier. Battista didn’t even know about Sal’s deal yet. We definitely needed some more help.

Adrik sighed. “I have no issue with you talking to Sal on the phone, but anything past that is not going to be safe for you. I’m not worried about betrayal. That would mean you’re dead with the rest of them. I’m worried about your life being in jeopardy if they know where you are.”

Dario looked surprised at Adrik’s statement. Like he wasn’t expecting Adrik to be worried for his safety. He thought for a few moments, then said, “Sal knows how paranoid I am. He also knows how secretive I can be. If I tell him I’m in hiding, he likely won’t ask anything past that, as he knows he won’t get an answer. He knows what happened to Massimo?”

“We’re not sure. He had already fled to Italy when Massimo was killed,” Adrik said.

“Eh. Then I tell him what happened to Massimo. I tell him I escaped and made it somewhere safe, but they’re looking for me. I want to know what he’s going to do to make it safe for me to return to the city. Then maybe I offer my area and Massimo’s area for helping me. He won’t be able to turn that down. He’s too fucking greedy,” Dario said.

“It could work,” Ivan said, in Russian, after thinking about it for a few minutes. “We need information on Sal. Anything helps, at this point.”

Viktor agreed with Ivan, adding, “Just on the off chance that Sal can trace his call, we can make it look like he’s anywhere in the world but here. Sal won’t be able to tell the difference.”

Adrik looked to Misha, who was checking on outcomes. He finally returned to the present, saying, “He’ll be useful. There’s multiple ways this plays out, though.”

“We can discuss that later. The important issue is whether to let him talk to Sal and whether that benefits us or hurts us,” Adrik said.

“It will benefit us in each scenario,” Misha said.

Adrik looked back to Dario, asking him in English, “You’re sure you want to help us get information from Sal? You can say no. It changes nothing about our deal. You still go free at the end.”

“I want to help. I’m tired of ignoring the evil he’s done. If I can help hurry along his comeuppance, I’ll gladly do it,” Dario said.

Adrik simply nodded once. The conversation ended shortly after, and Dario was taken back to his room. Once Viktor came back, we moved upstairs to the penthouse since that was the only spot we really felt comfortable discussing anything these days.

“What were you two discussing?” I asked, looking between Adrik and Ivan.

Ivan’s mischievous grin spread across his face. “I thought the whole point of being able to communicate telepathically was that no one else would notice when it happened?”

“No one else but her,” Adrik said, pulling me to him. He turned me toward him, his palm resting on my cheek. “Much like what you witnessed in Battista’s associate’s head, I don’t think you need the details of that conversation, solnishko.”

He didn’t need to say anymore. I knew it was not something I was going to enjoy knowing, so I happily let it drop.

“It’s so weird when she doesn’t argue,” Ivan said, trying to sound serious.

Adrik put the back of his hand on my forehead, like he was checking my temperature. “She doesn’t feel like she’s got a fever, but that doesn’t mean she’s not coming down with something.”

I playfully punched him in the ribs as I turned and walked toward the bedroom to take my contacts out. He caught me as I got halfway down the hallway, wrapping his arms around me as he walked us both back to the bedroom. I could feel his happiness at having me in his arms. I knew he could feel mine as well.

He waited patiently while I took my contacts out, then spun me around to face him. His lips immediately found mine, kissing me deeply. He broke the kiss, leaning back far enough that he could see my eyes. The sweet look of satisfaction on his face told me they were deep blue. He caught me smirking at him. “What’s that look for?” he asked as he traded places with me to take his contacts out.

“You get a look of satisfaction on your face when my eyes turn blue. And only when my eyes turn blue. It’s the only color I’m 100 percent positive on each time it happens, just by the look on your face,” I said. I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head in between his shoulder blades while I waited for him to take his contacts out.

“That’s because it’s my absolute favorite,” he said as he turned around to face me.

“You’re my absolute favorite,” I said, standing on my toes to kiss him again. He groaned softly as he pulled me against him completely. His lips were still on mine as he slowly walked us out of the bathroom, toward the bedroom door again. I could feel his reluctance to let go of me as we made it to the bedroom door. It made me giggle.

“You’re not the only one who’s feeling extra needy lately, apparently,” he said, finally coming up for air.

“What is wrong with us,” I said wistfully, as I pulled his arms around me tighter as we walked back to the kitchen.

I started on dinner as we discussed our conversation with Dario, as well as the conversation with Trino from the night before.

I finally looked to Stephen, asking, “How about now? Does anything still feel off to you about Dario after talking to him tonight?”

In his normal serious way, he thought for a moment before replying, “No, I think it was Sal’s deal that was the reason we all needed to have that conversation. I don’t know how Battista found out about Ricardo and Martin, but he obviously doesn’t know about Sal yet.”

“Maybe because his deal is so new? Although, I guess technically, so is Martin’s deal. Maybe Sal made a deal with a much less powerful demon so it didn’t show up on whatever demon radar Battista has at his disposal?” Misha asked.

I was still interested in knowing why Stephen thought about Dario and why something felt off. It seemed slightly out of character, but not in a bad way—more in a he-might’ve-leveled-up-and-we-hadn’t-caught-it-way.

I caught Adrik studying Stephen as he talked. He suspected something else as well. “Stephen, you’re beginning to be able to sense demons, aren’t you?” he asked.

“I think I might be, yes. It’s hard to tell, because you’re all still normal to me, but I’m thinking that’s why I brought Dario up. I think I knew about Sal’s deal, without knowing about Sal’s deal,” he said.

“Is that why something feels off to you about the Mexicans as well?” I asked.

He thought for a moment. “Maybe. It’s a different feeling with them.”

“Misha, do you think you can find any clarity for that?” Adrik asked.

“I can try,” Misha said. He looked to me expecting me to help, but Adrik vetoed the idea, surprising everyone.

“Misha, now that you’re connected to your demon, you can use it as your battery source. If you still need an extra boost now and then, you can use Sephie and Andrei, but you can do this on your own now,” Adrik said. His tone was soft enough that Misha knew he was encouraging him, but firm enough that Misha knew better than to not at least try it on his own before asking for more help.

Because he was much more discreet about using his gift now, he no longer got the faraway look in his eye. However, since he was relying on his demon as an extra battery source, his eyes turned black while he was trying to find the answer. When he came back to the present, he was surprised to see all of our black eyes staring back at him.

I laughed. “Your eyes turn black because you’re using your demon as a power source. Ours are just here for emotional support.”

He laughed, his eyes changing back to their normal green. “I didn’t see any deals being made, but there is some kind of black magic or something like it being used by the Mexicans. Mostly against Martin, from what I could tell. I’ve really gotta learn Spanish if we’re going to keep spying on these people.”

Adrik didn’t even need to look at me for me to know what he was thinking. “Show me, Misha. Maybe I can pick up a few words,” I said, extending my hand to him. Adrik just smirked at me, loving that I read his mind.

Misha showed me what he found. The entire time I watched what he’d found, I didn’t feel his nausea once. When the movie was over, I looked at him, somewhat confused. “No nausea?” I asked.

He looked surprised. He hadn’t thought about it. “No, now that you mention it. No nausea.”

“What if what they’re doing isn’t black magic, but white. What if they somehow know of Martin’s deal and they’re trying to protect themselves? I caught a few words but not enough to know for sure. What you saw, though, was them praying to Santa Muerte, or the Saint of Death. She’s a well-known saint for drug cartels, especially in Mexico. They pray to her to avoid authorities. Maybe they’re praying to her to avoid Martin?” I said.

“I’m sure Trino would know,” Adrik said. “You can show him and see what they’re saying.”

“I do think learning Spanish should be higher on my priority list,” I said. “But that somewhat explains why Misha didn’t feel any nausea when he saw it happening.”

“Yeah, I didn’t even notice that and it’s my own warning system,” Misha said, slightly embarrassed.

I laughed. “Don’t feel bad. You were understandably excited that it worked to use your demon as a battery source. You were distracted.”

His wide smile stretched across his face. “I was excited. Not gonna lie.”

“It was just as clear as when you use Sephie and Andrei?” Adrik asked.

Misha nodded. “Yeah, it was like having one of them help me.”

“It’ll get easier as you do it more often and it’ll get clearer too. The more you rely on your demon and let it help you, the stronger the connection will get,” Adrik said.

“Quick question: does that also mean it’s going to want more pancakes? If so, I’m going to need to start running more to compensate,” Misha said, somehow managing to keep a straight face through that entire sentence.

We all laughed, needing a short break from the heavy subject at hand.

We continued our discussion over dinner, but it finally changed to somewhat lighter subjects. Andrei finally asked Stephen, “So how much are you still hanging out with Keith?”

Stephen seemed surprised by the question. “Not that much, honestly. I’m always with you guys now. I kind of don’t have time. Why?”

“He still very much pines for you,” I said, smiling at him. “We noticed it when we were checking everyone out last night.”

“Oh,” he said, almost shyly.

“I don’t want to embarrass you about it. We just thought you should know that he’s still carrying that torch for you,” I said.

“You’ve changed since you discovered your gift, Stephen. You have a quiet confidence to you that’s very noticeable now. I’m sure he finds that attractive,” Adrik said.

“I do?” he asked.

“You do,” Adrik said.

“You’ve always been hilarious, but you kept it hidden away. You’re letting everyone see it, as well as your intelligence now. It’s no surprise he’s still wildly attracted to you,” I said.

“‘Wildly attracted’ is putting it mildly,” Andrei said, smirking at Stephen.

“Huh. I had not noticed,” he said.

“How could you? You’re always with us. Getting cock-blocked,” Ivan said, laughing. It caused another round of laughter from everyone.

I snapped my fingers, pointing at Ivan. “I told you I was holding you guys back from getting laid!” They could all feel my amusement at the situation, so none of them took me seriously. It did remind me, however, to ask Viktor about Ilya. “Have you talked to Ilya? Did he call Jessica after the fundraiser?” I asked him.

His deep laugh filled the kitchen. “He did. They’ve already gone on at least one date.”

“You guys are going to have to cycle through to Vitaliy’s team if you ever want to get laid,” I said. “We’ll come up with an exchange program. It’ll work out smashingly well.”

Once the laughter died down, Stephen said, “Seph, you’re not keeping us from anything. Stop thinking that. We choose to hang out up here over doing other stuff.”

“You keep saying that. I still don’t entirely believe it, but I love you for saying it anyway,” I said.

“I mean, our dinner conversations alone are more interesting than anyone else I’ve ever dated,” Stephen said.

“Now I know you’re lying. You can’t tell me we have better dinner conversations than Vlad. I mean, the ambience of his dinners alone wins everything. Who doesn’t want impaled boyars around the feast table?” I said.

Stephen laughed loudly. “I rest my case,” he said.

Viktor chuckled. “Vitaliy asked Ilya about Vlad.”

“Shut up.”

“He did. Ilya said he’d never met him, but he knew he was a friend of Stephen’s,” Viktor said, causing all of us to laugh even harder.

“Did he believe him?” Ivan asked.

“Ilya thinks he was mostly satisfied with the answer, but just the fact that he asked him about Vlad means he’s curious about this weird character we keep referencing,” Viktor said.

“We should just pay someone to pretend to be Vlad. Make him into a real person for Vitaliy,” Misha said.

“Give him a pet red panda while we’re at it,” Adrik said.

“You have the money. You can make this dream a reality,” I said.

As everyone sat around the kitchen, laughing uncontrollably at the absurdity we’d created for ourselves, I couldn’t help but love every single one of them a little bit more. They were so much fun. The joy that they brought me on a daily basis was something I never would’ve thought possible when I first met them all.

“I love you all so much right now,” I said, wiping the tears from my eyes from laughing so hard.

Stephen got up and walked to me, sliding his arm around my shoulders. “See why I want to hang out with you guys and not anyone else now?” he said, kissing the top of my head. I grabbed his arm, keeping him with me for a few moments.

As we calmed down, the conversation turned back to more serious matters. “We heard from the mayor about Dr. Moretti. Eric is ready to charge him for creating brawn. He won’t be charged for any of his back-room procedures as of now, because no one can remember him, but Eric feels certain that he can make the charges stick for the brawn and he’ll go away for a very long time,” Viktor said.

I felt Stephen’s anger slowly rising as the doctor’s name was mentioned. His hold on my shoulders tightened slightly as well. “Surely there’s a way to make him pay for all those procedures he did too?” he said, almost through gritted teeth.

“Because nobody but Sephie can remember him, there’s no proof. I’m not making her testify against him, either,” Adrik said.

Stephen’s anger continued to rise at the injustice of it all. I knew what was about to happen, but Stephen was so outwardly calm that no one else had caught on just yet. “What does Eric think the sentence will be if he’s found guilty for the brawn?” I asked.

“Fifteen to twenty-five, I think he said?” Viktor said.

That was the push Stephen needed to lose control of his anger. He stepped back from me, putting his hands in his pockets. He knew he was losing control and was trying his best to not let it happen. As soon as he stepped back from me, everyone else figured out what was happening. They all went on high alert, but stayed where they were.

I turned to Stephen, telling him to let go. “You’re going to have to go completely nuclear for it to happen, Stephen. I can show you how to control it, but I have a feeling you won’t need me,” I said.

We watched as his breathing rate increased slightly; his cheeks flushed. He had been looking at the floor, but he looked up at me as I was talking to him. His eyes were normally hazel, but right now, they were almost black. I could feel his anger, but I could feel him trying to contain it. Knowing how independent he liked to be, I waited to see if he could master it on his own before helping him.

It took him a few more moments, but he eventually began to calm himself down and his eyes returned to their normal hazel color. Adrik had been watching him the entire time, studying him as well as his demon. “Your demon is colder than normal too. Just like you. Even though your anger burns just as hot as ours, it comes from ice,” Adrik said.

Ivan chuckled. “That makes no sense and yet, it makes perfect sense.”

“I think it needs to be that way. Stephen is the closest to you when it comes to sending people to Hell. He just sends them to their own darkness instead. He needs to be able to withstand the cold that comes with that,” I said, looking at Adrik. “I do, however, think everyone needs contacts now though,” I said as I got up to give Stephen a hug. His vampiric vice-grip held me tightly. I could feel he was happy about this finally happening to him. I could also feel he was proud of himself for doing it on his own.

“I’m proud of you too. I knew you could figure it out without me,” I said silently to him. Since I was already touching him, he got the message right away. He didn’t say a word, he just held me tighter for a moment longer.