"The semester is almost over. She can stay up here through the break."
"Nikolai, what do we do for water?" Allan came back in holding a tea kettle and a few other things.
"Running water in shower. Was best I could do."
Allan headed back out into the night, assuring Nikolai that it was fantastic.
Trying to stay out of the way, I sprawled on the bed. Victoria joined me, lounging near the foot.
Doc lay down on his stomach next to me, leaning on his elbows as he watched Ed and Allan get familiar with the kitchen. He must have noticed me eyeing the hair tie that kept his long hair pulled back because he reached up and pulled it out before I could disintegrate it.
"I'm running out of them." He grinned.
"Oh, sorry."
"Don't be. I just hate shopping."
Nikolai perched on the other side of Doc. "So, tell us about your day." He buried one hand in Doc's long hair, resting it on the other man's back.
I pushed up against his other shoulder with mine.
"Well, it got interesting fast. The Andersons are not quite hitting full force, but they went after my job."
Everyone stared at Doc in horror.
"It's fine. I talked them out of suspending me, although it amounts to the same thing. I'm taking a leave of absence for the spring semester. Things with the Andersons will be worked out long before the question of if I can actually go back comes up."
"What did they do?" Victoria gasped out.
"They tried to out me as a mage. I managed to convince the dean that the Andersons were lying, and they really didn't want to go through the whole process of dealing with that since I wasn't willing to just walk away. The leave of absence was a compromise."
"That's such crap," Victoria grumbled. "They can't fire you for being a mage."
"They could," Doc said. "And I'd rather they think that I'm a mage rather than the truth, and if an investigation really did happen, it would get messy fast. My current background is tight as far as the paper trail is concerned, but enough people know me, that if they asked the right people the right questions it could get, um, awkward. Of course, they'd have to go to the Navajo for real information and I suspect my mother's people would be fairly tight lipped about the whole thing. Or, the Andersons could just tell the truth. I think they're still afraid to do that, though I'm not completely sure what's holding them back at this point."
"Suspect they're afraid you have friends."
Doc snorted. "Other than you guys, no."
Nikolai nodded. "Still, is better they think that."
Doc buried his face in his hands for a minute before brushing his long hair back and resting his chin on his hands. Then he frowned and glanced over at Victoria.
I followed her gaze. She had a deliberately blank look on her face, as if she were trying really hard not to react to anything we were saying.
Doc sighed. "I'm a vampire."
Her blank mask shattered and her eyebrows rose. That she didn't immediately completely freak out pleased me. She'd known Doc for months now.
"Sunlight?" she whispered. "That's not a real thing?"
"It is." Doc answered. "I'm not a full vampire. My mother was attacked right before I was born. It's a long story."
"Oh." Her gaze met mine, eyes wide. "Okay. Well, I guess that explains about everything then. I can, uh, see why you didn't want to tell me, though."
He shrugged. "At least now if someone asked you if I'm a mage, you can say no with complete conviction, or lie knowledgably if the situation warrants."
She nodded.
Ed and Allan turned back to the meal they were working on and Doc sighed quietly. I was probably the only one who heard him, since I was pressed up close.
"Well, so you have a long vacation. Great. How was Deputy Morrison?" I wasn't sure what else to say about his job situation.
Doc groaned. "Okay. He's not completely convinced it wasn't arson, but no one can prove anything and since I don't have any real information for him, they're going to call it shit luck, I guess. He grilled me pretty hard today, but short of telling him that mages burned it down because we took away their pet demon, I couldn't really say anything other than that I had no idea who might want to hurt us. Took a little persuasion, but he finally dropped it. I dealt with the insurance company, too. We should be able to get replacement supplies before long. Though, I don't know if I want to rebuild until the Andersons are actually handled. Two fires would be awfully suspicious."
"Which leads us to dealing with those assholes," I said once Doc had finished.
Everyone nodded.
"I can't believe they burned down your cabin," Victoria said, voice still airy as if she were trying to cope with all the new information.
It was Nikolai's turn to shrug. "Blew up part of their mansion and burned another part not long ago. Suppose is fair."
Victoria's eyes widened. "Really?"
"Yes."
She shook her head. "How did that not make the news?"
"Magic," Nikolai answered with a grin.
Victoria groaned. "I almost wish I didn't know."
"Sorry," Nikolai replied.
"It would be completely convenient if we could just end them," I said. "We need to rescue Ash and then we need to stop them. I was thinking that maybe it was time to reach out to other groups of mages, see if our problem has gotten big enough to deal with yet."
"It's worth checking into," Doc answered.
"So you want me to see if we have any contacts?" Victoria asked. "I'm guessing that's why you wanted me here."
"Yeah. If you don't mind."
"I'll talk to my parents."
"Thanks, Victoria." I smiled at her.
"Of course."
"I am working on a plan for rescuing Ash," Nikolai said. "Need to do that soon."
"Besides staying alive, that is our next priority, right? That will tip the balance completely," I said.
"If we do rescue him, there's a chance he'll take care of our
