Luc looked at Katia in total confusion. This was new — a human trying to convince him that he was insane. How could she not know what was going on? The weird thing was that she didn’t look like she was lying. …Then again she had been with the witch…
Walking back to the corner of the room, Luc resumed his seat in the wingback chair, steepled his fingers, and gave Katia a long look.
“The man you were with at the café…what is your relationship to him?”
Katia’s expression fell. He’d clearly not given her the response she’d been hoping for.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but we work together as musicians at the Met.”
“You looked pretty comfortable together for colleagues.”
“He’s my pianist. I play the violin. We’ve worked together for a few years. So yeah, we’re comfortable.”
“You kissed him.” Luc tossed out to her in an accusing tone that even took him aback.
Katia threw up her un-cuffed hand and sighed. “We were on a first date, okay! Again, it’s none of your business.”
Luc frowned inwardly. He couldn’t understand this growing sense of irritation that was setting up shop inside him at the thought of Katia and her date. Getting sidetracked by a pretty face could only lead to trouble. Luc already knew enough about trouble and wasn’t in the market for more. Raising his eyes to the ceiling, Luc almost sent up a prayer to Heofon to deliver him from this woman. “The ring he wears, do you know what it is?”
Shooting Luc a quizzical look, Katia nodded. “Sergei told me it was a family ring that had been passed down for several generations.”
Nodding, Luc leaned his elbows on his knees and sharpened his gaze on her. “Do you know what it means?”
“Well, no, I just assumed it was part of the family’s crest. Sergei is descended from a very old, noble Russian family.”
Pursing his lips, Luc nodded. “Yes. The family that bears that crest is very old and was connected to the nobility.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes sizing each other up. As Luc watched her, Katia broke eye contact and looked down at the blanket she was sitting on and picked mindlessly at an errant thread. She peered up at him through her lashes, her eyes narrowed in thought.
She took a deep breath and spoke quietly. “Can I ask you something?”
Luc raised an eyebrow and nodded at her.
“Did you manage to drug my latte at Insomnia somehow?” Katia visibly held her breath as she waited to see how he would react to her question.
Confused, Luc shook his head and frowned. “Absolutely not. Why do you ask?”
Katia frowned. “It’s just that ever since I noticed you at the café, I’ve been seeing this weird light around you. I know it sounds crazy…maybe I’m going nuts…probably am.” She waved her free hand in a dismissive gesture, looking back up at Luc as she did so. “I guess I was hoping it was a drug that did it, not just me going loopy.”
Luc’s jaw dropped and he stared at her in shock. It wasn’t possible! Humans weren’t able to see the aura that surrounded angels. His mind spun trying to make sense of this new information. After all this time away from Heofon, his aura should barely be visible. Yet here was Katia telling him she could see it. He could barely see it anymore for Sheol's sake! As the blackness inside him had spread, his aura had become increasingly faint.
Luc had picked up a low-level energy pulsing off her skin whenever he had touched her, like static electricity. He’d assumed it was residual energy from being in constant close contact with the witch, but evidently he had been mistaken. There was only one conclusion here, and it certainly complicated matters. Katia couldn’t be human. “What are you?” He asked Katia.
“I’m not sure what you mean…I’m a musician…?” Katia raised her eyebrows at him.
Shaking his head, Luc tried again. “No. That’s not what I meant.” Exasperated, he tried again. “What are you?”
No sooner had the words left his lips when a shimmering began in the air a few feet from the bed. Katia rubbed her eyes and squinted at the anomaly. Suddenly, the wavering patch of space began to tear away from its surroundings. With an audible rip, a dimensional doorway tore open revealing a handsome man with glowing yellow eyes in a designer suit.
Amir stepped through the doorway into Luc’s bedroom, the tear in the fabric of space weaving shut behind him. As Luc rose to greet him, a scream pierced the air. Katia was terrified, screaming and yanking at the cuff securing her to the bed. Even from a couple of feet away, Luc could see the blood that had begun to run from the violent friction of the cuff against her skin, the droplets standing out like rubies against the milky whiteness of her wrist. “Shit! Amir don’t move; she’s freaking out. I’m gonna have to put her out before she really hurts herself.” Luc dashed over to the bedside table, tore it open, and pulled out a syringe. Good thing he’d thought to keep an extra dose just in case.
Throwing himself across the bed toward her, Luc plunged the syringe into her arm and depressed the stopper. In seconds, Katia’s screams stopped and her breathing began to slow. Moving to her side, he pulled her gently into his arms. Lethargically, she tipped her face upwards to look him in the eyes. The tracks of tears running down her face caused his breath to stick in his throat. For the first time in centuries he felt like someone had taken a hammer to the wall of ice around his heart, a small piece breaking away and melting into his blood. Reaching out, Luc traced the path of her tears. “I’m so sorry,” he said, voice catching as she drifted back into the darkness.
Chapter Eight
The light from the gothic, cast-iron sconces illuminated
