Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

Ethan was lying on his bed, awaiting the sun to sink below the horizon and for his two comrades to come home. He was anxious to see if they had found something that he had overlooked. He closed his eyes as he ran his fingers through Felix’s hair, who was curled up against his side. The two had remained in peaceful silence since their talk and the quiet companionship Felix provided soothed Ethan’s nerves from his fight with Conrad. It was almost to the point where he could forgive his stubborn father. Ethan knew, if he pushed hard enough, that he’d be able to save Nicoli from his fate. He had to believe that in order not to be swallowed up by guilt for putting the human in such a dangerous position then not even telling him of the close threat.

Ethan was pulled from his musing and he and Felix lifted their heads simultaneously when the door opened. He furrowed his brows curiously when Faith entered and quietly closed the door behind her. She then padded around the bed to Ethan’s free side.

“You two are cuddling and I wasn’t invited? I feel hurt,” she said teasingly as she climbed up on the bed. She did not move to lie down with the other two, but simply sat on her knees next to Ethan.

“I’m sorry, I thought you were sleeping so I didn’t go see if you wanted to cuddle. How thoughtless of me,” Ethan said with a smile.

“Plus, you know I’m a hog,” Felix said as he put his arm around Ethan possessively, but laughter shown in his eyes.

“I know, you’re just so greedy, Felix,” Faith said with a giggle as she reached out and began stroking his hair. She smiled serenely when he closed his eyes happily.

“So, what really brings you here?” Ethan asked after letting Faith pet Felix for a few moments.

“Well, I just came up here to express a thought,” she said as she placed her hand in her lap.

“And what thought is that?” Ethan encouraged.

“I was just wondering why you didn’t tell us that Nicoli is friends with the Fairbrooke’s. That seems like something that should have been mentioned.”

Both Ethan and Felix shot up with looks of absolute shock. They glanced at each other then back at Faith.

“How–How did you find out?” Ethan asked. Nicoli was not here to release that bit of information and, unless Faith had delved into Ethan’s mind, which she wouldn’t without permission, he didn’t see how she could have found out.

“Oh a girl named Amelia and her cousin Preston were outside and I had a little chat with them,” Faith said casually. “They’re already gone,” she told Ethan when he sprang from the bed and went to the window, tearing open the curtain to peer outside.

“I told you it was too dangerous to leave that girl to her own devices,” Felix hissed at him.

“Oh, I don’t think she’s dangerous,” Faith said with a smile as she sat back and crossed her legs. “She’s actually quite charming. I wouldn’t mind seeing her in the future.”

“What were they doing? What did they want?” Ethan questioned. He checked himself that the red head and the cousin weren’t out there before closing the curtains and going back to the bed.

“They weren’t doing anything, really,” Faith said as she rocked back and forth. “Just watching the house. I guess it was some kind of stake out, but they weren’t very good at it.”

“You should see that girl try and follow someone. She sucks at stalking,” Felix said with a snicker.

“Really? How funny.”

“Enough, both of you,” Ethan said. “Why were they watching the house…and why did you go out and confront them?” he asked, realizing that that was an even bigger question to worry about.

“I was bored. I couldn’t get back to sleep and everyone was busy with their own issues,” Faith said with a shrug. “And they were watching the house because Amelia assumes we are doing something bad to Nicoli.”

“I should have known,” Ethan said with a sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair. It was all about Nicoli. Ethan just didn’t think that, after Halloween, Amelia would pursue the issue further. It appeared he didn’t give enough credit to the girl’s resilience.

“How was watching the house going to prove to her if we were doing something bad to the Meatbag?” Felix asked curiously as he flopped down on his stomach and planted his chin in his hand.

“I don’t know. Maybe she thought she’d see us torturing him through a window,” Faith suggested with a giggle.

“What did you tell her was going on?” Ethan asked, desperately trying to keep the two on track.

“I just told her that you were using him for his company and explained that vampires just like being with humans every once in a while. Nothing more,” Faith told him.

“Did she buy it?” Felix asked.

“She seemed too, but something tells me that’s not the last we’ll see of her,” she said as she leaned back on her hands. “Her cousin also interrogated me about why we were all here. He wasn’t exactly the warmest person ever. I don’t think he likes vampires much,” she said thoughtfully then gave an impish grin. “He would be fun to play with, though.”

“Faith. Focus,” Ethan told her. “What did you tell him when he asked?”

“You’re getting riled up over nothing, Ethan,” she told him casually. “I just said we were looking for a new place to live and settled here. It’s plausible enough. All vampires do move on at some point, so I thought it’d be the easiest way to explain why we’re here.”

“Did they buy that one, too?” Felix asked.

“Hard to say. I can’t say for certain that they did, but they very well could have. Witches are such silly creatures,” she said with a laugh.

At that Ethan jolted with a thought and took Faith by the shoulders.

“Faith, you didn’t tell her that Nicoli knows what we are, did you?” he asked urgently.

“Um, no, that never came up,” she said. She then tilted her head and looked at him curiously. “Wait, she doesn’t know that Nicoli knows what we are?”

“No, she thinks he’s still in complete denial that anything supernatural can actually exist,” he told her.

“…Nicoli really thought that?” Faith asked.

“Yeah, took him forever for him to finally pull his head out of his ass and admit that we were real,” Felix muttered. “I was so close to smacking him so many times then.”

“…aren’t you that way now?” Faith asked.

“True, very true,” he admitted.

“So is it safe to assume that he doesn’t know that his little friend is a witch?” she asked Ethan.

“That’s right,” he replied with a nod.

“Well, things certainly just got more interesting,” Faith said and a smirk not befitting her angelic face turned her mouth.

“Faith, promise me you won’t tell him, or allude to it or anything,” Ethan said, knowing the look quite well.

Faith’s smirk turned into a pout as quick as a flash.

“Now why not? It’s not good for friends to keep secrets from each other and think of it. She’s a witch. If we could somehow get Nicoli to convince her to help us than we may just have found a way to open the book,” she told him.

“I love it when your manipulative side shows,” Felix said as he laid his head in her lap.

“I know when I need to let it out,” she said with a smile as she went back to petting his head.

“Just look, Faith, please, I’m begging you. Don’t tell Nicoli about Amelia,” Ethan pleaded. “Besides us she’s his only friend here. I’ve secretly heard his thoughts on her before. He really cares about her. He needs her the way he believes she is. Besides, I’ve already torn his world off its hinges. I don’t want to be responsible for taking this away from him too.”

Faith was silent as she regarded him. Ethan couldn’t quite tell from her face what she was thinking and he would never try and intrude on her thoughts without permission, unless he wanted to be thrown right into a wall. He was surprised when she smiled and held her arms up towards him. He leaned down, seeing what she wanted and she took his face in her hands.

“You are such a bleeding heart,” she said and lightly stroked his cheeks with her thumbs. “I love it. So, let me ask you one thing. Are you really going to pass up a chance to open the book and possibly get a lead to the Heart just so Nicoli can keep his illusions about his friend?”

“Absolutely,” he answered without hesitation. He wanted the Hearts so bad, but with all of the secrecy and hardships he was putting Nicoli through he wanted to leave one aspect of the boy’s life untouched. He wasn’t quite sure how long he’d be able to do that, however, if Amelia continued to try and meddle with them.

“All right, you convinced me,” Faith said as she took away her hands and resumed her petting of the ghost. “I won’t tease Nicoli about this little tidbit. It’s a forbidden subject from this point on…I’m assuming you won’t want me to mention this to Father either.

“Oh God no,” Ethan replied. “That’s all we need. Give him another reason to distrust Nicoli. I’m having a hard enough time just getting Dad to tolerate Nicoli’s presence.”

“So I noticed,” Faith said.

“What are we going to do if Amelia keeps sniffing around us? We can’t keep either Conrad or Nicoli in the dark if she keeps posing to be a problem,” Felix pointed out.

“Very true,” Faith muttered.

“Okay, all she wants to know is if Nicoli is into any kind of trouble. We just have to convince her that he’s safe and that nothing is going to happen to him,” Ethan suggested optimistically.

“You make it sound so easy,” Felix said. “But, from what I’ve heard of her, its going to take a lot more than that to make her play nice.”

“He’s right. Words aren’t going to do it. We need to somehow show her that we mean no harm to Nicoli,” Faith added. “Any thoughts?”

No one was quick to offer a solution. They pulled thoughts out of the air, but none were deemed good enough and were tossed right back out. Before they could brainstorm for long they were brought back down to earth by the sound of the front door opening and Gavin’s voice filled every vampiric mind that dwelled within the house.

“Everyone meet in the living room. We found something.”

*******************************************************************

Nicoli used every ounce of will power he had to walk behind Gavin and Cora calmly as they made their way to the living room. He was filled with so much excitement that he felt like sprinting ahead and jumping around like a little kid promised ice cream. Not wanting to make a fool of himself he consciously and slowly put one foot in front of the other.

Just as they were about to turn into the living room four figures made their way down the stairs. Faith was in the lead, taking each step with a little hop, and Ethan trudge behind her with Felix floating over his shoulder. A few feet behind, seemingly trying to keep distance, was Conrad. He silently descended the stairs like a phantom.

Nicoli, Gavin, and Cora stopped at the end of the stairs to wait for the others. Nicoli hardly registered Faith, Conrad and Felix. He only had eyes for Ethan and swift, hot anger bubbled in his chest. He tugged at Gavin’s sleeve and glacier eyes looked down at him curiously.

“Before we tell them the news can I have a quick word with Ethan?” he asked quietly.

The others had reached the floor by then and had heard the question. Bewilderment buzzed about them and Gavin glanced in Conrad’s direction for some form of permission. Conrad looked from Ethan to Nicoli then gave the barest of nods before breezing past everyone and entering the living room.

Nicoli noticed that the head vampire seemed extremely worn and tired, but that was not his concern at the moment. He was quick to grab Ethan’s arm and drag him away from the others and, when he had a chance, he slipped in behind Ethan and began pushing his back.

“Nicoli, what’s wrong?” Ethan asked in bewilderment as he let Nicoli’s hands guide him.

“We need to have a talk. Now,” Nicoli growled.

“Well that doesn’t sound good. “ He heard Faith say behind him.

“Believe me, it’s not going to be,” Cora said, but laughter was in her voice.

“We need to count how many times Nicoli gets pissed off at Ethan per day,” Felix said and Nicoli could just imagine the ghost shaking his head.

“Where’s Andre? How come he hasn’t come down?” Cora then asked, the voices starting to fade.

“Oh, he’s probably still asleep,” Faith said.

“Of course. I’ll go get him,” Cora said with a sigh.

Nicoli didn’t hear much more as he shoved Ethan down the hall. He kept this up, ignoring the questions he received, until they reached the garage that held Ethan’s god-like car. As soon as the door was closed Ethan turned to him with a cocked head and crossed arms.

“All right. What’s going on?” he asked.

Nicoli said nothing at first. He let himself quietly seethe as he glared at Ethan. Then, without warning, he stomped on one of Ethan’s bare feet and gave him a harsh shove.

“Just what the hell is your problem?” Nicoli demanded.

Ethan let out a pained hiss as he rebalanced and lifted his foot to rub it. His eyes then met Nicoli’s and some anger now showed in his.

“What’s my problem? What the hell is yours? What was that for?” he asked as he straightened up. His eyebrows then perked and he smirked. “Are you angry that I kept you up all night with dirty thoughts?” He took a step towards Nicoli with a leer and the other took a step back.

“No, well, yes, I am pissed about that, but you deserved that for a whole different reason,” he replied.

“Okay, so why?” Ethan asked, his flirtatious air gone in seconds.

“Well, today Gavin let me in on an interesting piece of information on the mind link that you failed to mention,” Nicoli said and he watched as Ethan’s face blanched.

“…what?” he asked.

“Oh, just the simple little fact that if someone with strong mental powers comes along and breaks the link that I could die!” Nicoli yelled at him. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Why wouldn’t you tell me about that, especially since everyone, including yourself, tells me that your mental capabilities are minimal?”

“Obviously because you wouldn’t have agreed to it otherwise. Besides, I figured no one who posed that kind of threat would come along before we could make the link strong enough,” Ethan said with a shrug.

“You are such an idiot!” Nicoli raged. “’You figured?’ How can you leave stuff up like that to figuring? Ethan, you keep doing shit like this and I’m beginning to doubt whether or not you really even care what happens to me. How am I supposed to trust you when you happen to ‘forget’ these little details?”

A strange look came upon Ethan’s face. Nicoli couldn’t tell if it was a look of surprise, hurt, guilt…he couldn’t read the expression at all. It soon vanished when Ethan abruptly advanced towards him. Nicoli was so startled that he instinctually backed away until his back hit the door. Hands came on either side of him, pinning him in place, as teal eyes stared straight into his core.

“Maybe you shouldn’t trust me then,” Ethan said, his voice low.

Whatever intention Ethan meant to have on Nicoli it was failing completely. The deep sound of Ethan’s voice was resonating through his being and igniting his ever present lust and Nicoli had to ignore the fact that Ethan was shirtless and in such close proximity. He tried desperately to keep his mind on track and his body at bay. They were arguing, not screwing like rabbits.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Nicoli growled, making sure his voice didn’t become husky. “I have to trust you, Ethan. You’re the only one I can trust in this…at least for now. If there is no trust between us how can we work together?”

No reply came for his question and he stared into Ethan’s eyes, knowing that thoughts were brewing back there, but ones he could not hear or follow. He jumped when a chuckle came from Ethan and wavy tresses of gold brushed his cheek as Ethan let his head fall on Nicoli’s shoulder.

“You’re right, of course. How can I compete with that logic?” Ethan murmured.

Nicoli let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He hoped Ethan had snapped back from whatever had thrust him into the peculiar behavior. It had really unnerved Nicoli.

“Duh, that’s not even logic. That’s common knowledge,” Nicoli said, his tense body relaxing and he let himself take in the smell of Ethan’s hair. It smelled nice and clean. “Now stop doing stupid shit, okay? I want to trust you, but you’re making it hard.”

“All right, I’ll try and tone the stupid shit down,” Ethan said as he lifted his head so they could face each other. “But, I want you to know that I do care about your well being and I’m trying my hardest to look out for it.”

“Hmph, I’ll believe that when I see it,” Nicoli said. Some lingering anger showed in his words, but his tone was much softer. He was trying to keep his face blank, with maybe a hint of a scowl, but with Ethan so close, and his lips just inches away, Nicoli was finding that his resolve was beginning to crumble. If he didn’t get away soon he was going to jump Ethan and jump him hard. His scalp began to sweat and the little hairs on the back of his neck prickled when the slyest smirk he’d ever seen made its way onto Ethan’s face.

“You are a horny little bastard, aren’t you?” he asked, playfulness seeping back into his voice.

“What? Am not. Why would you say that?” Nicoli asked, trying to play innocent. He really, really hated the mind link sometimes.

“Don’t lie. You’re getting turned on. I can smell it clinging to your skin,” Ethan said as he bent down to barely graze his lips over the skin of Nicoli’s neck. “I haven’t even touched you. I don’t know whether I’m just that good or you just get turned on that easily.”

“Shut up,” Nicoli grumbled. He wanted to push Ethan away, but his arms felt like lead weights at his sides. A shudder passed through him when the lips finally touched his neck and he could feel the smirk that appeared. “Ethan, stop it,” he growled when teeth began to nibble on his flesh.

“Are you sure you want me to?” Ethan asked before lightly sucking on Nicoli’s throat.

Nicoli’s body screamed no, but his mind chimed in with annoying reason. The others were waiting, they had important information to give and now was no time to be getting hot and heavy in the garage of all places.

All reason fled his brain when those tempting lips left his neck and moved so that they hovered over his own. He could feel the electricity jump between their lips that begged to meet and he was lost in the teal pools of Ethan’s eyes and he found that he didn’t mind all that much.

He was just about to lean forward to close the distance when Ethan growled and moved back. Nicoli blinked in confusion when Ethan put his hand to his head and closed his eyes. A second later the eyes opened and Ethan was nearly pouting when he spoke.

“Faith is telling us to hurry up. Gavin and Cora won’t tell them the big news until we are with them.”

“Good, let’s not keep them waiting then,” Nicoli said, quick to push Ethan away enough so that he could open the door and scurry out. As he traveled down the hallways back to the living room he tried to quell down his libido. He really needed to learn how to keep his hormones under control. He couldn’t believe he was about to start anything with Ethan while the entire clan was only a few doors and hallways away. He was an idiot when he was horny.

They both arrived at the living room where the others were waiting anxiously. Conrad was at the fireplace again, but no fire burned, and Gavin was near his side, standing at attention like a soldier. Faith was sitting idly in the chair with Felix sitting beside her on the arm. That left Cora and Andre on the couch. Cora was at one of the ends as she stroked Andre’s head that was resting on her lap. His eye was closed and he looked as awake as a hibernating bear.

“Well, look who decided to join us,” Felix sneered.

“Did you give him a good tongue lashing?” Cora asked as Nicoli made his way around the couch and leaned against the back, more to hide any evidence of arousal than to get comfy.

“If only.” Ethan’s voice said in his head before he could reply.

“Shut up!” he hissed back.

“We’ve come to an understanding,” Nicoli said calmly.

“Good,” Conrad said, bring full attention onto him. “Gavin, please inform us what you’ve discovered…Andre, wake up.”

Andre didn’t move but he muttered something that sounded like “I am awake.” He then grunted as his legs were tossed off the couch by Ethan so he could sit down. Andre growled irritably as he hefted himself up from Cora’s comfortable lap and sat up fully, though sleepy grog was wound around him like a blanket.

“So, did I over look anything?” Ethan was the first to question.

“No,” Gavin said as he stepped forward with his arms folded behind his back. “You were quite thorough in your investigation and nothing new was to be found.”

Ethan pumped his fist in victory and sent a smug smirk in Conrad’s direction, which went unacknowledged.

“Then what is it that you found?” Conrad inquired.

“After brainstorming about what we already knew,” Cora said, taking up the role of speaker. “Gavin came up with the grand deduction that Deloris Mary-Weather must have had an accomplice all those years ago.”

“Which means Guardianship would have transferred when she died,” Faith said softly, following the trail of thought. “That’s brilliant!”

“I guess it’s too much to hope that you found out who that accomplice was,” Felix said, bringing up the doubting thought that dwelled in the minds of the others.

“Unfortunately we found nothing that helped us in that regard,” Gavin said. “But thanks to something Nicoli noted about his first trip into Miss Mary-Weathers house, we were able to bring something useful to light. The accomplice, or a descendant of the accomplice, is still here in Whixton.”

Shocked silence struck at everyone’s vocal cords, making speech impossible. It was something that none of them had considered. They had assumed that with Deloris gone the secret of the Heart was lost and waiting to be uncovered. They never thought that they would have an actual Guardian to deal with.

After Conrad shook loose his immobility he fixed Nicoli in his gaze.

“What was it that led you to that conclusion?” he demanded. “What was it you noticed?”

Nicoli had to swallow repeatedly in order to coax his throat to relax enough to speak. He wasn’t sure what made Conrad so intimidating, but his body seemed to know and immediately reacted to it.

“Well, sir, when I went into the house the first time with Ethan and Felix I found the secret room that had the book in it. When I was exploring the place I found some papers that had some miscellaneous stuff written on them and when I touched the ink it came off easily. Like someone had just recently written on them,” Nicoli explained.

“You never told us that,” Felix said with a bemused look that Ethan was sharing.

“You didn’t think that was important information to share?” Conrad asked icily.

“Er, no – I mean, yes, uh.” Nicoli shut his mouth as he tried to organize his thoughts and not make himself look like a fool. “In truth I completely forgot about it until today,” he said honestly and sweat prickled his brow when Conrad’s eyes narrowed. “In my defense, I was kind of worried about other things when Ethan and Omen began their fight and, afterwards, I guess it just didn’t seem important enough at the time to remember.”

“After he told us of his accidental discovery,” Gavin said before Ethan had a chance to jump up to Nicoli’s defense and distract from the purpose of the meeting. “We went to Miss Mary-Weather’s house to look into it further. What we found confirmed our suspicions.”

“Well, don’t leave us in suspense, Gavin darling,” Andre said as he stretched then let loose a loud yawn as he hooked his arm behind the couch and grinned at the disapproving look he got from Gavin.

“The secret room in Miss Mary-Weather’s house was completely empty. Cleaned thoroughly from top to bottom with no trace that anything or anyone had ever been in it,” Gavin told them.

“What!?” Ethan and Felix exclaimed. They had both seen the room and what had lain inside it. The knowledge that it had been wiped clean was almost too tremendous for them to grasp.

“That was along the lines of my reaction,” Nicoli said with a chuckle.

“So we’re not looking for just the Heart anymore, we’re looking for the Guardian of the Heart,” Conrad said thoughtfully.

“Yes, and they are aware of our presence if the vacant room is anything to go by,” Gavin added.

“Which will most likely not work in our favor,” Ethan said. “What if they get spooked and pack up the Heart and leave?”

“No, I doubt that will be their course of action,” Faith interjected, quelling the alarming conclusion. “This is the Guardian’s territory. To stay here they’d have the advantage because we’d be fighting on their turf, so to speak. To leave would put them on unfamiliar ground, thus putting them at a disadvantage. Besides, uprooting and moving the Heart would take time and not to mention the effort of putting back up years of protective seals. I don’t believe the Guardian would find the idea favorable to their cause.”

“Faith raises a good point and I’d be hard pressed to find fault in her reasoning’s,” Conrad said as he leaned against the mantle of the fireplace.

“So if they do stay how are we going to go about finding this person’s identity?” Andre asked. “I’m pretty sure we won’t be able to look them up in the phone book under Heart Guardian.”

“…you know, we may not be able to find out who this person is,” Nicoli said slowly, unsure if he should speak what was on his mind, but his mouth kept going. “But we may know someone who already does.” Sweat prickled his brow as all eyes turned to him. He may have loved the spotlight when on camera, but at the moment he felt he’d be more comfortable under a rock.

“Well? Out with it,” Conrad ordered. “Just who would this person be that the rest of us overlooked?”

Nicoli tried to ignore the patronizing tone in Conrad’s voice and tried to say the name that was on his tongue. He wasn’t hesitating because of his fear of Conrad, but because the name could hurt someone else in the room.

“Omen…”

Nicoli tried not to look at Andre when the name slipped from his mouth, but he could practically feel the color drain away from Andre’s face and Nicoli wished he could take it back.

“What? Why him?” Andre asked, his voice meek and quiet and Nicoli still tried to look at anything but him.

“Yes, why do you believe he would know who the Guardian is?” Conrad asked. The hardness in his voice was gone and genuine interest replaced it.

“Well, because when he…when he kidnapped me he did it for the sole purpose of getting the book back. I’m pretty sure that knowledge of the book doesn’t stem out to all non-vampire folk. How else could Omen know about it unless he was told by the Guardian?” Nicoli told them.

“He could have just stumbled upon the existence of it himself. He may have come across information that we didn’t and found out that that’s what you took,” Andre said defensively and ignored the stern, warning look he received from Andre.

“Well…that could be true,” Nicoli said, regretting speaking his mind with each passing second. “Except if that was the case it wouldn’t make sense why he was using talismans, barriers and even a suppression charm that night.” No one, not even Andre, said a word after that. Ethan had told them all about what had happened that night and the use of the magical items had been included. “Ethan even told me that wasn’t his style. Someone must have given those to him and told him to use them,” he added.

“It makes sense,” Faith quipped. “We all know how he likes to rely on his own wits, strength, and skills when fighting us. I think Nicoli is right. There’s someone else in the shadows pulling the strings and it could very well be the Guardian.”

“Hmm if that’s true then we made need to locate Omen and have a chat with him,” Conrad murmured.

“No.”

A chill descended upon the room and everyone looked to Andre who had gone still and was gazing at Conrad fiercely. Conrad regarded Andre for a moment before sighing.

“Andre.”

“No, I know what you’re going to say,” Andre hissed. “It may be the best way to find the Guardian, which will lead us to the Heart. I don’t care. You’re not going to use Owen.”

“Andre, please.”

“I said no,” Andre said as he stood up. His voice was as sharp as a knife’s edge and he was just as dangerous. “If Owen does know who this person is you know he’d never tell us willingly, even if we asked nicely. It’d be a useless endeavor. To get even the slightest bit of information we would have to…have to torture him or something and there’s no way I’m letting that happen.”

Everyone quietly looked from Andre to Conrad, waiting to see what would happen. Nicoli now felt horrible for bringing up the subject of Omen. He never meant for this to happen.

“Andre, really,” Conrad finally said after a few agonizing seconds. “Your protectiveness is in vain. Do you think Omen would care if he knew you were standing up on his behalf? The man wouldn’t bat an eyelash if you were struck dead this very second. I don’t understand why you are deluding yourself to past fantasies and won’t face the facts of the present.”

“No, you wouldn’t understand, would you?” Andre spat before storming out of the room.

Cora jumped in alarm and her gaze shifted between the doorway and Conrad before she rose to her feet and went after her sire.

“Andre! Wait!”

Conrad leaned against the mantle again as he sighed and rubbed at his eyes. If anything he appeared even more worn than before. For several, awkward minutes no one said anything. They didn’t know what to say. Conrad was the first to make any sort of movement as he straightened and addressed the group.

“We will reconvene at a later time, once Andre has a chance to calm down, and discuss what action we should take. Everyone keep your minds going, if you have any ideas about the book or the Guardian come straight to me with them,” he said then made his own exit. Before he left he stopped and turned. “Nicoli.”

Nicoli jumped. Startled to be called out to, but he smothered his surprise as he faced Conrad.

“Yes?” he asked. He noticed that Conrad’s eyes were hard and his jaw was clenched. He looked so tense Nicoli was sure he was about to snap like a wire straightened to its limits.

“That was a…very good theory you had concerning Omen and your information about the secret room was…useful as well. Try not to let any other details slip your mind. No matter how minor they seem.” He seemed to struggle with every word he spoke and when he was done he gave the smallest nod in Nicoli’s direction before turning on his heel and leaving the room.

Nicoli didn’t know what to feel. He stood there, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. His mind came back to itself when a door on the second floor snapped closed.

“Did he just–did he just praise me?” he asked glancing at the others left in the room to give him some validation about what just happened. He was sure it had to be a trick of his mind. It wasn’t possible that Conrad of all people just said something nice to him.

“There’s no way that just happened,” Felix muttered, just as flabbergasted as Nicoli.

“Well, wonders never cease,” Ethan said with a happy grin.

“I don’t know why you’re all so surprised,” Faith said as she stood up from the chair and straightened out her nightgown. “Father knows when to acknowledge when someone has done well,” she said, sending a smile Nicoli’s way before looking up at Felix. “Come on, Felix, I want to go play,” she said, holding out her hand to him.

“Yes, Little Princess,” he said with a roll of his eyes but a smile on his face as he took her hand.

“Jeeze, everyone is leaving us,” Ethan said as he watched the two leave and head up to Faith’s room.

“I shall be taking my leave as well,” Gavin said as he did so, no doubt to go talk over everything with Conrad. He also stopped at the doorway and turned back to the other two. “Nicoli, I will be starting your training this Saturday, so make no other arrangements.”

“Ai ai, sir,” Nicoli said as he saluted. He had forgotten all about Gavin’s agreement, but now that he had been reminded he couldn’t wait for it. He could have sworn a certain sparkle shone in Gavin’s eyes, but before he could be certain Gavin was gone.

“Whoa, wait, what training?” Ethan asked.

“Training to keep you out of my head and make sure I don’t die because of you,” Nicoli said teasingly as he pinched Ethan’s ear, who smacked his hand away.

“You mean you got Gavin to agree to be your mental instructor? Wow, you got guts.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, Gavin’s lessons aren’t for the faint of heart, so you’ll have lots of fun,” Ethan said with a smirk as he stood up.

“If I can keep you out it’ll be worth it,” Nicoli retorted.

“You know you like it,” Ethan purred mentally and a caress ran along Nicoli’s mind, making him shudder.

“Stop that,” he growled as he rubbed his head. He happened to glance at the window and noticed the light against the blinds was becoming a deep red. “Oh, I better get home,” he said as he checked his watch. “Mom can only believe I’m at the library for so long. Um, do you think you could walk me home?” he then asked.

“Afraid Omen is still out there looking for you?” Ethan asked, but Nicoli could hear the understanding in his voice.

“Yeah, but I also need to talk to you about something.”

“Oi, going to yell at me about something else?”

“No, unless you piss me off again, which is always likely to happen.”

“Well, let’s get going then. My ear is always open for a good lashing,” Ethan said with a smirk as he held out his arm.

Nicoli came around the couch and let Ethan put his arm around him as they made their way to the front door. The day had been long and with what Nicoli wanted to talk about it was only going to be longer, but it didn’t really matter because it had been good that they had figured out some clues that had been relentlessly teasing them. Nicoli just hoped Andre wasn’t going to hate him for bringing up Omen like he did. That was the absolute last thing that he wanted.

====================================Ch. 38 End