Strength in Darkness

Chapter Eight

Eight days.

He’s been asleep for eight days.

His shallow breaths haven’t changed in eight days.

He has mumbled unintelligible words off and on for eight days.

She has sat watching him for…eight. Days.

She didn’t speak to the strangers around her. She refused to get to know any of them; regardless of their hospitality. She knew better than to expect them to maintain the façade. In her short twenty years, she knew no one could be trusted. The only person she could trust was lying, practically lifeless, in front of her. 

Kai watched for days as Max sat silently sat on the floor beside Ethan. Occasionally, she caught glimpses of Max stroking his face. Max wasn’t her business. Ethan had a private life, of course, and didn’t owe her any explanation, but she still wondered why he harbored a secret and why she demanded to be kept secret. James was useless, keeping his mouth shut.

Seemed like almost everyone was gone for the time being, so Kai wanted to use the opportunity to talk to her. She sat on a chair beside the sofa and watched Max for a while. She didn’t expect her to acknowledge her but hoped for something…

“Uh, Max?”

Nothing.

“I know we don’t really know each other, and Ethan never mentioned anything before, but I was hoping to—”

Max’s head snapped so fast, she nearly gave herself whiplash. “What? You want to be gal pals or something?” She shook her head with a humorless chuckle, “I have no friends. I have nobody. I don’t want anybody. Especially you.”

“I’m just saying, the only person you seem to care about in this world is lying here unconscious and you’re obviously worried. I’m just offering…” she looked for the right words. Friendship? A shoulder? An ear? “I’m just…offering. Whatever you need.”

Max looked back at Ethan. “I just need his lazy ass to wake the hell up so I can go.”

“He uh, he helped me when I was, well, I guess I was kidnapped.”

“He helps a lot of girls who are kidnapped or taken against their will. It’s called a weakness.”

“He helped kill him, though. I think that’s what drained him. The killing. Maybe.”

“What makes you say that? He’s killed before and it didn’t do this to him.”

“The alpha he helped kill had two wolves inside of him. I’m not sure how it works but he helped hold him back so Cal could kill him.”

“Who’s Cal?”

Max wasn’t giving anything up, so why should she? Maybe get to know one another’s favorite color before they dive in to the complexities of Kai’s own life. Besides, it apparently isn’t much compared to whatever Max has gone through. Judging by the scares all over her visible body, she went through enough in her life. “It’s complicated.”

Max scoffed. “It always is.”

“Are you hungry? I can get you something to eat.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re going pale and I know you’ll have the symptoms setting in soon. I can’t let you lose your s**t while my human best friend, my brother’s mate, is upstairs. I won’t risk her life again.”

“Again?”

“Yeah, again. So I need to keep your wild side at bay for now, until she decides to reject my brother or let him change her.”

“Why would she change? Why can’t she just remain human?”

Now we’re getting somewhere. It’s a start. “I mean, she doesn’t have to, but I assume she would want to become like us rather than stay human. Humans are weaker, unable to do the things we do—”

“Humans are hardly the problem in this world.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Humans don’t hurt us; we hurt them. We torture them. We eat them. We sell them off to one another like livestock. We kill them.”

“I mean…I guess some do that. Most of us don’t. We live in this century where we don’t have to take advantage of humans.”

“That so?” Max laid the sarcasm on thick without even looking up. She just watched Ethan. Silently willing him to wake up. He was only supposed to be out for a few days. It’s been over a week. The sooner he wakes, the sooner she can get out of this place. 

“You know,” Kai cleared her throat. “My boyfriend, Alex, could try and look into his thoughts and see what’s going on inside of his head if you like. I mean, it’s a breach of privacy, but if it would make you feel better…”

“Do you just live to take advantage of him? All I hear is he saved you, he wore himself out for you, you want to dive into his personal thoughts. Did it ever occur to you that some people like their privacy?”

That hit her square in the heart. Of course she liked privacy. She’s the one that has been keeping secrets from people for years. This Max was testing her. No one had ever made her feel so…inept. “I mean, I guess you’re right.”

Max scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I don’t understand what your end game is here.”

“I assure you I just want to make sure that he is okay.”

“Don’t you have to get to work or something? I thought you worked in his office.”

“I did, I mean I do, but, I’m out until further notice.”

“Why?”

Well, maybe if Max is interested, she would be willing to share if Kaiya shared something. “Our pack is being investigated and it involves my k********g so John has me out until further notice.”

“Huh.”

That’s it. ‘Huh’ is all she got. A few minutes in silence and Kai was sure Max had calmed down. She got up and got Max a couple bags of blood and poured it into a cup with a straw for the vampire. Maybe she was hangry.

She set the cup down beside Max, “here, just in case you’re hungry.” Max looked up at her and, defeatedly, nodded. She was tired of watching and waiting for nothing to happen. She needed him to wake up. She wanted to punch him in the face and then leave. She took the cup and started sipping the blood. It wasn’t the special blood Ethan would get her, whatever that even was, but it would do. Not that it tasted bad, just wasn’t whatever gold standard supply he apparently had access to.

“Thanks.”

Kai sat quietly and decided to wait until Max spoke again. Instead of trying to reach out to her, Kai would wait for Max to speak on her own terms.

***

LONDON, ENGLAND

All members of The Council had been summoned to a private meeting, requested by their newest member, Tunrida Sorenson, of the newly established demon faction. No one knew what the meeting was about, just that it was urgent.

The members sat around a conference room waiting for their summoner to arrive. It was her first official meeting and she was forcing the senior members to wait on her. Had the demons not blackmailed and purchased their way into membership the way they had, Tunrida would be out in the cold.

“So does anyone know what this is about?” Barnes asked. He tried to remain patient but he was slowly losing that with the investigation of Emerald Mountain and Diamond Sky.

“Oh, what’s the rush Barnes?” Sata, the witch representative drawled, “gotta go fetch a bone?”

“Oh, Gretel,” Hawks shook his head. “You know as well as we all do it’s rude to not show up for your own meeting. We all have things to do these days.”

“Speaking of,” she locked eyes with Hawks. “Any news on my elder’s missing girl?” 

“Haven’t heard a thing,” he maintained eye contact. He refused to give up the girl knowing she was safer where she was and also he would never give up Kai for harboring what may be a runaway. He promised himself he wouldn’t ask about it so he wouldn’t incriminate himself. He hadn’t even asked Barnes if he noticed. Better to play stupid in such a situation.

The door swung open with Tunrida and Mr. Hernandez following behind. She sat herself at the head of the table, with Hernandez seated beside her.

“Fellow members,” she started, “we’re here today to formally get the ball rolling on the proposal Samael and I mentioned at the dinner two weeks ago. We have laid out the plans for the new branch and are ready to get started.”

“You’ve moved forward with your idea already?” Barnes asked. “You only just brought it up. These things just go to committee first! They take time!”

“Now now, Barnes,” Samael tsked. “There’s no need to get yourself all worked up. We told you we already had the means to get this going. We just need the seal for authenticity’s sake and everything will be set in motion.”

“Right, now let’s all just get to the vote and you can be on your way,” Tunrida said.

She called the members to vote. “All in favor of implementing the new branch, the Bureau of Enforcement, please say ‘aye.’l

The other members reluctantly agreed to the new wing, while Hawks and Barnes disagreed. As it stands, both members seemed to be the only ones not in Hernandez’s pockets or control.

“Right,” Hernandez spoke, “we will be on our way. We will let you know of our progress in the coming weeks.”

“Sorry,” John interrupted, “who did you have in mind to oversee this new branch?”

Tunrida nodded “why, Samael, of course.”