Kevfire's mouth turned down into a frown as his phone went off on the bedside table. They'd gotten home less than ten minutes ago and he'd been looking forward to a long, blistering hot, shower. He loosened his sanguine red tie and tossed it onto his bed with his jacket as he checked the caller I.D. He answered immediately when he saw Merril's name. "Mer? What's going on? Are you alright?"
He gritted his teeth as the high, cool voice came through the receiver. "Hello, Campfire."
He bit back a snarky response to the nickname. He needed to stay calm and find out where Merril was. "Good evening Siro."
He nearly hear the dripping satisfaction, could visualize the arrogant, superior grin that must be playing across Siro's features. "I have your friend here. Can you come get her? She's had a rough night."
His heart dropped and he nearly dashed straight for the garage. However, this could be a trick. "I'm sorry, but I'm allowed on the campus."
Siro huffed angrily. "I am formally inviting you back on. Please come get her."
Kevfrie nodded, then remembered Siro couldn't see it through a phone. "We'll be there shortly. Which building are we heading for?"
A few minutes later he and Haley were loaded up in his car and heading towards the dorm that Siro called home.
Even if they hadn't known where they were going, it would have been easy to find out. Siro had been kind enough to alert some fae to their purpose and they pointed them in the right direction. Kevfire wondered if they were his servants or possibly friends. The idea of Siro having actual friends and not opportunistic assholes was laughable. A thought occurred to him. If he was successful in wooing Kyra, it wouldn't hurt to try to be on good terms with Siro. Perhaps he could even befriend him. The guy could probably use a real friend.
They were lead to the top floor of a building, and were shocked to find a huge, open area. The walls that would've separated the area into individual rooms have been knocked out. Everything was covered and draped with decadence in precious metals, gems, and crystal. Somehow nothing clashed, and instead gave an aura of wealth. Kevfire studied the room his eyes finally locking onto a crystal statue. It was of a slim, willowy woman, with long hair. He knew the eyes were a frozen blue like a glacier, and the hair would be silver. He knew her face, and felt a pull deep within him. He didn't realize that he'd been approaching it until Haley grabbed his arm, nails digging deep, and dragged him further into the room.
"Sorry..." He was, but still part of him wondered if he could make off with the statue. Someone cleared their throat and he snapped to attention. Siro was waiting, and Haley bowed. Kevfire went to speak but then noticed the small woman nearly unconscious in the chair behind him. He dashed forward, nearly knocking him over and dropped to his knees in front of her, and shook her leg a little. "Mer? Mer wake up. Are you ok? What happened?"
Merril stirred in her seat. Damn, this chair really was comfortable. She'd nearly fallen asleep. The shaking roused her and with a mildly irritated grunt she tried to locate the source. Her eyes flew open when she located it. Kevfire's face was a broken mask of fear, and worry. Worry for her? No, that couldn't be it. They'd drifted so far. There was no way that he was this concerned about her. "Quit shaking me."
His blatant relief causes the last bits of mask to fall away. She didn't understand what she saw underneath, with all that was him exposed. She tried to read his aura, and was shocked to find it a deep clear blue once again. She really needed to find out what that color meant. It was so frustrating not to know when it appeared so frequently. Nothing she'd read had been able to tell her. At least he'd stopped shaking her.
In the moment of inattention he'd turned and was trying to politely demand answers from Siro. Fool should really take this opportunity to apologize if he was so keen on it. She smacked the hand still resting on her knee. "Hey, play nice and just ask me."
He pursed his lips like he'd swallowed a lemon whole. "Fine. What happened to you? Siro says that you met up with him and he took you to see one of the vampires we were looking for. So why are you nearly passed out in a chair in his room?"
His questions had an unspoken accusation, and she almost laughed. He sounded like a parent. Either way her sex life really wasn't his business. "Siro helped me find one of the vampires we were looking for. His name is Bryce. He's a bit nerdy but nice enough." She looked past him to Haley. "He just has stacks upon stacks of old occult books." Haley's eyes lit up with excitement and she started peppering Siro with questions on how to find this mysterious Bryce. Merril turned back to Kevfire. "Anyway he told me some heavy stuff about this cult." She quickly filled him in about leylines, what Bryce thought the Cult was doing. He became overwhelmed by the information quickly though and she had to bring him back in several times. She noticed that his eyes kept wandering to a statue just behind him and then back again.
"And apparently there's some sort of prophecy that I'm apart of." He narrowed his eyes and his grip on her knee tightened. "Have either of you seen the mark on my neck?"
Haley shrugged. She rarely paid attention to physical appearances, even of her friends. Kevfire however nodded. "Yeah your moon tattoo. What about it?"
She stared at him. "You knew about this?"
He shrugged. "I assumed you got it in the service or a little after. Thought it was cool but didn't really feel a need to bring it up."
She hissed at him. "I don't have a tattoo. That's the problem!"
He laughed. "Uh, yeah you do. I've seen it. Multiple times even."
She rubbed her temples. "What I mean is, I never got a tattoo. It's a mark. It marks me as the last acknowledged member of Lilith's bloodline."
"No idea who that is."
She sighed and sunk back into the chair. She really needed to get one of these. Maybe she could ask Siro later where he got it. Damn thing was probably commissioned and cost more than a year at an Ivy League school. "Lilith was the first woman, and was the former lover of the original vampire. Or as close to vampire as you can be and still be human. Caine. You know, the first murderer. She taught him all the vampire powers that we now get to enjoy. I don't know when this mark showed up, but it shows I'm of her brood and am destined to kill him."
Haley whistled and Kevfire just stared at her. She wanted him to say something, anything. She was terrified that he was going to walk out and not come back. She needed him now more than ever. She couldn't handle this on her own. Thor would probably walk out on her after this. Give her up as too much trouble. That might be best. Then she wouldn't have to tell him the other news.
Kevfire let go of her but stayed on his knees. "That's...a lot." He hesitated, seemingly thinking hard about something. "Well, we'll burn that bridge when we come to it. I doubt we're going to just walk outside and see big bad papa vampire. We should have some time to prepare. It could be centuries from now."
She nodded. "There's one more thing." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm pregnant."
Kevfire's jaw hit the floor. "That's not possible. How?"
Haley spoke up finally focusing on someone other than Siro. Siro looked like a man just rescued from drowning. "When a vampire and a werewolf go at it very hard..."
Kevfire waved her off impatiently. "I know that part. But vampires aren't supposed to be able to do that."
Merril shrugged. "I'm thin blooded. Apparently I can do that."
Kevfire's mind was racing. He couldn't believe such a thing had happened to her. Of course there were rumors that thin bloods had children, but those were just rumors. He felt a strange, and overwhelming longing just thinking about it. But even if she was right, he had no right in interfere with whatever decision she made.
But this changed everything. Even though it was a risk to his own life, he had to stand by her. Thor would hate him for it, probably kill him too. Either way he wouldn't let Merril face all of this alone.
He got to his feet and turned to Siro who raised an eyebrow and waited. "Siro, thank you for taking care of her and for your help. I'd like to ask that you keep an eye out for her ex-boyfriend. Once the news breaks he's probably going to gun for her and I'd rather we got his head on a pike before he reaches her."
"Don't kill him!" Merril shrieked. She didn't want him back, but she still believed that he could be saved.
Kevfire gave her a long look and held out his hand for her phone. Siro gave it to him and Kevfire quickly texted him a picture of Chad from deep in it's memory. "This guy. He's dangerous, and arrogant."
Siro studied the picture and nodded. "I'll go to bat for her. Let me pass this around to my friends." He sent out a quick mass text.
Merril took her phone back and insisted on giving Siro her number, despite him protesting. Kevfire and Haley helped her out of the chair started towards the door. "Come on ladies, we've only got about twenty minutes before sunrise."
Siro stopped them. "I can get you there faster. I'll make sure no one takes your car so you can come grab it tomorrow."
The three nodded but Kevfire held up a hand. Siro looked at it, then back to him. "Yes?"
"I-I heard that Kyra is engaged."
Siro crossed his arms "She is. He's an asshole and I despise him."
Kevfire was taken aback. That wasn't the response he'd expected. Siro sighed. "Honestly I'd rather see you with her instead of him. At least you like her! I want her to be treated well, not like she's a pile of shit on the bottom of his shoe."
Kevfire thought for a minute. "Let me know if I can help. I have a plan right now to woo her. Even if I can't, I want to help get her away from someone who mistreats her."
Siro nodded. "I'll keep that in mind." He pointed at them and in a flash of blue light they were suddenly standing in the war room, on the table. Haley hopped down, leaving Merril and Kevfire alone. He helped her down, much to her annoyance and insisted on carrying her to her room.
She raged and struggled the whole way there, and he dumped her unceremoniously onto her bed. Thor was there, and growled low in his throat. "I think you two have some things to discuss." Despite the angry wolf he leaned down and kiss her forehead before retreating to the relative safety of his own room. It at least felt that way since he'd gotten rid of all of the mirrors except the bathroom one.
Shortly before he passed out his phone pinged. He didn't recognize the number but checked the text anyway. It was the picture of Chad he'd sent to Siro, followed by a question mark. Too tired to be cautious he responded that the person had hurt his friend and asked who wanted to know. His heart sunk and drowned in terror at the name that came back.
Xavier.
Merril was going to lose her mind when she found out.