Chapter Fifteen
Neith
“I got distracted messaging Reed and Doc,” I explain.
“Doc replied?” Van asks in surprise.
I shake my head with a smile, “No, Reed did and explained that Doc wouldn’t.”
I have literally just finished speaking when Doc suddenly appears in the room. He glances around, and then, as soon as he spots me, he smiles. He strides over, his eyes briefly flashing gold.
He’s got a pristine white lab coat on, and it just adds to how fucking hot he looks, I have never in my life thought of lab coats as hot, but on Doc, yeah I’m gone.
“Is everything . . .” I start to ask.
He pulls me into his arms and dips his head. His lips meet mine as I immediately open for him, and our tongues dance together as he pulls me impossibly closer. I nip his lip, making him growl and me smirk. The kiss slows, and he pulls back, his eyes are like molten gold, glowing with heat and threatening to pull me into their depths.
He smirks, “I missed you too.”
A smile stretches my lips as I realize that this is his reply to the text message that I sent him.
He steps back, smiling again, and then winks as he disappears.
“That was smooth as fuck,” River mutters.
Evander chuckles, “I had no idea that he was capable of thinking of something so romantic.”
“Damn,” I say breathily, biting my lip as I stare at the space that he just left.
It’s pretty much all I’m capable of saying right now while I try to figure out which way is up. Evander described it perfectly, it was romantic, and I don’t know how to deal with that.
I like it.
I always said that I wasn’t a romantic person and that I didn’t like that sort of thing, but I think that I may have been lying to myself. Dimitri and Coen used to do things that I would call romantic, but most people wouldn’t. I mean, Dimitri once killed a supe who threatened me. That was romantic. The guys cutting the hands-off Kylen and Rupert for being the instigators in a threat to me, that’s romantic. Huh, actually, I think my view of what’s romantic is just slightly skewed, I mean, not many people would consider those things romantic. Coen was always just as violently romantic, and I fucking loved it.
It turns out though, that I like the traditionally romantic stuff too. What Doc just did was hot as fuck and has my heart beating harder in my chest, not because I’m turned the fuck on, I am, but that’s not why my heart is beating so fast. My heart is beating like a fucking drum because of all the other feelings that his actions have stirred up.
The guys told me that he didn’t text back ever when he was working because he gets so caught up in his work, and yet as soon as he saw my message he came to see me just so he could kiss me and tell me that he missed me too.
That’s some fairytale shit or something, and I fucking love it.
These men are spoiling me.
I’m not mad about it.
“Alright, I think my brain has switched back on,” I admit, making River and Evander smile at me knowingly. “Do we know where the books on the Choosing might be in this vast library?”
“Well, there isn’t a dedicated section since books on the Choosing are either rare or don’t exist,” River starts to explain.
“Okay, so we’re looking for mentions of the Choosing in other books then?” I ask.
River nods, “Exactly.”
“I think we should start with the year that they had the last Choosing in Trieneliea,” Evander suggests.
“That’s a great idea,” I reply and then add, “is there really no way that we can rewatch any of the Choosings? I mean I know that no two Choosings are the same because they are tailored to the teams that are taking part, but at least we would have a vague idea of what we could be up against if we could see one of the old ones.”
Evander shakes his head, “No, as soon as it has been watched, it disappears. I remember that the first Choosing that we had in the Earth Realm, a couple of supes thought they would be clever and use phones in order to record it. The Choosing’s magic is apparently highly adaptable because the phones exploded as soon as they tried.”
My eyebrows rise, “As in they blew up?”
Van nods, “Yep.”
“That’s awesome,” I grin. “What about other recording equipment? Does that work?”
River shakes his head, “Nope. Anything that anyone uses to try to record the Choosing, including things that they have protected by high-level magic, destroys itself.”
I nod, “Okay, so there is absolutely no chance that we can rewatch any. While it sucks because it would have been really helpful, I get why.”
River nods, “Yeah, me too.” He looks at Van, “I don’t suppose that you remember the year that the Choosing was in Trieneliea?”
Van shrugs, “I don’t know for certain, but I do know that they used to have one every year, and it used to be more than teams fighting for one individual.”
“What?” I ask, confused. “I thought that was the whole point of the Choosing, that two or more teams wanted the same individual on their team, so they triggered the Choosing.”
“Yes and no,” Van replies with a slight frown. “So, that’s the way that it has always been done in the Earth Realm, and only for that reason. In Trieneliea, it did get done that way occasionally, and those happened maybe once or twice a year, but the yearly Choosing was actually done with several teams from the Warrior Academy and the warriors that didn’t have teams. From what I’ve been able to find out, and remember from what we were taught at the academy, everyone that was in the last year put their names in to be a part of the Choosing, but only a small percentage of them actually got called to take part in it.”
“So those who didn’t get chosen to take part in the Choosing, went through all of that training, and then didn’t even get to be a Warrior Team, or even take part?” I ask.
He nods, “Yeah, but it wasn’t like their training was for nothing. The Warrior Teams were like a small part of the defense system that made up the whole of Trieneliea’s defense. Kind of like we have lots of different agencies that are all there to look after the Earth Realm people, but they all do slightly different things, does that make sense?”
I nod, “Yeah, I get that. So, the Warrior Teams were the elite that got called in for the really difficult jobs, and then everyone else who was very well trained was in the main part of the defense system.”
“Yeah. So, they were the equivalent of the police over here in towns and cities, but they were also soldiers and guarded very important people. The supernaturals that were trained at the Warrior Academy came from all over the realms and then tended to go back to their own realms and join the armies, police forces, and all of that sort of thing out there.”
“Wow, that’s really cool and quite complex,” I reply. “It must have been quite an adjustment for everyone when Trieneliea got shut down. Did the war not spill over into the other realms?”
River shakes his head, “From what we know, it was only focused on Trieneliea, and we think that it’s because Trieneliea was the hub for all of the realms. So if that were to be taken over and fall under the control of who we now know is the blue fucker, then the realms wouldn’t really stand much chance in standing strong against.”
I nod, “That makes sense. Take down the biggest, and then it’s easier to control the smaller ones.”
“Exactly, we know that the other realms experienced some side effects, and it still does, but we are all relatively certain that the gates to Trieneliea were closed before the war could spill out anywhere else,” Van replies.
“That’s amazing that they pretty much sacrificed their realm in order to protect the others,” I reply.
“It is,” River agrees.
“Okay, let’s see what we can find out,” Van says.
Van tells us the date of the year before the realm gates got shut, and we all head in the direction that he says the books should be in. As we get there, an idea pings in my mind.
“It might be a good idea to look at books that are autobiographies and things of a similar nature from that time as well. They could easily write about the Choosing because it was such an integral part of their life in Trieneliea,” I suggest.
“That’s a really good idea,” River says, and he starts to search through the shelves in order to find the books I have suggested.
With our arms piled high with books to look through, and as I try not to be disappointed that none of the books spoke to me, we make our way back to the giant table. When we get there, I place my pile of books down next to the book that Sully gave us, which has the supernatural that my mom was in, and I see that it’s got a note stuck to the front of it.
With a slight frown, I reach over the table to pick it up and read the note. With everything that has been happening and everything that has gone on recently, I completely forgot that Winston had said that he was going to try and translate the book for me.
“What’s that?” River asks me.
“A note from Winston. He’s translated the extinct supernaturals book,” I smile.
“Wow, that’s brilliant,” Van grins.
I nod, “Yeah, he said he tried to mark the page of the one that my mom was on, but that it wouldn’t let him. He also said that he managed to translate a lot of it, but some of it still remains in the old tongue because it didn’t translate right, or there wasn’t an English word that meant the same or even close.” I chuckle as I carry on reading and then explain to the guys, “He then goes on a little cursing rant.”
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Evander asks. “Open it up.”
I pick the book up, “Even though we can now read it, it still isn’t going to tell us what kind of supernatural my mom was or what kind of supe I am.”
River nods, “That’s true, but we can use it to narrow it down. We know that you hear the dead and that you have something to do with death because you died and then came back. We know that you can find things with an ease that no other supernatural can, all of those things give us a starting point. It’s somewhere to start, and the book isn’t that big, so hopefully, we can at least narrow it down.”
I smile, feeling a bit more hopeful than I was moments ago, “Thanks, River. We should probably look into the Choosing first, though.”
“Fuck that,” Van says as he moves closer, “we’re all fairly certain that we know all that we can know about the Choosing. I want to know more about you.”
Taking a seat, River and Van sit down beside me, and I nod, “Well, okay then. Let’s see what we can find.”
I don’t know what I expected when I opened the book, but for some reason, the fact that it is now easy to read is a shock to me, even though that’s what Winston said he had done.
“Does it have a contents or something?” River asks.
“Erm,” I say as I carefully turn the pages of the ancient book in my hands. “Yeah, it does, hang on. Oh, Winston left another note,” I grin as I read it, “it says, from this point down, all of the supes deal with death. Stupid fucking powers that fucking be won’t let me fucking tell you anymore.”
River bursts out laughing, “Wow, he is really pissed that he can’t tell you stuff, isn’t he?”
I nod, “Yeah, it’s actually pretty reassuring because I know that he’s on my side and that he wants me to know.”
“Yeah, I can see how that would be reassuring actually,” Van replies.
“Okay, read the list of supernaturals out, and we’ll see if we recognize any of them and if they fit with the things that you have shown so far,” River suggests, wriggling in his seat like a big giant puppy.
“There are only five,” I reply. “Which is actually pretty awesome and way better than there being forty. It narrows it down by a lot.”
“Yeah, it does. I know that Winston was really fucking mad that he couldn’t mark the page for you, but he has narrowed it down so much more than I thought that he would be able to do,” Evander replies.
“Yeah, he did,” I smile. “Okay, so these are the extinct creatures that have a link with death. There is a brief description of what they are by each one, but obviously, we need to go to the actual page in order to be able to get more information on them.”
River nods, “Okay, just read the names and the brief descriptions for a moment, and then we can delve more into the likely ones.”
“So, the first one is called a Hystreea. They are supernaturals that can turn into the hounds of hell,” I start.
“So, hellhound shifters?” Evander asks.
I shake my head. I know that they aren’t extinct. “No, it qualifies it by adding that they are not to be confused with hellhound shifters.”
“Huh, I didn’t realize that there was a difference. Hellhound shifters are extinct as well, so I just assumed that they were speaking about the same thing,” Evander explains.
I frown, “Hellhound shifters aren’t extinct, they’re really fucking rare, but they aren’t extinct.”
“They are. No one has seen one in hundreds of years,” River says with a slight frown and then suddenly looks excited, “do you know a hellhound shifter?”
I nod, “Well, yeah, so do you. What do you think Dimitri is?”
The guy’s eyes widen in shock as they just stare at me.
Obviously, River is the first to excitedly recover, “Holy fucking shit balls. He’s a hellhound?”
I nod, “Yeah. He didn’t share the knowledge with many people. I think it was probably just Kar, Coen, and I who knew, but I definitely thought that SID would know.”
Evander shakes his head, “We had absolutely no idea. I need to send this in.”
I feel a thread of unease, and the voices that have been strangely quiet over the last few days pick up their intensity; they aren’t exactly yelling a warning, but there is a warning there. I watch Evander as he picks up his phone, his fingers hovering over the screen, but he frowns instead of typing anything.
“What’s wrong?” River asks.
Van glances up, his expression confused as he frowns, “I don’t know, I can’t press call or send a text message. It’s like my brain is telling my hands what to do, and they just won’t do it.”
“That’s weird,” I reply. “Send me a text to see if you can do that?”
His fingers fly across the screen as he sends a message, and my frown deepens along with his.
“Let me try,” River says, as he pulls out his own phone and then tries to call Ty. He shakes his head, “I can’t either.”
“As soon as you said that you were going to call it in, the voices got louder, not shouting in warning, but they were definitely uneasy,” I explain as I figure that it may all be tied in somehow.
“So we’re not supposed to tell Ty what Dimitri is?” River asks. “Or are we not supposed to tell anyone?”
“I suppose there’s one way to find out,” I suggest. “Put it in the group chat.”
River nods, and I watch in fascination as his fingers tap, and a moment later, my phone pings with the message.
Reed: What the fuck? Seriously? Why didn’t I know that? Have you told Ty?
Evander: No, I haven’t yet.
Griff: Why not?
Raiden: I thought they were extinct?
Ransom: They are.
Me: They definitely aren’t.
Reed: He’s standing in front of me now. It’s only Doc and me here. Do you want me to tell him?