17
“It’s the future.” Helena moved her hands in energetic gestures.
“It’s a desecration!” Nyavolski shouted from the other end of the table. “And you’re completely insane if you believe otherwise!”
Helena scoffed. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of ghosts, Nyavolski.”
“I’m not afraid!”
“Prove it!”
“By desecrating graves, damn it?”
Mikhail remained impassive while the heated exchange flew across the table.
“Helena Nyavolska wants to loot the Temple of the Dead Immortals,” Platinum whispered to Amelia, a grin forming on her lips.
Helena overheard and jerked towards their side. “Not ‘loot’, just collect genetic material – legitimately – from one of the mummies for analysis.”
Nyavolski clicked his tongue. “For heaven’s sake, woman! Leave the dead alone. If you want genetic analysis, do it on me, on him, or her”—he pointed at random creatures around the table—“or one of the thousands of damn patients we have in the Hospital!”
“And what would that accomplish?” Helena brushed a red lock from her forehead, the wide sleeve of her shimmering black blouse slipping to reveal the Council symbols tattooed on her forearm.
Nyavolski slammed his hand on the table. “How the hell should I know what you’re trying to achieve with this madness!”
“I want to study the DNA of a creature that lived and died before the Changes of—”
“Those don’t exist! Forget it!” He flicked his hand in dismissal.
“According to the immortal society’s customs, all dead bodies are cremated,” Jaguar explained to Amelia, leaning forward to catch her eye around Mikhail. She nodded, although she already knew it.
“Except in the Temple of the Dead Immortals, which is guarded by an ancient vampire clan.” Constantine caught Helena’s gaze across the temple. “Which makes me curious… How do you plan to get past them?”
A smirk tugged at the corners of Helena’s lips. “With diplomacy.”
Vladislav laughed. “You and diplomacy, darling, are worlds apart.”
“How original, darling.”
“Helena, do you even understand genetics?” Platinum’s eyes narrowed on the nymph.
Helena lifted her chin with theatrical flair. “I do. And I’ll soon understand it a lot more. I’m now a genetics student at the Medical University of Sofia.”
Amelia nearly choked.
Nyavolski raised a dark eyebrow. “Playing human again, are you?”
“I figured it was better than kidnapping doctors to teach me, don’t you think?”
“Fine. Learn genetics, and then we’ll talk.” Mikhail’s voice boomed across the table, drifting the attention towards him.
“Mikhail, don’t you see? This is the only way.” Helena softened her tone.
The tension in the manticore’s stance hadn’t left him since the idea was first mentioned. “Intruding on the Temple of the Dead Immortals would provoke the wrath of creatures across the immortal world.”
“When they realise it’s for their own good, they’ll calm down,” Helena insisted.
Her words drew laughter around the table. However, Mikhail’s expression remained serious. “The legends say anyone who dares steal from the temple will trigger an unprecedented catastrophe.”
The nymph pursed her lips. “Don’t tell me you believe in ghosts, too, like my husband.”
“Let’s just say I didn’t believe in curses either, but I still lost two fingers, didn’t I?” Jaguar raised his injured hand in the air.
“See, woman! I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, which is why I’m against it!”
Helena wrinkled her nose. “You don’t understa—”
“Enough.” Mikhail cut her off. “I do not approve of desecrating the most sacred temple for immortal species. I do not approve of stealing corpses or parts of them, much less experimenting on them within the Hospital. Now, back to the mystery location in Kamchatka. I was starting to suspect there’s been human involvement in the recent events, thus Zacharia’s following that lead.
But those people in Russia seem like a different matter.
I intend to pay them a visit at the start of spring, assembling a team of selected beings.
In the meantime, continue gathering intel on the reptilians – but discreetly.
And remember, if anyone asks, it’s all just rumours for now. ”
***
The Council deliberated for about half an hour after Mikhail refused to support Helena Nyavolska’s ideas.
They discussed possibilities for expanding the Intensive Care Unit, and appointing one of the Council members, a man named Dimitry, to oversee it.
They considered the request of a small witch tribe from the Middle East to join the Hospital team due to their struggle to survive financially.
Apparently, it had become difficult to make a good living from traditional witchcraft services in modern times.
When Mikhail ended the meeting, Viktor pulled him aside for a brief conversation. While the two men spoke, the other members departed. But Amelia waited – she wasn’t leaving until given a proper explanation from Mikhail about what had transpired during the session.
Viktor waved goodbye to her, and Mikhail approached, offering his hand to help her stand. Amelia took it, jaw clenched. Oh, he could be gallant when he wanted to be, as if he hadn’t just made a critical decision on her behalf.
The emptiness replacing his hand when he moved aside only heightened her irritation. “Why didn’t you warn me you’d appoint me as a Council member?” she asked.
As soon as the words left her lips, a sense of unease crept up her spine. The air around her thickened with dangerous energy. Before she could brace herself, she knew Mikhail was the source.
His shoulders stiffened. “You don’t want to be involved?”
Amelia frowned. “I don’t know. We should have discussed it…”
His gaze locked onto hers with an intensity she couldn’t decipher. Realising she was trapped between his body and the table, she swallowed hard.
“Do you think you don’t belong on the Council?” His question was a growl that sent shivers across her skin.
“I don’t know if I belong…” she said with caution. “It felt… strange.”
Mikhail’s hands landed on her hips, his fingers moving to her knees, and he lifted her on the table.
“Mikhail, what are you – ?”
He pushed her legs apart and stepped closer, her pulse skyrocketing. For a moment, time seemed to stop as Mikhail stared at her, and she couldn’t move.
Then he withdrew his hands from her thighs. Bracing himself on the table’s edge, he leaned closer. “It’s time to decide, Amelia. Tell me if you don’t want to be the Oracle. Tell me if you don’t want this. Tell me and I could…”
She lifted her chin, determined not to show how deeply his nearness affected her. “You could what?”
He hesitated, dropping his head back and staring to the side. For a brief moment, the tattoo on his arm tempted her, and she craved to trace it and ask him what was wrong. But touching him was a risk. So, she waited.
When his eyes met hers again, they were softer. His golden irises traced her lips, and his fingers touched her shoulder, trailing down to her elbow. He smiled. “Who are you? Amelia or the Oracle?”
His smile triggered a painful longing deep in her abdomen. She took a second to steady herself. And another one to ponder her answer. The question felt like a trap, and there were still traces of that formidable energy in the air, so she sidestepped. “Who do you want me to be?”
A glint sparked in Mikhail’s eyes, his fingers resuming their path down her arm. “I need the Oracle’s knowledge… But I want Amelia.”
Her breath hitched.
“Tell me, Amelia…” His voice dropped to a whisper. “What will you say if I ask to kiss you?”
She bit her lip, recalling the feeling of his kiss. More than ever, she wanted him to follow through on what he was saying.
“What will you say if I ask to feel your body the way I did before?” His hand slid down her inner thigh, and she shifted her leg to give him better access. God, how weak she was… “What will you say if I ask for even more than last time?”
She held her breath, waiting for his next move. What would she say?
That she couldn’t wait to find out what “more” meant? The answer to all his questions was “yes,” and Mikhail knew it.
When he leaned in and moved closer to her lips, a wave of relief washed over her.
For a moment, she had feared none of this was real – that it was just a dream from which she’d wake up, burning with desire and unable to quench the fire.
Just as she had often on the nights she’d spent outside the Hospital, away from him .
Amelia didn’t dare move, convinced her heart would burst if she made any further effort.
She wanted to close her eyes and savour the sensation of his closeness.
It was too easy to give in to his touch.
The time she’d spent away from the Hospital had somewhat dulled her memory of Mikhail’s outburst. Of that time when he had projected sins committed by another woman onto her.
Back then, Amelia had glimpsed the demons from his past. The beautiful face and magnetic presence were only half of who Mikhail was. The other half was angry, aggressive, and primal, and although it rarely surfaced, it was always there, lingering underneath the surface.
The memory roused her from the spell of his closeness. With effort, she pulled away from him.
“What do you want from me, Mikhail?”
His eyes bore into hers with an intensity that made her head spin.
“For you to let me in,” he said in a raw voice.
“To stop keeping me at a distance from what’s going on in your head.
The transformation is a complex and confusing process for any being.
I can help you. I’ve been through it. But you have to share with me. ”
Amelia tilted her head. She had expected him to ask to be in her bed, but he wanted access to her thoughts. And she… was willing to give it to him. The need to confide in someone about all the strange things happening to her body was close to desperate.
But for her to trust Mikhail, she needed reassurance that the unresolved wounds of his past wouldn’t come between them. He had to trust her, too, otherwise she’d once again turn into a bait for his demons.
“All right then…” Amelia said slowly. “Why did Valeria betray you?”
His expression sharpened. “Why do you ask?”
“Tell me – who did she betray you to and why? Who killed your family? Trust me the way you want me to trust you.”
He recoiled somewhat, his shoulders tightening. “Valeria’s been dead for two hundred years. So is my family. There’s no point in discussing them.”
Amelia’s lips curved into a bitter smile. “Why should I let you in when you keep me at arm’s length?”
“It’s just…” He exhaled. “Those are very personal matters.”
Personal matters. Right . Mikhail expected her to bare her soul, while he intended to stay hidden behind his fortress.
This was not meant to be a two-way relationship.
She was just another subordinate he wanted to control.
That’s why he was persuading her to stay in the Hospital, why he’d given her a seat on the Council, and why he hovered around her.
To keep tabs on her thoughts and feelings and make sure they didn’t stray from the path he deemed correct.
He would never see her as anything more than a pawn – to be moved around the Council table, in the immortal world, or anywhere else he chose.
“I want to get down… off the table.”
A shadow crossed his golden irises, and he pulled back. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
It was as if someone poured a bucket of ice over her. All of her earlier misgivings – misgivings she’d been ready to ignore – flashed in her mind like a bright neon sign. She placed her hands on the table, straightening her back.
“I promised Viktor I’d join him in the autopsy room,” Mikhail said. “He’s discovered something… Do you want to come?”
She stared at him, speechless. Had he really just asked if she wanted to go to the autopsy room with him? And she was still sitting on the conference table, ready to let him do whatever he wanted with her. All he had to do was answer a question about his past. And he had pulled away.
Her cheeks burned for different reasons now. “Such behaviour is unacceptable if we’re going to work together.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” He nodded, offering his hand to help her down.
Amelia eyed his outstretched hand. Was this what their future would look like? She would put up walls, he would tear them down with a smile. And then he’d take a step towards her, only to retreat by two, starting the cycle all over again.
“I’d love to come with you,” she replied, her voice surprisingly steady.
***
The lift ride was torture for Mikhail. He yearned to finish what he’d started with Amelia, but could no longer waver between his desires and the right choice.
He had already made his decision. Her membership in the Council officially ended whatever might have been between them. It marked her as the Oracle – and the Oracle couldn’t belong to a man like him.
He was ready to give up Amelia for the sake of the immortal world – he kept telling himself that he was. His creatures needed her more than he did.
But then he thought back to the loneliness and how he’d ached in her absence.
No matter how much he willed his emotions and urges in check, still they slipped out of his control.
And then Amelia… She had hesitated about joining the Council.
Her presence at the table was a claim – of her title, of her new role in his world.
If she didn’t want it – if she didn’t plan to be the Oracle for the entire immortal world – Mikhail could simply take her for himself.
He had been on the verge of doing just that.
Until she had stared back at him with the eyes of the Oracle.
And it had dawned on him that, sooner or later, she would want to claim her place in this world.
Even as a human, Amelia had been determined.
She would never settle for living as just another immortal.
And hadn’t he already taken enough from her?
Now, he glanced at Amelia, who hadn’t stopped pressing her lips tight since they had left the conference room. He had hurt her again .
He was tempted to drop to his knees and apologise, and then to finish what they had begun…
Damn it.
It was time to pull himself together.