Salvation in Darkness

by Nicole Edwards

  “She seems to be settling in well,” he added, hoping to encourage the male to talk.

  Eclipse nodded, smiled. “I’m not sure she’s got much of a choice. Penelope and Acadia are doting on her like she’s royalty. Not to mention, I think Jeffrey’s her self-proclaimed biggest fan.”

  Reidar chuckled. “She does have a way with the heurosp, doesn’t she?”

  For the past few days, ever since Orianna’s vision of Obsidian, the entire mansion had been keeping a close eye on the female. Partly because they were curious as to her visions, but more so because it was becoming clear that Orianna’s health had become Eclipse’s main concern. Since they were all there to support the warrior, they were offering the same to his amsouelot. And while the heurosp hadn’t shucked their duties that supported the rest of them, it was clear Orianna had become their number two concern, right after the pregnant Penelope.

  “Well, I’m glad to hear she’s getting better.”

  “Which is what brings me down here,” Eclipse said, his gaze scanning the various computer equipment in the room.

  “What do you need?”

  “For starters, my lieterra.”

  Reidar glanced around. “Miklós is currently out on patrol, but I can get him back here if you need him immediately.”

  Eclipse shook his head. “No. But I want him off rotation for a while.”

  “Of course.” Reidar stepped up to one of the laptops, keyed in a few commands to pull up the week’s schedule. He made a couple of adjustments, then turned to Eclipse. “Done. Next?”

  Eclipse’s attention shifted to the computers. “I want a laptop delivered to the third-floor conference room. Whatever Orianna might need to do some internet searches.”

  “I can have it delivered within the hour. Any specific access you want her to have?”

  Eclipse’s eyes narrowed, his voice lowering. “I want to find her sister.”

  Reidar nodded. “I’m sure we can do that. We can track her movements, see—”

  “Her sister’s dead,” Eclipse said softly. “So it’s more of a recovery mission.”

  Oh, damn. That fucking sucked.

  “Which is why I want Miklós to help her,” Eclipse continued. “I’m hoping they can utilize the Misplaced Halos boards and see if they can trace her last whereabouts. We need to know what happened to her. If at all possible, we need to recover her body, have her put to rest appropriately.”

  “Of course. I’ll—”

  “I need to talk to you.”

  The shrill sound came from behind Eclipse, the voice drawing every conversation in the room to a halt. When Eclipse turned, Reidar noticed Winnie standing in the doorway, hands on her hips, eyes narrowed on him.

  Perfect. Just what he didn’t need right now.

  “I need a minute,” he told her.

  “No. Now.”

  Luckily Eclipse appeared understanding, because he offered Reidar’s shoulder a sympathetic squeeze before he vanished.

  As he stared at his female, Reidar wished he could do the same. The past few days had been … well, they’d been hell, if he was being honest. Had it not been his night off, Reidar would’ve been out with the others, tracking down these damn shadow beasts. As much as he didn’t look forward to tangling with them again, it sure as shit beat the alternative, which these days was arguing with Winnie.

  “Søren, can you cover for me? I’ll be back in a few.”

  Stygian’s lieterra nodded, the sympathy in his eyes something Reidar was getting used to seeing. Seemed everyone in the mansion had caught on to the nonstop bickering that was going on. No matter how much Reidar tried to placate Winnie, she found something else to bitch about.

  “Let’s go upstairs,” he urged Winnie, directing her back into the hallway.

  They strolled up the stairs, through the kitchen, an icy chill coming off Winnie as they passed Penelope, Acadia, and Orianna. The three females were sitting at the island, Penelope and Acadia ensuring Orianna downed every last bite of the turkey sandwich in front of her.

  Although Penelope offered her best friend a quick wave, Winnie ignored it, marching forward as though no one else was in the mansion.

  Reidar gave Penelope an apologetic nod, following Winnie. God forbid he stop to chat with someone. He’d done that yesterday, and Winnie had launched into a tirade about how everyone else was more important than she was.

  Truth was, Reidar had no idea what was going on with her or why she was so hell-bent on going back to California, but it was a rant that was becoming all too familiar.

  When they finally reached his room on the second floor, Winnie slammed through the door, her anger palpable.

  Reidar closed the door, the soft click sounding overly loud in the room.

  As though that was the trigger, Winnie spun around, hands going to her hips. “When are we leaving?”

  “I’m sorry. What?”

  “Back to California, Reidar. Don’t play dumb with me.”

  “Who’s playing, Winnie?” he snapped. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  She huffed, hands flying. “I told you, I want to go home. You said you’d go with me.”

  “No,” he drawled slowly, then shook his head. “That’s not what I said.”

  Reidar didn’t want to accept the fact that Winnie wasn’t his amsouelot, but it wasn’t the first time he’d thought as much. Long before today. He hated to think he’d jumped the gun, ultimately altering Winnie’s life indefinitely, but he was slowly coming to terms with it. Key word being slowly. And for whatever reason, Winnie thought he was simply blowing her off.

  That so wasn’t the case.

  “It’s not as easy as it sounds,” Reidar said on a long exhale. “Winnie, we can’t simply go to California.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “You keep saying that! But you won’t tell me what that means.”

  It meant they’d be starting over. As in their lives. For one, Reidar would be rendered fallen, sent into the human world to live out his mortal life. If he hadn’t had doubts about them, he would’ve been content to commit to Winnie for another fifty or sixty years. A few weeks ago … sure, he would’ve simply walked away from this world and followed her anywhere.

  But as difficult as it was to admit, Reidar didn’t think he was the male Winnie was meant to spend her eternity with.

  “Can you tell me why you want to go so badly?” he asked, giving the female his full attention.

  As was the case anytime he asked that question, Winnie turned away from him. “I just do.”

  “Is it your family?”

  “Of course it is.”

  Lie. He could detect it, and that wasn’t the first one she’d told him. In fact, Winnie had been lying to him for a solid month now. She was keeping something from him, but Reidar didn’t know what it was. Out of respect for her, he refused to slip into her mind and find the truth. He owed her more than that.

  “I need to get back to work,” he told her.

  “Oh, trust me, I know I play second fiddle to your job, Reidar. You care about it more than you care about me.”

  Arguing was a waste of time. No matter how many times he’d told her otherwise, Winnie had kept with the same tune.

  “We’ll talk in the morning,” he told her.

  “If I’m still here.”

  Moving toward her, Reidar said softly, “Winnie, I’m really sorry. Whatever I did, whatever’s given you the idea you don’t matter…”

  Winnie spun around. “You, Reidar. You’ve given me the idea. It’s a wonder you sleep in the same bed with me.”

  “I’m trying, Win. I’m really trying.”

  He could feel the anger coming from her. Had he detected even a hint of hurt, Reidar probably would’ve dropped to his knees and begged her forgiveness despite the fact he didn’t know what he’d done. However, he got the feeling this didn’t have anything to do with him at all. Something was luring Winnie back to California while she was insisting someone was pushing
her away.

  Reidar reached up to cup her face, but before he could make contact, she jerked away.

  “Just go back to work. If I’m here when you’re done, we’ll talk.”

  With that, Reidar walked away, wondering if this would be the last time. She made the threat so often, he figured at some point she would make good on it.

  “I know I keep saying this, but you look so much better.”

  Orianna smiled at Penelope. “I feel better.”

  Honestly, she hadn’t realized how exhausted she’d actually been until the other day when she’d collapsed under the weight of that last vision. Since then, Eclipse had all but confined her to bed rest. At the beginning, Orianna had argued, insisting she was fine.

  She so hadn’t been fine. Not only had her body been screaming for some R and R, her emotional well-being had taken a hit as well. Not easy to spend so long chasing one single goal only to hit a wall. Finding out her sister was dead had been the equivalent of a concrete barrier getting intimate with a semi going sixty miles per hour. The crash had been inevitable, and it had taken Eclipse to see it.

  Insert bed rest and some quiet and Orianna was as good as new.

  Over the past few days, she’d learned quite a bit about herself, though. One, she didn’t so much mind someone taking care of her from time to time. No, she had no intention of putting her feet up for the rest of her life, but a few days had certainly reset all her levers, and she felt more like herself than she had in the past … forever.

  The downside? Well, that would be the fact the only outfit she’d brought with her was getting a bit snug. Luckily, she’d spent most of her time in Eclipse’s room, either naked or wearing one of his super-comfy T-shirts. But if they kept this up, she would easily put back on those ten pounds she’d inadvertently lost. If she didn’t know better, she would think that was Eclipse’s goal.

  “I’d hoped to find you here.”

  That familiar voice triggered an immediate smile response as she turned to see Eclipse coming toward her from the front of the mansion.

  “I thought you went to the war room.” She lifted her head to meet his kiss.

  “I got chased out of there. Went upstairs to take care of something.”

  Orianna figured Winnie had been the one to chase him off. Based on the way the woman had stormed through the kitchen a little while ago, no one would want to be in her direct path.

  According to Penelope, Winnie was going through a rough time right now, and the best thing they could do was give her space. Orianna had to take her word for it because she hadn’t spent much time with Penelope’s best friend from high school. Aside from a brief introduction and a couple of words in passing, they hadn’t talked.

  “Mind if I steal her for a little while?” Eclipse asked, his question directed at Penelope and Acadia.

  “Of course not.” Penelope grinned. “Remember, you still owe me a movie.”

  Orianna got to her feet. “That I do. How about Friday?”

  “That’s a date.”

  Eclipse was shaking his head.

  “What?”

  “I don’t understand how women can spend five minutes together and become best friends.”

  “It’s been more than five minutes,” Acadia said with a smirk. “At least six.”

  Orianna laughed. “Definitely six.”

  Admittedly, it was a bit odd for her to have forged a bond so quickly, but Orianna couldn’t deny the fact she enjoyed Penelope’s and Acadia’s company. The two women had been persistent, something Orianna wasn’t used to. In fact, aside from Amber, Orianna had never really had any close friends. It was rather nice.

  “Well, she’s mine for the time being,” Eclipse told them, linking his fingers with hers.

  “See you at morning meal.” Penelope nodded, as though that was a definitive, not a question.

  “Yes, you will. I promise.”

  Orianna allowed Eclipse to lead her out of the kitchen, then down the hallway to the elevator that led to the third floor.

  “I can walk up the stairs,” she assured him.

  “Not necessary. That’s what the elevator’s for.”

  Funny he should say that. For the first full day she’d been down, Eclipse had insisted on carrying her up and down the stairs. At least he now allowed her to walk on her own.

  When they stepped out of the elevator onto the third floor, Zeus was snoozing on the sofa. As soon as he heard them, his head popped up and his tongue lolled out of his mouth.

  “Hey, buddy.” Orianna went straight for him, perching on the cushion beside him so she could give him some love. It was the least she could do considering he’d been keeping her company while Eclipse was working.

  “This way,” Eclipse said. “He can come with you.”

  Orianna smiled at the dog. “You hear that? We get to hang out some more.”

  When she got to her feet, Zeus did the same, falling into step with her.

  “Where’re we going?”

  “Conference room.”

  Turned out the conference room was down the hall to the left, beyond a couple of doors and what appeared to be a laundry facility. From what she’d seen, the mansion was more the size of a resort hotel than a residence. Based on what Penelope had told her, it housed seventy people and employed another couple of dozen. Made sense they’d have laundry rooms on every floor.

  Eclipse led the way into a large room complete with a conference table that seated ten people. On one wall was a projection screen, and on the table there was a triangular telephone.

  “It’s just decor,” Eclipse said, nodding at the phone. “Cimmerian said it made us official. Apparently, humans prefer those things.”

  Orianna smiled. “Telephones?”

  “That fancy conference shit.”

  Chuckling, Orianna skimmed the rest of the room, a little surprised there weren’t motivational posters on the wall. Not that she’d ever visited a conference room before, but she’d watched plenty of television. She knew the drill.

  At the far end of the table, there was a laptop, which seemed to be where Eclipse was headed.

  “Are you putting me to work?” she teased.

  “Actually … I’m bringing someone in for you to put to work.”

  No sooner did she get “Who?” out of her mouth than Miklós stepped into the room.

  “Hey,” Eclipse’s right-hand guy said with a smile.

  As usual, Miklós was impeccably dressed with his fancy silk button-down—this one almost the same royal blue as his eyes—stretched across his enormous chest and his fancy gray slacks with their perfect crease. The cuffs sat atop a pair of black Ferragamo loafers that were polished to a shine, not a scuff mark in sight.

  In direct contradiction to his perfectly pulled-together wardrobe, Miklós’s sandy-blond hair was pulled back into a man bun, a few wisps blown back from his face. His beard and mustache—both of which were more blond than brown—were perfectly trimmed, as though they weren’t about to let down the rest of him the way his hair did.

  Orianna had had the chance to talk to Miklós a few times over the past couple of days when he’d stopped in the kitchen to chat while Penelope and Acadia had been force-feeding her protein and carbs. And when she hadn’t been talking to him, Orianna had been getting the scoop on how things worked within the structure of these soldiers and the warriors—how they referred to Eclipse and his brothers. According to the intel she’d received, Miklós was Eclipse’s right-hand man, otherwise known as a lieterra. Of all those who worked for Eclipse, he was closest to Miklós, having spent the past four hundred fifty years working side by side, ever since Miklós was assigned to him.

  “What exactly is it we’ll be doing here?” she asked Eclipse.

  He leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “Miklós is here to help you find your sister.”

  Her heart kicked in her chest a couple of times, but the pain was a bit duller than it had been a few days ago.

  “A
nd believe it or not,” Miklós said, “we’ve got quite a few things we can do without ever leaving the mansion.”

  She would have to take his word for it. Heaven knew she’d had no luck pounding pavement for six years, so she wasn’t sure she believed perusing the internet was going to do much good.

  “While you two get that underway, I need to step out for a bit.”

  That got Orianna’s attention.

  “Just to help Kaj.” His voice was softer; clearly he’d detected her concern. “I promise to check in.”

  Unable to resist, she put her hand on his cheek and kissed him, letting it linger. It was strange that in just a few days, she’d come to worry about him. Especially when he went out to fight, as they all referred to it.

  “Be careful.”

  “Always, sezari.”

  Another quick peck and he was strolling out the door, leaving her alone with Miklós.

  “He’s always careful,” the angel said.

  “Are you reading my mind?”

  He chuckled. “Don’t need to. You care for him. That’s evident. And if I can give you any reassurance whatsoever, I’m happy to.”

  “So, if you’re his right-hand man, why aren’t you working with him?”

  “I’m more of his assistant, you could say. Magnar’s his ladeare. He’s the one Eclipse leans on when it comes to the field.”

  “Do you fight?” She figured he must considering the way he was built.

  “When it’s necessary, sure.”

  It would take some time to understand all the logistics.

  “So, where do we start?” Orianna asked, taking a seat in front of the laptop Eclipse had acquired for her.

  “First off, let’s get you up and running on the Misplaced Halos boards.”

  She peered over at the angel. “The what?”

  “That’s the term used to refer to angels and vampires.”

  “Misplaced Halos?” She couldn’t help it, she smiled. “Sounds like a rock band.”

  “We’re far more badass.”

  For the next couple of hours, Miklós proved how true that statement was.