“You know,” Griff starts thoughtfully, “it does mean that Coen and Dimitri were far closer than we ever thought they could be. It was a shock when Neith mentioned them together, but this shows that it was more than just a passing thing. They were close. Coen wasn’t shocked or even upset to be sharing his head with Dimitri.”
“That’s it,” Ransom says, and then looks at Griff, “sorry, I agree that you’re right, but you saying sharing his head made me remember the vamp that Neith killed outside Naimh’s place in Ireland. You guys remember?”
I nod, “Yeah. He spoke through the decapitated vampire it was really fucking disturbing.”
Ransom smiles slightly, “Exactly, he spoke through the vampire. It’s reasonable to assume that he can talk into people’s minds. I would imagine that it has to be someone that he knows in order to do it over a long distance, but then again, we know absolutely nothing about Hellhounds, so it could just be something that he can do.”
“Wow,” Doc mutters.
His sentiment pretty much sums up what all of us are thinking, or at least what I’m assuming they are thinking, because I am.
“That means that Dimitri still cares enough about Neith that he saw the trial and immediately knew that she was going to struggle, so he did something about it,” Ransom says.
I raise my eyebrows, “Yeah, you’re right. That hadn’t occurred to me, but then again, after the way that he spoke to her through the vamp, I never would have thought that he was capable of caring about her.”
“We all know that he used to care about her though,” Van points out.
“He clearly still does,” Doc reasons. Frowning, he adds, “But I don’t know what it means. We know that he’s seriously hurt Neith. Maybe not physically, but certainly emotionally and verbally.”
“I’m not sure, but I get the feeling that Coen is going to be the key to understanding that more,” Raiden muses thoughtfully.
“We’re not going to be able to ask him about it until he’s free of Kylen,” Van points out.
“Definitely,” Reed agrees. “We’re not going to be able to ask Neith either, not unless she brings it up. There is a really strong chance that she’s not going to remember any of this.”
“Yeah, you’re right. She was so deep into a panic attack that she didn’t even realize where she was,” Ransom says.
Chapter Five
River
We’re all silent for a moment.
“It’s interesting that Asael listened to Coen,” Raiden muses quietly.
“I think that there is a lot about this situation that is interesting,” Griff agrees thoughtfully.
“We should probably try to get some sleep. We have no idea what task is next. I really wish Neith got a few days to recover, but she’s not going to get that,” I frown.
Raiden frowns slightly, “That might be better to be honest. Whenever I have a massive panic attack, I like to be busy rather than allowing myself time to think about it. Staying busy and keeping my mind clear almost helps me to rest. I know that doesn’t make much sense.”
“I get that,” Reed agrees. “It gives you less time to think about it and more time for your brain to pack it away and heal a bit more gently without it being forced in your face all the time. I’m entirely unsure whether it’s healthy for you or not, but I’ve done it, and I will do it again.”
“Well, then I hope that Neith views it in the same way that you guys do,” Evander says, a worried frown on his face.
“If not then we will just have to be there in the best way that we can be despite the fact that we’re going through the Choosing,” Griff says firmly as if he’s daring us to argue with him, or maybe he’s daring the universe to argue because he knows that we won’t.
“Agreed,” we all reply.
My mind is spinning, and although I know that I should be able to get some sleep, and although we’ve all agreed that we should go to sleep, it’s a long time before any of us actually do. All of us keep watch over our Neith to make sure that she really is okay and not going to wake up with a nightmare.
None of us is new to panic attacks, all of us experience them in some form, although Doc and Raiden are the only ones who still experience them with some regularity. None of us has seen a panic attack that is quite like Neith’s, and although we are all curious about what happened, we can guess from what we witnessed in Neith’s last trial, and I think the only reason why we are remaining calm is because Neith needs us to.
And Coen said that Dimitri and he tore the fucker apart. So, he’s very much dead and no longer a threat to Neith.
Thank fuck.
Eventually, we all drift off, but judging from the amount of shuffling and sighs that I hear through the night, I don’t think any of us sleep very well.