Page 36 of Wonder
“Hah. I know what that’s like these days. Did you have to leave any family or, uh, loved ones behind?”
He stopped knitting and looked at me. “My parents, their siblings, and a few cousins. I sent letters back with the king.” He frowned down at his blanket. “Two of my cousins are in the Royal Guard, and I worry for their safety. Theluchd-òl folawho stayed on Earth could not have been the only ones.”
“The... what you said, those are the rogue vampires?”
“Yes. It's what I call them at least. It meansblood drinkers. The king’s Royal Guards are entirely made up of vampires, as we have the best fighting skills of any of the species. I did not know until Nicky was kidnapped that some had developed a taste for blood from the source.” He lifted his head, and his eyes were dark and sad. “I never expected any of the Royal Guard would betray us. I was complacent.”
I cocked my head. “Why do you sound like it was your responsibility?”
His lips twisted into an awful smile. “I was the captain of the Royal Guards.”
“Oh.” Oh, fuck. No wonder he’d felt he had to stay to rescue Nicky. “I’m sorry. That must’ve been very difficult to find out. That you’d been betrayed like that I mean.”
“Thank you. What of your family? You said your cousin passed away. Do you have anyone else besides your aunt?”
“No, not anymore. My parents are both gone, and Daniel was my only cousin. It’s just Tia and me.” I snorted. “Well, and Tucker and Shirley. Tucker and I met in kindergarten. We were the only kids in the school who were part of the campaign, so we bonded pretty quickly. I spent almost as much time at Shirley and Tucker’s house growing up as I did at my own.”
He smiled. “They seem like good people. I’m glad you have them in your life.” He looked down at his knitting. “Do you have any hobbies?”
“Mostly video games for indoor activities, but my favorite thing is to go kayaking.” I was about to complain about how long ithad been since I’d been able to go, but I kept my mouth shut. My problems were incredibly trivial compared to what Simon had gone through. Not to mention what Nicky had endured.
Simon’s eyes were bright with interest. “I’ve never been kayaking. What do you like about it?”
It took me a moment to respond. No one had ever asked me that before. “Uh, I like to go out on the bay where there aren’t many waves. It’s quiet. It’s a great way to be alone in nature without disturbing anything. I see birds and fish and dolphins all the time.”
He smiled. “It sounds peaceful.”
“Exactly.” And that’s when my mouth decided to keep talking. “You know, we should take Nicky when he’s got his strength up a bit. I bet he’d like it, and if his arms got too tired to paddle, we could just tie his kayak to mine.” Fuck, fuck, fuck. Making plans with Simon was a stupendously bad idea. What the fuck was my brain doing?
Simon’s smile stretched across his entire face. “I think Nicky and I would both enjoy that very much.”
“Okay.” My face was burning with how red it was.
We went back to our respective tasks, but at least the tension between us had cleared. I snuck glances at Simon every few minutes. I had no reason to study him, but it was hardernotto look. His auburn hair, even though it was caught up in the bun, gleamed in the light from the overhead fixture, and I had a strong urge to touch it to see how soft it was.
I jerked my eyes back to the laptop. I would’ve liked to have blamed that little fantasy on the mating connection, but thatpull hadn’t come from my magical core. It’d come from my dick. Or at least that’s what I was going with. No emotions involved. At all. Nothing to do with my learning about Simon’s heroic decision to stay on Earth and his decades-long journey to find Nicky. Or finding out what a fucking nice guy he was. Shit, if we’d met under any other circumstances, I’d have been desperate to get him to notice me.
Determinedly, I got back to work. I still had bills to pay after all. When I finished the written part of my report, I went through my stakeout photos again to decide which to send to my client. I was tabbing through them, trying to find the one where my client’s wife entered her lover’s apartment building, when my eye caught on something.
“What the fuck?” I clicked on one of the photos. I’d been across the street, taking pictures of all the windows on the second floor to figure out which one was the lover’s bedroom. The duo had solved that mystery for me by turning on the bedside lamp, but this shot was taken a few seconds earlier. It showed the next-door neighbor’s bedroom window, lights on and blinds open to the room inside.
The soothing sound of clicking needles stopped. “What’s the matter?”
“I....” I squinted at the photo. “I’m not sure anything’s thematter, but it’s weird.”
I spun my laptop around and pushed it toward him. Instead of leaning over the table, he set his knitting in the plastic tub and stood up, coming around to stand next to my chair. The faint odor of blood mixed oddly pleasantly with the honeysuckle scent of the body wash I kept in the guest bathroom.
I repositioned the laptop so he could see the screen. “I was on a stakeout the other night. Cheating spouse, nothing unusual. This is the next-door neighbor of her lover.” I tapped the window in question.
He leaned over. “What’s that? A costume?” The silver pendant swung away from his chest. It was a jaguar head with green gemstone eyes. I forced my gaze back to the screen.
The costume was either fabric or leather. A body and a detached head were hanging separately on the closet door.
I zoomed in as much as I could without losing the resolution. Simon leaned closer. “That’s a remarkably good likeness of a gargoyle.”
Grimly, I touched the screen, pointing at the green markings on the head and shoulders. “This coloring is only found in post-adolescent gargoyles, those who are around twenty to thirty years old.”
Simon sank into the chair next to mine. “Do you have any gargoyles in this District?”
