Everyone ignores her as I push the door release button.The back of the pantry slides open and we step in.
“How come you use the back of my pantry but your floor?” CK asks.
“I use mine,” I say nonchalantly.
“So do I,” he says, annoyed. “I do cook, you know.”
“I do know. Very well, in fact. However, I have many people living in my house. You only have two. Three now with Sebastian,” I say, and we all jump in surprise as Sebastian opens the pantry door to see us all standing there.
He freaks momentarily before regaining his composure. “May I ask what you are all doing in the pantry?”
“A secret mission,” I say mysteriously, to which he looks annoyed he wasn’t part of it. I stalk past him as does everyone else. CK’s kitchens are darker than mine. In fact, his whole house is. Preferring the shadows to sunlight, I reconstructed the house to his liking. Most of the windows are high up at the top of the very high ceilings, letting in light, but a very refined light. The only room that doesn’t have these is the indoor pool room, which we walk past to get to The Room. The pool room is situated off the main sitting room and is all windows, frosted windows, a beautiful construction with marble floors and a long narrow pool running through the middle of it. I love that room. I used to come swimming here on my own before CK moved in. Just to get away from everything. He sees me notice it and I can see him making a mental note to himself about it.
He leads us over to the massive bookcase at the back of the sitting room and pulls out a book. It’s all very clichéd but as I’ve mentioned before, they are clichés for a reason. Cole raises his eyebrow at me.
I smile back and say, “When you have lived in castles through battles and wars centuries ago, you become well versed in the art of skullduggery.”
“Skullduggery? I like that word,” he says and laughs.
A door slides open. We all step inside and down the stairs into a very comfortable room. It is as large as the sitting room, equipped with every modern convenience, a bedroom, and bathroom.
“What makes this room so special?” Cole asks, interested.
&n
bsp; “It’s a modern-day dungeon,” CK answers for him. “As you can see, she will be perfectly comfortable. She is a liability at the moment, it’s for her own good as well as the safety everyone else.”
“I will stay with her then,” Devon says. CK and I exchange a glance. This is good.
“Very well. Your phone won’t work down here but if you want to leave or need anything there is an intercom system. You will get, Nico?” I ask CK who nods. “There is also blood on tap, but only one pint every four hours is permitted. Make sure she drinks,” I say to Devon. He nods.
“I’m sorry I attacked you, Mrs. O’Dell,” Jess says suddenly. “I lost control and there was this haze of…”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it,” I interrupt her.
She smiles, grateful that I’m not going to punish her further. “I would like to carry on with the conversation we were having. If you don’t mind.”
“Of course. I will come back before dark and we can carry on talking.”
She nods. “Thank you.”
“Right, we will leave you now,” I say to Devon as I pull him closer. “Will you be okay, or do you need Cade to stay?”
“I will be fine. I think I can handle her,” he says sarcastically, and I kiss him lightly.
“Use this time to…”
“I will. That’s why I’m staying,” he says determinedly and kisses me again.
I sigh inwardly and turn to Cole. We leave them alone and lock them inside. My eyes go momentarily to the pool again with longing.
“Come and see me later, before you go downstairs,” CK says to me knowingly. “We need to discuss a plan for when we are en route.”
“I will,” I say, loving him for making up a decent excuse for me to come and see him. Well, his pool anyway. Oh, screw it, him too, hopefully in the pool.
I wrap my arms around Cole and with a little wave, we Astral out to our bedroom.
“Oh, man, I thought we were going to go back via the tunnel,” he says with a boyish sulk.