Holy shit. The man was almost two centuries older than me. Some of the guilt I felt at lusting after him vanished.
Then, it returned full force when I remembered Cress would slit my throat if I even batted my eyelashes at him. I cleared my throat awkwardly. “You told Bronwyn you swore to never love again.”
“I did.” He rolled over, put his arms behind his head and began to do sit-ups. “Like you, I was betrayed, and it hurt so much it caused me to doubt myself. I swore never to love again to protect myself from further harm.”
“What…. Uh… What about Cress?”
His eyes narrowed. “Cress is another heavy burden that I must bear,” he growled. “She is unfathomably irritating, but I was unable to leave her behind. She is too valuable as a warrior.”
“No, I mean…” I swallowed. “You love her, though, right?” God, why was I doing this? It felt like picking at a scab.
His eyes rolled very slightly. “Believe me, Chosen, the affection I have for Cress is entirely involuntary and outside of my control.” He jumped to his feet. “If I do not strangle her to death before our quest is completed, it will be a miracle.” He strode towards the door and opened it.
“Right.” What did that mean?
As if we’d summoned her, Cress strode in, lithe and sexy in her black battle leathers. Nate and Eryk followed right behind her, faces like thunder. “You are not pleasant to have to deal with on a daily basis either, Donovan,” she grunted, stalking into the room, shedding swords and daggers as she went, which Violet dutifully ferried away to the armory.
I was too anxious to dwell any further on their weird, arranged relationship. “No sign of Audrina?”
Cress shook her head. “None. No berserkers, either.” She slumped down at the kitchen table. “I am unbearably frustrated,” she growled, flexing her fists and glaring. “Vampires provide little to no challenge.”
Cecil clomped over to the table and took my empty plate. “Do you want a coffee, Cress?” he asked, smiling innocently.
“No.” I pointed at him. “Stop it, Cecil.” Giving Cress caffeine would be like giving meth to Xena, Warrior Princess. Donovan still hadn’t recovered; he was now doing pull-ups on Violet’s front doorframe.
I turned back to Cress. “No sign? No clues? Nothing?”
She shook her head abruptly. “It is unusual that we could find none.”
Nate and Eryk took off their swords and sat down at the table. They both looked a little defeated. Nate put his head in his hands. “I do not understand it,” he said, his already-too deep voice was lower than usual, almost subsonic. “I was sure I could find a dozen, at least.” At my curious look, he went on. “My people—the Batalan, combat mage fae—we are very well acquainted with the berserkers. We’ve gone up against them in battle many times throughout history, and we know our enemies. Sometimes intimately,” he added, his lips pulling up at the corners of his mouth. “There’s a thin line between love and hate.”
I side-eyed Donovan. “Obviously.”
Nate sighed. “I should easily be able to locate at least one berserker here in this city, but there are none to be found.”
“None at all?” I frowned. “But that’s a clue in itself, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
“How many berserkers would normally be hanging around San Francisco?”
“Scores,” Nate said. “Like the mer and shifters, most berserkers prefer to live in the human realm and keep their own home as a sanctuary. They live among humans here, and blend in almost too easily. But I cannot find even one.” All three of them stared moodily at the table.
I watched them for a moment, thinking. I might not be able to beat up a vampire like Cress, but problem solving was my jam. “Do we really need to find one? I can go to their realm, can’t I? If we can find a portal, I can go there and look for Audrina myself.”
“You could,” Donovan said, lifting himself up for his hundredth set of pullups. “If we could find a portal. But you could only take one other with you, and the berserker realm is exceptionally dangerous—the terrain is perilous and filled with vicious animals. They seem to relish having a sanctuary where every step is a challenge to survive.” He hesitated, mid-pullup, biceps bulging, and met my eye. “It is no place for you, Chosen. And I sincerely hope they have not hidden the Songbird there. We will not go there at all, if we can help it.”
“It’s not even an option at this stage, since we can’t find a portal,” Nate said grimly. “Most of the Middle World portals are exceptionally well-hidden to prevent humans from finding them. The only ones we’ve found so far are the more lower-vibration ones. Sandman realm, vamp realm, wraith—”
My phone buzzed; I looked down and saw Bart video calling me. He’d been out visiting all the other supes he knew, trying to find a berserker. I accepted immediately, and his face popped up on the screen.
He looked worried. My heart gave a thud. “Bart? Are you okay?”
“Physically, I’m fine. Financially, I’m probably going to get audited so hard that the IRS will set up camp in my small colon, thanks to Princess Cress.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I just got home.” He sighed. “I’m here with my accountant, Jillian. We were trying to come up to your apartment, but Violet is suspicious and won’t let her in.”
I knew Jillian; she was a plain-looking, no-nonsense woman in her mid-fifties with a cut-throat reputation and enormous fees. “Why won’t Violet let her in?”
“Because she believes, quite rightly, that I am here to make trouble for you.” A drop-dead gorgeous woman appeared on the screen, pushing Bart aside, tossing back her cloudy dark hair. She raised a perfect eyebrow and glared at me, pursing her ruby-red lips. “You are already on thin ice, Susan. I’ve been working overtime trying to convince my brethren that you’re not the bad guy, but you’re not doing yourself any favors having that uncivilized maniac going around trying to beat information out of us.”
Cress thumped her boots up on the table sulkily.
I peered at the screen, confused. “Who are you?”
“It’s me, you fool. Jillian.”
This stunning creature wasn’t the Jillian I knew. But she was wearing Jillian’s trademark black leather gloves, with Jillian’s usual dark sunglasses on her head.
Bart’s face appeared behind her. Vampire, he mouthed.
“Oh. Oh! Hi, Jillian. You… uh. You look… different.”
Jillian let out a pained sigh. “I wear a glamor to dull my appearance during work hours. No one would take me seriously as an accountant looking like this.” She gestured to her flawless high cheekbones.
“That’s a good point.” I shot a dirty look at Cress and pushed her boots off the table. “I’m sorry if Princess Cress got a little rough with any of your people, Jillian. It won’t happen again.”
