Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(142)

“The boys don’t seem too fond of me waking up.” Once that initial queasiness was done, they seemed ready to eat anything and everything I could get my hands on. I opened the granola bar, inhaled it, and Neil handed me another. “What happened to worrying about my spectacular figure?”

“You’re beautiful no matter what your size, Z,” Neil said. “I love you. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Just have healthy babies.”

I nodded because if I’d said anything at that moment I would have cried again. After a moment, I got back to the job at hand and Neil sighed over the new Gucci collection.

Thus the next few weeks of our life was set.

I spent the nights with Marini, allowing him free and liberal access to my body. Every time he touched me it felt like I was giving up a piece of my soul, but I did it. I did it for Dev, for Daniel, for the babies in my womb. I choked my way through every encounter. I hated him more than I ever hated anything in my life, even Chad. Chad had been able to kill Dev because of Louis. My feelings didn’t matter during that time. I cuddled up to him and pretended I couldn’t get enough of him. No one questioned my devotion. It seemed this was the normal pattern between vampire and companion.

More vampires came to the catacombs. Two new Council members were rapidly elected to fill Marcus’s and Niko’s seats. Two warriors. Adam Brooks and Rodrigo Vargas were old European vampires who seemed thrilled to be in on the action. They did what Louis told them to do. When Louis attended his war council, I sat at his side listening for any news of Daniel. The vampires had contacted the demons but working with demons was a slow, careful process. They were still banging out their contracts and it looked like it would be a while before Louis could expect help from that quarter. The tension seemed to make him short with the other Council members.

Neil and I became fixtures in the catacombs. Once it was obvious I was behaving properly, I was given a great deal of freedom. As long as my “guard” went with us, I was allowed to walk around freely. We only came across Chad once. I stopped in my tracks and Trent moved in front of me. Chad stared through Neil like he didn’t matter but smiled at me.

“You should watch out for that one, Trent,” Chad said as he moved past us. “She could get into serious trouble.”

I turned to watch him walk away, and I caught the slightest brush of his fingers against Neil’s. It was subtle. If I wasn’t watching closely, I would have missed it. I couldn’t see his face. He was looking the other way, but the action had an air of tenderness I couldn’t mistake.

While I slept, Marcus and I walked the streets of Venice. I don’t know what my dreams would have been like had Marcus not come to me each time I slept, but it was peaceful to walk along the canals with him. I visited the Piazza San Marco and the huge basilica. We dined at his favorite restaurant in the Cannaregio section of the city. I was surprised to find out Marcus had a favorite restaurant.

“I love food, cara,” Marcus had told me as he ordered lobster alsace.

I learned that was spaghetti and lobster. It was delicious. “But you don’t eat.”

He grinned, the smile making him look young and carefree. “But my companions do. I might not be the strongest of vampires, as evidenced by my current predicament, but there are definite advantages to being an academic. My powers are mental and sensory. When I have a deep connection with a companion or even a human lover, I can sometimes taste through them. It’s how I know that this dish is exquisite and how I can pass on the experience to you.”

Then we were off. I tried just about everything Marcus could remember loving. I decided gelato was better than ice cream, but I preferred American pizza, much to his dismay.

My days were spent in Louis’s office, listening carefully for that sweet little click that came when the pins were in the right position. Of course, if it was as easy as that I would know the combination almost immediately, but it’s not. That click just told me a range of numbers. After first discerning the contact points and the number of wheels in the safe, I knew where to “park” the wheels before I started slowly moving the dial, waiting to hear that click. I used a piece of paper and pen to graph my results. After days of listening carefully, I had six possible combinations. Neil made fun of my carefully plotted numbers on my handmade graph when he could just tear that sucker open, but in this case we needed subtlety. I didn’t intend to steal the stone the first chance I got. I had to time it just right. Once I had the combination, Trent was going to risk communicating with his outside contact. The contact would let Danny know I was ready to go. I just needed a day to exchange the stones and then Daniel could do his worst. Louis would be panicked when he heard Daniel was raiding the catacombs, and he wouldn’t pay attention to the stone until he was ready to use it. It would be too late then, and Daniel would have the upper hand. If he discovered my deception too soon, I was worried he would run and regroup and potentially give us hell for the rest of our lives.

I came up with a different excuse each night why Neil and I needed to use the computer. We shopped for a few days because I obviously deserved a completely redone bedroom and I needed an awful lot of clothes. After that, we enjoyed playing games and watching American TV over the Internet. As Louis had never caught me doing anything wrong with the computer, he allowed it, all along stating he would install one in my rooms as soon as possible. I made sure Neil and I were sitting in front of the computer laughing at some comedy or OMGing over some ridiculous soap. The minute Louis entered, we sweetly broke up for the night and I acted thrilled to see my master.