War of Hearts(75)

“Maybe he’s not home.”

He flicked her a smirk. “It’s daylight out and he’s a vampire. He’s bloody well at home.” He knocked harder and called loudly, “Vik, it’s Conall MacLennan.”

A few seconds later they heard several locks being turned and then the door swung open. A tall, blond-haired vampire stood in the shadow of the doorway, his inquisitive, big blue eyes on Conall. He wore a Metallica T-shirt and a pair of gray jogging pants. Although skinny, Thea noted the wiry, muscular strength beneath his pale skin.

“Hei Venn.”

“Hei Venn,” Conall returned.

His blue gaze turned to Thea, catching in the light, flicking to mercury and then back to blue. “I knew it was you.” Vik gestured between them, his accent a mix of Scottish and Norwegian. “I have security cameras.”

“Can we come in?” Conall asked.

Vik frowned. “Of course. But I think I should be worried. It’s not like you to turn up without warning.”

Conall shook his head. “We need information.” He reached for Thea’s hand and she cursed him as she let him lead her into the apartment. He knew she was unlikely to make a scene in front of his friend by refusing to take his hand.

Bastard.

He brushed his thumb over her skin, almost absentmindedly, as he strode into the huge loft. “This place seems big for Oslo.”

“It was two apartments. I bought them both and knocked them into one.” Vik finished locking the door, and Thea noted the many, many locks. Paranoid much? Or just a protection from the sun? She noted the floor-to-ceiling windows on one side of the apartment fitted with thick blackout blinds. Not a crack of sunlight shone through.

Large overhead steel light fixtures kept the space as bright as possible.

The floorboards were stripped and bare, but there was a rug here and there to add some texture and perhaps coziness. They failed on the coziness part. A large black-leather corner sofa took up one area of the open-plan space. It faced the biggest flat-screen television Thea had ever seen. Behind the television was a large king-size bed tucked into the back corner of the room.

In the opposite corner of the space was a shiny white kitchen. Glossy cabinets, white quartz countertops, and white kitchen accessories made that area shine like an iceberg.

Thea wondered how the vampire kept it so clean.

Yet the most interesting area was directly before them. Floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with books lined the wall from where the kitchen ended to the windows on the opposite side. In front of the shelves sat what appeared to be a mini research center. A large desk hosted a computer with three screens. To the side, built up against one of the windows, was a display unit filled with different artifacts, what looked like an old Viking helmet, coins, goblets, a sword, a small shield, and an assortment of daggers.

An unpleasant tingle moved through Thea and she followed the feeling to a silver-gray dagger pinned to the wall of the display. She almost hissed.

Pure iron.

Wrenching her eyes away, Thea studied the vampire. Despite the Metallica shirt he was wearing, a female opera singer played from a sound system that seemed to encompass the entire apartment.

She steadfastly ignored the discomforting awareness of the iron blade in the corner.

“Who is your lovely friend, Conall?” Vik asked, flicking Thea a mercury look as he wandered into the kitchen. “Drink?”

“This is Thea. And I’ll take a water if you have it.”

“Me too,” Thea said.

The vampire nodded and pulled two small bottles of water out of the fridge. Thea knew from her time with Ashforth that vampires ate and drank like humans, but they also needed blood to survive.

Thea thanked Vik as he gave her the water. She used it as an excuse to drop Conall’s hand.

“So, what is this about?” Vik crossed his arms over his chest. “You know this is my nighttime hours, friend.”

“And I apologize for the rudeness of our arrival. But this is important.” He turned to Thea, his eyes questioning, and she knew he wanted her permission to tell the story. She reluctantly nodded.

It was difficult to stand through Conall’s retelling. Thankfully, he left out the nitty-gritty of her captivity with Ashforth but told Vik enough for him to grasp the story. Conall explained to him about being chased by the Blackwood Coven and the new mystery enemy who went by the name Eirik.

When Conall was finished, Vik was unnaturally still, staring almost unseeingly at the floor.

“Vik?”

His blue eyes flashed to Thea. “Tell me about your abilities again.”

Something about the intensity of his stare unnerved her, but Conall’s encouraging nod prompted her to reply. “I’m fast, strong.”

“Faster and stronger than any supernatural I’ve met,” Conall added.

“I can … I can make people see things. Things I want them to see.”

Vik’s expression flickered but it was difficult to know what that meant.

“And … when I was younger—not now—I could move things without touching them.”

He frowned. “Not now?”

“I stopped using the ability a long time ago. I haven’t been able to do it since. Well, sometimes I make things happen when I’m upset. Moving things, messing with electricity, anything that emits energy, really. I can turn on a car without an ignition key. That’s been handy in the past.” She tried to be droll to ease her own nervousness.