Hotbloods (Hotbloods #1)(39)

Navan let go. It was obvious this man, who could barely stand on his own two feet, was not the thief. “Maybe it is your lucky day,” Navan said. “Why don’t you take off.”

“I think I will, seeing as I’m not welcome here no more,” the old man mumbled, shuffling over to the ladder and climbing up it. He swayed dangerously, and I was afraid he was going to fall before he made it to the top, but he managed, and I moved aside to let him pass. He cast one lazy glance over me in the gloom, before turning back around to call down, “Mind passing Charlie up, would you?”

Navan had disappeared into the second room, but Ianthan passed the husky up to the guy, and with that, he headed off into the snow, his dog trotting along by his side, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he’d just been in close quarters with a couple of vampires. At least we didn’t have to bother with Elysium with him—he had his own bottled version.

I stared after the retreating silhouettes for a moment, hoping he’d make it to the nearby town before freezing to death, but I couldn’t dwell on his well-being for long; we had bigger things to worry about right now.

Such as the safety of the entire human race.

I looked back down through the trap door to see Navan had reemerged from the second room and was prowling around like a caged animal, running his hands through his hair.

He turned to Ianthan, narrowing his eyes. “A logical person would suspect you. Or at least suspect you had something to do with this.”

“I swear, Navan, I have no idea!” Ianthan said. “I had nothing to do with this, and I can’t imagine why my father would have either. He only wanted to escape to Queen Brisha with a blood sample; being accepted by her was his only objective. There’s no reason on Vysanthe why he’d come ransacking this place. And when would he have done it? How would he have done it? What would he have done with all your equipment? There’s no way!”

Navan seemed almost relieved as Ianthan spoke; there really didn’t seem to be a way that Jethro or Ianthan could’ve pulled this heist off. I had a feeling it would’ve been more than Navan could handle right now, to find out his best friend had been involved in this, too.

“We’ve got to get that ship fixed,” Navan said, breathing out. “It’s the only way.”

“Do you think it could have been other humans who found this place and raided it?” I asked softly.

There was a long pause. “It's possible but unlikely. I… I do have another idea what might’ve happened here.”

“What?” I lowered myself onto the ladder and climbed down.

Navan set Ianthan with a dark look. “I think it was The Fed.”

I scrunched up my face in confusion. “Huh? The Fed?”

“What?” Ianthan said. “What makes you say that?”

Navan continued to prowl, addressing me first. “The Fed is a supernatural federation that operates in this quadrant of the universe, and essentially helps to maintain peace and good relations between worlds. It’s a protective and intermediary agency.”

“What? I’ve never heard of it,” I said, my mind being blown open yet again by another facet of our universe I’d previously been oblivious to.

“You wouldn’t have,” he replied. “Although The Fed does have a base here on Earth, they don’t make themselves known to humans.”

“Why’s that?”

Was there the slightest hint of amusement in his eyes? “Don’t take this the wrong way, but the rest of the supernatural community generally sees your kind as . . . rather primitive and immature; and a little too trigger-happy when it comes to their weapons.”

“Oh,” I said. He did have a point. “I guess that’s fair enough.”

“Humans aren’t the most powerful species in the universe.” Now Navan did smirk. “I mean, a good deal of your population honestly believes that they’re the only intelligent life form in the universe.” He and Ianthan both laughed. “Which is so ridiculous and narrow minded it’s almost unimaginable. So, you can understand why your kind were never deemed fit to join The Fed, officially—and so the alliance contains no human members—but Earth is in their circle of watch, nonetheless.”

“And you think they somehow found this place and raided it?”

“I know they operate on Earth because I encountered an agent here, several weeks ago.” He pursed his lips, shaking his head. All traces of the previous smile was gone. “I was utilizing my holograph map, and it must’ve given off some strong, irregular frequencies that a nearby Fed agent picked up on. Damn. I should’ve known better.”

“What happened?”

“I’d say it was the last thing he expected—to find a coldblood. The Fed doesn’t have much jurisdiction in our corner of the universe, and they despise Vysanthians to the core. We stand for everything they are against—they seek to preserve and balance, while we essentially seek to destroy. That agent fired at me before I could explain why I was here. I had no choice but to kill him; otherwise, he would’ve taken me in, or worse. Still, I feared that he might have already alerted his base to my presence. I waited for three days, expecting that if his fellow agents were coming, they would do so within that time. When they didn’t, I assumed the agent I killed had not yet transmitted his findings to his base, and I needed to return to Vysanthe, so I left… Which I now realize was a mistake.”