Love Me to Death (Underveil, #1)(58)

“I’d love a glass of wine,” Elena said. “Red, if you have it.”

“That sounds good to me, too.” He put his mouth to his ear and whispered, “You taste much better, though.”

She trembled with desire and he laughed.

Darvaak opened a bottle of wine and set it on the counter. “We need to give it a moment.”

“So you saw both of them?” Nik asked, running his fingers down Elena’s spine.

“Yes. I’d never thought to look for them before. They were hiding a distance from the site. They were not there at the same time. Borya was there before whatever occurred. Zana showed up at the end. I can’t tell what happened while they were in the erased area, but I could see them outside of it.”

“Erased area?” Elena asked.

He spread his hands out on the bar. “Yes, in the past, it looks like a bad Photoshop job. You see the men talking, and then they are rubbed out until the blur dissipates and they are dead in the snow. The area around the fight scene is clear and intact. I can’t even walk into the erased area. It’s blocked by some spell. If we can break it, we can see it. That would involve finding the one who cast it or ordered the spell, and convincing him or her to lift it.”

“Or killing the one who cast the spell in the first place.” Aleksi grinned. “I like that option best.”

The Time Folder didn’t react. “We must find one of the seers.”

“Impossible,” Nikolai said.

“Theoretically, very little is impossible, Itzov. Well, other than making you a decent, civilized being.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“I’m perfectly civilized.”

He took in a deep breath through his nose, then arched a brow. “Not quite, but better.”

Smartass Time Folder and his creepy bloodhound nose.

“It’s my understanding that Gregor Arcos was almost never without his seer. Surely at some point, Elena saw Zana, Could maybe even give us a clue where she is now,” Darvaak said, pouring four glasses of wine.

Elena strode to the bar and collected two glasses. Nikolai was mesmerized by her fluid, sure steps. Her immortality had changed her gait. What was she?

“What does Zana look like?” She handed Nikolai one of the stemmed glasses. He intentionally rubbed his fingers across hers and grinned when she met his eyes. She was thinking about his plan. He was sure of it.

“Zana is gorgeous,” Aleksandra answered. “Drop-dead beautiful. Dark red hair down past her waist and skin like snow. I used to pretend to be her when I was a little girl. I even had a doll with red hair named Zana. Well, until my little brother beheaded her.”

Nikolai lifted his glass in toast. “I was practicing for my career as a Slayer.”

“You’re lucky I didn’t give you like punishment.”

Elena’s brow furrowed as she took a sip of her wine. She shook her head. “No, I never saw anyone like that. Dad never brought anyone home, and I never went to work with him…well, obviously.”

“No one ever came to your home? No friends, no visitors?” Darvaak refilled Aleksandra’s glass. “Because it would go a long way toward saving lives if we could find her.”

“No. Well, no one except for my aunt, but believe me, she’s not a redheaded knockout. She’s a middle-aged, crazy, eccentric cat lady.”

“What exactly do you mean by ‘cat lady’?” Darvaak asked.

“Um, an old lady who has no family, so she has a lot of pet cats.”

“Shifters?” Aleksandra set her glass down. “Under the Veil, Zana had a whole cult of shifters at her disposal.”

“Could be.” Darvaak leaned closer. “Is she an aunt on your father’s side?”

“I have no idea who she’s related to. I don’t think she’s really my aunt. She’s always just…been there.” Elena’s brow furrowed. “She lives next door and looks in on me a lot and…”

She drank the rest of her wine in two swallows. Nikolai knew she’d connected the dots.

Darvaak refilled her glass. “And?”

“And she’s always been a little weird. Well, really weird, actually. She seems to know what’s going to happen before it does.”

“Because she’s a seer,” Aleksi said.

“And she talks to her cats. Not like, here, kitty-kitty. I mean full conversations.”

“Because they’re not cats,” Darvaak and Aleksi said in unison.

“Holy shit. Aunt Uza’s been deceiving me this whole time.” Elena took a sip of wine, then muttered, “Why, that witch.”

“Technically, a sorceress and seer, but witch will do,” Darvaak said. “She must have a glamour in place to hide her true appearance.”

Nikolai placed his empty glass on the bar. “No glamour. I saw her, and there was no trace of one on her. No magic aura at all. She just looked like a human—but then, so did Elena—to me anyway.”

The Time Folder crossed his arms and leaned back against the cabinets behind the bar. “Aunt Uza, you say?”

“Well, she has me call her Aunt Uza, but her name is Uzana.”

“Zana!” the four of them said together.

“We might actually be able to stop this war.” Aleksi sighed with relief.