Page 114 of By the Pint

I said nothing. Casey stared at the spot where I stood hidden behind the reflective glass.

The hacker seized this moment of distraction and plunged his naked hand down the front of Casey’s — now filthy — shirt.

Casey snarled and snapped at the hacker’s forearm like a rabid dog and the hacker withdrew his arm at whip-crack speed, jumping back to stand in the safe zone.

“Get everything you need?” Nina asked, not pretending for a second she cared for the hacker’s wellbeing.

“Yes,” he said. “I think so.”

Nina handed him the clipboard, and he positioned himself — accidentally or on purpose, I wasn’t sure — so his broad back hid what he was writing.

“You certain? He has that gift?” she said, and my heart stopped beating.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck fuck. They’d found his telepathy. The training hadn’t worked. Or it had, but it went the way of all his other human memories—

“And he can remember nothing from his human life?” Nina said.

“Not a stitch.” The hacker handed the clipboard back. “He’s strong. Like really fucking strong. He’s going to be hella powerful at full strength.”

Nina nodded. It was nothing she didn’t know herself. “The Assembly will no doubt attempt to recruit him.”

“Might be nice. We’ve been so short staffed at HQ recently,” the hacker said. And it was like getting a bizarre glimpse into a parallel universe. Underneath it all, the hackers were just ordinary vampires. But with more restrictive un-lives. This was simply their night job. Maybe they even enjoyed their jobs. Maybe they liked their bosses. Maybe the pay and the conditions weren’t actually that bad.

Maybe I was clutching at straws.

“We keep this under wraps for now,” Nina said, placing her hand on the hacker’s forearm. There was no other way to describe it, the pair shared a moment. They stared into each other’s eyes. Nina’s tongue traced her top lip. Whether he was sharing something with her mentally, or perhaps they were friends outside of work.

“Of course,” the hacker said, his voice gruffer than it had been a few moments ago.

“That goes for you too, Mr Black.” Nina looked over in my direction. The hacker shot the mirror a glance, and the pair exited Casey’s room.

I raced to the end of the corridor and flung the door open. The hacker offered me a cursory nodded greeting as he passed by, and I threw caution to the wind and jumped into his mind.

Crap, it’s gone ten. Gonna be late for dance class again. Gods, every fucking week. Benji’s gonna be furious.

That was it. Nothing about Casey. I seized Nina’s arm before she left the second door of the suite.

“Please, what did he find?” I pleaded.

Nina shut the door, trapping us in the dark vestibule. She shook her head. “I’m really not at liberty to say.”

“Please, I just need to know he’ll be okay. That they won’t … terminate him.”

“Why would they …” She cleared her throat. “I’m not at liberty tosay.” She gave me a pointed look and then glanced down at her hand, which held the clipboard in such a way I could read everything the hacker had written.

Under the sectionGIFTS INHERITED FROM SIRE OR DAM, it said in pretty, all cap writing:

TELEKINESIS

And only that.

I laughed. “Telekinesis?! Nothing else?”

Telekinesis was fine. It would be registered and documented, and he’d be forbidden from playing competitive sports, with the exception of the Telekinetic Championships obviously, but at least it wasn’t telepathy. His undeath wasn’t in danger.

I had no doubt Casey was still telepathic. Had he remembered how to block his thoughts? Or perhaps the hacker … had chosen not to report it. Why would he do that?

Nina returned her pen to her breast pocket and tucked the clipboard neatly under her armpit. She reached out, took my hand in hers, and absently ran her thumb over the place where the needle pierced my skin. If she knew that was the spot, I saw no clue in her thoughts. “What other gifts could he possibly exhibit? Mr Black, for Casey to show signs of … something else, it’s likely his sire also possesses it.”

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