Page 214 of Caelum

My eyes narrowed, but I saw no harm in doing as he asked. Not that I’d hand it over without a fight.

Getting to my feet, I stared down at the woman who’d Chosen me, tried to ignore the fact I wanted to bawl terrified tears like a kid, and took a picture of her arm that was lying neatly on top of the comforter.

The dove gray sheets complimented her alabaster skin, and the contrast between her pale flesh and the glowing ink was all the more confusing. I’d never seen a tattoo like it. It was almost like henna, but as intricate as henna could be, I’d never seen this level of fine detailing on a henna tattoo. And yes, I knew what I meant by that. Henna was beyond detailed, but nothing like Eve’s tattoos.

I raised her arm, discomforted as always by how limp and lax it was. If I picked it up, didn’t hold it, it would fall back down instantly. Bridging my fingers with hers to cover the mark on her palm, I snapped a shot of the underside of her arm then took two more of the sides. I squeezed her hand then carefully laid it back down on the bed. Dipping over her, I pressed a kiss to her forehead and whispered, “I’ll be back soon,habibati.”

No reaction.

Naturally.

Retreating from the stateroom, I headed for the deck. When I heard arguing, it didn’t come as a surprise, but when I called out, “What’s going on?” Everyone settled down.

It was as plain as the nose on my face that without Eve as the glue, the two Packs were going to eat each other alive.

With her at the forefront of our minds, it should have eased the agitation running between us, but it didn’t. If anything, the stress seemed to exacerbate the fact that until her, we’d been enemies.

That whole frenemy stuff was fading with every moment we stressed over Eve and with every moment she remained asleep.

“I think I’ve figured out who to talk to,” Samuel declared, giving me a clue as to why he wanted the pictures.

My eyes flashed with interest, and I headed toward the dining table where there was some food laid out. “Tell me more,” I demanded and kept my eyes trained on him as he seemed to contemplate his words.

Of my brothers, I was the most rational, and because of that, I didn’t dislike Samuel, whereas his cool logical and robotic nature were always going to rub Dre and Stefan the wrong way. Nestor was a bit of a scientist.In another life, I’m sure he’d have studied biology or geology or something, what with his fascination for nature documentaries and for reading anything to do with Earth. For that reason, I thought Samuel didn’t grate on him either, but my other brothers were too irate to appreciate a man who remained cold and aloof under intense pressure.

Samuel’s eyes were tired, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t slept either since Eve’s seizure. “There are very few credible parapsychology units in the world,” he rasped, lumbering over to me with a lack of grace that spoke of fatigue. Vampires were grace itself, so this was yet more confirmation that he hadn’t rested in a while. “The best is in Edinburgh.”

“So, that’s where we’re heading?” I knew we’d been traveling toward the Northern hemisphere, but with no aim in mind until we finalized a plan of some sort. It was going to take us fourteen days just to hit the lower half of the Mediterranean, so it wasn’t like we were in any rush.

“No.” Samuel poured himself some orange juice and took a deep sip. “I looked into the professors?—”

“By looked, he means hacked,” Stefan interrupted, but he sounded more amused than irritated. I shot him a look and saw that he had his feet in the hot tub with the bubbles off. As a creature of the sun, this yacht should have been his ideal getaway, but with Eve incapacitated? No. He looked inches away from setting fire to something. In his hands, he had a block of soap and was whittling it down with one of the dinner knives—something he only ever did when he was nervous.

I empathized, but while I was glad he was doing something with his hands, his easy access to something he could hurl at Samuel put me on edge.

Samuel was the only one of us who seemed to be proactive here—yes, I knew how ironic that was considering he wasn’t even one of Eve’s Chosen. Stabbing him would be the exact opposite of proactive.

“You can’t hack ‘someone,’” Nestor pointed out drolly as he grabbed a banana from the table.

“Well, he hacked their lives, didn’t he?”

Samuel grunted. “Yes. I did. Several times, but I found very little that would indicate they’d be able to help us. Sure, they have a course within the psychology department; it just wasn’t what we needed.”

“Okay. So, what’s the game plan then?”

“University of Greenwich.”

I blinked. “Never heard of it.”

“It’s in London. Well, you’ve heard of Greenwich Mean Time, surely?It was the international measure of time back in the—” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Never mind. UoG is a public university, and they offer not only more units on parapsychology, but it’s headed by two very interesting people.”

I’d bite. “Why are they interesting?”

“They’re a husband and wife duo. The wife is a specialist in ancient languages. She made her name in that sphere before, about twenty years ago, changing careers and forming an interest in parapsychology. Her husband? He specializes in the occult and claims to have come across creatures that are capable of ‘opening their maw and eating a person’s soul.’” He shot me a look. “I’m figuring that’s where their interest in the parapsychology shit happened. They came across a Sin Eater.”

“You’ve been in touch with them?”

“Yes. They want pictures of the tattoos. That’s why I asked for them.”

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