On a Razor's Edge (Darkness #3)(5)

“Nah. Magic isn’t evil or good. It just is. The wielder is the ass**le. And the colors are just that. Colors. We’ve identified their output in power, but the actual color doesn’t mean anything.”

“And why is black so rare?”

Charles shrugged. “The higher power levels become more rare as they progress. White is super rare. And then black is beyond, I think, so rarer still. It probably wouldn’t be as much if humans would admit that magic exists somewhere besides crystal balls and Tarot cards. Instead, they dump their magic into technology and create some truly fantastic things. I’m all for the way things turned out. If humans could procreate like rabbits and wield all sorts of magic, we’d be in serious trouble.”

“I thought you were working on your ability to summarize.”

“Nope. You just continue to hope.”

“I do, yes.”

We walked into an empty elements class.

“No class today, which you would know if you bothered to read the bulletin.” A harried teacher, Andrew, turned to us. “Oh. Well, you two will probably be needed with the Boss. Doesn’t anyone read the bulletins?”

“Don’t blame Charles,” I said with a dour face. “He can’t read at all.”

“Oh, you’re on fire today. What the hell did I ever do to you?” Charles asked with his hands on his h*ps as Andrew rolled his eyes and turned away.

“Burnt down my damn apartment, Charles, or don’t you remember past yesterday?”

“Get over it. You got a sweet set-up. I did you a favor. And, you nag.”

“What does that have to do with the price of apples?”

Charles cocked his head as we shuffled out. “Apples? Who said anything about apples? Did the Boss accidentally take too much blood, or something? You’re starting to lose it.”

“So, now what?” I asked, happy-go-lucky now that I had a furlough.

“Sure, change the subject. Why have a straightforward, intelligent conversation when we can jump all over the place.”

I laughed. “Let me dumb myself down so we can have that conversation.”

“I’m not the one that flunks every test she takes.”

I nodded, my chest so tight I felt like I might crack a rib. “Touché. Got me there.”

Charles smirked, his smile falling back into a grim line of lips a second later. “You’re not that clever, you know. I can tell you are nervous as hell. You always turn into a real strange bitch when you’re freaking out.”

“A real strange bitch.” Ice formed in my stomach. “What if it’s me? What if I’m the problem, and not the teachers? What if my magic is defunct for some reason?”

Charles shrugged, settling with me on a cold stone bench just outside the mansion. “We’ll figure it out. The Boss will tear down the world to keep you safe. And I’m his right-hand man, so between the two of us, we’ll make this all work out.”

I leaned against his huge body for support. He’d become my best friend. I couldn’t imagine getting through all that I had without him, requests for sex and all. “What now?”

“We wait to be called, I guess. And don’t get too close. I don’t want the Boss tearing my arm off.”

I scoffed out a laugh, and stayed where I was.

*****

“They’re waiting for you in the purple lounge, Boss.”

Stefan nodded to Jameson and imperceptibly took a deep breath. It was always disconcerting when meeting a superior, but this visit would decide his fate. He loved a human. More than that, he was one with a human. They shared something indescribable. A love so deep it had turned into something else entirely. Giving her up would be like giving up food. Or sleep. He needed her to survive.

Which was not something he could go around telling his higher-up. His kind didn’t mate with humans. They might beget their offspring by that means, since humans could blink and get pregnant, but his species didn’t settle down to a life with humans. Not traditionally speaking.

Stefan snorted at himself. He was picking up Sasha’s penchant for being cockamamie.

Still, it had to be acknowledged that even though he might break custom and mate a human, he couldn’t expect his people to accept her as their leader. He couldn’t proclaim her lineage and the right of her station. All she had was her magic, and his devotion.

Devotion. Now that was a word that could get you beat up.

Steeling himself, his face the customary stern mask he wore in public, he entered the purple lounge with a confident step.

Two men waited patiently, elegantly lounging in the large, overstuffed armchairs as if they owned the mansion and the people in it. Stefan’s eyes burned into Dominicous, the Regional, with the intensity of an alpha whose territory has been encroached upon. It took one full, vicious beat to rip his gaze away and to the floor, uncomfortably acknowledging his place as lesser.

He didn't remember that ever galling as much.

“You are just barely on the safe side of a challenge,” Dominicous stated in elevated speech, albeit colored with humor, which originated from somewhere in Europe a great many decades ago. Stefan’s people didn’t live forever, but they did live a long damn time.

“But still on the safe side, Regional.”

“Quite. Please, sit amongst us. We have much to discuss.”