Chapter 7

• Dropping my hands, I glanced back down the table. “So all of you, except,” I pointed to Emil’s two sons, “are brothers. Including the crazy twin.” I glanced to Troy, his lips quirked but he still nodded. “And you are both kings?” I looked to a few of the others. “Is that wise? I mean I know it’s not my place, but a leader with…” I paused, “issues. Have you tested him for ADHD, because you may want to think about it.”
• There were several snickers and snorts of amusement around the table.
• Emil looked at them. “I feel like I’ve missed something.”
• “I will fill you in later, brother.” Rafael said.
• At least I think it was Rafael. I went over everything flying around in my head, trying to grasp at just one thing that I could ask. “This,” I motioned in the air, “other side is actually another realm? And no one in my realm knows it exists.” I shook my head, “Clearly the government doesn’t know, or the whole planet would be aware and taxed for existing.” I paced away from the table then turned to see all were nodding. I paused, noting that Arius’ gaze never left me. His family looked to one another often, but he was like a breathing statue. Unmoving.
• Turning on my heel, I looked to Victor. “You’ll understand if I’m struggling with that.”
• He inclined his head. “It is quite a lot to grasp at once.”
• I nodded. “Quite.”
• I put my hands over my mouth and moved just my eyes to study them. Checking and waiting, hoping one of them would crack a smile and tell me this was an elaborate joke of epic proportion. Then I remembered waking up on the island. I dropped my hands. “I’ll come back to the realm issue in a minute.” I glanced around then went back to Victor. “That island—of insane people you are fighting and trying to stop? Because they are, aside from kidnapping women, trying to bring down some barrier—between realms which is very bad for both sides.”
• Their relaxed expressions changed to hard looks, some lethal and cold, so that conclusion was, at least, very true.
• I tilted my head and huffed out another breath, still trying not to freak out. “I am all for stopping them after the last few weeks of complete insanity.” Pausing, I rubbed my hand over my temple. “So, aside from people with other abilities,” I pointed at no one in particular, “and I must say this is a huge selling point for me in this entire scenario—because as you know I have a little something extra myself…”
• “Oh? Like?” Michael asked.
• Daxx grinned. “Watch this.” She grabbed a glass off the table and glanced at me.
• I nodded.
• Pushing her chair back, she tossed it in the air.
• Lifting my hand, I made it stop before it crashed down.
• “She manipulates the time around it, not the object, Victor. Isn’t that fascinating?” Crissy sounded very excited.
• “Indeed, heart, it is.” He replied.
• “Someone catch it.” I dropped my hand and looked down.
• Troy caught it before it hit the table.
• “Can you do that to something living, or only to inanimate objects?” Quinton asked.
• “Both. If I can see it, I can stop the time around it.” I shrugged. “There’s a distance and size restriction, but for the most part I can manipulate time for just about anything.”
• “I’ve never met a Chronos before.” Leone said. “I’ve read about them…”
• “Since when do you read?” Rafael smirked.
• “Not now, brothers. Paisley wasn’t finished speaking.” Arius told them with barely a glance to them.
• I took a deep breath, finding my place again. “Right, then aside from not being the only freak for once—the changing eye colors feels about the same as when I tell someone I can manipulate time.” I held up my hand. “So, purple is magic for your people.” A few nodded. “And Chase, the crazy king his are yellow which signifies he feeds on emotions. I can’t even think of the how of that right now.”
• More heads were nodding. That did provide more clarity to what Alona had said, before chasing after her husband down the hall. “Right. Red eyes are essence feeders?”
• More nods.
• “Okay, so that feels like a soul sucker. A person’s essence is their actual being, and that goes soul deep to me.”
• “From a philosophical point, one could say that.” Victor nodded slowly, “but the essence we’re referring to could be more accurately described as the energy or vitality in a person’s veins.”
• “But not blood?” I really needed clarification. I put my hands on my hips and stared at him.
• “No. Not blood. It’s carried through the body in their blood, but we do not feed on that blood.” Victor held my look.
• I nodded slowly. Then shook my head. “I’m still stuck.”
• “It’s quite complex to accept and rationalize.” He sighed. “Of course, with the vast number of vampire and horror movies in the last millennium, minds are programmed to accept a certain image, making the reality even stranger.”
• I nodded. “It’s very hard to erase and rewrite the things etched in my head.”
• “I would think it would be.”
• “I think I’ll just shelve the eyes and feeding topic for the time being and move on.” No one said a word, so I decided to proceed. “You speak of millennia or,” I point to Troy, “your rambling twin said for two hundred and sixty years—that, that ah,” I motioned around the room, “you clearly live a lot longer to speak of time as if it is infinite.”
• “Not infinite.” Troy said quietly.
• “Okay, so ballpark number here. Who is the oldest in the room?” I crossed my arms and looked around, none of them looked that old. All eyes turned to Victor. I raised my eyebrows.
• “I’m five hundred.” He said.
• “Five hundred? Five. Zero. Zero. Five hundred?”
• He nodded.
• I slowly looked around the table. “You’re all in your—hundreds?”
• Bethany shook her head. “It’s hard to grasp. When I found out how old Leone was, it was,” she looked at him, “shocking.”
• I huffed out a breath. “Yeah. So, you’re…what?”
• “In my twenties.” She answered quietly.
• I puffed out my cheeks, trying to sort that. “Well, that takes the May-December thing to a whole new level, doesn’t it?”
• She smirked and nodded.