reply.
“Aren’t you supposed to know that?” Myst asked, turning the knob when the door was
unlocked.
They entered the room and found it darkened as well, lit only by a computer screen. Nïx
stood, her expression inscrutable as she swiftly braided her long black hair. She had on
jeans and a small T-shirt that read “I play with my prey.”
Inside were a massive TV, hundreds of shades of nail polish, and a pinup poster of a man
identified as “Jeff Probst” and labeled “The Thinking Woman’s Sex Symbol.” On the floor
lay piles of shredded books, crashed paper airplanes, and what looked like the remains of a
grandfather clock that had been torn apart in a frenzy.
Myst wasted no time. “We’re searching for his brothers, Nïx, and we need your help.”
Nïx snared one of the few untouched books from the floor, then sat on her bed. He caught
the title—Voodoo Lou’s Office Voodoo Kit: Take Charge of Your Career... with
Voodoo! “And why would I assist the leech, hmmm?”
Myst’s green eyes flashed with anger. She still called other vampires leeches and didn’t
care if her sisters did, but, as she’d said to Nikolai, “It’s a double insult to call you one. If you’re a leech and you like to drink from me, what does that make me? A schmuck? A
suckah? Do I look like a host to you?”
Myst leaned back on Jeff Probst and drew a knee up. “You’ll help us because I’m asking
you to and you owe me for keeping a juicy secret from the coven.”
Nïx made a scoffing sound as she ripped her sharp claws through the voodoo book. “What
secret?” She yanked up another tome—The Crutch of Modern Mysticism—flexed her
claws, then seemed to think better of completely mauling it, instead ripping out several
pages, one with the chapter heading “Why It’s Easier to Believe.”
“Remember the year 1197?” Myst asked.
“ B.C . or A.D .?” Nïx said in a bored tone as she began an intricate creasing of a book
page. Origami? A form started to emerge.
“You know I’m only circa A.D .”
“ A.D . 1197?” Nïx murmured with a frown, then her face colored. Her expression turned
mulish, and her fingers began flying over the paper, deftly folding. “Not sporting to bring
that up. And one more time—I thought he and all of his pack mates were of age!” When
her fingers stilled, she placed the perfect form on her bedside table. It resembled a dragon
poised to attack. “Do I bring up your unpleasantries? Do I call you Mysty the Vampire
Layer like the rest of the Lore does? Like the nymphs do?”
Myst clasped her hands to her chest. “Oh, woe, the nymphs have shunned me. I weep
bitter tears.” Her face hardened in an instant. “What information do you need from us to
help you see something?”
With a huffish flip of her heavy braid, Nïx turned from Myst to Nikolai and asked, “Why
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer ( http://www.novapdf.com ) do you want to find them?” She started another origami without looking, this one
requiring four pages from the Crutch book.
“I want to know if they’re alive or dead. To know if I can help them and bring them back
home.”
“Why did they leave?” The way she studied him was almost invasive. Her fingers were so
fast they were nearly invisible, making the paper appear to fold of its own accord.
He put his shoulders back, hating having to be so open with her. “Sebastian was enraged
that I turned him against his will. Both were furious that I tried to turn four young sisters
and our elderly father when they were dying.” Myst studied him, nibbling her lip, knowing
how reluctant he was to speak of this. “I have no doubts that they went away only to get
strong enough to come back and kill me.” Because both had tried just before they left.
Sebastian had woken with that terrible hunger that Nikolai remembered so well. When
they’d placed a tankard of blood in front of Sebastian, he