Is it love: Peter Bartholy

Chapter 24 Part 2 - Peter Pov

Peter Pov

Tapping my pencil in my notebook, I tried to keep focus on the specific rhythm. It was already Friday. It had been four days, five hours, fifty-two minutes and four fucking seconds since I last talked to Zeva and I felt like a bear with its head done in.

How was I supposed to tell her that she was in danger? That the Templars were looking for mediums and that I knew she was one of them? I couldn't. Not without revealing that I had killed someone recently or revealing my connection to Dorothy. Fuck! If Zeva ever found out that I had sex with Dorothy, it would probably break whatever remained of the connection between us. She would leave the mansion, or worse.... run straight into the arms of that witch or Loan. To add to my list of problems. The Templars weren't the type to take the loss of one of their hunters lightly. No matter how quiet they had been the past few days, we all knew they would eventually strike back and when they did they would strike hard.

So, here I was.

Using my Friday night.

In the middle of New York.

In an empty office building.

Trying to get some work done while figuring out what to do.

Clicking next, my earphones started blasting through another song from the Nightmareden collection. The last few hadn't even been remotely suitable enough to include my spellweave without major alterations and unfortunately this one seemed to meet with the same level of disappointment. Damn it! I needed to be making at least some progress! But with each discarded song, it was starting to look less and less likely.

Abandoning my book and pencil on the desk, I turned my attention to the computer instead. At least one thing seemed to be going right. Collins' meticulous setup had been almost a work of art, updating our archives had never been easier. He had even gone above and beyond with his security measures so no one without direct access to the room would be able to access any of our files. Not that we left anything to chance, everything was already encrypted before coming here, but better to exercise with caution. I was just about done when something caught my attention.

The Havanna file had been altered. Someone had taken the n out subconsciously as an attempt to decrypt the file without raising Collins security measures. That could only mean one thing. There was a rat in the building. Lucky for Collin, a hunt was a good way to distract myself from my troubles.

Taking in the air carefully, I started to distinguish the different smells that clung to the room. Beside Collins and my own, I managed to put faces to four of the five distinct beings when a familiar sweet scent hit my nose. It was faint at first, but quickly grew stronger forcing me to abandon my hunt before things could get out of control.

Throwing an agitated look over my shoulder I watched as Collin opened the door. He had a somber expression on his face while holding two cups of seemingly lukewarm coffee from the downstairs machine. Holding out one of the cups, he cleared his throat.

Collin - "There is something I need to discuss with you. And... I'm not sure how you will take it."

Taking off the headphones, I glanced at the cup of warm dark liquid before taking it. Filled at about halfway, the fresh sweet aroma was more than enough to make my vampiric side stir.

"What's on your mind, Collin?"

Cocking an eye back at Collin, I could tell he was unnerved. As if weighing his next words with care.

Collin - "I need you stop exposing yourself to lust potion."

"What?"

My fangs nearly flew out from shock. My body already on edge from the smell of fresh blood permeating the room. Instantly Collin took a step back holding up his hand in surrender, his rolled up shirt sleeve barely covering the fresh needle mark. Holding my breath I tried to not focus on that little detail before turning my attention back to Collin.