Page 137

“Iamsorry, Miriam… but for your feelings, only. I have no regret on the actions I took. Your uncle was too dangerous to let live.”

I thought about his words.

Even though it was Brick, even though I knew he was likely full of shit in terms of his own decision-making process… I really thought about them.

Honestly, I didn’t know how to feel.

I agreed with Brick’s words, whether or not he meant them.

Charles was too dangerous to let live.

At the same time, he was the last tie I’d had to my seer family. My mother was dead. My father was dead. My sister was a vampire now. Any other relatives I may have on that side of the family could only exist in another dimension.

I still had a few people on my human side, of course.

Black reached out, gripping my hand tightly in his.

Not true, doc,he murmured softly.

I squeezed his hand back.

I looked at Jem, and Jax, and Mika, and realized Black was right.

I looked at Brick, who was watching me carefully.

“I still can’t help you with your fucking hell gate,” I told him, wiping my eyes. “And you still ruined my wedding. And all the work Dalejem did on those cakes. You pretty much trashed all of that. What should have been an intimate experience with me and my family.”

Brick’s mouth tilted in an unimpressed frown.

Clearly he wasn’t losing sleep over any of that.

Of course, vampires don’t really sleep. Not usually, anyway.

“Can you at least tell me where it is?” Brick pursed his lips. “Could you point it out to me, Miriam? This hell gate, as you call it?”

I stared at Brick, frowning.

I motioned towards the same corner of the basement structure. “You know where it is. You pointed directly at it. The very first time you spoke about it.”

Suddenly wary Brick planned to shove me and Black back through that portal opening, I backed up, taking two full steps so that I stood against Black’s chest. Black wrapped a muscular arm around the front of me.

Looking between our two faces, Brick chuckled.

Again, he lowered the gun, and his chuckle turned into a real laugh.

“You really do believe me to be far more sinister than I am. I wish I could take credit for all the evil you imagine I harbor in my heart… but I simply can’t.” He smiled at me again, that time with a disturbing amount of affection. “No, Dr. Fox… I did not lure you down here to kick you or your husband through the portal. I rather like having you here, truth be told. I just didn’t like your uncle or his friends all that much.”

Exhaling in a kind of defeated frustration, he motioned with the gun towards the corner of the room.

“And I reallycan’tsee it, you know.” He motioned towards his crystal eyes. “Vampire, remember? Not seer. Vampire. I extrapolated its location by where the last few creatures we’ve had appear in here first seemed to get picked up by our CCTV.”

Exhaling again, he frowned at me.

“You really can’t close it? You’re absolutely positive?”

I stared at him incredulously.

“I’m really, really positive, Brick. Believe me, if I could close it, I would.”