Viv turned on Gilly.
“What the heck’s wrong with you? He only offered to walk us home, and you’d have sworn he carried a contagion the way you stormed ahead.”
Gilly pulled off her T-shirt in the middle of the kitchen and started making her way to the stairs in order to shower and dress. “I wasn’t storming ahead,” she declared. “Just because I walk faster than you, it doesn’t mean anything else.”
Gilly heard Evee let out a giggle, and she stopped and glared at her sister. “What’s with that? I don’t find any of it funny.”
“I know why you were acting weird coming home,” Evee said.
“Oh, yeah, Smarty? Why?”
“Because you like him,” Evee said. “You didn’t want Gavril to leave.”
“Aw, that’s bull-crap,” Gilly proclaimed, and she walked into the foyer and started stomping up the stairs to her room.
“No, it’s not,” Evee said. “Admit it, Abigail François. You like Gavril Hyland.”
“Stop acting like a pubescent teen,” Gilly shouted down at her. She hated when anyone used her full first name. It made her sound like a wuss. “I’m going to shower.”
By the time Gilly made it to her bedroom, Elvis, her albino ferret familiar, was stretched on her bed. He greeted her with a big yawn.
“She’s right, you know,” Elvis said.
“About what?” Gilly asked, stripping out of the rest of her clothes.
“You liking that Hyland guy.”
“Oh, for the love of peace, would you stop already? I’m getting enough crap from Evee about that, and it just isn’t true.”
“But it—”
Naked, Gilly spun about on her heels and faced Elvis. “One more word out of you, and I’ll dunk you in cold water, got it?” Elvis hated to have his body immersed in water, much less cold, which Gilly had done to him by accident a year ago. She’d been holding Elvis while filling a tub with water. Before the water temperature had crawled to warm, as it often took the time to do in their big old house, she’d tripped and accidentally dropped Elvis into the tub. He’d howled and shrieked and sprang up on all fours out of the tub, then ran out of the bathroom into hiding. He’d stayed angry with her about the incident for weeks.
Elvis lay his head down and covered it with his front paws.
Once in the shower, and away from Elvis’ badgering and Evee’s teasing, Gilly relaxed under the hot spray and thought about Gavril. It wasn’t so much how he looked that tantalized her, although his Adonis-like handsomeness was nothing to spit at, it was who he was that intrigued her. It was the intensity with which he tackled any project he put his hand to, his gentleness when he touched her and the caring he showed for his family, which seemed as strong as what she felt for her own. She had a strong sense that Gavril felt for her the same way she felt for him. The way his eyes gazed into hers, how they never moved away from her face when she spoke, as if every word uttered held an importance that needed to be understood. Not once had he ever spoken over her. And the most beautiful thing about him, to her, anyway, was the way he seemed to be able to read her mind. To comfort her without her asking. To give her space without prompting. He accepted her for who and what she was. Never showing a hint of disgust or frustration. Not even when she dropped an F-bomb on occasion. In all of her adult years, Gilly had yet to meet a man with all those wonderful qualities.
Oh, and the way he smelled. An earthy scent, a manly scent with the slightest hint of cinnamon. It made her feel like a starving woman ready, needing, to consume all he had to offer.
It was easy to find one or two of these qualities in men, Gilly knew, but she had never known one man to possess them all. It was that and so much more that kept Gavril at the front of her thoughts. How would she ever find another man whom she felt had been so perfectly designed for her? She could only wish and hope he felt the same.
With his looks, Gilly was sure that he could have any woman he desired. All he’d have to do was look her way and smile, and any woman would melt like cream on a hot sidewalk at his feet. The thought of that jumbled Gilly’s belly with jealousy, and seemed to turn the water about ten degrees colder.
Scrubbing her face with her hands, Gilly let the thought of other women go down the drain with the dirty water she washed from her body. If anything, she’d discovered in the few days she’d known him that Gavril was as loyal as they came. And jealousy was not her strong suit, anyway, which was another piece of the puzzle that made their match perfect.
Only one square peg refused to complete the picture. That peg was the one the Elders had thrown in their lap by demanding that the Triad have nothing more to do with the Benders. They’d reminded the Triad that having relationships with the Benders would be their undoing, which in turn and in the end, would be the destruction of the world.
As Gilly stepped out of the shower and dried her body, she repeated what the Elders had said verbatim in her mind. Although she easily remembered their remarks word for word, she found them unfair and questionable. If having a relationship with a Bender would be the end of them, then what about Viv and Evee? Both had sex with their Benders but were still around, their powers on par with her own. She was the only one who hadn’t experienced hers. She wanted desperately to change that, but what if the Elders had been right? What if more intimacy with the Benders meant more destruction, more discord and more deaths among the Originals and humans in the city? Was she willing to take the chance and find out? The more she thought about it, though, the less sense it made. If the Elders’ words of warning were to be taken verbatim, then Viv and Evee would be useless as witches right now. Gilly couldn’t help but wonder if after all the centuries of interpretation, their Elders might have gotten something wrong or out of context.
After throwing Elvis a warning glance to keep his mouth shut, Gilly went to her closet, chose a pair of light blue linen pants and a short-waisted white cotton pullover. She pulled on a pair of ankle socks, shoved her feet into a pair of white sneakers and hurried out of the room. She was about to head down the stairs, when she heard Elvis’ voice.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
“Pfft,” she proclaimed and hurried down the stairs.
She found Evee in the kitchen, steeping a cup of tea.
“Where’s Viv?” Gilly asked.
“She left,” Evee said. “Said she had to discuss something with Nikoli before we all got together, so she headed for his hotel.”
A prickle of worry stung the back of Gilly’s neck. “She shouldn’t be out alone. Maybe we should go and find her. Walk her over there.”
Evee glanced at the clock on the wall. “Too much time has passed. She’s surely already there, safe and in one piece. We still have an hour before we’re supposed to meet up with the guys in front of the cathedral. Whatever Viv and Nikoli have to talk about, I think we should give them that privacy.” She held up her cup. “Want some tea?”
“No, thanks,” Gilly said and found herself starting to pace the kitchen. “It’s still very dark outside. Suppose she gets jumped by some freakazoid.”
Evee smiled. “She brought a flashlight with her and the bat
