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That got her attention, and she squinted her eyes while she drew her hands apart and then slowly pushed them back together.

Movement at the back of the room made us both turn around. A large crow came soaring across the room and landed beside Brittney’s ankles. “Oh shit,” she muttered, her eyes going wide. “It worked.”

“You called a crow?” The bird tilted its head, eyeing me with suspicion.

“Sure did.” She grinned.

I stared at it for a moment. “Huh. Well tell it to assist you when they get here.”

She crouched down in front of the crow. “He said he’ll help.”

It was my turn to be impressed. For all my work with the birds, not once did I have one speak to me. “Very well. See, you’re getting it,” I praised her.

“Thanks. I wish I knew if that diamond dust did anything,” she murmured.

I understood completely, how she felt. I hadn’t really intended to kill her, and I wasn’t positive it was my trap that did it. It could have been the dust, or maybe it was just her time. I doubted we’d get an answer.

“That could go either way. Try something like putting out one of the candles and relighting it,” I suggested.

She approached the task with enthusiasm but gave up after an hour. “Maybe I’m just a single, solitary crow whisperer,” she complained. The bird flapped its wings and cawed at her. “Shut up,” she snapped at it.

Brittney pushed herself up off the floor. “I’m hungry, I’m going upstairs.” She brushed herself off and started toward the door before she came to an abrupt halt. “You don’t have any real food here, do you?”

“Go ahead, there will be a plate on the counter for you,” I told her. She raised her eyebrows and frowned before she stomped away.

Once she shut the door behind her, I closed my eyes and visualized a bowl of pasta for her. I had no idea what she wanted to eat—I didn’t think to ask. But I’d seen plenty of women eating pasta before. I made a mental note to find out what she preferred to eat.

Restless, I returned upstairs and stopped in my surveillance room. Nothing on the monitors gave me any indication that anything had changed at all. The monochromatic city remained a gray fortress with no notable comings or goings, and nothing disturbed the streets.

The forest and desert were quiet and still with only some roving hordes of demons battling each other hundreds of miles away. Everything was normal.

I couldn’t help but take a closer look at the massive, onyx castle to the south. Nothing was different there, either, other than an easel set up in the gardens, and a small black cat rubbing against its legs.

What were the Fae waiting for? If this continued, I would seek them out myself. There were better things to do with my time than wait to be ambushed.

“You’re like a magic microwave,” Brittney declared, wandering into the room with her bowl of pasta.

“That’s one thing I’ve never been called before.” I reached over and grabbed a piece of the meat from her meal and placed it in my mouth.

“It's an odd but handy talent and I didn’t say you can have any of my food.” She moved to the side, pulling the bowl closer to her chest. “Do you see anything or do we have to live like this forever?”

“No,” I sighed. “But I’m starting to wonder if I should go looking.”

Brittney took my chair, shoving herself in front of me. I’d been standing and hadn’t had the chance to sit down yet.

“Before you came in and swooped me away, they’d been saying something about something. Sounded like an emergency, maybe? Maybe that's tying them up. But if so, it’d be a good time to strike.”

My woman had a brilliant mind. “Tempting for sure, but I’d have to go to the Seventh and I’m one vampire against legions. Plus, that would leave you here ripe for the picking,” I cautioned her.

“Can we lure them out?” She set her bowl down. The dish was scraped clean.

As I said, a brilliant mind. “Do you have any ideas for that?”

“What if we took the diamond outside? The thing refracts light like crazy, it’ll attract something, at least attention. Are there other Fae here in this Realm? Like, they’d go tell their Fae friends, right?” Brittney twisted around, waiting for my answer.

Her idea was both good and bad. For one, it would most certainly attract attention. I wasn’t that concerned about fighting other vampires or fending off demons or wraiths. However, I was very concerned about being depleted of energy before Adrian and Leander showed up to claim their property.

“From what I’ve heard, the Fae stick to their own Realm. I’ve heard of a stray or two being seen in the Fourth, but I’ve never seen one here.” I paused. “What were you thinking, you’d just go stand outside and wave the stone around?”