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“You don’t have to give him an Aurora Gem,” Cain explains, “because we have something even better to give him.”
I scramble to think what that could be. What could possibly be better than an Aurora Gem? What could make up for Donovan’s loss?
Cain smirks triumphantly and looks at North.
North raises his eyebrows, and I can tell that he’s thinking hard. Then he nods at Cain, as if giving permission.
I’ve never been jealous of their bond before, but right now I sure would like to know what they’re all thinking, since they seem to be on the same page and don’t need words.
“Anything you guys want to share with the class?” I ask, looking back and forth between all of them. “Clearly you’ve agreed on something. Mind letting me know what it is?”
Cain looks at me. “We can give him an Immortal Key.”
That brings me up short. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Where the hell would we get an Immortal Key? Those are even more rare than Aurora Gems, are you guys out of your minds?”
I look around at the three of them, but all of the men seem deadly serious. Okay, so maybe they know something that I don’t. Maybe they’ve got a friend who has an Immortal Key and just for some reason will be willing to give it to them—or more likely, they know how to steal it from them.
But as far as I know, those things are even more rare than Aurora Gems. You have to be pretty damn powerful to have one. They’re the sort of thing that are just rumored about. I’ve sure never laid hands or eyes on one, and I don’t know anyone who has.
The men all look at me with this sly gleam in their eyes.
“We don’t need to go looking for an Immortal Key,” Cain informs me. “We already have one.”
I stare at him in shock. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I wish we were,” Raven grumbles. “Thing’s more trouble than it’s worth.”
“Now, now,” Cain says, patting Raven on the knee. “It was sort of our nest egg. Our emergency fund, I suppose you could say. Something to keep for a rainy day.”
“You wouldn’t want to, I don’t know, keep an umbrella instead?” I ask, half-joking.
North shakes his head. “We’re serious, Kiara. We have an Immortal Key.”
“How could you possibly?” I blurt out. “Not that—I don’t mean any offense, guys, you’re clearly not just bumming it off the streets, but Immortal Keys—vampire kings have them, those kinds of people! How did you get a hold of one?”
“We were doing a bounty hunting job years back,” Cain says. “And we… didn’t really like who was currently the owner of it. So we took it.”
“Nobody knew it was us,” North adds.
“And we’ve been keeping it hidden and safe ever since,” Cain finishes. “Nobody expected us to have something like that. Like you said, only really powerful people tend to be able to get their hands on an Immortal Key and keep it from being taken from them. We’ve kept it under lock and… well, key.” He smirks at his own joke. “For years now.”
“And nobody knows about it?”
He shakes his head. “Nope. Nobody.”
That’s impressive. I mean, most people don’t know who has Immortal Keys, they’re so rare. But if you do have one you need to be careful about it and hide it well because if other people have even a whiff you’ve got one they’ll come to steal it from you. That’s why only extremely powerful people are said to have them.
Then the rest of what they’re saying catches up to me. “Wait. Are you saying you’d give Donovan O’Shae your Immortal Key?”
“Yes,” North confirms. “It’s more important than an Aurora Gem. He can consider your debt cleared.”
A lump forms in my throat, and I swallow hard. “You can’t be serious.”
“Do I look like the kind of person who jokes about these kinds of things?” North replies.
“But if you give that up—it’s your ticket out of—anything. Your get out of jail free card. Your emergency fund.” I shake my head. “You’ve already risked your lives to help me, I can’t let you do this too.”
“There’s no ‘letting’ us about it,” North says firmly. “We’re going to give it to you. If it will save you…”
