“There’s a huge windmill farm north of Palm Springs,” I explained. “It’s one of the only ones in the world that does public tours.”
More blank looks.
“Wind energy is a powerful renewable resource that could have a huge impact on our country’s future!” I said in exasperation. “This is a cool thing.”
“‘Cool,’” said Adrian. “‘Wind.’ I see what you did there, Sage. Pretty clever.”
“It wasn’t meant to be a-”
The sitting room’s stained glass French doors opened, and Dimitri and Sonya entered with our host Clarence in tow. I hadn’t seen him since I arrived and gave him a polite smile, glad for the distraction from my so-called love life.
“Hello, Mr. Donahue,” I said. “It’s nice to see you again.”
“Eh?” The elderly Moroi man squinted in my direction, and after a few moments, recognition lit his features. He had white hair and always dressed as though he were at a formal dinner party from about fifty years ago. “There you are. Glad you could stop by, my dear. What brings you over?”
“Jill’s feeding, sir.” We did this two times every week, but Clarence’s mind wasn’t quite what it used to be. He’d been pretty scattered since we first met, but the death of his son, Lee, had seemed to push the old man even farther over the edge-particularly since he didn’t seem to believe it. We’d told him gently-a number of times-that Lee had died, leaving out the Strigoi part. Each time we did, Clarence insisted Lee was just “away right now” and would be back. Scattered or not, Clarence was always kind and relatively harmless-for a vampire, of course.
“Ah, yes, naturally.” He settled into his massive armchair and then glanced back toward Dimitri and Sonya. “So you’ll be able to fix the window locks?” There had apparently been some other discussion going on before they joined us.
Dimitri seemed to be trying to find a nice way to respond. He was as amazing to look at as ever, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, with a long leather duster over it all. How anyone could survive wearing a coat like that in Palm Springs was beyond me, but if anyone could, I supposed it was him. Usually he only wore it inside, but sometimes, I’d see it outside too. I’d mentioned this odd wardrobe choice to Adrian a couple of weeks ago: “Isn’t Dimitri hot?” Adrian’s response hadn’t been entirely unexpected: “Well, yeah, according to most women, at least.”
Dimitri’s face was the picture of politeness as he addressed Clarence’s concerns. “I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with the ones you have,” Dimitri said. “Everything is sealed up pretty tightly.”
“So it seems,” said Clarence ominously. “But you don’t know how resourceful they are. I’m not behind the times, you know. I know there are all sorts of technologies out there that you can put in. Like lasers that tell you if someone’s breaking in.”
Dimitri arched an eyebrow. “You mean a security system?”
“Yes, exactly,” said Clarence. “That’ll keep the hunters out.”
This turn in conversation wasn’t exactly a surprise to me. Clarence’s paranoia had also increased recently-and that was saying something. He lived in constant fear of what he claimed were vampire hunters, humans who… well, hunted vampires. For the longest time, he’d claimed they were responsible for his niece’s death and that reports of her being killed by a Strigoi were incorrect. It turned out he was half-right. Her death hadn’t been the result of a Strigoi attack-it had been caused by Lee, in a desperate attempt to change back from a Moroi to a Strigoi. Clarence refused to accept that, however, and persisted in his beliefs about the hunters. My assurances that the Alchemists had no records of any groups like that existing since the Middle Ages hadn’t gone very far. Consequently, Clarence was always making people do “security checks” of his house. Since Sonya and Dimitri were actually staying with him throughout the experimentation, that tedious task often fell to them.
“I’m not really qualified to install a security system,” said Dimitri.
“Really? There’s something you can’t do?” Adrian’s voice was so soft that I could barely hear him, and he was sitting right next to me. I doubted even the others, with their superior hearing, could’ve made out his words. Why does he still let Dimitri get to him? I wondered.
“You’d have to call professionals,” Dimitri continued to Clarence. “I’m guessing you wouldn’t want a bunch of strangers coming in and out of your house.”
Clarence frowned. “That’s true. It’d be very easy for the hunters to infiltrate them.”
Dimitri was the picture of patience. “I’ll do daily checks of all the doors and windows while I’m here-just to be sure.”
“That would be wonderful,” said Clarence, some of his tension easing. “Admittedly, I’m not really the hunters’ usual type. Not dangerous enough. Not anymore.” He chuckled to himself. “Still. You never know what could happen. Best to be safe.”
Sonya gave him a gentle smile. “I’m sure everything will be fine. You have nothing to worry about.”
Clarence met her eyes, and after a few seconds, a smile slowly spread over his face as well. His rigid posture slackened. “Yes, yes. You’re right. Nothing to worry about.”
I shivered. I’d been around Moroi enough to know what had happened. Sonya had just used compulsion-only a whisper of it-to calm Clarence. Compulsion, the ability to force your will on others, was a skill all Moroi possessed to varying degrees. Spirit users were the strongest, rivaling Strigoi. Using compulsion on others was taboo among the Moroi, and there were serious consequences for those who abused it.
I was guessing Moroi authorities would overlook her soothing a nervous old man, but the small act still unsettled me. Compulsion in particular had always struck me as one of the most insidious Moroi powers. And had Sonya really needed to use it? She was already so kind and soothing. Wouldn’t that be enough for Clarence? Sometimes I wondered if they just used magic for the sake of doing so. Sometimes I wondered if it was being used around me… without me even knowing.
Clarence’s talk of vampire hunters always triggered a mix of amusement and unease around everyone. With him pacified (even if I didn’t like the means), we were all able to relax a little bit. Sonya leaned back against the loveseat, drinking some fruity drink that looked perfect on a hot day like this. From her dirty clothes and haphazard hairstyling, I was willing to bet she’d been outside-not that she still didn’t look beautiful. Most Moroi avoided this kind of intense sun, but her love of plants was so great that she’d been risking it to work on some of the ailing flowers in Clarence’s garden. Heavy sunscreen could work wonders.
“I’m not going to be around much longer,” she told us. “A few more weeks at most. I need to go back and work on some wedding plans with Mikhail.”
“When’s the big day again?” Adrian asked.
She smiled. “It’s in December.” That surprised me until she added, “There’s a huge, tropical greenhouse near the Court that we’re going to use. It’s gorgeous-not that it matters. Mikhail and I could be married anywhere. All that counts is that we’re together. Of course, if we’re able to choose, then why not go all out?”
Even I smiled at that. Leave it to Sonya to find a spot of green in the middle of a Pennsylvania winter.
“Dimitri may stay on,” she continued. “But it’d be great if we could make some kind of progress before I go. The aura tests so far have been…”
“Useless?” suggested Adrian.
“I was going to say inconclusive,” she replied.
Adrian shook his head. “So all that time we spent was wasted?”
Sonya didn’t answer and instead took another sip of her drink. I was willing to bet it was non-alcoholic-she didn’t self-medicate the way Adrian did-and that Dorothy could make me one if I wanted. Yet, I was also willing to bet it was terrible for me. Maybe I’d see if there was any Diet Coke in the kitchen.