And…that was it for me.
After that, one of the agents brought a folder to Dominic that contained information about all the latest weapons and gadgets that Bennett Technologies had announced in the past few months. There was a good chance that the people we were about to meet were going to test Dominic first, and he needed to know about those things because Noah Bennett would know them all by heart. Sandra wasn’t coming until later that night to get me ready for dinner, which was a shame. I liked her company. I liked her vibe.
We ordered food, and while we ate, Dominic studied all the files in that folder. Having nothing better to do, I read through them, too. So many incredible things. Almost all of them had some kind of magic in them—like the enhanced night vision goggles, whose glass was infused with vampire blood. It gave the wearer a perfect view of every small thing in complete darkness—including colors. To look through them would be almost like seeing with vampire eyes. They bent the light and the darkness differently, and Bennett Technologies had somehow found a way to put that ability on glass.
There were more things—guns that could shoot bullets at the speed of light, and detection devices that caught vibrations for miles and used them to make actual maps of any space that were a hundred percent accurate.
Then, there were the tiny metal devices that threw over two thousand titanium needles all at once when activated. The metal couldn’t be detected by any other device or any supernatural, and it could be controlled via a remote to get it to wherever you needed it before turning it on.
All these things had so much data behind them, large numbers and even mathematical equations that explained the science behind them, as well as the magic used. My heart pounded just by looking at all of them, and it was plain to see that Dominic was having a hard time learning them by memory.
I should do it, I thought to myself. His jaw was clenching, and he looked so desperate, I couldn’t bear to even look at him.
But I resisted because he was a wolf-ass who hadn’t even hesitated in shutting me down earlier.
I resisted for almost two whole hours, for which I was very proud of myself.
But eventually, Tailsburry started to ask him questions, to test him, and he got the first few numbers right before everything went to shit and he couldn’t remember which formula applied to which weapon.
I caved.
“Can I talk to you for a second? In there?” I said to Dominic, nodding my head at the bedroom door.
I didn’t wait for an answer, I just walked to it. If he refused to follow me, it would be his loss, anyway.
He did follow me, and by the time he came in the room, I’d already gotten the plastic box from my backpack and a plain blue pen.
“What is it?” he asked, sounding like a stranger just now. Like we didn’t know each other at all.
“This is germin powder,” I said and went to the bathroom.
“And what’s germin powder?” he asked, not curious in the least.
“I’ll show you.” I grabbed the porcelain soap bar holder on the sink, washed it and dried it with a fresh towel. Then, I opened the box and put a tiny amount of the transparent powder in the middle. Just a little bit did the trick. Putting the box away, I pulled the pen apart then blew the ink right out of the tiny tube.
“I need a drop of your blood,” I said when a bit of blue ink dripped over the transparent powder, melting it away completely within seconds.
“What exactly are you doing?” he said, brows narrowed, confused, but more curious than before.
“Just give me some blood, Dominic.” If he couldn’t trust me with a drop of his blood—again—it would be his loss.
But Dominic brought his thumb to his mouth and wrapped his lips around it, his eyes never leaving mine. The air in the bathroom suddenly became too heavy for my lungs. I tried to look away from how his lips closed around his thumb, but I failed miserably. My poor heart had already started racing, and it occurred to me how ridiculous it was that my body behaved the way it did at the sight of him. At least it didn’t last long.
Dominic lowered his hand and showed me his thumb where he’d bitten it. A tiny drop of blood was on his skin. Taking in a deep breath, I grabbed his hand, ignored the heat of him completely, and squeezed his thumb until the blood dripped on the ink and powder mixture.
When it was done, I let go of his hand like it was on fire. Good thing I had something to focus on. I put my palm over the blood and ink and powder and called to the warmest magic I possessed. The germin powder was already doing its thing, so it didn’t take a lot of my energy to complete the enchantment.
A minute later, I moved my hand away to see that the blood and the powder had completely merged together with the blue ink.
“Done.”
I grabbed the tiny ink pipe and sucked the mix back into it, just a little bit. The magic of it would spread through the rest of the tube within seconds. I’d done this about a hundred times before, so I didn’t doubt the process at all.
“Take this,” I told Dominic, giving him the assembled pen. “Whatever you write with this pen, only you will be able to see it, nobody else. Literally no magic can see through germin. Write those numbers and formulas on a napkin and bring it with you. You don’t need to memorize all of it.”
He was surprised.
No, he was confused.