*Adrik*
I enlisted Andrei’s help the next day. I wanted to keep Sephie distracted, but I also wanted her to have time alone with Andrei. We’d talked about it before falling asleep the night before and she had a feeling that Andrei would connect with his demon faster if he did it in private.
“I know he’s nervous about losing control in front of everyone, so I think if I can get him on his own and somewhat control the conditions, if you will, it’ll happen faster,” she had said the night before.
It worked out perfectly, as I wanted her to not be around while I talked to everyone else about what to do with the families of the bosses. Dario’s statement about Sal’s kids had brought up an issue I hadn’t thought about in a while: what to do with their families.
“I mean, I hate to just say let’s get rid of all of them, but that would definitely be the easiest route,” Ivan said once they were all in my office, while Sephie and Andrei were upstairs.
“Are they all still in the city?” Stephen asked.
“They all live here, but they’re in and out. Sal’s kids, anyway. Massimo’s kids are elsewhere. Same for Armando’s kids. They all moved away from the city,” Viktor said.
“If they’re in the city, it’ll be easy to find them and approve them, if you will,” Misha said. “But I think we might be able to do the same for all of them, as long as I know what they look like. We should be able to find out if they’re following in dearest Dad’s footsteps.”
Ivan was quietly contemplating everything. He and I had already discussed this when we were talking to Dario the evening before. Neither one of us liked the idea of leaving their families alive to move against us in the future. “There is an alternative,” he said, looking at me. “Once they find out what really happens to Sal, they might never make a move against you. Or make a deal like Sal did. They might take care of themselves for us.”
“I don’t know how much of a chance I want to take. I would like to be done with this once Sal and Ricardo are taken care of. I prefer peace to war,” I said. “Get rid of entire families and nobody is willing to move against me for a very long time.”
“You’re not wrong there,” Ivan said. We all turned to Misha, wanting to see if he could confirm one scenario over the other one. His eyes went just as black as Sephie’s did as he used his demon’s power to help him run through scenarios. His eyebrows furrowed in frustration. He tried a second time, but eventually his eyes switched back to normal.
He looked at me, “I can’t see anything on either of those scenarios. Like literally nothing. It’s all fuzzy. I think I might need Sephie on that one. Maybe Andrei too.”
“Has that ever happened before?” Stephen asked.
Misha shook his head no. “No, even before Sephie started helping me, I could always find an answer. It might’ve just been a snapshot, but it was always something. This time, I can’t see anything. It’s all blurry.”
“You’re thinking that means something?” I asked Stephen.
“Yeah. I just don’t know what,” he said.
I sighed. It was never easy. I looked to Viktor. “When can Battista meet again?”
“He’s got time tomorrow. So do you,” he said. “He even said he’d come here, to make it easier.”
“That’s new, but I’ll take it,” I said.
As we finished our conversation, Ivan looked to Stephen with his sly grin on his face. “How many times did you make your eyes go black after we all left the penthouse last night?”
Stephen laughed. “At least 20. I stood in front of the mirror and watched it for like half an hour. I couldn’t help myself. It’s so disturbing and fascinating at the same time.” Stephen looked at me, adding, “I understand completely why you wanted to keep Sephie’s eyes changing from us initially. It’s such a unique phenomenon. I would’ve wanted to keep a lid on that as long as possible, too.”
“I put in an order for contacts for you three. Andrei’s going to need them soon, too,” Ivan said, chuckling.
“That’s partly why he’s upstairs with Sephie. She thinks she can get him to connect with his demon if it’s just the two of them,” I said.
“Anybody felt his anger yet?” Misha asked. We all shook our heads no. I’d felt nothing from either of them so far.
“He’s worried about losing complete control,” I said. “He’s probably going to fight getting angry enough for it to work.”
“Or she surprises all of us with a new ingenious way to get him to connect without him getting angry. That wouldn’t surprise me, either,” Ivan said.
Viktor stood up. While he was definitely more comfortable around all of us, the demons still made him a little nervous from time to time. It didn’t surprise me that he used work to get out of this conversation. “I’m going to start looking for all the boss progeny,” he said, smirking as he left the office.
Once he had left, Stephen said, “he’s better than he’s ever been, but the demons still make him a little nervous. He still needs time to get completely comfortable. He’s also basically surrounded by them now. Especially if Andrei figures it out this afternoon.”
“It’s understandable. He’s handling it better than I thought he would,” I said.
As we were talking, we all felt a wave of anger from Sephie. It was very strong and very clear. We all looked at each other, smiling, knowing what was happening upstairs.
“This is almost the same level she had to get to when yours first changed,” Ivan said. “Apparently, Andrei had reason to be worried he’d be able to contain it.”
“Our little Andrei is growing up,” Misha said, laughing.
“You can easily tell the difference between our demons now, can’t you?” Stephen asked me.
“Yeah. I would think you’ll be able to do the same soon, too. If you can sense other demons, it would make sense you’d be able to differentiate between ours,” I said. “But don’t hold me to that. I think at this point, nobody is quite sure of just what we’re capable of. Your latest level-up was never mentioned before. You might’ve surprised everyone with it.”
“I’m still working toward crushing demons at some point, not gonna lie,” he said, completely straight-faced.
“I think it’s time we have a conversation about just why you’re looking forward to seeing Vlad again. Feels like you have ulterior motives sometimes, Stephen,” Ivan said, running his hand over his goatee thoughtfully.
It caught Stephen off-guard, making him laugh loudly. “We buried that hatchet hundreds of years ago. Don’t worry,” he said, still laughing.