So, I’m in a pretty shitty frame of mind when Kate enters the room and wipes every dark thought from my mind. She looks exactly the same as the last time I saw her, which I suppose is normal since she has probably died several times since then, always coming back at seventeen. Her eyes zoom in on me. She smiles broadly, and it’s like a floodlight is switched on in the room. I can’t help but stand up and walk over to her. She opens her arms wide, and I step in for the best hug ever. I know it’s genuine, and it feels earned. We’ve both saved each other’s lives. Several times. Nothing works for bonding like repeatedly rescuing someone from the brink of death.

She holds me back, looks me in the eyes and says, “Welcome, kindred.”

Chapter Three

No one speaks for a moment, until Ambrose says, “I hate to break up this touching reunion, but for those of us who have short attention spans and big appetites, could it continue after the meeting?”

“Ambrose!” Charlotte scolds.

“What?” he asks. “Jeanne put madeleines in the oven and they’re probably ready by now.”

“Yes, let us begin,” Gaspard says. I sit back down next to Charlotte. Kate takes the chair between me and Vincent, laying her hand gently on his and leaning in to kiss him. There’s still the same electricity between them that I witnessed five years ago. Like their pure delight in being together hasn’t faded over time. All of the doubt and darkness Vincent radiated when he spotted me disappears in the light of Kate’s positivity. She softens his rough edges. I’m glad she’s sitting between us.

Gaspard begins the meeting, threading his fingers together and leaning forward to address the table. “To bring Louis up to date, numa activity has returned to Paris.”

“Wait, what?” My heart drops and my hands get clammy. To be honest, the only reason I felt comfortable coming to Paris was knowing there weren’t any numa left. “I thought you ran them off years ago!”

“Not just ran them off. We also killed them,” Ambrose boasts.

“It’s true,” Gaspard says. “For a couple of years after the Final Battle, there was relative peace.”

“Our contacts in the Paris police force couldn’t understood why crime rates dropped so dramatically,” Charlotte says with a wry smile. “Of course, the French government took all the credit.”

Vincent clarifies. “Drugs, prostitution, murder, corruption, money-laundering, those were still around. But, as you well know, the numa have always been the kingpins of the underworld. And with them gone, only a few humans were left to run the show.”

I didn’t miss the as you well know jab. Neither did Kate, who shifted closer to me.