Avenging Amethyst (Immortal Eyes) (5 page)

I opened my
mouth to ask about the child but Felix spoke before I could. "That's a
Lovac child. He was born only a few hours ago in a hospital near Seattle. Riley
was there while we were talking in the coffee shop. She was with a few others
but she was anxious to meet you so I picked her up."

"So that
means his mother just died, too?" I asked. I turned away from the baby and
tried not to think about how horrible it was that most Lovac killed their
mother's when they were born.

"Yes,"
Riley said, giving me a sympathetic look.

"What's
going to happen to him?"

"There's
going to be an adoption today, where any interested Nesmyr can place a bid for
him," Felix said casually and started walking towards the building. Riley
didn't hesitate to follow but I stood frozen for a moment.

I jogged a few
feet to catch up once I decided I wasn't ready to leave yet and said, "You
mean Lovac are bid on like some kind of prized cow?"

Felix and Riley
shared a look. Neither of them seemed to want to answer but Riley was the one
to talk first. "I know it sounds awful but all of the Nesmyr families are
screened prior to the adoption ceremony to make sure they'll make good parents.
Lovac are just born so rarely that dozens of families are always on a list to
adopt. Nesmyr are greedy so the council decided that whoever will offer the
most money gets to adopt the child. We all grow up in loving homes and are
provided with everything we need."

Felix laughed
humorlessly and rolled his eyes. I raised my eyebrows in question but Felix
didn't say anything. I turned to Riley who just shook her head. "Felix
seems to think he grew up with a horrible family."

"They're
not horrible," Felix said. "Nesmyr just treat Lovac differently than
they do other Nesmyr."

"What do
you mean?" I asked. We were almost to the doors to the building now but
there were few windows and they were all darkly tinted so I couldn't see
anything inside.

"Since
Nesmyr can have children too most Lovac are adopted into families with other
Nesmyr children. The parents usually treat the Nesmyr children just slightly
better than the Lovac. Even though I know my parents care about me, I don't
think they ever loved me as much as their own flesh and blood."

Riley was the
one to laugh and roll her eyes this time. "I grew up with six Nesmyr
brothers and sisters and I never felt like my parents loved me any less."

"Well then,
you got lucky," Felix said and opened the doors for us.

Riley didn't
continue the conversation once we were inside and as soon as I stepped into the
building I had no desire to continue it either.

The doors opened
into a long hallway that had several doors leading off of it from either side
with two large doors at the end of the hallway. The decor inside the building
was such a contrast to the outside that I was speechless. The floor was
polished wood, with a fancy embroidered rug running down the middle. The walls
were decorated with countless pieces of framed art and the chandeliers hanging
from the tall ceiling sparkled.

I felt like I
just stepped into a mansion.

"Nesmyr
really like their money," Felix said quietly to me. He really
wasn’t joking.

"The
adoption is happening today. You can sit in and watch if you’d
like," Riley said. "I’m sure the Lovac council members are
eagerly waiting to meet you but they’ll probably be busy until after the
adoption is over."

"She’s
right," Felix said. "I can show you around the facility until the
adoption is over if you want."

I still
didn’t trust Felix and I didn’t want to be completely alone with
him. I was a little curious about the adoption so I decided that it was the
safer route.

Felix
didn’t seem to mind either way. He escorted me and Riley to the end of
the hallway where two tall doors were. He opened one of the doors and a rush of
noise met my ears. I stepped into a large room that closely resembled a high
school gym. Along the walls were bleachers filled with hundreds of people who
were all talking excitedly. Along the back wall was a stage where ten people
were sitting and shifting impatiently.

When Riley
entered the room, everyone went quiet. One of the people on the stage, an older
woman with graying hair and wrinkles starting to form near her eyes, stood up
and walked up to the microphone in the center of the stage.

Felix led me to
a row of chairs near the front of the stage where other purple-eyed people were
standing. Riley walked right up to the stage and up the stairs to stand next to
the woman.

"Welcome
everyone!" the older woman announced into the microphone. I could see her
better from this angle and saw that her eyes were an inhuman blue. She was a
Nesmyr.

"That’s
Gladys. She’s the oldest Nesmyr in North America and head of the
council," Felix muttered. He stood so close that I could smell his
cologne and it made my heart flutter uncomfortably.

"We all
know why we’re gathered here," Gladys said. "Another Lovac
has been born and Riley has been kind enough to bring him safely to us. Now it
is time to choose which lucky family will get the joy of raising him."

Felix tensed
next me. Now I felt bad for not agreeing to let him give me a tour. Since he
was so bitter about his own family, of course he wouldn’t want to watch
another Lovac possibly go to the same fate.

"We will
call families up one by one to meet the baby," Gladys continued.
"And you will be able to place your bid. The family with the highest bid
will get to take him home."

Everyone sat
down then and the process began. Nesmyr families of all shapes and sizes were
called up to the stage one by one. Most of the families already had children
with them which I thought was wrong. Adopting a child was supposed to be for
someone who couldn't have children. Too bad I didn't get an opinion here.

Some of the
families held the baby and some didn’t. I saw one lady get thrown up on
and I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing. Most families would
tell one of the men sitting on the stage a number but I did see a few families
decide against bidding. Maybe they wanted to hold out for girl or decided they
didn’t really have enough to bid for him.

The process took
well over an hour and it was all I could do to stay still in my seat. I wanted
to stand up and stretch, and maybe even walk around a little bit but I
didn’t know if I was allowed to. Felix and the other Lovac sitting near
me all sat perfectly still in their seats and I noticed they were watching
every family very intently. I wondered if they were here as a type of body
guard in case someone tried to steal the baby.

When it looked
like the last family had left the stage, Gladys slowly made her way back up to
the microphone. "Thank you all for coming today. I wish we could bless
everyone with the joy of a Lovac baby but unfortunately we only have one. The
bids have been looked through and it seems like we have a tie. Will the Vancil
family and the Kruskal family please be escorted into the meeting room to
settle the tie? The rest of you are excused."

"Why are
they going somewhere else?" I asked Felix as we stood up to leave.

"Because
no one needs to witness what’s going to happen with those families. There
is going to be a lot of shouting and fighting and it probably won’t be
pretty. There’s hardly ever a tie. Most families bid odd numbers like a
million and one in the hopes of avoiding a tie. This is rare but it happens."

"They really
bid that much money?" I thought about the money my mom left me in the
trunk. I thought that was a lot of money but I couldn’t imagine having
over a million to spend.

"Oh
yeah." Felix shook his head. "Probably even more. The Nesmyr that
are here today are some of the most prestigious families in the Nesmyr
community. They own multiple large businesses and are insanely rich. They can
afford a couple million dollars."

I watched the
two families, Riley and the baby be ushered out of the gym and through a back
door opposite of the one everyone else was heading towards. Half of the people
on the stage followed them and the other half left the room.

I watched a lot
of tearful women and even some tearful men leaving. I wanted to feel sorry for
them but I couldn't. They already had children and if they wanted more, they
could. I found it ridiculous that these families were so heartbroken over
losing the opportunity to have something they already had or could easily have.

We waited until
the area cleared out a little more before Felix decided it was safe for us to
leave. "We need to take you to meet the Lovac that are on the council.
Only the Nesmyr on the council will be helping settle things with the
baby."

"Well,
well, who do we have here?" a male voice said from behind me. I turned
around to see a boy about my height, with shoulder-length red hair and freckles
dusting his face smiling at me with a big toothy grin. Most red-haired people
had green eyes but his were just as purple as mine.

"This is
Axel," Felix said. "Axel, this is Avery. The Missing Lovac."

Axel’s
eyes widened in amazement and I groaned inside. I really hoped they
didn’t call me The Missing Lovac.

"You
finally found her? How?" Axel asked Felix but continued to stare at me. I
shifted uncomfortably and looked at Felix and tried to beg him with my eyes to
get me out of here. I didn’t want to be the center of attention.

Felix
didn’t need to look at me to know what I wanted though. "It’s
a long story. We’ll talk about it later." He emphasized the later
and Axel nodded in understanding. He gave me one final look over before walking
away.

"Sorry
about that," Felix said. "Everyone is going to want to meet you.
Like I said, you’ve been a hot topic here for a while. Let’s get
out of here before anyone else notices you."

Felix led me out
of the gym and back into the hallway where we came in at. He headed to the
closest door on the right which opened up to a stairwell. We went up two
flights and entered into a large open sitting area with multiple doors leading
out of it. Gathered on some couches was a group of five people.

These were the
five Lovac council members. There were four women and one man. Their
conversation stopped when they saw us enter the room. A tall, boney woman stood
up to greet us. Her hair was long and deep brown and she was very exotic
looking. She didn’t look a day over thirty and had to be the youngest
person on the council.

"Felix,
it’s good to see you back. We are all so eager to meet the long lost
Lovac," she said, giving me a full look over. She had a slight accent too
that I guessed was probably Russian or something similar.

"Rema,"
Felix greeted, bowing his head a little bit. "This is Avery. Avery this
is Rema. She’s the head of the Lovac section of the council."

"It’s
nice to meet you," I practically whispered. I wasn’t exactly shy; I
just didn’t like being the center of attention. I tried to focus on only
Rema, but I could feel the stares of everyone else on me.

My hands were
sweating from nerves and I hoped she wouldn’t offer her hand to shake.
Luckily, she didn’t. Instead, she stepped up to me and pulled me into a
light embrace. I froze completely. I could handle people staring at me, but a
stranger hugging me was something I was not prepared for. She stepped back with
her hands still on my shoulder and smiled brightly at me.

"Please
excuse Rema. She’s very touchy-feely," the male Lovac council
member said, with a teasing tone. "Rema, can you not see the horrified
look on her face."

Rema gave a
guilty nod and stepped back. "I’m sorry. I just want to make sure
you feel completely welcome and I’m used to hugging everyone when I greet
them. It’s just habit."

The man rose up
from the couch and walked over to greet me. He held out his hand and I quickly
wiped mine on my pants before offering mine. "My name is Carson,"
he said. "It is truly an honor to meet you."

Carson looked to
be in is mid-sixties. His hair was salt and pepper but it was still thick and
long. He had it pulled in a tight ponytail at the back of his neck. His face
was starting to become wrinkled and his smile reached all the way up to his
eyes.

He turned around
and pointed to the remaining three women, introducing them in turn. Sunni was
the first one. She was very small and petite and would look almost like a child
if it wasn’t for a few wrinkles starting to form around her eyes. Her
hair was still blonde but I could see a few glimmers of silver starting to
show.

Darcy was next. She
looked like the oldest of all of them. Her hair was completely gray and falling
out in some spots. Her face was sunken in a little bit and she looked almost
skeletal. When she said hello to me her voice was so weak I could barely hear
her. I couldn’t understand why she was on a council at her age but I had
no right to question anything.