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Hannes knew he shouldn’t give in to the urge to sleep. There was too much to do tonight for him to slink away to the comforts of his bed. Jimi had brought his whole coven south after hearing of his abduction; he couldn’t just flee to his bed and leave him with unsatisfying answers.
Even more pressingly, Hannes knew he should be thinking up ways to keep Niko and Arde apart. Arde was getting better, but he still had a fair way to go, Jimi had said in his last letter, and his powers were only getting stronger.
So Hannes couldn’t afford to fall asleep.
And yet he didn’t think he’d ever felt so bone-dead tired before. Jani said it was because his magic was still replenishing itself. He’d used up so much of it trying to revive the lich, and even more in his attempts to escape. His well of magic might well be deeper than most, years of careful practice letting him build up such a store within him, but it wasn’t bottomless, and what he really needed was a witch apple. He’d slept so much, and woke up feeling almost as tired as he had before sleeping. He needed to sleep, and yet he needed to not.
Tommi noticed. “Sleep,” he grunted from his place by the fire.
Hannes sighed, staring into the flickering orange flames. “You know why I can’t.”
Tommi just fixed him with a level stare. “You think you could stop him in your current condition? You’re still weakened, Hannes.”
Hannes frowned, uncomfortable that it was that obvious. “I can’t sleep, not yet,” he said. Treacherously, a yawn forced itself out of his mouth. He scowled. “I don’t even want to sleep,” he murmured, feeling his cheeks heat up.
This time it was Tommi who sighed. “You’re punishing yourself,” he said. Hannes glared at him, shifting in his seat.
He hadn’t realised he’d been so obvious about that, either.
But he shouldn’t have been caught in the first place. He should have kept to his objective of helping Joel. If he’d done that then none of them would be here. None of them would have called upon the most dangerous beings on the continent in an effort to get him free, and he’d be back home, happily sitting with his coven rather than waiting for a crisis to avert.
Tommi wasn’t done. “Stop it,” he said. “Nothing’s going to happen until the vampires wake up, so go to sleep.”
Hannes refused. “Jimi brought his whole coven to help find me! I owe it to them all to sit through a conversation!”
“They can talk to us first,” Tommi said roughly. “I don’t care if I have to carry you up to bed and shut you in there.”
Hannes opened his mouth to reply, glaring, but a voice spoke up behind him.
“He’s right, witch.”
The Endarkened vampire. He turned to face him.
“How would you know?” Hannes asked, trying to keep his tone cautious. The others might be fine with the Endarkened’s presence, but Hannes couldn’t dispel his unease. Common sense seemed to be the only thing keeping the wolf from making war with Niilo, and Hannes suspected the vampire wouldn’t do anything to stop it if the wolf threw caution to the wind.
The vampire’s smile was more amused than anything else. “You’re a stubborn one, and you look exhausted. It’s not hard to work out.”
Hannes opened his mouth to argue back, but another yawn burst out.
Mother above, the settee had never been so comfortable. He felt almost like he could melt into it, but he couldn’t let himself. He moved to stand.
Immediately Tommi and the vampire pushed him back down. “Sleep, Hannes,” Tommi said.
I don’t want to sleep, but he didn’t have much of a choice. He couldn’t fight his way past the pair of them, and he was running low anyway.
But he’d dream.
He tried not to think about his dreams much. He wasn’t a dream witch, and divination had never come especially easily to him, so he’d never found much of a point in dwelling on his slumbering visions.
After Niilo, he’d been given a new reason to avoid his dreams. The wolf had mistaken the smell of the lich’s stolen magic for gunpowder, and made his own assumptions. Hannes had wondered how much he’d truly cared for the answer. Wolves liked to fuck and fight, and even Samy was heading down that road.
And now-
After the Endarkened wolf had been attacked, his vampire had gone out with Joel and Joonas to hunt down his attackers. Hannes had recognised the two they’d dragged back, and they’d recognised him. One was still alive, and Hannes almost wished they’d killed that one, too. Now Niilo knows where I am and what I am. He’d dreamt of Niilo’s rage that night and every night since, and he didn’t want to face it again.
Still, his eyelids were closing against his will. Tommi and the vampire let go of him, and he sat up, fighting the urge to give in.
He found himself flopping back down after a push from Tommi. “I’ll get your witch to make you a tea to fall asleep if you don’t stop being so stubborn,” Tommi said roughly. Hannes glared and yawned again.
“I don’t want to sleep,” he said, but this time his words had no bite.
Something in Tommi’s face softened. “Could Ana make a draught to help you?” he asked.
Hannes shook his head, avoiding the vampire’s gaze. The Endarkened weren’t stupid, and he didn’t want to see the vampire figure it out. His gaze was too piercing, level and canny despite his unsettling visage, and it made Hannes feel horribly small. “I’ll manage.”
“But you will sleep.”
Hannes knew the vampire wasn’t questioning him.
He still nodded, letting his eyes close. This wasn’t a fight he could win. He was stubborn, but if he kept fighting he’d pass out, his body crying out in warning before it gave in.
He was asleep in no time at all.