by T. A. White
I narrowed my eyes at him but didn't respond. Silence sometimes had a better effect on people than bombarding them with a ton of questions.
He sighed. "This room was always earmarked for you. After the selection, we had it renovated so it would be ready when you decided to come in from the cold."
"If," I corrected him.
He rolled his eyes but didn't fight me on that. "If you came in from the cold."
I looked around with new eyes. "Who commissioned the construction?"
"Does it really matter? It's yours now. Enjoy it. The companion you just met would have murdered his own mother for the opportunities you've been given."
I leaned close, careful to keep my body off his and set one hand on his chest. His body tightened under mine and a male awareness entered his gaze. I moved closer, as if to kiss him, before pausing. "And did he have a choice in being here?" My nails dug into his shirt, pricking the skin beneath as I met his gaze with dead seriousness.
He stiffened, any hint of desire vanishing.
My smile was grim. "Because I didn't. My entire life, the one I fought for, bled for—gone after a single night. Excuse me if I'm not as appreciative of the perks as you'd like."
His face softened, and he looked at me with an understanding I found uncomfortable. "You need to get over this. You're not the only one who has faced hardships and trials. Yours may be different than the rest of ours, but each of us have horrors in our past. Holding onto this anger will do nothing but poison you against any good that might come of your situation."
I sat up and looked away. His words had merit, and the concept was something I was working on. It was still hard. I didn't always deal with change as gracefully as I should. For the first two years after my turn, I'd buried my head in the sand hoping this vampire thing would just go away. That hadn't happened, and I'd spent the last few months trying to educate myself about this world, so I could be the commander of my own destiny.
Nathan popped off my bed, the seriousness of before forgotten. "I'll give you a moment to get unpacked while I familiarize myself with your TV. When you're done, I'll show you around."
"Don't you have anything better to do than play tour guide for me?" I shouted after him as he disappeared into the next room.
"Nope. Liam said I'm all yours for the night. So, resign yourself to my awesome company for the next few hours."
CHAPTER FOUR
GREAT. JUST WHAT I needed. A chaperone.
Impatience thrummed under my skin. I wanted to be out there searching for Caroline. Not sitting here twiddling my thumbs as Brax and his merry band of psychos closed in on my friend.
I took a deep breath and forced myself to relax. The good news was that Caroline wasn't quite the innocent college professor they probably assumed she was. She had almost as much street smarts as I did—a result of our misspent youth. She would know to stay away from her normal haunts and to keep from using her credit cards so they couldn't track her.
Most people wouldn't be able to track a person's credit cards, but despite all the mystical crap about this world, Liam and Brax have proven adept at manipulating technology.
That reminded me. I fished in my bag and pulled out my wallet before flipping it open. I thumbed through it. My search didn't take long. I had few credit cards; beyond my driver's license, a library card, and my business card for Hermes, there wasn't a lot in there to look through. My credit card was gone, as was the hundred bucks I'd had in there last night.
She'd taken them. Good. Liam or Brax would figure out they should track my credit card use before long, but in the meantime, what she'd taken should give her a head start.
It wasn't that I didn't understand the gravity of what Brax and Sondra had warned me about, but I also didn't trust them without reservation. I wanted to talk to Caroline first. If they just showed up and tried to force her back to the farm, I could see her snapping. Neither one of us dealt well with ultimatums—something the vampires and werewolves refused to acknowledge. If I found her first, I might be able to talk her around. And if things were as dire as Brax said, with her sanity in question, no way was I risking he would change his mind about putting her down. I'd figure something else out if I had to.
Until then, I just needed to figure out a way to slip my guard and then find her.
I threw my wallet on the end table and dug into the pocket of my jeans, pulling out the note Lowen had given me. It was tightly folded and looked a bit like origami.
I examined it with a frown. It would be easy to rip this thing and lose the message inside. I used a finger nail to pull loose one edge of the paper, and then with careful movements unfolded it bit by bit, working the paper as if it was a puzzle.
Finally, I had the message flat on the end table. It was definitely Caroline's handwriting.
Aileen,
They will be closing in on me soon, so I need to go. Don't worry about me, and don't look for me. I'll be fine. I never should have involved you in this. I'll never forget senior year, and please look after my cat.
Caroline
I folded the paper back up, my folds nowhere near as neat as they'd been before I unwrapped it. I tapped the paper against my thigh as I stared around in thought. I ignored the part about not looking for her. It'd been written with the purpose of allaying her pursuers’ minds of my involvement should the note have been intercepted before reaching me. That I was sure of. The part about the cat and senior year was a message. I just wasn't sure of the meaning.
Caroline didn't own a cat; I didn't even think she liked them. She'd always been more of a dog person, which given her new circumstances, was probably a good thing.
Also, what did she mean by her reference to senior year? That was almost a decade ago, and a lot of things happened that year. I couldn't be sure which one she was referring to.
I stuffed the paper back into the pocket of my jeans to ponder later. For now, I had to keep up the charade and that meant unpacking. I grabbed the bag and headed over to one of the dressers. My things would probably need only a drawer or two. I opened the first drawer to find it filled with underthings. All with the tags still on them. I closed the drawer and stared at the dresser for a long moment. I bent to open another drawer, this one full of nice blouses and a few camisoles. I fingered one, sliding the tag out. My size.
Next, I walked over to the closet and slid the barn door to the side, revealing a space nearly as big as my apartment bedroom. It wasn't empty. Shoes sat like tidy little soldiers in their brackets and one side was full of clothes. I pushed a few aside, stopping to admire a nice leather jacket—again, in my size with the tags still on it. The price made my eyebrows climb, and I let out a low whistle. Expensive. Nice, but super pricey.
I wanted to shrug the new clothes off, ascribe it to them being in the wrong place. They were really for some other vampire who had just moved in, not me.
Even my inner ostrich couldn't bring herself to believe that—especially in light of the new information from Rick. No, whoever had commissioned this room had evidently found time to buy me a whole new wardrobe.
The question was why, and what strings were attached to all of these expensive little price tags.
I left the closet and its wealth of new clothes and headed back to the dresser. I chose one of the drawers and emptied it out, re-homing the clothes inside to make room for my own. Opening my gym bag, I grabbed the folded clothes and transferred them to their new home.
Finished unpacking, I frowned and pulled the bag closer to me, tilting it so I could see inside its depths. Empty. I unzipped both pockets, feeling around, even though I knew it was pointless. The Judge was gone. My hand knocked against something hard, my heart leaping in relief for a moment before falling again, as I pulled out a plain, leather-bound book.
"You again." My sigh was exasperated.
I tilted it for a glimpse at the spine, narrowing my eyes at the title A Study of the Unexplained. Under the title was a subtitle. What Any Idiot Should Know Ab
out the Supernatural. Looked like the book had given itself another title change. Last week it was calling itself, The Adventures of the Criminally Stupid.
The book had attached itself to me earlier this year during an ill-advised break-in to the shadow library hiding inside the Book Haven, a well-known independent book store in the area. I'd been hoping for a guide that would help me understand this shadow world. What I got instead was a sentient, smart-ass book that was only occasionally helpful. Previous attempts to read it had been met with frustration and circular logic. It only gave useful information when it suited it. The rest of the time it was little more than a paperweight.
"I'd rather have my gun," I told it before tossing it on the dresser.
I set my hands on my hips and glared at the bag as if that would make the Judge appear. Unfortunately for me, it didn't work.
Giving up on mentally willing it to make its presence known, I headed for the other room where I could hear Nathan had figured out the TV. He and I were going to have a long talk about boundaries.
"So, it seems there’s a key item missing from my belongings," I said, stepping into the living room.
Nathan was sprawled across the couch, watching a baseball game. I paused at the incongruous sight of a lethal vampire watching something as normal as baseball, before shaking off the oddity.
He rotated his head to look at me, not moving from his spot. He shot me a lazy smile before going back to watching the game. "You didn't think we'd let you keep your little pea shooter, did you? We've got rules here—the first being, unaffiliated baby vamps aren't allowed to be armed on the premises."
"First, the Judge is not a pea shooter. It is a high-powered revolver that is easily handled and maintained."
"It's also ineffective against most spooks," he said, without taking his eyes off the TV.
"And yet I was able to kill Eleanor with it." I folded my arms across my chest.
"You got lucky; you probably won't be a second time."
I left that alone. There hadn't been any luck involved. I was prepared and had learned my lesson from my previous failures.
"How did you know I even had it?" I asked.
He tapped an ear. "Superior hearing, remember? I heard you take it out of your safe." He then tapped his nose. "Also, I could smell the gun oil you use to clean it."
I filed that last piece away. I'd known about the hearing—though mine was nowhere near as sensitive as his—but hadn't realized we also had a heightened sense of smell.
"Any chance I'm going to get it back?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Anything is possible; however, the chances of you getting that thing back while you're under this roof are improbable." He gave me a jaunty grin. "Liam decides who goes armed in the mansion."
And he wasn't my biggest fan at the best of times. Having just involved myself in an interspecies incident, I doubted he'd be cutting me any breaks anytime soon.
I rubbed my forehead and sighed. I did not like being unarmed in hostile territory. Worse, the ammo inside the Judge was my own special blend, complete with silver nitrate. None of my other weapons had ammo like that, so they would be useless against a spook until I could find time to create more.
Nathan switched off the TV and climbed to his feet. "Enough about your pea shooter. Time for the real fun of the evening to begin."
I gave him a frown at his nickname for the Judge and followed him on grudging feet as he steered me out of the room. If nothing else, the tour would at least give me an idea of the lay of the land in case I needed to find the best exit points.
*
The mansion, it turned out, was a bit of a maze. The areas I'd seen the last time I was here were only the beginning. In addition to the great ballroom, there were two other massive sitting rooms, a pool and sauna in the basement, as well as two wings set aside for the enforcers and their companions.
We made our way up from the basement as Nathan pointed out several other features of the mansion, including a section that he called the war room.
"Our weapons are stored in a locker in there." He gave me a sidelong glance. "I'd recommend not approaching unless you're accompanied by one of us. It's under twenty-four-hour observation, so we'll know if you trespass. The consequences of such an incident would be severe."
He gestured to the ceiling, pointing out the cameras so I would know he was serious. I suspected that the visible cameras were only the start of their security measures.
A man stepped out of one of the rooms, his silver-gray eyes meeting mine before his companion distracted him.
Seeing the other vampire, Nathan grabbed my arm and drew me away, trying to distract me with inane chatter. "Let me show you our entertainment room. It's pretty sweet."
I looked back over my shoulder even as Nathan kept marching me forward. Thomas watched me with an enigmatic gaze as his fellow vampire talked at him. Seeing where Thomas’s attention had focused, the man paused and glanced my way, his eyes narrowing as he took in our retreating figures.
Nathan didn't release me until we were halfway across the house, and then only because I twisted my arm out of his grip. I had no doubt he let me escape, but I'd take what I could get.
"Does Thomas visit you guys often?" I asked in a calm voice.
Nathan looked uncomfortable, his shoulders tense as he avoided my gaze.
"Nathan?" I stepped in front of him, bringing him to a halt. "What is Thomas doing here and is he here often?"
"That's one way to put it."
I narrowed my eyes. It was not lost on me that he’d given a cryptic non-answer that failed to address the first part of my question.
"Does he live here?" I asked.
Nathan grimaced. That was answer enough.
I let out an animalistic growl, the sound wild and full of anger. My fangs dropped down and my hands curled into fists.
Nathan stepped in front of me and held up his hands, his face clear of any amusement for once. "You cannot confront him right now. He’s the master of this territory. You make a scene in public, and he'll have no choice but to punish you. Believe me, you don't want that."
I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm. It wasn't like I planned to hunt Thomas down and attack him right this second. I wasn't an idiot. Thomas was powerful, perhaps more powerful than any vampire, with the possible exception of one of the vampire elders I'd met last year.
I wasn't sure of that last part, since I was still learning how to decipher things my magic-seeing eye showed me. What it had shown me of Thomas, was enough to impress on me the need to have a concrete plan and exit strategy, in the event I wanted to take him down. Even then, if I were ever to take revenge against him for what he'd done to me, I'd strike unseen from a distance, and make sure it could never be traced back to me.
My fangs folded back into my gums, and I glared at Nathan for a long moment before turning on my heel and striding away. His footsteps were nearly silent as he followed me down the hall.
Too bad his mouth couldn't be equally silent. "Where are you going?"
"To get my stuff. I'm not staying here."
It was his turn to dart in front and bring us to a stop. "Whoa, you know that's not going to work. You're in our charge until your little werewolf friend is found. That's the deal. No renegotiating now."
My glare should have set him on fire with the heat it was generating. "I didn't get a say in any of those negotiations."
He shrugged his massive shoulders, not looking the least remorseful. "Doesn't matter. That's how this cookie crumbles."
I breathed out through my nose. My temper simmered just below the surface. Not even in their stronghold an hour and I was already struggling not to burn the place down. There was more than one reason I'd chosen to isolate myself in my apartment and life. It was a lot harder to lose your temper when you were the only one present, and on the rare occasions when I did lose it, no one was there to see or judge.
I stepped around Nathan and continued down the hall.
"Where are you going now?" he called after me as he ambled after me. The sense of urgency he'd pursued me with earlier was gone.
"My room."
"Ugh, why? We're not done with the tour."
I didn't answer, continuing in the direction I thought my suite was located. Maybe. It was ridiculously easy to get lost in here. The mansion must have a charm that enabled it to be several times larger than it appeared from the outside. The mansion was big from the outside, but it wasn't big enough to house all that I’d seen so far.
"We still have the kitchen to see," Nathan said.
My pace slowed. No, no, don't get distracted. You're mad at him.
"We have a deep freezer. I believe some of the companions have a standing order with that ice cream place you like."
"Graeters?" I asked before I could stop myself.
He shrugged his broad shoulders. "No clue. I don't concern myself with human food brands, but from my understanding, the companions are very particular about their ice cream."
It'd be either Graeters or Jeni's. Columbus natives knew those two had the best ice cream flavors. Either one would hit the spot after the night I’d had.
I backtracked toward him. "Well, then. I guess I can spare a little time out of my busy night to check out this kitchen."
"And finish the tour," he added with a victorious smirk.
I frowned at him. That had not been part of the deal.
He guessed my thoughts before I could say anything. "You want ice cream; you've got to finish the tour."
I slid him a sideways glance. I bet I could find the kitchen by myself. Of course, given the size of this place, I could be wandering for quite a while. My shoulders slumped as I resigned myself to completing the tour.
"Now, on to the entertainment room."
I followed him with grudging steps as he led us through several more hallways, up a set of stairs located in what I thought was the back of the mansion and down another hallway. Unless he had a map somewhere for me, I didn't know how he expected me to find my way alone.