The Vampire’s Priceless Treasure

by Painter, Kristen

  Kora pushed her chair back. “I’m going to do a little recon.”

  “Okay. Text me if you need me.”

  “Will do.” She got up and wandered off through the pub.

  Greyson watched the men watching her. Maybe not as many as if she’d been dressed in her usual leather, but heads turned all the same. She was undeniably beautiful and, despite her outfit, looked very much like the otherworldly creature she was.

  She moved slowly, making a show of admiring the old pub. Just like a tourist might.

  But while the men looked, none made a move toward her, so Greyson relaxed. Not that she’d need saving from any human. With her strength and speed, she could take on a crowd and come out all right. But if there were any supernaturals in the pub, that could be different.

  He hadn’t detected any immediately, but there were a lot of people in here, and there was no reason to think there weren’t some in the mix. A few patrons had brought their dogs in, too, which made it hard to distinguish between those scents and any that might be coming off of shifters.

  Kora continued her slow trek through the pub.

  He sipped his beer and started going through the people around her, face by face, looking for any telltale signs that someone was more than they seemed.

  A man at the far end of the bar was particularly hairy in a way that seemed very much like a shifter. But then, beards were in, so a lot more people looked like shifters these days. Still, there was something about him that was a little more than human.

  Greyson watched him closely as Kora walked past. The man’s nostrils flared like a shifter taking in his surroundings. His mouth opened slightly, something else shifters and some vampires did when they wanted to read their environment more deeply. With shifters, it was like they were tasting the air.

  The man turned his head slightly in Kora’s direction, which hid his eyes from Greyson.

  The small hairs on Greyson’s neck stood at attention. His vampire senses were pinging hard, but the man had done nothing actionable yet.

  This guy had to be a shifter. Or some other kind of supernatural.

  Most shifters could detect vampires. Didn’t mean that’s what was going on, but Greyson wasn’t going to take any chances now that he and Kora were separated. He focused in on the man. On his movements. On his line of sight. On his heartbeat.

  His pulse was elevated. Excited.

  Kora went around the corner of the bar and disappeared out of sight.

  The man turned and looked directly at Greyson. For a split second, his eyes looked like they were glowing.

  Greyson was instantly on alert. He kept watching the man, sure he was going to get up and go after her at any second.

  A few minutes later, his phone vibrated. He glanced down to see a text from Kora.

  I think I found it. Meet me in the bathroom.

  When Greyson looked up, the man was gone.

  At the sound of pounding, Kora yelled, “Occupied.” She glanced at her phone. No answer from Greyson yet.

  “It’s Greyson.”

  That would explain it. She opened the bathroom door. “It’s a little close in here.”

  He squeezed in. “That’s the UK for you.”

  With the two of them, the sink, the toilet, and their backpacks, there wasn’t a whole lot of room for moving around.

  He looked around the small space. “You really think the answer is in the bathroom?”

  “I do. And I’ll show you why I think that.” Witch’s hearts were carved into the paneling that covered all four walls. Some had tails that went left, some went right, but it was clear they were all old. She grabbed hold of the mirror above the sink. The oval glass was pitted with time and hung on a tarnished chain. She lifted it off the chain to reveal the hearts on the wall behind it. “You see the one I mean?”

  He let out a little whistle. “Yes.”

  She set the mirror flat on the toilet seat. “Don’t break that. Seven years of bad luck is all I need.”

  “I won’t.” He touched the heart that had been hidden behind the mirror, running his fingers over the center of it where a familiar sun shape had been carved into the design. “None of the other hearts have this?”

  “None that I’ve seen. I haven’t checked the whole pub, though.”

  “I haven’t seen any either. This has to be it. And based on that carving, what comes next seems clear.” He looked at her. “I know you were supposed to return the locket, but I’m really hoping you haven’t yet.”

  “I haven’t.” She reached under her shirt and produced the sun-shaped piece, now dangling from a length of new ribbon. “I had a feeling we might need it. But are you sure we should do this now? Maybe we should wait and come back after the pub has closed. Which I realize would be illegal, but—”

  “No. Now. There was a shifter at the bar watching you. Doesn’t mean he’s someone to be worried about, but I’m not going to ignore it either. Let’s do whatever we need to do and get out of here.”

  “Okay.” She took a breath, excitement flowing through her. Carefully, she fit the locket into the sun carved in the center of the heart. It fit perfectly.

  A click sounded, then the entire heart popped out a half inch from the wall.

  She gasped softly. “I was not expecting that.”

  “Nope.”

  She reached for it, then stopped. “Hmm. Not sure if I should turn it or pull it or what? I hate to do something wrong and screw it up. The fact that there was a warning about the wrong heart could mean there are booby traps set up.”

  A knock at the door stopped Greyson from answering.

  “Oy! Hurry up in there,” a voice shouted.

  Greyson grimaced. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast, or he’ll break the door down.”

  “Right.” She took hold of the heart and applied a little pressure. There was no pulling it out any farther. So she turned it. The carving pivoted about ninety degrees and stopped.

  She let go. “Well, that was—”

  A small, square door above the heart popped open. It was hinged on one side like a cabinet and had opened only about an inch, leaving the interior hidden.

  “Huh,” Greyson said. “Even with my eyesight, I didn’t see there was a compartment cut into the paneling. Whoever set this up was good.”

  “Agreed.” Kora opened the door all the way.

  Three squat glass vials filled with pale green liquid sat on a narrow shelf. A sheer coating of dust covered them, but each was clearly labeled with a handwritten note that said, Drink me and the sun will shine on you for twenty-four hours.

  The words were written in English, French, and Russian.

  “What is this? Alice in Wonderland?” Greyson shook his head. “I’m not drinking that.”

  Kora shrugged. “I don’t think we have a choice.”

  “What part of the sun will shine on you for twenty-four hours do you think sounds healthy for a vampire?”

  “This whole thing was most likely set up by a vampire. They’re not going to do something to harm one of their own.”

  “You can’t possibly—”

  More knocking, this time closer to pounding, interrupted him again. “Mate, get your business done already. There’s a queue.”

  Kora grabbed all three bottles, stuck them in her backpack, then closed the cabinet and pushed the heart carving back to its flush position. “We can’t do this here. Let’s go to the D&B.”

  “Okay.”

  She got the sense that Greyson was still going to try to stop her, but not now.

  He picked up the mirror and rehung it, then gestured toward the door. “After you.”

  She opened the bathroom door and slipped out.

  When he followed, applause rang out from the three men in line.

  Kora rolled her eyes. Not that Greyson could see her expression, but when they got outside, she gave him a look. “Great. All those guys think we were having a quickie in that bathroom.”

  He snickered. �
��I suppose they do.”

  “You look awfully pleased about it.”

  He shrugged, still smirking. “The perception that I’ve just been caught being intimate with a beautiful woman isn’t something I’m going to feel bad about.”

  She laughed, surprising herself.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You really think I’m beautiful?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “You know you’re beautiful. Fishing for compliments, not so much.”

  “I wasn’t fishing. I genuinely didn’t think you thought of me that way. I just figured you thought I was more of…I don’t know, a giant burden.”

  His smile returned. “Oh, you’re a giant burden. But you’re a beautiful giant burden.”

  She had no reply for that, no snappy comeback. She stared at him, dumbstruck. Not a feeling she was used to at all. Her need to deflect was strong. “We should get a car.”

  “Already called one on the way out.” He looked past her. “That’s probably it right there.”

  A silver sedan sat at the curb. The driver put the window down. “Mr. Garrett?”

  Greyson nodded. “Yes.”

  He opened the back door for Kora, who got in and slid all the way over. Greyson climbed in beside her and closed the door. “The White Lady, please.”

  “Yes, sir,” the driver answered as he took off.

  Kora stared out the window, her thoughts still mired in Greyson’s admission. She knew she was beautiful. She’d never met a vampire who wasn’t. Perfection was a side effect of being turned.

  But being beautiful on the outside was no guarantee of being beautiful on the inside, and that was one truth she wasn’t going to hide from. She’d been ugly on the inside for so long that she’d become used to the idea that she was also unlovable.

  Sure, her father and Hattie loved her, but they were family. It was practically a requirement.

  But Greyson had no such obligation. And he’d been critical of her—and rightly so—for so long that she hadn’t imagined he could think otherwise.

  Had she changed that much? It was a good thing. But it was a little frightening, too. Being loved had its own responsibilities. Ones she wasn’t sure she was capable of.

  “You okay?”

  She glanced at him, pushing a smile onto her face. “Just thinking.”

  With a glance at her backpack, he nodded.

  He thought she was thinking about the vials of green liquid, but she’d actually forgotten about them. Until now.

  The reminder was a welcome change from the personal scrutiny she’d been putting herself under. Much easier to question what was in those vials than if she had the skill set to be someone’s girlfriend.

  Because that’s where her thoughts had been headed.

  She almost laughed. Amazing. A handsome man said she was beautiful, and she fell into the black hole of possibilities like a desperate woman. Was she that desperate for love? She didn’t think she was.

  Admittedly, she was a little lonely. But that was no reason to get involved.

  She sighed at herself. There she went again, assuming Greyson was even interested in getting involved. Yes, he’d kissed her. Yes, he’d said she was beautiful.

  Those two things did not a relationship make.

  And if she didn’t cool it, she was going to do something stupid. Something she couldn’t afford to do with this quest unfinished.

  After she had the information about her mother, she was free to be as reckless as she wanted, but until then, she had to focus.

  Besides, Greyson was still being nice, but since they’d gotten on the plane he’d been cooler. She needed to remember that.

  The car slowed and pulled to a stop outside of a pretty brick row house in a line of row houses. All were trimmed in white, with wrought iron fixtures and fences.

  A sign hung out front that said simply, The White Lady. Kora imagined advertising themselves as a dead-and-breakfast would get some hard looks. And with word of mouth being what it was in the vampire community, there was probably little need to advertise anyway.

  They went inside, backpacks hoisted over their shoulders, and went straight to the reception desk.

  The man behind the counter looked about twenty-four or twenty-five, but wore his hair in a style that hadn’t been popular in a hundred years. That and his fangs let them know this was not only an establishment that served their kind, but was run by one of them, too. His name tag said Niall. “Evening, folks. What can I do to help you?”

  Greyson answered the man. “I have two rooms reserved. Garrett.”

  Niall started tapping on the keyboard in front of him, his gaze on the screen. “Yes, there you are. I see you made your reservation online. I’m terribly sorry, but we only had one room available. You should have received an email about that?”

  “I haven’t checked.” Greyson glanced at his phone. “I see it now.”

  How convenient, Kora thought. One room. Well, she wouldn’t have to worry about Greyson trying anything, considering his cool attitude on the plane.

  Niall smiled hopefully. “It is a double, so there are two beds. Will that suffice?”

  Kora answered before Greyson could. “It’ll be fine.”

  Greyson shot her a look, but said nothing. Probably relieved she wasn’t making a fuss. Or being a giant burden about the whole thing.

  “Wonderful,” Niall said. “I’ll get your keys ready. Will that be cash or credit?”

  Kora walked away while Greyson dealt with the rest of it. She went across the hall to a small sitting room. A portrait of a beautiful woman hung over the fireplace.

  She stared up at it, wondering who she was.

  “Elizebet Charmont Cross.”

  Kora turned to see a well-dressed man sitting in a brown velvet chair tucked away in the corner. He had a book on his lap and a pipe in one hand.

  He smiled at her. “Lovely, isn’t she?”

  “Very,” Kora answered. She turned back to the painting, wondering what the woman’s connection was to the D&B.

  “This was her establishment until her passing.”

  Kora looked at the man, again, staring a little harder. He was obviously a vampire, but there seemed to be something a little unsettling about him. “Did you read my mind?”

  He laughed and took a puff off the pipe. “No, my dear. It just seems to be the thing most people want to know when they see her portrait.”

  And yet, he’d answered the question she’d asked in her head.

  Greyson came in. “I have the keys. Ready?”

  “Ready.” Kora smiled at the man. “Have a good evening.”

  “And you, my dear.”

  She followed Greyson, happy to be headed to their room and away from the vampire in the sitting room, because despite his reassurances to the contrary, she had the strangest feeling he’d done exactly what she’d thought he had.

  And if he could read her mind, there would be no way to keep the quest a secret from him.

  Greyson didn’t know what to make of Kora’s easygoing attitude. Sharing a room was okay with her? That seemed so unlike her. He unlocked the door and opened it, stepping aside so she could go in ahead of him.

  When he entered and locked the door, she grabbed him and pulled him close, putting her mouth next to his ear and completely throwing him off-center.

  “The man downstairs,” she whispered. “I think he read my mind.” She leaned back to look at him.

  Greyson frowned. “What makes you think that?” he whispered back.

  She continued to keep her voice low. “I was looking at the woman’s portrait, wondering who she was, and he answered me.”

  “Could it have been coincidence?” But even as he asked that, he wondered if it was. Especially after seeing the shifter at the pub.

  “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  Greyson took his backpack off and tossed it onto one of the beds. “I don’t like it.”

  “Because of the shifter at the pub?”

  He
nodded. “I feel like we’re being watched. Or at least monitored.”

  “Me, too.” She dropped her pack on the other bed and sat down beside it. “It’s making me a little jumpy.”

  “Do you think that burner phone of yours is being tracked?”

  “Crap. Probably. But there’s nothing I can do about that. And really, if the Fox wants to see where I’m going, I guess he’s got the right. I am doing this quest on his behalf.”

  “I suppose.”

  She sighed, then unzipped her pack and took the three bottles out. “What are these going to lead us to?”

  “You mean if they don’t kill us?”

  She frowned. “Why would they do that? Wouldn’t be a very helpful clue if they did.”

  “You have a lot of faith in whoever set this up.”

  “Isn’t the purpose of this trail to actually find the thing it leads to? So why not have faith in them?”

  “I suppose. I’m surprised you of all people are so trusting, though.”

  She looked down at the bottles in her hands. “Maybe because I want the reward so much.”

  He sat on the bed opposite her and spoke quietly. “And if the pot of gold that’s at the end of this rainbow really is the source of Rasputin’s power? What then?”

  “Doesn’t matter what it is. I’m turning it over to get my answers.”

  “But how do you know the person you’d be giving it to is a person who should have such a thing? That’s a lot of power to put in one person’s hands.”

  She shrugged. “Rasputin was only one person.”

  “And he created an entire line of vampires. And made quite a name for himself, too.”

  She shrugged, but there wasn’t much conviction behind it. “I need to know what happened to my mother. This thing that I’m trying to find is just a means to that end. Vampires are already powerful. What else could this thing really do? Make them fly? Rasputin couldn’t do that. Predict the future? That was his real gift, right? So what if someone gains that ability? Rasputin never changed anything with it.”

  “But someone might be able to.”

  “Maybe.” She glanced at the bottles again. “Look, I don’t want to be here any longer than we have to be. I’m going to down one of these and see what happens.”