I laughed, the noise coming out thready and odd sounding.
“Okay, that’s completely mental,” Len said. “I mean, I suppose it could be a coincidence, though? I only met Gramps the Vamp because of her, after all. So there’s no real mystery about that part.”
“I... guess?” I said uncertainly.
Len tilted his head, regarding me. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, she’s doing fine now as far as I know. Got herself a crazy rich boyfriend—and by that, I mean a crazy boyfriend who also happens to be rich. They jetted off to England a few months ago. Apparently he’s got property there.”
“And you’re house sitting for her?” I asked.
His eyes slid to the table, and he fiddled with a napkin, looking suddenly uncomfortable. A harsh snort of a laugh escaped him. “Kind of. You want the honest truth? I’m a fuckin’ charity case, is what I am. Pretty sure she let me use the house because she was afraid I’d end up sleeping in the pimpmobile otherwise. Pretty sure she was onto something, too.”
Len had already told me that Leonides paid for his rehab when he hit bottom with a cocaine addiction, so I could imagine how he must be feeling about everything. I kicked him lightly in the shin, startling him into meeting my eyes again.
“Yeah,” I said. “Or maybe she just wanted to help you out because she likes you, and she’s cool like that.”
He tried to smile, but it wasn’t very convincing. “Sure. Could’ve been that, too, I guess.” Visibly squaring his shoulders, he turned the conversation back toward me. “So is that the basis of your existential crisis? Because on the scale of one to weird, this only rates, like, a three, or maybe a four.”
My face fell, and now it was my turn to start shredding an innocent napkin. “Not really, no.”
“Uh-oh. I’m assuming you heard them talking about more than just Zorah, then?”
“Yeah,” I said flatly. “You could say that.” Shred, shred, shred. “The guy who came into the club? He was a demon.”
Len’s expression turned wary. “But... everything was okay, though? When you left?”
I worried my lip. “I mean... I think it was? Leonides sent the guy packing, and he left without an argument or anything. But... some of the stuff he said... and then some of the stuff Leonides said...”
“Supernatural forces control the world, and human beings are basically just cattle?” Len offered. “Welcome to my world for the past six months.”
I held his eyes. “How do you deal with it? Seriously, though?”
“Well, I tried snorting coke,” he said with forced humor. “Don’t really recommend it, to be honest.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Yeah, bourbon didn’t work so well, either.”
He shrugged agreement, doubtless remembering how he’d had to drive me home while hoping that I didn’t puke all over his car. “These days,” he said, “I mostly try to remind myself that it’s still the same world as it was before I found out that the monsters are real. I mean, we already knew life was fucked up, right? We just didn’t know how bad it was.”
I mulled that over for a few moments.
“Fair point,” I allowed.
Len gestured at my burger. “Eat that before it gets any colder than it already is. Gotta keep those iron levels up—know what I mean?”
“Do I ever,” I muttered, picking up the flattened bun and biting into it without enthusiasm.
THIRTEEN
OVER THE FOLLOWING days, I caught myself watching Jace at odd moments—wondering what kind of future he was going to face growing up. Sometimes when I looked at him, I felt a sense of accomplishment at having raised a pretty damned cool kid. Then, the mental whiplash would set in, as I remembered that Richard and I had also dragged him into the middle of our mess, and, oh yeah, by the way, evil faeries secretly ruled the world.
“Do I have, like, spinach in my teeth or something?”
I came back to the present to find Jace peering at me oddly.
“You hate spinach,” I reminded him.
“I know,” he said. “Which kind of makes it doubly weird. Seriously, what’s up?”
I blinked myself free of my reverie and shook my head. “Just grownup stuff,” I assured him.
He didn’t break eye contact. “You’re gonna have to stop using that excuse someday, Mom. Is it about whoever’s been calling you day and night?”
The problem with raising a great kid was that great kids were smart, and far too savvy for their own good.
“Not entirely,” I told him truthfully. “The important part is, it’s nothing you need to worry about.” I gestured at the counter. “Don’t forget your algebra book.”
He didn’t move for a long moment, but eventually he sighed and went to stuff the textbook in his backpack, as I’d known he would.
“I know something’s up,” he said pointedly. “With you and Dad both.”
With that, he left before I could come up with anything else reassuring to say.
* * *
With everything that I’d learned recently, the Vixen’s Den shouldn’t still feel like a haven. And yet, as I stood behind the bar mixing rum and Coke, while a new jazz quartet wove smooth notes through the low conversation of the patrons, it was hard not to let my worries and uncertainties fade into the background for a few hours.
At least... it was until my pendant gave a warning throb of heat against the base of my throat. I caught my breath, scanning the floor for anything that seemed out of place.
The mystery was solved a few seconds later when my eyes landed on a blond form striding through the front door. The familiar figure swept in as though he owned the place, flanked by half a dozen uniformed police officers forming a phalanx behind him. Coca-Cola overflowed the glass I was pouring, and I cursed under my breath as I set the can aside and grabbed a rag to mop up the spill.
“Attention!” boomed the Fae who’d crashed the Den on the night I’d first met Leonides. “This establishment is under investigation for money laundering! It will be closed for business until further notice. Proceed in an orderly manner to the exits!”
Surprised silence rippled outward through the crowd at the sudden commotion, until only confused muttering remained. The police officers grabbed the closest patrons and shoved them toward the door as though they’d never heard of the term ‘excessive force.’
My jaw hung open as the sense of words penetrated. Money laundering? A new disturbance came from the other side of the club, Leonides pushing his way through the crowd as he stalked toward the intruders.
“Really?” he said, all of his attention fixed on the Fae who’d barged into his domain on not one occasion now, but two. His tone could have stripped paint.
The Fae—Teague, Nigellus had called him—only curled his lips back in something that might conceivably have shared distant relations with a smile.
“Mr. Leonides.” His voice caressed the name, drawing it out. “You are hereby served with notice of an investigative hearing under the auspices of the State Auditor’s office.”
He shoved a sheaf of papers toward Leonides’ chest. Leonides looked down at them only briefly, making no move to take them from the Fae’s hand.
I caught movement from my left—Len and Kat sidling toward my station unobtrusively.
The awkward moment on the club floor stretched, as Leonides waited for Teague to decide what he was going to do with the papers he was holding. With a sneer, the Fae let them drop to the floor at Leonides’ feet.
“What’s going on?” Kat hissed, low enough not to be heard outside of our little huddle behind the bar.
“Nothing good,” Len muttered grimly. “I recognize that brand of blond and shiny. This guy isn’t human.”
“He’s a Fae,” I said, my voice faint.
Kat’s eyes flew to us. “Fae, like—”
“Faeries, yeah,” I confirmed.
“Asshole faeries,” Len expanded. “With entitlement issues.”
“And mind control power
s,” I put in.
Kat blinked. “Should we be, like, grabbing as many of the staff as we can and running out the back?” she asked, quite reasonably in my opinion.
“I have no earthly idea,” was all I said. “Len?”
Len shifted in place. “These days, I usually take a wait-and-see attitude toward this kind of shit. I’m guessing if the boss thought we should be running, he’d give us some kind of subtle get-out-of-here signal on the sly.”
“Good point,” Kat said, and I was struck once again by the amount of trust the employees here placed in our vampire employer.
On the club floor, the public confrontation had continued while we spoke to each other in low voices. Meanwhile, the police were still ushering startled patrons out—obviously unconcerned about doing so with any degree of tact or gentleness.
“As the sole owner of this business, your unprofessional attitude has been duly noted,” the Fae was saying.
“I’m sure it has,” Leonides grated. “Now call off your dogs. You’ve made your point.”
Teague only smiled.
Even in the low light, I could see Leonides’ jaw tighten as he turned to the main part of the club and raised his voice. “Everyone—you heard the man. Apparently we’re closed. Head for the exits—you can address any complaints or inquiries through the website contact form or the club’s customer service line.”
More employees clustered around us in a nervous knot as the large space emptied out. Leonides and the Fae remained squared off like a pair of junkyard dogs growling over territory, the papers still lying ignored at Leonides’ feet. My fingers closed around my pendant unconsciously, but it was only slightly warm to the touch. I took that to mean that for now, at least, the magical claws would remain sheathed.
“Very wise,” Teague said, once the last of the disgruntled customers was gone. “There’s no telling how long the Court will dither before deciding what to do with you, but in the meantime, I can at least ensure that you do not stain my territory with your den of vice.”
For a moment, I thought he was referring to the municipal court. Then my brain registered the implied capitalization, and I realized he meant the mythological Fae Court; the Unseelie Court, Nigellus had called it.
“This den of vice isn’t going anywhere,” Leonides said. “Though I’ll be curious to see which judges and officials you have in your pocket, and which ones still have free will.”
Teague’s smile became more of a snarl. “I could have you arrested and thrown into a deep, dark cell somewhere right now,” he said silkily.
Leonides only snorted. “Sure. That might be entertaining. Why don’t you either do that, or get the hell out of my club—since you’ve already completed your little errand here. I’ll just wait while you decide.”
He crossed his arms, the picture of patience.
The look of loathing on Teague’s face twisted its preternaturally handsome lines into something dark and ugly. “No need,” he said. “The decision is already made. It will be far more satisfying to watch you as I take everything you care about away from you, piece by broken piece. You are an abomination, and when I destroy you, I will destroy you completely.”
Leonides didn’t break expression, but anger flared in my gut at the utter wrongness of seeing that kind of vitriol directed at someone who’d done nothing to deserve it. My fingers clenched convulsively around Aunt Mabel’s pendant as I leaned forward, bracing my other hand on the bar as my temper reached the boiling point.
“How dare you come in here, harassing an innocent business owner when your own kind are ripping kids away from their families!” I snapped. “Where the hell do you get off? You’re the abomination! You’re the one who doesn’t belong here!”
I felt Len wince next to me. “Oh, great,” he murmured, barely audible. “Here we go...”
Teague’s eyes slid toward me slowly. Behind him, all of the cops’ eyes did the same, as though they were puppets under his control. The effect was beyond creepy, and a thread of fear wove through my hot flare of redheaded temper. The garnet in my hand burned with sudden heat, and I dropped it with a sharp intake of breath.
The Fae’s gaze dropped to the garnet, and then to my nametag, before returning to my face. “Well now, little creature. How would you come to know about something like that, I wonder?”
“Jesus, Vonnie,” Leonides’ said in a tired tone. “Could you fucking not?”
“Seconded,” Len muttered.
I was vaguely aware of the rest of the gathered employees looking at me with something between horror and awe, but all I could focus on was how twisted this whole thing was. Maybe it was a function of my unhappy childhood, but I couldn’t stand people who preyed on the weak. I also couldn’t stand hypocrites. Was it my fault that this Fae asshole was a perfect storm of those two things?
“Ah!” Teague said. “Yes, I remember you now. I thought that pendant was familiar. You were the whore paid to hang on the bloodsucker’s arm the last time I came to this place, were you not? I take it you’ve since been demoted from his bed to serving staff?”
Mortification flooded my face with heat at the casual mention of my brief career as a prostitute, right here in front of my coworkers. Had any of them besides Len and Kat known before now? All of my righteous anger lodged in my throat, choking me into silence as my cheeks flamed.
“Enough,” Leonides said, his tone like granite. “Get out of my club, Fae.”
Teague watched me with cold green eyes for an endless moment before he turned back to our boss.
“Why, certainly... Mr. Leonides,” he replied with exaggerated civility. “I look forward to your attendance at the upcoming enquiry. Until then, enjoy the press coverage. I’m certain the newspapers and television stations will have a grand time dragging your name through the mud.”
Leonides eyed him like someone might look at a bug they were intent on squashing. “I’m sure they will. Now... try not to let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.”
I realized that my hands were gripping the edge of the bar so hard that my knuckles were white. Lightheadedness assailed me as the twin brick walls of adrenaline crash and mortification smashed me between them. I wasn’t sure if I’d missed any final exchanges in the vampire-versus-Fae dick-measuring contest, but Teague and the creepy puppet cops were, in fact, leaving.
Once they were safely gone, Leonides turned to us.
“All right—the show’s over. Get the place cleaned up and close everything down,” he said. “And before anyone asks, you’ll all be paid as normal until I get this sorted out. Sally—see to that part, will you?”
“Yes, boss,” Sally said, looking pale but composed. “Come on, everyone—you heard the man. Let’s close out the drawers, so we can figure out which tabs got paid and which didn’t.”
I felt shaky enough that I was a bit worried about what would happen when I let go of my grip on the bar. Len’s shoulder nudged mine.
“You okay there, Red?” he asked.
“Never better,” I said faintly.
FOURTEEN
KAT SQUEEZED MY arm. “Hey. Don’t worry about it, babe, okay? No one here cares about your past. There’s, like, three other women and one guy working here that I know for a fact have done sex work. It’s no thing. You sure do need to learn to keep your head down when the weird shit starts up, though.”
“Preach, sister,” Len said. “And if it helps, I’ve been known to tie guys up in rope bondage for coke money on a few memorable occasions.” He took a deep breath. “Look, I need to get back to the kitchen. There’s gonna be food left. Come see me later if either of you want to take home a box.”
The down-to-earth camaraderie grounded me, my shakes slowly subsiding. “Thanks, you two.” I took a deep breath and straightened, grateful that I’d have something else to focus on for a bit while we got the club closed down.
Everyone worked steadily, the normally straightforward task taking three times as long as usual because of all the peop
le who’d been kicked out with open tabs still running. Again, it was almost a relief to have to focus on tallying everything up and accounting for the discrepancies. Once it became apparent that we’d be there for a while, Len brought all of the unused tapas out front so we could eat while we worked.
Eventually, though, the last cash drawer was closed out, and everything was stowed for the extended stretch of time before the club would open again. Any food that could be donated was packed to go to the food bank first thing in the morning, and the rest was either sent home with employees or thrown out. I couldn’t help thinking that St. Louis’ low-income population would at least be spared from succumbing to scurvy for the next couple of weeks—there were a lot of lemons and limes in this place.
Almost everyone else had left, but I lingered when I noticed Len talking to Leonides in the back corner. Wavering, I looked between them and the exit. Len was frowning as he leaned over the table, looking down at Leonides, who was seated in a chair.
Words filtered to me across the empty club. “This guy doesn’t just want to close down your club, Gramps... he wants to take you out.”
I’d never heard Len raise his voice before, and I wandered closer, unable to stop myself. Both of them looked up at the same time.
“Vonnie,” Leonides said in a monotone. “You’re still here... and listening to private conversations. Witness my surprise.”
I gestured around, my patience with this day pretty much at an end. “Maybe try having your private conversations somewhere a little more, I dunno, private? Besides, I feel like I have kind of a vested interest in whatever’s going on here, especially after Mr. Magic Hands outed me as a former call girl to most of the staff.”
This job had become something surprisingly resembling a safe space in my life. Having it turned on its head like this felt like having the rug pulled out from under me.
The corner of Len’s mouth twisted down. “I was just trying to tell him to call in some help on this one.”
Vampire Bound: Book One Page 10
