by Sophia North
"As you have been briefed whilst awaiting me, we are here today to discuss the theft of Penny MacGregor's art collection from her studio located at 223 Trinity Street, Southwark," Ethan continued. "I understand you are familiar with the lady in question and the location I've just provided."
Reginald Reilly sat back to ponder his fingers, as if already bored. "The paintings are not an art collection, she's the creator, not the collector," he corrected pompously. "And as for theft, I'd like it on the record that a number of those pieces belong to my client. Who is as eager to have them found as Miss MacGregor. The loss has been extremely distressing for all parties involved."
"A distressed client? What a pity. Does your client have a name? He or she may be of interest to the investigation." Ethan was fishing for more details but Reilly was not about to bite.
"My client's details are immaterial," the man replied bluntly. "And I highly recommend you cease asking me questions on the matter, unless you have a warrant compelling me to answer. You're a barrister, what do you think the chances are of being granted one? My client is very wealthy. And with wealth comes powerful friends. And you, more than most, understand the influence of powerful friends. Now be a good lad and find the vile creatures responsible."
Penny sat forward. It wasn't exactly a threat, but Reilly seemed to be implying he knew the truth about Ethan Lang's other side. His werewolf one.
"Mistress Penny, there's something not quite right with that man. I think he is..." Alfred whispered urgently in her ear. But Penny waved him away. She wanted to hear every word Reilly said.
"Vile creatures? Interesting turn of phrase," Ethan returned.
Reginald Reilly bristled in his chair. "What else would one call fiends who steal what isn't theirs?" he sputtered in rage.
Satisfied at having riled the man a bit, Ethan raised the mug of coffee to his lips. He was fucking exhausted after having to justify his existence to some vamp Elder cunt, who'd decided to pull supernatural rank on him last night. Or should he say the early hours of this morning.
"Oh no," Constable Wylde exclaimed. Quickly pressing the button which allowed her to communicate, she yelped. "Ethan, don't drink the coffee!"
But it was too late, he'd just taken a mouthful. Amazingly, he didn't gag and spit it out immediately. But the look in his eyes as he stared towards the mirrored wall at the exact location where Wylde was sitting, did not bode well for the young woman.
He swallowed it down with a slight grimace and raised his mug in mock salute at the constable's cunning retribution for his earlier unreasonable behaviour.
"I'm going to pay for that," Wylde whispered aloud.
"You will do nothing of the sort. I made the coffee. You were far too busy doing your job. So I offered to do it," Penny said determinedly. "And if you say any differently, I will call you a liar and declare you are only saying it to protect me. We girls need to stick together in the face of dictatorial alpha male attitudes. Believe me, I know how incredibly maddening dealing with one can be."
The young woman gushed her thanks. "I am most grateful. I'm one more act of insolence away from being sent back to the Basement. It's taken me three years to get where I am, whereas Mr. Fancy Barrister waltzed his way to Inspector in half that time."
"The Basement?" Penny couldn't help asking.
"It's where they usually keep us tech rats," she explained. "My name is Isabella, by the way. I feel silly letting you help me, Miss MacGregor, without introducing myself properly."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Isabella. And you can call me, Penny. Miss MacGregor sounds so primary school teacher. Or elementary school, as you Canadians call it. You are Canadian, aren't you? I'm sure I detect the accent."
Isabella smiled broadly. "Yes, I am. It is rare for someone to make that immediate assumption. Usually I am asked what part of the States I’m from."
"An annoying occurrence, my Canadian friends here in London inform me," Penny chuckled. "Thankfully, they've helped to ensure I never make that mistake again."
"Thank you for your time, Mr. Reilly," Ethan's booming voice interrupted through the desk speakers. "If I have anything further I'll be in touch."
Penny and Isabella both looked at each other in horror. The button on the microphone had been on the entire time, meaning he'd heard every word of their conversation.
Isabella released the button with a resounding click. "Merde," she sighed.
Penny put a hand on the young woman's shoulder. "Shit is right, my French Canadian friend."
Chapter Twenty-Four
"YOU'RE HERE," VLAD breathed, relieved to see her.
"Of course, I'm here. It is my studio. But why you think my presence is some sort of victory for you is beyond me," Penny replied curtly, marching through her door and tearing down the crime scene tape as she entered. "Perhaps you'd like to explain why you are here. Wait, let me guess. You just happened to be lurking at my kitchen window again and decided to pop in."
Vlad flinched. He didn't like Ice Queen Penny. The role didn't suit her. She was fire and fury, not a stone cold bitch. But at least she was talking to him. That was progress. She'd been refusing to answer any of his calls or messages for days.
"Or perhaps you'd prefer to disguise yourself as a chauffeur and drive me around in order to spy on me."
So much for hoping she was unaware of his presence the other night. Question was, how had she worked it out? Darius hadn't had a clue. He'd returned to HQ and beaten the shit out of the Watcher he believed to be his driver. And Vlad had to give the fledgling credit, he'd taken the beating without revealing Vlad's order to let him take over his duties that night.
Impressed by his strength of character, Vlad transferred the vamp to his team the very next night. He appreciated vamps who knew how to keep their mouths shut and respect hierarchy. They were the ones who tended to move up and succeed.
"What, no witty retort...protestation of innocence? You are lucky it took me a bit to work out it was you at the wheel. If I had known it at the time, I can assure you the night would have not gone quite so well for you."
She was furious at him for once again eavesdropping on conversations where she'd expressed some of her innermost feelings about him. While he never wanted to share his feelings about her. Unless one counted his desire to fuck her and then his contradictory refusal to do so. But that subject had long reached its sale by date.
"Spying? No love, I was protecting you from yourself. I believe I made myself perfectly clear about encouraging Darius's misguided pursuit. I expressly forbade it."
"Fancy words, Viking. And yet, you've done your fair share of forbidden pursuits, haven't you?" she challenged back, referring to his prolific sex life when they'd been seeing each other. "Why am I held to a higher standard?"
"Cease pretending you want Darius's attention," Vlad shot back. "We both know that to be untrue."
His reference to her telling Darius they had no future together because of Vlad riled her. "That may have been the case, but circumstances change, don't they? At least Darius has the integrity to be honest with me, which is more than I can say for you."
"I don't give a fuck about Darius or his supposed integrity. I'm not here to discuss him."
"Wonderful. I completely concur. Darius and I are no longer up for discussion. So again, I ask...why are you here?"
"I have reason to believe you are in danger and need to protect..." he let his sentence trail off as she quickly brushed past him.
The thought of listening to him pretend to care about her was too much. She needed some space between them, otherwise she didn't know what she might do.
Her blood ran like liquid fire in her veins, just like the other night in the car, except then she hadn't known the reason for it. Now she did. It was her body reacting to his presence. The moment she'd gotten out of the taxi tonight, her senses knew he was waiting in the studio.
"Protect me? That's rich," she barked, stomping up the stairs to her bedroom. Slamming throu
gh her drawers, she threw a variety of clothing onto the bed. The sole purpose for her being there was to pack for her trip to Scotland. And given the escalation of recent events, the trip couldn't be better timed.
Her grandmother had tried to warn her that denying her ancestral gifts would only bring trouble, but Penny had refused to listen. The idea that she was a powerful witch, who would someday take on the power of her ancestors, seemed far too ridiculous to believe. But her Mystery paintings and her new found power to sense Vlad's proximity made the prospect less fantasy and more fact.
And if the rest of what her Gran had said was true, she'd be a fool to turn a blind eye and pretend it wasn't happening.
"You've been on at me for months about moving out of this...how did you put it? Rat infested shite-hole borough. Guess you were right. Southwark's underbelly have stolen my life's work. And I am left with half a million pounds. Strange logic for thieves, as Inspector Lang likes to tell me. Over and over again."
The bang of her wardrobe doors rang out. The Ice Queen was starting to thaw. "And who can blame him for questioning their motivation. Who steals something and leaves a substantial amount of money behind? The paintings they took are worth but a fraction of what they...paid? That doesn't sound right...oh, who the fuck knows."
"Penny..." But again Vlad's entreaty fell on deaf ears. She wasn't done talking.
"And then, to add further insult to my day, I had to deal with the less than charming Ethan Lang. Do you know how arrogant those bastard Langs are?" she bellowed at him, after standing at the balcony to peer down.
In his gut, Vlad felt it could be a trap, but dared to utter the words anyway. "I've had some experience..."
She glared down at him. "Shut up. No one asked you for your opinion."
Fuck, these instincts of his were not easy to navigate.
"He told me not to leave the country! So, of course I had to ask if he considered Scotland a foreign one. And do you know what? The prick paused and almost said yes. I was this close to reminding him where the true power of the United Kingdom's Crown laid. Arrogant Sassenach."
Vlad's lips twitched with amusement. He'd have loved to watch her tear a strip of fur from the young Lang pup's ass. His time with the Inspector the previous night had also been an infuriating affair, made more so, following Alfred's report on the day's events at Scotland Yard.
Was the wolf so dense that he failed to recognise a shifter when one was in his presence? Alfred had sussed out Reilly's true nature within minutes of seeing him.
Looked like Vlad had wasted his breath in trying to explain the possible threat the Serpent Brotherhood posed to both vampyres and werewolves. He should have gone straight to Marcus with his intel, even if had meant dealing with the arrogant cunt again. His sources had revealed the Brotherhood may be branching out and recruiting other supernatural beings to their cause. And while fairly confident the werewolves would never side with those seeking to install Haan as the Supreme Commander of all things supernatural, he didn't rule out their interference fucking up his plans to stop it from happening.
"Don't stand there like a mute idiot. I'm still awaiting an actual explanation as to why the hell you are here!" Penny practically snarled.
Vlad met her fiery gaze and waited. He wasn't going to set himself up for failure again. "Oh, beg your pardon. Were you expecting me to answer? It's hard to know with all of your ranting."
"Vlad, I am not in the mood," she snapped irritably. "As you can see, my life is a shambles. So for the love of the goddess, say what you need to say and then kindly get out of here."
Vlad opened his mouth, but in that moment Penny's mobile started to ring. "You best answer that,” he suggested. “It might be Scotland Yard with an update."
Penny pulled her phone from the back pocket of her jeans. "No, the number is from Stonehaven," she whispered, her heart lurching. It was almost midnight and unknown phone calls from one's home town at such late hours were never a good thing.
"Hello?" she answered tentatively. "Yes, I am she..." Penny took a sharp breath as she listened to the doctor on the other end deliver the news of her grandmother's admission to the hospital. "Is she stable?...yes, I will come as soon as I can. Please tell her I am coming, even if she can't hear it."
Vlad heard every word the doctor had said. Shimmering to her side, he gathered her into his arms. "Penny, it will be okay. The doctor sounded confident your grandmother is out of the woods."
Tears pooled in her ocean blue eyes. "I shouldn't have waited so long. I knew something was brewing but selfishly ignored it...until I no longer could. But it might be too late..."
She started to cry. Vlad rubbed her back as she sobbed, which only made her tears fall even harder.
"Shh, love," he whispered. "I'll take you to Stonehaven. We can be there in less than two hours."
Penny looked up at him, her face streaked with tears. "How? There are no flights at this hour to Aberdeen. Are you trying to tell me you've learned how to fly?"
Vlad smiled down at her tenderly, wiping her wet cheek with his thumb. "In a manner of speaking. Do you want me to take you home?"
Penny wanted it more than anything, but was unsure how wise it would be. She was meant to be furious with him over his treatment of her. How would falling into his arms the first moment she needed him look?
Vlad watched the internal battle in her ocean blue eyes. They were very expressive and by now he'd learnt how to read them.
"Let me take you. We'll worry about my presence in all this once we are in Scotland. Deal?"
Penny closed her eyes and nestled into his chest. Her heart wasn't in the battle anymore. "Deal," she whispered.
Vlad whipped out his phone and went to work. "Begsy, I need the jet fuelled and ready to go in thirty minutes...my flight plan is none of your business. Make it happen." He hung up. Enough said.
Tapping an app on his screen, he sent a message to his Spider's computer system with instructions to come. "Finish packing, sweet," he instructed, pressing a quick kiss on the top of her head. "The car will be here in ten minutes."
Chapter Twenty-Five
THE RAIN SHEETED DOWN, obscuring the road so badly at points, Penny wondered if they should pull over to wait it out. But Vlad drove the Audi he'd arranged to have waiting at the airport like it was nothing more than a perfectly pleasant Scottish evening for a drive. His vamp reflexes certainly kept things moving along effortlessly.
They were on their way to her childhood home, having briefly visited her grandmother at the hospital. Vlad had ensured no one interfered with Penny seeing her by glamouring the staff to keep their distance. He kept his as well. He wanted Penny to have as much privacy as she needed with her grandmother. She'd spent the entire flight to Scotland crying in his arms over the prospect she might never see her Gran again. He hadn't tried to soothe her with false promises. Death came for every mortal being, it was simply the way of things. And Penny's grandmother, by all accounts, had lived a long life. Her loss may be upsetting but it was hardly surprising. She was about to turn ninety-nine. An impressive innings for a human to achieve.
"The drive to the cottage is marked by a bright red letter box on your side of the road," Penny announced, as Vlad rounded a particularly tight corner.
The headlights caught a flash of red not too much further ahead. "I see it," Vlad observed, easing the car up a long winding drive. As they drew closer, the motion-sensor lights turned on to illuminate a large courtyard flanked by two long stone barns. At the centre, stood a low-roofed croft made from the same stone as the barns. The house was shrouded in darkness but for the bright red front door.
Vlad sensed a theme. Red post box, red door. The MacGregor's seemed to like marking their territory with the colour.
"My family has lived here for centuries," Penny informed him, as they pulled into the main yard area.
"It's remote, I'll give you that," he said, powering down the engine. The rain was still pounding the ground. "Maybe we should wait it
out," he ventured. "Or get drenched."
"We'll be waiting a long while. This storm is not going to let up anytime soon. Believe me, I know my coastal gales," Penny laughed. "You won't melt will you?"
"Sweetheart, I'll be inside before feeling a drop. It is you I’m worried about. You'll look like a drowned cat by the time you make it to the door."
Penny's eyes widened slightly. "Oh my, Leo. He's not going to be happy."
Vlad looked at her askew. "Who's Leo?"
"My Gran's black and white cat."
Fuck. As a vampyre, he and cats were not the best of friends. They tended to act a bit indignant whenever they crossed paths, behaving as if vamps were meant to be deferential to them. Not the other way around.
Yet, should a vamp attempt to be friendly, they usually turned into demonic forces sent straight from hell. Strange creatures.
"I'm sure he's...lovely," Vlad replied, feeling ridiculous about his choice of word. "But with any luck, he will stay clear of me. Cats have a tendency to react rather strongly to my presence."
"Oh dear, perhaps you should sleep in the barn then. For your protection."
"See you inside, Minx. Enjoy the shower."
Penny sat in the passenger seat, dumbfounded by his abrupt departure. He wasn't really going to leave her to get soaked, was he?
A percussion of slamming doors as he emptied her luggage from the boot of the car and brought it inside seemed to indicate that was exactly his intention.
The cad! And they had been doing so well up until now. She had actually started to believe he really did care for her.
Her fingers were on the door handle, when it was flung open. Vlad scooped her into his arms and had her inside before she felt a single drop of rain.
Setting her down gently, Penny realised that he'd managed to turn on every light on the main floor and start a fire in the hearth in the short time she'd sat outside. The familiar sight of her childhood home brought on a fresh onslaught of tears. Nothing had changed from the day she'd left for Gadolphin's.
