by L Ann
“He’ll do a lot worse to me,” the girl whined. “You don’t understand. He’s old. Ancient. And he likes to hurt people. I can’t tell you. Please don’t make me.”
“This is taking too long, and the clock is ticking,” Taz cut in. “Let’s take her back to Shadowfall.”
“No, she stays here. She doesn’t need our protection and there are many other people who will talk.” Morgan slipped the knife back into its sheath “She wants to play with the big boys, then she gets to take the hits like the big boys.”
“No argument there, but I’m more concerned about us. The last thing we need is a shoot-out with Seattle’s finest,” Taz said. “Or having to explain it to the Old Man.”
“Don’t you trust me?” she asked him as she leaned forward and placed her hands on the arms of the seat. “The name or your tongue. Pick quickly. Give me a reason to protect you.”
“Raoul Mendoza,” she spat the name out. “Are you going to kill me or take me with you?”
“That’s up to him,” Morgan nodded in Taz’s direction as she straightened and stepped away to look outside the room. There was a noticeable commotion upstairs that needed no explanation.
“This place better have a fire exit. Otherwise, we’re gonna have a lot to explain to you-know-who,” Taz said.
“You worry way too much.” Morgan walked over to him, gave him an unreadable look before reaching out to grab his shirt in both hands and yanking. The material ripped apart.
“What the fuck…” she slapped his hand away as it rose to grab her.
“Oh, stop it,” she told him, spinning on her heel. “Brace yourself,” she warned the girl, then hit her with a right hook that sent her backwards over the chair. With her back to Taz, she roughed up her own clothes, then grabbed the girl’s arm and hauled her to her feet. “Stay silent and go with whatever we say and do. Otherwise, Mendoza will have you and many people will die tonight.”
She looked at where Taz stood scowling at her. “Snap out of it! We’ve been caught up in a three-man battle down here and barely escaped with our lives. Now, let’s move!” She staggered through the open door, shouting as she went. “Some help here! My… my boyfriend was jumped. He… he’s in there…”
Once they had gotten out of the club, avoiding the standard cadre of uniformed officers and EMT’s, and were a safe distance away, they broke into a fast run until they reached the vehicle and tossed the girl into the back.
“I’m impressed,” Taz said as he slid behind the wheel. “Very smooth, Miss Satori.”
“Thank you.”
“What? No witty comeback?” He gunned the engine into life.
“Don’t be an asshole, just take the win.” She settled back into the seat and closed her eyes.
“God, I love it when you talk sweet to me,” Taz smirked. “And you’ll forgive my pessimism but whether we won remains to be seen. Something tells me she’s either utterly clueless or two damn scared to tell us much.”
“We got out alive, that’s a win in my book. One step at a time, I’Ane.” She cracked one eye open and peered at him. “I’m sure you will have her eating out of the palm of your hand soon enough. She looks just like your type – all curves and no conversation.”
“You might be surprised.” Taz twitched an eyebrow.
I doubt it,” she turned her face away, indicating the conversation was over.
Chapter 6
Food, booze… another steaming hot shower,” Taz hooked a finger into the tear of his silk t-shirt and took a quick whiff, doing his best to ignore the battery of curious, startled and amused stares their appearance – more accurately the girl’s mesh net, see-through, off-one-shoulder, mega mini dress elicited as the trio emerged through the stairwell from the underground garage into Shadowfall’s always bustling lobby. “As soon as we take care of business.” He latched onto their charge’s bicep and made their way to the elevators.
“I always wondered what it was like in this place,” the girl took on the mannerisms of a kid on her way to her first session with the annual department store Santa Claus. “Everyone says you gotta be stinkin’ rich or Pureblood privileged, or love kissin’ Pureblood ass, to get a membership.”
“Yeah, well maybe the person you heard it from don’t know his ass from a freeway pothole,” Taz fired back. “You don’t need a membership to get in. It’s open to anybody, mortals and family.”
“Boy, you people sure like to throw that word around – family,” she harrumphed, attempting to pull free as they approached the elevators. “How’s that go now? Vampires are all just one big clan, regardless of House or birth class, right? Mr World Class Playboy Independent Kane Thoth. That’s his bullshit, right?
“I always wondered about him too,” she went on when neither Taz nor Morgan responded. “All high and mighty. Got more money than Gates, the Rockefellers, and Oprah put together. He’s a turnblood, just like me, but they say he acts like he was born with platinum-plated fangs. God, I hate people who put on all those phony fucking airs.”
“Raven Topaz,” Morgan said, breaking her silence. “Is that your real un-phony name or did you swallow a copy of Twilight?”
“Ohhh that’s right, you’re an artiste,” Taz jumped in before the girl could reply. “Forgive my ignorance,” he threw a smirk Morgan’s way, pausing as one elevator arrived and unloaded its passenger compliment. “So, what was the deal at the Ikon tonight? Working? A command performance? Or was Her Divine Majesty slumming with the hoi polloi?”
“I don’t like you,” Raven grumbled. “You’re not nice. You’re an asshole.”
“Thank you, I try.” Taz replied, giving her arm a rough yank as they boarded the now empty elevator car.
“Taz?” A recognisable voice called out just as he reached forward to push the button to close the doors and Kayla’s figure came into view.
Morgan’s chuckle came close on the heels of Taz’s audible groan as they both watched the young woman quicken her step to reach them before the doors shut.
“I’m working,” Taz called out, shaking his head, and wishing he hadn’t told her he worked at Shadowfall, when she attempted to enter the elevator with them.
“But –“
“I’ve got something I have to deal with,” he said. Half in, half out of the elevator entrance to block Kayla’s entry, he nodded to the girl now held in Morgan’s vice-lock bicep grip. “It won’t take long.” Not long enough, he groaned internally. “I’ll meet you downstairs in the café in... say…” he checked his watch, “an hour?”
“It’s late and I –“ Kayla started again.
“One hour, I promise.” Taz stepped back, avoiding her attempt to kiss his cheek and allowed the door to close on the brunette’s frustrated features.
“Boy, talk about the bum's rush,” Raven sniggered. “You really are an –“
“You know, it will be really beneficial to the rest of your life if you don’t finish that sentence, “Taz glared at her.
“It must be hard,” Morgan murmured. “Keeping track of all the jilted lovers.”
Taz threw her a dark look. “Careful, Anna. I might think you’re jealous.”
“Jealous of what? That little human? It’s none of my business who you share a bed with.”
“Isn’t it?” Taz grinned. “I would say the last couple of days have made it your business.”
Raven’s head swung back and forth between them, her jaw hanging. “Oh… my… God…” she breathed. “You two are lovers. Explains all the angst. Jeez.”
“We’re not,” Morgan denied.
“We are,” Taz contradicted. “Not that it’s anything to do with you.”
Raven gave them both a fascinated look. “So, which is it?”
“We slept together a couple of times, nothing more,” Morgan explained irritably.
“There was very little sleeping involved,” Taz chuckled. “Lots of fu—“ The stinging slap across his cheek caught him by surprise, cutting off his words. He rubbed his ch
eek and levelled a finger at Morgan. “That’s your free strike. Any more will cost you.”
“I’ve already paid for that one and a few extras,” she snapped in return.
“Wow.” Raven’s voice brought both their heads round to look at her. “You two seriously need to get a room.”
“And you seriously need to stop talking,” Morgan snarled, spinning on her heel and facing away from them both.
“As you can see, she’s touchy about this emotional stuff,” Taz said in a mock whisper, his eyes never leaving Morgan’s still figure.
“Doesn’t seem to stop you,” the younger vampire replied.
Taz’s grin was unrepentant. “What can I say? I like living dangerously.”
Further conversation was forestalled by the elevator doors sliding open. “This is our stop.” He curved a hand around Raven’s arm again and propelled her forwards. “We’ve arranged a room for you. There will be guards outside if you need anything. You’re not a prisoner, but we don’t want you wandering around until we’ve had a chance to sit down and talk. Do you understand?”
“Yes, but I’m not convinced this was the right idea. If he decides to come and get me, he won’t care who he kills.”
“Let us worry about that. We can keep you safe,” Taz promised.
“Famous last words, “Raven gave an exaggerated chuckle, prompting looks from both Morgan and Taz. “You guys do know… or maybe you don’t. Those are almost the exact same words Dante and the others said about keeping me safe from you guys.” She stopped to note their reaction, chuckling again. “Yeah. The Rromas – Dante, Gunar, Luca and Marko. We go way back. They said they were taking me somewhere safe because the Nikarans put a contract on me. Now they’re dead. Funny how that works, huh?”
“And you’re important enough for us to want to kill you – why?” Taz tossed back. “Our only interest in you is the guy who chose you to set this Salman thing up. If anyone would want you snuffed, it’d be him.”
“Duh! I think I just said that!” The girl gave an exasperated roll of her eyes. “But the way Dante and his crew were talking, it was like I kinda got sucked into the middle of something between you guys and this Mendoza guy. And I knew too much to be allowed to live.”
“That should tell you something,” Taz replied, slowing as they neared the corridor’s end and the room bracketed by a pair of armed security guards.
“All right, here’s the deal.” Taz addressed the two guards. ”Once she goes in,” he gestured from Raven to the suite door, “she doesn’t come out and nobody goes in.” He gestured again, from himself to Morgan. “Unless one of us authorises it.”
He turned his attention to Raven then. “And you. If you need anything, you let the guards know. Do not, I repeat NOT call room service or the front desk and especially not your friends to let them know where you are. Understand?”
“Arrogant and stupid,” Raven murmured.
“Excuse me?”
“You people don’t have a clue who you’re dealing with,” Raven answered, nodding to the guards. “It’s gonna take more than Big and Bigger here to stop them if… no… when they decide to come for me. And it doesn’t matter who I call or don’t call. They already know I’m here.”
“Finding out who we’re dealing with is why you’re here, remember?” Morgan replied. She nodded to the guards and one of them opened the door.
Raven hesitated, as if the door’s threshold were some type of invisible forbidding barrier.
“Tonight, Ms Topaz,” Taz prompted.
“I’m going, I’m going,” Raven frowned at him. “It’s just – I hate being alone. Couldn’t one of you,” she pointed at Morgan. “Her? Stay with me for a while?”
“I have things to do,” Morgan denied her request. “Watch television.” She gave the girl a push through the doorway.
They were down the corridor a distance, en-route to their own suite before Taz broke the edgy silence. “Now that that’s out of the way, back to the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. Kayla – you are jealous, aren’t you?”
“Don’t start with me, I’Ane,” Morgan responded, her voice on the brink of a growl.
Taz laughed. “Hey, I’m not the one who brought up the question of… how’d you put it? ‘All my jilted lovers.’ Lovers, not bed-warmers or girlfriends. Lovers. A Freudian slip if I ever heard one.”
“Would you have preferred me to refer to them as your ex-fuck buddies?” She shook her head. “Sounds like it's just wishful thinking on your part.” Morgan glanced at him. “Why does it always have to come down to whether or not someone is attracted to you, anyway?”
Taz smirked, paused while he unlocked the door to the suite and stood back to let Morgan precede him. “Maybe it doesn’t,” he continued once they were both inside. “But I could ask you that same question.”
“That makes no sense at all. I don’t go around believing everyone is attracted to me. As for you…” she turned to look at him, her appraisal blatant as she let her eyes run up and down his body. “Well, your reputation precedes you.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.” Taz rolled his eyes. “And, as far as my reputation goes, people exaggerate.” He checked his watch. “As much as I’d like to stay and argue the point, I’ve got at thing downstairs. If you’re still up when I get back…”
“It’s unlikely.” She headed toward the guest bedroom. “And even if I was, I wouldn’t play second-fiddle to your thing downstairs.” She paused in the bedroom doorway and turned back. “Look, we slept together and, yes, it was –“ she searched for the right word. “It was nice. And yes, maybe I needed that, but don’t mistake it for the start of something more.”
Taz stopped at the master bedroom door’s threshold, eyes widening for a brief instant, then he shrugged. “Oh, perish the thought, Ms Satori.” He executed a comically exaggerated bow, then made his way into his own bedroom. “Nice? Nice, she said?” he mumbled beneath his breath.
~*~
Kayla Monroe, Michaela Genevieve Monroe, daughter of noted Seattle Corporate Attorney Joseph DeGraff Monroe and former second runner-up Miss America and Miss New England Cassandra Nicole Monroe nee Gannon, co-CEO of FemImages Talent Consultants Inc. with eldest daughter Melissa Monroe-Forsythe. Talented. Beautiful – as far as humans went. An impeccable pedigree. Career focused. Fantastic (even for a human) in bed. Sex. And there was the monkey-in-the-wrench.
What the hell was he thinking?
That’s just it, I’Ane, you weren’t. He answered himself. Thinking, that is. At least, not with the Big Head.
The start was logical if not entirely innocent enough. A favour for a semi-friend. The local television investigative journalist – one of Gayle Hunter’s (Shadowfall’s General Manager) closest mortal friends – who, as a side note, was also getting too close, and too persistent in her desire to get local entrepreneur, multi-billionaire Kane Thoth as a guest on her TV expose program. What the hell, he’d thought. It wasn’t like his social calendar was booked solid. Booked at all, for that matter. So, when Gayle came to him – photo of Miss Monroe in hand – and asked, he’d accepted. It was that or spend the entirety of his suspension climbing the club walls.
Locating her in the Dark Velvet’s jam-packed interior was about as hard as finding a high-priced hooker in Washington DC. The table at the café’s extreme rear, left-hand corner was a candle-lit island in a sea of scheming, salivating young turnblood males. She jumped to her feet when she spotted him, an eager smile curving her lips and Taz compared her warm, open and happy welcome with the challenging stare and coolness of Morgan and slowed to a halt as he realised which one he preferred. Kayla’s smile faltered and Taz rearranged his features into a smile, masking the frown that had pulled his brows together and started forward again, catching her hands in his and raising them to his lips in greeting when he reached her.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. There was a security matter that couldn’t wait,” he told her, leading them back to the table which was now dev
oid of its previous clutter.
“No problem. Believe it or not, this is the high point of what’s been a strange couple of days,” she laughed. “I… well, I didn’t want to leave things as they were between us earlier. I wanted us to at least have a nightcap.”
“I think that can be arranged.” Taz raised a hand to signal a waiter, then moved in to hold Kayla’s chair until she was seated. When the water arrived, Kayla ordered a cognac and Taz a double bourbon.
“That woman you were with,” Kayla began as the waiter departed. “Why do I get the feeling she doesn’t like me?”
Taz shrugged. “Morganna doesn’t like anyone. I wouldn’t take it too personally.” He nodded at the waiter as he set the drinks down. “If you think she doesn’t like you, you should see the way she treats me.”
“I know what you mean,” Kayla laughed, reaching across the table to squeeze his hand. “There’s a couple of people I work with. The urge to commit murder crops up daily.”
Her hand lingered over his as she spoke and Taz had to fight the sudden, almost overpowering urge to pull away. Somehow, he felt that allowing their physical contact to continue was akin to being unfaithful.
~*~
Morgan was settled on the couch, enjoying the change of pace and unusual chance of some downtime by catching up with one of her favourite authors. She was engrossed in the book when shouting and a hand pounding on the main door to the suite disturbed her. With a muttered curse, she put down the book, picked up her gun from the coffee table and padded over to the door, pulled it open and looked out. One of the security team they’d left outside Raven’s room stood at the threshold, hand raised to knock again, looking a little wild around the eyes.
“There’s been an incident,” he told her. “Lord Dasmalle requested you and Prince I’Ane go to the female’s guest quarters immediately.”
Morgan grabbed her jacket from the hanger beside the door and stepped out. “What kind of incident?” she asked as she inserted her arms into the jacket before pulling the door shut and indicating the guard precede her.
