Thrall (Supernaturals of Las Vegas Book 1)

by Carina Cook

  So instead, she said, “Thank you for looking out for me. Is there anything I can do for you in return?”

  Now it was his turn to look a bit taken aback. “I’m sure there is, but I honestly don’t know where to start. I’ll have to meet with Chandra and determine the exact status of the court and what I need to be working on. I don’t think there’s anything you can do until I have that meeting.” He stopped short, some emotion flickering over his face so quickly that she couldn’t tell what it was. It worried her. She could normally read people so well, but not him. She didn’t like that.

  “What is it?” she asked, trying to remain calm. He shook his head in reply, and she almost dropped the topic. But that was exactly the kind of behavior that had driven a wedge between them in the first place. He seemed to care what she thought; what better way to test that than demanding answers from him now? So she continued: “Please tell me. I feel caught in the middle of all this, and I don’t entirely understand where I stand. It frightens me. If you really want to keep me safe, please help me understand what’s going on. Don’t shield me from things just because you think I won’t like them. I can separate my feelings from the most logical course of action. But I can’t do that if I’m uninformed, and you and my mother can’t watch me every moment of every day.”

  He considered this for a moment, his jaw tight with tension. Then he nodded.

  “Very well. Two things, then. First, I know that there are members of the court who supported Viktor and benefitted from his rule. I suspect that they would like to take revenge on you if they had the chance, but I don’t yet know who they are. I have vague theories but no proof.”

  Liss considered this. “Anyone who had a position of prominence in his court, I’d assume. They stand to potentially lose the most from the transition of power. Chandra?”

  “She’s high on the list,” he said tightly. “I’d appreciate it if you avoid her for the moment.”

  “I can agree with that, so long as you’ll tell me when you know more. Please, Gregor, don’t keep me in the dark.”

  He met her eyes levelly. “I promise to tell you what I know as soon as I can. We’ll need to learn to work together, and I’m not particularly good at it. But I’ll learn.”

  “That’s fair. Is there anything else?” she asked.

  Now he looked awkward, or as awkward as she expected he ever looked. He was usually so self-possessed, but now he cast his dark eyes down, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his immaculately tailored dress pants. He’d chosen a dark purple tie today, almost the same shade as the sofa he’d been seated on. It warmed his deep blue eyes as they looked back up at her.

  “I hesitate to ask this last part, but I promised to be honest, so…” He squared his shoulders. “Perhaps you’d like to start planning for our wedding?” She tried to leap into the conversation right there, but he held up a hand to stop her. “Before you say anything… I…” He cleared his throat with what looked like nervousness. “I won’t force you into anything, Liss. I’d like you to marry me. I think it’s the safest choice we can make for the both of us, and although we haven’t known each other for long, I think we’d make a good partnership. And if it…if it turned out to be an actual relationship, I’d be very happy indeed. But I don’t expect or require it of you. I should have said that before, but, well, I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly.”

  She laughed a little. “That makes two of us.”

  “So will you put some thought into it? Regardless of how the relationship turns out, it should be a nice event, don’t you think?”

  She nodded, not quite sure what to say.

  “Very good. I should take my leave. I have some meetings to get to. Will you please take your mother with you if you decide to leave the apartment this evening? I promise you won’t have to do it forever, but it seems wise for tonight, at least.”

  “I’ll promise.”

  “Thank you.” He smiled, taking her warm hand in his cool one and bringing it up to his lips. She flushed as he kissed the back of her hand, thinking of the night before when those lips touched other places. But he made no other move toward her. Instead, he bowed slightly and let himself out.

  In the wake of Gregor’s departure, Liss couldn’t sit still. Her mind raced, trying to untangle the web of the past few days. She didn’t know who to trust or what to think, whether her abilities to do blood magic were a blessing or a curse, or what to do next. She tried to distract herself with the spell book, but her brain was fried. All she could do was sit there and think about the things he’d said. Even when she tried to distract herself by tidying her room and putting away the rest of her things, she found herself standing over the open suitcases and stacks of boxes, running her fingers over the spot he’d kissed on her hand and trying to decide what he’d meant by it.

  Clearly, she needed a distraction. She decided to head down the hallway to the exercise room. An hour spent with the music blaring and the treadmill cranked up would give her brain the rest it needed. Maybe everything would seem clearer afterwards. The technique had always worked when she’d been stuck on a particularly difficult math problem or essay question, and it was worth a try here.

  It didn’t take long for her to find her exercise clothing and headphones. She let herself out of the apartment with only a minor pang of guilt. She’d promised Gregor that she wouldn’t leave the apartment without her mother, but she was quite literally only going next door. If she banged on the wall, Dagmar would come running.

  In the meantime, Liss did the running. It worked just like she thought it would. For the first few minutes of her warmup, she kept on obsessing, but as soon as she got into the rhythm, her mind cleared and her heart raced. All that existed was the moment, her ponytail swinging behind her, the beat of her favorite song pounding in her ears. It felt heavenly.

  Someone tapped her on the shoulder.

  Her heart skipped a beat, and she imagined all of the terrible things that could happen to her without anyone knowing. She’d turned up the music too loud and lost her opportunity to be proactive. Now there would be no pounding on the wall. Whatever—whoever—had snuck up on her would have to be dealt with alone. She whirled around, stumbling on the speeding treadmill, and nearly fell off the machine.

  Tait exclaimed something that she couldn’t hear over the music, then grabbed her arm. The grip steadied her just enough that she avoided face planting. She turned off the exercise machine and iPod in turn and then smacked him on the arm.

  “You nearly killed me!” she said.

  “I’m sorry,” he responded, rubbing the spot she’d hit like it had actually hurt. There was no way that it had. She hadn’t even put any effort into it. “I tried calling your name five times, but you didn’t hear me. You’re going to go deaf, playing your music that loud.”

  She sighed, picking up her towel and wiping her sweaty forehead. “Yeah, well, I was trying to drown out my thoughts. It was working too. Do you need something urgent, or can I at least cool down?”

  “Go ahead.”

  He moved next to the machine while she powered it up again and set it to a nice slow pace. As she began to walk, he leaned against the elliptical next to her with his arms folded in a calculated posture of ease that she recognized all too well. He usually did that when he was trying to be exceptionally charming, and he tried to be exceptionally charming when he wanted something.

  She didn’t have the patience to wait and find out what it was. Instead, she asked it straight out: “What do you want, Tait?”

  He blinked in almost comical surprise. “What do you mean? Do I have to want something in order to come see you? Can’t I just want to spend time with my sister? It’s nice to have you here after all those years of boarding school. I’ve been looking forward to it.”

  “Me too. But I still think you want something.”

  “Not at all. I mean, I’m hoping that you’ll start teaching me the trick to blood magic, but you don’t need to do it right now.” He ga
ve her a charming smile. “I’ll wait until you’re done cooling down.”

  She rolled her eyes. It was an immature gesture, but brothers brought that out in sisters and she was no exception.

  “I can’t do that, Tait. I don’t know the secret. I have no real idea how I managed to make that glyph work. That’s why I’ve been studying nonstop. Besides, I think you’re nuts wanting to learn it. Based on my limited experience, blood magic only puts a target on your back.”

  He scowled the way he used to when they were young and she’d taken something that he’d wanted. He’d grown out of that phase, though. Besides, she’d once been in a phase where she kicked him in the shins every time he talked to her, so she couldn’t exactly give him a hard time about phases.

  “I can take care of myself,” he said. “Besides, the two of us would be stronger together than we would apart. One blood mage is a target. Two siblings who do blood magic would be a force to be reckoned with. We could even take down…the whole court.”

  He dropped his voice to a whisper, looking around like maybe the vampires had decided that shady dealings were afoot in the employee gym and they might need to install spy microphones. On one hand, Liss thought that was a bit melodramatic. On the other, it wasn’t nearly cautious enough.

  “Shut up!” she hissed. “Don’t say things like that!”

  “But it’s true, you know. We could take them all down. Anyone who didn’t fall into line, we could end them. Why shouldn’t we be in charge? I bet we’d do a good job,” he said defensively.

  “Gregor is the king. He isn’t just going to step aside and let us take over,” she said quietly. She punched the button to stop the treadmill so she could meet Tait’s eyes. He needed to know how serious she was about this. “You really need to think about what you’re suggesting here. It’s dangerous.”

  “Yeah, well, how many favors has Gregor done for us? Dad and I run the casino for him. We don’t need him. And if it wasn’t for Mom, he’d have gotten staked long ago. He hasn’t liked Viktor for years but didn’t do a thing about it. It wasn’t until you came along that things changed. You saved that baby, not Gregor. Admit it.”

  Liss had to admit that Tait wasn’t lying. Everything he’d said was true, but his suggestion still left a bad taste in her mouth. He was talking about taking charge of the entire court by force. What if Gregor didn’t like it? Did Tait really expect her to make Gregor commit suicide? Or teach him how to make other members of the court stake themselves? Because if he thought she’d do that, he really didn’t know her at all. But somehow, Gregor—who barely knew her—understood why she hesitated to develop the blood magic and had spent an hour in her room, marking glyphs that he thought she’d be comfortable using. Glyphs that didn’t kill or take away the victim’s free will. How was it that the vampire she’d met yesterday understood her that well, while her own brother didn’t? She loved him, and she was fairly sure he loved her back, but sometimes she just didn’t get him.

  “You’re right, Tait, but I still don’t like it,” she said. “We need to give Gregor a chance to do things right. If he’s cruel or starts killing babies or something like that, then I’ll agree that he needs to go, but it’s too early to make that choice.”

  “That’s wishy-washy. We need to make a stand now,” he declared, standing up straight and trying to stare her down.

  She didn’t like that at all. She met his eyes with a cold stare of her own, looking down at him from atop the treadmill belt. The two siblings stood there for a moment, tension growing between them.

  Finally, Tait let out an exasperated huff. “He got to you already, huh?” he said. “Fine. When you come to your senses, you let me know.”

  “What?” she demanded. “What in the heck is that supposed to mean?”

  “You’ll find out,” he said darkly, and then he stormed out.

  CHAPTER 12

  When Gregor finally arrived to his office, tucked in a corner of the second floor near the conference rooms, his assistant Antoine jumped to his feet. Antoine was petite, immaculate, and the absolute manifestation of tact. He was always put together and completely unflappable. Antoine didn’t know that his boss was a vampire, or at least Gregor thought he didn’t know. With this particular assistant, one couldn’t be exactly sure. He would have made a good thrall, if Gregor had known anyone in need of one. Although he supposed it would be a bad idea to have someone else’s thrall work in his office, if it came to that.

  The office was immaculate as usual. Antoine ran a tight ship. Gregor’s excuse for his late hours was simple—the casino got busier in the evenings, and as the owner, he wanted to be available during prime hours. If there was a problem with a high roller, it usually happened in the evenings, and he wanted to attend to it himself. Antoine never failed to arrive an hour or two in advance of Gregor’s anticipated arrival. A few times, Gregor had caught him tidying up after the cleaning service had failed to meet his exacting specifications. Of course, neither of them were particularly big on knick-knacks or decorations. Other than a couple of paintings and an exotic plant in the corner, the furnishings tended toward the elegant but practical. Another potential opportunity for Liss to help decorate, perhaps. He wondered what a plum colored sofa would do to the overall appeal of his office suite.

  “Sir,” said Antoine, nodding. “How are you this evening?”

  “Very well, thank you. And you?”

  “I am well.” Antoine took a breath and let it out, the closest to an expression of exasperation as he’d ever gotten. “A woman named Chandra has been repeatedly telephoning you for the past hour. I promised her that I would tell you to contact her the very moment you arrived.”

  “Ah.” That hadn’t taken long. Chandra hadn’t taken much interest in him before Viktor bit the dust—she’d never phoned his office, although she’d reached out to Tait a few times—but now he couldn’t seem to shake her loose. How annoying. The two men met each other’s eyes in a rare moment of complete understanding. Neither of them were particularly happy with Chandra, but both were too well bred to say so aloud. “Did she happen to say anything else?” asked Gregor.

  “When I asked her what this was pertaining to, she said—and I quote, ‘It is a matter of personal business. He’ll know what it’s about.’ Shall I continue to screen her calls if she phones again?”

  Gregor sighed. “No, no. That won’t be necessary. Put her through the next time she calls, please. Best to get it all over with.”

  Antoine gave him a look but said nothing. Gregor could only imagine what his assistant thought of him. Perhaps he imagined Chandra was a former fling, or a girlfriend? It wouldn’t do his image harm to appear to have a social life—it would make him look more human, he thought—but he quelled at the thought of being linked to Chandra in that manner. Liss, on the other hand…he could happily see introducing Liss to Antoine. He could take her down to the casino floor each night and have a private dinner ordered in for them. Even if he couldn’t eat, he could sit with her while she dined. They could converse, just like a normal couple.

  “I should prep for my meeting with the Lorenssons,” continued Gregor. “Are the weekly reports printed yet?”

  “Yes, sir. They’re on your desk. I’ve taken the liberty of pulling last week’s reports for comparative purposes as well.”

  “Thank you,” Antoine,” said Gregor, but before he could disappear into the inner sanctum of his office, the door opened behind him. The scent of perfume washed over him, cloying in its intensity.

  “There you are!” exclaimed Chandra.

  He recognized her voice before he turned around, and so he could arrange his features into what he thought was a suitable expression. Pleasant but not overly familiar. He didn’t want to encourage her, after all.

  She gave him a toothy smile, like she was trying extra hard to project how positively thrilled she was to see him and how she couldn’t have waited any longer. It was all a bit overdone, just like her perfume. She’d picked a nice
black dress, then topped it off with giant, ostentatious jewelry that begged to be noticed. Her makeup would have been nice if she’d been a little less aggressive with it. As it was, her drawn-in eyebrows gave her a look of perpetual surprise.

  Gregor couldn’t help but compare her appearance to Liss’s. It was less about their personal physical characteristics and more about the application thereof. Liss carried herself with understated elegance. Although her family was wealthy as a result of their relationship with the Renaissance—and with him—she didn’t make a point of displaying it. Chandra’s appearance demanded respect she hadn’t necessarily earned. Liss trusted in her own ability to earn it. With that comparison in mind, Chandra came off as a bit pitiful to Gregor. He knew she was foundering; she’d never dressed like this when Viktor was alive. The whole situation had clearly thrown her for a loop. Perhaps now that she’d had a moment to think about it, she might have rethought her position on Liss?

  So he swallowed his distaste and concern and greeted her politely. “Chandra. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting so long. I was unavoidably detained.”

  “Everyone wants a piece of you now, don’t they?” she simpered. “Poor dear.”

  He tried not to react as she patted him on the arm like a particularly sensitive pet in need of soothing lest it go wild.

  “What can I do for you? My apologies for being so abrupt, but as you mentioned, my time is in high demand lately,” he replied, well aware of Antoine’s listening ears. Although Antoine had made a point of busying himself with paperwork. If anyone could deliberately turn his ears off, it would be Antoine, but Gregor wanted to take no chances.