“Look sharp,” Merrick said as the doors slid open to reveal the nightclub he lived above. His club.
The Crimson’s décor was inspired by its name. Large framed black-and-white prints of glamorous women hung in corners, the only color being their merlot-colored lipstick. Small vases of crimson roses sat on each black marble-topped table. One wall was papered in smoky pewter with deep red crushed-velvet vines crawling across it. On the balconied second floor, plush burgundy couches and chaises encouraged people to recline and do things better left unnamed.
Merrick wondered what Alissa would think of the place when she saw it. Would it be too dramatic and sensual for her? The only thing he could recall about the inside of the Etherlin mansion he’d been in was that the place had been brightly lit and unremittingly beige.
He nodded to the bartender and walked to the back of the club. He opened the door to a private room and found Cato Jacobi and two of his guys sitting at the copper table. They each had a drink in hand, and Candy, one of the Crimson waitresses, was topping off Cato’s tumbler.
He and his guys stood when Merrick and Ox entered.
“You mind if we get right to it?” Cato asked when they were all seated.
“Go ahead,” Merrick said.
“You violated the rules tonight. Came into my territory uninvited. Took something that belongs to me.”
“You’re misinformed,” Merrick said.
“You deny it?” Cato scoffed.
Merrick simply stared at him, causing Cato to explode into curses.
“Look, I know it was you,” Cato snapped as he pulled out a small manila envelope. He opened the clasp and dramatically pulled out several photographs, slapping them on the table in front of Merrick.
Merrick spread them out, glanced them over, and restacked them. The pictures had been taken from a security camera outside Cato Jacobi’s building, and they showed Merrick carrying an unconscious Alissa North away from the building, but there was nothing about his clothes to identify him, and his face was covered by the mask.
“Who’s the girl?” Merrick asked.
“You know who she is!” Cato snapped. “I want her back. And I want a big friggin’ payout since you came into my territory without talking to me.”
“She looks familiar. She looks a little like that heiress from the perfume commercials, but I know it can’t be, because only a moron would think he could get away with kidnapping a muse from the heart of the Etherlin. That would open the Varden up to the biggest crackdown we’ve ever seen. Extremely bad for business.”
“Oh, no,” Cato said, showing off a crooked smile. “I’ve got it covered. An insurance policy. They’re not going to come after her.”
Merrick narrowed his eyes. “Why not?”
“None of your goddamned business. Just get her ass down here. And I’ll take fifty grand to start for your little joyride across the border.”
Merrick slid the envelope to him and stood. “Nice of you to visit tonight, Cato, but don’t make a habit of it.”
“We’ll bring my car around back,” Jacobi said. “Your guy here can bring the girl and the money down to it.”
Merrick shook his head. “The guy in the pictures could be anyone.”
“The hell it could!”
“And if she’s so important, maybe you should’ve tried a little harder to hold on to her.”
“You son-of-a-bitch,” Cato shouted, pulling out his gun.
Merrick slammed Cato’s wrist to the table, causing the gun to drop with a clatter. “You don’t want to do that, Cato.”
Cato panted, saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth. “What are you going to do, Merrick? Kill me? My father knows I’m here.” When Merrick didn’t answer, Cato narrowed his eyes. “Go ahead and do me then. See what it buys you. You may have been a great enforcer, but you’re still only one guy. And you’re not popular these days with the syndicate. They’d like an excuse to take your head.”
Merrick picked up Cato’s gun and tossed it to Ox, who caught it. “Thanks for the gun. Have a safe drive home.”
“You’re making a mistake!” Cato shouted as Ox ushered him and his men out of the room.
It took about ten minutes for Ox to reappear. When he did, he was grinning. “You’re slick, boss,” Ox said. “There’s no way they can prove it was you.”
“What’s the most interesting thing Jacobi said tonight?”
“What caught my attention is different than what caught yours, boss.”
Merrick cocked his head. “Yeah?”
“Well, he said the syndicate’s pissed at you. That’s because you won’t take any more enforcer jobs, and you’re the best. They thought when they gave you this part of the Varden you were going to stay their boy. They see it as payment.”
“How do I see it?” Merrick asked.
“You paid a boatload of money for this patch of concrete. I think you figure you bought it outright and don’t owe the syndicate anything.”
Merrick nodded.
“It still gets my attention,” Ox continued, “that they’re pissed at you though, because it’s my job to make sure no one cuts off your head. But since having people gunning for you never bothers you, I know that’s not what interested you about what Jacobi said.”
“You’re right.”
Ox grinned. “See. I told you that you wouldn’t be sorry for taking me on. I can almost read your mind these days, boss.”
“So then you know what I’m going to say.”
“Well,” Ox said sheepishly. “I know you wanna know why Jacobi’s so damn convinced the family of the baby-doll upstairs is going to write her off.”
“Exactly, but I think we can guess what’s involved.”
“We can?”
“Call Tobin. Get him here and put him on ice until I’m ready to talk to him.”
“What are you going to do, boss? Nothin’ that will give the syndicate an excuse to take you out, I hope.”
Merrick shrugged. “I’ve never had much of an appetite for playing it safe, Ox. Besides, what’s the point of me paying you, unless I expect the syndicate to send a crew for my head one of these days?”
Alissa peeled the tape from the crook of her arm and exhaled slowly as she slid the intravenous line from her vein. A small drop of dark blood welled in the hollow until she bent her arm up tight.
Still a bit woozy, she emerged carefully from the cloud of bedding. She wished she could stay resting, but knew she shouldn’t. She needed to get home before she was missed.
At least she’d made the muse-powered suggestion to her father that he rest. Between that and his depression, he’d be asleep for at least twelve hours. Considering her situation, she was glad she didn’t have to worry about him until morning.
She padded to the door and pushed it open. Her gaze darted around the dimly lit parlor, drinking it in. The black-and-white furniture. The highly polished metal and silver blue accents. A small bronze statue of a dancing Egyptian girl charming a snake. Another of a half-naked female huntress. Art Deco, she realized. One of her favorite periods. She regretted that she needed to leave so quickly.
She looked around for a phone. Etherlin Security had a helicopter, and when Grant learned she’d been kidnapped, he’d keep her visit to the Varden a secret. Would there be a place for him to land? On the roof, perhaps? Should she check it before she called?
She wondered if he would be able to get out of the Etherlin without people noticing. Her future depended on Grant’s discretion, but things wouldn’t be completely under his control. The community— Her thought broke off midstream as she thought about Etherlin Security. How could Cato Jacobi or any ventala have managed to get her out? If she’d been awake, she’d have fought. Someone should’ve noticed. And why couldn’t she remember? It seemed like the drugging must have preceded the abduction. But how?
The words hung there. She didn’t want to finish the thought, but couldn’t help herself. Had someone helped this Jacobi? Someone she knew
? The vote was only a few days away, and she was favored to win. She thought of Cerise, Dorie, and Ileana, the other three Etherlin muses, any of whom might benefit from her being out of the way, but she couldn’t imagine any of them knowing someone from the Varden, let alone helping him kidnap a muse.
A soft beeping startled her. A moment later, the main door opened and Merrick stepped inside. There was no one with him, and the expression on his handsome face was inscrutable.
“What did the kidnapper say? How did he get me out of the Etherlin?”
“We didn’t get into those details.”
“Have you heard anything? Has there been a news story about an assault on the Etherlin? Maybe someone detonating a part of the wall?”
“No.”
Her hand rested lightly on a console table, and she shook her head in confusion. “How could he have gotten in, found me, drugged me, and gotten us out?”
“There are only a few people in the world who could’ve broken into the Etherlin undetected. Cato Jacobi isn’t one of them.”
“Are you?”
He nodded. “But if I’d taken you, you would have woken up here. Not at his place.”
She sank into a chair. “I don’t understand what happened.”
He leaned against the wall, watching her. “There were traces of black magic clinging to your skin.”
She looked down at herself.
“It’s gone. I washed it off you. How’d it get there?”
“I have no idea.” She shook her head. “There are no practitioners of black magic in the Etherlin. I must have been exposed to it in Cato Jacobi’s apartment.”
“His place wasn’t the source. When I was on the balcony, I would’ve been able to tell if it had come from inside.”
She shrugged. “Then I’m not sure.”
“You’ve never used it for anything? A ritual or a rite?”
“Never. I wouldn’t.”
“So it happened during the time period that you can’t remember. It was probably used to alter your consciousness.”
Someone had forced black magic on her? Used it in a way that made her lose her memory, like a date-rape drug? She shuddered, wishing she could stand under a hot shower and scrub her skin for an hour. What else had been done to her? There was no soreness between her legs. She didn’t feel as if she’d been raped. Apparently, Cato Jacobi had felt the time was better spent drinking her blood, but the way he’d acted in his apartment suggested that he would’ve gotten around to rape quickly enough. Maybe he’d wanted her to be awake for that part. Sleazy bastard.
She glanced at Merrick, experiencing another rush of gratitude. She was incredibly lucky that he’d found her.
“Mr. Merrick, I don’t have any real experience getting out of trouble because I don’t normally get into it. May I hire you? I need your advice and expertise.”
The corner of his mouth curved up. “There’s only one kind of work-for-hire that I do.”
She frowned. “I understand.”
“No, I don’t think you do. I said you can’t hire me. I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you.”
She raised her eyebrows. “What would you hope for in return?”
“Longer letters?”
She laughed softly, surprised and charmed. “I don’t believe for a minute that that’s the only thing you hope to gain.”
“I’m going to have a drink. I’ll make you one, too. Then you can tell me what illegal or immoral activities you’ve been involved in.”
“What?” she exclaimed. “Why would you say that?”
“Cato Jacobi came here to get you back, effectively announcing that he’d had you kidnapped. He wouldn’t have done that if he expected repercussions from your side of the wall. What could he know that would make your family and friends refuse to come after you?”
“Nothing…” She trailed off, thinking of her father. Even if someone had found out about that, she couldn’t imagine anyone helping a ventala to kidnap her. That was effectively being an accomplice to murder, since most ventala would have bled her to death—as Jacobi almost had. She clenched her teeth. Had she really been betrayed by someone she knew? If so, that person couldn’t be allowed to get away with it. Alissa would have to find out who had done it, and why.
Merrick stood at the bar, his back to her. The sound of ice sliding along the walls of a cocktail shaker filled the air. “We don’t have a lot of time.”
“Mr. Merrick, if you give your word, do you honor it?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I’ve heard that you do…keep your word, despite the way you make your living.” She paused, sitting up straighter. “Will you give me your word that you’ll keep what I tell you a secret? And that if you’re not inclined to help me, you won’t prevent me from leaving?”
“I will be inclined to help you, and I will let you leave,” he said, his voice as smooth as the polished steel of the shaker. He strained a mixture that looked like hazy sunlight into a chilled cocktail glass.
She took a deep breath and exhaled, rubbing her forehead.
This subject makes her weary, Merrick thought.
“I’ve been secretly using my influence to help someone. I’ve lied about it. If anyone from the Etherlin found out what I’ve been doing, I would get into a great deal of trouble.”
He walked over to her and held out the glass. “Who have you been helping?”
She tilted her head, her pale blue eyes widening slightly in an innocent expression that made Merrick both hungry and wary. “I’d rather not say.”
“All right. Leave that for now. But ultimately, you’re still doing good. As a muse, that’s your thing. What’s the problem?”
“To be entitled to a muse’s energy and efforts, a person has to work extremely hard and has to have talent or intelligence, ingenuity and drive. Do you understand? There aren’t a lot of muses. Our focused attention facilitates the greatest inventions, the greatest works of literature, feats of athleticism, scientific discoveries…If a muse expends energy on someone who isn’t capable of doing something extraordinary with it, then what happens to the person who could have created a masterpiece or the next technological revolution? It’s actually a weakness in my character that I haven’t stopped.”
Merrick suppressed a smile. This was her big secret? That she was helping someone? Even if it was the wrong person, he couldn’t believe that if she were caught, her community would throw her out.
“You’re quite the rule breaker,” he said diplomatically.
She ran a hand through her hair. “Apparently so. I sent letters to you.”
“I don’t think Cato Jacobi’s insurance policy against retribution is that you’re misusing your magic. There isn’t anything else?”
“Only the letters, but if someone from the Etherlin knew about them, they could just expose me. They wouldn’t need to get involved with a ventala.”
“Maybe Jacobi has leverage over someone there.”
“Could this Jacobi have found out about my letters from someone who works for you?”
“Nothing’s impossible, but it’s unlikely.”
“Because you’re very discreet and keep the letters locked up?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes, but more important, because I have a reputation. When I was an enforcer, I found whoever I hunted. Always. Besides, if Jacobi knew about the letters, he’d have said so tonight. A connection between you and me would be more evidence to support a charge he wants to make against me.”
“What charge?”
“That I stole you from his balcony.”
Her brows shot up. “You rescued a kidnap victim. What charge could he possibly make and who could he make it to?”
He returned to the bar. “Trespassing, for one.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she snapped.
He smiled. On the surface, Alissa North looked like an ice queen, but underneath she was pure fire. It was an irresistible combination. He poured scotch, then squeezed the juice from a lim
e wedge into the glass.
“Scotch Lime. Mr. Hemingway invented that,” she said.
“How do you know?”
“I’ve seen memories of him in Key West.”
He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Seen memories? That’s some magic you people have.”
“Yes,” she said, smiling. “I’d rather not lose my place in the Etherlin. Me being here, being bitten, getting an unscreened blood transfusion…” She shuddered. “Even though it wasn’t my fault, there would be unpleasant consequences for me.”
He’d heard rumors, had seen how cautious the muse-heiresses always were. The risk of being tossed out of their community was always there.
She took a sip of her drink. “This is very good, by the way.” She swallowed slowly. “You were able to get into the Etherlin once. Can you get me home without anyone knowing?”
He wanted to say no. The darkest part of his soul did not want to return her to where she belonged. It wanted to keep her. The vampire’s blood wanted to lock her in a tower with stone gargoyle sentries. Those rose-petal lips and crystalline eyes were a temptation that gnawed at his insides. He moved his hands behind his back so that he could clasp them into fists without her seeing.
“I can’t take you back the way I’d go in,” he said, and waited for her reaction. He wanted her to accept that she’d have to stay with him. Of course, that wouldn’t be her reaction, but he still held his tongue.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she murmured, tilting her head, soft blonde hair skimming her shoulder. “I do have a friend who I’m sure will help me conceal that I’ve been here when I tell him about the kidnapping. But he’ll be wary and watchful. For a while, he’ll probably insist on overseeing my work and my life. I won’t be able to risk sending you letters.” She studied his face. “For a while,” she added. “I could write again later. If you still want me to.”
He liked the way the statement implored him to respond in the affirmative. He would have anyway, but there was no denying that the lilt to her voice was pure muse. It had a pull, a sway, that spoke to the human half of him.
“There won’t be an interruption of the letters. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll wonder if you’re all right, and I’ll be inclined to come and check,” he said.
All That Bleeds Page 5
