"Thanks, Mark. But I'm... um... seeing someone. I... I can't, sorry."
He looked crestfallen, I felt like a chump. But if I had to be cruel to be kind, then I would. Mark Anderson did not deserve this kind of life.
It looked like he would accept it. For a moment I had hope. Then a shadow fell over our table and the scent of cinnamon, bark and mixed spices reached my nose. Mark turned abruptly toward the intruder, placing his bulk between me and the threat.
"Yes, Mr. Vardi. Can I help you?" he asked the Master of the City.
"Detective Anderson," Jett drawled, his eyes not even glancing at me. "How nice of you to visit my club. I hope you are enjoying yourself. Miss Deverell is one of my best employees. Have you known each other long?"
I had no idea what Jett was playing at, but Mark relaxed at Jett's friendly demeanour and took hold of my hand in his, I don't think he realised he had done it. A blush crept up my cheeks, Jett's eyes flicked to my face and then returned with equal swiftness to meet Mark's gaze.
"Since high school, actually," Mark replied. "Georgia and I were just catching up on old times. I was about leave, unfortunately." He glanced back at me, realised he was holding my hand, released his grip and gave me a rueful and sad smile. Mouthwatering white chocolate and strawberry cheesecake wrapped around my tongue.
Regret. It could have been mine, but I think it was his.
"Don't leave on my account," Jett offered, then turned his steely gaze to me. "Georgia has told me so much about you. I do hope you will be seeing each other again."
Mark stood then and Jett having no choice, lest he come chest to chest with the man, stepped back. "Ah, it would seem my timing is off," Mark admitted softly.
"Not at all, I'd say your timing is perfect. We were all hoping Georgia would jump back in the saddle again soon." Jett smiled at Mark and I was thinking it looked a little creepy. He placed a hand on the detective's shoulder and leaned in conspiratorially. "None of us liked the last guy."
"The last guy?" Mark asked and then turned to look at me. "But you said..."
I just shook my head, my mouth hanging open. I could see the train wreck ahead of me and there was no avoiding it now. I turned my gaze slowly towards the vampire at Mark's back and glared at him. His lips twitched and sticky toffee hung in the air.
"I..." What the hell do I say now?
"You'll have to handle her with kid gloves, detective," Jett was saying, "she's been reluctant to let anyone in, but I'm sure you'll be perfect for her."
I swallowed, holding Jett's determined gaze. He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head towards Mark, as if to say, well get on with it, suck all you can from this human; information, common sense, blood, love, and only leave behind an empty husk. This was crazy out of control. But, I hadn't counted on a conniving and manipulative, insensitive and uncaring Master Vampire of the City manoeuvring me into a corner like this.
"OK," Jett said jovially. "I'll leave you two alone to organise your first date." And then he turned on his heel and disappeared into the throng on the dance floor.
If this was happening to anyone else but me, I would have thought it a joke. I looked at the man before me and realised I had two choices here. Disobey Jett and keep Mark safe, thereby possibly exposing myself as Jett would surely use my disobedience as cause enough to disclose my talents to the Iunctio and therefore chance the final death.
Or, do what I had to do to survive. I could tread carefully, make sure I never glazed Mark again and kill two birds with one stone. Get the information needed to solve the crime and release Stu, and keep Jett off my back.
You might think it was an easy decision. To most vampires it would have been. Survival at all cost is our number one rule. But I am not most vampires. There is part of me filled with so much Light it could blind. It was that part that cried a sound of pure sadness and heartache in my mind when I finally smiled at Mark and said, "What time do you want me to turn up?"
Chapter 10
Surprise
Mark left not long afterwards. I was pleased to see him go, finding it difficult to look him in the eye and know that his life had been irretrievably altered by my interference. I'd have to get over this guilt by tomorrow night, when I would face him over an intimate dinner for two. I'd made my decision, I just had to learn to live with it now.
The rest of the evening was uneventful, I managed four hours behind the bar. Not the normal length of my shift, but I told myself, if Jett docked my pay I would argue I had been on the clock all along. Just not fulfilling my contractual obligations as a bartender, but certainly filling my verbally agreed obligations as a vampire in his city. Jett had basically employed me to investigate what Mark knew about these cases. Even if we hadn't signed a contract, his words were commitment enough.
And now he knew about my scenting abilities. Even though we hadn't come to a final agreement on how he would use those skills, I knew my talents were now at his beck and call. Until I found something to hold over his head, the ball was firmly in his court. At one word from him, the Iunctio would come calling and I didn't, for a moment, think they wouldn't be able to identify what I was. And when they did, I would be dead. Finally dead, that is.
I couldn't allow myself to feel the angst at those thoughts. For now it served Jett not to let the Iunctio know. He needed these murders solved, he needed me. But it hadn't failed to register with me that I was in a lose-lose situation. Don't solve the murders and Stu rots in jail, or solve the murders and Jett will feel free to advise the vampire governing body of my unique talents.
It sucked to be me.
Just as I was about to leave for the evening, Doug having closed the bar, Kara walked into the club. No doubt the bouncer having recognised her as my friend and letting her inside before he vacated his post. I hadn't expected to see her. I had planned on phoning tomorrow and giving her an update, but as she was here and all the Norms had finally left the bar, I decided now was as good a time as any.
I pulled a Vanilla Vodka mixer out of the chiller and held it up for her inspection as she hopped onto a barstool. She smiled at Doug and then shook her head at me.
"Can I try one of those new ones?" she asked in way of greeting.
I hesitated, unsure if I liked the idea of her drinking the Vive la Vodka flavour, but unable to come up with an obvious reason why not, removed the lid and slid the bottle across the counter towards her. She took a sip immediately and let out a sigh.
"So, how's your night been, Gigs?"
"Eventful," I answered, coming around her side of the bar and settling into a stool. I hadn't wasted the Vanilla Vodka, it now firmly rested in my hand and I took a sip. "Things are progressing, I met a fairy interested in the murder cases."
"A fairy? Wow, I always wanted to meet a real honest to goodness fairy."
I huffed out a laugh in reply. "This one does not play at the bottom of the garden, trust me, he's not the sort of fairy you'd want to meet. But..." - I took a breath in, resigning myself to the fact that Aliath may well be an important source of information, but having no idea how to get back in touch with him again. - "he could prove useful."
"Have you proved Stu is innocent?" she asked downing most of her mixer in one.
I ran a hand over my face. I wanted to tell Kara what I had uncovered, but everything so far was supernatural. I knew Stu was innocent, but in a human, Norm, court of law, it would be inadmissible. Getting her hopes up now was not a good idea.
"I'm onto something, but nothing firm yet. It's gonna take time, hon, but we'll get there. I promise."
People often say you shouldn't make a promise you can't keep. I agree. But I firmly believed we would find a way to get Stu off. At the very least, I could always break him out of jail and smuggle him overseas. After all, I was a big bad vampire, surely for a good cause I could bend a rule or two.
"Have you managed to catch up with Mark?" she asked finishing up with her drink, I had barely had three sips of mine. Gotta love that Vive La Vodka mix, Nor
ms went crazy over it. Doug opened another for her before I even had a chance to think about it, and then went back to his post closing tasks. "Thanks Doug!" she said taking a healthy swig of drink.
I shook my head in disbelief.
"Ah, Mark," I said, ignoring her obvious alcoholic problems. "I have a date," I announced and OK, maybe it was a mixed up, fucked up idea of a date, but it was the first date of any description I'd had since being turned. Part of me was pretty chuffed, to say the least.
And then the part of me that liked to remind myself of how alien my life had become, reminded me that I was dining with Mark at Jett's insistence and Mark was under a messed up vampire glaze. Great!
"Ooo," Kara replied, waggling her eyebrows at me. "Where's he taking you?"
"Dinner at his place."
"Whoohoo!" she squealed, I cringed. "An intimate, private setting. Just think how much trouble you could get up to. Hmmm," she added, finger tapping her lips in contemplation. "I wonder what he'll offer for dessert?" Then she giggled as though she'd had several Vodka Mixers not just one and a half.
I shook my head. "I'm not that kind of girl." She just laughed harder, almost falling off her stool.
Then she suddenly said, "I feel funny."
"Yeah, you're a laugh a minute. A regular comedienne." I took another sip of my drink ignoring her theatrics. Sometimes Kara could really act the fool.
"No," she said, voice a little quiet. "That drink has gone straight to my head."
I took a deep breath in, savouring her scents. Honeysuckle met my nostrils, but also a good dollop of apple mixed with lime. Her reaction to the drink had confused her, she wasn't mucking about.
"That's enough of that stuff for you, young lady," I said grabbing her now near empty bottle and moving to throw it in the recycling bin.
Her hand reached out and snatched the drink out of my grasp as quickly as any vampire. I was stunned. She downed the last of the liquid within and then, with a slightly shaky hand, returned the bottle to me. I stared at her now slightly dilated eyes.
"I thought you didn't like how it made you feel?" I asked.
"I don't," she replied not making any sense.
OK then.
"You gonna head home, hon?" I asked finishing my bottle and placing both empty vessels in the bin.
"I feel like partying," she announced, surprising me again.
"It's almost dawn, Kara. Nothing’s open now."
"Maybe one of your vampire friends wants to party with me." This was not like Kara, she steered clear of all those creatures I identified as other. She knew not to trust them. She could barely trust me. This only proved she was more drunk than I had suspected. She must have had quite a few drinks tonight, before she headed here. I could think of no other reason for her blatant lack of fear this evening.
Before I even had a chance to answer her a vampire appeared at our shoulder, then leaned against the bar top beside Kara, a handsome, mischievous smile gracing his lips.
"Are you looking for some fun, sweetheart?" he said seductively.
"No, she is not, Marcus," I replied standing up straighter and moving to take a step between the new threat and my friend.
Marcus turned his gaze to me and smirked. "Georgia, I will take good care of her, you can trust me."
"No," I said, my hands already itching to reach my stake. I forcefully returned them to my sides. It would not do me any good to pull a stake in here. Some of those vampires left behind after the doors closed were not friends of Lucinda's, like Marcus was. I couldn't afford to disclose that side of me right now.
"I think she can make her own mind up," he replied, running a hand up the side of Kara's arm. She leaned further into him, caught by his glaze.
"Stop it," I said, quietly. "She is off limits."
Marcus didn't break eye contact with Kara, he simply ramped up the Sanguis Vitam and made her lean forward for a kiss.
The room turned a hazy shade of red. I had always feared that Kara would get caught up in my dangerous world. She already knew too much. Marcus was not a bad vampire, he just was. Any vampire would have taken the opportunity to capture Kara - a willing participant in their games - in his net. She didn't know what she was doing, but she welcomed it anyway. Still, right then the rules didn't matter. Explanations were hollow and didn't count. Kara was mine to protect and Marcus was encroaching on my turf.
My hand was on my stake about to pull it out of my jacket and end Marcus's life once and for all, when Jett simply walked between us. One hand on my arm preventing me from revealing what I held to the room, the other around Marcus's throat.
"Release her," he said and his Sanguis Vitam swam around me and made me reluctantly relax.
"Master of the City," Marcus replied, not removing his eyes from my friend. "This is a sanctioned hunt. I am within my rights."
"I rescind your rights. I lay claim to this human," Jett replied in his low, gruff voice. I just watched in shock, unable to utter a single sound. Jett's Sanguis Vitam held me in its grasp.
Marcus broke eye contact and therefore his glaze on Kara, she slumped to the bar top, head resting on her arms.
"I thought she belonged to the loner," Marcus replied, standing up a little taller, no doubt registering things were about to head south.
The loner he referred to would be me. I have no claimed Master, the Rogue that turned me has disappeared and never placed a claim on me. Besides, I was unsure if my unusual circumstances at my turning would mean he was my master still at all. But his absence meant I was officially classed as on my own. This meant, although I am a level four Sanguis Vitam Master, I am considered beneath the status of Marcus who is under the line of the most powerful vampire in the city, Michel Durand.
As such, Marcus could bully his way in on my possessions if he so chose. I would fight him, and if I managed to get him on his own, I could bring him the final death. I had no doubt, but right now, in front of so many, it was debatable. I was inordinately grateful that Jett had prevented me from showing my hand tonight. But, that only left the question of if he knew what I was about to do, then I was already in up to my neck.
"Georgia is mine," Jett announced and that made me break free a little from his hold. I rounded on him and placed my hands on my hips about to tell him what I really thought about that statement, but his Sanguis Vitam just slammed back into me pinning me back to my seat.
"She has not joined your line," Marcus argued and I could only think the guy had a death wish pushing Jett on this.
"Not yet, but we are in negotiations. She will join before long." In a way, Jett hadn't lied. We were in some form of negotiations. He'd threatened to expose my secrets if I didn't join his line. There was even a time-frame on the threat, once the cases were solved I would have to make a decision. To Jett, I had no choice, I was as good as his.
I slumped into the barstool admitting, for now, defeat. Marcus saw my response and immediately bowed to the Master of the City, hand fisted across chest in a vampire show of respect and deference. "Forgive me, Master of the City. I did not know. I shall retreat and lay no further claim."
Jett grunted in reply and Marcus made a quick exit, flashing from the bar completely, taking refuge in what was left of the night. Those vampires who had been watching the exchange avidly, also disappeared, the only vamp to remain, other than myself and Jett, was Doug. Doug is not of Jett's line, he comes under Michel. But for some reason there is trust between the two men. Doug runs Jett's bar, but Jett has no claim to him other than being his boss and the Master of the City he resides in. It is an unusual basis for trust in the vampire world. But there you go. Jett has a loyalty to Michel I have never fully understood, therefore he tolerates Michel's vampire in his club.
"Doug take Georgia's friend home, see to it that she comes to no harm." Jett said, his eyes never leaving me.
Doug nodded and I wanted to intervene, but I knew in my heart that Doug would follow that request to the letter. Even so, I wanted to scream and rage, to
stand up and cover Kara's body, protect her from the creatures in our midst. But I couldn't move, I could only shake my head and swallow past the anger - and I admit, fear - in my throat. Jett had not finished with me, his Sanguis Vitam said as much.
We remained silent and still, while Doug gathered up my best friend and left the room. Several seconds passed before Jett began to speak.
"Let's get a couple of things out in the open, kitten." He took a seat beside me at the bar and lifted his arm. I watched as a bottle of Steinlager beer floated from the glass fronted chiller into his hand. I wasn't as practised with telekinesis as him, it still made me catch my breath. He took a swig and positioned himself comfortably, leaning against the top of the bar. "We have a contract. You will do everything in your power to solve these murder cases as quickly as you can, using all of your talents where necessary." The way he emphasised the all made me think he knew more than he was letting on. I just shook my head to try to clear that unwanted thought and waited for him to continue. "Whilst you do that, I will offer protection to you and yours." Yours, meaning Kara. "When the cases are solved, you will join my line and we will continue that agreement. If you do not join my line, I will divulge your secrets and you will once again be on your own." He was only repeating what we had already more or less discussed in the past, but by making a formal statement, he was setting it all in stone.
Words mean a lot to vampires, he was making sure I understood how much it all meant to him.
I lifted my head and looked into his pale blue eyes, a smattering of cyan swirled in their midst. He held my gaze and refused to let me look away.
"Do you understand, kitten?" He paused waiting for me to answer, I held my tongue trying to think of an out, but coming up blank. "Say yes now, sweet."
I think I was beginning to hate him. I let that bleed into my eyes. His lips twitched at the edges and the obligatory sticky toffee wafted between us on the air. He slowly reached up and for a moment I thought his fingers would brush my cheek, but they didn't make it that far. His hand opened my jacket and he peered into the pocket inside.
Mixed Blessing (Mixed Blessing Mystery, Book 1) Page 12
