Promise Me Anthology

by Tara Fox Hall

  “You’re really going to fire him?” Thane said darkly, glaring at Tony over the rim of his scotch glass.

  “Yes,” Tony answered, smoothing the lapels of his expensive Brooks Brothers suit. “Then he’s going to have an accident. Dumb man can’t choose if he should leave his wife or leave his mistress. You’ve seen both of them with him. There’s no contest.”

  Thane smirked slightly. “Richard never understood his blessing in Anita.”

  Tony frowned at him. “That’s his wife, right?”

  “I’m sorry I’m late, Tony,” Angelica said, opening the door slightly to peek inside the office. “I overslept.” She watched her two bosses carefully as they studied her, hoping they hadn’t had a stressful morning. If they had, she’d might be looking for a new job. But both were in clean expensive suits, their dark hair freshly combed, clean shaven, looking as if they just came into work. That was a good sign.

  Thane had his scotch glass filled, but Angelica knew better than to think he was drinking this early. The whiskey was an affectation. Thane truly believed he should look the part of a movie perfect Italian Mafioso at all times. Just why that was important she’d never understood, only that Thane's odd quirk didn’t make him any less dangerous.

  “That’s a new one,” Thane said harshly, yet his smile was in his black eyes as he beheld her. “Are you sure it wasn’t a new love?”

  “No,” Angelica stammered, flushing. “I mean, yes, I’m sure.”

  Thane chuckled.

  Tony had picked the phone up again and dialed another number. “Get me Dalcon. Yes, I know it is late morning, Lash, but I need to speak with him, please.”

  Tony never said please to anyone. Get out, quick, before you hear something you shouldn’t! Angelica hurriedly looked away. “Excuse me, Tony. I didn’t know you were on the phone—”

  “Please leave, Angel,” Tony said, his tone also kind, but clear that he expected obedience.

  Angelica shut the door, then went back to her desk. She opened her compact to look at her face, then tossed it aside. What was the point? I look like hell.

  At least I still have a job. Most runaways that were 15 years old got sent right back to their parents. At best, they could hope for foster care. Angelica had been blessed by her strict father’s religious upbringing to always be a lady. Her politeness when she’d come to his door asking for work had impressed Tony, along with his appreciation for her leggy fragile beauty. Not that he’d ever taken advantage, because he hadn’t. But if she’d been ugly as a dog, she probably wouldn’t be sitting here at this desk no matter how polite she’d been.

  Tony paid for her furnished apartment and gave her a small check for expenses every two weeks. He’d arranged for a fake ID for her to say she was eighteen. He’d even given her a small compact car, too. While he made it clear, he expected her utter loyalty in return for his benefaction, Angelica was happy to give it. She didn’t have expensive tastes. Not that she wouldn’t mind developing some...

  Angelica turned on her computer and logged on, checking out various internet sites. There was no point fantasizing about “someday” with a man who only saw her as a child.

  While there wasn’t much to do on a daily basis as Tony’s secretary, part of Angelica’s job was researching various organizations and people that Tony left for her in a daily list on her desk. It wasn’t usually exciting, but at least it wasn’t hard. Angelica didn’t pretend that Tony wanted the information just out of curiosity. Some places were obviously ones he intended to shakedown for profit or favors. Others...they obviously had pissed him off for some reason. Tony had several gunmen working for him. The one in charge of office security—and Tony’s personal safety—was Geo. With the amount that man was paid per week, he had to be doing a lot more than standing around an office all day with a holstered gun.

  I just do my job and keep my mouth shut and hopefully I don’t ever see anyone’s name I know on one of Tony’s lists...or open my apartment door to find Geo waiting for me...

  There was a sound of commotion outside the office doors, then three men came in. All of them had on long coats. As one, they headed toward her with purpose.

  Silent alarm time. Angelica felt under the desk, and pressed the small button that meant there was someone with a gun in the main office. It would alert Tony within his private headquarters, as well as his various men in other parts of the building. Please let Geo be close! Then she pasted a smile on her face, trying hard to keep it from wavering. “Can I help you?”

  “Yeah,” one man said, drawing a Beretta. “Get your boss out here.”

  Angelica picked up the phone, and dialed Tony as slowly as she dared. “There are three men out here to see you.”

  “Are they armed?” he replied quietly. There was the sound of guns being cocked in the background.

  “I think they want you to come talk to them,” Angelica stated. “I’m not sure what it’s about.”

  Tony hung up.

  “I think you warned him, Princess,” the frontman said with slitted eyes. “So maybe we need to do something else, since you and your boss are so close!” The man yanked her forward, grabbing her hand. Angelica struggled, then let out a terrified scream. Another ragged cry followed on its heels as the man placed her hand at the end of the desk and slammed the desk door on it, the crack of her breaking finger loud in the silence.

  “Get out here, Tony, or we’ll hurt her bad,” the man called. “We just want to talk to you—”

  Shots emitted from the stairwell to her left. Angelica’s attacker sagged to the side, a hole blossoming in his forehead. The other two men panicked, firing wildly into the direction of the stairwell as Angelica ducked behind her desk. Both were hit with return fire and fell to the floor, groaning.

  A robust light-skinned man with pale grey eyes darted in, scanning the room. Five more men followed him. Geo shot both wounded men again where they lay, killing them. “You can come out, Tony.”

  Angelica gripped the desk with her good hand and pulled herself to a standing position. Her hand throbbed, but more than that, she was in shock. There had been close calls before, but no one gunning for Tony had ever hurt her before. “Thank God, Geo.”

  The mercenary turned mob gunman smiled back at her. “Don’t you mean ‘thank Geo’?”

  “Andre Mencini,” Tony said angrily, emerging from his office. “Go see him today, Geo. That upstart doesn’t know how to handle things the new way, like gentlemen. We can’t have a mess like this on our home turf, not without getting noticed.” His eyes glittered with something dark and primitive. “So take care of it the old way, since that’s all that fuck understands. Capice?”

  Geo nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”

  Angelica swayed, close to fainting. Oh God. I’m going to be next after Mencini. I can’t pretend I didn’t hear that!

  “Angelica, are you hurt?” Thane said, steadying the bloodied woman with his free hand.

  “They broke my hand,” she whimpered.

  “We’ll have a guy take you to the hospital,” Thane said gently, guiding her to the door. “Take the rest of the day off. Geo, drop her off on your way. The rest of you take care of this mess.”

  Geo gestured with his hand for Angelica to follow him. Reluctantly, she did, the sounds of dead bodies being dragged away behind her loud in her ears.

  * * * *

  After Geo dropped Angelica off at the entrance to the ER—much to her relief—she spent the next three hours in the ER waiting for someone to set her hand. She was splinted, taped, and processed. After waiting another hour for Geo to return for her, she reluctantly decided she’d have to find her own way home.

  Any normal woman would have a girlfriend to come and rescue them. Or at least a family member. I don’t have either. But that’s the price of independence...and true beauty. Angelica sighed dramatically aloud, then reluctantly dialed a cab company. She settled into her chair to wait. A few moments later, a drunk man came in, bleeding from a gash over
one eye, his hands clenched into fists.

  “I’ll fucking kill that dumb bitch! See if I don’t!” he roared.

  Glancing up in his direction in worry, Angelica glimpsed the other vampire from last night. He wasn’t headed downstairs this time, though. This time, he went into one of the ER rooms, a large bag in his left hand.

  Angelica discreetly followed, curious. She tiptoed up to the ER room and peeked behind the curtain. There was the strange vampire, and Jordan, too. A guy with a mutilated right side and a missing cheek lay there on the gurney, breathing shallowly, his limbs jerking slightly. Jordan was monitoring his vitals. The other vampire was taking out his blood via IV inserted in his jugular. As she watched, the man spasmed again, the movement filling up the IV bag halfway. The vampire quickly disconnected it, then put a new one onto fill. There was a grunt from the table, a muffled sound of pain mixed with panic that drew Angelica’s horrified gaze.

  The man on the table spasming was watching them kill him, his one good eye rolling wildly in his socket!

  “Argh! Angelica yelled. Jordan looked up, aghast. The strange vampire started toward her, then stopped.

  “Say nothing,” he whispered. “Or it will be you on this table, woman.”

  Angelica ran, slipping and sliding, yelling for help. She ran straight past the emergency main desk and out towards the main entrance...and into the arms of a very startled Geo.

  He caught her, even as she struggled, flailing. “Whoa, Angel! What’s a matter? I’m sorry I’m late picking you up—”

  Right now I don’t care if you did just come from killing someone. “Please Geo, take me to Tony.”

  “Why?” Geo said, suspicious.

  “Because someone just threatened to kill me,” Angelica said truthfully. “And I need his protection.”

  * * * *

  Jordan and Jonas stood shoulder to shoulder in a brightly lit room, doing their best to look calm. A blond haired man stood before them, furious. Behind him stood a red-skinned demon with short black hair and small horns, dressed in plainclothes, his expression solemn.

  “Morgues are bright, aren’t they?” the vampire said in a melodious tone. “Much brighter than the two of you put together.”

  “Sire, we did our best to put her off,” Jordan said weakly.

  “When you sleep with a woman and take her blood, she usually wants more than a ‘see you later’ for her trouble,” the blond vampire replied. “And I have a name and title. Use it.”

  Jordan and Jonas looked at one another, shifting uneasily in their terror.

  “Lord Devlin Dalcon,” the demon supplied in a bored tone.

  Devlin opened his mouth to correct his demon Titus, then thought better of it. Such as these will make no distinction between Vampire Ruler and Vampire Lord. I’m not sure I see the distinction clearly myself anymore.

  “Lord Dalcon,” Jonas said respectfully. “I did my best to contain the situation. But this woman, Angelica, kept returning to the hospital! Without killing her, there was no way to keep her away. And now she’s threatening to go to the police.”

  “We could not take action against her,” Jordan added. “Your law forbids it.”

  How could Garrett have let these two become vampires? No wonder Heather went on a killing spree. “Yes, but why didn’t you take the matter to Garrett?” Lord Dalcon said searchingly. “He could have easily given permission...or else handled the matter himself.”

  “I called the emergency number in the handbook I was provided when I turned,” Jonas replied cautiously. “I’m sorry, lord, but he never replied.”

  “He didn’t get back to you?” Devlin was incredulous.

  “Nothing,” Jonas said. “I tried him twice last week, and nothing. I was sorry to bother you, but—”

  “But you had to,” Devlin said with an angry grimace. “Very well. Jonas, can you arrange for this Angelica to meet with you?”

  “Yes,” Jonas said. “Jordan said she wanted to be a vampire, that she was interested in becoming a donor—”

  Well, I always can use another of those. It’s probably too much to hope for that she enjoys music. “How old is she?”

  Jordan looked uncomfortable. “Eighteen.”

  Devlin’s golden eyes reddened. “Don’t lie to me. How old is she?”

  “Just sixteen,” Jordan admitted.

  Too young for one of my donors, regrettably. “Too young,” Devlin stated. “Donors must be of age to legally consent, Jordan. What in the hell possessed you to approach an underage girl for feeding, much less couple with her? Because I can tell by your fear that you did.”

  Jordan fell to his knees. “She had an ID that said she was eighteen! I didn’t know!”

  “Spare me the dramatics,” Devlin said. “None of that matters now except containing the situation. I need to see this Angelica. Are you sure she’ll come to you, Jordan? Jonas admits he threatened her.”

  “If she doesn’t, I can tell you where she works,” Jordan said in a pleading tone. He named an address.

  Devlin closed his eyes, his rage rising. Just what I didn’t need, complications with Tony and Thane. “Get out of my sight! Both of you!”

  * * * *

  Angelica filed her nails nervously, watching the door. What if Jordan shows up here? Don’t be stupid, it’s daytime. He can’t be outside in the daytime...

  The door opened. To Angelica’s utter horror, it was a vampire she’d never seen before, followed by a short man in black that looked Mexican. Angelica let out a screech and jabbed her silent alarm.

  Geo came out of Tony’s office, guns drawn...to stop cold, staring at the man in black who’d smoothly stepped in front of the vampire.

  “Put them away,” the man in black said in a lisping voice.

  Geo put away his guns, missing the left hand holster in his haste. Angelica shrank back in her chair, ready to bolt. The man in black hadn’t even drawn his own gun.

  “We’re here to see Tony and Thane,” the vampire said politely. “We’re expected.”

  “Sorry,” Geo said contritely. “We’re on edge. There was an attack yesterday and now Angelica's been threatened—”

  “That was a misunderstanding entirely,” the vampire said. “Would you let Tony know we’re here? Devlin Dalcon, to see him.”

  Geo nodded, then went back into Tony’s office. The vampire’s attention turned to Angelica, who made herself even smaller under that inspective gaze.

  “And you are?”

  “Angelica.”

  Devlin stared at the black haired beauty, drinking in her large blue eyes. Suddenly a solution to the entire problem of what to do about Garrett, Jordan, and the young woman before him fell into place. Danial. He can fix everything...if properly maneuvered. And the girl’s terrified. That will take a deft hand, also...and immediate action.

  “Good to meet you,” Devlin said pleasantly, striding over to her. Angelica opened her mouth to scream...then left it open as Devlin gently took her hand in his, then bent slightly at the waist to brush it with his lips. He let her hand fall, then straightened. “I understand that you’ve had the misfortune to only acquaint yourself with the clods of my kind. Please know you have nothing to fear from me.”

  Angelica closed her mouth, then swallowed, wariness not leaving her expression. “Thank you.”

  “Come in, Devlin,” Tony said from his office doorway.

  Devlin gave Angelica a respectful incline of his head, then went into Tony’s office, the man in black following. The door closed behind him.

  Angelica sat in her chair, still afraid but also excited. That Devlin had to be one of the powerful vampires, the kind of vampire I’d wanted to meet! But would he let her become a donor in exchange for turning her into a vampire?

  * * * *

  “Shall we get right to business?” Tony said gruffly, sitting down behind his desk.

  “Why didn’t we meet at Thane’s place?” the man in black asked.

  “Because I wanted Devlin to meet A
ngelica,” Tony said meaningfully, looking at Devlin. “Once he did, he’d know she was just a mixed up kid, not someone who was a threat.”

  “I already know the lacking nature of those two brothers at the hospital,” Devlin said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “And they will both be dealt with. But threatening exposure is serious, Tony. You know that.”

  “I know,” Tony agreed. “This is why I called Garrett as soon as I knew that Angelica wasn’t making up the wild story at the hospital. I thought he might be able to put some fear into Jonas and Jordan, so they wouldn’t bother her anymore. But he hasn’t gotten back to me.” He leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head. “Just why you let so many local vampires work there, I don’t know, Devlin. With that much blood disappearing, it’s a wonder no one had discovered them already.”

  Devlin’s mind worked furiously. I thought there were only three vampires working there. But he makes it sound like closer to twenty.

  “It’s not your place to question,” the man in black warned. “So shut the fuck up.”

  “We are all here to find a peaceful solution, Lash,” Thane said firmly, casting a look. “Tony and I don’t want trouble. But Angelica’s a good kid, Devlin. We don’t want her killed just because she’s got a teenage thing for vampires.”

  “But I also can’t have her exposing us, or following us,” Devlin retorted. “She obviously recognized what I was here in your office before I said a word, which is already too much knowledge for her to remain out of the game.” He looked at Tony. “She’s way too young to turn, and she can’t be one of my donors, either.” He paused. “I propose a third solution: replacing Garrett with an old acquaintance, Danial Racklan.”

  “Can he be trusted?” Tony asked. “Other than that, I’ve got no issues. This isn’t the first time I’ve had a vampire-related problem and Garrett’s been unavailable.”

  “I know, I know,” Devlin said, holding up his palm. “I will deal with it, Tony.” He looked at Thane. “What about you?”

  “I’ve heard of him, that he runs a detective business out west somewhere,” Thane mused. “The associate who used him spoke highly of him.” He paused. “But will he be amenable to doing a little work for us? You know I trust coworkers more who play well with me and mine. Garrett never did.”