by T. A. White
I finally shut the door I’d been holding open for the last few seconds. “There were deer staring at me.”
He rolled his eyes, some of tension in his body leaching away. “There are always deer around here.”
He could afford to be unworried about such things. I’d fended off twenty assassination attempts in the last three months—most of which came from unexpected quarters. It had made me a bit more paranoid than usual.
Deer might not seem suspicious, but I’d never seen a stag with a rack that impressive anywhere near humans. Maybe in some remote wilderness, but here? In Columbus? Not likely.
“Maybe,” I said, turning toward the house and following Nathan as he mounted the stairs.
There was a porch swing in one corner and a few rocking chairs. Pots of flowers were everywhere, their pretty colors obvious even in this dim light.
“What is this place?” I finally asked, curiosity getting the best of me.
“Liam’s house. He just bought it,” Nathan said over his shoulder.
Liam did? Why?
Nathan held the door for me, letting me precede him inside.
The interior matched the outside, charming and stately while still managing to seem warm and inviting. Once upon a time, this was the type of place I’d seen myself settling in long-term. Not a farmhouse exactly, but what this place represented. A home. Somewhere to come back to after a long day, where you could feel safe and warm because of the people who lived inside. A sanctuary against all the dark things in the world.
Eric stood to my right in the living room, his face impassive as he waited, his back straight and rigid.
I shouldn’t have been surprised to see him. He’d disappeared at the same time as Liam, and probably accompanied him on whatever super-secret mission the two had undertaken. It made sense now that Liam was back, Eric was too.
“Eric, I’m glad you’re back.” I meant it too.
The normally reserved enforcer had grown on me. A force in his own right, he tended to hang back in any situation, taking on the role of silent observer. It meant he saw more than most.
His dark eyes lightened with surprise and he inclined his head.
“I never did thank you for that tip.”
“I hope it helped,” he murmured.
“It did. Working at the Book Haven keeps Caroline occupied. I think she might like it better than working at the university, but she’ll never admit it,” I told him with a small smile.
“If only someone else would learn from her example,” Liam rumbled from behind me.
I turned and gave him a sardonic look. “And what exactly am I supposed to have learned?”
“That there can be a bright side if you simply quit being so stubborn,” he said.
That was true. Most things had a silver lining, even this. Being turned into a vampire against my will and then abandoned wasn’t in my plans, but it had worked out. Or at least, it had been heading that way until I lost the job with Hermes. Now I was struggling to find my feet again.
“I’d say Caroline’s situation is a bit different from mine,” I observed in a mild voice.
She’d found a balance with the pack and a job she found fulfilling. I was working at a gas station for minimum wage and still struggling to keep the vampires from trying to control every aspect of my existence.
“I’ve offered you a job. You’re the one who refuses to take it,” Liam returned, the slightest hint of frustration in his voice.
Yes, he had, hence his having to use the debt to force my presence tonight.
The problem was, I didn’t want to work for the vampires, not even Liam or any of his enforcers. The way I saw it they’d already wiggled their way further into my life than I liked.
It seemed every time I gave them a small window, they used it to force their way deeper in. The latest issue with my sire taking over as my landlord was just the beginning.
I was determined to stay in control of myself and my life. It’d be easier to give up and toe the line like a good little flunky, but the antisocial grump inside wouldn’t let me. I’d done that in the military, but it had felt like being rubbed by sandpaper the entire time. I had no intention of that being my eternity.
“How long before you tried to use that against me?” I asked. Because he would have. It seemed that was the modus operandi of vampires.
“Instead you’re here without the leverage you would have had if you’d simply been reasonable,” Liam observed. “Smart, Aileen.”
The words burned, especially since they were true. I should have considered all the angles before rejecting his original offer. My only defense is I hadn’t expected such an enthusiastic greeting from him. It upset my emotional balance, forcing me to react rather than plan, something I couldn’t afford with vampires.
He made a small sound, something close to a sigh. He seemed tired, his skin pale and drawn, circles around his eyes.
Now that the surprise of our first meeting was past, I realized he’d seemed just as exhausted last night.
I hesitated, wanting to ask what was wrong. I stopped myself. A true friend might have, but we weren’t that. His disappearance had made that clear.
Instead I looked around his house. “Nice place. What made you decide on it?”
There was a guarded expression on his face. “I’m looking to make a few changes in my life. I decided having a permanent base of operations here in Columbus was a good place to start.”
I frowned. “Sounds like you’re thinking of sticking around.”
I’d always kind of thought he was here short-term. The council, no doubt, had need of him all over the place. While this territory was an important hotspot with a new master, I was sure there were other places throughout the world that could use a badass enforcer keeping things in line.
He inclined his head, hands clasped behind his back as he stared at me, his thoughts veiled. “I’ve been assigned to this territory full-time.”
I moved around the room, looking at everything. For all that he was probably older than the country, it was surprisingly modern. It had an old-world charm but it had touches of today’s world as well.
I left the topic of his house and now extended residence in Columbus alone. I wasn’t ready to touch the implications of what either might mean.
“You have me here. What is so important that you were willing to use one of your nights and necessitate my missing work?”
He didn’t respond, his gaze flicking to Eric and Nathan in dismissal. The two excused themselves without a word, leaving the room and heading further into the house.
“That’s kind of a pointless gesture. They’ll hear every word we say even from the other side of the house,” I said.
Vampire hearing was far superior to that of a human. It still surprised me how the rooms at the mansion were as private as they were. The soundproofing in each apartment must be topnotch. It would have to be. You wouldn’t want to live right on top of each other for long if every statement or move you made could be overheard. Imagine, waking up in the middle of the day to hear the person in the room above you having a bit of private time in the shower.
“They won’t listen,” he decreed, his voice autocratic.
I scoffed. Sure, they wouldn’t. Curiosity was part of human nature, and vampires were no less prone to it.
He observed me with an impenetrable expression, my disbelief not phasing him.
“You’ve lost weight.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” I lied. I didn’t like that he knew me well enough to be able to tell that at a glance when people I was around everyday hadn’t.
“I didn’t notice yesterday, but it’s obvious,” he continued, not paying attention to my denial.
I gritted my teeth and narrowed my eyes at him. “Is this why you called me here? To criticize my weight?”
“We’ll get to that. First, I’d like to know why you look like a stiff breeze could knock you down,” he said, not taking the bait.
&nbs
p; “I’d prefer to get to it now.”
“Anticipation is its own reward,” he murmured, his eyes running over me critically. “When is the last time you ate?”
I gave him a smug smile. “On the way over.”
I didn’t even have to lie. The blood smoothie had gone down easily and I’d finished it before I realized it.
“You should not be so thin,” he said, still stuck on the subject.
I shook my head at him. “You’re not my father, my boyfriend, or even my friend. My health is no concern of yours.”
The skin of his face tightened and he gave me a look bordering on insulted. He seemed to withdraw, a mask settling into place. It was like a stranger stood in front of me—one who reminded me of the Liam from our first meeting. A cold bastard who thought nothing of breaking someone’s ribs simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I hadn’t realized how much he had softened with me—how much of himself he’d let show past the facade until he withdrew—the flash of vulnerability he’d shown me earlier, disappearing.
It made me second-guess my last words. Perhaps I’d been needlessly harsh. Liam had somehow made it past my walls and become a friend of sorts. Granted, it was the type of friend who needed to be held at arm’s length and watched at all times.
“Very well then. If that’s how you want things,” he said.
I should have been relieved we were back to business, but I wasn’t.
“I have need of your eyes,” he said brusquely.
By that I took it to mean he needed my ability to see magic with my left eye.
“I thought you wanted me to keep that little secret under wraps.” I stuffed my hands in my pocket and cocked a hip as I frowned at him.
It was a simple enough request. Surprisingly painless even.
The request eased some of my nerves. This, I understood. It was all the emotional crap that tripped me up.
“I do. That’s why I had you come here,” he replied.
I watched him with reservation. It still surprised me he’d told me to keep the fact I could see magic from Thomas, my sire and the master of the city. Also, Liam’s friend, a man he considered a brother since they were made by the same master.
“Alright, what do you want me to look at?” I asked.
Despite my earlier reservations, I was a little excited by this. I couldn’t help but wonder what was so important that he needed my eye. Perhaps it was an ancient artifact that had been cursed or an arcane object whose purpose he needed me to decipher. Either possibility was enough to spark my interest.
“Me, I need you to look at me.” His face was cold and remote, his gaze piercing as I frowned in surprise.
He didn’t look happy about admitting that, and the tight press of his lips warned me from asking questions—though I wanted to. Badly.
“Can you give me an idea of what I’m looking for?” I asked.
I needed somewhere to start. I was too new at this and didn’t have enough of a handle on it to know how to do what he wanted.
“If it’s there, you’ll know it when you see it,” he said.
Well, that wasn’t cryptic or anything. Typical vampire.
I shrugged. If that was how he wanted it, I wasn’t going to argue. I took a deep breath, centering myself.
I glanced away from Liam, turning my attention to the rest of the world. Sometimes, looking at a powerful source of magic right away disoriented me. It was kind of like looking right at the sun, blinding, with odd halo effects afterward. I’d found it was easier to start small and ease into looking at something powerful.
It was hard to describe to others exactly how I used the othersight. I’d tried before with Liam, once we’d figured out the mechanism. It wasn’t like a switch in my head that could be flicked on and off. It was more like I relaxed a muscle that I kept constantly flexed, allowing the magic in the world to filter into my senses.
I blinked as I looked around. The world was the same yet different. Everything was a touch out of focus, hazy and indistinct.
Certain cultures in the world believed all things contained a spirit or essence. Whether animate or inanimate, they had a spark, oftentimes so small as to be barely present. Looking at the world through my left eye, I could see why they might believe that.
Most items I viewed had a soft glow. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a spirit, but there was a speck of something. A presence, even if I got the sense the essence wasn’t entirely sentient.
An antique lamp in the corner was rimmed by such a glow, its light warm and comforting, as if the lamp sensed its purpose and was happy to fulfill it. The painting above the mantel displayed an essence considerably stronger than the lamp’s, and much darker, as if the painter had been in turmoil when he’d created the piece, or perhaps the painting had witnessed some horrible event that had steeped it in darkness.
Both thoughts might have been fanciful, but without someone available who understood this power and could explain it to me, I was left with instinct.
I turned to Liam, keeping my gaze to the right of him. I stared at a speck of space, not seeing it, as I let my peripheral vision get a sense of him. Slowly, I looked at him full on.
His power clung to him like finely honed armor. He shone brightly, a well of strength at his core surprising in its depth and intensity. He’d gotten considerably stronger since the last time I’d done this. Maybe not quite as strong as Thomas who was nearly blindingly bright, but close. This power was more controlled, answering eagerly to his call. A sleek jungle cat waiting to pounce, more interested in slipping in unseen and unchallenged rather than barging in like a battering ram.
As I scanned him, I got the briefest sense of wintry ice and biting wind. It should have stung my senses, repelled me. Instead it brushed along them with an almost physical sensation as it purred in contentment.
To my eye, he looked the same as always, only there was more of it. The power flickered around him, a small strand reaching out to where his mark tingled on my forearm, not quite touching before it dissolved.
I moved around him to make sure, scanning him twice in case I’d missed something the first time.
Nothing. No tell-tale signs of other magic, no shadows lurking within. There was zero indication as to why he’d felt the need for my presence.
“I don’t know what you thought I’d find but you look much the same as always,” I told him.
His shoulders relaxed and I thought I saw a faint flicker of relief, though his expression remained grave.
“I’ll need you to perform the same task with Eric,” he ordered.
I gave him a dour look but didn’t argue, waving my hand to indicate my consent. Might as well. It wasn’t like I had anywhere to be tonight.
Liam fell silent, his focus turning inward. Eric appeared in the entry to the room. He moved forward on quiet feet, his attention going to where Liam waited, hands clasped behind his back.
Liam looked at me with expectation, eyebrows raised, arrogance stamped on his face.
I didn’t bother arguing before focusing on Eric. I didn’t know the quiet enforcer’s power signature the way I did Liam’s, so I couldn’t say for sure, but to my inexperienced eye it looked no different than I’d expect.
Where Liam’s power felt like the coldest of nights during the deepest parts of winter, Eric’s was an electric blanket that crackled and rumbled, the distinct opposite of the way he presented himself to the world.
It made me wonder just what went on behind the quiet, imperturbable facade, and if beneath the surface there was a volcano of feeling and emotions just bubbling away.
I shook my head at Liam. If there was something there, I couldn’t see it.
Liam lifted his chin at Eric, dismissing him without a word spoken. Eric spun and walked out of the room without a backwards glance or even a question to ask why he’d been called in the first place.
I couldn’t help but be impressed. Most individuals wouldn’t have been a
ble to suppress their curiosity or annoyance at being summoned and then dismissed without a word. Either Eric knew about my abilities despite Liam’s assurance to the contrary, or he trusted Liam on such a profound level that something like this didn’t bother him.
Liam’s expression grew contemplative as he considered what I’d told him.
I waited, tapping my finger on my thigh. Curiosity burned inside me as I wondered what exactly he thought I’d find. I held my questions back.
“Nathan will see you back to the city,” Liam said into the silence.
I started, my attention spinning back to him. What? This little jaunt had taken up all of twenty minutes of my time. That couldn’t be all he wanted.
“That’s it?” I asked, not believing him. “That’s what you wanted?”
“It is,” he said. He moved past me, his smell wrapping around me. “Now, don’t you wish you’d accepted the money for this request instead of having me force your compliance?”
I stiffened, my feet stuck in place, and fought to keep my expression emotionless as a cold feeling invaded. I wasn’t getting paid. That should have occurred to me. For some reason, it hadn’t.
That was just ducky. My chances of making rent were getting smaller and smaller. I might have to take the sphinx’s job after all.
His smile widened just a touch as if he could sense my thoughts.
I gave him a superior look as I sauntered past him. “I don’t know. Twenty minutes to knock a night’s debt off doesn’t seem like too bad a trade to me.”
I didn’t wait for his response, heading for the foyer. The loss of a night’s income burned, but redeeming one of the nights I owed for such a small price was almost worth it.
My victory was short-lived as my stomach clenched painfully. My steps hesitated as I fought the urge to double over. Pain and nausea swamped me.
Nathan’s concoction had lasted longer than the normal blood I drank, but not long enough. My body was getting ready to purge it from my system.
I gritted my teeth, touching the wall for balance. Not if I could help it.
I breathed slowly for several seconds, conscious of Liam at my back, watching, learning. If he’d been concerned before, I didn’t want to think how he would react if he knew how much trouble I’d been having keeping blood down. I could kiss any autonomy and my non-biting days goodbye.
