Heir to the Coven Page 8
Halfway up her driveway I sensed them. I knew three things instantly: there were two of them, they were not Hadi and I needed to try to keep at least one of them alive to find out who they belonged to. On second thought, just because I could tell they weren’t from the same bloodline as Anton and I didn’t mean I shouldn’t check for the medallion vampires loyal to him wore. It was so much easier when blood was the only deciding factor in if you belonged to a particular Master vampire or not. These vampires could belong to Anton and they could be here for the same purpose I was. Of course if they were loyal to him they would know better than to stalk me. No, they were not on the home team, a confirmed fact when they rushed at me from either side.
I don’t think they expected me to be as capable as I was, because they ran right into each other after I got myself out of their paths. They hit each other with such force the driveway cracked where they landed. Having leapt up onto a tree branch for an aerial view of situation, I called down, “That had to hurt,” and grinned when they got to their feet snarling. This was going to be fun.
I had both feet back on the ground by the time one of the vampires jumped up onto the branch I had vacated. He looked so surprised not to find me still there. Where did Number Two go? With my reflexes and senses slightly ahead of my brain, I whirled around instinctually to block a punch and then duck a kick from Number Two. I took a swipe at him and only succeeded in raking his arm open with my claws. Number One gave up the hunt for me in the tree and returned the swipe. I sucked my breath in between my teeth as I felt the flesh of my back part. Son of a bitch that hurt!
Number One licked his fingers. “Vintage half-caste wine. My favorite.”
“That’s the only taste of me you’ll be getting,” I said with a growl. His smirk only made it half way across his mouth when my foot connected with his chest and sent him flying back into the tree I had vacated. A branch staked him through the heart and he was ash. I turned back to take care of Number Two, but he was gone and I could not sense him anywhere. My visit with Ms. McCoy was going to have to wait. I was not about to take on Two and group of his pals in the middle of a human neighborhood. I would wait and let whoever sent them think I had been scared off and then come back during the daylight.
When I arrived back home all I wanted to do was take a long hot bath and go to bed. I loved how muscles I did not even know were tense would relax in really hot water. And I was starving. Which to do first eat or soak? I opted to swing by the kitchen and grab a pint of ice cream and a spoon before heading upstairs. I was going to eat it while I soaked. Not for the first time I was grateful for the private bathroom off my bedroom. No one was going to be banging on the door demanding I hurry up. Even better, my preternatural skin wasn’t going to prune either. Ah eternal youth, your perks were many.
“Rough night or fun night?” Dawn asked as she came up behind me in the hall.
“Both. Depending on your preferences.”
“Do tell. Are the claw marks in your shirt from the fun part or the rough part? Or were they rough and fun? I heard you met with Anton today. Were they a gift from him?” She leaned against the wall with a smirk. “Cause baby I know your little reporter didn’t do that.”
“I took on some out of towners, but trust me, I got the better deal. One ruined shirt to one dead vampire.”
“Who cares about the hunting? I want to know about the men.”
“Dawn as a member of this coven all you should care about is that there were two vampires in our city that owe no loyalty to Anton and attacked one of us. What else I did today is none of your business.”
Dawn heaved a petulant sigh. “Fine. Keep your little secrets. You and Kain act like what you do when you leave this house is a state secret.”
“What about Kain?”
“He’s always vanishing off somewhere with no explanation where he is or what he’s doing. If I were Mercy I’d follow him because I swear I spotted him with some skinny redheaded human chick the other night. I don’t know what is more humiliating for Mercy, that the other woman is a waitress or a human.”
I felt myself go very still and momentarily wondered if I looked like Anton did when he went into statue mode. Kain and a redheaded waitress. “How do you know she was a waitress?”
“She had a name tag on and reeked of French fries. Anyway, I would die if the guy I was seeing was cheating on me with a mangy human.” Dawn dug her foot into the floor like a little girl. “Are you really going to leave me hanging about what happened with you and Anton today?”
“Why do you care what Anton and I do?”
“I like details.”
“You like to gossip.”
“Who doesn’t?”
“Me.”
“Kain is up to something Natasha and as Mercy’s friends we should warn her.”
“Do not say a word to Mercy about any of this Dawn. I’ll look into it. If I find out he’s doing something he shouldn’t be, I’ll take care of it. And if he’s not, there is no reason to upset Mercy with speculation.” I could have been talking to myself instead of Dawn with that bit of advice.
Dawn rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you’re going to cover for him. He’s making a fool out of-”
“That will be all Dawn. Thank you.”
“Tash.”
“That will be all,” I said, dismissing her again. This time she left. I told myself that the reason I was not going to have Kain followed based on Dawn’s statement was because I hated gossip, not because he was my friend and I was letting emotion cloud my judgment. I did not want to be paranoid, but I didn’t want to be blind either. There was no way to order one of my people to follow Kain without raising suspicion since I would have to give them a reason. And if I didn’t give them a reason beyond “because I said so” rumors would start and I didn’t want to risk anyone else finding out about the treaty violation. If word spread that’s when the Order would be inclined to step in to shut it down. If I followed Kain myself then I would be too busy to explore the other avenues of this situation and I might miss the real culprit. No, I would see what I could find out from other sources and then go after Kain.
Chapter 11
It was eleven o’clock when I woke up the next day and I was not looking forward to the conversation I needed to have with Rainor about what I had found so far on our mystery. My main suspect was our enforcer, although despite what I had said to Kain about friendship not earning him a free pass I still didn’t want to think it was him, and I had very little else to go on. Happily I had the opportunity to stall when I saw I had three messages on my voicemail.
The first message came in last night while I was working my way through the ice cream and soaking in the bathtub. It was from Chris who wanted to have our first uninterrupted date on Saturday. He said he had an idea of what we could do that was safe from vampires or any issues related to them. He wanted to keep the details a surprise, but I was supposed to call him back if the day worked for me. I was on board.
The second message was from Anton, which surprised me since he usually made his assistant call. Seems he was putting on a show of how he knew how to reach me personally. Lucky girl that Ashley, I thought as I rolled my eyes. Anton wanted to meet this evening to discuss the hybrid club. This time there would be no power plays, he promised, he thought we should meet with as many people as we each felt necessary (and I could tell he hoped I felt none were necessary on my part) at the Kensington. He liked some of my ideas, he didn’t like others, but he needed to see the space.
The third message, which had only come in an hour ago, was Chris again. He needed to change the day of our date that he hadn’t heard back from me on because he was being sent out of town on assignment. He wouldn’t get back until Sunday morning, but he had Tuesday off if that worked for me. Lucky for us, my job had no set hours. Tuesday worked for me and calling him to tell him so was another excuse to put off going to see my leader.
Chris answered on the second ring. “Hey there.”
“No it’s fine. I was getting nervous when you took so long calling me back.”
“Your last message came in an hour ago while I was in bed.”
“It’s eleven o’clock.”
“Your point being?”
“I found myself a late riser. I can deal with that.”
“Never really had a chance to see if I was anything else. I’ve always been sort of forced to keep vampire hours. Now that I’m back in town I try to time it so I do see some daylight since I have business meetings to keep.”
Chris laughed. “Excuses, excuses. You just don’t do early. I’ll have to wake you up at five some morning to go jogging with me.”
Poor man, I wouldn’t be the one in for a rude awakening that morning. If he managed to get by the guards whose sole duty it was to keep out people that would upset the house, guards who knew what upsetting me could cost them, he would be greeted by a houseful of cranky non-morning people who would all be ready to tear him to bits. And that was before he reached my bedroom door. Assuming I didn’t kill the annoying creature that dared to disturb my slumber before I was awake enough to realize that I was not under attack and the need for deadly force was not justified, once he got me jogging his male ego was in for a bruising. I ran like a vampire, which meant blink and you missed me and I wouldn’t even have broken a sweat. “I live in a house that has guards patrolling it twenty-four hours a day. Unexpected drop-ins aren’t really recommended.”
“Why do you need guards during the day? The vampires should all be safely in bed by then.”
“Other covens and sometimes other creepy crawlies come to visit.”
“Other creepy crawlies? There’s more out there than vampires?”
“Where do you think half the stories in your magazine come from? If vampires and half-castes are real, so are trolls, witches, elves, and demons. All of which are for sale to the highest bidders, which means the vampires can send a Theda demon to come try to take us out in broad daylight.”
“What’s a Theda demon?”
I shivered just thinking about the one I had seen. “Disgusting creatures covered in slime that smell like decaying flesh. Ew!”
Chris laughed. “You sounded so girly with that ‘ew’. You don’t strike me as the girly type.”
“I can be girly. Don’t forget I was part of the lace pinafore and corset crew. You’re dating a geriatric.”
“But a well preserved one.”
I could hear voices coming through Chris’ phone. He needed to get back to work. “Listen, I’ll let you get back to work. Call me when you get back to confirm the time for Tuesday.”
“Now most women would tell me to call them while I was away so they knew I was thinking about them.”
He had called me twice, without hearing back from me in between, he would be thinking about me whether he called me or not. But I wasn’t going to say that. “I’m not most women.”
“No you’re not. That’s what I like about you Natasha. I’ll see you when I get back.”
“Bye.”
Since it was daytime and I knew he would be asleep, I called Anton’s assistant to confirm the meeting. Then I called the guards at the Kensington and told them to expect Anton later this evening and to have the manager straighten things up a bit. We would get there before it opened to its few customers for the evening and I was afraid bad business had made them lax about the overall appearance. With nothing left to use as a stall tactic, I went to see Rainor who I found sitting on the balcony attached to his bedroom.
“Morning, sir,” I said. “I’m glad to see you’re out of bed again.”
“I spent most of my life chasing things in the dark, now that I’m dying I want to enjoy the light. That’s why I’m happy I have you here to take care of the messy stuff.”
Now I wasn’t so sure I should tell him what was on my mind. If having me eased his burden should I use him as a sounding board, or was keeping it a secret cutting him out of his seat of power?
“Just tell me my dear. I can all but hear the wheels grinding in that head of yours as you ponder if you should pat me on my head and continue to run a puppet regime in my name or treat me as the leader I am with a brain in a failing body.”
Ouch! I hardly thought I had created a puppet regime. I checked in with him, I deferred to his opinion and I refused to make any major decision about the coven without talking to him. That’s why I was here now, to fill him in. And his tactic had worked. Anger over being accused of taking over before it was my time had insured I wouldn’t forget who ruled here as long as he drew breath and it made me forget any ideas about coddling him. “I’ve been looking into our project. Mama has been elusive. I put off seeing her to avoid tipping anyone off, but she changed addresses and when I went to her new location I had company.”
“What kind?”
“The pulseless kind that didn’t recognize me.”
“Guards?”
“Had to be, I know I wasn’t followed.”
Rainor stroked his chin as he thought. “Tell me the rest. None of that would have you pussyfooting around.”
“When I got home last night, a little bird told me that old friend who has been wandering was spotted with a female who matched Mama’s description. Mama has some nice new things, but there’s no bank activity for her and Fitch hasn’t reported anything out of the ordinary on anyone’s in this house spending habits.”
“Except yours.”
I blinked. “What did he say about me? Why would he report me?”
“Because you spent $5000 in one day and he was told to look for unusual expenditures. Who else was he going to report you to, but me, my dear?”
Unless Fitch wanted me out of the way, I guess that nixed my theory that maybe we weren’t finding the smoking bank account gun because Fitch was the naughty half-caste. “That was the day I went shopping with Dawn. I have the money why not enjoy it?”
“That’s what I told him,” Rainor said. “What are you going to do about this?”
It was on the tip of my tongue to say I was going to have to walk around naked if Fitch objected to me clothes shopping, but I shouldn’t forget whom I was speaking to. “I’ve been thinking about it. There is no one I can ask to follow him without giving him or her a reason. Even if I could find someone who would do that, everyone would know about it and talk would start. It would tip him off if he was up to something. I’m going to keep investigating this and hope he doesn’t turn out to be hanging himself.”
“If he is guilty?”
“He’s dead.”
“That’s my girl.” Rainor picked up a cup of tea that smelled wonderfully sugary and took sip. “How did the meeting go with Anton?”
“So well we have to try it again tonight.” I explained things were tense without going into leggy detail. Rainor was still more perceptive than I gave him credit for.
“What you’re telling me is Anton used his attraction to you to try to tame an unruly dessert while he seemed to be auditioning you to take her place?”
“Basically yes.” I felt myself blushing. I had never had a father, but I had the feeling this was what talking about boys with one would have been like and it was damn uncomfortable. I had the urge to squirm.
“So you did what about this?” He looked me firmly in the eyes.
Yep that squirmy feeling was not going to go away anytime soon. “I keep telling him I will not be a dessert.”
“And?”
“I taunt him as mercilessly as he taunts me. It appears to be a retaliation game I can’t stop playing.”
Rainor stood up and I remembered why I once feared him. “You are playing mating games instead of taking care of your responsibilities. I know you have spent a great deal of time doing as you pleased with no checks on your actions so long as you accomplished your mission, but you are not the lone hunter anymore. You are next in line to lead this coven and you need to think about what that means.”
“Yes, sir.” Ever the good soldier, I bowed my head and waited.
“What time is the meeting with Anton?”
“Seven.”
“I will be joining you.”
“Are you sure you are up to that, sir? I wouldn’t want disappointment in my conduct to lead you to overtax yourself.”
“I will rest before hand. That will be all Natasha.”
I bowed to him and left feeling like a five year old.
*****
Promptly at seven o’clock that evening, I was sliding out of the front seat of limo to hold the back door open for Rainor and Kain to slide out. It was clear to everyone present that I was not in my leader’s good graces right now. I saw Anton, who was just getting out of his own limo; raise his brow to see me walking behind Rainor, next to Kain, instead of beside Rainor where the heir should be. Tristan smirked and I imagined spraying the walls with his blood. Now it was my turn to smirk.
Anton greeted Rainor first. “It is good to see you about again my ally. It must be a relief to Natasha to know the weight of the crown is not fully on her head yet.”
I inclined my head, but said nothing. Kain’s eyes flicked over at me before he rolled them at me to show he wasn’t going to touch this with a ten-foot pole. It was my plan to be the perfect bodyguard since that was the role I had been assigned. Trail my leader, protect my leader, speak only when spoken to by my leader or addressed by Anton. Which is not to say that I couldn’t have some fun; I did enjoy giving Tristan a stony stare that made him fiddle with his collar. Yes, fang boy, I was considering killing you.
“Natasha,” Rainor said.
I went to his side. Someone said my name and that’s what I was supposed to do if I was under his command. “Yes?”
“Anton would like you to explain how the bar would be set up.”
“It would be fully integrated serving alcohol and blood.”