Chapter 34

I should probably take care of their questions before they start actually asking them. “I forgot to do laundry,” I said.

“What?” Reggie asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

“I forgot to do laundry and I ran out of towels in my bathroom. He went to shower this morning and didn’t grab a change of clothes. He thought I was sleeping. So he came out of the bathroom. Naked.”

“Why didn’t you say something to him?” Reggie asked.

My face heated.

“Oh…my god,” she said. “Asire Elizabeth Thomas, you tell me right this second why you didn’t say something to him.”

I cleared my throat. Checked the rearview mirror. Bad idea. Billy was sitting directly behind me and her eyes were wide enough that I saw all around her irises. Her glasses hanging low on her nose. Dovie wasn’t quite as astonished, but her mouth was hanging open and thoughts were flying fast in her green eyes.

“Asire,” Reggie said, “Why wouldn’t you tell me you wanted to sleep with him?”

“That’s a bit far,” I said.

“Is it?”

“Yes. I’m just attracted to him.”

“And you didn’t tell us?” Billy asked.

I looked in the rearview mirror again. Her eyes had the same hurt that I had been feeling yesterday. Only difference being, I could fix this with something other than time.

“I didn’t know,” I said.

“What’re you guys talking about?” Dovie asked.

“Asire isn’t sexual, but she was damn close,” Reggie explained. “Or at least, she was. What do you mean you didn’t know?” she asked me.

“How was I supposed to know?” I demanded. “If you don’t see something you’re attracted to, how do you know you’re attracted to it? I mean, how was I supposed to know that I liked white haired, honey eyed giants with broad shoulders and big hands? Because ya know, you run into those all the time.”

Reggie laughed and pat my shoulder. “It’s okay, Asire. Calm down.”

I huffed.

“So… What did he look like?” Reggie asked after a couple minutes of silence.

“NO!” both girls in the back screamed.

“He’s practically my brother,” Dovie said. “I’ve known him since I was born. Do not, under any circumstances, let me know what he looks like naked.”

“Agreed,” Billy said. “I’m good.”

Reggie looked at me. “We’ll discuss this later.”

“I have to do laundry later,” I said, and then because I wasn’t thinking, “And I still need to find another rollaway bed.”

“What?” Reggie asked for what felt like the millionth time.

“Uh…”

“Asire…” Warning.

“The one I was using kinda broke,” I said.

“And?” she prompted. Her eyes were sparking with life. The next few days were going to be hell. There was no stopping her now.

“Well…”

“This cannot get any better,” she said. “What’re you going to do about all this?” she asked, smiling wickedly.

I should have forced her to go with Loki.

The second I thought of him, I saw him walking out of the bathroom. What I should have done, was insist that he stay in someone else’s room. That would have been the smart move.

“Nothing,” I said, eyes narrowed to let her know that this wasn’t up for discussion.

That wasn’t going to stop her. She opened her mouth and I had seconds to cut her off before we were having the discussion I wanted to avoid. “Hey, look,” I said. “We’re almost there.”

The tension in the car changed. Seconds ago, I could practically feel the other two girls getting ready to join Reggie’s side of the argument. The second I spoke they all turned to look out the window. Sure enough, we were approaching Debienne’s house. Well, house was a loose word for it. She owned an apartment building and that was where she lived. The only others in it were her personal vampires. Those who had followed her to the city and those who joined her after she arrived.

“Do we have a plan for this?” Billy asked.

“Reggie doesn’t do plans,” I said.

At the same time, Reggie said, “Nope.”

Clouds were rolling by and the sun wasn’t brave enough to peek through. So, whatever we were doing, we’d have to do it without any help from nature. Like I had predicted. We’d had enough dealing with Debienne that it wasn’t as big a concern as it could have been. Should have been, maybe.

“Try not to piss her off,” I warned Reggie.

“I piss her off by existing,” Reggie replied. “Don’t worry, though. The two of us have this hatred thing down pat.”

I pulled into an empty parking space outside the apartment building and Reggie got out. She had her hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, since no amount of work would uncurl it. Her t-shirt and jeans shouldn’t have looked like battle armor, but she moved like nothing could hurt her.

Dammit.

I was out of my truck and after her as quickly as I could manage. I paused and let Billy and Dovie ahead of me. I glanced at the back of my truck, at the built in tool box in the trunk. There wasn’t anything important in there. Basic things if I broke down on the side of the road and a rifle with one bullet in it. I almost went back and grabbed the gun, but decided against it.

Years ago, when I was only seventeen, there was a spell-caster working in the city. She was exiled, like a lot of Seattle’s citizens. We came from all over the world. Spell-casters deemed too dangerous for society usually were just that. Too dangerous. This one was named Lynn and she was half crazy. She did spells and charms for anyone who had the money. One of the things she was good at was spelling weaponry. She got caught doing it and was executed. Before going to the chopping block, though, she had given some of us bullets. One to each person. There had been six bullets altogether. One for me, Reggie, Henrik, Lixa, Santos and Basil.

Not one of us was brave enough to try it out. Walking into a vampire clan who had been manipulating things so that you couldn’t save a child’s life? Tempting to bring the gun and see what that bullet did to Debienne. Tempting, but I chose to walk away. Following the others toward the building.

If there was one thing we all knew about Lynn, it was that she had enjoyed destruction.

The apartment had undergone some construction since I had last been here, two years ago. All the windows now had tinting to them for the rare sunny days. They were also covered with curtains. The front doors used to be glass, but they were now made of some kind of heavy wood. Oak, maybe.

Reggie paused in front of the door and looked around. Off to the side there was a small white button that had an orange glow behind it. “Are you kidding me?” she asked, shaking her head. “Ringing the doorbell to a vamp’s lair. I’m like the stupid heroin in a horror movie.” Didn’t stop her from punching in the button. Seven times in a row.

It was one of those long doorbells that played a song. I hated those.

I threw my senses out and paused. There were about twenty vampires in the building, which wasn’t much considering how many Seattle had. Vampires weren’t the only thing in there, though. I nudged Billy and looked pointedly at the door. She nodded her head, letting me know that she sensed it as well.

“Reggie,” I whispered. “How long do you think you can distract the vampires?”

She grinned. “A long time.”

I slashed my hand through the air before she continued. There was a vampire rushing toward the door. A second after I sensed him, I could hear his footsteps. No woman made noise like that while moving. Hell, most vampire men don’t make noise like that while moving either. When you have advanced hearing, it takes some of the joy out of stomping around.

It made me think he wanted us to be aware of him.

The doors opened, both of them, and to my astonishment, Santos was on the other side. I raised my eyebrows and Reggie stiffened. He smiled congenially and started talking before we could accuse him of anything. “Asire, Reggie, so nice to see you again.” He nodded to Billy and Dovie. “It’s been awhile, Reggie. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you didn’t like me.”

She raised her eyebrow.

He pushed one gloved hand through his hair and kept going. “Unfortunately, I’ve concluded my business here and should really be off. Let me just close the door,” he said, turning his back to us. One door shut firmly and the other…didn’t latch. I eyed it, but didn’t say anything. If we weren’t let it, things could go from bad to worse if we had to break this door down. As he passed me something slithered into my hand. I grabbed it instinctively and then he was gone.

I held the piece of paper up. Reggie took it from me and I let her. She unraveled it and smiled, sharply. Without a word, she handed it to me. It was a check made out to Debienne for an ungodly amount of money. The buyer? Basil. I hadn’t realized he had that kind of money on him.

“Good news for Loki,” I said.

“Yes,” Reggie agreed. “Dealing with him will be easier than I thought.”

I pictured Loki’s naked arms and chest. Somehow, I didn’t think he’d have any problems with the werewolf, no matter what we found here… I wondered if they were getting into a fight right now. That really shouldn’t make my body heat up like it suddenly did.

As for Santos? He was just a mystery to me. Sometimes, he acted like he was way down the ladder in vampire hierarchy. And sometimes, I’d see some vampires ducking away from him, as if afraid. Henrik was really the only one who knew anything about him. He could be here joining Debienne or scaring the shit out of her. For all I knew, he’d spent the last several hours screwing her.

I’d like to think Henrik has better taste in friends than that, though. Considering I was one of those friends. Then again… I was one of those friends, so perhaps he was a poor misguided soul.

Reggie nudged the door open and stepped inside. We followed her.

The outside of the apartment building looked dull. Like most apartment buildings. Seattle was freer to have individuality than most cities. Most cities had nothing special about them because people wanted everything to look good. So neighborhoods had three house floor plans to choose from and those were overbuilt. Seattle, however, didn’t need people to move here.

Society forced it.

So it had some unique buildings. The outside of this one? Was not one of them. It was plain and brownish gray. The inside? It was magnificence.

The marble tiles formed a checkered pattern that stretched all across the lobby. The mailboxes were painted a brilliant gold. There was a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. There was an option to take the stairwell, but we went for the elevators. If we got trapped, we’d be able to get out, so it was fine. The car itself was modern, but it had one of those old fashioned cage doors. It was mirrored on one side and the marble tiling followed into the space.

Debienne liked to be reminded how much she was worth and that’s what all of this was telling me. She had a ton of money. And wanted everyone to know it. What Santos had been doing with that check? Beyond me, but I’d be sure to ask him the next time we ran into each other.

It didn’t happen often. I felt like he enjoyed avoiding me.

Once inside the elevator, Reggie paused over the buttons. Billy, without hesitating hit the number three.

“Billy and I are going to do some exploring,” I said. “Why don’t you and Dovie track down Debienne and keep her occupied?”

Reggie raised an eyebrow. Then hit the top floor button. “Sounds good to me.”

The doors slid closed and we started moving. The car came to a stop and the door slid open. Billy and I stepped off.

The hall we were standing in was very dark. The lighting hadn’t been replaced in a while. Guess Debienne didn’t spend too much time up here. I balled my fist and flexed my arm, feeling the stitches pull against my skin. It didn’t hurt too much and the stitches held true. It might impede me in a fight, but not by much.

“Which door first?” I asked.

Billy looked down the hallway. There were three doors on the left side and four on the right. My senses told me that people were behind each one.

Billy crossed her arms over her chest. “That one,” she said, nodding to the first door on the left. I tried the handle and wasn’t surprised that it was locked. Noise would bring people running. Especially if the sound was a door splintering open. I glanced over at Billy. She was already digging in her bag and pulling out lock picking tools.

I stepped aside, since my bag was still in the car.

Billy and I had been taught lots of things when we were under Grandfather’s watchful eye. Such as lock picking. It had come in handy more times than I could count. People stopped paying attention to you when they thought they were secure. I loved it when I was underestimated.