asked where he could find respectable entertainment while he was in town. I told him I generally hung out at the Vantage, but my king wouldn’t allow this kind of thing on his turf.
He came with me to check it out. I got him a red pass at the door claiming he was an old friend of mine in for an extended stay.”
Visiting vampires were given a red pass while they were in town if someone from the tribe vouched for them. It gave them safe passage to places like the Vantage where willing donors could be found so they wouldn’t be reduced to hunting the streets.
“Did he give you a name?”
“He called himself Sam, but that’s not his real name. Damned man lied worse than I do.”
“So you didn’t press him?” I pushed because this was my last chance. It was a good thing that I wasn’t going to need to produce him as a court witness. Dust can’t talk.
“Hell, I didn’t care if he said his name was King Kong. He gave me a cell number and told me to tip him off for the next rave. It rang as out of service about a week ago so I figured he’d moved on.”
I reached around me to grab a pad of paper and pen for him to write the number down. I took my eyes from him for a moment, but he was waiting for it. Only my finely honed feline reflexes saved me. He leaped toward me. I reacted without thinking. Diving to the side, the edge of the desk
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
caused a sharp pain as it connected with my hip on my way to the floor.
Sean, with all the finesse of a bull in Pamplona, crashed into the desk where I had stood and nearly flew over it. He righted himself, but the wild movement of his arm scattered the blotter, papers, jar of pens, and telephone over me and the floor. I knew as I ducked away from my flying stapler that I’d never be able to get to my feet in time.
Marcus was suddenly there between us. I could see Peter coming at Sean from behind as Marcus met the charge. It wasn’t even a contest. From behind, I couldn’t see what Marcus did, but the result was a shower of ash-fine dust all over my carpet.
I lay there for a moment with adrenaline racing through me. Inside, the lioness roared and strained against my control. Fight or flight generally meant shift in my case, but I held it back by the skin of my teeth.
Marcus turned to kneel next to me with a soft, “Are you all right?”
Meeting his concerned gaze with an annoyed one of my own, I said the first thing that came to mind.
“You couldn’t have waited to kill him until I had that phone number, could you? I didn’t even get to ask him if he knew Betsy. And you made a mess of my carpet.”
So much for gratitude.
He stared at me as if trying to decide how to take my outrage. Without a word, he rose to his feet and glided toward the door. Sitting up in the middle of the mess, I saw Peter looking torn between us.
“I’ll send cleaners, Destiny.”
“Peter!” Marcus bellowed from the front door.
Peter scrambled after his boss. To see a man like Peter scramble was almost worth the disaster my office had turned into.
With a disgusted look, I inhaled the oily, rank smell of dead vampire. Some of them burst into dust while some of them bled like humans. I’d always thought it was the old ones that dusted, but this proved me wrong. One day, after Marcus stopped being mad at me, I would get around to asking, now that the distraction factor was definitely out of the equation.
Chapter Five
By the time Yasmine strolled through the front door, I’d done my best to straighten my office.
Even after three vacuums, the smell remained. The way she stopped in the doorway and wrinkled her nose said it was even more repugnant to her sensitive senses.
“Did you finally have enough of that snake?”
“Yas…”
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
“I know, I know.” She held up a delicate hand and my eyes were drawn to the flashing
He came with me to check it out. I got him a red pass at the door claiming he was an old friend of mine in for an extended stay.”
Visiting vampires were given a red pass while they were in town if someone from the tribe vouched for them. It gave them safe passage to places like the Vantage where willing donors could be found so they wouldn’t be reduced to hunting the streets.
“Did he give you a name?”
“He called himself Sam, but that’s not his real name. Damned man lied worse than I do.”
“So you didn’t press him?” I pushed because this was my last chance. It was a good thing that I wasn’t going to need to produce him as a court witness. Dust can’t talk.
“Hell, I didn’t care if he said his name was King Kong. He gave me a cell number and told me to tip him off for the next rave. It rang as out of service about a week ago so I figured he’d moved on.”
I reached around me to grab a pad of paper and pen for him to write the number down. I took my eyes from him for a moment, but he was waiting for it. Only my finely honed feline reflexes saved me. He leaped toward me. I reacted without thinking. Diving to the side, the edge of the desk
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
caused a sharp pain as it connected with my hip on my way to the floor.
Sean, with all the finesse of a bull in Pamplona, crashed into the desk where I had stood and nearly flew over it. He righted himself, but the wild movement of his arm scattered the blotter, papers, jar of pens, and telephone over me and the floor. I knew as I ducked away from my flying stapler that I’d never be able to get to my feet in time.
Marcus was suddenly there between us. I could see Peter coming at Sean from behind as Marcus met the charge. It wasn’t even a contest. From behind, I couldn’t see what Marcus did, but the result was a shower of ash-fine dust all over my carpet.
I lay there for a moment with adrenaline racing through me. Inside, the lioness roared and strained against my control. Fight or flight generally meant shift in my case, but I held it back by the skin of my teeth.
Marcus turned to kneel next to me with a soft, “Are you all right?”
Meeting his concerned gaze with an annoyed one of my own, I said the first thing that came to mind.
“You couldn’t have waited to kill him until I had that phone number, could you? I didn’t even get to ask him if he knew Betsy. And you made a mess of my carpet.”
So much for gratitude.
He stared at me as if trying to decide how to take my outrage. Without a word, he rose to his feet and glided toward the door. Sitting up in the middle of the mess, I saw Peter looking torn between us.
“I’ll send cleaners, Destiny.”
“Peter!” Marcus bellowed from the front door.
Peter scrambled after his boss. To see a man like Peter scramble was almost worth the disaster my office had turned into.
With a disgusted look, I inhaled the oily, rank smell of dead vampire. Some of them burst into dust while some of them bled like humans. I’d always thought it was the old ones that dusted, but this proved me wrong. One day, after Marcus stopped being mad at me, I would get around to asking, now that the distraction factor was definitely out of the equation.
Chapter Five
By the time Yasmine strolled through the front door, I’d done my best to straighten my office.
Even after three vacuums, the smell remained. The way she stopped in the doorway and wrinkled her nose said it was even more repugnant to her sensitive senses.
“Did you finally have enough of that snake?”
“Yas…”
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
“I know, I know.” She held up a delicate hand and my eyes were drawn to the flashing
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