InsistentHunger (36 page)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Paige stood in front of the townhouse, searching for some
sign that vampires or demons or
blajini
lived in it. The flowers in the
red flowerboxes drooped, the spring grass looked patchy at best and the
downspout for the gutters had split during some freeze and the edges had
rusted. In other words, it was a perfectly normal house. Not a vampire in
sight.

Paige wondered if Hunter had given her a wrong address. He
hadn’t exactly volunteered the information. If he had lied, she would find his
ass and call in a favor or two to get him thrown in the drunk tank. After a few
guys had thrown up all over him, he’d learn to not fuck with her. Just because
she was now officially a retired cop didn’t mean she couldn’t throw her weight
around.

She knocked on the door and then waited on the step, her
discomfort growing by the second. It must’ve been five or six minutes before
the heavy door came open. “Yes?” The man who opened the door was older, with
white streaking his hair and dark brown eyes that suggested he was all human
and very aggravated.

Paige put on her best smile. “I was looking for Mr. Ross or
Mr. Gavril,” she said in her most polite voice. The man at the door gawked at
her like she was some sort of Jehovah’s Witness trying to convert him. However,
if he expected her to back down, he had another thought coming. When she just
stared back at him for several minutes, he got the message. She wasn’t going to
go away.

He crossed his arms. “This is a private residence.”

Paige was pretty sure she knew that already. Idiot. “Yes, I
understand that, but I was hoping to speak to Mr. Ross or Mr. Gavril.” She
tried to keep her smile sweet, but she had a hard time not scowling at this
guy.

“No one by that name is available.”

Paige noticed that he was saying they weren’t available, not
that they didn’t live there. She crossed her arms. “That’s fine. I’ll just
stand here and wait until one of them is available.” She gave the man at the
door her nastiest smile. “And I’ll have to find some way to amuse myself while
I wait. You really should ask Jim Hunter what happens when I get bored.” Her
smirk got wider. “I mean I assume he’s going to recover soon, but it wasn’t a
pleasant experience for him.” She left her vague threat right there. People’s
imagination could always fill in the details better than any she might provide.
Besides, the fact was she hadn’t done anything to Hunter. It just always paid
to let people wonder how psychotic you might be.

Sure enough, the butler looked uncomfortable now. “They
aren’t available,” he said again, closing the door in her face. Paige sighed
and wondered how long this game was going to go on. She propped herself up on
the railing of the porch and put one boot against the siding of the house. She
could wait for a good long time. However, she didn’t think she would have to.
Unless she missed her guess, mister butler-man was telling either Brady or
Gavril that they had a crazy woman standing on the front porch.

It took about ten or fifteen minutes, long enough for Paige
to get really bored, and then the door opened again. The butler appeared with
an even more sour expression on his face. For the second time, Paige wondered
exactly why a human being would work for a vampire. It didn’t seem like there’d
be a lot of opportunities for advancement.

“Follow me.”

Paige snorted as she thought about Lurch from the Addams
family. She might share the joke except the butler didn’t look like the kind to
have a sense of humor, which also made him somewhat like Lurch. He turned and
gestured toward the house. She followed him into a surprisingly modern house.
The furniture had clean angles and dark wood and there was iron artwork in an
abstract pattern on the wall. Gavril stepped out from behind a sleek black
desk.

“Ms. Silver, I am surprised.” From his expression, he wasn’t
talking the happy sort of surprise.

“Why? I thought it was pretty obvious that I wanted answers
as much as Brady.” Paige stepped into the room and tried to ignore the
discomfort that had curled around her spine. This man would kill her if she
posed a real threat—she believed that. People didn’t live as long as him
without being willing to defend themselves. Her best hope was to make it clear
she didn’t want to hurt him or his. “You do seem to be the man who has the
answers.”

Gavril turned to the butler. “Michael, we’re fine.”

“Define fine.” The older man, Michael, crossed his arms and
gave Gavril a sharp look. Paige was startled. Clearly this wasn’t some silent
and obedient servant.

Gavril waved a hand in her direction. “This is Brady’s young
strigoi
.”

“I haven’t been called young in a while,” Paige added. If
this Michael was some sort of demon that didn’t have the same eye fading problem
Brady had, who knows how old he might be. He looked to be in his fifties, but
that might not mean anything.

Gavril gave her a cold look. “Compared to me, you’re a
babe.”

Surprisingly, it was Michael who answered. “Compared to you,
all of us are children. After all, you’re really old. Ancient. Fossilized,
even.”

“Yes, thank you, Michael. Should I need any more awkward
conversation, I will be sure to call you.” Despite the words, Gavril gave the
man an almost indulgent look.

Michael turned to her. “Don’t let Grandfather freak you out.
He’s only a total bastard on Fridays and every other Wednesday.” With that, he
left the room. Paige couldn’t gather her thoughts well enough to even answer.
Grandfather. Gavril was his grandfather. Which meant Gavril had stayed with a
woman long enough for her to have a child and then stayed in contact with that
woman long enough to know and live with a grown grandchild. Again, not really
something she expected from a demon.

Paige’s mouth was hanging open. She knew it. She also
couldn’t get herself to close it. She finally turned away from the doorway
where Michael had disappeared and looked at Gavril. “Grandfather?”

He looked at her for a long time and Paige got the idea he
was judging her. After some time, he shrugged. “
Strigoi
are rather more
common than you seem to believe. His grandmother was a beautiful and talented
woman.” From the irritated look Gavril gave her, Paige guessed that he found
her lacking in both qualities. She didn’t care.

“Where’s Brady?”

Gavril looked bored. “Perhaps reading, perhaps watching
television, perhaps out at some club. I do not keep track of him unless his
behavior infringes upon my life. He’s learned to avoid that.” His smirk turned
nasty. Now that look came closer to what Paige expected in a demon. A shiver
traveled the entire length of her spine.

Paige wanted to ask what that meant. However, she doubted
that Gavril liked her well enough to give her honest answers and she wouldn’t
believe him no matter what he said. “Huh. And here I thought you were supposed
to be some great teacher.” She worked to keep her voice even.

“I assure you I made no such promise. I said that I would
show him what he was,” Gavril said. “And I have. There are not so many
blajini
in this world that we can afford to ignore each other.”

“Not many? Is that why you use human hunters to take out
enemies?” Paige asked, pouncing on the opportunity to get at least one question
answered. Honestly, she had more questions than answers at this point.

Gavril gave her a hard look. “I would have him as an ally,
nothing more. Look for him upstairs if you will. I have other concerns far more
pressing.” Gavril sat down behind his desk again. Immediately, he focused on a
laptop computer.

Taking Gavril at his word, Paige eyed the staircase and
wondered if she should just start searching his house. A little part of her
that used to be a cop was uncomfortable doing that without a search warrant.
But then she was a private citizen now. Even better, she was a private citizen
with permission. Decision made, she headed for the stairs.

The hallway split at the top of the stairs and Paige
couldn’t get over how normal it looked. Other than a few extra shadows and a
lack of open windows, it could belong to some average family, as long as the
family really liked cleaning. Paige’s house never got quite so clean. A
half-open bathroom door let her see color-coordinated towels neatly hung.
Paige’s towels usually ended up on the ground.

“Brady?” Paige called. There were too many rooms for her to
randomly start poking her head in them, especially when she wasn’t sure what
she’d find inside. “Brady?” Paige dismissed the fear that something would jump
out at her from behind one of the closed doors. Besides, she’d mentioned to at
least a dozen people at the hotel and over at Louisville PD that she was coming
here. Someone would notice if she went missing. Hopefully. She had herself
about halfway convinced to retreat when a face appeared on the stairs leading
up to the third floor.

“Paige?” Brady looked shocked, but other than that, he still
looked like Brady. Something cold and unyielding unwound itself from her heart.

“Brady.” She didn’t even realize she had reached for him
until he crossed the distance between them and took her hands in his. “You look
good.” He did too. The haggard look he’d had in his face the last time she’d
seen him at the old Carter place was gone. Other than the unusual light brown
of his eyes, she couldn’t tell him apart from the flirtatious recruit who’d
first showed up at the station.

“You look great. What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to check on you.” Paige cringed at how clingy that
made her sound. She really had relationship issues. However, Brady grinned like
a loon.

“You did, huh? Do you want to see my room?”

“Um. Sure.” This was turning out more awkward than Paige
expected. Maybe Brady felt it too. He slipped his hand around her shoulders to
urge her toward the stairs up to the third floor and then his hand slid down to
the small of her back. It hovered there until Paige started up the steps and
then it moved back up to her shoulders.

“Michael’s a surprise,” Paige said, anxious to get the
conversation onto some topic that didn’t feel strange.

“How’s that?”

“A
strigoi
? Gavril’s grandson is a
strigoi
? He
didn’t strike me as the sort to go cavorting with humans.” She looked over her
shoulder at Brady and he gave her a half-shrug.

“I have no idea. Michael’s grandmother might have been
strigoi
too. But Michael’s a nice guy. He paints. Personally, I think his stuff looks
like someone wiping off their paintbrushes on a random bit of cloth, but
apparently they bring in some good money. Not my thing though.”

Paige knew the kind of art he meant. “I prefer pictures I
can figure out,” she agreed.

He nodded. “Yep. My room’s over here.” He waved her down the
hall with a gesture that was equal parts grand and uncomfortable. She offered
him a smile and headed toward the open door. Unlike the rest of the house,
Brady’s room looked lived in. Newspapers sat in a rumpled pile on the chair by
the window and a blue quilt had fallen to the floor at the foot of his double
bed.

“What, the maid didn’t get up here?” Paige teased as she
plucked a pair of jeans off the desk chair and tossed them toward the bed
before sitting down.

“She only does the first two floors,” Brady answered in a
perfectly deadpan voice. He saw something in Paige’s expression, though,
because he frowned. “And you were joking. Right.” He settled on the end of the
bed and crossed his legs so that his left ankle rested on his right knee where
he could fiddle with the sock.

“Kinda,” Paige said. A maid. She’d never known anyone who
had a maid come in. To be honest, she thought it was a big waste of money.

“Michael hired her. Apparently Gavril used to have some of
those mid-level vamps around to clean and guard the place, and when Dorothy
took off, he staked the last two. It turns out those vamps aren’t nearly as
loyal as you might think.”

“Imagine that. The mentally questionable undead don’t make
good guards. I never would have guessed.”

Brady grinned at her sarcasm and Paige could feel herself
smile back.

“Most
blajini
keep them around until they’re old
enough to feel when other demons come into their territory. Gavril can feel
when anything supernatural goes bump in northern Kentucky or half of Indiana. I
don’t notice unless I have a vamp trying to chew on my neck.”

“So you are learning.” The fact Gavril had honored his
promise to teach Brady about himself and this new world made her feel a little
more comfortable. Brady had been her responsibility. She’d gotten him through
so much, and watching him walk away with some demon who showed up out of
nowhere had felt so damn wrong. She would have made a bigger fuss only she
really hated losing a fight and she knew she’d lose that one. Brady’s decision
to leave made sense logically, even if she’d hated it.

“A lot,” Brady agreed. “There are a lot of things that go
bump in the night—some good and some bad and some indifferent.” He sighed.
“Okay, to be honest, it’s more like mostly indifferent with a big chunk of bad
and this little, tiny sliver of good.” Brady held up his finger and thumb to
show how big the “bad” chunk was and how small the “good”.

“That might explain why humans call them demons,” Paige
pointed out. She wondered which pile Brady put Gavril in.

“Actually, that comes from the Greek word
daemon,
which was a minor god or the ghost of a dead hero, although I suspect it was
the sort of ghost that eats chickens. It turns out most cultures had some sort
of stories of beings from the other side crossing over to this world.” Brady
sound almost excited to share that information and Paige smiled at how happy he
looked.

“Any epiphanies about the other side?”