Thayne
It was ridicules. A Master vampire was taken out in a fight by an amber-eyed, low-level vampire, and no one knew how the hell it had happened?
No, something wasn’t right here. Somebody had to know something, had to have witnessed the fight. It was the rules.
Studying their faces and sensing their emotions, I knew that they were telling the truth, that they didn’t know anything. But looking over at Eve, at the way her shoulders were tensed, the slight blast of panic and fear coming from her – and the fact that she kept avoiding eye contact with me – I knew she had to know something. Trust it to be the one person that I wanted to get close to for my own selfish reasons, the one that was already being stalked by some psychotic sicko that I’d need to gain the trust of, only to blow that trust to smithereens. But then again, it was evident to all that she disliked the fucker, so why was she covering for him?
The guys left just before sunrise, leaving the two of us alone in the empty club. “I really should get some of that paperwork done,” she sighed making a move to leave.
“Which paperwork? The club stuff, or the stuff Gideon should be doing?” She needed to know that I had seen it, that I knew what he was doing… or not doing to be exact.
Eyes wide, she asked, “What do you mean?” Her voice wavered. She was scared; I could feel it.
“I didn’t mean to pry, but I wanted to help out last night when you were resting. As Gideon was being such a dick about you completing all your workload, I wanted to give you a hand. I saw the Council of Masters papers on your desk.”
“I don’t know whether to be pissed that you’ve been in my office without my permission, or touched that you cared enough to try and help out.” A small smile touched her lips, but no way near reached her eyes.
“He shouldn’t be pushing his responsibilities on to you.” The question was, was it the first time or was this a regular thing? Whatever the answer, the other Masters would not be pleased with either of them. The thought of someone stalking Eve had already worried me far more than I would have liked. The added worry of the Masters being pissed at her only made it worse. I’d only known her for a little over a week, but she had gotten to me, more so than anyone ever had.
“I know, but what can I do?” She shrugged.
“Tell him no. He took over the job of Master the moment he decided to take out Denton. He knew what he was taking on when he came here to confront him.” I didn’t add the fact that all the shitty paperwork he was being made to fill out – or should I say she was, as it was being passed on to her – was actually just a load of crap Sabrina was making him do as a way to keep him occupied and out of true Master business.
“If only it was that simple.”
I didn’t see what was so complicated about it, but I could tell there was more to the story about her and how she ended up at the club, but she apparently didn’t trust me enough to tell me…yet.
“I still can’t believe how much this place has changed since Gideon took it over. You should have seen the place back in its heyday. Gideon really has screwed it up.”
Shifting, pulling her legs under herself and leaning back into the padded seat, she sighed. “Quite a lot of Denton’s guys left the area as soon as news broke out. The rest Gideon got rid of the next night; sacked the lot of them and instructed them to leave the area. Because of the low staff and Gideon’s refusal to shut the club for near enough any reason, he ended up hiring anyone that walked through the door. I’ve managed to talk him into getting rid of some them over the past year as we found more trustworthy employees, but some he just won’t get rid of.”
“Like Vince” That fucker really needed to be gone. He’d helped out with clearing the building last night after Dean had lost it, but hadn’t shown up tonight. Either someone had gotten word to him about the club not opening, or he just hadn’t been bothered about showing up.
“Yeah,” Eve said, her fear rising slightly, “we definitely need to get rid of him.”
Eve stopped in the cellar room with me for the next few days until she finally felt safe enough to return to her apartment above. That last night, the urge to abandon my makeshift bed upon the floor and climb under the sheets with her was stronger than ever. I wanted her and not just as a warm-blooded body in my bed. She intrigued me. Yes, I wanted her blood, but who wouldn't, she was mouth-watering. And I wanted her petite, curved body pinned under mine. But was it more than just her blood and body – the things that usually were the only factors I took into account. I just wanted her.
She was sweet, kind, funny, dedicated, and loyal. And when she wasn’t running around ripping her hair out over finding a new cleaning crew for the club or getting the money out of Gideon for a new bar, again, she made time to talk to every one of the staff, to make sure they were coping after Pippa’s murder.
If anything, it should have been them asking how she was. She was the one with the body in her bed. Everything I learned about her made me want her more.
And I could tell that she wanted me too… or well, I hoped so.
Every so often I would get the sense that she did, a hint of attraction. Want. Desire. I felt it all, but without direct contact, I couldn’t be sure. There were other emotions too that plagued her; fear was the one that was present most. Usually, when another note was found – which pissed me off to no end as I couldn’t figure out who was leaving them – or after I asked her a question about life before the club. Both had me profoundly worried.
The first day the club was reopened, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. But at the end of the night when Eve made her rounds, checking each of the floors and rooms to see what needed cleaning up or fixing the next day, another body was found in the women’s toilets, a note pinned to her chest. It hadn’t been a familiar this time, just some young human. The most upsetting thing had been that the girl looked a lot like Eve. Long auburn hair and blue eyes. Whoever this guy was, he was well and truly obsessed with Eve… and a dead man when I got a hold of him.
After that, we made it our mission to find and dispose of the bodies and notes before she found them. We never told her what we found, and we certainly didn’t show her the notes. They were getting more and more disturbing by the night.
While I was worried about this crazy stalker, her reactions to my questions had been more worrisome. After another creep about during the day while she slept, I found the staff records. She was right, every single person that had been working at the club – both vampire and human alike – had been sacked the moment Gideon had come into power. He had also sent everyone connected to Denton packing. Why had he done that? What was he hiding? Or should I say who?
It had taken a few days, but through a contact of mine, I’d discovered that there was a contract out for the collection and return of an Owned human whose last known location had been this club… the same day that Gideon had taken over. That human had been installed with a tracking device embedded deep within their right shoulder blade. A tracking device that I was more than positive was the one I’d found hidden away in Gideon’s office. According to the records, there were just three humans hired at the beginning of Gideon’s ownership of the club. Two of them had already left, one remained… Eve.
Taking a quick break, I headed down to my room below. Checking my phone I saw that I had a missed call. Hitting redial, I flopped down on the bed and waited for it to connect.
“So how is the job going?” Sabrina answered after only one ring. I could practically hear the sadistic smile etched across her face. The image of her fierce blood red eyes glinting in the darkness flashed in my mind.
“Slow, that’s how it’s going. Fucking, bloody slow.”
“So no one knows anything?”
“Nothing. When the bastard took over after defeating Denton, he got rid of everyone that had not already left that was attached to him. Every one of the staff here, vamp and human, were hired after he took control. Well, everyone apart from Eve, who he brought here with him.”
“Well, that’s something. Start with her. Get a hold of her and drag the information out of her,” she demanded. I didn’t like what she was suggesting. I knew the kind of methods she would use to get information and they were ones that I had used a time or two in my existence. But this was Eve we were talking about here. There was no way I would ever do anything like that to her.
“That’s not going to happen.”
The line went quiet. Pulling the receiver from my ear, I checked to make sure that I hadn’t just been disconnected. No, she was still there. Suddenly laughter blasted through the speaker of the phone. “Gabriel,” I heard her shout in the background. “Thayne’s only gone and fucking fell for Gideon’s pet,” she cackled.
“She’s not his fucking pet!” I snarled.
“Okay, calm down. You know what I mean. I bet that’s the way he sees her, though.”
And it was, I knew that, didn’t mean she had to call her that.
“Listen,” she sighed getting all serious again. “Have you found anything, anything at all that might suggest that Gideon got his position through illegal means? Or if he is doing anything that would give us a good reason to kick his ass off the Council?”
“Not really.” Nothing that actually counted, anyway. “He’s been getting someone else to fill out all that damn paperwork you have been sending him, but as that is all just a bunch of garbage anyway, it’s not exactly going to get you any closer to getting rid of his ass.”
“Unfortunately, you’re right,” she snarled, the click of her heels echoing through the phone. She was pacing, always did when she was pissed… at least nowadays. Years ago she would have gone on a bloody rampage after hearing news she didn’t like.
“Argh! I just wish I knew how the fuck he was doing it. I know there is something. No one can resist my hypnosis, no one. But somehow that fucker can.”
Sabrina was one of, if not the, most powerful vampires around. One of her many abilities was hypnosis. She could make anyone do exactly what she wanted. But when she had tried to force the truth about Denton’s demise out of Gideon when she didn’t believe his story of events, it had failed to work. For that reason alone she was more determined than ever to discover his secrets.
“What about this other job I heard you were working on? You getting any closer to finding your new clients missing play-toy?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I heard through the grapevine that you were taking on a contract while you were down there, finding some bastard’s escaped Owned.”
There was never ever hiding anything from that nosy bitch, couldn’t even inquire about something without her finding out. “No I haven’t taken on the job, officially, but I am looking into it. The timing of the tracking device being deactivated and Gideon’s take over here are ridiculously close... like within hours. If I am right, and I think I am with me finding a used tracking device in his office, it’s going to be one of three people he hired first off.”
“Well, that’s something at least. And if he has stolen another’s property, we might be able to use that against him.”
True, but with Eve’s reluctance to talk about her past, I had a terrible feeling that it was her. Did I really want to get her involved in all this if she was? When an Owned ran from their owner, it was usually for good reason.
“I guess. You heard anything from Brad lately?” I’d sent one of the vials of blood that I had found with the tracker and not heard anything back from him since I’d received a text stating that he had received it.
“We have actually, though, the message was very vague. He’s on his way north to speak with Sebastian, but I have no idea what about.”
Strange, but I doubted it was anything to do with what I had sent him. I mean, it was only blood.
“We got another one,” Reese hissed running past me the moment I exited the cellar and stepped behind the bar.
This was getting ridiculous. How many was this guy going to kill before he made his move? We’d been secretly keeping an eye on Eve every night, one of us shadowing her at all times, but nothing. Fuck, even Vince had been adamant at helping out since the bodies started piling up. I still didn’t like the guy, but at least, he seemed to be pulling his weight now. Maybe Gideon had finally decided to have a word with him.
“Where?” I demanded, following.
“In the lobby.”
Shit. The club was going to be closing in fifteen minutes time. We couldn’t have a body out there for all and sundry to see. “And a note?”
“Oh yeah, he left a fucking note alright.” I didn’t like the sound of that.
Racing into the lobby, I skidded to a stop, just short of stepping on the so-called note. Instead of writing a little, scrawled note on a scrap of paper, as usual, the guy had decided to write the message in blood on the floor.
I will come for my taste… soon.
“Get this cleaned up quickly,” I demanded as I quickly grabbed one of the familiars that had come stumbling into the lobby from the toilets, covering her mouth when she made to scream. “In a few minutes those doors are going to open, and the last thing we need anyone seeing is this.”
Nodding in agreement, Trent, Reese, and Vince got to work, removing the body and cleaning up the mess. Within ten minutes there was no sign of the blood but the smell remained. “This isn’t going to work, we need another plan,” Reese sighed, scenting the air.