Red (21 page)
Chapter 26
The house was dark and still when I arrived home, but considering my earlier trauma, I wasn’t about to take that for granted. Praying I wouldn’t stumble upon Gran and Eddie again, I proceeded cautiously, letting my senses feel out the house for any sign of the randy seniors. Finally confirming I was in the clear, I headed into the kitchen to check our message board and saw Gran’s elegant handwriting there as expected.
Dearest—Have gone to meet the lovely young woman you sent my way.Then out to dinner with Mr. Fox. Don’t wait up!Gran
I reread the note, trying not to let my imagination wander. I
seriously
didn’t want to think about what they’d be doing that would keep them out all night.
Don’t wait up?
Was she kidding me?
seriously
didn’t want to think about what they’d be doing that would keep them out all night.
Don’t wait up?
Was she kidding me?
I groaned aloud, but it ended on a sigh. At least their date included a visit with Alice. I felt bad for the kid. It was tough enough to be in her situation, but being an Ordinary, she had no clue how dark and treacherous our world could be. But if there was anyone who could steer her clear of the shitstorm of Tale drama, it was Gran.
Speaking of drama, I reminded myself that I had an honest-to-God date in a little less than half an hour and needed to get my ass in gear.
I hurried upstairs and grabbed my red leather pants and matching jacket from the closet—I wasn’t kidding about the whole denim-to-leather thing—and quickly stripped out of my work clothes. I was just squeezing into my pants when a blur of movement out of the corner of my eye brought my head up.
Startled, I whirled toward the window. “What the hell?” I muttered, grabbing up my jacket and shrugging into it as I cautiously approached the window.
Standing to one side, I pulled back the curtain and peeked through the small opening, scanning the rapidly darkening night. Not seeing anyone lurking around in the shadows, I checked the lock on the window, just to be on the safe side.
“Weird.”
Still trying to shrug off the heavy feeling of someone’s eyes upon me, I went back to my closet and grabbed my red stiletto boots. I’d just finished pulling them on when the hair on the back of my neck began to rise in warning. Pretending to be unaffected, I sidled over to my dresser where I’d set my Glock. Keeping it low at my side, I went back to the window to take another look.
Nothing.
The only movement was a gentle breeze swaying the leaves of the maple tree just outside my window.
“Little twitchy tonight, Red?” I said aloud, hoping the sound of my voice would check the rush of adrenaline pumping through my veins. Unfortunately, whatever calming effects it had were negated when the floorboards creaked behind me.
I spun around, leveling my Glock at the empty shadows just outside my bedroom door. I cursed under my breath and stood completely still, listening intently for even the slightest sound, but none came.
Regretting sending Nate off so soon, I snatched my phone and keys from my dresser and stole silently along the hall and down the stairs, my gun at the ready. With each step, the darkness within the house seemed to deepen, taking on a disturbing solidity as it crept ever closer and threatened to completely envelope the house in opaque shadow.
I edged closer to the front door, quickly surveying every corner as I went. Just as my fingers closed around the doorknob, I heard a faint scrabble coming from the living room. Clenching my jaw to keep from crying out, I whipped my gun toward the direction of the sound, my eyes straining to see in the darkness.
“I’m armed!” I barked. “Come out with your hands where I can see them!”
When there was no response, I slid my hand along the wall until I found the light switch and flicked it on, hoping to momentarily blind the intruder and give me just enough of an edge to get the drop on him.
It worked. The intruder burst forward, knocking into the coffee table and sending a porcelain vase crashing to the floor. I swung my gun toward a blur of motion and nearly fired off a round when a creature as big as a cat lunged toward me, red eyes blazing maniacally.
I leapt out of the way with a startled scream, my stiletto heels slipping out from under me and bringing me down hard on my ass. The impact jolted my gun from my hand and sent it skimming across the foyer toward the front door. Fortunately, the rat wasn’t having any better luck. It hit the tile in the foyer and slide across the floor with a desperate scraping of claws, trying to get its feet under its body once more.
I managed to get back on my feet first, and grabbed an umbrella from the nearby stand. Brandishing the makeshift weapon like a sword, I swiped at the offending rodent, catching it in full swing as it made another leap at me. The blow sent it flying into the wall with a thud.
I lunged forward and threw open the front door, then charged the rat again, intent on booting his ass outside. As I swung, the rodent hissed, baring surprisingly long, pointy teeth. Instead of making another assault, it bolted toward the door of its own accord, vanishing into thin air before reaching the threshold.
“What the fuck?” I blurted, my skin creeping with goose bumps.
The rat was far larger than an ordinary sewer rat and had looked like it was there on a mission—though what that mission was, I could only guess. But my gut told me it had some connection to Dave Hamelin.
One thing I
did
know for sure—that rat was conjured, sent by someone with some seriously powerful magic. There was no mistake about that. I shuddered, wondering what the creature would have been capable of had it gotten the drop on me instead of the other way around.
did
know for sure—that rat was conjured, sent by someone with some seriously powerful magic. There was no mistake about that. I shuddered, wondering what the creature would have been capable of had it gotten the drop on me instead of the other way around.
At that moment, Vlad’s limo rolled into the driveway, the headlights cutting through the darkness. Far more relieved than I would have liked to admit, I locked the door behind me and hurried to the waiting car, hopping into the back before the driver could get out and open the door for me.
The minute I was safely inside, I took several slow, deep breaths and ran my hands up and down my thighs to calm their trembling. My pulse was just beginning to slow to a respectable tempo when the divider window slid down to reveal a bright, cheerful face. “Hi, Ms. Little! Where to?”
I blinked in disbelief. “Amanda?”
The pert little blonde’s smile widened at the fact I’d remembered her name. “Sorry to surprise you! Renfield has the night off.”
I frowned, trying to remember when Renfield had
ever
had a night off. Vlad got a little testy if one of his flunkies wasn’t immediately at his beck and call. Letting his number-two guy (whose unwavering devotion went way beyond creepy) have a night off seemed completely out of character.
ever
had a night off. Vlad got a little testy if one of his flunkies wasn’t immediately at his beck and call. Letting his number-two guy (whose unwavering devotion went way beyond creepy) have a night off seemed completely out of character.
“Where am I taking you?” Amanda prompted, casting an anxious glance at her dainty gold wristwatch. “I promised the Count I would call him with the location as soon as I picked you up.” She chewed her lip, obviously anxious when I didn’t respond. “He can be a bit impatient, Ms. Little. I’d rather not make him wait.”
Still perturbed by Amanda’s presence, I rattled off the first restaurant that came to mind. Her eyes widened a little at my choice, but she placed the call to Vlad, offering me a tentative smile while she waited for him to answer. A moment later, I heard her say something softly before hanging up.
“The Count was a little . . .
surprised
by your choice,” she said, placing her phone on the seat beside her. “But he said to tell you he ‘shall endure the experience so long as he can enjoy the pleasure of your company’—or something like that.”
surprised
by your choice,” she said, placing her phone on the seat beside her. “But he said to tell you he ‘shall endure the experience so long as he can enjoy the pleasure of your company’—or something like that.”
Not too long ago, such a debonair compliment would have brought a flush of color to my cheeks, but now it just made me want to roll my eyes at the over-the-top cheesiness of it. Amanda was watching my reaction in the rearview mirror, though, so I resisted the impulse and offered her a tight smile instead.
“So, how did you get tagged for car pool?” I asked, trying to divert the conversation away from me.
The girl lit up with delight. “The Count said I was the only one in his employ he trusted enough to transport you.”
“Really?” I replied, my frown deepening. Vlad was never the trusting sort—too many close calls with stakes and holy water over the years. “That’s quite an accomplishment.”
“I know!” she cried, bouncing a little in her seat. “I think this is a
huge
step forward for us!”
huge
step forward for us!”
I eyed her reflection in the mirror, mentally high-fiving myself for pegging her interest in Vlad when I’d first met her. She was so into him, I could almost see the outline of her body fading as her identity drifted away.
“How did you meet Vlad, Amanda?” I asked, genuinely curious.
Her smile widened to the point of almost being grotesque. “A friend of mine introduced us. She had belonged to him for a while, but her boss didn’t like their relationship and demanded my friend break things off.
“So your friend’s boss actually knew about Vlad?” I questioned, surprised to hear that anyone knew the names of Vlad’s snacks. He tended to keep such things on the down-low.
Amanda nodded. “Oh, yeah! Her boss is the Count’s mistress.”
Mistress?
I’d always known Vlad had quite a few other women on call for room service, but I’d never heard of any of them being serious enough to label as a mistress. Even when things were at their hottest and heaviest between us, we’d never gone as far as defining our relationship with monikers. Maybe I was just reading too much into what Amanda was saying, but it sounded like this boss-lady was committed to Vlad in some way. Which made me wonder where the hell he thought I was going to fit in to all this.
“Who is this mistress?” I asked, still digging.
Amanda shrugged. “No clue. The Count makes me call her just ‘the Mistress.’ Anyway, my friend got fired when the Mistress got pissed about how much time Vlad was spending with his other women.”
“And he let your friend go, just like that?” I queried, knowing all too well that Vlad didn’t just let his women walk away. In fact, aside from me, I didn’t know of any others who’d tried to break things off. His bite was far too addictive.
Amanda shook her head, confirming my suspicions. “The only way Vlad would release her was if she brought him someone else.”
That sounded more like the Vlad I knew.
“And your friend was okay with you stepping in?”
Amanda’s expression seemed pained and a little guilt-ridden when she said slowly, “No. She was devastated. She thought it would be easier if she knew her replacement, but I think it was even harder. She kept trying to get Vlad to take her back. It was so sad! But she seemed to do a little better when she started her new job.”
“New job?”
“She went to work for Jack Something-or-other,” Amanda informed me. “He owns a pie company or something here in Chicago.”
“Jack Horner?” I suggested, trying to figure out where I’d seen his name recently.
Amanda’s lovely face registered surprise. “Yes!” she cried. “How did you know?”
“We go back a ways.”
She shook her head, grinning. “Small world.”
Too small.
“I think she likes working for him,” Amanda continued. “But even after getting the new job she still struggled to get over Vlad for a while. A few weeks ago, she showed up at his house, demanding to see him. She and the Mistress had a
huge
fight. Yelling, screaming, throwing stuff. The Count had to break things up.”
huge
fight. Yelling, screaming, throwing stuff. The Count had to break things up.”
“Were you there for the argument?”
Amanda grimaced. “For a while. He sent me away to his bedroom while he dealt with the two of them. I don’t know what he said, but it must have worked. I haven’t seen my friend since then.”
“What about the Mistress?” I probed, starting to feel uneasy. “Do you still see her?”
Amanda’s face contorted in disgust. “Unfortunately. She’s always so mean to me! I don’t think she likes to share. I mean, who does? I don’t like it either, but I guess that’s the price you pay to be with Vlad.”
I snorted.
Maybe some of us did.
Maybe some of us did.
This date was becoming less and less palatable all the time. Thinking about the bevy of women who’d apparently been frequenting Vlad’s bed made me want to puke. It also made me wonder why he thought it necessary to add me to the mix when he had a veritable smorgasbord of nookie at his disposal.
“Amanda,” I began cautiously, “do you know anything about
my
relationship to Vlad?”
my
relationship to Vlad?”
She glanced over her shoulder and nodded. “Oh, yeah! Of course! He told me all about the two of you. I think you’re one of his favorites.”
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