The Maestro's Apprentice (12 page)

“No kidding,” Biali said. “Come on. Let’s get you inside.”

“Am I going to be punished?” she asked as Mick herded her toward the door, barely able to make the words come out through chattering teeth.

“Not by us, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Biali said. “You’ll have to take that particular issue up with your vampire. We do want to caution you, though, that not everyone here is on the up and up. You will have people trying to take advantage of you.

I don’t know what that guy was up to, but it didn’t look good. What did he say?”

“He said we were going to his car to get a water gun to play a trick on someone.”

Mick looked at Biali, alarmed. “Classic kidnap scenario. Do you know his name?”

“Francois. He says he’s a hairdresser.”

“We’ll check him out,” Biali said. “In the meantime, don’t let strange vampires lure you out of the building. It isn’t safe.”

“Yes, sir,” Autumn said, moving to open the door. Mick put his hands on her shoulders and kept her in place while Freddie opened it instead.

“You are so cute,” Mick said, squeezing her shoulders. “Can I ask you something?”

Autumn nodded, then walked through the open door and turned around. “That vampire you’re with—Adam, isn’t it?”

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She nodded.

“Some of us thought he looked familiar. He’s with that group, isn’t he? Claudio du Fresne’s chamber group?”

The door closed. Autumn felt all the color drain from her face. She wondered if the two vampires could see it in the sparse lighting. “Yes,” she said quietly. “He was, but –

we left, and – we didn’t have anywhere to go, so we came here.”

“Diamond is so going to rub my nose in this one,” Mick said. “Plus I’ll owe him fifty bucks.”

Autumn frowned, confused.

“One of his assistants,” Biali explained. “He recognized Adam and genius here told him he was full of shit. Oh well. Live and learn,” he said, clapping Mick on the shoulder.

Mick rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised du Fresne’s scaring people away,” Biali said.

“You know him?” Autumn asked, astonished.

“Know him? I helped get him on his feet in this country. He likes to lie low, doesn’t think he needs the community. Don’t worry, though. We have a no-snitch policy.”

“That’s good,” she said. “I don’t think he’s very happy with us right now.”

Biali turned to Mick. “Why don’t you get her back to her room? I’m going to wander around a while longer and then see about getting something to eat.”

Mick nodded to him once.

“Good luck,” Biali told Autumn, then left, twirling his cane.

“Come on,” Mick said, putting an arm around her. “You’re still freezing. What in the world were you doing out in bare feet?”

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She shrugged, letting him lead her toward her room. “I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to take a walk.”

“That’s not a good idea to do on your own the first time you come here, not as a feeder. We go to a lot of trouble to make sure our events are safe for everyone involved, but it’s a big place. Things can happen in dark hallways.”

She shrugged. “I was kind of hoping something would.”

Mick did a double-take. “You little minx. I knew there was something about you I liked. And you’re making me hungry. I don’t suppose you’ve, um, paid your dues yet, have you?”

“No,” Autumn said guiltily.

“Is your vampire up?”

“No, he’s sleeping.”

“Sneaking out. I tell you what. You come off all sweet and shy like a kitten, but I’ll bet there is a
li
-ttle tiger in there somewhere.” He touched her nose with a fingertip.

“Well, that’s too bad. I would really like to taste you.”

“You can,” she said. “I don’t mind.”

Mick shook his head. “No. I like to make sure it’s all right with everyone involved first.”

“I’m not really with him. I’m not his. We’re just traveling together as friends.”

“Does he feed from you?”

“Not really. It’s a long story.”

“Well, I’d still better talk to him first. And here you are,” he said in front of the door.

“My coat, please,” he said, holding out his hands.

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She began shrugging out of it, but he helped her and put it back on. “I don’t feel complete without it. You take care,” he said, bending down to kiss the corner of her mouth. “And maybe I’ll see you around.”

She nodded and watched him go. It took her a while to get the skeleton key to work, but eventually she was inside the room, trying to close the door without creaking it too much.

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Chapter Eleven

The next evening found Autumn, Adam and Maria staring at a royal blue evening gown and white furry mask laid out on the bed.
Please accompany me to our monthly
Cat-and-Mouse Ball—Mick
, read the attached card.

“He wants you to go to this ball with him,” Adam said.

Autumn had not mentioned the previous night’s adventure with Francois, admitting only to meeting Mick after a short walk, and that he had refused to bite her because he couldn’t ask Adam’s permission. Adam had grunted, but he did seem on the verge of giving her his blessing to go to the ball. For some reason, that felt very important to her.

“I do need to pay my portion of our fee for the week,” Autumn said, turning to Maria.

“And so do you. It’s at least one session with each of us and a third from either, on behalf of Adam.”

“I know what the cost is,” Maria said crossly. “But I don’t have pretty managers and gay hairdressers stalking me. That was really weird, by the way, that thing with Francois.”

Autumn’s stomach grew hot. She wondered if Maria knew how long she had been out the night before. “He’s not gay. He’s just – you know how bisexual Claudio is. Vampires are just – like that.”

“Whoa!” Adam said. “
I
am not like that. I like girls. Only girls. Always have, always will.”

“You’re an exception in a lot of ways, Adam,” Maria said. “But I don’t know.

Something about that guy is really creepy.”

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“Maybe,” Autumn said. She did have a point, and Francois had tried awfully hard to get Autumn to his car last night. And Mr. Biali and Mick had both thought he was

“shady.” Not to mention Francois’s lack of an erection. Maybe he’d been trying to kidnap her or something. She wondered why a vampire she had just met would want to kidnap her.

Underground feeder slave market?

She shivered. Whatever his intentions had been, she had suffered a close call and didn’t intend to do that again. At least she would be safe at the ball with Mick.

“I guess you’ll be all right with him,” Adam said, echoing her thoughts. “They’ve got a vested interest in keeping their customers safe.”

When she called the phone number scribbled on the card, Mick picked up immediately, and insisted on speaking to Adam. A few days before, she would have bristled at the two of them behaving like an old-fashioned suitor and father, but after her close call, she enjoyed feeling protected.

* * * *

Mick showed up at six that evening in a tuxedo and ponytail. The only remnants of his previous rock-star attire were eyeliner and black nail polish. He carried a black cat mask in his hand. Adam opened the door.

“Hey, man,” Mick said, and offered his hand, held high and at an angle. Adam clasped it.

“Yo,” Adam said. “What’s up?”

“Just a little bit of fun for this cute little redhead here,” Mick said. “I hope it’s still all right. I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes or anything.” He glanced briefly at Maria, 108

raising his eyebrows as he did so. Autumn wondered if he could tell what was going on between them. He’d had a long time to learn to read people.

“Nope, no toes,” Adam said. “But she is my friend, and I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

“She’ll be safe with me. Which reminds me…” He dug in his pocket and brought out a sapphire blue pendant on a silver chain. “I want you to wear this. It’s a panic device, in case we’re separated and you need me. Press the jewel and it activates a remote in my pocket. Got that?”

Autumn nodded and turned for him to put it on her, glad for both the extra protection and the extra jewelry. She hadn’t brought anything appropriate for a formal event.

Mick took her to dinner in one of the on-site restaurants. Even though she had been used to eating around vampires who weren’t partaking, she found it a little unsettling that he was actually sitting with her and watching her eat. The fact that he knew this and so was watching her with a little tease of a smile didn’t help.

“Am I making you nervous?” he asked over the bridge he’d made with his clasped hands.

“A little,” she said. “I’m used to vampires being in the room when I eat, but I haven’t actually sat down with one like this since…since Claudio took me out when I first met him.”

“Claudio. Now, he’s the guy you just left?”

Autumn nodded. “Yeah. I was with him for several years and now – I guess it’s not really a good thing to talk about it too much.”

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“Hey,” Mick said. “This is a place of safety. Whatever your reasons for leaving, they’re your own. You don’t have to justify anything to me. Frankly, I’m glad you did leave him. That means I get something tasty on my plate tonight.” He raised his eyebrows several times.

Autumn bowed her head, blushing. “About that,” she said. “What’s going to happen tonight?”

“Well, here’s how our masked balls tend to work. We arrive together, but we don’t necessarily stay together, if you know what I mean. It’s a way for vampires and feeders alike to release their inhibitions. Some vampires keep their feeders right there with them, and anyone who wants a piece of their action has to approach the vampire. Some turn their feeders loose to do whatever they want. It’s important for you to remember, though, that everyone here has the right to say no to anyone else here. We uphold whatever arrangement the vampire and his feeders have, but aside from that, everyone is treated on equal footing.”

“Oh,” Autumn said, aroused by anticipation. “I see.” She had to force herself not to squirm in the seat, and blushed when she remembered vampires could smell sexual arousal.

“So you like that idea,” he said, and took a drink of his wine.

She nodded, keeping her eyes on her plate.

“Good. That’s one reason I brought you. I’ve noticed that girls—and guys, a lot of the time—who wind up in that situation are led astray by their own need for adventure. Am I wrong?”

“No,” Autumn said quietly, staring at her plate.

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Mick put his hand over hers. Its warmth made her shiver. “Don’t worry. You’re not in any trouble here. You didn’t do anything wrong. But I think it will be a good thing for you to have an adventure that’s a lot safer than that. Don’t you?”

“Yes,” she said more decisively, smiling up at him.

He resumed his hand-bridge position, raising his hand and keeping beats with his outstretched fingers from time to time. “Here’s how it’s going to work for us. We’ll go in together and do a walk-around. That serves two purposes. One, it lets everyone know you’re with me. Just another safety precaution. Two, it lets people who may be interested in you get a look, and vice versa. You can see who’s there and who you might like to get a little attention from. Now, these things usually get pretty decadent pretty fast. You’re going to see people fucking on the furniture all over the place. It looks very elegant and pretty, but it’s just feeding and fucking everywhere. You can stay with me, or wander off, whichever you’re more comfortable with. You’re under my protection, and I take that very seriously, okay? Just know I’m going to be sampling from the menu pretty heavily.

And likewise for you. You can do anything there with anyone you want, except give up too much blood. I actually want the option of having you as my dinner when it’s all over.

I would prefer you didn’t let anyone bite you at all, but I know how tempting it is in the heat of passion. Any questions?”

Autumn shook her head, then stopped. “Oh, wait. Yes. What’s the other reason?”

“Other reason for what?”

“What’s the other reason you asked me? You said giving me a safe adventure was one of the reasons.”

“Oh. My
other
reason,” he said, with a wink. “I have a serious thing for redheads.”

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* * * *

The Cat-and-Mouse Ball was held in a section of the house that Freddie Biali had lived in when it was first built—encompassing dining room, parlor, library, bar and three bedrooms, as well as a long hallway with plenty of nooks and crannies.

Mick assured Autumn that all of the furniture she saw was extremely sturdy.

When they arrived, she noticed immediately that all the “cats,” or vampires, were dressed in black semi-formalwear—black-tie tuxedoes for the men and black evening gowns for the few female vampires there, with matching masks. The “mice,” or feeders, were dressed in every other color imaginable, with white mouse masks. It looked as though female feeders outnumbered male feeders, but not by as many as male vampires outnumbered female vampires.

Eyes followed Autumn as Mick paraded her slowly around the parlor and through the library. When a blue-eyed man came near to eye her up close and show her his extended fangs, her heart began to pound. For a moment, she thought it might be Francois. Then she noticed his hair was more a sandy brown, and the blue of his eyes was nowhere near as intense.

“It’s okay,” Mick said, patting her hand as it rested on his arm. “You don’t even have to leave my side if you don’t want to.”

“I’m okay,” she said. “This is…exciting.”

“That’s my girl. But don’t feel like you have to be too brave or anything. You’re here with me for a reason.”

Other eyes looked her over briefly and then turned to scan the next morsel walking past.

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“Would you like a drink?” Mick asked.

Autumn almost said yes. She had discovered she liked the heady feeling of a little alcohol in her system. But she didn’t feel exactly safe with all these lecherous vampire eyes checking her out, and that feeling was heady enough. She knew she wasn’t going to want to hide behind Mick all night long, so she should keep her head on straight.