Page 47 of Sleeping With the Vampire

When I near the estate, I find a low stone wall, which I easily scale and then I slow down, trying to scout the area. The day is breaking and I want to wait for the light before I enter the house. I find a good place to hide and sit it out for a few hours, until the sun is high and it is fairly bright outside. Then I approach the house slowly. It is a big mansion, in ruin. One side of the house is a pile of rocks and the windows have been boarded up. There is no sign of movement, no sense that anyone is about the place. I walk round the back and get my knives ready, to be ready at the smallest movement. The house inside is a mess, broken furniture and tables turned over. It looks like a huge fight took place here. I walk through a large entrancehall into a kind of dining room where plates and rotting food have attracted buzzing flies. There is a staircase that looks like something was thrown off it, perhaps a sofa. Wood has been ripped off and it looks unsafe.

I carefully tread around the broken steps, feel my way to the upper floors. I know he’s here, I can feel it. On the top landing, I scan the hallways, decide where the bedrooms are and carefully open the doors. In the first, there is only darkness when I open the door. The door creaks softly and I hold my breath, listening to hear if I’ve attracted attention. There is someone lying on the bed. I scan the rest of the room quickly and pounce without making a sound, aiming for the neck and slashing quickly, severing the head.

I turn around and go to the next bedroom where someone is sleeping in a huge chair by the window. From the long hair and the fancy clothes, I gather it is someone a little more important than my previous victim. As I get closer, the body sits up and the eyes open, suddenly alert, a hand grabs my arm and I have to act quickly, plunging the silver-tipped dagger straight into the heart.

The body slumps back.

I stand back and take a breath, when I hear a voice behind me.

“Looking for me?”

I turn around quickly, but still not fast enough. Before I know what is happening, my hands are tied behind my back and I am pulled into the room by my hair, thrown on the bed, my feet tied to the railing at the bottom, my hands to the top. In front of me, a man crouches, laughing.

“Izzy, right? I have been waiting for you…”

“Chakrat,” I say.

“So lovely to meet you, at last! Have you come alone?” He perks up. “Hardly seems wise, does it?”

I struggle against the rope but I find myself unable to move.

He laughs again.

“I am hoping to see your lover soon. I’m sure he will come running to your side, aren’t you?”

I shake my head and grit my teeth. “He won’t come.”

Chakrat laughs again. “Oh, but he will my sweet. He will smell your distress and come running like the old fool he is.”

He bares his teeth. “Then I will cut him down and that will be that.” He crosses his arms with a satisfied smile.

Chapter 16

Lucca

As I’m leaving Izzy’s, I think of an incident a few weeks ago, when my old Seer saw Izzy for the first time. I had asked her for help in finding someone who could investigate Tanata’s death. I wanted someone who was independent and objective, not part of the Citadel crowd, but at the same time, someone who would be discreet, who could be trusted. Even then, I knew it was a delicate job.

“It sounds like a job for a woman,” she’d mused.

Then she went into her trance and I left her to it for a while, wondering if a woman would be able to do it. My experience of women had taught me that they were good thinkers and diplomats and quite capable at solving complicated mysteries, but at the same time, I did need someone with physical strength as well. I knew it would involve fighting and sticky situations, and I didn’t know many women able to handle those as well.

Then I remembered Ragnar boasting how he’d beaten the female bounty hunter recently and asked him her name.

Isabella Bonnici. Izzy.

When I told the Seer her name, she had been quiet for a long time. Finally, she said, “She could do it, but if you use her, you will have a lot more on your hands.

I got impatient with the old woman andasked her what she meant.

“She can’t be controlled,” she said slowly. “A wild horse that can’t be broken in.”

At the time, this had only intrigued me.

Later, after I’d hired Izzy, Finn had tried to advise me to change my mind.

“I don’t know about her,” he had said carefully. “Are you sure you want to involve her in this?”

When I pressed him about his concern, he admitted, “I fear you will become involved with her. The witch has foreseen this.”

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