Page 9 of Death Deals

When my heartbeat started to gallop again, I hurried toward the stairs. How was I supposed to stay by him and be protected if every time I was near him my panties fell off?

This was a mess.

Andre’s hand was suddenly on the small of my back, urging me to go on. His touch sent tingles all over my skin, and I half-tripped down the next step. His hand snatched me before I could land on my ass.

“Easy,” he warned. His grip eased but didn’t fully let go.

“Lights,” I snapped. “Get them.”

He chuckled and helped me the rest of the way down the steps. It was a long trek, and the sudden drop in temperature and dampness clinging to the air confirmed that we were going below anything typical for a basement or cellar. This was more like going to the catacombs of Fairport, if there even was such a thing. Or maybe a war bunker would be more accurate. But wherever he was leading me, it had to be at least three or four stories down below street level.

Only once we were at what I guessed was the bottom, he let go of me. Beeps sounded, like he was putting in another code into a keypad again, and then opened the door. Light flooded the stairway, and I blinked rapidly at the sudden harshness.

Before we stepped through, he held up a hand to stop me and lowered his tone. “It’s better if you let me handle the others,” he whispered. “Hector Perez and his cousins are already hesitant about being here, and this meeting took a lot of time and preparation. I don’t want him to lose the small amount of trust he has in us already.”

“So, you want me to sit there and look pretty, you’re saying.”

“If you can manage.”

I grumbled under my breath at that. But whatever. I was in vampire territory now, and since I didn’t know too much about the politics of it, it was probably smarter for me to keep my mouth shut.

“Fine.”

He let me walk through and closed the door behind us. We stood in the huge open space, like a grand foyer, lined in stone and more gothic décor. It matched more of Andre’s personal style than the club’s modern one, with classically done paintings, massive gold chandelier, and ornate carpeting. My particular favorite was the full-sized taxidermied lion that was posed mid-roar. Very melodramatic.

I was about to comment on it when Andre held a finger to his lips to silence me. I swallowed my words down. That’s right. I had to be quiet. Vamps had above average hearing, so it looked like me being mute would have to start now.

Two main hallways branched out from the foyer. We took the one on the right. Doors lined either side, reminding me a bit of the ones in Hell, but I tried not to dwell on that. This must have been where most of Andre’s vampire staff lived. Underground. Like a cult house or something.

Andre went to the second door on the right and knocked three times. Slowly, it opened and a blonde woman appeared. Her gaze instantly flicked my way, and her lip curled.

“You brought her,” she whispered, just loud enough for me to hear. From the voice and attitude alone, I recognized her as the vamp Andre had been talking to as I woke. Cassandra.

He ignored her question and pushed the door open wider. Inside, a long table stretched out with every chair occupied by very intimidating looking vampires. In the center, a feast was laid out like a full Thanksgiving dinner. Prime cuts of meat, expensive wine, and beautifully arranged vegetables, but despite the vast spread, the plates in front of the vamps were all empty. Uninterested.

They might have been invited to a dinner, but these vamps were here for business.

The prickle of power cascaded up and down my arms and I quickly shushed my light before it could flare awake. Andre glanced at me, and from a subtle shake of his head, I knew I’d done the right thing. Didn’t want the Perezes to think this was a sneak attack, or something, going in.

The man I assumed to be Hector rose. Everyone else around the table followed.

It was clear Hector’s first death had been later in life, unlike Andre, because his dark hair and mustache were sprinkled with grays. Of course, the vampirism made him more appealing and younger-looking in general, but he had age to him—both as a supernatural and before that.

Gaze finding me, Hector’s nostrils flared and something passed across his face. It was hunger, I realized, and instantly, my muscles tensed. As I glanced at the others around the table, I found their eyes pinned on me with the same look in all of them, too.

I didn’t like this. There were no windows or other doors in this underground meeting room—nowhere else for me to run once the door closed. I stepped a little closer to Andre.

Hector drew in a deep breath, his eyes flashing dangerously from brown to fully black and back again. “Andre.”

He didn’t say anything more, but a silent question seemed to have passed between them because Andre replied quickly with, “The madame is mine.”

They were only four words, but my body reacted fiercely to them. “His” like what? What did he mean by that exactly? The pits of my stomach clenched and desire pooled. I didn’t like the idea of being called his but the blood exchange was saying otherwise.

Cassandra scoffed beside us.

Hector’s face fell, disappointed. “I don’t understand why you brought your claim here to this meeting.”

Claim? What the heck did that mean? Once this was over, Andre was going to have to explain himself. Now I had questions.

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