Page 41 of Of Mercury and Mist

Kiam sat back and crossed his arms. “Has there?” he asked. “This may require a rate increase. I’m an expensive man and hate to be disappointed. Don’t tease me with her.”

“What are you people? Is this sex slavery or something?” I asked, glancing past the man by my side. I’d have to climb over him if I wanted to leave, but I was also attached to him by priceless jewelry generally reserved for crowds differing from those I normally associated with.

“Don’t,” Micha growled in my ear, low enough only I could hear him. He tugged my collar.

Kiam rolled his eyes at my question and Josiah tapped his fingers on the table. “You’re in quite the predicament,” Josiah said to me. “You’ve read your contract. I’m sure you’re aware the price to be paid for stealing from me.”

My teeth bit into my lip at the reminder and Micha shoved his thumb against my mouth, stopping me from injuring myself.

“If you’ve been paying attention, you’d know nothing was stolen,” I hissed, braver than I felt.

Kiam’s eyebrows shot up yet again and Josiah’s jaw ticked, his hand curling around a glass I was now suspicious of. Were there drugs in the alcohol? I still didn’t want to believe they were vampires.

Peeking past Micha, I stretched toward freedom, but Micha yanked my chain and wrapped it around his wrist a few more loops, keeping me firmly in place.

“You didn’t answer me. Are you traffickers? Police take them down all the time. Are you some kind of weird bloodsucker mafia?” I needed answers and I fully intended to get them. Before fleeing the country and changing my name, of course.

Kiam muttered, “Maybe organized crime. Definitely not mafia.”

Josiah let out a longsuffering breath before returning his attention to me. “What we are is beyond anything you would understand. What you need to know is that we are governed by a set of immutable rules. Rulesyoubroke.” He leaned back and took a sip of his drink. “Think of it as universal law.”

He’d answered my question by not answering anything at all. “I don’t know what any of that means,” I said.

“It's not necessary for you to be aware of anything other than your actions are inexcusable.”

“Are you vampires?”

Micha spoke up, “What do you think?”

I slapped his wandering hand away. If Josiah could’ve killed me with his eyes, I would’ve turned to ash that very moment. All I could think was what the fuck did Della get herself into, hanging out with men like these. There was no way she didn’t know what they were.

Kiam seemed the least threatening out of the trio, but as I’d just learned, looks were deceiving.

“You’ve deviated from the plan,” Josiah said to Micha, “and interrupted my schedule. You knew what you were supposed to do, and I granted you leniency.”

“Thank you for that, my friend.” Micha acknowledged the statement with a nod of his head.

Josiah placed his glass back down on the table, deep in thought. He seemed to study the structure of the vessel, the etches and grooves, twisting the stem back and forth to refract the light.

Kiam lit a cigar and began blowing rings of smoke while staring off into the distance. The man beside me sat so still he may as well have been a corpse.

It was deceptive as I knew if I so much as twitched a muscle to spring free, he’d grab me before I could complete the thought. The fact they were so casually deciding my fate was maddening and terrifying. This was just another day for these demons, I figured.

“I suppose torture is off the table?” Kiam broke the silence.

“Micha said the plan changed, so yes, although I’m sure he was looking forward to getting his cock sucked,” Josiah mused.

Kiam laughed. “He has a woman to do that now.”

“Had,” Josiah corrected.

The image of another woman with her head between Micha’s legs filled me with unreasonable fury. I had no right to be jealous, but I knew I would absolutely lose it if I saw him with someone else. As if he somehow knew where my thoughts had strayed, he placed a warm palm on my thigh and squeezed the muscle lightly. I shoved him away even though I wanted him to hold me again, my eyes watering when I glanced at his hand.

“Let her go,” Josiah suddenly ordered.

I snapped to attention. We all did—Micha, Kiam, and I focusing on the man who appeared to govern us all.

“No one will touch her,” Josiah announced. “Ashley, you are relieved of your duties. I don’t need to remind you what will happen if you breathe a word about any one of us, anything you’ve witnessed, or any single detail about Ipomoea.”

---