Page 25 of The Alpha's Warlock
The place was empty, as you’d think it would be in the middle of a Tuesday, with curtains pulled back from the front windows to let in natural light. But it had a seedy vibe all the same, like the ghosts of all the dicks sucked in the corners of the room were haunting the place even when the bar, sorry,lounge, was closed and the drunks were at work nursing their hangovers.
Ian’s grip loosened a little, but he didn’t let me go or move from my side so much as an inch. “Kind of cliché, isn’t it? You know. The red velvet, the vampire thing…”
Charlie straightened from where he’d been lounging against the bar. “We’re in Lancaster, obviously, and good taste is cliché for a reason, Lassie. Now what would you like to drink? And would you prefer a glass or a bowl on the floor?”
It was my turn to hold onto Ian for dear life. At least the blood wouldn’t show as much on that color of upholstery…and yeah, probably itwasone of those clichés that existed for a reason.
“He’ll take an ice water,” I huffed, tugging Ian back into line. “And I want coffee. In the largest cup you have. Actually, that bowl would work, just put it on a table.”
A low chuckle from behind me made me nearly face-plant into a cocktail table. “I’ll make the coffee,” Dor said as he swept past. “At least someone will appreciate it.”
“Do you have a phone I can borrow?” Ian asked, sounding like it physically pained him to make a polite request. “I need to call my brother.”
“Already done,” Charlie said, a little too airily. “I alerted him about your situation while we were looking for you. He’s staying put for now.”
Ian was practically vibrating. “But I need to —”
“Just sit down and shut up,” Charlie snapped. “He’s in no danger, and to keep it that way we need to talk. And you can’t possibly force me to give you a phone, so let it go.”
“Come on,” I told Ian in a low voice, tugging on his waist. “If Matthew’s safe for now, there’s not much else we can do.”
I didn’t bother to mention that there wasn’t much we could do about Charlie and Dor whether Matthew was safe or not. We both already knew it.
He nodded, jaw tight, and we crammed in on one side of a booth, waiting in awkward silence while our hosts worked behind the bar. Charlie and Dor carried over the drinks and settled down with Charlie opposite us and Dor straddling a backwards chair he’d pulled up. Dor and I had enormous mugs of coffee, Ian had a glass of water — which he stared at like it was going to attack him — and Charlie had a glass of red wine.
At least, I was pretty sure it was wine. I didn’t ask. I also didn’t say anything about the sixteen packets of Splenda in big tough ninja Dor’s coffee cup. I wanted to live.
“So talk,” Ian said.
“I see we have a diplomat in our midst.” Charlie leaned back and swirled his wine. Dor tried to hide a smile in his mug. “But fine. That’s why you’re here. Nate, why don’t you tell me about the attempted bonding you experienced on Saturday night?”
“I’m with Ian,” I said, holding Charlie’s gaze. It wasn’t easy. Vampires, particularly old vampires, could mesmerize their prey. And even when they weren’t bothering with that, they had this — depth to their eyes that was hard to look into without flinching. But I knew I had to make some show of strength, because it wasn’t like we’d done great at that so far. I mean, they’d found us basically in a ditch running away from a supermarket. “You owe us an explanation first. You could start with why everyone in the store was terrified of us and called in the whole police department. And for the record? ‘Attempted bonding you experienced’ is a crappy way of describing it. What are you, my kidnappers’ PR team?”
Charlie bared his very sharp teeth. “Hardly. Two of my people went missing last week, and the following day I felt them die. I have good reason to believe it was the same individuals who kidnapped you, and if that’s the case, then they’ll be lucky if Dor beheads them quickly and I don’t spend some very personal time with them first.”
That sounded fine to me, but… “This hasn’t already happened, why? And can we go back to the police, please?”
Dor and Charlie glanced at each other. “It’s complicated,” Charlie said at last. “And I’m not entirely certain why you appear to be wanted men.” And nowhewasn’t meetingmyeyes, which, yeah. Bullshit.
“It’s complicated, like you can’t find them? Or it’s complicated, as in you’re not strong enough to fight them? The police are complicated? Or maybe it’s complicat—”
“You’re a smartass,” Dor put in.
“Tell me about it,” Ian muttered, and I stared in open-mouthed indignation as he and Dor exchanged anI know how it iskind of look and a slight mutual shrug. I looked over at Charlie, and for just a second I empathized with him, because it was like looking in a wide-eyed, irritated mirror. Apparently Dor and Ian shared a lack of humor. Their loss.
“I take your point,” Charlie ground out. “But it is, genuinely, complicated. And I truly do not enjoy discussing my private affairs with…anyone.” The way he said ‘anyone,’ it sounded like a euphemism for ‘vermin’ or possibly ‘idiots like you.’ He sighed and took a huge swig of his maybe-wine. It left his plush lips even pinker. The look was cute as hell on him, and I hated myself for noticing. “Lancaster is my town. And it remains my town in part because of my carefully negotiated treaties with the various supernatural entities that claim neighboring and nearby territories, such as the wolf packs near Laceyville. Are you with me so far? Shall I use words with fewer syllables?”
“You could pontificate a little less,” Ian said. I turned and looked at him quickly enough to catch a shit-eating grin, and something in my chest swelled nearly to bursting. He could be such an asshole, but sometimes…sometimes I really wanted to throw him down on the floor and jump him for it. Was he going to keep surprising me? Were we going to survive long enough? I was starting to hope so, and that gave me a horrible clenching feeling in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t like Ian. Icouldn’t. It wasn’t safe. Ian went on with, “I think we’re with you so far. Get to the fucking point.”
Charlie paused deliberately, long enough that I knew he was doing it just to piss Ian off. Fucking annoying. That was my job. “My territory and the Kimball pack’s territory border each other for about nine miles along the southwestern edge of mine. Dor and I tracked the soul-residue left by my vampires’ deaths to a point a mile inside the Kimballs’ land, and I’d be in violation of our treaty if I crossed over to investigate further. Normally I’d violate the treaty and clean up the mess later. But lately...lately Sam Kimball’s been behaving strangely. Evasive, when I try to set a meeting or even speak to him via the phone. And Dor detected traces of shamanic magic during our search. If my servants were still living I’d break any treaty to bring them back alive. But they’re already dead. There’s nothing to be gained by acting rashly.”
Well. Only one thing to be done. I picked up my coffee and swilled half of it down at once, nearly moaning in pleasure. Dor was a man of many talents, and I wondered if there was some way I could get him to teach Ian to make coffee properly before we all started a pack war.
I mulled it over while the caffeine soaked into my brain. I didn’t trust Charlie; no one with any kind of brain, caffeinated or not, would trust an ancient vampire who looked like jailbait and had a whole territory to protect. On the other hand, we had a common enemy, and what he said about Sam Kimball jibed with my instincts, which told me Kimball had lied to Matthew. No matter what Matthew wanted to believe.
“Kimball told Matthew he didn’t know anything about my kidnapping,” I offered cautiously, not wanting to share too much of Matthew’s private business. Charlie rolled his eyes and scoffed. “He said no one in his pack was involved. And why do you think the ones who kidnapped me were the same ones who took your vamps? How do you know about me being kidnapped at all?”
Charlie shrugged. “An informant of mine saw it happen and called me, knowing I’d be interested. I followed up by visiting the warehouse where they held you, after Dor tracked you there. You were long gone. Impressive destruction, by the way.” He gave me a nod. “I’d always thought you were a mediocre little hedgewitch, but I was forced to revise my assumptions.”
