Page 55 of The Vampire Kingpin
I considered refusing, but it was two against one. “Fine. See?” I flashed it at Troll.
He snatched it from my hand and looked it over. “Why didn’t you have it with you?”
“Well, hell, I don’t know.” I stuck out my hand for the phone and after a brief hesitation, he handed it over. I shoved it into my back pocket. “Maybe because I didn’t want to chance losing it to Spider when I lifted his dagger. Who, by the way, chased me down and told me he owned me. Why would he think that, Grim?”
My cousin had the grace to look ashamed. Then his lip curled. “You landed on your feet, didn’t you? Word is you’re the kingpin’s new pet, but he’s still after me for his goddamn tribute.”
“How is that my problem? You set me up, remember? As far as I’m concerned, you can go fuck yourself. Now, this has been real fun, but…” I started to fade into the shadows.
Troll grabbed my arm. If I didn’t shake him off, I’d pull him into the shadows with me and he’d be able to track me. So I halted the fade.
“I’d stick around if I were you,” he said, the corners of his lips curling into a predatory smirk. “We have info you’re gonna want to hear.”
My stomach plunged. “What?”
They moved in on me from either side, boxing me in against the tunnel wall. “Someone’s offering a fuckton of money for you.” Troll dug sausage-size fingers into my upper arm and gave me a shake. “You’ve been holding out on us, bitch.”
Jared.
Nausea pressed into my throat. I licked my lips. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Grim snorted. “The name Darkman mean anything to you?”
“I know who they are, sure.”
“Seems like Darkman, Junior has a jones for you.”
Every instinct in me screamed, “Run.” But I could tell they were expecting that. That they wanted me to run.
Assholes.
I turned to my cousin. “Look, I get you need money. Maybe we can work something out.”
15
Spider
My patience with Grimclaw had hit its limit.
The week I’d given him had been up yesterday, and he still hadn’t paid the tribute. So after leaving Lark, I grabbed Velma and a couple of men and went to his lair, ready to drag the scumbag out by his scruffy neck and stake him. But he wasn’t there, and the handful of vampires left in his lair swore they hadn’t seen him or Troll for days. I ordered them out and blew up the entrance as a warning to anyone else who thought to jerk me around. His people, I told to either come up with the money I was owed or get out of Manhattan. They scurried off into the darkness like the rats they were.
Grimclaw and Troll were M.I.A. It figured that they’d bail, leaving their lair to face the music. Just in case, Velma alerted our crew to be on the lookout for them, and the two of us continued making the rounds of the lairs under my protection.
But Grimclaw apparently had a death wish, because as we left the fourth—and last—lair, Monster jogged up with a rumor that Grimclaw hadn’t left my territory. “Looks like Troll’s with him, too.”
A fierce thrill shot through me. I flashed a cold smile. “Time to go hunting,” I told Monster and Velma.
“I’ll scout ahead in the shadows,” Monster volunteered, his own teeth gleaming against his deep brown skin.
“Do it,” I said, and started off with Velma following. For the first ten minutes, we didn’t speak, aware of how voices carry in the Underworld’s tunnels.
Velma broke the silence, speaking at a subvocal level only I could hear. “So you’re taking Lark to the Midnight Masquerade.”
The skin on my forehead pulled tight. I’d been expecting my friend to call me out on it. Hell, I was surprised she’d waited this long. That didn’t mean I was ready to hear what she had to say.
“That’s right,” I replied in equally low tones. “So what?”
“So have you thought this through? You take a woman to something like that, she’s not your thrall anymore.”
