Page 9 of Redeemed
Rollie’s grin turns gleeful. “Maybe. If you need encouragement, Desmond over there is a satyr.”
The man he gestures toward looks relatively human, except for the heartbeat when he lets us see his true form, goat legs and hairy cock and all. The woman closest to him leans over and scratches the cleft between his human legs with long black fingernails and he growls in response.
I don’t need to look at David to know his answer. “I’m sorry to have bothered you. We’ll leave you to your evening.”
As a unit we turn. The door is gone, replaced by a smooth, white wall.
“Not yet!” Rollie’s laughter makes my teeth grind and his entourage brays and applauds. I spin around, muscles tensed for a fight.
“Don’t leave so soon. You’re the most entertaining thing we’ve seen all week.” Rollie rises, sauntering toward us. “Such a pretty little wolf”—David growls—“and you.” He reaches toward my chest but I move aside so he doesn’t touch me. “You’re the wild card, aren’t you.”
I don’t respond. I’ve got my gun loaded with silver bullets, but there are too many of them and too few of us.
Rollie and I lock gazes until I sense him probing in places he shouldn’t be, and I shut him out. He turns his attention to David and finally murmurs, “Yes. I think you’ve got the balls for it.”
He gives a sharp clap. “Rio, come with me. The rest of you entertain yourselves while we see our guests out.”
The androgenous one, Rio, joins us and we head for a doorway that hadn’t been there three minutes ago. Goddamn magicians.
I take the lead with David tight by my side. We’re steps from the foyer. Rio slides past, murmuring something to David. Reaching the door, I turn to Rollie, waiting to see what he’s going to do next.
“Right, so the short answer is, it’s impossible for a vampire to break with his maker.” Rollie gives us an expectant look, and it’s pretty obvious what he’s not saying.
“Then we’ll need to destroy the maker.” I put it out there just to make sure we’re all on the same page.
Rio hums something vaguely affirmative and Rollie shushes them. “Betancourt and I have no love for each other, but still, if anybody asks, you didn’t hear it from me.”
I’m not sure who would ask. It’s not like vampires have some kind of governing body the way wolves do. The Securitas might step in if a couple of vampire sires started a fight, but only if humans were affected. “We’ll keep that in mind. Any idea where Jacques might be hiding?”
The look he gives me is pensive. “Gall should know the answer to that. If he hasn’t told you yet, there’s a reason.”
David looks up from inspecting Rio’s outfit. “He doesn’t know. He’d tell us if he did.”
“Ahh, a loyal one.” Rollie takes hold of Rio’s hand and draws him away. “I’ve told you all I can. Jacques Betancourt has more enemies than he has friends right now, and it’s his own damned fault. It never pays to piss off your strongest ally. Come, Rio. By now Desmond is balls deep in someone. Let’s make a bet on who it is.”
Rio gives David a shy wave and follows Rollie, Roland FitzEustace, Viscount Baltinglass, whatever the hell his proper name is. David just laughs, shaking his head. “Let’s get out of here. I’m afraid the crazy is catching.”
We share a smile and head out the door. If killing Jacques Betancourt is the only way to free Trajan, then that’s what we’ll do.
We just have to find him first.
It’s only when we’re in the RAV4 that I think to ask David what he’d seen in Rollie’s magic mirror.
“Nothing,” he says, for once sounding like a sullen teenager.
“No, really. What was it?”
He sits quiet for a while, staring out the window. “It was all of us,” he says softly. “You, me, Trajan, and Abby too. My cousin Marcus. Another girl I didn’t recognize. All of us in the same place, and all of us pack.”
“That sounds pretty great.”
“Yeah.” He sighs, then shoots me a sly glance. “Maybe someday. In the meantime, do you believe Rollie when he says Tray knows where Jacques is hiding? Because, man, if we’re back to keeping secrets…”
I snort and keep my eyes on the road. We’d sure learned a lesson about keeping secrets, and if Trajan was back at it again, things were going to get rough.
Chapter Four
Connor
