Page 53 of Cloak of the Vampire
From the corner of my eye, I could see Ragnor shifting, turning to me. “What about the other two?” he asked in a rough murmur.
Goose bumps trailed over my arms at the sound of his unfairly sexy voice. “When it comes to wealth, you all seem on par with each other, though I could be wrong,” I said, feeling his gaze probing the side of my face. “But then there’s the element of freedom.”
All of a sudden, he grabbed my hand and held it on his thigh. I almost jumped out of my seat, my heart skipping a beat. “I guess I didn’t rate high on that part,” he said somewhat sarcastically.
I grimaced. He wasn’t entirely wrong, and yet ... “If I look at it subjectively, you’re right, of course,” I said quietly. “But objectively, everything points to the opposite.”
From my time with Jada, CJ, and Bowen, I knew that Ragnor had given them more than enough freedom to do what they wanted. The other vampires in the Rayne League always seemed to be relaxed and content, much more than the vampires in either of the Leagues we’dvisited so far—except maybe Atalon, but even that was questionable since we hadn’t seen many of his League members.
The whole supposed freedom of the Daugherty League seemed forced, if not fake, like Daugherty was trying to be that cool, progressive parent, while actually being a bigoted, old-fashioned one. O’Brien League wasn’t about freedom but some sort of anarchy, if anything—what with Charley O’Brien himself being the weakest Lord I’d seen so far and certainly not fit for leadership.
“Henderson.” Ragnor’s voice brought me back, and I chanced a look at him. His eyes locked on mine, seemingly searching for something, while his face wore an inscrutable expression. “What are you trying to get at?”
My cheeks tingled with a blush, and when I tried to scoot away, he pulled me by the hand until our thighs touched and his face was in mine. Swallowing hard and ignoring the erratic beats of my heart, I averted my gaze, took a deep breath, and said, “All I’m saying is that you don’t need to be hard on yourself for losing control back there.”
He froze. Closing my eyes and hoping I didn’t fuck up, I blurted, “You did it for your League members. That’s a noble cause.”
His breath was in my ear just then, and I jolted at his sudden proximity. “Are you trying to comfort me, Henderson?” he murmured, lips brushing against my lobe as his soft hair tickled the side of my face.
Shuddering involuntarily, I tugged at my hand, trying to make him let go. He only tightened his hold. Heart in my throat, I mumbled, “I’m not.”
“Liar,” he whispered, and then he let go of my hand, then cupped my face. My eyes snapped open, and I stared at him, stupefied. The air between us was charged, especially when he brought his lips an inch away from mine. “You were worried about me.”
I jerked my head in a shake. “I don’t like you.”
His lips twitched, making my heart attempt to bolt out of my chest. His midnight blue gaze ensnared mine in an unbreakable hold. “You sure about that?”
“My Lord.”
Ragnor and I broke apart. He let me go, I scooted away, and we whipped our heads toward the source of the voice.
Logan stood in the aisle, staring at us with a tight face and almost glowing eyes. I thought he’d been driving, but he must’ve traded the task with Abe for him to be here, almost catching Ragnor and me red handed.
Face hot, I attempted a bored look before saying, “I’ll take my leave now.” I paused, glancing at Ragnor, whose eyes were on Logan now, back to their hard edge. I then turned to Logan, whose gaze went from me to Ragnor, before his eyes narrowed.
The Lord and my ex seemed to be engaged in a staring battle. It almost looked like they were having a telepathic conversation of sorts. Since I didn’t want anything to do with whatever the hell was happening, I slid past Logan and hurried back to my seat.
Ragnor and Logan remained in the back seat for the rest of the drive.
When we arrived at the Bowman League compound, it didn’t take long for me and the others to realize this League would fit very,veryfew.
Isaac Bowman had been a banker in his human life, and his League was basically a giant bank made solely for vampires, with branches in every League (I hadn’t known that). It also had its own accounting and law firms for both vampire and human services. The League was made of depressing offices and cubicles, and every vampire we passed seemed to be just as dreary as their Lord.
It didn’t help that Bowman’s voice was so monotonous that it could’ve put an insomniac to sleep.
“I believe in the prosperity of the vampire race,” Bowman said after we sat in the gray cafeteria, which also served gray, odorless, shapeless food. “Thus, I make sure each League’s finances and cash flow runsmoothly. In addition, we pay high dividends from any profit we make thanks to humans, and our stock system is also in accordance with the humans’ economic state ...”
Nobody listened to Bowman’s endless boring chatter except for Jakob, the smartest in our class and the only one who seemed to understand what Bowman was rumbling on and on about. Even Bowman’s Lieutenant didn’t seem interested in his long lecture and, instead, chatted Abe up, from having nothing better to do.
“Is this even edible?” Cynthia murmured quietly as she poked her fork into a gray, jellylike piece of meat.
Zoey eyed the meat suspiciously. “I’m usually not a picky eater, but even for me this is too much.”
Tansy, sitting next to me, slurped her gray soup as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
Unlike Zoey, I did try a bite of gray meat. I regretted it immediately after and decided that even if Bowman’s League were perfect (which it clearly wasn’t), I would’ve prayed to God not to be bought into it, simply based on their food quality.
I glanced at Ragnor to see if he was eating, but he seemed to be talking quietly with Logan. Neither of them touched the unappetizing gray chicken breast on their plates.
