Page 98 of Road Trip with a Vampire
Keep him talking.
John Richardson snorted. “Isn’t it obvious why I want what’s in your safe?”
No. It really isn’t.
“Humor me,” I said. “I know whyIthink what’s in my safe is the bee’s knees. I’d like to hear you put it in your own words.” If I survived this, I’d have to send a flower arrangement and a thank-you note to that Portland, Oregon, Shakespeare troupe for taking me under their wing all those years ago. If I had any acting ability at all, it was due to them.
“Here’s a better deal,” John Richardson said. “You tell us how to get into the safe, and my friends and I don’t kill you where you stand.”
Shit.
I’d been right. John Richardson wasn’t here alone.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Peter frantically tapping his nose. The sign we’d agreed on the night before to indicate he wanted me to give him one of my daggers. Seeing this visual reminder of the agreement we’d made before I knew who he really was stung badly. But not so much that I missed what he was saying.
He was still on board with taking this guy down as a team.
What if it was a trick, though? He could use that stake on me just as easily as on John Richardson. I wasn’t a vampire, so a stake to my heart wouldn’t turn me into a pile of dust. But itwouldkill me, all the same.
It didn’t matter. If there were other vampires here, I needed Peter’s help if I wanted any chance of getting out. I had no choice but to trust him.
I scoffed at John Richardson’s bluster, ignoring Peter for the moment. “I’m Grizelda Watson, you know. You really think you can kill me all by yourself?” He could. Of course he could. But the longer I engaged him in conversation…
“Oh, I know full well who you are,” he said. “Your reputation, my dear, precedes you.”
“Does it, now?” I shifted the hand still inside my pocket and extracted a tiny pinch of powder from one of the two pouches I’d brought with me. Hopefully it was the powder that transported objects to another location, not the one that incapacitated enemies. Saying a prayer to a whole bunch of deities I didn’t technically believe in, I sprinkled it over one of the daggers and thoughtPeter, Peter, Peteras hard as I could.
Without turning to look at him, I tapped the tip of my nosewith a finger from my other hand. A quiet grunt from behind me confirmed the dagger was now in Peter’s possession.
“Your reputationdoesprecede you, yes,” John Richardson confirmed, oblivious to what Peter and I were doing right under his nose. “It’s why we tailed you in secret on your little road trip and left Peter notes but never actually accosted you. We know your power is greater than that of all the other witches in the entire world combined. Better not to confront you directly until we could either gain access to the contents of your safe or else be certain we would have you outnumbered.”
Despite the circumstances, I nearly burst out laughing. Who’d have thought that all these years later, those rumors I’d started about myself would still be making the rounds.
“I was wondering who was sending those notes,” I mused. Peter was slowly making his way towards John Richardson. Thankfully, the older vampire’s attention was still entirely on me.
“It was us all along.” John Richardson was all but preening now. “You never even saw us, did you?”
“Not once,” I confirmed, laying it on as thick as I could. “You really are very clever.”
John Richardson tittered in pleasure. “Thank you, my dear.”
Idiot.
“One day I’ll have to ask you how you did it. But first—” I paused for dramatic effect, then held up a single finger. “Tell me why you want what’s in my safe.”
The older vampire rolled his eyes. “You already know this, of course. But we have wanted to get into your safe because it contains the only object in the world capable of neutralizing your mighty power and turning you into someone mortal.”
“What?” I was so stunned that I temporarily forgot the role Iwas playing. What was hetalkingabout? Only the sight of Peter, still inching his way closer to John, brought me back to my senses. “Oh, um—yes! Yes, of course. I, um. Didn’t realize that my secret was so well-known.”
“Indeed,” John scoffed. “We have known about the safe’s existence for years, but it was not until we learned you were present at Count Countesque’s party the night of the fire that killed so many of our sires that we paid the legends any mind.” He leaned in closer. “And, of course, your uncanny gift for starting fires is also legend.”
“And?” I feigned a yawn, trying to act like this conversation was boring me. On the inside, though, I was quivering like jelly. It had only taken one hundred and fifty years, but these yahoos had figured it out.
“And,” John said, “once we learned you’d been at that party, we knew we had to get into that safe to neutralize you so we could take you in for questioning.” He glared at me. “And possibly kill you, depending on how that line of questioning went.”
My bravado slipped. I ran my finger over my lucky ring, willing it to calm me. It didn’t work.
“Now that you’re here,” he continued, “and the four very lethal friends I have paid to help me arealsohere, the most expedient course of action seems to be to simply kill you now.”Fourfriends? Shit. Shit, shit,shit.“Plus, we have Mr.Elliott. You may be the most powerful witch in recorded history, but even powerful witches bleed.”
