Page 10 of Shift in the Blood
Almost in the same way she found my father’s paintings beautiful.
The depth of her feeling brought me to a state of paralysis, much like what I’d felt from her before the attack in the museum. What was this? Why was this woman making me like the man I’d been before?
I got up, uncomfortable with my thoughts.
“Do you think the attack came from Maxim?” Her eyes turned toward me.
I resisted the urge to fall into them, to lose myself. Focus. I needed focus. “I do not think it could have come from anyone else. He knows the value of these new pieces. He knows that there are many who will covet them, who will pay large sums to obtain them. I must tell you, in my research about you, it was not clear that you work for him.”
“He doesn’t care to share his toys.” There was no mistaking the bitter tone of Clara’s words.
“You’re gifted. You’ve no doubt made him a great deal of money. I understand why he wouldn’t advertise your association. But that also means he will not wish to let you go. He certainly won’t want you working with me.”
“Are you competition?”
I laughed. “No. And yes. He steals to sell to others. I steal for myself. In Maxim’s world, there is no money to be made from me.”
“You’re lucky he tolerates you at all.”
“It’s not a question of him tolerating me.” I wanted to be clear. “If he gets in my way, I will end him.”
Clara’s eyes met mine, and I sensed her fear.
“Unless you don’t want me to end him.” Why in the name of all the saints had such a sentence come out of my mouth? Since when did I concern myself with any human who posed a threat to me?
“No, I don’t think he’s all that great of a person. He also thinks he owns me.”
“Does he?” I’d heard of odder arrangements.
“No.” Her reaction and denial were swift, and rang with the sound of truth.
“Very well. Then if he decides to hinder you in your new endeavors, I will offer you my protection.”
Clara gave me a look of scorn. “What exactly does that mean?”
“Wait here.” I got up. At the door, I turned back to look at her. “I mean it. Wait here. I need to gather something, and I’ll be back shortly.”
“I’ll be here.”
I left the room, closing the door behind me. Then I raced to my chambers. I had the necklaces that vampires would give their Chosen humans. That’s what they called them, humans who were gifted patronage. The Chosen of the Ouroboros Society. It was a way to support humans with great potential. Not necessarily humans one wished to be involved with romantically, but humans that had something to offer the world.
I’d never offered patronage to anyone. No one had stirred me. Clara Manning would have stirred me even if her blood didn’t bring my heart to life. She had a gift. It was worth more than being a forger. Even if her forgery skills would benefit me tremendously.
I’d make it worth her while.
I found the necklace in a box in my wardrobe. A silver chain with a round pendant on the end. Two snakes, joined together, and their bodies making a figure eight in the center of the circle. This particular necklace had one snake in silver, and the other gold. There was also a ring in the small box. The ring was also cast in silver, but where the necklace’s snake at the top of the circle was gold, the snake on the bottom of the ring’s circle was gold. Two halves of the same whole. Patron and Chosen.
If Clara accepted my patronage, she would be marked by this pendant as one of the Chosen. No other vampire, or any other supernatural, for that matter, would bother her.
Which didn’t do much when dealing with humans like Maxim Popov, but it would allow me to deal with him, rather than leaving Clara to find her way out of their arrangement.
I didn’t doubt she could manage it. In the short time since I’d met her, my impression was of a strong, capable woman. She’d been working with Maxim for a while. She would not have lasted in his employ if she wasn’t strong.
But now she would be a target for his anger.
And that put her in danger.
Clara in danger was something I would not allow.
