Page 11 of A Vampire in a Pear Tree
“Right.I’m an employee of the Committee, and as such, a treaty with Abaddon guarantees my safe passage to and from its scary self.Let’s do this.”
My feet refused to move for a good two minutes, but at last I psyched myself up and entered the house, immediately finding myself in a long, dark hallway.I braced for the presence of demons who would no doubt try to give me grief, but as I clutched my Committee identity card in one hand and a bottle of pepper spray in the other, I realized something shocking.
The hall was absolutely silent.Although I’d never been to Abaddon before, I had friends and relatives who had, and they all said the place was teeming with beings of dark powers, most notably the demons belonging to the ranks of the seven princes who ran the place.
“Hello?”My voice came out thin and reedy.I cleared my throat, flipped off the top of the pepper spray, and said a little louder, “Is anyone there?I’m looking for a vampire.A thane.If anyone has seen him, I’d appreciate knowing.”
“Why?”
The voice that echoed down the hallway was hollow and masculine, with sharp edges that had me backing up a couple of steps.I’d heard tales of some super sort of demon who was almost as powerful as a demon lord himself, and this voice sounded like it fit the bill.
“Why am I looking for the vamp, or why would I appreciate knowing his whereabouts?If it’s the latter, I’ve been hired to find him.”
A shadow appeared midway down the hall, no doubt from a junction that I couldn’t see.It was male-shaped, and looked to be a good four inches taller than me, which, since I was almost six feet tall, was no mean feat.
“Who hired you?”
The man had an English accent, and the sort of deep voice that rumbled down the hallway.It made me feel things, that voice, but I quickly quelled that response, since there was no way I wanted to admire anyone who lived in Abaddon.
“Yeah, that’s not something I’m going to tell you,” I said, my fingers tightening around my pepper spray as the shadow started down the hallway toward me.“Client confidentiality and all that.Have you seen the thane?”
“Who are you?”the man asked, coming close enough that I could see he was dressed all in black: black jeans, a black shirt, and a black pea jacket.But it was his eyes that caught my attention and held it—his irises were pale gray, so pale they were almost white, with a pronounced thick black ring around the outer edge.“And why do you seek me?Deus, it was my mother, wasn’t it?”
“Owain?”I said, noting that as Jerry had described, he had salt-and-pepper hair, the front of it swooping back in a wave that made my stomach tighten.
I still didn’t understand why she called his hair hip-hop, but that aside, Jerry was right: he was handsome.I couldn’t tell if it was his jaw—angled in a way that made me feel a bit wobbly about the knees—or maybe the way his eyes seemed to pierce through me straight down to my soul, or if it was his wide, mobile mouth.I tried hard not to stare at the lovely curve of his bottom lip, reminding myself that I had a job to do, and that did not include ogling my target.
“Who are you?”he repeated, his voice taking on harder edges.He stopped directly in front of me, his eyes going first to the pepper spray, then to the card held in my left hand.Without waiting for my brain to kick in and supply an answer, he plucked the card from my fingers.
“Berengaria Anastasia North,” he read, glancing from it to my face.“Provisional thief taker.Ah.Itwasmy mother who sent you to find me.Is she outside, waiting to capture me?I’m surprised she didn’t come in with you, although I suppose her ties to the Court of Divine Blood prohibit that.Well, I won’t have it.I refuse to—one moment.”
“Huh?”I asked, damning myself for being so stunned by his appearance that inanities were the only thing I was able to speak.I cleared my throat and said, “That is, yes, Jerry sent me, although I think she wants to talk to you, not enact a capture.”
In the distance, I could faintly hear a feminine voice, although I couldn’t tell what it was saying.
“No, you don’t have to go to the palace itself.I already looked.It’s empty.Come back, I’m about to escape the clutches of a thief taker that Jericho sent after us.”Owain turned back to face me.“I have no further desire to speak with my mother.If you would step aside, I’ll be on my way.Abaddon is empty.”
“Huh?”I asked again, then shook my head madly.“Jeezumcrow, the place has me sounding like an idiot.What do you mean it’s empty?It can’t be empty.It’s full of demons.It’s always full of demons.”
A bird whipped around the corner of the hall, careened into the far wall, righted itself, and continued flying straight at us in a lopsided manner.
“I don’t even know why you insisted on coming here looking for Desislav the Destroyer.We could be at home, where I can sit by the fire and thaw out from this horrible weather.Goddess above, was there ever such a climate?”the bird said as she alighted on Owain’s shoulder, bobbing her head a few times as she caught sight of me.“What’s a knocker doing here?”
“Looking for Owain,” I answered, wondering why a vampire would have a raven as a pet.
He took a step back.“You heard Orla?”
“The bird?Yeah.I’m a knocker, like she said.We can understand birds, not that they are usually chatty about anything but telling other birds how fabulous they are.I can also understand some foxes, although not the ones to the north.Their accent is beyond me.Hello, Orla.My name is Berry, and I don’t want anyone captured, let alone your ...er ...friend.”
“Friend?”Orla said with a squawk, doing a little dance on Owain’s shoulder.“Gaoler is more like it.”
“You are absolutely free to go wherever you want,” Owain said, taking a step toward me.“Don’t let me stop you from blighting someone else’s life.”
Her eyes glittered with a wicked light.“I’m not leaving until you break my curse and give me the talisman you made!”
“Allow me to pass, madam,” Owain said, ignoring Orla.
“I wish I could, but your mother is concerned about you.”I studied his face, which was certainly no hardship.The closer he got, the more attractive he was.
