Page 101 of Suck This

Abe saw the steel in Acadia’s spine as she stared him down, also saw the wariness and sadness there as well, and decided to move the ship forward despite his desire to stall as he usually did.

Not that he intentionally did so, but more because he liked to collect his thoughts as he spoke. It was something that I’d learned to live with, which was why I hadn’t pushed him. Acadia, however, hadn’t lived with the man as a best friend for the last eight hundred years.

Abe turned away from Acadia and returned his gaze to me.

“Looks like you have a fuckin’ harem fan club of members who hate you.” Abe grinned. “Congratulations.”

“Explain,” I ordered.

“Well, I didn’t do it by myself,” he started.

Acadia looked up at the ceiling, and I could practically feel the exasperation rolling off of her.

“Hold, please, while I call my partner in crime.” Abe grinned as he pulled out his phone.

Seconds after dialing, Adelaide’s clear, distinct voice filled the still air of my office.

“Let me guess, you finally got to the part where you wanted to share the information?” Adelaide guessed correctly. “If it makes anyone feel any better, I had to deal with this crap from him for the last month.”

Snorts and chuckles of amusement filled the air, and even Fox grinned.

Adelaide and Abe had a thing. Nobody talked about it because realistically nothing could happen between the two of them. Adelaide couldn’t be turned into a vampire, and Abraham wasn’t willing to lose another woman like he had his wife who’d refused death’s kiss over seven hundred and fifty years ago.

Since Abe wasn’t willing to bend in that aspect, and Adelaide couldn’t control mother nature, they were at a stalemate, and had been for a while. Fox, obviously, was more in the middle of it than any of the rest of us were since he was her brother, but I’d been pushed nearly to the breaking point by their antics over the last hundred years. They either needed to shit or get off the pot.

“How about you just get on with what you wanted to tell them,” Abe suggested facetiously.

Adelaide growled in aggravation.

“I was trying to find a way to get Jolie to stop calling when I inadvertently stumbled along another man who was much in the same position as you. He’s a much younger and less-seasoned vampire than yourself, Con, and he had all sorts of interesting stuff to share,” Adelaide continued. “Jolie’s apparently done this before, and has left quite a few unsuspecting men out to dry, so to speak, after taking them for all they’re worth. Since she’s such an old vampire, and her maker is one of the council, no harm has come to her yet due to her actions.”

Acadia leaned into my side and I threaded my arm around her waist as I continued to listen.

“He was very informative, and I think you’d enjoy listening to what he has to say,” she explained.

“I talked to him. Despite the fact that he’s scared of his own shadow, he’s quite intelligent, and I hope you don’t mind, but I offered him a job at our company. Despite Jolie cleaning him out, he was able to get it all back, and he’s made it his new mission to fix whatever Jolie fucks up.”

I grunted in reply.

“Abe was supposed to come today and give you this information,” Adelaide continued. “When he found out about your daughter and her grave, I had a man we had on retainer go take a look, and he reported back about an hour ago that there was a trap set.”

“Why a trap?” I asked.

“When Jolie’s attempts at luring you out again failed, she started asking around with the help of her maker, and apparently paired her services with another that also has a bone to pick with you.”

“Seraphina.”

Acadia drew in a deep breath.

“Seraphina,” Adelaide confirmed. “But that’s only suspicion at this point. We only have a visual confirmation. Not an actual name.”

“They used my daughter’s passing to lure me to the grave. Why?”

“Chris, the man I have on retainer, doesn’t know,” Adelaide said. “He was only able to provide visual proof due to the amount of activity at your place.”

“What do you mean by ‘amount of activity?’” I asked warily.

“Your place was set on fire, and the grounds within a few hundred yards were destroyed by what looks like a well-placed bomb.”

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