digging into his windpipe. I shoved the muzzle hard under his ear. âIf you resist, Iâll rip out your throat, then behead your master. Pick and choose.â A shocked silence filled the foyer. Slowly, he went limp. âWise move.
âLeonard Pellissier.â I focused on the dark form, silhouetted by the streetlight flooding the open doorway. âIâm Katieâs out-of-town talent,â I said, using the Joeâs phrase. âThe tracker and hired gun the council contracted to take out the rogue. I donât want to kill either of you, but I will if I have to. The blood you smell was not spilled by me. I am not your enemy.â Well, not right now, but nobody was taking notes. âBack. Off.â
He backed. I tightened my grip on the bruiser. âYou gonna play nice?â I felt him swallow under the pressure of my hand.
When he spoke it came out in a whistle from the pressure I had on his windpipe. âYes.â I heard truth in his tone, smelled it on his body, along with Leoâs scent of ownership, the smell of vamp. I released my hold. He rolled to his feet and I followed him upright, keeping him between Leo and me. He reached around and shut the outer door. When he moved to face me, in front of and slightly to the side of Leo, I switched the safety on the gun. I was lucky it hadnât gone off while we rolled around on the floor. It was stupid to wrestle while holding a gun, even while facing down a vamp. Not that I could have figured out a better way. I had been between a rock and a fanged place.
âYou donât smell human. What are you?â Leo said. Trying out his vamp voice on me, smooth and honeyed, and promising me a really good roll in the hay.
âStop that,â I said. âIt doesnât work on me.â
âShe growled, boss,â the bruiser said. âWhen she took me down.â
âI heard her. What are you?â
âNone of your business,â I said.
âWhose blood do I smell?â Leo asked.
âKatieââ I stopped, not knowing what to say. Admitting that Katie had made a mistake by taking too much blood was on a par with saying an adult human had pooped his pants or eaten his own boogers. Really gross or stupid. Accidentally killing prey was a young vamp error, not something an ancient vamp did. Ever. And not the kind of thing a good employee said about her employer. The silence stretched, and Leoâs brow went up. Just one. Waiting.
âI was forced to reprimand a member of my staff.â Katie stood in the hallway, wearing a dressing gown that shimmered like silk. She was clearly naked beneath it, the thin fabric blood free and molding to her thighs. Not what she had been wearing. âMay I ask that your blood-servant assist with the transfusion?â she asked. âIt is not my intent to lose him.â
I understood immediately. It was okay to nearly kill someone as discipline, but not by accident. Feudal attitudes, something the vamps had left over from, well, from feudal times. I understood it, but I didnât have to like it.
Leo glanced at his servant and the man looked reluctantly from me to him before he nodded. It was clear he didnât like the idea of leaving me alone with his boss, but he was willing if Leo gave the go-ahead. Leo inclined his head. Regal, giving permission. Bruiser rolled his head on his shoulders, and I heard two cracks as his spine realigned itself. He gave me a hard look, promising to kill me slowly if I acted out again, and went down the hallway, his booted feet silent on the wood and carpets. Predator silent.
âYour new guardian used a cross on me,â Leo said, holding out his left hand. A livid burn, blistered and seeping, marked his hand, in the shape of the cross. Silver. I wanted to grin but that seemed impolitic. Katie moved to him and knelt at his feet.
âHumble apologies, my master,â she murmured, as her blond hair fell forward, hiding
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