It wasn’t the word that got her to pause, it was the tone. It was the same calm, dangerous tone he’d used just before they’d fought off the goons who’d tried to kidnap her. Scanning the area in the way Ash had taught her, she caught the furtive movement on the left, deep in the shadows to one side of the club.
Her chest eased. “I know them.” She stepped away from Venom’s coiled body. “Don’t follow me.”
He just looked at her.
Rolling her eyes, she patted the taut muscle of his biceps. “It’s okay, Sir Venomous, Knight of the Tower. You can move fast enough to rescue the damsel in distress if she squeals for help.” She turned and walked away before he could respond.
She could feel his eyes on her, but he stayed in position. Thank God. If he hadn’t, the two skinny vampires loitering in the shadows would’ve been ghosts in one second flat. “Zeph, Arabella.”
“Hol, hey.” The pockmarked male vampire smiled at her, his face so badly damaged that she’d believed for the longest time that he’d been Made while in that state and that vampirism hadn’t healed him though it healed most imperfections.
Then one night, she’d spent ten minutes with him; he’d only lasted three before starting to pick at his face with his ragged and dirty nails. His vampirism couldn’t keep up with the constant wounds, especially since Zeph didn’t exactly subsist on the best blood. Holly had tried to pay him for his information in good bottles of blood, but he preferred money—which he spent on honey feeds, where human junkies got high, then allowed vampires to drink from them.
As far as Holly knew, it was the only reliable way a vampire could get high.
Arabella, the equally skinny blonde vampire who was Zeph’s shadow, was no junkie, but she couldn’t deny Zeph, so it ended up the same. “Hi, Holly,” the female vampire said with a natural sweetness that always struck Holly, her fingers twisting her limp dreads in her hands. “You sure look nice.”
“So do you,” Holly replied in a gentle tone, seeing in Arabella what could’ve happened to her if the Tower had abandoned her—or if she’d abandoned herself. Which, frankly, she’d been inches away from doing. She’d never judge Arabella for the choices she’d made or for her strange loyalty to Zeph. “Were you guys looking for me?”
Arabella darted a quick glance behind Holly. “What’s he doing down here?” Her lush Southern vowels contracted, her fear a living being between them.
“He’s with me,” Holly said simply.
Arabella’s eyes widened, the harsh edge of fear transmuting into an openly female admiration. “Wow, Holly. That’s Venom. You did good.”
Holly bit her tongue rather than crush Arabella’s illusions. “Did you two want to tell me anything?” Every so often, the pair found her when they didn’t have any information to trade but were really hungry. Then she gave them blood vouchers that couldn’t be exchanged for money and were personalized to Zeph and Arabella so Zeph couldn’t try to barter them.
Just because a person was broken didn’t mean they had no value, no right to live.
“Um, yeah.” Zeph went to pick at a scab, stopped himself. He was like that, tried to be “normal” as long as he could. “We heard some guys were going after you.”
“They already tried,” Holly began.
“No.” Arabella tugged at Holly’s arm before snatching away her hand so quickly it was as if she was afraid someone would hurt her for daring.
Holly glanced over her shoulder and gave Venom the hard eye. He’d gotten closer, those irises of his penetrating the shadows as if she, Zeph, and Arabella were bathed in bright sunlight. Go. Away, she mouthed.
He slipped on his sunglasses instead.
Shifting her attention back to Arabella, she took the trembling woman’s hand. “He won’t hurt you.” She’d kick his ass if he tried. “What did you want to tell me?”
“There’s more guys,” Arabella whispered. “Someone put a big . . . Zeph, what’s the word?”
“Bounty.” Zeph scratched furtively at a scab. “Like if we kidnap you and give you to this person, we get a lot of money.”
Even though Holly already had that information, she let the two think it was new. Pride was as important as food when it came to survival. “How much?” she asked, not expecting a firm answer.
Arabella frowned. “I think we heard five million?”
Shoving his hands into the pockets of his dirty jeans, bony shoulders poking out through his holey black sweater, Zeph nodded. “Yeah, it was five mil. I thought I was zoned out and hearing things, but I never had a honey feed last night. For sure, it was five mil.”
Five million?
Even in her wildest dreams, Holly wouldn’t value herself at that extravagant amount. “Thank you for telling me instead of attempting to kidnap me.”
“Aw, Hol, you’re our friend.” Zeph pulled off his ubiquitous knit cap to reveal hair of an astonishingly beautiful auburn that surprised Holly each time she saw it. “We don’t got nothing else,” he added. “Just the rumor. Some of the other vamps were talking about maybe trying to get you, so we heard.”
“But most won’t try,” Arabella said with a reassuring pat of Holly’s arm. “Folks know you’re with the Tower and it’d just be stupid to get on the Tower’s wrong side.”
Unfortunately, if people were strung out or otherwise desperate, that wouldn’t matter. “Here.” She slipped them personalized blood vouchers as well as money; she’d put both in her evening clutch just in case. “Go get the good blood first, okay? I don’t want anything to happen to you.” It took a lot to kill a vampire, but if Zeph or Arabella got any weaker, another vampire might rip out their hearts or tear off their heads to get at their meager belongings.
“Thanks, Holly.” Arabella touched her arm again and Holly noticed that the other woman’s ragged military-surplus jacket had become even more so.
“Arabella, you need a new coat.” It got cold at night, especially for a woman with no roof over her head.
“Not yet,” Arabella said before Holly could offer to replace it. “If I have anything new, the others will take it. Maybe after it’s a little colder?” A hopeful smile that was shaky at the edges. “I know a charity shop that has stuff.”
“Just find me when you’re ready.” Waiting until they’d melted safely back into the shadows, Holly turned to walk back to Venom.
And nearly slammed into his chest.
7
Managing to maintain her balance, she scowled up at him. “You can’t even follow simple instructions?”