After spitting at me, the vampire stilled. “You can take your questions and shove them up your—”
Linus kept his tone light. “Finish that thought, and it will be your last.”
“I’m going to live forever.”
“No.” I hated to break it to him. “You’re really not.” I reopened the wound on my palm then dipped my index finger in blood. Careful of Linus’s blade, I swiped a paralytic sigil on the vampire’s throat to freeze him from that point down. Potentates definitely got all the cool toys. “You might have made it a few more centuries if you hadn’t been a total idiot, but now we’ll never know.”
“Bitch,” he howled. “What did you do to me?”
“Nothing yet.” I drew a sigil on his forehead to force the truth out of him. “Cooperate, and I’ll walk away.” Behind him, Linus lowered his weapon but kept it in his hand at the ready while I activated the magic. “How does that feel?”
“The smell of your blood makes me hungry,” he said dazedly. “I want to drain you.”
“Yeah, I have that effect on vampires.” I tried again. “What is the nickname your mother called you?”
“Tiddlywinks.” He blinked, almost in slow motion. “I was a bedwetter, and she thought it was funny.”
Mommy issues, ahoy!
No grown man would admit that, so I felt good about the sigil’s effectiveness.
“Now that we’re all best friends, tell me who sent you.”
“Danill Volkov.”
“Why did he send you?”
“To break your legs.”
“Ouch.” Sympathy pangs radiated through my kneecaps. “That would have hurt.”
“I wouldn’t have killed you,” he reassured me. “I don’t do that.”
“You’re a real saint.” I rolled my eyes. “Did he send other vampires after me too?”
“I don’t know.”
“What were you supposed to do with me after you broke my legs?”
“Send him pictures.”
“Do you have his number or his email address?”
“Yes.”
“Which?”
“Both.”
Now we were getting somewhere. “Can you give them to me?”
Polite as can be, he rattled off the information while I wrote it all down. “Thanks.”
“Can I bite you?”
“Uh, no.” I checked with Linus. “Are we done here?”
“I am if you are.” He put away his scythe. “We’ll compare what he said against what Boaz has learned.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I turned back to the vampire, picked the scab on my palm, and drew the paralyzer sigil on his forehead to lock down his entire body. “We’ve got to go, but sentinels will be here shortly.”
I told him I would walk away if he cooperated. I never said he was going anywhere.
Seven
As much as I respected what the Lyceum stood for, I hated riding the elevator down its dark maw. I still couldn’t quite shake the fear that once I hit bottom, it would digest me rather than spit me out on the surface when I was done.
Linus, always in tune with me, rested a hand on my shoulder where he coiled a length of my hair around his finger. His touch anchored me, and his support gave me the strength to keep coming back here. Maybe one day it wouldn’t be so triggering, but I wasn’t holding my breath.
“We got a name,” Boaz said as he joined us in a conference room, “but you’re not going to like it.”
“Volkov.” I beat him to the punch, but the name still hit me hard. “Another vampire came after me tonight.” I leaned forward, bracing my forearms on the table. “This one had orders to break my legs. They’re escalating. Quickly.”
“You’re about to tie the knot,” Boaz pointed out. “Volkov must want you in hand before the wedding.”
“I’ll break his hands if they get anywhere near me.” I rolled my shoulders, forcing out the tension. “Volkov always did his own dirty work.” From flirting with me to kidnapping me, he enjoyed having a starring role in his schemes. “Why switch it up now?”
“He’s a fugitive.” Linus mirrored my posture. “He can’t rely on his forged papers to protect him in Savannah.”
“First the avowal and now this.” I traced a gouge in the wood with my fingernail. “It doesn’t add up for me.” I flattened my palm before I got in trouble for defacing Lyceum property. “I can see Volkov sending an avowal to replace the original, but not without his blood.” The use of bronze powder was inspired, its presence guaranteeing I received his first message in time. “I could see Volkov kidnapping me or lashing out, but I don’t see him paying someone to do it for him.” He was the type of man who would punish me for bad behavior but snap the neck of anyone else who dared touch what he viewed as his. “I want to believe you’re right, that it’s a matter of him outsourcing his dirty work but…”
“Trust your gut.” Linus traced my knuckles with a cool fingertip. “We’ll all keep an open mind.”
The meeting ended when it became clear we had run out of business to discuss. Boaz made noises about getting back to work, and Linus and I did too. Professional interactions with Boaz were no longer uncomfortable. I had gotten used to bumping into him around the Lyceum. But when he touched my shoulder to get my attention on my way out the door, I jumped at the unexpected contact.
“Sorry.” Emotion clouded his expression, regret the easiest to identify. “I just wanted to thank you for the wedding invitation. I haven’t seen Addie this excited in a long time.”
I shouldn’t have said anything, but it popped out anyway. “How are your wedding plans coming along?”
“Addie has pointed out to me on many occasions that she agreed to marry me, but she never specified when.”
Smart girl, thinking with her head instead of her heart with him. “You’re okay with that?”
“I…care about her.” He rolled a shoulder like the raw admission didn’t mean a thing, when it meant everything for a guy like him. “She’s worth waiting for.”
“She’s good people.” I scuffed my shoe. “I’m glad you guys are taking it slow.”
As much as I worried for Adelaide’s obvious attachment to Boaz, I was still processing the slim chance he felt the same. Maybe not love, but stronger than like. Was it enough to build a future on? Was it enough to make them happy? I didn’t know, and I bet they didn’t either. So, yeah. Slow was good for them. She might be better than he deserved, but I could see he was trying. For her. That was more than he had done for any other woman he had ever dated, me included.
“I’ll update you if we find out anything else relevant. Otherwise, see you on the big day.”
A nod got me out the door, and I found Linus waiting for me in the hall. He leaned around my left side and then my right. “What are you doing?”
“Checking to be sure Boaz didn’t convince you to pack your bags and run away with him.”