42nd & Lex (27 page)

I turn off the water in the middle of a Red
Hot Chili Pepper’s song. My voice is bouncing off the tile walls as I sing
along even though I can only catch every other verse. “Hey Oh…” I shout along
with Anthony Kiedis. If Lucan is still here, which I’m sure he is, I probably
sound like a dying cat to his ears. Even the bathroom wall can’t block out the
fact that I can’t carry a tune.

As I towel off I can hear Lucan washing dishes
in the kitchen so I resign myself to him walking me to the office. I put my wet
hair up in a bun and slap on some cover-up for my eye. Max will probably
comment on the wet hair situation. It is January after all and way too cold to
travel from my apartment to the office with wet hair. Max is just the person to
notice that detail. 

“Are you still here?” I call innocently from
the bathroom. “Because I have a few conditions if you’re going to walk me to my
office like a kid on the first day of kindergarten.”

“I'm still here,” Lucan opens the bathroom
door. “Damn, you’re dressed.”

“Benefit of the door/wall situation. You don’t
know what I'm up to,” I smirk. “If you’re coming with me you have to promise not
to make a big deal about it. No looking under all the desks for rabid vampires.
The office has a secure card key system on the weekends just like the Enclave. No
one can get in without it. Plus, there is security down stairs until about two.”

“Abri, I know, but Serge doesn’t exactly
need a card key to get in. He can amp someone into submission to get them to let
him in. That’s probably how he got into your building. That being said, I
promise I will just walk you into your office and kiss you goodbye. Maybe even
say hello to Max if he’s there.”

“Good. That’s why I love you, you listen.”

“Come on. Get your stuff and we’ll head
out.” Lucan gives me with a sly smile. He probably will still look around after
he leaves my office. And he probably has good reason to. I just don’t want to
admit that to him yet.

There is no one in the lobby when we reach
the 30
^th
floor and the office is locked up tight, as I expected. All
is well, not a paper out of place, when we reach my office. Lucan is trying not
to be obvious as he checks each office we pass. From the looks of it, no one
else is working this weekend. I'm not sure this helps my position that I don’t
need an escort.   

“See nothing to fear. No bloodsuckers.” I
give Lucan an I-told-you-so look.

“I beg to differ, my love. There is in fact
one,” he replies, flashing me a fangy smile.

“One what?” Max interrupts as he walks in
with a cup of coffee. “I heard you coming down the hall and figured you hadn’t
had enough of this yet this morning since you’re running late.”

“You rock, Max. Thank you.” I eagerly take
the cup from Max hoping extra caffeine will cure my headache. “You remember
Lucan O’Reilly, right?”

“Yeah. How are you, Lucan?” Max asks, eyeing
Lucan at bit too closely.

“I'm well, Max, and you?” Lucan’s fangs are
no longer on display.

“Good.” A one word answer from Max, that is
strange.

“Well, boys, thanks for all your help. I think
I’ll get started. Lucan, I will call you when I head back—” I stop myself just before
saying “upstairs.”

“I should be done in a few hours myself,”
Lucan replies. “Max, take care of Abri today will you?”

Max gives him a bewildered nod before
looking at me with suspicion. I can already hear the questions forming in Max’s
brain. Lucan waves goodbye to us as he rounds the doorway. Max waits about .05
seconds before he starts in with Lucan probably still within earshot.   

“What’s going on Abri? He has to walk you to
work,” Max hisses. I am a little taken aback by the snarkiness. “It’s a little
soon don’t you think?”

“He was on his way to a meeting and it was
on the way so why not?” I can be snarky too.

“On the way from where? Did you stay at his
place again?” Max isn’t even trying to hide it now.

“Yeah, on the way from his place. It’s real
close,” I snap. “Why are you so nosey today? What do you have against Lucan anyways?
He’s a perfect gentleman.”

“Nothing. I'm just worried about you, that’s
all.” He leans back against the doorframe making it clear he isn’t leaving
anytime soon. I half expect that he’s only come in this morning because I am
here and he wants to talk.

 “Really, Max, it’s fine. He’s harmless. I
know it’s all been really fast, but he cares about me and I care about him,” I
blurt out. I am relieved to say it to someone, even after last night, even if
it sounds insane to my own ears.

Max looks like he is going to explode. Here
it comes. “Abri, do you know what Lucan does for a living, I mean besides
running this charity?”

“Possibly,” I start out slowly. “But why
don’t you just tell me what it is you want to tell me and get it over with. I'm
really not in the mood to beat around the bush this morning.”

“Do you know what the Enclave is, Abri? I mean
really
know what it is.” Max’s eyes are wide with worry. “And don’t lie
to me.”

I try to keep my expression neutral when
really I want to jump up and down that he’s admitting he knows something. I
have so many questions. “Yes. Do you?” I set my mouth in a hard line, warning
Max to be careful how he proceeds. “And don’t lie to me either.”

“He’s a friggin’ vampire, Abri. A vampire.” Max
throws up his hands in exasperation as he makes vampire into two distinct
words. Vam. Pire. “They’re real and he’s one of them.”

“I know.” Is all that I can think to say in
reply. “How did you know that?”

“I was—I, ah…” Max’s voice drops off.

“Patron?” I finish for him. So that explains
why his opinion of Lucan showing up in my office changed after he saw the
calling card.

“Yeah. When I first moved here after high
school, I needed money and they paid. I didn’t really like it, but the cash was
better than almost anything a kid from Long Island could get with just a high
school diploma and two years experience bagging groceries at the Save-a-Lot.” Max
is working to get his story out fast, as if it will prove to me that he’s not
crazy for believing vampires exist. “That’s not really how you met him is it?”

“No, I really met him in the elevator,” I
answer. “Max, it’s okay. I am just glad I'm not the only one who knows about it.
I’ve been bursting to tell you and Linds but I wanted to check with Lucan first
and given everything that’s happened in the last twelve hours, I'm just glad I
can talk to someone about it now. All of it.”

“What’s happened?”

“Sit down. This could take a while.” I
gesture towards my client chairs.

I tell Max all about Serge and his failed abduction
attempt. I leave out the parts about Zaid and Amelia and being Lucan’s Sodalis,
that part can wait. Max mostly just shakes his head in disbelief. I can tell
he’s not pleased with my story.

“So that’s why he walked me to work this
morning. He’s not an obsessive stalker. He’s worried this douchebag Serge might
come for me again. Speaking of which, you don’t know him, do you?”

“No, but I haven’t been to the Enclave in
about five years. I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection with Lucan’s
name until I saw the card. It’s been so long.” Max stops and takes a deep
breath. I appreciate him curbing the lecture. “Why is your hair wet?”

“Ah, well,” I stall. Max doesn’t miss a
thing. “Well, I guess since you know this much, it can’t hurt to tell you. Lucan
lives upstairs, in the old Cloud Club. He converted one of the floors into a
loft and the other two are guest quarters and stuff.”

“That explains a lot,” Max smiles. “I'm
happy for you Abri, I really am. I have nothing against Lucan. I’ve never heard
anything negative about him. In fact, the only thing I’ve ever heard is that
he’s perpetually single and filthy rich. It’s just that I want you to be
careful. Their world is very different from ours.”

“So you knew him from before?”

“I knew
of
him but we never met. I
didn’t run with the upper echelon there. He’s a powerful guy in their circles.
Most of the women, human and vampire, wanted to date him and the men wanted to
do business with him.” Max is trying to pretend this isn’t weird for him and I
appreciate it. “Like I said, I never heard anything bad about him. He’s a good
guy.”

“So you let them feed from you?” I can’t
stop the question before it comes out of my mouth. Immediately I cringe at my
use of the word feed.

“Uh, yeah,” Max replies. “I hate the word
‘feed’ too. It was good money, more than giving at the Red Cross.”

 “What does it feel like?” I whisper, like there
is someone around to hear us.

“Not bad. They have this venom that numbs
you up pretty well. Sometimes we would just donate like you would at the blood
bank with a needle. They stockpile for emergencies, like humans.”

“Do you get assigned a particular vampire or
do they just come in a select you like a bottle of wine?”

“Nice, Abri.” Max shakes his head. “A little
of both actually. You start out just being like a free agent but once you meet
people you establish relationships, friendships. Have you been to the
restaurant there?”

“Yeah, on our first date.”

Max gives me a wide-eyed stare before
shaking his head again. “That’s were a lot of Patrons go to meet vampires and,
for lack of a better term, show off their wares.”  

“Wow. I had no idea. What about someone like
Lucan, what would he do since he’s in a relationship?”

“So he’s, um, eating take out?” I wrinkle my
nose at the idea, thinking back to the sweet and sour sauce in the fridge. Max is
starting to look anxious. “Geez, Abri, maybe you should have this conversation
with Lucan. I don’t want to assume what he’s doing. There are several options
for when that happens.”

 I know Lucan is partaking of someone else
at the Enclave; he has to since I’m not feeding him. Having Max call it what it
was,
take out,
makes me anxious. Jealous. “Well, he goes to the Enclave,
I know that. But I just wondered what guys in his situation do if they aren’t
getting it at home.” Now it sounds like Lucan is having an affair instead of
dinner. 

“You mean if they aren’t dating another
vampire or a Patron, or at least a willing participant?”

“Yeah.”

“Typically they just take from the blood
reserves, or, if they have a long standing Patron, they might continue to use
them. It’s not like all Patron relationships are sexual or anything. Most are
quite anonymous actually. I mean, it’s not like you have a conversation with
your cheeseburger before you eat it, right?”

  “True,” I laugh. “Well, thanks for the
info. And I’m really glad I can tell you stuff now. Since I know you have to
keep their secrets, and I do too, I suppose.”

“Just be careful, Abri.” Max warns again. “Lucan
is good, but there are a lot of his kind that aren’t. Most of them are like
that Serge idiot under the surface.”

“I will be. Speaking of which, I had better
get to work on the Ainsworth case. Want to come to court with me Monday? I
could use the help.”

“Sure. I haven’t suited up for court in a
while. I just bought a new suit, charcoal grey pinstripe, that will be
perfect.”

There is the Max I know and love. “Great. I’m
going to review their financials. Why don’t you see what kind of dirt you can
drag up on Mark Ainsworth and his attorney, Virgil Hicks?”

“The vampire attorney?” Max gasps. “I mean
he works for vampires, but he’s not one. Or at least he didn’t used to be.”

“One in the same.” It makes sense that Max would
know that working in the legal field and being a Patron.

“Is Mark a vampire?” Max asks, cautiously.  

I toss around whether or not I should tell
Max about Mark. If he is going to come to court with me he might as well know,
especially if Lucan decides to come too.

“Sorta. He’s a Halfling. We don’t know who tried
to turn him but it happened a few months ago. Sarah doesn’t know and I'm not going
to be the one to tell her. I found out when Mark broke into Lucan’s apartment. I'm
not sure why, other than he wanted to meet me after he was served with the
papers and found out I was there. He’s kinda retarded or something on account
of being a Halfling and not full vampire. Lucan says his brain’s rotting from
the venom.”

I pause to reflect on just how ridiculous this
all sounds. Sure, Lucan and I had discussed it and it didn’t sound so strange
then, but telling someone else made it sound crazy. Even someone who knew that what
I am talking about is one hundred percent real.

“Well, that explains why he’s hired Hicks. Whoever
made him a Halfling probably put the two in touch.” His voice tells me he’s
leery of coming to court with me now and even more leery of my involvement with
Lucan. 

“I just wish we knew who that was.”

“Maybe it was the valet guy that tried to kill
you last night. Think about it, Mark shows up after he gets served with your
divorce paperwork. Working at the Enclave, that Serge guy would have access to
member’s information and he saw you with Lucan the other night. He probably
told Mark where to go when he saw your name on the petition. Maybe he doesn’t
like you messing with his progeny. That happens sometimes,” Max says, almost as
an afterthought. “I’ll go get started on the digging. I want to be out of here
by three and enjoy my weekend.”

After Max connected the Serge and Mark dots,
it’s all I can do to concentrate on Sarah’s file. It’s just too close to be a
coincidence. Lucan is probably too strong for Serge to go after directly, but I
make an easy target and Mark makes a convenient scapegoat. Who wouldn’t suspect
an estranged husband of attacking or killing his wife’s divorce lawyer?
Although, I don’t think Serge’s interest in hurting me has anything to do with
me messing with his progeny. Serge didn’t seem like the type to care about
others.