All That Bleeds (6 page)

“He’s the one who kidnapped me?”

“My guess is that he’ll have a different version of events,” Merrick said, cool as ice. Merrick nodded toward the next room and said to Orvin, “Tell them to give Cato a drink, and let him know I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

Orvin disappeared from the doorway, and Merrick closed the door.

She studied him. Was he on good terms with the man who’d kidnapped her? Perhaps Merrick had even arranged it, she thought, horrified. She had been playing with fire by sending him those letters.

She exhaled forcefully and leaned back against the cushioned headboard, trying to recover her strength. “Were you involved in the plot to get me into the Varden?” she asked.

“A plot that involved someone else biting you?” he countered, and shook his head.

“Maybe that wasn’t part of the original plan, but someone couldn’t resist. Ventala aren’t exactly known for their restraint.”

“If I’d wanted you kidnapped, I wouldn’t have trusted anyone else to do the job. I’d have come for you myself.”

“How very reassuring,” she said dryly.

“Cato Jacobi’s here to retrieve you. What does that tell you?”

“That he’s a presumptuous, psychotic bastard?”

The corner of Merrick’s mouth curved into a smirk. “What else?”

“That he thinks you’ll negotiate with him. You won’t, will you?”

He shook his head. “Think things over while I’m gone. Try to remember what happened,” he said. He strode out and closed the door behind him.

Ox stood when Merrick walked into the living room.

“Lotta things in life are a disappointment. Not her though. She’s better in the flesh than in pictures, huh?” Ox said.

Merrick nodded.

They strolled into the hallway, and Merrick locked the door, punching in a nine-digit pin to set the security code. If he’d wanted to get in and hadn’t known the pin, it wouldn’t have stopped him, but it would stop most people.

“Jacobi’s here to reclaim her. What does that say to you, Ox?”

Ox shrugged massive shoulders. “Says he thinks he’s entitled to her.”

“Exactly. Why would he think that?”

“Must’ve paid someone to deliver her to his place.”

Merrick nodded. “And who but someone from her inner circle could’ve delivered her to him?” he asked as they walked down the hall.

“Doesn’t she know who it was?”

Merrick punched in another code, and the elevator doors slid open. He barely glanced at the sleek steel walls or framed white orchid painting. “She can’t remember, but she doesn’t seem to suspect anyone she knows,” Merrick said.

Ox’s pale brows rose. “Why not?”

“Because where she’s from they don’t betray each other that way. They’re like her. Pure of blood and heart, focused
on helping mankind and on giving money away to any cause they consider worthy, which is practically anything.”

“Sounds too good to be true. And obviously it is, since somebody sold her out.”

“Right. So what do you think would happen if I sent her back there alone?”

Ox shrugged. “The guy might be too scared of getting caught to betray her again, or he might not. I’d say even money.”

“Fifty-fifty? I don’t agree,” Merrick said. “Whoever betrayed her has gotten paid, and Jacobi wants what he bought. That’s what he’s doing here. You think the kidnapper will be allowed to walk away from the deal?”

“You got a point. The guy who took her has either gotta disappear himself or he’s gotta turn over the girl.”

Merrick nodded.

“So what are you going to do with her?” Ox asked.

That’s the question,
Merrick thought. He knew what he wanted to do with her. It certainly didn’t involve sending her to the Etherlin unprotected. Or sending her to the Etherlin at all. “She thought I might give her to Jacobi tonight.”

Ox’s laughter echoed around the elevator.

“You find that funny?” Merrick asked.

“Yeah, boss, I do,” he said, barking out another laugh. “If Jacobi showed up here demanding a half dozen rats from our sewers, I don’t think you’d give them to him. I know you’re not turning over the only girl you send flowers to.”

“Roses are cheap,” Merrick said lightly.

“Not the kind you send.”

The elevator stopped at the ground floor.

“Look sharp,” Merrick said as the doors slid open to reveal the nightclub he lived above. His club.

The Crimson’s décor was inspired by its name. Large framed black-and-white prints of glamorous women hung in corners, the only color being their merlot-colored lipstick. Small vases of crimson roses sat on each black marble-topped table. One wall was papered in smoky pewter with deep red crushed-velvet vines crawling across it. On the balconied
second floor, plush burgundy couches and chaises encouraged people to recline and do things better left unnamed.

Merrick wondered what Alissa would think of the place when she saw it. Would it be too dramatic and sensual for her? The only thing he could recall about the inside of the Etherlin mansion he’d been in was that the place had been brightly lit and unremittingly beige.

He nodded to the bartender and walked to the back of the club. He opened the door to a private room and found Cato Jacobi and two of his guys sitting at the copper table. They each had a drink in hand, and Candy, one of the Crimson waitresses, was topping off Cato’s tumbler.

He and his guys stood when Merrick and Ox entered.

“You mind if we get right to it?” Cato asked when they were all seated.

“Go ahead,” Merrick said.

“You violated the rules tonight. Came into my territory uninvited. Took something that belongs to me.”

“You’re misinformed,” Merrick said.

“You deny it?” Cato scoffed.

Merrick simply stared at him, causing Cato to explode into curses.

“Look, I know it was you,” Cato snapped as he pulled out a small manila envelope. He opened the clasp and dramatically pulled out several photographs, slapping them on the table in front of Merrick.

Merrick spread them out, glanced them over, and restacked them. The pictures had been taken from a security camera outside Cato Jacobi’s building, and they showed Merrick carrying an unconscious Alissa North away from the building, but there was nothing about his clothes to identify him, and his face was covered by the mask.

“Who’s the girl?” Merrick asked.

“You know who she is!” Cato snapped. “I want her back. And I want a big friggin’ payout since you came into my territory without talking to me.”

“She looks familiar. She looks a little like that heiress from the perfume commercials, but I know it can’t be, because only
a moron would think he could get away with kidnapping a muse from the heart of the Etherlin. That would open the Varden up to the biggest crackdown we’ve ever seen. Extremely bad for business.”

“Oh, no,” Cato said, showing off a crooked smile. “I’ve got it covered. An insurance policy. They’re not going to come after her.”

Merrick narrowed his eyes. “Why not?”

“None of your goddamned business. Just get her ass down here. And I’ll take fifty grand to start for your little joyride across the border.”

Merrick slid the envelope to him and stood. “Nice of you to visit tonight, Cato, but don’t make a habit of it.”

“We’ll bring my car around back,” Jacobi said. “Your guy here can bring the girl and the money down to it.”

Merrick shook his head. “The guy in the pictures could be anyone.”

“The hell it could!”

“And if she’s so important, maybe you should’ve tried a little harder to hold on to her.”

“You son-of-a-bitch,” Cato shouted, pulling out his gun.

Merrick slammed Cato’s wrist to the table, causing the gun to drop with a clatter. “You don’t want to do that, Cato.”

Cato panted, saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth. “What are you going to do, Merrick? Kill me? My father knows I’m here.” When Merrick didn’t answer, Cato narrowed his eyes. “Go ahead and do me then. See what it buys you. You may have been a great enforcer, but you’re still only one guy. And you’re not popular these days with the syndicate. They’d like an excuse to take your head.”

Merrick picked up Cato’s gun and tossed it to Ox, who caught it. “Thanks for the gun. Have a safe drive home.”

“You’re making a mistake!” Cato shouted as Ox ushered him and his men out of the room.

It took about ten minutes for Ox to reappear. When he did, he was grinning. “You’re slick, boss,” Ox said. “There’s no way they can prove it was you.”

“What’s the most interesting thing Jacobi said tonight?”

“What caught my attention is different than what caught yours, boss.”

Merrick cocked his head. “Yeah?”

“Well, he said the syndicate’s pissed at you. That’s because you won’t take any more enforcer jobs, and you’re the best. They thought when they gave you this part of the Varden you were going to stay their boy. They see it as payment.”

“How do I see it?” Merrick asked.

“You paid a boatload of money for this patch of concrete. I think you figure you bought it outright and don’t owe the syndicate anything.”

Merrick nodded.

“It still gets my attention,” Ox continued, “that they’re pissed at you though, because it’s my job to make sure no one cuts off your head. But since having people gunning for you never bothers you, I know that’s not what interested you about what Jacobi said.”

“You’re right.”

Ox grinned. “See. I told you that you wouldn’t be sorry for taking me on. I can almost read your mind these days, boss.”

“So then you know what I’m going to say.”

“Well,” Ox said sheepishly. “I know you wanna know why Jacobi’s so damn convinced the family of the baby-doll upstairs is going to write her off.”

“Exactly, but I think we can guess what’s involved.”

“We can?”

“Call Tobin. Get him here and put him on ice until I’m ready to talk to him.”

“What are you going to do, boss? Nothin’ that will give the syndicate an excuse to take you out, I hope.”

Merrick shrugged. “I’ve never had much of an appetite for playing it safe, Ox. Besides, what’s the point of me paying you, unless I expect the syndicate to send a crew for my head one of these days?”

Alissa peeled the tape from the crook of her arm and exhaled slowly as she slid the intravenous line from her vein. A small
drop of dark blood welled in the hollow until she bent her arm up tight.

Still a bit woozy, she emerged carefully from the cloud of bedding. She wished she could stay resting, but knew she shouldn’t. She needed to get home before she was missed.

At least she’d made the muse-powered suggestion to her father that he rest. Between that and his depression, he’d be asleep for at least twelve hours. Considering her situation, she was glad she didn’t have to worry about him until morning.

She padded to the door and pushed it open. Her gaze darted around the dimly lit parlor, drinking it in. The black-and-white furniture. The highly polished metal and silver blue accents. A small bronze statue of a dancing Egyptian girl charming a snake. Another of a half-naked female huntress. Art Deco, she realized. One of her favorite periods. She regretted that she needed to leave so quickly.

She looked around for a phone. Etherlin Security had a helicopter, and when Grant learned she’d been kidnapped, he’d keep her visit to the Varden a secret. Would there be a place for him to land? On the roof, perhaps? Should she check it before she called?

She wondered if he would be able to get out of the Etherlin without people noticing. Her future depended on Grant’s discretion, but things wouldn’t be completely under his control. The community— Her thought broke off midstream as she thought about Etherlin Security. How could Cato Jacobi or any ventala have managed to get her out? If she’d been awake, she’d have fought. Someone should’ve noticed. And why couldn’t she remember? It seemed like the drugging must have preceded the abduction. But how?

The words hung there. She didn’t want to finish the thought, but couldn’t help herself. Had someone helped this Jacobi? Someone she knew? The vote was only a few days away, and she was favored to win. She thought of Cerise, Dorie, and Ileana, the other three Etherlin muses, any of whom might benefit from her being out of the way, but she couldn’t imagine any of them knowing someone from the Varden, let alone helping him kidnap a muse.

A soft beeping startled her. A moment later, the main door
opened and Merrick stepped inside. There was no one with him, and the expression on his handsome face was inscrutable.

“What did the kidnapper say? How did he get me out of the Etherlin?”

“We didn’t get into those details.”

“Have you heard anything? Has there been a news story about an assault on the Etherlin? Maybe someone detonating a part of the wall?”

“No.”

Her hand rested lightly on a console table, and she shook her head in confusion. “How could he have gotten in, found me, drugged me, and gotten us out?”

“There are only a few people in the world who could’ve broken into the Etherlin undetected. Cato Jacobi isn’t one of them.”

“Are you?”

He nodded. “But if I’d taken you, you would have woken up here. Not at his place.”

She sank into a chair. “I don’t understand what happened.”

He leaned against the wall, watching her. “There were traces of black magic clinging to your skin.”

She looked down at herself.

“It’s gone. I washed it off you. How’d it get there?”

“I have no idea.” She shook her head. “There are no practitioners of black magic in the Etherlin. I must have been exposed to it in Cato Jacobi’s apartment.”

“His place wasn’t the source. When I was on the balcony, I would’ve been able to tell if it had come from inside.”

She shrugged. “Then I’m not sure.”

“You’ve never used it for anything? A ritual or a rite?”

“Never. I wouldn’t.”

“So it happened during the time period that you can’t remember. It was probably used to alter your consciousness.”

Someone had forced black magic on her? Used it in a way that made her lose her memory, like a date-rape drug? She shuddered, wishing she could stand under a hot shower and scrub her skin for an hour. What else had been done to her? There was no soreness between her legs. She didn’t feel as if
she’d been raped. Apparently, Cato Jacobi had felt the time was better spent drinking her blood, but the way he’d acted in his apartment suggested that he would’ve gotten around to rape quickly enough. Maybe he’d wanted her to be awake for that part.
Sleazy bastard.