Breach (The Blood Bargain) (8 page)

Dimitri
...why again do all roads lead back to flipping Dimitri?  With a groan I put the files back and shut the cabinet.  I had other things to do besides stand here and brood. 

Locking up the records office, I was able to get off the second floor and out of the building without having to exchange words with any of my fellow councilmen.  Zack had tried to strike up a conversation with me just off the first floor landing, but I mumbled something about being in a rush and kept on walking.

I was technically in a rush, so it wasn’t a total lie.

The task the council had given me required coordination.  One did not just walk up to the vampire’s home and ring the doorbell.  You needed an invitation.  Failure to have one could likely result in death as they tended to take the private property rule to new levels.

There was only one person in town who took those appointments.   The single gateway for coordinating blood duty and all other needs of the vampires.  Not even Daddy Graham could get around it.  An understood truth in Junction, if you wanted to talk to Caius, you went to Yu Wei.

I didn’t know how she got the job-I never asked-but she held onto it despite the level of concern and xenophobia the rest of the community had projected over the years.  No one was outwardly rude or disrespectful to her, on the contrary deep down I think the majority of survivors in our community respected the hell out of her.  After all she dealt with the creepy crawlies so they didn’t have to.  All of her work was conducted out of an old nail salon on the square, complete with the 1980’s style posters-women with big hair, bright red lipstick and mile long red fingernails-and the turquoise wall border over faded pink walls decorated with too many mirrors.  I had
been there only once before for orientation after Dimitri had demanded I be placed in his blood service.

He had saved my life, guess he wanted a piece of it in return.

When I pushed open the door to the old shop she did not look happy to see me, looking down over her reading glasses her brows came together, edge of her lip turned downward.  Combined with her dark hair knotted on her head and her reserved clothing, she kind of reminded me of a librarian.

“Back so soon Miss Younger?”   She made no move to get up from behind the desk where she was seated, simply turned the page of the book she was reading as though I was about as interesting as a doormat.  I wasn’t going to let her make me uncomfortable, I wasn’t. “Afternoon Yu, I need to see Caius.”

“About?”

“Council matters.”  That got her to put her book down, her eyes flipped up to me from behind her red reading glasses with newfound curiosity.

“You're not Mr. Graham.”

“Clearly.”

Yu sighed, reaching for a blue covered notebook and a pen.

“And when are you wanting this meeting to occur?”  Her voice had flipped from uninterested to professional.

“Tonight.”  Her pen stopped moving on the paper, eyes yet again focusing on my face in that disapproving way.

“Miss Younger, Caius prefers advanced notice regarding his affairs.  A week's announcement is customary. Now I can schedule you in for next-”

“No!”  I immediately felt guilty I had cut her off with a shout, in a calmer tone I continued.  “Tonight.  It has to be.”  This couldn’t wait, what if there was another group shuffling to our doors?

Yu’s frown dipped into a forehead ravine that could
compete against the Grand Canyon. We stood there in silence, an incredibly uncomfortable one.  I figured most folks who came in here to speak with her were probably overly respectful, if only due to fear of her boss.  Leave it to me to go around making bad second impressions.  I hadn’t exactly been polite the first time I came here either...

“I will see what I can do.”  Her tone was resigned, but she had agreed. The corners of my mouth kicked up slightly but ended in a full on smile.

“Thanks.  Thanks a ton, seriously.”

“In the future however,” that sharp impatience returning, “you will give a weeks’ notice for all events.”

“Deal.”

“I’ll come find you if he’s agreeable.”

“Thanks again.”  With that I pushed my way out of the nail salon. With hours before the sun went down I went to find the one person I wouldn’t mind wasting them with.

I found him on edge of town on his way back from the wall, a massive wall of muscle draped in black sauntering back into civilization with a flat expression on his face, the look of a predator still on the prowl.  Steel at his back and on his belt, a warrior ready for anything.

Had to admit, it all looked good with his classic features.  A quarterback turned special ops.  Now there would be a good movie...if they were still making them.

Cole’s mood changed abruptly when he saw me, that hawk glare lifting mouth turning up into a smile.  His slow step picking up the pace to meet me.

“How was your first day?”  He called out as he approached.

“Suffocating. So very old world.”  I literally shuddered at the thought.  “How was the wall?”

“Not a single sighting. Almost like the good old days.”  Meeting halfway, Cole paused to give me a quick hug and a spin.  Despite being out in the cold all day walking about in a thick coat he still smelled fantastic.

“Almost?”  I asked as he sat me down.

“After that horde came through, who knows?  Makes me want to convert our wall into the damn Great Wall of China.”

“If only we had the stone and the labor.”

“Truth.  So I’m meeting Adam at the Garage after sundown to shoot some pool.  You in?”  I smiled to myself, Adam’s ability to blend in with folks as though nothing had changed was amazing.  Even more so was that xenophobic Cole Marshal had remained his friend.  I had half expected Cole to try to lop his head off when he first showed up after we had left him for dead at the federal building.  Instead, the two of them had carried on like it was just another day.  Fangs or not.

“I would love to but I’ve got to do some council things tonight.”  Cole snorted at my words.

“First day and you’re already working late?  What’s with that?”  I bit my lip.  Oh man I did not want to tell him this.  Telling him was a very bad idea.  All the way around.  One hundred percent.

Still, if it were him, I’d want to know.  I needed to stop acting all cagey like my Dad and be honest.  Honest was the key to all quality relationships right?  He’d be receptive.  This could be positive.

I hoped anyway.

“I’ve been pegged as the vampire liaison.  I’m supposed to go have a talk with Caius with about the attack yesterday.  Voice our irritation with their clearing and all that.  I’ve already spoken with Yu to get an appointment.”

“No.”

“What?”

“No freaking way.” Cole took a step back, sweeping his hands in a wide cutting motion.

“Graham deals with them, not you.”

“I don’t really think that’s your call to make, plus it was the Graham's bright idea. Personally I think they suggested it to try and embarrass me.  You know, get me to decline in front of everyone.”

“Look what they did to you , you’re going to walk up in there?”

“They?  It was just her.  Need I remind you that Adam is one of them now.”  Cole cursed, running his hands through his hair.  Then he cursed some more, turning his back from me.

“It will be alright, he’s not going to hurt me.  I’m on the damn council for crying out loud.”

By that point I noticed we had raised our voices to the point where we were bellowing at each other.  I stopped myself from arguing further, focusing on taking a nice deep cleansing breath.  Exhaling slowly, I watched Cole pace as he worked off his own aggression.

Six deep breaths had entered and exited my lungs before his shoulders sagged, slowly he turned to face me.

“I know.  And I know.  It’s nothing against Adam seriously.  I know he’s cool I just...if anything happened to you.  I think I’d have a coronary.”

“Nothing is going to happen to me.”  I gave him a hug, wrapping my arms around his waist, my head resting against his chest.  “I’m off the wall, just a
lil ol colony girl.  Safe and sound.”

I felt his heart beat slowly settle back down to its normal rhythm. As much as I appreciated his Neanderthal protect me from everything including my own shadow routine, there were things I needed to do.   The chivalrous crap just had to go...although I did see why it was so easy for Zoe to fall into it with Mark and why Candice was always on the hunt.

Having that special guy in your life gives a tangible wall of protection you could rely upon. I didn’t doubt for a second anymore that Cole would put everything on the line to save my life, that his last breath would be spent cutting down anything that sought to harm me.  Climb any tower, face any horde, a modern day knight that sat over my bed sword in hand watching me while I slept.  That kind of feeling...it’s indescribable as though he-

Loved me.

No.  No, too soon.  Pushing that thought into the process later mental bucket, I held him tighter.  Flowery gestures and pretty words did not make the world go round.  Despite all the roses and chocolates and little arrows floating through my mind at the moment, I knew it was just that.

I’m a realist, we all have to do our part.  I was no damsel in distress, nor did I need to be watched over.  It wasn’t his wall of protection against the dead, it was our partnership against the dead.

Two knives are better than one after all.

“Miss Younger?”  Yu Wei’s voice brought me back to reality.  She had approached us on the sidewalk, standing maybe five paces to the left toward the square.  I realized this was the first time I had ever seen her standing not to mention out of her little shop.  She was shorter than I was, drowning in a giant parka, her dark hair covered under a stocking cap.

“Hi Yu.”  Dropping my arms from Cole I turned to face her.  Without Cole to block it, the wind battered my face without apology.

“He has agreed to see you tonight, be there at sundown.”  I saw Cole standing a little straighter in my peripheral vision.

“Thanks.”  Before I even had the word out of my mouth she had turned and was walking away from us.  I wondered for a brief moment if she was ever social.

“So that’s that then.”  The deep bass rumble of disapproval came from my side.

“I guess it is.”

When the sun fell I went to the farmhouse at the edge of town.  Despite the fact that I knew the reason for my regrettable experiences within the house had been removed from the face of the earth, I still found myself full of dread as I walked up the sidewalk to those wide
steps.  Reminding myself that Adam was lurking somewhere within the house, at least I hoped he was, did little to calm me down.  In the cold my palms were sweating.  I wiped them on my pant legs twice before the door opened.

Entering the foyer I found the place was just as I had remembered it.  Straight out of a country chic magazine, the house was the farthest thing from what you’d picture when you thought ‘vampire’.  A better association was ‘grandma’.  In a way I guess they were older than dirt, still there was a certain black velvet to wall ratio one expected around vampires.

In the usually orderly living room I saw evidence of Adam, clothes tossed haphazardly on the couch, fantasy books everywhere.  Previously the room had been photo worthy clean leading me to wonder how his roommate felt about the mess.  That had also been in the Antonia days however, so maybe the female vampire was the clean freak.

Why do I care?

I took a deep breath.  Stalling, that’s what I was doing.  Nerves were getting to me and I was having a hard time-

“Good evening.”  That voice, a perfectly deep tone layered with a strong accent that sounded almost Russian.  His six foot eight frame filled the stairwell, dressed in a black silk shirt that was partially unbuttoned and a pair of dark grey pinstripe slacks. He looked very out of place amid the country decor, he’d fit in much better in an ad for Rolex or a ridiculously overpriced sports car. His angled face was enough to make other men shrivel up and skulk into a corner. Everything was portioned correctly and sculpted with a master’s hand, no deviations or scars.  A passive but alert visage; ice blue eyes that missed nothing while his mouth stayed in a flat line. The stoic expression made him seem slightly sinister, although I didn’t think a smile could make him any less terrifying.

A long arm reached out towards me, his slender fingers beckoning my approach.

“Come.”

Then he turned, his long black hair catching the air just slightly at the ends before resting at his lower back.  Never looking back to see if I followed, he disappeared around the 2nd floor landing.

I took a deep breath.  It had not been so long ago that I had watched a volunteer farm girl follow him up these very steps in a calm trance.  An evening she later didn’t recall.  Standing there in the dark foyer I felt nothing pulling me forward, no need to ascend.  Whatever tricks he liked to play it seemed for the moment I was spared.

“I’m now your liaison to the council, all communications and requests go through me.  I came to say hello, as I don’t think we’ve actually met in person and...”  I trailed off, Caius towered over me, looming inches away, I could only assume it was to make me uncomfortable. A long fingered hand rose, foreign digits touching my mahogany locks, sending a shiver down my spine.