Promise Me Anthology (13 page)

“Who said working for a mobster was easy?”
she muttered, stabbing the button for the first floor.

* * * *

“You know better,” Tony sneered into the
phone. “So don’t be making that mistake again, Richard. Or you’re
fired.”

“You’re really going to fire him?” Thane said
darkly, glaring at Tony over the rim of his scotch glass.

“Yes,” Tony answered, smoothing the lapels of
his expensive Brooks Brothers suit. “Then he’s going to have an
accident. Dumb man can’t choose if he should leave his wife or
leave his mistress. You’ve seen both of them with him. There’s no
contest.”

Thane smirked slightly. “Richard never
understood his blessing in Anita.”

Tony frowned at him. “That’s his wife,
right?”

“I’m sorry I’m late, Tony,” Angelica said,
opening the door slightly to peek inside the office. “I overslept.”
She watched her two bosses carefully as they studied her, hoping
they hadn’t had a stressful morning. If they had, she’d might be
looking for a new job. But both were in clean expensive suits,
their dark hair freshly combed, clean shaven, looking as if they
just came into work. That was a good sign.

Thane had his scotch glass filled, but
Angelica knew better than to think he was drinking this early. The
whiskey was an affectation. Thane truly believed he should look the
part of a movie perfect Italian Mafioso at all times. Just why that
was important she’d never understood, only that Thane's odd quirk
didn’t make him any less dangerous.

“That’s a new one,” Thane said harshly, yet
his smile was in his black eyes as he beheld her. “Are you sure it
wasn’t a new love?”

“No,” Angelica stammered, flushing. “I mean,
yes, I’m sure.”

Thane chuckled.

Tony had picked the phone up again and dialed
another number. “Get me Dalcon. Yes, I know it is late morning,
Lash, but I need to speak with him, please.”

Tony never said please to anyone. Get out,
quick, before you hear something you shouldn’t!
Angelica
hurriedly looked away. “Excuse me, Tony. I didn’t know you were on
the phone—”

“Please leave, Angel,” Tony said, his tone
also kind, but clear that he expected obedience.

Angelica shut the door, then went back to her
desk. She opened her compact to look at her face, then tossed it
aside.
What was the point? I look like hell.

At least I still have a job.
Most
runaways that were 15 years old got sent right back to their
parents. At best, they could hope for foster care. Angelica had
been blessed by her strict father’s religious upbringing to always
be a lady. Her politeness when she’d come to his door asking for
work had impressed Tony, along with his appreciation for her leggy
fragile beauty. Not that he’d ever taken advantage, because he
hadn’t. But if she’d been ugly as a dog, she probably wouldn’t be
sitting here at this desk no matter how polite she’d been.

Tony paid for her furnished apartment and
gave her a small check for expenses every two weeks. He’d arranged
for a fake ID for her to say she was eighteen. He’d even given her
a small compact car, too. While he made it clear, he expected her
utter loyalty in return for his benefaction, Angelica was happy to
give it. She didn’t have expensive tastes.
Not that she wouldn’t
mind developing some...

Angelica turned on her computer and logged
on, checking out various internet sites. There was no point
fantasizing about “someday” with a man who only saw her as a
child.

While there wasn’t much to do on a daily
basis as Tony’s secretary, part of Angelica’s job was researching
various organizations and people that Tony left for her in a daily
list on her desk. It wasn’t usually exciting, but at least it
wasn’t hard. Angelica didn’t pretend that Tony wanted the
information just out of curiosity. Some places were obviously ones
he intended to shakedown for profit or favors. Others...they
obviously had pissed him off for some reason. Tony had several
gunmen working for him. The one in charge of office security—and
Tony’s personal safety—was Geo. With the amount that man was paid
per week, he had to be doing a lot more than standing around an
office all day with a holstered gun.

I just do my job and keep my mouth shut and
hopefully I don’t ever see anyone’s name I know on one of Tony’s
lists...or open my apartment door to find Geo waiting for me...

There was a sound of commotion outside the
office doors, then three men came in. All of them had on long
coats. As one, they headed toward her with purpose.

Silent alarm time.
Angelica felt under
the desk, and pressed the small button that meant there was someone
with a gun in the main office. It would alert Tony within his
private headquarters, as well as his various men in other parts of
the building.
Please let Geo be close!
Then she pasted a
smile on her face, trying hard to keep it from wavering. “Can I
help you?”

“Yeah,” one man said, drawing a Beretta. “Get
your boss out here.”

Angelica picked up the phone, and dialed Tony
as slowly as she dared. “There are three men out here to see
you.”

“Are they armed?” he replied quietly. There
was the sound of guns being cocked in the background.

“I think they want you to come talk to them,”
Angelica stated. “I’m not sure what it’s about.”

Tony hung up.

“I think you warned him, Princess,” the
frontman said with slitted eyes. “So maybe we need to do something
else, since you and your boss are so close!” The man yanked her
forward, grabbing her hand. Angelica struggled, then let out a
terrified scream. Another ragged cry followed on its heels as the
man placed her hand at the end of the desk and slammed the desk
door on it, the crack of her breaking finger loud in the
silence.

“Get out here, Tony, or we’ll hurt her bad,”
the man called. “We just want to talk to you—”

Shots emitted from the stairwell to her left.
Angelica’s attacker sagged to the side, a hole blossoming in his
forehead. The other two men panicked, firing wildly into the
direction of the stairwell as Angelica ducked behind her desk. Both
were hit with return fire and fell to the floor, groaning.

A robust light-skinned man with pale grey
eyes darted in, scanning the room. Five more men followed him. Geo
shot both wounded men again where they lay, killing them. “You can
come out, Tony.”

Angelica gripped the desk with her good hand
and pulled herself to a standing position. Her hand throbbed, but
more than that, she was in shock. There had been close calls
before, but no one gunning for Tony had ever hurt her before.
“Thank God, Geo.”

The mercenary turned mob gunman smiled back
at her. “Don’t you mean ‘thank Geo’?”

“Andre Mencini,” Tony said angrily, emerging
from his office. “Go see him today, Geo. That upstart doesn’t know
how to handle things the new way, like gentlemen. We can’t have a
mess like this on our home turf, not without getting noticed.” His
eyes glittered with something dark and primitive. “So take care of
it the old way, since that’s all that fuck understands.
Capice?”

Geo nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”

Angelica swayed, close to fainting.
Oh
God. I’m going to be next after Mencini. I can’t pretend I didn’t
hear that!

“Angelica, are you hurt?” Thane said,
steadying the bloodied woman with his free hand.

“They broke my hand,” she whimpered.

“We’ll have a guy take you to the hospital,”
Thane said gently, guiding her to the door. “Take the rest of the
day off. Geo, drop her off on your way. The rest of you take care
of this mess.”

Geo gestured with his hand for Angelica to
follow him. Reluctantly, she did, the sounds of dead bodies being
dragged away behind her loud in her ears.

* * * *

After Geo dropped Angelica off at the
entrance to the ER—much to her relief—she spent the next three
hours in the ER waiting for someone to set her hand. She was
splinted, taped, and processed. After waiting another hour for Geo
to return for her, she reluctantly decided she’d have to find her
own way home.

Any normal woman would have a girlfriend
to come and rescue them. Or at least a family member. I don’t have
either. But that’s the price of independence...and true beauty.
Angelica sighed dramatically aloud, then reluctantly dialed a cab
company. She settled into her chair to wait. A few moments later, a
drunk man came in, bleeding from a gash over one eye, his hands
clenched into fists.

“I’ll fucking kill that dumb bitch! See if I
don’t!” he roared.

Glancing up in his direction in worry,
Angelica glimpsed the other vampire from last night. He wasn’t
headed downstairs this time, though. This time, he went into one of
the ER rooms, a large bag in his left hand.

Angelica discreetly followed, curious. She
tiptoed up to the ER room and peeked behind the curtain. There was
the strange vampire, and Jordan, too. A guy with a mutilated right
side and a missing cheek lay there on the gurney, breathing
shallowly, his limbs jerking slightly. Jordan was monitoring his
vitals. The other vampire was taking out his blood via IV inserted
in his jugular. As she watched, the man spasmed again, the movement
filling up the IV bag halfway. The vampire quickly disconnected it,
then put a new one onto fill. There was a grunt from the table, a
muffled sound of pain mixed with panic that drew Angelica’s
horrified gaze.

The man on the table spasming was watching
them kill him, his one good eye rolling wildly in his socket!

“Argh! Angelica yelled. Jordan looked up,
aghast. The strange vampire started toward her, then stopped.

“Say nothing,” he whispered. “Or it will be
you on this table, woman.”

Angelica ran, slipping and sliding, yelling
for help. She ran straight past the emergency main desk and out
towards the main entrance...and into the arms of a very startled
Geo.

He caught her, even as she struggled,
flailing. “Whoa, Angel! What’s a matter? I’m sorry I’m late picking
you up—”

Right now I don’t care if you did just
come from killing someone.
“Please Geo, take me to Tony.”

“Why?” Geo said, suspicious.

“Because someone just threatened to kill me,”
Angelica said truthfully. “And I need his protection.”

* * * *

Jordan and Jonas stood shoulder to shoulder
in a brightly lit room, doing their best to look calm. A blond
haired man stood before them, furious. Behind him stood a
red-skinned demon with short black hair and small horns, dressed in
plainclothes, his expression solemn.

“Morgues are bright, aren’t they?” the
vampire said in a melodious tone. “Much brighter than the two of
you put together.”

“Sire, we did our best to put her off,”
Jordan said weakly.

“When you sleep with a woman and take her
blood, she usually wants more than a ‘see you later’ for her
trouble,” the blond vampire replied. “And I have a name and title.
Use it.”

Jordan and Jonas looked at one another,
shifting uneasily in their terror.

“Lord Devlin Dalcon,” the demon supplied in a
bored tone.

Devlin opened his mouth to correct his demon
Titus, then thought better of it.
Such as these will make no
distinction between Vampire Ruler and Vampire Lord. I’m not sure I
see the distinction clearly myself anymore.

“Lord Dalcon,” Jonas said respectfully. “I
did my best to contain the situation. But this woman, Angelica,
kept returning to the hospital! Without killing her, there was no
way to keep her away. And now she’s threatening to go to the
police.”

“We could not take action against her,”
Jordan added. “Your law forbids it.”

How could Garrett have let these two
become vampires? No wonder Heather went on a killing spree.
“Yes, but why didn’t you take the matter to Garrett?” Lord Dalcon
said searchingly. “He could have easily given permission...or else
handled the matter himself.”

“I called the emergency number in the
handbook I was provided when I turned,” Jonas replied cautiously.
“I’m sorry, lord, but he never replied.”

“He didn’t get back to you?” Devlin was
incredulous.

“Nothing,” Jonas said. “I tried him twice
last week, and nothing. I was sorry to bother you, but—”

“But you had to,” Devlin said with an angry
grimace. “Very well. Jonas, can you arrange for this Angelica to
meet with you?”

“Yes,” Jonas said. “Jordan said she wanted to
be a vampire, that she was interested in becoming a donor—”

Well, I always can use another of those.
It’s probably too much to hope for that she enjoys music.
“How
old is she?”

Jordan looked uncomfortable. “Eighteen.”

Devlin’s golden eyes reddened. “Don’t lie to
me.
How old is she?
”

“Just sixteen,” Jordan admitted.

Too young for one of my donors,
regrettably.
“Too young,” Devlin stated. “Donors must be of age
to legally consent, Jordan. What in the hell possessed you to
approach an underage girl for feeding, much less couple with her?
Because I can tell by your fear that you did.”

Jordan fell to his knees. “She had an ID that
said she was eighteen! I didn’t know!”

“Spare me the dramatics,” Devlin said. “None
of that matters now except containing the situation. I need to see
this Angelica. Are you sure she’ll come to you, Jordan? Jonas
admits he threatened her.”

“If she doesn’t, I can tell you where she
works,” Jordan said in a pleading tone. He named an address.

Devlin closed his eyes, his rage rising.
Just what I didn’t need, complications with Tony and Thane.
“Get out of my sight! Both of you!”

* * * *

Angelica filed her nails nervously, watching
the door.
What if Jordan shows up here? Don’t be stupid, it’s
daytime. He can’t be outside in the daytime...