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"Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, huh?" I said. "At least it's not a mausoleum."
"He's sleeping in a box, Paige. It doesn't get any worse than that. A mausoleum, at least you could fix up, add some skylights, perhaps a nice feather bed with Egyptian cotton sheets..."
"He might have Egyptian cotton sheets in there," I said. "Oh, and you know, it might not be as bad as you think. Maybe he doesn't sleep in there. Maybe it's just for sex."
Cassandra fixed me with a look. "Thank you, Paige. If those pictures upstairs weren't enough to taint my sex life for weeks, that image will certainly do it."
"Well, at least we know he's not having sex in there right now. I think it'd need to be propped open for that. So what's the proper etiquette for rousing a vamp from his coffin? Should we knock first?"
Cassandra grabbed the side of the coffin and was about to swing it open when her head jerked up.
"Paige--!" she called.
That was all I heard before a body struck mine. As I pitched forward, pain shot through my torn stomach muscles. I twisted and caught a glimpse of a naked thigh and a swirl of long, blond hair. Then a hand grabbed me from behind and a head plunged toward my neck.
I reacted on instinct, not with a spell, but with a move from a barely remembered self-defense class. My elbow shot up into my attacker's chest and my other hand slammed, palm first, into the nose.
A shriek of pain and my attacker stumbled back. I scuttled around, binding spell at the ready, and saw Brigid huddled on the floor, naked, cupping her nose.
"You bitch! I think you broke my nose."
"Stop whining," Cassandra said, reaching down to help me up. "It'll heal in the time it takes you to get dressed." She shook her
head. "Two vampires laid low in two days by a twenty-two-year-old witch. I am embarrassed for my race."
I could have pointed out that I was twenty-three, but it wouldn't have had the same alliteration. At least Cassandra had some vague idea of my age. Most times she was doing well if she bothered to remember names.
Behind us, the coffin creaked open.
"What the hell is--" John grumbled, yanking a sleep mask from his eyes. "Cassandra?" He groaned. "What did I do now?"
"They broke in, Hans," Brigid said. "They were prowling around, looking at everything--"
"We weren't prowling," Cassandra said. "And we were trying very hard not to look at anything. Now get out of that coffin, John. I can't speak to you when you're in that thing."
He sighed, grabbed both sides and pushed himself up. Unlike Brigid, he was, thankfully, not naked, or I'd have been unable to resist vocalizing comparisons with the statues out front. Though John was shirtless, he wore a pair of billowing black silk pants, cinched at the waist. I assumed they were supposed to look debonair, but I was having serious MC Hammer flashbacks.
"We need some information," Cassandra began. "Last night, we weren't entirely forthright with you for security reasons. But, after we spoke to you, it was obvious that I may have underestimated your...stature in the vampire world."
"It happens," John said.
"Yes, well, here's the situation. A vampire has been killing Cabal children--the children of Cabal employees."
"Since when?" John said, then coughed. "I mean, I heard about that, of course."
"Of course. As of yet, the Cabals don't realize that they're hunting for a vampire. The interracial council would like to keep it that way, to catch the perpetrator quietly. We know the Cabals don't like vampires. We don't need to give them an excuse to come after us."
"Let them," Brigid said, stepping forward. "They want a war, we'll give them a--"
John hushed her with a wave. As he watched us, I realized that, as I'd hoped, Cassandra had indeed underestimated him. Playing the fool didn't mean he was one.
"If you catch him, what are you going to do with him?" John asked. "I'm not going to help you find a vampire so you can kill him. I could argue he's doing us a favor."
"Not if the Cabals find out."
John paused, then nodded. "So I assume you want to know who has a beef with the Cabals."
"Shouldn't she already know?" Brigid said, slanting a look at Cassandra. "That's her job, as our representative isn't it? To know who's been naughty and who's been nice?"
