I held out a hand to her. She looked at it as if considering whether this was a trick or if maybe killing me was still the way to go. Then she grasped my hand and gave it a firm shake.
“By the way,” she added in a nonchalant tone. “You have a blood mustache on your lip.”
20
One case turned into three, then twenty, and by the time I’d judged the souls brought to me by my reapers, the day was almost gone.
Reluctant to return to the penthouse, I did a walkthrough of Sinopolis. I greeted each staff member by name and checked in with them about their wellbeing.
As I completed my rounds, I had to ask myself if I was avoiding Vivien. Bianca’s words about not leaving Vivien’s side returned to me. But the sekhor was in the second most secure location on the Strip. I didn’t believe she’d take kindly to being kept in the special chamber adjoining my “office” under the hotel.
After seeing Vivien’s effect on my reaper, I was struck by how much she was altering my routine. It was my job to keep things in order, and a trail of chaos followed Vivien everywhere she went.
I’d given Assilem a stern talking-to on the way back down to the antechamber, but I wasn’t sure the reaper was listening. He started scratching his ear in the middle of my lecture. Insolent wretch.
Though I had to admit, I too had been tempted by Vivien’s touch. More than once now. The pull she had on me was maddening. At least, she was likely to still be asleep with the sun still up for another hour.
Stepping into the penthouse, the smell of burning hit me in the face. Vivien was in the kitchen again and smoke escaped out of the oven’s edges.
Taking in the disaster, I removed my hands from my pockets. “Dear god, will you not be satisfied until you’ve burned down the entire hotel?”
Vivien’s back was to me. She didn’t react to my bellowing. As I drew near, I found her staring at a corner of the kitchen, eyes glazed as she dug a steak knife into her palm. My skin prickled. She’d cut a word into her flesh and was finishing the last letter. It read,Mine.
The master had a hold of her. He was controlling her and sending a message.Dammit to hell.
Yanking the knife from Vivien, I threw it across the kitchen. It clattered and slid into the wall. Next step, I had to keep the kitchen from burning down. Grabbing a towel, I opened the oven to pull out the massive dough ball. I threw the smoking, charred mass, pan and all, into the sink and ran water over it to keep the smoke alarm from going off. It would be more than inconvenient if the hotel’s sprinkler system triggered. I returned to Vivien, grasping her shoulders and giving her a slight shake.
“Vivien. Vivien, come back to me.”
Eyes glazed with a faraway look, she remained locked in a trance. Though she did not need to breathe, she was making quiet, panting sounds. I wrapped a clean towel around her hand to stop the bleeding. Tempted to drag her to the bathroom to dress her cuts, I reminded myself she was a sekhor and her wound would heal in minutes.
“Vivien, don’t think you can sidestep what you’ve done to my kitchen. There will be punishment,” I scolded. “Perhaps I should force you to scrub the oven, or maybe I’ll bend you over my knee and take a hand to your backside.”
I’d said the last part to provoke her, but she remained distant. Fear raced through me. Had I lost her? Could the master fully hold her consciousness?
No, she was too strong for him. She’d proven her mastery over her will too many times for me to believe I’d lost her.
I continued to talk as I guided her toward the living room. “Why oh why didn’t I take one of those vampires who attacked us as a hostage? Then I could have disposed of you and pumped them for information on the master. But no, here we are. I get to babysit a vampire who can’t be left alone without trying to destroy everything around her.”
In truth, I’d already beaten myself up for my hasty destruction of the sekhors last night. But the need to get to Vivien and protect her had driven me to kill all of them, leaving no one to lead me to the master.
After I guided Vivien to sit on the couch, I held her arms and searched her face. Did she need blood? Should I throw a glass of ice water on her face? Perhaps stick by my word and give her a sound spanking?
The urge to kiss her until she snapped out of it seized me. I leaned forward until there were only mere inches separating us. Every fiber of my being demanded I lay my lips on her slightly parted mouth until she responded. Yet I did not allow myself to kiss her.
Holding myself there, on the edge of the cliff, I wrestled with myself.
“You’d miss me,” Vivien finally uttered, though there was still that faraway look in her eye.
I let out a small sigh of relief. Then I asked, “What do you mean I would miss you?” My tone was cold and imperious. I’d learned how that attitude got a rise out of her. And I refused to admit that she had scared me.
Vivien blinked as her eyes focused in on me. “I’m the only sekhor you can handle. Any other would eat you alive.” The slight curve of her lips told me she was coming back to me.
My shoulders dropped as I relaxed, but I remained far too close to her. My gaze flitted down to Vivien’s mouth before returning to her dazzling green eyes. There was a ring of gold around her pupil that was responsible for the brilliant shade of sea glass. Entranced by the striations in them, I couldn’t help but inhale the scent of sugar and leather wafting off her.
“Thank you,” Vivien said, visibly swallowing. “For keeping me from cutting my hand off.”
When I unwrapped the towel from her hand, I rubbed my thumb near where the cuts had been. They were almost entirely healed now, the only evidence remaining were bright red, angry lines. I wiped away the remaining blood with the towel.
