Chapter7
Draven
Iwas sitting up in my bed with a tumbler of brandy when I had a vision of Mia. The tumbler of brandy fell from my hands as the vision consumed my senses.
I knew from hearing others speak of my appearance during a vision that my eyes go pearl white, and my face slackens like I’m having an absence seizure. The muscles in my hands also go slack. Thankfully, I’m still able to remain upright whenever it catches me unaware.
The vision ran its course like a runaway train that you can’t stop or slow down. When the final scene played out, and the sound of screams cleared from my brain, my vision returned, and I was up and moving for my clothes as quickly as possible, leaving the mess of brandy and broken glass on the floor.
I needed to check on Mia.
That was the first vision I’d had about her that was violent. The only other vision I’d had about her dealt with her seeing the ad in the newspaper and replying back to me—something that had already played out. It was what had made me send out the ad in the first place.
I’d mistakenly thought, at the time, that I’d had the vision to find Mia, and find a brilliant assistant and an empath. But, after the way she’d reacted to me when she and I’d first met, the way she’d felt me in her chest, I wasn’t sure of anything anymore.
I curled my power tightly around me and shoved it down deep, knowing it was strong enough to bring down an elephant because my emotions were currently so raw. Even as late (or early) as it was, some of my people were still up and working. The villa was always busy. My elven butler, Aiwin, never seemed to sleep, and my chef, Henri, had insomnia worse than anyone I’d ever met. He was a perfectionist, so nothing was ever finished to him. He’d nitpick everything until his under-chefs took it from his clutching hands and served it. This, in turn, made him irritable and difficult. He had a fantastic team that were well used to his ways, thankfully. He’d yet to poison me or my guests, and his dishes were delicious, so I kept him on.
After a while, those that worked for me became like family at the villa. And I treated them as family. Most of my employees made so much money it was ridiculous. Aiwin had been able to retire in luxury for more than a hundred years, and Henri could open a whole chain of restaurants with what he currently made. You treated family well. Always.
It always amused me that in the vampire romance novels of our age that vampires were written as beings who could not eat solid food. In truth, our senses were much more acute than the average human, and therefore we were food snobs. Because if the food didn’t have the best and freshest ingredients, we suffered. It would be like humans eating dog food. Not something they typically tried to include in their diet.
As I approached Mia’s bedroom, I lightly tapped on her door. She should still be sleeping at 3 o’clock in the morning, but with her, I was learning not to expect what was typical. When she didn’t answer, I thought she might be sleeping too deeply to hear my knock. I hated to intrude upon her privacy, but Ineededto make sure she was alright.
Mesmer was stationed by her door as her current guard. I knew he took on more shifts than the others guarding her. One, because he was excellent at what he did, and two, because he cared about her. I made a mental note to give him a bonus.
“Sir? Is there something wrong?” Mesmer’s voice always had a gravelly sound to it, but it had a lilt of worry just now.
I shook my head. “I’m not sure. I had a vision, but I don’t know the timing of it. I just wanted to check on her.”
Mesmer nodded. “She should be asleep, sir. But here.” He pulled out his master key and unlocked the door for me.
We both peeked in. Pale moonlight washed over her room and bed, and made it very easy to see that her bed was empty. The sheets and blankets were mussed, and looked like she’dtried to sleep, but had been unsuccessful.
Mesmer swore a blue streak, and pushed the button on his earpiece that radioed the rest of his team, while I cursed her Houdini ways and tried to think of where she could be at this witching hour.
Zian was also gone, so at least she had the protection of the tiger, which was no small thing.
Closing my eyes, I tried to listen for her, and smell her jasmine vanilla scent. When I couldn’t smell or hear her, I took a guess and moved toward the first floor where our office was. Mesmer moved with me, still talking to the other guards stationed around the villa. So far, no one had spotted her, and they were currently fanning out throughout the villa in search, but I had a feeling she was sneaking in some work even though I’d asked her to take it easy for a few days.
The woman didn’t know the meaning of easy. And trying to keep her in bed when she was recovering was akin to trying to herd an entire room full of feral cats.
As I approached the door, I could hear the faint but rapid tap of keyboard keys. I could also hear Zian yawning, and Mia taking a sip of something. I sighed in relief, then took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. My heart hadn’t stopped racing from the vision. But she was here, and she was safe.
Mesmer growled and told his team to stand down. I knew that he would have words with his charge the next time he had a moment alone with her.
I was once again amazed that a small, scrappy woman had infiltrated my carefully controlled world and left it in such chaos with so much ease. Chaos that I gladly took on because I’d begun to care about her as more than an assistant.
I went back to my room to grab the healing potion that Rhys had dropped off for her when she’d been asleep, and knocked before entering our office, so I didn’t startle her.
She looked up from her desk with a guilty expression. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and she was wearing what looked like a blue lounge set. The long-sleeve shirt saidMonday called. I hung up.
My lips twitched. She seemed to favor the same snarky types of shirts that Dice did, although Mia’s were a bit more polite.
“Don’t kick me out! I’ve been kicking paperwork’s butt! Look at my ta-da-done pile!” She indicated a pile that was a paperback-book thick. “And my to-do pile is almost gone.” She tilted her head at the few stray papers in her to-do pile.
I leaned against the desk, tucking the healing potion under my arms. “The point was for you to rest so that you can heal. You’re like a child with too much energy. I played Scrabble with you. Was that not enough?”
I smirked when she frowned. She was still mad that I’d won.
