The guards outside laughed at that one, and Mesmer shot me an I’ll get back at you later look, then stepped outside the door briefly to confer with the other guards.
Which left me alone with Draven again. Did anyone else but me know how hard it was to slow your heart rate down when there’s a vampire that can hear your heartbeat around you?Especiallyas I didn’t want to give said vampire any ammunition to use on me, if, say, he realized how very much my crush was turning into actual, acute feelings? Yeah,sonot easy.Steady.Breaths.I’d found another trick was to get my mind on something else quickly. I searched for a topic.
“Any luck finding someone that’s interested in developing a matter to matter transport?”
Zian’s head was resting on Draven’s lap for scratches, and I tried not to be jealous of my familiar.
“No, unfortunately. That would really make things convenient, wouldn’t it? If someone could invent that?”
I got too warm, so I plopped down onto the sofa again. “For sure. But it would also change the economy forever after.”
He nodded. “It would, but it would help save the planet. We would need fewer fossil fuels because people would just transport to work.”
“Car companies would fold, though. So many people would lose jobs.”
He smiled at me. “These are big thoughts for 2 a.m.”
I sighed. “Yeah. Couldn’t sleep. I kept jolting awake.”
Draven was quiet for a few minutes. The sound of the fire crackling filled the silence. “I’ve meant to ask you. Have you heard from your adopted cousin recently?”
I frowned. “Glade?”
He nodded.
“No. I have no desire tohear from him. Why?”
He ran his fingers through Zian’s thick fur. “I did some digging into your background.”
I was 3 seconds from protesting before I realized, duh! Ofcoursethe master vampire would dig into his employee’s backgrounds prior to hiring them. My mouth snapped shut.
“I came across some very skeevy information regarding what should have been your inheritance. He’s run through most of the money, but I know how he can repay you, and the house is, of course, yours.”
The first thing that occurred to me? A master vampire used the word skeevy.The second?I knew that rat fink stole my inheritance!
I growled, and by default Zian growled too in support. “That rat fink wicket monger!”
Draven blinked at my colorful vocabulary and smiled. “It’s in process.”
“What does that mean?”
Zian flopped his 10 ton head onto my lap to comfort me, and my breath gushed out in a wheeze. “Easy boy. I need all of those parts.”
“It means I have some people working on it. I have a lawyer extricating him from your inheritance, and several people working on liquidating his assets so that he can pay back the money he stole from you.”
“Legally?”
He smiled angelically. On him, with his beauty and curls, you could almost believe it, if you didn’t notice the glacial look in his eyes. “Mostly.”
I winced and tried not to imagine what ‘mostly’ entailed.
“Normally, I like to fight my own battles, but thank you, Draven. I really appreciate it. And not on that note at all,” I said, completely changing the subject, “I would like to hire a bodyguard or two for Dice. I think she’s in some kind of trouble, and I don’t want to just trust that whoever is after her isn’t paranormal.”
“Already done.”
I blinked in shock. “Wait...really?”
“She’s important to you, and she needs help. I’ve already handled it.”
