Page 53 of Imprisoned with the Vampire King

So yeah. Guess he did own the place.

Cool.

The rock music suddenly cut off, and his phone vibrated loudly in the car's sleek pocket that looked like it had been created for the thing. The caller ID on the screen that had shown what song was playing now said:

JASMINE VEIL

I assumed that was Jazz.

Dante was still gone, so I hit the green button to answer it.

"Hey, have you made it out to the brewery yet? I heard some weird shit about one of the bartenders there."

"I'm going to guess that he hasn't," I said.

"Ophelia?" Jazz asked, sounding surprised.

"Unfortunately."

A pause followed. "Um, hey."

"Hi."

"Dante said he was going to track you down tomorrow. What happened?"

"I knew he was a schedule guy. I'm probably in his calendar. Ugh."

Another pause. "So, why do you have his phone?"

"He forgot it in his car when he went into a fancy office building. I'm pretty sure he owns the place. He basically abducted me from my home after losing his goddamn mind, so I'm the last person you should ask what's going on."

"Dante doesn't lose his mind," Jazz reasoned.

"I'm going to have to disagree."

"What happened?"

"It's a long story." I fiddled with the air conditioning settings. The sun was shining through the window at a truly unpleasant angle. I wished it was raining, if just to ease the sunshine. "Do you know why Dante's shadows are stuck to me? It's kind of weird."

"Mated demons' shadows always cling to their mate. It's a protection thing."

"Weird." Guess I might've noticed that, if I'd let myself look at River for more than two seconds at a time.

"Just tell me," Jazz said.

"I ran out of money and food, so I went to Callum Frost for more. To avoid starving while I fix the prison, obviously."

"Dear lord," she muttered.

"Callum had heard from his unhinged family that I am now mated to Dante, so he called Dante then and there. Dante freaked out. Callum refused to give me money, but provided pancakes. I went home, and started working. Dante showed up, accused me of cheating on him, and started unpacking groceries after he realized I didn't."

"When you're mated to a demon, asking someone other than your mate for money is horribly offensive, Ophelia. It's like asking someone else to touch your wings would be for a happily mated angel."

I made a face. "Seems like it."

"He wouldn't have just randomly lost his mind while he was unpacking groceries, though."

"No," I agreed.