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Holden hung back, lurking in the fringes and doing what vampires do best by being completely unseen in a room filled with people. The lobby was a mix of real guests and tourists who wanted to photograph the now-famous lobby. I couldn’t do Charlie in down here, so it looked like I’d need to go to his room after all.
I was probably the only woman alive who was pouting about going to Charlie Conaway’s hotel room.
Striding up to the front desk, which was made of driftwood set between two totem poles that rose up to the ceiling, I threw my shoulders back and gave the clerk a wide smile brimming over with ditzy charm.
“Hi!” I inched closer and fixed him with a meaningful look. I might not have been able to enthrall humans, but if I focused hard enough, I could be more persuasive than usual. “I’m here for Charlie Conaway. ”
The clerk smiled in a knowing way and winked for good measure. It was then I realized my phrasing made me sound a bit more professional than I’d meant. If blushing was more than a fleeting rarity for me because of how much blood it required, I would have felt my face heat up then. As it was, I accepted this was what it took to get me past the gatekeeper.
Not to mention, if Charlie’s victims were under the thrall, they would have used similar possessive language. I probably wasn’t the first, but I would be the last.
“Penthouse Three. ” He nodded towards the elevator bay, whose doors were rescued barn wood instead of typical gold. “Just take it to the top. ”
Holden met me at the elevator doors but stayed silent until they shushed closed behind us.
“Who is Charlie to you?” I asked, breaking the quiet lull.
He stiffened. Getting a physical reaction out of him was a sure sign I was on the right track. I’d suspected his attitude tonight had to be the result of something more than professional interest in my contract. The almost giddy behavior, juxtaposed with bouts of surliness, made me wonder what the two vampires meant to each other.
“It doesn’t matter. ”
“It does matter. I’ve never seen you so moody before. I’ve never seen you happy before. ”
He smiled. “You’ve seen me happy before. ”
I stared at him, not needing words to make my point.
“I’ll confess, most of my amusement was from throwing a monkey wrench into the gears of your night. ” His smile was more honest this time. The way he said monkey wrench was a dead giveaway of how old he was, because even the passé slang sounded forced.
“Jackass,” I countered. Holden always seemed miffed to hear a lady swear, so I tried to do it as often as possible around him.
“He’s not for you, Secret. ” He was referring to Detective Tyler.
“He could be. ” I was offended. Who was he to decide who I could or couldn’t be with?
“Remember Gabriel?”
After I recuperated from feeling like he’d sucker punched me in the gut, I said, “Gabriel isn’t a marker for every human ever. ” I played with the strap over my shoulder so I didn’t have to look at him. It was a low blow, and he had to know he’d struck a nerve.
Gabriel Holbrook had been my live-in boyfriend once upon a time. He’d moved out over a year ago, after living with me for only three months. We dated for almost a year overall, and I had loved him. But how can you love someone when you have to repress everything about yourself that comes naturally? He’d known I was hiding something, and it got to be too much for us both.
He left, and I hadn’t seen him since.
“You can’t have a relationship with a human. It puts us all at risk. ”
My sadness filtered away, replaced with hot rage. “The council doesn’t get to tell me who I can and can’t date! I am not one of you, and they’ve made that perfectly clear. ”
“If Tyler finds out what you are, we’d need to wipe his memory. And you would be punished. ” He wasn’t angry, not rising to meet my tone. He was just telling me the cold, hard truth. “If his memory couldn’t be altered…”
“I know. ” It didn’t need to be said. If Tyler’s mind was too strong to be fooled, he’d be killed. And I would be to blame.
The elevator gave a cheerful ding, announcing our arrival at the penthouse floor.
It opened on a secondary lobby, which consisted of a long hallway, dimly lit, with carpet that looked like grass. On each side of the hall were two doors, marked PH1, PH2, PH3 and PH4. If memory served from what I’d read in the Times article about the hotel, behind each door was a foyer and small sitting room, and an elevator which would take guests to their appropriate penthouse level.
I was reaching for the bell on PH3 when we heard something move behind the door. It wasn’t Charlie—this person was too heavy and the footfalls louder and less deliberate than I knew his to be. There was the noise of scuffling heels on marble floor, a muffled scream, and then the unmistakable sound of vertebrae snapping. I was frozen to the spot, realizing with cold horror I’d just heard a girl die less than two feet away and hadn’t been able to stop it.
An instant before the door swung open Holden grabbed me and backed me up against the entrance to PH2. My eyes widened with surprise, and I tried to ignore the sudden discomfort of the travel tube digging into my back where it was sandwiched between the wall and me. I hadn’t felt or seen Holden move. In one breath I was one place, in the next I was on the opposite side of the hall with a vampire pressed against me.
