Ten, page 39
“Yeah, one of the entertainers,” Georgia said.
“Which way did he go?” Paige asked.
Georgia pointed to the side door, and with that, the mysterious Paige took off in a sprint after Morgan. Georgia flopped in her chair and wiped her forehead.
“And I thought vampires were the weird ones,” she muttered.
Paige tore through another beaded curtain with alarming speed as she raced to follow the familiar scent. As she skidded around the corner leading to the south stair, she came crashing into none other than Lady Pendragon herself. The vampiress laded with a thud against the wall but only burst into hearty laughter as she saw the flustered Paige running in a bathrobe and unicorn slippers.
“Careful, careful, my petite princess,” Mina said. “Where on earth are you going? Those are the servant’s stairs.”
“There was a white ribbon entertainer I was trying to catch,” she said as she straightened her robe.
“Oh, you saw something you liked?” Mina asked. “Do tell.”
“Very tall, blond, American. . . kind of goofy when he talks,” Paige described.
“Oh, I know just who you are talking about. He’s one of the new bloods the Azarola brought in. If you like, I can have him sent to your room so he’s ready when you are done with your bath, unless, of course, you want an arrangement made in one of the private bath rooms.”
“My room would be perfect. Sorry, I just saw him and didn’t want to let him go,” Paige said.
“It’s funny, I originally selected him for Georgia. I was so sure she’d want someone just like her, but hey, if he’s free and you want to play, who am I to deny a guest?” Mina asked. She looked at her watch. “Now if you would excuse me, I have so many last-minute touches to attend to. I’ll find a handler to take care of this matter for you.”
“Thank you, so much,” Paige said.
Mina leaned in and whispered, “I know what it’s like when it’s been a while. I tore into Lorcan like a starving tiger last night.”
Paige flinched. Mina’s smile tightened.
“You know what, hospitality is one of our four laws, dear. I’ll get you some stress relief, and why don’t you skedaddle to your suite?
Chop-chop!”
“Yes, ma’am,” Paige said as she turned tail and ran for her room.
Once inside the equine paradise, she ran right to the mirror and fluffed her hair. She didn’t have to wait long for a knock.
“Come in,” she said. Her face fell as it was only one of the servants with a bottle of champagne and some fruit.
“For your rendezvous,” the servant said before lighting a few candles. The new ones this evening smelled of honeysuckle and other pungent flowers. “Supplies are in the nightstand.”
Paige couldn’t resist peeking. She raised a brow as she saw a drawer full of zip ties, handcuffs, and lube. “Vampires”, she muttered.
The servant poured two glasses. “It’s a vintage year, exceptional, mademoiselle,” he said. He then slipped out of the room. Paige gulped down both glasses and poured out two more.
“Damn, that’s good stuff,” she muttered as she polished off glass number three. She jumped at the second knock on the door.
“Entertainment,” she heard through the wood.
She ripped open her door, and sure enough, a tall, confused blond awaited her. She clamped her mouth shut as none other than Morgan Blaylock was escorted into her room.
“Will you be having this one, miss?” the handler asked.
“Yes, please, and I think it’s going to be a while,” she said. “You can leave us now.”
The moment the door shut, all the blood rushed to Paige’s cheeks. She dug her hands into her hips and took in a full, deep breath. Before she could make a single squeak, however, Morgan swept his arms around her and yanked her off her feet. She felt his lips covering hers as she clawed at his bare back.
“You chicken-shit bastard,” she growled as she finally came up for air.
“Missed you too, Paige,” Morgan growled right back before kissing her again.
“You have so much. . . explaining. . . to do,” she said as his hands slipped the knot around her waist. She only had to rip off a towel to see him in full, naked glory. He looked down at her bare heaving-form and cocked his head.
“Do you want to fight first or—?”
Paige hurled him onto the bed and pounced on top of him, the taste of champagne still on her lips. “Not a fair question,” she whispered before she began kissing his neck. She tore off his white ribbon with her teeth. “And you’re going to need a recharge after this, babe.”
“Do your worst,” he taunted before he dragged her fully on top of him.
28
“WHY DOES it always end up like this?” Paige asked as she watched Morgan roll out of bed with fresh scratches already healing on his back.
He shrugged.
“Is that all I’m going to get?” she asked. Her tail twitched as she pulled a sheet around her aching body. “You leave me for months and then suddenly appear in a high-security vampire wedding? You left me a flash drive full of porn!”
“I left you a message,” he growled. He fumbled with wrapping the towel around his waist as his claws kept snagging on the terrycloth.
“Did you even look at the numbers?”
“Yeah, they helped us find one of the victims, but what were you doing—?”
“The same thing I’ve always done, I followed the numbers,” he said. “You know, while you were off killing vampires, I actually studied them—”
“Not this again—”
Morgan kept his back to her. “I finally saw something indescribably awful. I couldn’t watch anymore, so I tried to get you a message. Lorcan, he wouldn’t stand for. . . that.”
“Do you know what happened?” Paige asked.
“I know that people started disappearing. It was just like you described in Memphis – junkies, prostitutes, homeless, they would vanish, and no one cared. It seemed like there was a pack of
animals running through Long Beach and L.A., but one night I saw it.
I saw a group of bloodsuckers in body armor capture two feral monsters near the Santa Monica Pier. I managed to follow the van back to the fertilizer plant, and that’s when I saw an old friend,”
Morgan said.
“Morgan, you could have been—”
“The bastard, Ivan, he was there! He coordinated everything. I managed to get in through one of the upstairs windows, and I watched as they, as they—”
Paige slipped out of bed and wrapped her arms around Morgan.
She could feel the cold sweat beading on his back. He finally turned and dropped to his knees, so they could look eye-to-eye.
“They turned that chipper-shredder into a giant blender, Paige,”
he finally choked out. “And they put the animals in there while they were still alive.”
“Oh, God,” Paige whispered.
“There was a tank where they poured the mixture into. Something was inside it. It looked like a tumor. It was just a hard lump of dried blood, but once they poured in the mess, the thing, it started to pulsate. Paige, I think that thing was alive.”
“You could have called us. We would have—”
“I thought I was crazy, and I had no idea which vampires were in that armor. I only know that one was female and really short and another seemed to flicker.”
“Flicker?”
“Yeah, if it wasn’t completely crazy, I would have sworn that I was watching Predator. There was definitely a vampire who could make himself just blend into the background, and, call me crazy, but it was like all the other vamps in the room ignored him too.”
“An invisible vampire who’s part of a vampire hit squad—”
“You just had to see it. I managed to get a job in one of the companies that I could trace back to your grandpa, Paige. First off, he hires illegal immigrants. Secondly, the illegals had been disappearing for weeks, and everyone just wrote them off—”
“You think that Great-Grandpa Steve, is in on this?” Paige asked.
“I think that you can’t trust anyone, Paige. Whatever the hell Ivan and his cronies are up to, it’s not good. You want to know the kicker?
Your grandfather’s servant was there—”
“We know. He was one of the final six victims—”
“Well, he didn’t look much like a victim to me when he was working with Ivan and this Indian doctor.”
“Dr. Langer was helping too?” Paige asked, wide-eyed.
“They were looking at something on a computer, but I couldn’t get a good look. I could see them smiling as that vat went rolling by—”
“Well, both ended up dead, Morgan! How did you even escape?”
“The same way I got in. I don’t think I’ve ever been so still and quiet in all my life. It was weird though. All three of them were speaking a foreign language. It wasn’t quite like anything I’ve ever heard, but it sounded vaguely familiar. I did recognize one word though – Pendragon.”
“That’s because Merlin is the one behind this, isn’t it?” Paige asked.
“I don’t know, but I caught the scent of a few of the vampires. I can probably recognize them if I get close enough at the party—”
“You sneaked into a vampire ball as a sex slave, so that you could identify—?” she asked.
“Are you kidding me? I snuck into a vampire ball because you and my sister both are trapped in a freaky underground castle with vampires who chucked their own kind into a giant blender. Did you really think I would just leave you? Lorcan looked so weak last time I saw him—”
“You risked your life for me?” she asked.
“And Georgia, and even Kyle, Kayleigh, and Nadia,” he said. “I met her—”
“Your sister?” Paige said as tears welled up in her eyes.
“She looks just like mom. I mean, I didn’t want to meet her while posing as a sex slave, but, but she was OK—”
Paige tackled him with the biggest hug she could summon. He squeezed her tight, and she felt a few drops on her shoulder. She wiped her eyes as she pulled away.
“Don’t make me cry, you bastard,” she sniffled. “Look, we really need to talk, but let’s just survive the rest of this week first. You are also going to have to tell me how you managed to get in here, and what you’ve been doing to work out because damn boy—”
“If there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that vampires are too trusting of their own handiwork. I may have stolen a few fake IDs and gotten the name of a recruiter at the Echelon Employment Agency.
Seriously, do you really think that the vampires would expect one silly little human to waltz in and crash their party? I’m pretty sure they are still chasing all the other fake Morgans who are disrupting their books all across the west coast.”
“You’re amazing, but you are probably going to get yourself killed,” Paige said. She gave him a long, slow kiss. “Promise me that you won’t do anything stupid once the vampires get here.”
“I’m more focused now than I’ve ever been.”
Paige eyed his arms but saw no new track marks over his old scars. He stared right into her eyes.
“We’re going to have a long, serious talk, assuming that we survive this, Morgan,” Paige said. “But for now, um—”
“Yeah,” he said with a little nod. “Now I have to figure out a good way to talk to my sister without ruining everything—”
“Time and place, Morgan. I’ll see what I can find out for you,”
Paige said. “And, if you can, grab a pair of purple ribbons, OK?”
Morgan nodded. “I guess that means you want to keep me?” he asked.
“Keep you out of trouble, more like it,” Paige muttered. “Have you seen Lorcan yet?”
“He’s um, been busy with his wife from all I’ve heard.” He paused to watch for any reaction from Paige. He smiled when she just sighed. “But I’ll try to break it to him that I’m here so there isn’t a scene. If he ever comes up for air—”
“Just get those ribbons and some clothes on. You are very distracting like that,” Paige said as she eyed his bare chest again.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about you either,” he said. He kissed her again and took a deep breath. “You smell so much better than I remember. It’s like this is a dream—”
She let him nuzzle her neck but pushed him away as his hands slipped down to her breasts. “Focus,” she muttered as she scrambled away. “But wow, you smell good too, and I’m still upset, just so you know, so. . . so—”
“For now, we focus,” Morgan said as he had to painfully adjust the towel.
“Focus on the big picture, Georgia,” she said as she eyed the still crumpled scrolls on her vanity. “I can do this.”
She stared at her iridescent blue eye shadow and hot pink lipstick. Her assistant, Ashley, gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up as he pulled out matching bubblegum-colored heels with little black bows on them.
“Seriously, I have to dress like the decade I was born in?”
Georgia asked as she finally yanked off the makeup bib to reveal a neckline of a satin pink bow. She stood to show off the black tube body of the dress and sighed as her assistant had to fluff her layers of pink organza that made the skirt.
“I really think you made the best of it, miss,” Ashley said as he straightened the seams on her stockings and helped her into the insane eighties shoes. “The hair truly makes it.”
She gave the mirror one more glance and smiled at just how much volume she had managed to get into her shoulder length locks. A light rinse in pink dye gave her scrunched waves, some fun highlights, and she topped it all off with a Minnie Mouse worthy bow.
She finished her look with a beauty mark applique on her top lip.
“Material girl, eat your heart out,” Georgia said as she swept the pieces of paper into her new pink clutch. “Ashley, you have been an amazing assistant, and I’m really happy that I didn’t need you as a bodyguard.”
“Well, I’ll be back tomorrow to help you get ready for the wedding, and, of course, the after parties. Unless you want a different—”
“Nope, I will definitely see you then,” Georgia said cheerfully.
“Now, I guess we just need to wait for my date.”
“I’ll let the Jaeger delegation know that you are ready,” Ashley said as he whipped out his phone. “Before you ask, there is an app for that. All the servants and entertainment have state of the art phones this year. It’s so much better than the gongs, but, just to warn you, there may be a few gongs at the wedding.”
“Duly noted,” Georgia said. “I can’t wait to see all the ridiculous period pieces everyone gets stuck in. I bet Steve is going to—”
Someone knocked just in time to cut her off. She rubbed her hands in delight as she heard a familiar New York accent coming from the hall. “You ready, Sweetheart?” he asked.
“Oh, I can’t wait for. . .” she trailed off as the door opened.
“I would have brought you a corsage if I knew it was prom night, Sweetheart,” Steve said as he swept into the room in a Great Gatsby worthy tuxedo. Every detail seemed custom-tailored to show off just how good a man could look in a suit. He had slicked down his curls into a shiny, neat coif, and polished his shoes to a shine so bright you could actually tell he didn’t have a reflection in them.
“How do you like the look of the roaring twenties, Sweet?” he asked.
“I can think of worse things,” she said slyly as she stretched out her hand.
He raised it to his lips and kissed it, never taking his big, brown eyes off Georgia’s face. She did a little curtsey to show off just how loudly her outfit could crinkle. He let out a whistle.
“You are definitely something, Miss Sutherland,” he said. “Shall we actually go to a ball together for a change?”
“I’m still not dancing,” she said her voice catching slightly.
“Well, my feet thank you for that,” he said leading her out the door. “I’ve only seen a few of the outfits so far, but it’s hysterical out there. A conquistador waltzed in with a native Aztec warrior about five minutes ago.”
“Will there be Romans?” Georgia asked.
“Oh yes, and Hittites, and Egyptians—”
“Oh, my!” she said with a little laugh. Her eyes widened as she saw a woman in a Spanish colonial uniform walking with what looked like a lost soldier of Napoleon’s army.
“Just remember, it’s rude to ask a vampire’s age, but this type of party is meant to be an ice breaker. Be wary of anyone in a toga or loin cloth,” Steve said as he approached the door.
“So, the age of your outfit is a way to show off without being rude, check,” she said. “And don’t ask if you’re not sure.”
“Wait till you see Minerva,” Steve said. “She had to stuff herself into a corset and full petticoat. I think if I had laughed any harder she would have broken the sanctuary decree.”
“Well, Mr. Lambley has beige capris and a brilliant yellow cravat, if you can conjure up that image,” Georgia said.
“Aww, it will match the yellow flowers on her dress. They are going to be so cute together in their misery,” Steve said. Both burst into giggles. The vampire smiled. “It’s good to see you laughing again, Sweetheart.”
Georgia rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to ruin the mood soon enough. I am curious though, why wasn’t I allowed to see the ballroom?”
Steve waited for two vampires in the height of nineteenth century fashion to sneer at his decidedly twentieth century attire. Once they had passed beyond an ominous row of servants, Steve led Georgia ahead to the now open doors. They could both hear stately chamber music and the din of conversation.
“Are you ready for this?” the vampire asked once he got a nod of approval from the security guard.
Georgia took Steve’s hand. “I’ve been waiting for this,” she said.
Georgia ran forwards and gasped “Holy Hannah” as she finally saw the insides of the Pendragon great hall. The cavernous space was ringed by two balconies and sported columns topped with dragon gargoyles. The monstrous old-world features were tempered by exquisitely delicate crystal chandeliers and a polished black and white marble floor that displayed the crest of House Pendragon for all the onlookers to see. A mix of candlelight and hidden modern fixtures managed to make a cave seem airy and bright and garlands
