Death's Mistress

Page 26

“That would be me.” The guy was one of Radu’s humans, brought along as a snack, among other things. I didn’t remember his name, but it didn’t matter. I doubted very much if most of the vamps did, either.
He pushed sweaty blond hair off his neck. “I thought so. Things always get so much more… lively… whenever you’re around.” He looked past my shoulder. “Radu was wondering what all the commotion was about, but I suppose you’ll tell him.”
“You bet.”
He glanced at Ray and made a little moue of distaste. “So much for a quiet weekend,” he sighed, and edged on by.
I slipped into the room he’d just left, closed the door and turned to see Louis-Cesare’s maker sitting up in bed. Radu Basarab shared his brother’s darkly handsome good looks, most of which were on display at the moment because he appeared to be wearing only a sheet. He snatched it up breast high, like a modest woman, and stared at me out of annoyed turquoise eyes.
“Dory. You can’t be here, you know. Really you can’t.”
“Why not? This is a vampire club.” I nudged Ray. “He’s a vampire.”
“He doesn’t have a head.”
“Okay, most of a vampire. And you said we’d get together while you were in town.”
“I said I would come see you,” he said crossly. “That’s a very different thing! And what are you doing?”
I looked up from settling Ray into a camel-colored wingback chair. “What am I supposed to do with him? Prop him in a corner?”
Radu threw up his hands, but he stopped bitching long enough to wrap the sheet around himself and pad across to the bathroom. He emerged a moment later in a quilted orange silk robe and threw a towel at me. “For his neck. You have no idea what they charge here for incidentals. It’s a disgrace.”
“Why aren’t you staying with Mircea, then?”
Radu made a face. “Because of those damn races—”
“Races?”
“The World Championships, Dory!”
“Of what?” I asked, spreading the towel along Ray’s chair back. He didn’t really need it, but arguing with Radu was a pointless occupation. His conversational style defied all logic except his own. And we were going to get interrupted in about thirty seconds anyway.
“Ley-line racing. You know, the mages’ favorite sport.”
“I don’t keep up with it,” I said, listening to the bumps, crashes and shouts coming from downstairs.
“Well, neither do I! That’s the point. I planned this visit weeks ago, assuming that of course I would stay with Mircea. Only to be told that he was already hosting guests and was full up.”
“What about vamp central?”
“If you mean the Senate’s East Coast headquarters, I tried there, too. But it’s the same story. I told them I didn’t need much space, although considering all I do for them, I would have thought they could have found something suitable. But even when I offered to stay in a single room—”
“The horror.” I wandered over to a rosewood chiffonier, which looked like it might have been converted into something interesting.
“—they insisted that nothing was available! Reducing me to this. I tell you, the things I do for family—”
“Family?”
The door burst open, and three security officers rushed in. Radu ignored them in favor of narrowing his eyes at the dusty bottle in my hand. “Tell me that’s not the Louis XIII.”
I looked down at the label on the very nice cognac I’d just poured myself. “Uh.”
“Do you have any idea what they’re going to charge me for that?”
“You should get them to comp you, along with the room. If I was the bad guy, I could have had you in a dozen pieces by now.”
Radu’s narrowed gaze turned on the lead guard, who failed to notice because he was staring at Ray, who had started smoking again. I guess that was fair because it wasn’t like he could drink anything. But it didn’t get any less appalling.
“Must you do that?” Radu demanded. Predictably, Ray flipped him off. Radu looked at me. “Dorina!”
“What do you want me to do? Spank him?”
“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Radu declared. The guard and I both looked at him blankly. “I believe I shall have a talk with management.”
The guard looked bewildered, having made the mistake of trying to follow Radu’s thought processes. “Are you all right, sir?”
“Of course I’m all right, no thanks to you,” Radu told him severely.
“We would have been here sooner, but there was a disturbance in the—”
“But there shouldn’t be any disturbances, not at these prices. I was assured that this was a quiet and peaceful retreat. Yes, here it is.” He picked up a flyer off the nightstand. “ ‘Quiet and peaceful haven in the heart of one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities.’ Cosmopolitan!” he snorted. “Why, I suppose that’s true. The caviar is American, the vodka is British and I strongly suspect the plumbing of being Russian!”
“You don’t need plumbing,” I reminded him.
“I do bathe, Dory!” he snapped. “And then there’s Gunther.”
“And Gunther would be your—”
“Bodyguard.”
“Is that what they’re calling it these days?”
“We’re all required to have them now, since the war. Anyone senior, that is.”
“Making a virtue out of a necessity?”
“Virtue?” He examined the embroidery on his cuff. “Well, that would be a novelty.”
The guard had been looking back and forth between us, and finally decided he’d had enough. “Sir, I—”
“And for what I am paying, I should have a guard permanently assigned to my room!” Radu said, rounding on him. He swept an elegant hand, indicating the cream-and-ice-blue drapes, the matching Aubusson carpet and the large sitting area with the antique marble fireplace. “Not that there’s space in this closet.”
Several of the guards started looking at their leader with apprehension. I didn’t think there’d be too many volunteers. “Sir, I will inform the management of your, uh, concerns,” the leader said, backing slowly toward the door.
“See that you do! I naturally expect some inconveniences when away from home, but they seem to believe we should all live like savages!”
The door shut on Radu’s final word, and he slumped back against the pillows, fanning himself with the flyer. I tilted the bottle at him, and he nodded gratefully. “You had better hope that works, Dory, or I may be staying with you,” he said as I handed him his drink.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, ’Du. You’re a Basarab. They’re probably going to name the room after you.”
“Not if I keep getting visits like this. Did you do a great deal of damage?”
“I didn’t do any. The guys chasing me, however…”
“Yes, well. Let us hope they’re blamed instead. Although that would be more likely if you weren’t here when management stops by.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me, ’Du?” I asked thoughtfully.
“Yes! Yes, I am! It’s nothing personal, Dory, but your condition—”
“I’m a dhampir. It isn’t catching.”
“But it’s hardly going to help the Club’s reputation, is it? You’re the sort of thing most of the guests stay here to avoid.”
“They’re not going to see me with the door closed,” I pointed out, swirling the amber liquid around my glass.
“See, no. But scent—”
“I smell like a human.” I knocked the drink back, faster than the quality deserved. But it was a shame to waste good cognac.
“Perhaps so,” he said crossly. “But you see how it is.”
“I’m beginning to.” I put the delicate crystal glass down carefully on the side table, and was out the door before he could stop me.
There were only three other rooms on this floor, so my odds were pretty good. The one right across the hall was empty and obviously unrented, with a light film of dust over the antiques. The one next door to Radu’s was occupied by the blond human, who was lying on the bed flipping through a magazine.
“I’m disappointed,” he told me. “The last time you paid us a visit was a lot more dramatic.”
“I’m not done yet.”
I went to the last door, which opened before I could get my hand on the doorknob. “Merde.”
“I suspected the family would have the whole floor,” I told Louis-Cesare.
Chapter Fourteen
“How did you find me?” he demanded, exasperation in the glassy blue of his irises. They matched the fresh blue shirt he’d put on over impeccably pressed charcoal trousers. The shirt had a tone-on-tone stripe in a satiny weave that caught the light, like his perfect shining hair. Mine was everywhere, my borrowed T-shirt was wet with sweat and I smelled like cigarettes and beer. And I hadn’t even gotten to drink the beer.
I scowled. “You mean after you left me naked and defenseless—”
“You are never defenseless, and I left you your weapons.”
“—in a club full of vampires—”
“I made a commotion upon leaving. Lord Cheung’s men followed me!”
“Oh, well. That makes it all right, then.”
He frowned. “How did you find me?” he repeated.
“Because I’m just that good,” I lied. “Now let me say this nicely. Give me back my fucking head!”
“We cannot do this now!” he told me, trying to push past. Like it was going to be that easy.
I caught his arm and spun him into the wall hard enough to cause a cascade of photos, small mirrors and the vase on the hall table. “Sure, we can.”