Page 15 of Silent Stalker
“Locking Emerick in a cage would be safer for everyone involved.”
“I think not,” Emerick stated from the doorway, and he adjusted the cuff of his suit.
Damn. He must have transformed with his clothing intact somehow, as it was impossible for a man to get in a suit within five minutes. I would peel his secret magic out of him somehow, especially if it meant I could find some dark, quiet place to sleep through the day as a cat.
I headed over, faced off with him, and put my hands on my hips. “The nose doesn’t count.”
Emerick raised a brow, reached for me, and the next thing I knew, the bastard had me on the floor, pain radiated from the center of my face, and he somehow managed to dodge having my blood drip on him. Ben and his handkerchief had something to do with that.
Fucking vampires and their unnatural swiftness and strength. “You could have warned me,” I complained. Scowling hurt, but I did it anyway.
“I thought you were going to let Giovanni do it,” Ben said, and he pressed his handkerchief to my face, applying pressure to my nose. “Did you grab tape before you came to the door?”
Emerick dipped a hand into his pocket, pulled out some medical tape, and applied it to my face. “As long as you don’t toy with it, that should keep it in place.”
“I do not understand how some tape applied to my skin keeps my nose from moving.” Talking hurt, but I refused to be deterred. “How’d I get on the ground?”
“You blacked out for a moment, and I took control to make sure you did not harm yourself further.”
“Nose doesn’t count.”
“I won’t count it. We went in expecting miscreants and got a far more dire situation. You took the first two out with great finesse, but I see we will need to work on your transitions when fighting multiple opponents. We’ll also need to work on your base strength. Male vampires tend to be stronger than female vampires, but the difference in your strength compared to Luca’s is a problem. As your legs are surely as broken as your nose right now, I will carry you to the couch, where you will be forced to rest upon my person until I am satisfied you have received sufficient blood.”
I narrowed my eyes, debating what I thought about the situation. “What kind of blood?”
The type of blood served depended on if I went willingly or put up a fight.
“Two bottles of Wagyu and a few minutes with your favorite dessert should suffice.”
I made a show of checking both of my legs and wiggling my toes to confirm I hadn’t actually hurt myself on the way to the ground. Good humor beat the other ways of venting, so I prepared myself for the inevitable. As long as I refused to be embarrassed by being carried, I would be fine.
I could walk. I was choosing to enjoy having a handsome servant in a suit do the walking for me. When framed that way, what was pride? I would get some tolerable blood for dinner and the best blood for dessert, and I’d already earned my keep.
Once I assuaged my pride, I nodded. “I am prepared to be carried and forced to rest for a while.”
Ben snickered. “Were you aware that you made absolutely no effort to control your expressions, Pepper? We could see the wheels turning as you debated that. Do we want to know what you were thinking when that look of pure satisfaction erased all signs of being annoyed?”
Well, damn. My face had betrayed me. “I get dessert, and I earned it properly. This is a cause for some real satisfaction, Ben.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re all right with it, because there are limits to our master’s ability to tolerate independence, I believe.”
“If she truly wishes to walk, she can, but this is more pleasant for everyone involved.”
“I can walk, I’m just choosing not to,” I confirmed. “Is my nose going to be okay?”
“Just don’t play with it for the rest of the night. You’ll be fine by tomorrow, especially with the influx of fresh blood,” Emerick replied. “You’ll have to take the business of resting quite seriously. Ben will handle talking with the rescues. Once they’re fed and cleaned, we’ll have an audience with them, assuming Ben believes they can handle it. We try to make sure victims are treated with care. Ben, text me the names of the brood masters when you get them. I’ll call Weston about Luca and get him on the move. Notify me when Luca can be sent home.”
“He’s better off than the other two, but we’ll probably have him for a few nights, perhaps longer.”
“Why can’t you send him home right away?” I asked.
Emerick worked his arms under me and picked me up, shifting me in his arms to his satisfaction before heading into the townhouse. A hallway led from the entry, and the first door to the left opened to a sitting room with a loveseat and two armchairs. With a wicked smirk, he dumped me onto the loveseat.
Turning to Ben, he said, “I have been wanting to do that all week.”
Rather than bounce on the cushions as expected, the loveseat ate me, and I sank into its sinfully soft embrace. Laughing, I got situated, discovering the whole piece of furniture was some sort of elaborate beanbag lie disguised as something elegant and from some distant past. “If two people sit on this, what will happen? Will we disappear entirely?”
Emerick waited until I managed to sit up before he thumped down beside me. “Not quite, but I have found fun and comfortable things with easily washed covers make the best pieces for a safehouse. Ben likely hopes we will be tempted into a nap, although we will thwart him for at least an hour while we make sure our rescues are stable.”
