Page 94 of Kick the Candle (Knight Games 2)
My one good eye cranked open inside a dimly lit room much different from Bathory's dungeon. The other was still swollen shut. Nestled in a plush, white bed, with a fluffy down comforter, I ran my hand across the smooth fabric of the sheets and glanced around the room. Clean lines. Dark wood nightstand with stainless steel pull. A rice paper screen. A silver-blue straight back chair. Where was I? Desperately, I tried to sit up to get a better look, but a sharp pain thwarted my efforts.
"I think you have a broken rib," Julius said from behind me.
With some effort, I rolled over to face him. He sat at a larger-than-life desk made of the same almost-black wood of the nightstand. Hunched over a stack of papers, he read by the light of a silver candelabra. That's why the room was so dim. No electric lights. Only candles.
Carefully, I positioned myself to get a better idea of my chances of escape. Comfortable accommodations but not a window in sight. A heavy wooden door was closed up tight, probably locked. Was this a different type of prison? Or maybe Anna and Julius were working together, a good-cop, bad-cop scenario.
"I'd offer you pain medication, but we have none. Doesn't work on vampires. We have no need for it here. I do, however, have some 1939 Macallan scotch, if you'd like." His blue eyes didn't lift from the document he was reading.
"No, thanks. I've already been poisoned once tonight. I don't need to make the same mistake twice."
He lifted his head and straightened in his chair. "If I wanted you dead, I would have drained you of every last drop of blood while you were asleep. It's not as if you were putting up much of a fight and your blood is..." He shook his head and grinned as if even the thought of drinking my blood gave him pleasure. "Besides, if I was going to taint a beverage with poison it most certainly wouldn't be a ten thousand dollar bottle of scotch."
He had a point. "Okay. I'll take a glass."
Julius rose and crossed the room to a credenza bar where he poured two fingers of bronze colored liquid from a crystal decanter.
"Am I a prisoner?"
He lowered his shoulders in mock frustration. "Does this look like a dungeon?"
"There are no windows, the door is closed, and I'm still in my slip."
Scotch flowed into a second glass. "It's daylight. I didn't have time to find your dress. You are in my bedroom, underground. There are no windows because I would go up in smoke if there were."
"One can only hope."
He handed me one of the glasses and sipped from the other. "Is that any way to treat the vampire who rescued you?"
I looked toward the ceiling. "Are we under Tiltworld?" The last time I'd seen Julius, his coven had taken up residence in a carnival fun house called the Barn Blast.
"Actually, we've moved to more permanent accommodations. You won't blame me for not divulging the address."
With a wave of my still-bloody hand, I dismissed his comment. "Why did you rescue me? It's not like we're besties. How in the world did you even know where I was?" I took a swig of the scotch. The intense liquor burned its way down my throat and warmed me to my toes. I coughed a few times.
He ran a hand through his hair, loosing a straight lock that fell over his forehead. "I've had you followed for months. Gary volunteered."
A memory from a few months back slipped to the front of my brain. I'd smelled Gary's cologne while climbing into my Jeep after work. At the time, I hadn't known he was a vamp. "Gary? Why?" Julius was evil, but having Gary follow me 24/7 seemed excessive even for him.
"My coven can not allow Anna Bathory to gain access to the book."
"What book?"
He laughed until he showed fang.
"Listen, like I told Anna, I don't know where the Book of Flesh and Bone is. I'm not sure why she thinks I have it, but I don't."
"Oh please. Do we have to do this every fucking time?" He slammed the glass down on his desk. "Stop playing coy with me, Hecate. You must know, if the book wasn't somewhere on your property, the Nekomata wouldn't be nosing around your house."
I stared at him for a beat. "You know about the Nekomata?"
"Every supernatural being this side of the Appalachians knows about the Nekomata," he hissed.
I shook my head. "Explain."
He sighed heavily as if trying to decide if he should indulge me. "For many years, rumor among our kind suggested they took the book after your death."
"The Nekomata?"
