Page 40 of Kick the Candle (Knight Games 2)
Gross. How many girls had been taken advantage of? "What do you mean drained?"
"Compelling someone in a way that will last long enough for the men to, uh, get their money's worth, is extremely draining, and we weren't allowed to feed on the customers. Most of us subsisted on sewer rats and pig's blood from the butcher. But with the number of regulars she had, I was starving to death. If it wasn't for Julius, I'd probably have walked into the sunlight."
"You're lying. I caught a vamp feeding on a girl there last week."
"Some of the vamps try to take a sip when they're compelling the girls. It's like a waitress pilfering fries off her customers' plates."
I rubbed a hand over my face, disturbed with the analogy. "So, Julius saved you from the vampires who turned you?" Gary couldn't be trusted. I needed a way to verify if what he was saying was true. "What's this femme fatale's name anyway? The one who turned you?"
"Anna Bathory."
"Bathory? Why does that name sound familiar?"
He didn't answer me but took a step closer. "There's one more thing I have to tell you. I don't want to, but Julius says I can't leave until I do."
"What is it?"
"Rick was there."
"Where? At Mill Wheel?" I had this horrific thought Gary was going to say Rick paid for sex by compulsion, but knowing how women looked at him it seemed unlikely.
"No. He was there in the alley when Anna changed me. He knew who I was, and he could've stopped it, Grateful."
"What?" Suddenly, the cold night air seemed too thin for my lungs. I cocked my head to the side. "How would you even know what he looked like?"
"I didn't know who he was exactly, but he'd been following us for weeks. In hindsight, I'm sure he was checking in on you. Rick knew who you were long before you or I did. Anna turned me in the alley behind Mill Wheel. Drained me to the point of death, then fed me her blood. While she was...drinking...I saw him, the guy I'd seen at the grocery store and our favorite restaurant. He was perched on the roof, watching. He looked almost happy about it. I suppose it got me out of the way."
"You're saying, he watched it happen and did nothing?"
"Nothing. After I was turned, I asked Anna who he was and she explained."
"Did he know what was happening? Does he know what's going on in Mill Wheel?" Inside my gloves, my hands were shaking. I told myself again that it probably wasn't true, just Gary up to his old tricks or Julius trying to get under my skin. But my stomach sank. One memory kept popping into my head, the night after Rick and I had slain Marcus at Tiltworld. I'd asked Rick if he knew that Gary was a vampire and he'd denied it. But there was something about the way he said it. I'd always suspected he was lying. I'd just had this overwhelming feeling that night that Rick was keeping something from me.
Gary shrugged. "I'm not sure what Rick understood or didn't understand. He's been around a long time. Seems like he should know what someone being turned looks like."
The night pressed in around me and my shoulders slumped with exhaustion. I glanced at my watch. After ten. "I think you should go now, Gary," I said flatly. "Unless there's something else Julius wants you to tell me?"
"One more thing. It's true what Julius said. You didn't need Rick to become the witch, Grateful. You would have become who you are no matter what. Rick manipulated you into thinking you needed him. He tricked you into binding yourself to him again. The caretaker orchestrated his position at your side, and he did it at my expense."
I stared at him blankly, letting what he said sink in like a topical poison. "Just go."
To his credit, he left. Three steps into the yard, and he broke apart, melding with the darkness and blowing toward the city. I sat out there, staring at the spot where he'd last been, losing time to the insecurities that played out in my head. When I looked at my watch again, it was after eleven. I forced myself up, out of the chair, and stomped down the street and across the bridge.
Rick was standing in the road naked. I couldn't tell if he was getting ready to shift or had just shifted back. But he was staring in my direction. We shared a strong connection. He'd been waiting for me. He knew I was upset.
"Is it true?" I asked, shoving him in the chest with my gloved hand.
"Is what true, mi cielo?" His face took on a stony expression, eyes black, lips a straight line.
I ran through my memories of Gary and our conversation now that I knew Rick was paying attention. He could see my thoughts when he tried. It was easier than trying to explain the whole thing.
"He consented," Rick said flatly. "There was nothing I could do. Anna wasn't breaking the law."
"Why did you lie to me? That night, after Tiltworld, you said you didn't know that Gary was a vampire."
"I didn't. Not for sure. More than half of attempted vampire conversions end in death. Either the vampire drinks too much or the human body rejects the change. It's true I saw Anna start the process, but I never saw Gary wake up. I didn't know for sure he'd been turned."
"Splitting hairs, Rick."
