Page 71 of Bent Out of Shade
I glanced from him to Laurent and raised my eyebrows in question.
Laurent shrugged and rolled his eyes, and I tamped down a smile. Okay, I wouldn’t make a big deal of it, but I glowed with satisfaction. Huff ’n’ Puff hated tea, but Emmett couldn’t drink alcohol because of the dangers of falling into—and getting stuck in—a prophecy state. Which begged the question of why Laurent had a familiar-looking Jude Rachefsky teapot?
Tatiana smirked. “I told you you’d use it.”
“This is my first time.” Laurent puttered around, distributing mugs and placing the teapot on the table.
His aunt tossed her head back like she’d still won the point.
“Maybe we could smuggle her to Vincenzo to take to Vegas with no one the wiser?” I poured the fragrant Darjeeling—Tatiana’s favorite blend—for Emmett, my boss, and myself, since Laurent hadn’t bothered with a mug of his own.
“I’m sure he’ll be the picture of graciousness when he learns about this,” Tatiana said sarcastically, adding a second heaping teaspoon of honey to her drink, “and be delighted to take Sabrina home without retaliating.”
Laurent sat down and hooked a foot around the leg of my chair, pulling me close enough to drape his arm over the back of my seat.
Pretending the rosy flush on my cheeks was from the steaming beverage, I checked my phone. “He’s calling back in fifteen minutes. What are we going to do?” My head throbbed harder. “Would you be dissuaded from reuniting with someone you loved? He’s a vamp. They’re already territorial. He won’t be put off.”
“True.” Tatiana took a sip and smacked her lips together. “But he didn’t come to town when he hired us. He had us come to him.”
“You think he has a problem with Mr. BatKian?” Emmett tried the tea, then grabbed his throat, making exaggerated choking noises. At least he’d stopped his incessant spoon tapping.
“Not necessarily.” Tatiana elbowed the golem and he shut up. “But there are protocols for when a vampire shows up in another’s territory. If he didn’t want Zev to know about his business to begin with then I’m willing to bet he still doesn’t. We can use that to our advantage.”
“You’re gonna rat him out?” Emmett nodded in approval.
Tatiana threw him a fond smile. “We’re going to stall, tattele.”
“What if Mr. BatKian is behind this?” the golem said.
“If it was the gang murders, I might believe he either condoned this or deliberately turned a blind eye to something his vamps were up to,” I said. “But why turn Sabrina? Even if she’s Sapien and he’s allowed to, what’s the point?”
“To strike at Vincenzo,” Laurent said.
“If he knew about the two of them,” I said.
“Zev might have,” Tatiana said thoughtfully, “but he’d also know the consequences of such a move and that it would directly tie back to him and his people. If he wanted to attack Vincenzo, he’d be sneakier about it, and I didn’t uncover anything about the two of them dealing with each other before.”
“BatKian also wouldn’t let a newly turned vamp roam around unchecked and get the Lonestars all up in his business,” Laurent said. “Unlikely that his bloodsuckers would do that either.”
Emmett unscrewed the jar of honey, sniffed it, and grimaced. “So, who turned her?”
“There’s a good chance that some unknown vampire has come to town,” Tatiana said. “Are they going after Vincenzo or Zev, though?”
“Or both,” Laurent said.
Tatiana jabbed a finger at him. “That’s all we need.”
“You can’t ignore the possibility,” he said. “Vincenzo’s vampire nature will make him attack Zev since his fiancée was changed in Vancouver, and Zev will retaliate in kind. It’s a good ploy to set them against each other while the mastermind swoops in.”
“Plus, Vincenzo will be out of his mind with grief and in no state to think logically about why Zev would have left Sabrina unchecked.” I ran a finger around the rim of my cup. “It could be one of Zev’s own people making a move against him.”
“Stop talking,” Tatiana pleaded, massaging her temples.
I glanced at my phone again. “Ten minutes,” I said softly.
Tatiana pinned Laurent, Emmett, and me in her gaze. “Is there any trace of evidence that can tie you to the human deaths?”
We shook our heads.
