Page 80 of How to Stake a Vampire

Headless bats.

Ellie wiped some drool from the corner of her mouth. “Those look yum.”

My best friend’s newfound appetite for blood had evidently not impacted her sweet tooth.

“These things happen,” Barney said patiently. “I’m sure they’ll taste just fine.” He narrowed his eyes slightly. “Incidentally, I confiscated another pair of googly eyes just now.”

Melvina averted her gaze guiltily.

“They were to cheer you up, Master.” She drew an abstract pattern on the floor with the toe of her steel-capped boot. “You’ve been kinda glum lately.”

“I’m always glum,” Barney said curtly. “It’s my default expression.”

I masked a grimace. At least the vampire had insight.

“How about you put those on a plate and bring them to the drawing room?” Harold told Melvina gently. “And lose the axe.” The butler’s tone got fractionally sharper.

“But it’s a family heirloom,” the dwarf protested. Her beard trembled at her employer’s and the butler’s stern looks. She twisted on her heels and stormed back toward the kitchen.

24

CONFIDENTIAL AFFAIRS

Barney heaveda heavy sigh like this was a daily occurrence. He and the butler led the way down a hallway lined with oil paintings that were probably worth more than my car.

The informal sitting room they guided us to was spacious and comfortable, with overstuffed armchairs arranged around a marble fireplace and bay windows overlooking the gardens at the back. There were books scattered on a side table, a coffee mug on the mantelpiece, and what looked like a crossword puzzle abandoned on an antique escritoire.

Gregory and Constantia sat on a navy velvet sofa, the vampire couple looking a little tense in the relaxed surroundings.

Gregory rose and nodded stiffly in our direction when we entered. “Samuel. Victoria.” His gaze lingered on me. “I heard you got injured fighting Ludvik?”

“It was Samuel who got hurt.”

Surprise flared on Gregory’s and Constantia’s faces.

“It was just a scratch,” my alpha said.

His wound had already healed, something I’d taken great pains to check last night.

We settled in the armchairs, Ellie and Virgil staying close to each other. I studied them with mixed feelings.

Three weeks ago, my best friend’s biggest concern was whether the cute guy at the bar we regularly frequented had noticed her new haircut. Now she was dating a vampire and had become a brand-new member of the supernatural community I had longed to keep her away from.

Pearl gazed on approvingly as Harold served us tea in real china cups. Melvina brought in a serving tray piled with an assortment of supernatural-creature-shaped cookies in various states of dismemberment. The butler and the housekeeper retreated quietly to the door, a suspiciously axe-shaped outline stretching the back of the dwarf’s dress.

Samuel waited until we’d helped ourselves to refreshments before addressing Barney. “So what was it you wanted to talk about?”

The vampire exchanged a guarded look with the Tremaines.

“Ancient vampire history and ideology.”

“That sounds boring,” Bo declared at my feet around the cookie he was busy scarfing down.

“But important under the circumstances, so why don’t you can it, Mutt?” Pearl said coolly.

“I take it there’s a point to all this?” I said warily while Bo sulked.

“Yes,” Gregory confessed with an awkward expression. “This situation with Ludvik—it’s more complicated than we initially thought.”