Page 18 of The Vampire Kingpin

“Nice to meet you.” I dug into my food. “This is good,” I said around a mouthful of buttery scrambled eggs.

Jacko preened. “Thanks.”

“So, Velma says you’re Spider’s new thrall,” said Zayne.

I took a gulp of coffee. “Velma?”

“Spider’s lieutenant,” Zayne replied.

“Oh. Well, I guess you could say so.” I suspected they knew I was actually his prisoner, but maybe they didn’t want DeeDee to know.

“Are you or aren’t you?” asked DeeDee.

I moved a shoulder because it wasn’t any of her fucking business.

She didn’t take the hint. “If you’re not his thrall, then what were you doing in his bedroom?” she demanded.

I met her eyes. “Because he wanted me there.”

DeeDee’s dark brows came together in a perturbed V. “He doesn’t sleep with thralls. Says he doesn’t trust them. We usually don’t even keep them.”

I couldn’t decide if she was jealous or merely protective. “Well, he slept with me.”

“Let it go,” Zayne told her. “She wouldn’t have been in there if Spider wasn’t okay with it.”

DeeDee frowned at me but subsided.

I continued eating. Zayne tried to draw me out, so I gave her enough to get her off my back, saying I’d grown up out West but had joined Grimclaw’s lair in April.

“Grimclaw?” Jacko asked, exchanging a look with Zayne.

“It’s temporary,” I muttered, embarrassed to admit I was part of the shakiest lair in the Underworld. “As soon as I can, I’m out of here.”

They nodded and, to my relief, let it go.

Brunch over, I offered to clean up the kitchen. DeeDee left for a job on the surface—she was a bartender, apparently—and Zayne and Jacko had guard duty. They helped me carry the dirty dishes to the tub-sized, stainless-steel sink, then leaned in from either side of me.

A sharp point touched my spine. I stopped in the act of reaching for the bottle of dish soap. “Something wrong?”

“Spider wants you to stay put,” Zayne said. “We have to patrol the tunnels, but we’ll be checking in on you.”

“You leave,” Jacko added, “and we’ll know it. Just in case you have any ideas about escaping.”

“Got it.” I calmly drizzled soap over the plates and turned on the water to fill the sink.

The pressure on my spine disappeared, and Zayne squeezed my shoulder. “I think I’m gonna like you. Tell you what—I’ll dig up some clothes for you. We’re around the same size.”

“Yeah? That’d be lit.”

“No problem,” she said, and Jacko chimed in, “Later,” and they strolled out of the Cavern.

Blowing out a breath, I finished the dishes, then flipped through a couple of magazines before returning to Spider’s bedroom. I sank into the armchair and waited for him to wake up.

5

Spider

I came out of my day sleep to the snick-snick of a switchblade. I tensed, preparing to launch myself out of the bed, until Lark’s scent hit me, a blend of my shampoo and her own unique essence.