Page 12 of Vipers and Vendettas

I wince. ‘What if I took two bags of gold instead? How much time could I have on a conjure then?’

‘Five months, probably.’

I wince.

Five months isn’t enough time,’ I say.

‘Best I can do, Vicki-bear.’

I let out a breath. ‘Come on. We both know you have conjures that’ll work for longer in there. I’ll pay you back, I’ll?—’

‘That’s enough, Victoria,’ he says sharply in his vamp voice, and I frown.

‘Doesn’t work on me, remember?’

‘I remember,’ he growls. ‘I remember you doing a job for me and skipping town with the cash, Victoria. How much goodwill do you think you have left to use with me?’

I throw my hands up. ‘Fine! If you want to drag up shit that happened forever ago! I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t want to do it if that helps, but my conjure was failing, and I didn’t have the money for a new one.’

He sighs. ‘Same old story, Vicki. It doesn’t fly anymore. We all got problems, and you stopped being mine when you stole from me.’

I sink into the chair in front of his desk. ‘I brought you diamonds, though,’ I say hopefully. ‘That counts for something, right?’ I smile. ‘Come on, Jack. Please?’

He rolls his eyes, and I give him a grin. ‘You’re going to single-handedly ruin me, you know that, don’t you, Vicki-bear?’ He puts his head in his hands and groans as he stands up. ‘More fool me for having a soft spot for the best little human con artist this side of the Breach.’

He gives me a bag, but I shake my head. ‘I need some in human money. Dollars. The rest in gold.’

He raises his brows but delves into a drawer and brings out a wad of bills. ‘Here’s a grand. That’s all I have in human right now.’

He grabs the box of conjures off the shelf behind the desk and rummages through it. ‘Okay, you’re in luck. I can give you six months.’

I nod. ‘It’ll have to do until I can figure something out.’

He holds up the disk and says the words, and I sigh with relief.

‘Thanks, Jack,’ I say, putting my warm hand over his cold one and squeezing it a little. ‘I am sorry for what I did. You didn’t deserve that. You were good to me.’

Tears come to my eyes, and I blink them away.

He looks down at my hand and then back at me, his face grim. ‘How much trouble are you in, Vicki-bear?’

I chuckle. ‘You know me. The usual amount.’ I stand. ‘I’m going to portal to a human place on the other side of the Veil and do some pretending,’ I say. ‘But I’ll do some jobs for you if you want. If you feel like you can trust …’

‘Aw, fuck,’ he mutters. ‘I have something coming up. I’ll let you know.’

‘It um …’ I glance up at him. ‘It can’t be anything dangerous, okay?’

His brow furrows, and he laughs. ‘You always used to ask me for the opposite.’

‘Yeah,’ I mutter, ‘but things are different now.’

He gives me the two bags of gold, and I heft them up.

‘Can you have them delivered to someone?’

‘Who?’

‘A vamp named Sheamus McCathrie?’