Page 27 of Vipers and Vendettas

His jaw ticks.

‘It’s not like that,’ he says through clenched teeth. ‘She’s a kid.’

‘No, she’s not. But I’ll bet she was when you met her, huh? How old was she? Where’d she come from?’

‘You’ll have to ask her that,’ he mutters.

I snort. ‘Is that because you don’t know? Maybe you aren’t that close to her, after all.’

‘Fuck you, demon. Why are you here? What do you want from me?’

‘I want you to not help her if she asks you. Ghost her. She’s not yours. You don’t have a claim on her, vampire.’

‘And you do?’ he snarls. ‘You don’t deserve what she did for you.’

‘She’s the reason shehadto do that for me!’ I bellow. ‘It’s because of her that I was cast out of my clan in the first place!’

‘So, you’re square now, demon,’ he said quietly. ‘Leave her alone.’

‘I’m not the one who’ll be leaving her alone,’ I growl. ‘Stay away from her. She signed a contract with my clan. The law says she’s ours.’

Jack shakes his head. ‘You sure about that, Daemon Mackenzie? You sure someone else didn’t get there first?’

He knows about Jules.

‘You’ve seen her brand,’ I mutter.

‘She showed you?’

Not exactly. I don’t reply.

He gives me a look. ‘Who do you think gave her the conjure to hide it?’

I stand up. ‘She was clearly lucky to have you as a friend,’ I allow. ‘But she’s ours now.’

I leave the office, not looking back. I go up the hallway and past the troll I knocked out earlier. He’s sitting against the wall and rubbing his head.

‘No hard feelings,’ I mutter with a shrug as I let myself out into the dark street.

I stand out there for a few minutes, thinking about everything I just learned about Jules. She stole the diamonds from the safe but then used the money from their sale to pay my debt with the vamps. That’s why they haven’t killed me or locked me up back in that basement. Why would she do that? I’ve been … awful to her. Worse than that, even. I’ve insulted her and mocked her. I’ve hurt her more than once. I broke the conjure that hid her scars. I made her sob.

The cash I took from her burns a hole in my pocket.

I was going to wait until tomorrow. I was going to play with her a little, make her suffer the way she’s made us suffer, but the idea doesn’t hold any appeal now.

None.

But I need to talk to her. Now.

I start walking down the street back to her apartment. Helping me doesn’t sound like something Jules would do, especially not after the way I treated her. My eyes harden in the darkness. I know why she did it, and it had nothing to do with saving me.

* * *

Jules

I wake up to a noise and turn onto my back groggily. The room is dark, and I frown. I could have sworn the TV was on. I sit up with a groan, rubbing my neck and wondering if I should bite the bullet and go to bed for real.

I go into the bathroom, putting up my hair as I go. I wash my face and drink some water.