Page 6 of Vipers and Vendettas

‘There’s no need to be hast—’ he starts.

When I don’t stop packing up, he puts a hand over mine.

‘Stop what you’re doing,’ he growls, and the words echo oddly through the room, through my skull.

He relaxes and takes his hand off me like my staying is now a foregone conclusion.

I stare at him for a second, and my eyes narrow.

‘You’re a vamp,’ I mutter. ‘Fuck.’

I heave a sigh and start packing up again, wondering where I’m going to be able to get rid of my haul at a fair price, if not here.

He looks surprised, shocked even, as he watches my movements resume.

‘My powers of compulsion don’t work on you,’ he murmurs.

I shrug. ‘Guess not.’

‘I think we got off on the wrong foot,’ he states.

I glance up at him. ‘I know the stuff I have is valuable. Some of it is rare, too.’

‘I think we can do business,’ he says, and I scoff.

‘Not if you’re going to set me up to get cheated.’

He puts a hand up. ‘Let me see the merchandise again. Please.’

I let out a slow breath and dump out the bag again. I pick through it myself this time, forming two piles.

‘I want a bag of silver for this,’ I say, pointing to the pile with the least amount of value, the trinkets with magick that aren’t all that rare, just good quality.

The second pile has some very interesting and quite unusual objects in it. I know for a fact that one has been in Tamadrielle’s possession for centuries because I heard him bragging to one of his friends about it once. He missed that one. He had servants searching for it for ages.

‘For these, I need a conjure to keep me hidden from magick forever.’

The vamp chuckles. ‘The first pile, fine. We have a deal, firecracker. The second though, I’m afraid not. A forever conjure? You’re looking at several million dollars for something like that. There’s not enough here for that.’

I don’t show him my disappointment. ‘How long, then?’

He shrugs. ‘A year, maybe.’

I sit down heavily in the seat. ‘I need more than a year,’ I whisper.

He nods, steepling his fingers as he regards me. ‘I like you,’ he says.

‘Great,’ I mutter.

‘You’ve got potential,’ he continues, ‘and a useful little gift if vamp compulsion doesn’t work on you.’

I sit back and watch him, hiding my shaking hands and keeping my anxiety in check by counting the books on the shelves behind him. ‘Potential for what?’ I hear myself asking.

He claps his hands, making me jump. ‘I’ll tell you what, how about I give you the silver, a years’ conjure, and then you come work for me?’

‘I don’t even know you,’ I say.

‘Sweet girl,’ he looks me up and down with a critical eye. ‘I think we both know you don’t know anyone outside the estate you just escaped from. But I could use a go-getter with your skills.’