Брайан Макклеллан - Blood Tally

“I’m staying with you,” she said. “Hope you’ve got a couch or an air mattress or something.”

There was something deeply appealing about Olivia staying with me for a while, but I kept my head about me. “I … don’t know if that’s a good idea. Do you know who those guys were?”

“Lord Ruthven’s goons. Yeah, they told me. You scared of a Vampire Lord?” There was that same “challenging authority” look in her eyes from the first time we’d met.

I held up one finger. “First, yes. I am. He’s a fucking Vampire Lord. Second, I’m about to do something to piss him off really bad, and I don’t think you want to be around me when that happens. In fact, they’re probably going to forget all about you soon enough. I know of a safe house I can put you in …” I trailed off as Olivia locked the back door, then walked out the front and waited for me expectantly. I followed her out. She locked it, made a handful of arcane gestures on the front door, then whistled loudly. A little bit of gravel scooted across the front walk and she leaned down and spoke to it like a puppy.

“Okay, Rocky. You’re the man of the house while I’m away. You can eat vampires, but no one else. Hear me?” Seemingly satisfied, she shot me a glare and walked toward my truck, tossing her duffel into the bed. “I’m staying with you,” she said again. “This is about that Michael Pavlovich thing, right? You still need to find him?”

“Yes,” I said hesitantly. “But it’s more complicated now than it was yesterday.” A little help here, I said to Maggie.

What do you think I’m going to do? Talk sense into her? You’re on your own, bud.

Olivia folded her arms. “I still have my rolling scry on Michael. I stay with you, and we find Michael. Is that going to make all this vampire stuff go away?”

I genuinely can’t tell if she’s courageous, still in shock, or just really stupid, I told Maggie. To Olivia, I said, “Maybe.”

“Well, maybe is the best I’m gonna get right now. I was just forced to kill three vampires in my own house in self-defense. I don’t have a coven, or any friends that would have a prayer standing up to a Vampire Lord. So I’m going to stay with my new best friend Mr. Punchy McReaper Agent until I’ve calmed down. Okay?” She opened the passenger door of my truck and got in.

I like her, Maggie laughed.

I do too, but I don’t think this is the time … I opened my mouth, ready to take the argument further, when my phone began to ring. I looked down. It was Jacques Williams. I sprinted for my truck, jumping in and shoving the key in the ignition. “Okay,” I told Olivia, “you win. But we’re getting out of here really fucking fast.”

I waited until I was out of Chardon, heading south on Route 44, before I answered Jacques’s third call, looking sidelong at Olivia as I did, taking my hand off my steering wheel long enough to put a finger to my lips. She nodded in understanding.

“Alek Fitz.”

“Alek,” Jacques said, drawing the word out. “How are you?”

“Not great,” I told him.

Jacques sighed. “Yes, I understand that there has been an embarrassing crossing of purposes.”

I switched the phone from one hand to the other. “That’s a weird way of putting it. Apparently your boys have been following me and they just hired a witch to scry me.”

“Yes, well. That’s the embarrassing part on my end,” Jacques said warmly. He didn’t sound embarrassed at all. “I hope you understand that this job means more to my master and our organization than we first let on. Following you was simply a precaution. They lost your trail and decided to get that witch to scry you. I hope that you’re not too angry about the whole situation.”

“I would probably be less angry if you hadn’t told them to kill Olivia.”

“Who is Olivia?”

“The witch.”

“Ah, yes. She was an unfortunate bystander in all of this. Unlike you, she’s not a professional and you know how witches can be. We couldn’t trust her to stay quiet about us scrying a reaper agent. Can’t let that kind of information get out, can we? Lord Ruthven might be a Vampire Lord, but he still has quite a good reputation. It’s too bad about the witch. I trust we can remain friends, though?”

I chewed on the corner of my cheek and glanced at Olivia again. She couldn’t hear Jacques’s side of the conversation, but she could hear mine. “Now this is when I get embarrassed,” I told Jacques. “I get awfully twitchy when people I don’t know start drawing swords.”

“What happened?” Jacques asked, sounding concerned for the first time.

“Your guy Adrian is dead. So are his goons.”

There was a long, unbroken silence.

“I shot them,” I added. “Well, that’s not wholly true. I punched in the side of one’s head.”

Watch that cavalier tone, Maggie warned. Dhampir aren’t known for their sense of humor. Maggie was right. I was getting awfully flippant. Maybe it was my buttoned-up rage. Maybe it was the adrenaline. But I just couldn’t summon two fucks to give about Jacques anymore.

Jacques finally said, “I wish you hadn’t done that.”

“And I wish you’d told me from the start what this job was about,” I snapped. “A bit of advice: don’t hire someone like me and then lie to them about the job. I’m a goddamn professional, and I will find out that you’re lying. I’ll also find out what’s so important about Boris Novak’s blood tally.”

“You know about the contracts?” Jacques asked, deadpan.

My adrenaline finally wore off enough for me to realize that I’d overplayed my hand. I swore to myself silently. “Yeah. I do. And don’t insult me by claiming that you just want to shut Boris down to protect the rest of vampirekind. You want his blood tally for power and contract language.”

“Of course I do.” He made a hmm sound. “This complicates things. The content of those contracts is invaluable, and so is the army that Boris has already begun to build. You’re going to have to talk really fast if you want to survive this.”

“Everybody has to die some time.” There was a sinking feeling in my belly, and it didn’t wholly belong to me. I could sense that Maggie did not like the turn this had taken. “Have you considered the fact that I might be recording this conversation?” I asked. “Or maybe that I have told, or can easily tell, any number of people about this whole thing? This is the twenty-first century. I could get off the phone and blog about it.”

“You will do no such thing,” Jacques said harshly, “or I will begin killing every friend and family member that you have in the world.”

I laughed. It wasn’t funny, but I laughed really hard. “Yeah?”

Jacques was clearly taken aback. “Yes. I will. I am a thorough man.”

“Well good luck with that. You picked the wrong reaper. I don’t have any friends, and I definitely don’t have any family. Go fuck yourself. I’m gonna write a blog.” I hung up.

I took the next turn, heading toward home, and then tried calling Ada. No one answered. I left her a message telling her to get out of town, then dialed Nadine. She answered with a sweet hello.

“No time to explain,” I told her. “Go on lockdown. Tell Ted that I have a brood of vampires gunning for me and Valkyrie Collections might be collateral damage.”

“Sweet Jesus,” Nadine responded. “What the hell did you do?”

“Might have pissed off a client. I recommend not taking any calls from Lord Ruthven. And Nadine? Go stay with Lucy for a week or so. Not even Ruthven is going to fuck with her.”