Linda Robertson - Shattered Circle

“I feel very fortunate to have been able to come here and meet you in person, to handle this building situation with you.” Plympton stood. He paced to the left, put his hands in his pockets and jingled change, then paced to the right. “There’s a reason you stepped up now and are accepting the position as Domn Lup. These are thorny times . . . with the demise of the Rege—and the dreadful method of it—the upper ranks are all a-dragging around their suspicions of you. There are rumors that you’re on the Lustrata’s right arm and that the vampire Menessos is on her left. The speculation and curiosity surrounding you has the court a-buzz like never before. When the news of Aurelia’s death reaches them, their doubts will go a-doubling.”

There was a long pause and Johnny asked his question again.

“Some fear you are a fraud, a creation of the witches’ fancy. But I have seen your beast. He’s not the product of sorcery.” He paused. “There are some who know what I can do. I’ll back you up, John. My pledge will be golden. They will assure others.”

A third time, Johnny asked, “But what do you want ?”

Plympton pulled his hand from his pocket and held up a small item. It was the key to a paid locker. “I want you to tell me where the locker for this key is located.”

Talto sat in front of a computer. The screen’s light was the only illumination in the room. In the darkness beside her was Liam, who in his late thirties was oddly older than most of his Offerling peers. He was good-looking, but not exactly the heart-stopping kind of gorgeous that was required of most of the second-tier vampire servants. She’d discovered he hadn’t been given the prestigious role for his looks; he was a haven member due to his IQ alone.

She heard a quiet splat and turned to see the drool that was running off his chin had dripped to the tile floor.

Not that his IQ is shining so bright right now.

She frowned in disgust. Probing into people’s minds was a nasty thing to do . . . at least the aftermath of it was.

But Liam had been a banker-turned-hacker once. He’d miraculously escaped a police raid on foot, but the hounds were closing in and he literally crossed the path of Menessos, who agreed to save him from a lifetime behind bars in exchange for his services.

In Liam’s mind resided many methods of committing crimes electronically. Menessos had required the man to act within the parameters of the law, but that did not mean Liam didn’t know how to break those laws.

Talto had taken what she’d needed.

Presently, she had set up a series of new bank accounts in various banks in various countries, and had established a schedule to filter funds from one to another. In a few days, the haven would be reduced to the minimal funding provided by the networks of VEIN, but Menessos’s private and very deep financial pockets would be empty.

She opened her phone and typed the word NOW in the body of a text message to Ailo, then hit Send.

• • •

Ailo ran across the stage, through the doorway, and crossed the backstage area to pound on the Haven Master’s door. The guard dropped his phone, jumped from his seat, and forcibly restrained her even as she tried the knob and discovered it was locked.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

She twisted in his grip. “I must see the Haven Master immediately! He is still in there, isn’t he?”

“He is, but you can’t barge in like a madwoman.” He noticed her necklace and it seemed he remembered who he was dealing with. He released her immediately, keeping himself between her and the door. “Allow me,” he said, and knocked more politely on the door.

Nothing happened.

“I thought you said he was in there,” she snapped.

“He is.”

“Menessos, too?”

He nodded.

“Is it normal for the door to be locked?”

“They do what they think is fit. Nobody questions them. That includes you .”

“And what do you do when they think it is fit to not answer their door and a crisis is occurring?”

They glared at each other for another minute with nothing happening.

Ailo needed to get Menessos to catch Talto in the act. She couldn’t leave her sister sitting there for hours. “Are you certain they are in there?” she pressed, crossing her arms.

“Yes.”

“You get so focused on your stupid phone game, perhaps they have left and you didn’t even notice.”

“Hey. I focus, but that doesn’t mean I’d miss my Haven Master leaving .”

The door opened slightly. Goliath stood in near darkness within, his gaunt features rather terrifying. “What do you want?”

The guard pointed at Ailo. “She is rather determined to see you.”

Goliath’s eyes flicked from the guard to Ailo and back. “Get four Beholders in here for feeding. Immediately.” To Ailo he said, “When the Beholders leave, you may enter.”

“But—”

“Not until.”

The door shut.

Her crossed arms fell into fists at her sides.

The guard retrieved his phone and made a call. Seconds later, a quartet of Beholders hurried into the room and entered the Haven Master’s suite.

As she waited, paced, and grumbled to herself, Ailo gazed up at the entry to the Erus Veneficus’s rooms. Behind that heavy door lay the answer to all her hopes and dreams. Freedom. Splendor. Control of her own destiny. She could live anywhere in the world. She could surround herself with anything and everything she wanted. She’d have vases of the most beautiful flowers in every room. She’d have colorful birds in cages. She would clothe herself in something other than gray. . . .

Maintaining the safety and happiness of the child would be no easy feat, but she could make the child adore her. Fancy gifts would satisfy any child, and when she grew bored of those, Ailo would buy her more. She would spoil the girl so no one else could satisfy her.

The Beholders finally filed out of the Haven Master’s suite, each with gauze pads held compressed to either their necks or their wrists.

Ailo made for the door. The inside remained dark except for a single candle near the door. “Are you here?”

“What do you need, Ailo?”

Menessos’s weary voice emitted from the darkened far side of the room.

She sighed angrily. “Unless your delay has allowed her to complete her scheme, my sister is presently stealing the haven’s money.”

She heard movement instantly. “How?” Goliath demanded.

“She’s been talking to me about trying to find out who manages the finances here. She’s spent the evening stealing touches off people, looking for this information. I saw her following one of the Offerlings. I’m sure she’s mesmerized him, read him.”

“Allow me to handle it, Haven Master. They are both bound to me.” Menessos arrived at the door looking truly dead. Dark circles ringed his eyes. His cheeks were sunken, and a drop of blood lingered at the corner of his mouth. “Where is she?”

Ailo gasped and retreated a step.

He claimed the ground between them without seeming to move at all. His hands gripped her arms like vises. “Where is she?” His voice was low enough to sound demonic.

In her opinion, Menessos needed to feed from a few more Beholders. “I don’t know. I saw her heading up to the first floor with the Offerling. That’s all I know.”

He brushed past her before she finished. “Vinny, get some of the men up to the accounting offices.” He and Goliath were gone in a flash.

With a hidden grin, Ailo followed them.

Johnny considered tackling the old man and taking the key by force.