2 Vampires, Warlocks, And Exes (15 page)

He shrugged. “What’s mine is yours, my dear. You only have to ask.”

I blushed. “Anyway, I’ve spoken to her a couple of times since to check on her, but not for very long. She said she needs time to herself.”

He
jerked his head. “She said that, did she?”

“Yeah. Why do you ask? Do you think she wanted me to push for more?”

“I don’t know, my dear. Perhaps you should call her now.” He walked to the end of the room and opened the door leading to the stairs. “I’ll go visit with Irina and give you some privacy.” He closed the door as I grabbed my phone off the nightstand.
Huh, that was weird
. I shrugged it off and dialed.

She answered on the third ring.
“Hey, Kar.”

“Hi
, Erica. How are you doing? I’m sorry I haven’t been calling much. Is now a good time to talk?”

“Um…sure. I have a few minutes. I was just sitting down to breakfast.”

“Breakfast?” I asked. “Since when do you cook anything?”
 

“Oh God, no way. I can’t even boil a pot of water! Vance made really yummy waffles.”
Waffles? Oh crap, flashback coming! Chase it away, Karli!

I cleared my throat. “Vance? Why is he at your house making breakfast?”

“Uh, he’s not. At my house, I mean. I’m at his.”

Huh?
“Why are you at his house?”

“Because I…um,
kinda live with him now.”

What.The.Fuck
.

Twenty

“Say that again. I don’t think I heard you correctly.”

“Yeah, you did, Kar. I didn’t feel safe with Maria and Jake running around so he offered up his guest bedroom. I tried telling you several times but our conversations were so brief I figured you needed more time.”

I could hear
a man talking in the background. “Is that him?” I asked.

“Uh, y
eah. He wants to talk to you,” she replied.

“No way,
” I said. “I can’t deal with him right now.”

“K, I really think you should give him a chance. I heard his version of the whole incident with Maria. You should at least hear him out. He feels really bad and he misses you.”

“You’re on his side now?” I shrieked.

“No
, Karli,” she said. “I’m always on your side. I’m just saying that I think you should hear him out.  I don’t think you should cut him loose without listening to him first. I’d regret it if I were you.”

“I can’t believe this is happening
,” I remarked.

She sighed. “When are you coming home, K?”

I scrubbed my hand over my face. “I don’t know. Leo’s here. He chartered a jet. I was thinking of going home with him tonight after sunset.”

“Leo’s in San Francisco?”
she asked. “Since when?” I heard Vance in the background trying to get the phone from her. “Shh, hold on,” she whispered to him.

Okay, I really didn’t know how I felt
about them being so chummy all of a sudden. “Look, Eri, I gotta go. I’ll call you when I’m back in town.”

“K, wait---” Click. I hung up on her.

I went downstairs to find Leo and Irina sitting in the living room chatting. She was laughing flirtatiously with her hand on his knee. I paused for a moment before entering the room to read her emotions. She was feeling very
affectionate
towards Leo. What the hell was going on? Had I woken up in Bizarro World or something?

I cleared my throat. She removed her hand from his knee and gave me a guilty smile.  “What’s so funny?” I asked them.

Leo stood and walked over to me, taking my hand in his. “Irina and I were just discussing my last business trip to Bucharest which led to an amusing story about her first date.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. Irina loved attention from the opposite sex
and she garnered it easily with her exotic beauty. “Really? You were discussing dating, huh?”

She waved her hand as she was walking out of the room. “Oh
, child, you read too much into things.”

Leo guided me over to the couch so we cou
ld sit. “Did you reach Erica?” he asked.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Did you know she and Vance were living together?”

He nodded. “I thought you should hear it directly from the source rather than get partial information which would undoubtedly lead to jumping to conclusions.”

“I don’t jump to conclusions!” I insisted.

He gave me a wry expression. “You want to rethink that?”

I did. “Okay, maybe I do.
Sometimes
.”

“Are you ready to head home, my dear?”

I sighed. “Yeah, no time like the present I guess.”

He stood up and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Great,” he said. “I’ll make the arrangements. We can leave right after sundown.”

******

It was a short flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas. Too short. As soon as we landed, I was highly tempted to ask the pilot to turn around. Sensing my anxiety, Leo grabbed my arm and kissed my inner wrist. Ah, I love
d it when he did that. It simultaneously relaxed and excited me and he knew it.

Smiling with a little fang he asked, “Are you ready to deplane, my love?”

Before I could answer, a crewman opened the door and extended the small ladder. There was a shiny blue Maybach 62S waiting for us, complete with a chauffeur loading our bags.

“A
Maybach, Leo? Really?” I asked. “Isn’t that a little excessive?”

He smiled. “When will you ever learn, my dear? Only the best.”

As I was stepping off the ladder I teased, “You know, your über wealth is a little disgusting at times.”

He chuckled as he
helped me into the car. “Disgusting, maybe. Convenient, definitely.”

When we
got into the car the driver asked, “Sir, where to?”

Leo looked at me, raising his eyebrows. “My pet, where would you like to go?”

I thought about it for a moment. “My apartment.”

“Very well
,” he said. “Richard, please take us to the lady’s residence.”

“Yes, Sir
,” Richard replied as he started the ignition.

I looked at Leo quizzically. “Doesn’t he need my address?”

He smiled. “No, my dear. It’s his job to know.”

Shaking my head, I propped the foot rest up and leaned back as we
pulled out of the airport.

Twenty-one

We got to my apartment and pulled up right in front of my building. I stepped out of the car, intending to go inside but Leo grabbed my arm as I reached the first step.

“Stop
,” he commanded.

Confused, I asked, “Huh? Why?”

He narrowed his eyes at the door. “Something’s wrong. Do you smell that?”

I inhaled deeply. “Smell what?” I asked. “I don’t smell anything.”

“Do not move,” he instructed as he walked up the last stair to my door. He turned the knob. It was unlocked.

“What the----” I started to say.

Leo’s fangs extended. “Karli, get back in the car. There’s blood in there.” He ducked inside.

“What?!?” I shrieked. Without thinking, I ran up all six stairs and followed him in.

Holy fuck. Chad was lying on the couch, very pale, with twin puncture marks on his neck. “Omigod…is he?” I asked.

Leo felt his neck. “No, he’s
just unconscious…but he’s quite weak. He’s lost a lot of blood.”

I ran up to him and gently stroked his cheek. “
Dammit, Chad, why did you have to let your dick lead you into this mess?” Despite everything he’d done to me, I’d never wish this on him. “Leo, you need to call an ambulance.”

I looked up and saw the phon
e to his ear. “Already on it,” he replied.

I looked down and saw something in Chad’s clenched fist. I managed to pull out the
crumpled piece of paper. I didn’t need to read it to know who it was from.

Welcome home my dearest
Karli. I’ll be seeing you soon.

Love, M.

I dropped the note. “Omigod.”

Leo picked it up and read it.
“Karli, go to the car,” he said. “The police are already on their way, but I think we should call Vance as well. We can wait for him outside.”

I just stood there in shock staring at
poor Chad. Leo grabbed my hand and pulled me outside. After depositing me in the car, he shut the door and pressed the send button on his phone.

He joined me in the car after hanging up. “Vance is only about ten minute
s away. He will be here shortly.”

“
Omigod, Leo,” I said. “Why would she drag Chad into this?”

“It appears that Maria has finally reached the point of no return
…she was clearly trying to send you a message.”

“Why?”
I asked. “Wasn’t kidnapping me and Erica enough? Hasn’t she caused enough harm?”

He grabbed my hand. “My sweet, despite Vance’s beliefs, Maria has never been a saint and she’s always had a penchant for drama. This is likely one big game to her.”

“What a crazy bitch,” I muttered.

“Agreed
,” Leo added.

The ambulance arrived and Leo exited the
Maybach to lead the paramedics into my living room. A few minutes later, Vance showed up and pulled open the car door. “Karli, are you okay?” He moved towards me, but I scooted away from him. Seeing him again just brought the memories of him and Maria flooding back.

I tensed. “I’m fine. Chad’s not…he’s lost a lot of blood. The paramedics are in there with him now.” I shoved the wrinkled note into his hand. “Here, you might want this.”

He opened the note, read her message, and scowled. “Jesus Christ, she’s gone off the deep end.”

“You can say that again.”

Vance shifted to the side as Erica poked her head in.

“
Karli, are you okay?” she asked. “What happened?”

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

She straightened and looked at Vance, who immediately looked away.  “Um, we were just heading to dinner when Leo called,” she said.

I assessed them carefully.
Eri was wearing a little black, strapless dress. More specifically, her “I wanna get laid” little black dress. Vance had on a pair of black slacks with a crisp, blue dress shirt with the top button undone. Were they on a date?

I glared at both of them. “Wow, you two sure move on fast.”
             

Erica caught on to my accusation quickly and r
eturned my glare. “Excuse me?” she said. “I certainly hope you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking. Because if you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, that’d make me a really shitty friend and I know I’m not one of those.”

Vance looked confused. I felt him trying to push into my head but I was successfully blocking hi
m. “What happened here, Karli?” he interrupted. “Where’d you find Chad?”

I gestured towards the front door. “Just inside the door. On my couch.”

He looked at Erica. “Stay here with her. I’m going inside.”

“Okay
,” she replied. She scooted in the car and shut the door. “Are you all right? Is Chad gonna be okay?”

“I don’t know,
” I answered. “I hope so. What were you doing out with Vance? You two seem awfully dressed up.”

She looked down at her dress. “I know what you’re thinking, but don’t. I don’t have many things at his house. I had to get my stuff out of my
place pretty quickly. It was the only dress I had. We were going out to dinner. As
friends
.” She sighed, blowing a hair out of her face. “Karli, I’ve been crying my eyes out day after day since the warehouse. Vance has been really upset too. We both agreed that we needed to get out of the house for a nice dinner so we could have some semblance of a normal life. That’s all. Quite frankly, I’m extremely offended that you would even entertain thoughts of me betraying the girl code. I know what he means to you. I’m not an idiot, for Christ’s sake.”

I echoed her sigh. “I’m sorry, Erica. I didn’t mean to accuse you of anything. It’s just been a really shitty couple of weeks. I have no idea how I even got to this point again!”

“What point?” she asked.

“Having another crazy chick out to get me. Seriously, what the hell?” I looked down at
Eri’s clasped hands and noticed a diamond still sparkling on her ring finger. I grabbed her left hand. “How are you doing, Eri? Really. I’m so sorry I didn’t call more while I was gone.”

“It’s okay,” s
he sobbed. She looked up as she wiped a tear away from her eye. “K, I know it’s fucked up after everything he’s done, but I still love him. I’m heartbroken. I don’t know how to go on without him.”