“Aren’t you curious to know what he’s keeping from you?”

“I’m curious to know why you don’t own any decent clothes.” I heard a snort of laughter from behind the office door.

“Jared always liked them.”

I could tell by her smug expression that she thought that was all it would take to set me off. Sure, I was pissed, but I was not about to give her what she wanted. “Do you want to know what he likes better? When I bite the head of his dick. Yeah, my Sventé saliva does the trick every time.”

A sound came from her that sounded suspiciously like a hiss. “I didn’t need to resort to tricks.”

“No, you needed to Turn his brother before he would stay with you.”

“He could still have said no, but he didn’t. He chose to Turn, chose to be with me.”

“He chose to be with Evan – dress the situation up with a pretty bow if you like, but that fact remains. Now,” I drawled, leaning forward. “I’m going to make myself very, very clear, and if you have any sense in your messed-up head, you’ll listen. Jared is not yours. He does not want to be. He has absolutely no interest in you, and I can’t say I blame him. If I’d been in his position, I’d rather have sucked cow snot through a straw than go back to a manipulative, calculating, devious bitch.”

She snickered. “You’re jealous of the blood-link, aren’t you? That’s why you’re being so hostile toward me.”

Jealous? Yes. Hostile? Pfft. “When I’m being hostile toward you, you’ll know it in those precious seconds before I punch a hole into your chest searching for a heart that’s probably not there.”

“I really am sure that I told you to stay away from Sam.” Jared’s tone was flat, cold.

Magda twirled to face him, spluttering. “It’s natural for me to have an interest in a person who wishes to Bind with one of my vampires.”

“I’m not one of your vampires,” he objected through clenched teeth. “You may have Turned me, but I cut my ties with you a long time ago.”

She shook her head, looking almost desperate. “You’ll always be linked to me, Jared. Running away wasn’t going to get rid of it. Dim it, yes. But you’ll never get away from it.”

His words were quiet, but not soft. “Oh, but I will when I Bind with Sam. My blood-link with her will replace the one I have with you; you already know this.” In a blink, he was stood behind my chair with his hands on my shoulders.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “So get out.” To my surprise, she did.

Jared dragged me from the chair and pulled me against him. “You okay?”

“Agitated beyond belief,” I answered honestly, relaxing in his hold. “But this will all be worth it when she feels the link die. My conscience goes asleep when she’s around.” He didn’t smile as I’d thought he might. Instead he sighed, resting his forehead against mine.

“She’s only just getting started, Sam. This is just a taste of what you’ll have to deal with. I don’t want our time together being spoilt by her. I don’t want her causing problems for us.”

As I met his gaze, I realised something. “You’re waiting for me to leave you, aren’t you?” I knew why: it was hard to trust that someone you wanted so much could really want you back.

“I’m waiting for you to try. I won’t let you go.”

“There are only two people who have the power to mess this up. You and me. I have no intention of doing that and neither do you.”

“We’re tight, I know that. But she only needs one crack, Sam. One crack and she’s in.”

I smoothed my hands up and down his t-shirt. “And if she gets in, I’ll kill her. But the only way she can get in is if we aren’t as solid as we think we are. We could look at this as a test. If she manages to mess this up, it was never going to go the distance and the Binding would have been a mistake.”

He shook his head. “That’s a nice way of looking at it. But you’re wrong, baby. She’s poison, and it doesn’t matter how strong a person’s body is, poison can still have the intended effect. It can still hurt and it can still kill. Like I said, all she needs is one crack. One crack and that poison will get into our relationship and spread.”

“No.”

“She’s getting to you. If she gets to you badly enough, she’ll get in here” – he gently poked my temple – “and she’ll poison your mind. She can make you destroy what we have.”

“I’m too strong a person for her to do that.” Even I heard the doubt in my voice. With everything that was going on, I wasn’t at my strongest. Still, I insisted, “She can’t do that. It’s not possible.”

He gave me a gentle, sad smile. “Neither is a vampire becoming deformed or crazed.”

A knock on our office door was quickly followed by the entrance of Antonio, Luther, and Sebastian. I was glad. A distraction was just what both Jared and I needed right then.

Antonio gave me a soft smile. “How have you been?”

“No more pain, if that’s what you mean.”

“Good. You will both be glad to hear that my researchers were able to clear up the meaning of ‘Orrin’. As it turns out, Orrin is a Pagori vampire living in L.A. He is not a Master Vampire, but he has Sired a large number of vampires.” Antonio placed the folder of information on my desk. Inside it was a photograph of a blond, blue-eyed Pagori.

“That’s not either of the brothers,” I said.

“It’s possible that he does not know the brothers at all, that ‘Orrin’ isn’t a person and, instead, stands for something.”

“Still, it’s worth following this up.”

The grinding of Jared’s teeth was audible. “Sam, please don’t tell me that you think you’re going.”

I gave him a pointed look. “Jared, please don’t tell me that you’re going to be a prat.”

He cursed. “I don’t want you leaving The Hollow while you’re ill. Fuck Sam, vampires aren’t supposed to be ill.”

“I’m not ill, it’s just that my gifts are playing up.”

“And there’s the unbearable pain, remember. I don’t want you out there while you’re vulnerable.”

“Vulnerable to what? We’re just visiting a Pagori vampire in L.A, who may or may not be linked to the Brothers Grimm. Besides, I have Dexter.”

Antonio neatly stepped in. “Sam is right, Jared. This isn’t an assignment. You will simply be paying another vampire a friendly visit.”

Naturally Jared hadn’t been happy with that response, which was why he sulked the entire time we gathered the squad, and right up until we reached the gates of Orrin’s Spanish style duplex in L.A. Although we had taken the entire squad, we decided it would be best to leave most of them outside so that we didn’t appear threatening. As Antonio had said, this was supposed to be a social visit, nothing more.

Jared’s knock was answered by a large, sleazy-looking Pagori who I would bet had an affinity for banjos. He ran his gaze over Jared, myself, Max, Salem, and Denny, scowling. When his eyes focused again on Jared, he demanded, “Who the f**k are you?”

Ignoring his tone, Jared simply said, “I’m here to see Orrin.”

“And who—” Realisation must have dawned on him, because his eyes widened and he spluttered. “Jared…For a second there, I didn’t recognise you. Come in.”

Entering, we found ourselves in a small, bright hallway. Branching off it was a living area on our left side, and a dining area on our right side. In both rooms, a number of vampires were lazing. They tensed at the look of Jared, but bowed their heads respectfully.

Have you met any of them before? I asked Jared.

No. But they’ll recognise me as being the Heir. Antonio made sure that would be the case worldwide.

“I’m Rudy, by the way,” the large vampire informed us after chasing the vampires out of the dining room. “Take a seat. Can I get you anything before I go tell Orrin that you’re here?”

Jared shook his head. “No thanks.”

Rudy nodded and left the room.

No sooner had we all seated ourselves at the large, glass dining table than Rudy returned with the lanky, blond Pagori from the photograph. He wore a timid, shy smile as he walked toward us. He had an awkward way about him, much like one of those school geeks who totally lacked social skills. Not that my social skills were much better.

“Jared,” he greeted simply, shaking his hand. “A pleasure to meet you.”

Jared nodded. “Likewise. This is my fiancée, Sam, and three of my squad.”

Orrin must have looked at me a little longer than Jared was comfortable with, because he stiffened beside me. Personally, though, I didn’t feel that Orrin was ogling me. His gaze was studious, searching.

“It’s an honour to meet you all.” Having taken a seat directly opposite Jared, Orrin again smiled shyly. “I’m not in trouble, am I?”

Jared returned the grin. “No, nothing like that. I’m hoping that you can help us with something.”

Orrin suddenly looked eager, perhaps flattered that the Heir would come to him for any assistance.

“The Grand High Master is looking for a vampire with a certain set of skills. Namely, someone with the ability to alter DNA. But he needs one strong enough to alter the DNA of vampires. We know that one of your vampires has that gift. We’d like to borrow him for a short time.”

I thought that was quite clever of Jared. Vampires could be quite protective of those they had Turned. Therefore, if Jared had said that he wanted to punish any of them, Orrin would most likely have concealed their location.

Orrin scratched his nape. “I don’t have a vampire with a gift that strong. However…put him and his brother together and you have a force powerful enough to achieve that.”

“It requires two of them?”

“Yes. Quinn can manipulate DNA, and Wyatt has the capability to freeze and unfreeze things. Vampires are physically frozen in their development, but if Wyatt can very slightly affect that, it enables his brother to play with DNA.”

I hadn’t thought of that. “Where can we find them?”

Orrin’s expression was sheepish. “I’m afraid that’s something I can’t help you with. Once the Trent brothers realised how strong they were, they felt that they didn’t need their Sire or anyone else. They felt that they were quite capable of starting their own line. I heard that they were seen in Vegas a few days ago. I doubt it was really them, though. They prefer solitude.”

I strongly suspected that it had been them and that they were trying the trick of hiding in plain sight.

“Do you want me to have a few of my guys search for them?” Orrin seemed keen to help, clearly wanting to impress the Heir.

Jared waved a hand. “That’s not necessary. There are other vampires on the list that we can approach.” Very smart of Jared to not seem desperate. Besides, now that we knew their names and a little more about them – including where they were last seen – it was very possible that Sebastian could track them much faster than Orrin ever could. “Thanks for your time.”

Back at The Hollow, Jared and I relayed all of the information to Antonio. Going by the strain in his expression, I suspected that he was sincerely looking forward to getting a grip of the Trent brothers and making them pay for what they had done. Well he’d better get in line.

“Sebastian, I do not need to stress to you the importance of the brothers being found,” said Antonio. “Track them as best and as fast as you can, but do not act when you finally find them. Simply report back to me with their location.”

With a nod, the tracker left.

Antonio looked between Jared and I. “You should both go and get ready for tonight’s entertainment. We shall see you soon.”

Ah, yes, the Opera. So not my thing, but I was willing to keep an open mind.

I had expected to find Fletcher waiting outside my apartment with a shopping bag containing a revealing dress, as he normally was. Instead, I found Evan, smiling like the cat that got the cream. Nope, that wasn’t good.

CHAPTER EIGHT

(Sam)

I’d never liked those ‘I know something you don’t’ smiles, and I especially never liked them when they belonged to Evan. He was a great bloke and all that, but he was also a sneaky bugger. I immediately narrowed my eyes.

Jared, who knew his brother well enough to know what that look meant, groaned. “Okay, what did you do?”

Evan shrugged innocently. “Who says I’ve done anything?”

“Spill it.”

“Bro,” whined Evan, putting a hand to his chest. “I’m hurt that you’re so suspicious. Secrets aren’t always bad secrets.” He looked to me for some kind of character back-up.

“Yeah, I’m with Jared on this one, Ev. It’s never good when you’re smiling like that.”

He seemed delighted rather than offended. “Ready for your Binding gift?” he asked me.

“Should I be worried about what it is?”

“You’re going to love it.”

Jared shook his head at his twin. “Do I at least get to come and see this gift that’s supposed to be for both of us?”

A little patronisingly, Evan patted him on the back. “Sure. You’ll love it too, because it’s work-related. But it’s mainly for Sam.” He peered down at my feet. “Oh good, you’re wearing cross trainers.”