Eiji bowed slightly.“Thank you, Grayson.”
He did not askhowGrayson would accomplish this orwhyGrayson had the ability to ensure that certain Ashyr Vampires would be in touch with him.He clearly knew that Grayson was more than he seemed or not what he seemed at all.Just like Eiji could play the doting grandfather on Mairead and really be a yakuza boss.
“Thank you, Eiji.”Grayson rose.“We will speak more soon.”
Both of them gave half bows.Grayson left Eiji with his tea and book.He rinsed out the glass bottle that had held his grapefruit juice and with a final deep breath, he left the comforts of his room and then the dorm.Rachel was already waiting for him outside.He’d wondered if he was going to have to contact her, but there she was. Nearly a foot and a half shorter than he was and one quarter his size, she could still be confused with the school girl she’d been not that long ago.
She held a tablet tightly against her chest and she had a purse thrown over her left shoulder that she tucked against her side.She wore a conservative blue pants suit and discrete makeup with kitten-heeled pumps.
“Grayson!”She called to him, lifting her other hand as if this was in a press briefing, trying to get called upon.
She wasn’t the only one waiting outside.There were quite a few Vampires that were hanging about, looking up at this window or that, clearlywaitingfor a favorite human to wake.He noted Dani, too, was waiting for him.She stepped out of the shadows the moment that Rachel called his name.His eyes met Dani’s.There was a question in hers: did he want her to waylay this reporter?
Tempting.
“Rachel, could you hold on a minute?I just need to speak to someone,” Grayson said as he smoothly turned from her to Dani.
“Why is a reporter stalking you?”Dani asked as he led her ten feet away.
“She’s an old friend… of Grayson’s,” he explained, feeling strange speaking of himself and yet not himself in the third person.
Dani’s brow knitted together.“And do you want to see this old friend?”
“Not really, no, but I promised Ryder I would.She knows Grayson’s…mymother,” Grayson explained.
“This seems like an emotionally loaded conversation that you are going to have with her.Forgive me for asking, but are you up for it?”Dani studied his face.
“Not really, but I never will be,” he admitted.“Better to get it over with.”
“Kaito and I will follow, but keep a discrete distance,” she said.
“Actually, I’d like you to speak to Eiji Goda about joining our Bloodline,” Grayson said.
Her eyebrows rose and a smile curled her lips.“You already have found us a fledgling?”
“I think so.He’s a yakuza boss.I’m sure there’s a whole file on him that Balthazar prepared,” he said.“He’d be perfect, I think.”
She nodded.“I will speak with him.”
“Good.I should go.I’ll talk to you later,” he said.
“If you need me, Master, do not hesitate to indicate it and I will come,” she told him.
“I appreciate that.I may take you up on it.”He drew in a deep breath and gave her a smile before going back to Rachel who waited anxiously.
She reminded him of a pent up ball of energy as she constantly shifted her bag, her tablet or twisted her hair.She was nervous too, but the bright smile indicated that she really was happy to see him.His own memories of her were vague.It wasn’t just because as Grayson he’d sought to forget everything about his past, but because the more he became Ashyr, the more Grayson’s brief life receded in the distance.He assumed the memories would return if he needed them.
“Where would you like to go?”he asked her.
“There’s a coffee shop on the next street over.”She indicated with a tip of her head.
“There is?”Grayson’s eyebrows rose.
“They’ve kept you busy so you might not yet have realized they’ve made Nightvallen quite a little city.Coffee shops.Restaurants.Bars.Clothing stores.Art galleries and the best, coziest book shop I’ve ever seen,” she gushed at the end.
“A book shop?”His own eyes lit up with interest.
The library had been a place of refuge for him when he’d been homeless.It was warm and safe.He could curl in a corner and sleep or read and forget everything that was happening in his life.The librarians were kind.One had brought in an extra sandwich and chips every day.She kept claiming that she overpacked her lunch, her eyes were bigger than her stomach, when she’d share them with him.
