Hm. Fair point. And if he’s already got a young vampire picked out for this week, I need to get them out of the way and put myself in their place, which is another complication.
“Okay,” I say, sitting up properly. “I need to… I need to see if he’s alone. If he’s looking. Not just at me, but in general. If he’s alone, I need to attract his attention.”
“Maurice said the vampire who came to Njáll had little experience interacting with Jakob himself. All he knows is that Jakob appears to be the oldest and most powerful vampire here and that he flaunts that power.”
“How many vampires are here?”
“I do not know,” Vlad says, but his voice is troubled in a way I don’t like.
“Right. Powerful. Old.” I jump to my feet and pace the small patch of carpet at the bottom of the bed. “He’s not going to be able to sense my power, most likely, but I’ll do my best to keep it under wraps anyway. He’ll be able to tell I’m young. How can I draw him in?”
The once-over Vlad gives me is almost approving. “He likes the look of these vampires, we know that. All these vampires will have been older than you, to be out of their bloodlust and interacting with others.”
“So, play that up?”
“Not enough that he has questions.”
“Right, right.” I rub my forehead. “Get his attention. Play into his type. You really think I’ll find out the name of the fae tonight?”
“Unlikely. Tonight is about laying the groundwork and ensuring that Jakob’s attention is on you as his next target.” The final few words come out through clenched teeth.
“Nothing’s going to happen to me.”
“I know.”
“You won’t let it.”
“Iknowthat.”
“And I can handle it too, you know. I can do this.”
Vlad sighs. “I know you will try.”
Rude. But fine, I get it. “What are you going to do while I try to attract Jakob’s attention?”
“I will also be in the club. I will use my blessing to make it appear as though I am human.”
“You’ll be in there? Vlad…”
“I am not letting you out of my sight. This is your first time on a job, Grant, and even if you had asked me years from now and I had been convinced this was a good idea, this would never be the first night of a job I would have asked of you. I am not going to risk you when it is likely he may not do more than look at you tonight.”
I huff. It’s not often Vlad cracks out more than a couple of sentences, so I might as well take him seriously. Besides, we said we’d communicate. I need to do that.
“Okay. But you’ll stay out of the way? I mean it. I might do things you wouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean you need to intervene.”
“I understand.”
Thatone I’m not sure about, but I let it lie.
“All right. Ready to go?”
As it turns out, he isn’t, so I lounge around the room, texting Quinn until Vlad changes into a slightly different shirt-and-trousers combo and styles his hair. Well, he ties it back at the top in a kind of half ponytail that is, frankly, really fucking hot.
Oh, God. Will he take it out before we go to bed in the morning or am I going to have to try to somehow sleep next to him while he’s shirtlessandhis hair is like—
“Let’s go,” Vlad says, snapping me out of a dangerous fantasy. Got to get my head on straight. I need to do this. It’s not just about proving myself. I need to help these young vampires.
We walk a couple of streets together, but Vlad ushers me off to the club as he ducks into an alley to adjust his blessing so that he’ll appear human to the people inside. Will that work on the fae? I suppose it doesn’t matter that much. Once we’ve found out who she is, the Huntsman can take care of throwing her back through the veil, I guess.
