“I just didn’t think you had any loyalty in you, is all.”
The gnome had made a habit of being as snappish and difficult as possible the few timesI’d seen him. He’d also made no secret how much he disliked vampires in general, and me in particular. Evidently, he blamed me for getting the courier job he felt should have gone to his nephew.
“You don’t know anything about me,” he snapped.
“I could claim the same about me.”
His frown was grudging, as if he might concede that point if he’d been a different, less difficult man.“I don’t have to justify myself to you, but if you had even a little bit of loyalty to Jerry or any of Hermes, you’d let me go.”
I cocked my head.“Is this about the fact that Niamh has enslaved him to her will?”
Shock crossed his face.“How do you know about that?”
I gave a small snort.
He turned suspicious.“She’s got her hooks in you too.”
I couldn’t help the guffaw that escaped.
He didn’t look appeased, his eyes narrowed as he tensed as if in preparation for flight.
My laughter wound down.“No more games. Tell me why you’re here.”
“I’m interested to hear that myself,” Liam said in a silky voice full of threat as he stepped out of the trees.
Tom blanched, the presence of the other vampire doing what all my threats could not. His bravado drained away, leaving behind exhaustion and defeat.
“I was just trying to help Jerry,” he whined.
“How?” I asked.
His shoulders slumped.“It’s the hunt. Who do you think she’s going to use as prey?”
I considered. Maybe I wasn’t the only one who’d received the half mark. That didn’t make me much happier than the thought of me being prey.
“I know you don’t like me much,” he said, misreading my silence.“But Jerry gave you a home. He and the others don’t deserve to be hunted down like animals for their amusement.”
There was a world of loathing when he referred to the High Fae. Hate showed on his face, the type that went right into the very heart of a person. It was the sort of emotion that could rot you from the inside out if you let it, festering and growing until it consumed you and led you down some very dark paths.
“How were you going to do that?” I asked.
He shrugged.“I thought if I knocked him unconscious and carried him away it would remove him from the hunt.”
I stared at the being who stood no higher than my hips. Jerry was even taller than I was. How exactly had Tom planned to knock out a man when he could barely reach above the man’s knee?
My skepticism must have shown on my face because he bristled.“I could do it.”
“Uh huh.” My voice didn’t sound very certain.
“It wouldn’t work,” Liam said crisply.“The hunt would have just eliminated him first before going after the rest of the marked prey.”
“How do you know that?” Tom asked, giving Liam a sideways look.
Liam arched an eyebrow and gave him an unamused smile.“Because I used to run with the hunt.”
Both of us jerked toward Liam, surprise on my face, a sick horror on Tom’s.
He scrambled away from us. I lunged after him and grabbed his pants.
