Brax was shaking his head before I even finished speaking. “No. I don’t want you reviewing anything without one of us with you in case you get it in your head to hold something back.”
Too late for that. I’d already discovered a semi clue and not one of them had picked up on it. Vampire one, super sniffer zero.
“Come on, you,” Sondra said, pausing by me.
I grumbled under my breath but stood. What was I supposed to do for the next few hours? Their paranoia was costing me valuable time.
Sondra led me through the house, heading for the second floor instead of the basement as I’d expected. The rooms had a homey, warm feel, decorated for comfort rather than style. Everything had an easy charm. It made you want to take a seat and relax.
Where the downstairs had an almost masculine feel, the bedroom Sondra led me to had a much more feminine spin to it, filled with lace and flowers. The room was pretty and had that delicate sort of look that made you feel like you might break something if you breathed on it too hard.
“You can get a bath or shower in there,” Sondra said, pointing to a door. “The windows have silver bars on them, and the door has been reinforced so don’t even think of trying to escape. If we find you outside this room, we will attack. If you’re lucky, you might get away with a missing limb, though I doubt it. Our guys have a tendency to kill first and eat the evidence after.”
That was a nice visual. I wondered how many times she had given this speech.
“You sure you don’t want a bite,” she asked, lifting her wrist again.
I wrinkled my nose. I needed to eat but still wasn’t sure I wanted to risk the consequences a bite might entail. I also didn’t know if I could stop myself once I got started. My hunger had only grown over the last few hours. Being in the same room with all that gloriously alive blood rushing just beneath an easily penetrable surface had been pure temptation.
“I’ll take a mug of that blood from earlier,” I said.
She sighed and shook her head. “You have to be the weirdest vamp I’ve ever met. Most would be falling all over themselves to get a sip of a willing werewolf.”
“Guess I’m just special,” I said.
“I’ll send someone up with what you need. Meanwhile make sure to get a shower. Werewolf noses are extremely sensitive.”
I sniffed my clothes discretely. There was no smell that I could discern.
Left alone, I did as she suggested. It had been two days since I last had a chance to shower. I was looking forward to getting clean.
The water felt amazing as it washed over my skin. A warm bath or shower at the end of a long day had always been an almost decadent pleasure when I was alive. With my heightened senses, the experience was nearly sinful.
I resisted the temptation to linger, not wanting to miss the knock in case my meal arrived. A bathrobe hung off a hook next to the shower. It was one of the ones you’d find in really nice hotels, long and comfortable and soft to the touch. I put it on, giving my discarded clothes a look of disgust. The bike pants and warm top would have been perfect for biking around the city if Jerry hadn’t given me Cherry. They’d been slightly less perfect the second day of wear, and I was glad to be out of them.
I would have to put them on soon, but for now I just enjoyed being clean and wrapped tight in a comfortable robe. Maybe the wolves would do me a favor and wash my clothes during the day.
A small piece of worry bit at me over Cherry’s fate. I couldn’t remember if the place I parked had a time limit before towing. Jerry would probably have a fit if he found out his baby had been dragged around by her bumper.
Drying my hair with one of the towels, I walked into the bedroom. Sondra hadn’t been lying about the windows being barred from the outside. I slid open the window and examined them closer. Remembering what she’d said about silver, I wrapped the towel I’d been using around one of the bars, giving it an experimental yank. Even through the cloth, I could feel a slight burn from the metal. It was pointless anyway. The bars didn’t budge, remaining firmly in place.
No way was I getting out of this. Even if I could somehow escape, I had nowhere to go. There wouldn’t be enough time to make it back to the city on foot. I’d be forced to take shelter out in the open and hope there was something I could use to shield myself from the sun.
I stepped back and frowned at the windows in dismay. They were covered in a lacy curtain. Even shutting the blinds wouldn’t be enough protection.
A knock came at the door mere moments before it opened. A young man, one I hadn’t met yet, came in, avoiding my gaze and setting a mug on the antique desk next to the door.
He nodded at me and turned to go.
“Wait, I can’t stay here,” I said.
The door closed before I could get any further.
“Damn it.”
It was an effort not pound on the door in frustration. Swiping the mug off the desk, I turned back to the room, sipping on my meal while I thought. The two windows were big, running nearly the length of the wall. Each had a small recessed alcove with cushy pillows on them. The windows were tall, almost reaching the ceiling, but narrow. The problem was the furniture wasn’t nearly big enough to block them. The bathroom was also no good, as it had a small window as well.
My eyes landed on the closet.
