Yeah, yeah. He got me to do things his way again. His day was coming. I just had to figure out his weakness. We’d see whose way we followed then.
“Just get on with it. This isn’t my only stop tonight.”
“I assumed from my conversation with Jerry that this matter would have your full attention until its completion.”
I bit down on the response about assumptions and concentrated on keeping all snarky comments locked inside. He was a client now, even if I’d rather stab him in the eye than work for him. Didn’t matter anymore. I wouldn’t act unprofessional just because I’d rather endure another bout of sun therapy than deal with vampire stuff.
“You’ll have to take that up with him. I don’t decide the assignments.”
He frowned at me. I gave him the expression I used to give my commanding officer when they were being ridiculous. It was a combination of ‘I’m too dumb to understand what you’re saying’ and ‘I can’t even fathom why you’re asking this of me.’ In my experience, people either got really pissed or they left me alone because they figured it’d be a waste of time dealing with my level of obstinateness. Sometimes it was a little of both.
He didn’t have either of those reactions, just settled back in his seat and watched me with an unamused expression.
I slurped at my milkshake and was gratified when the skin around his eyes tightened.
“You going to tell me why I’m here?”
He sighed. “You’re like a child.”
Insults. I’d better be getting paid for this.
“Anything you say, grandpa.”
His huff sounded almost like a growl this time. I smothered my smile, feeling a small thrill of victory that I was getting to him. He looked so serious. He needed to loosen up a bit, even if it was at his own expense.
“I’ve called you here to hire you for a job. It’s for a sensitive matter.”
That wasn’t cryptic or anything.
“Oh?”
“There is about to be a conclave for a new leader of these territories.”
My interest sharpened. This was the first I was hearing about any of this.
Our primary job was to act as messengers, picking up and delivering what our clients wanted. The other part of the job, the one that didn’t have a formal definition, was to act as news distributers. We were the gossips that held this shadow world together. After all, the news sites weren’t reporting when the dryads and the nyads had a throw down, drag out brawl at Griggs Reservoir or whether the necromancer’s had managed to put down that zombie outbreak in the old graveyard near the river.
We would have heard news of this magnitude.
The sound he made was full of frustration as he ran his fingers through his hair, leaving it sticking up. It gave him a slightly rumpled look that would have been adorable if he wasn’t a sanctimonious jerk.
“This would be so much easier if you knew anything about our world.”
And whose fault was that? “Sorry that I’m so uninformed. It’s too bad my sire ran off and his stand in took a vacation before he could teach me anything.”
“I’ve already apologized for that.”
“And yet you’re holding my lack of knowledge against me when you’re the one who dropped the ball.”
“If you would just join a clan.”
“That will not happen. Drop it and move on.”
I’m sure the glare he shot me had quelled many a more dangerous foe with its subzero temperature, but I just lifted an eyebrow and took another bite of my fry.
“There are four applicants for the position, all of whom will do anything they can to obtain it. It is the most powerful position in this part of the country and the fifth most powerful in North America. Whoever succeeds in the nomination will have full power over those who live in their territory.”
Wait up, that sounded like he thought anybody living in the territory would owe fealty or something. Like this was feudal England or something.
