“I had fun as well.”
“As far as the VGO, nobodysendsme anywhere. There are only a handful of members I take orders from, and they’re ancient and mostly stay out of our affairs.”
“More ancient than you?”
“Easy. You make me feel old,” he said with a chuckle, as if he’s hobbling around with a cane and a long white beard.
Before I could stop myself, I quipped, “You mean you don’t take orders from Serena?”
Mentally, I slapped myself on the forehead. I’d been so good up to that point. I hadn’t mentioned Robert or Serena once.
He snorted. “Uh, no.No way.”
His reaction was odd, as if he couldn’t fathom something so ridiculous. “Oh, not a fan? But she was so lovely when I met her,” I said, knowing he’d remember how awful she’d been to me during my visit to the VGO headquarters.
“If by lovely you mean horrible, then yes,” he said. “You didn’t hear it from me, but Serena is on her way out.”
I couldn’t believe Joseph would divulge such clandestine information to me, a humble human. Then again, it didn’t sound as if he had too many vamps to answer to, so he could pretty much say whatever he wanted, couldn’t he?
“What do you mean, on her way out?” Could it have something to do with Robert?
“I mean that Serena’s going to be invited to leave us.” He’d said ‘invited’ sarcastically, the subtext clear.She’ll leave or the VGO will throw her out on her ass.
“Why?”
“Vampire stuff—politics. She’s aggravated the wrong members.”
“She did seem kind of . . . prickly.” That was my polite way of saying she was a raging bitch.
“Most vampires are prickly, Olivia,” he joked. “Serena has no respect for her position. She’s dishonored our organization one too many times. We have traditions and rules for a reason, but she’s ignored them all, as if they don’t apply to her.” Now he was venting. Joseph was evidently one of the wrong members she’d aggravated.
“So, when are you going to tell her she’s out?” Man, how I’d love to be there for that. Bitch stole my man.
“That’s the problem we’re having, Olivia,” Joseph said. “Nobody knows where she is.”
I sat up straight. “What do you mean? Like,right nowyou don’t know where she is? At this moment?”
“No,” Joseph said slowly. “We haven’t seen Serena in almost a month. She’s vanished. We’re not sure if she’s gone into hiding or . . . What is it?”
“Joseph,” I said, fighting to keep my voice even. “I think I have some information you need to know.”
14
Joseph was asking a lot of questions about Robert’s fangs. I wanted to tell him to screw the fangs and focus on Robert and Serena’s illicit affair, but I could hardly get a word in edgewise.
“So, walk me through this again,” he commanded, his steely gaze fixed on my face. “You went to pick up Robert’s fangs from your ex, who stole them from Robert, but then he was murdered.”
I sighed in exasperation. “That’s right. And the fangs were gone; the police looked everywhere for them.”
“Then, when you came home, Robert was gone, too.”
“Yes. The house was also a little messed up. I forgot to tell you that part.”
Joseph leaned closer to me on the sofa. “Elaborate.”
I shrugged. “There was no blood or anything. A couple things had been overturned. It was nothing major.”
“But his phone was still here?” he asked, and I nodded. “Then, you called your friend Liz, and she?—”
