Horace dodged the decanter. It shattered on the fireplace behind him, raining glass and spirits. The fire belched, and Horace jumped violently. All vampires had a horror of fire.
“You don’tthink,” Laurent said, pointing at him. “You aren’t here tothink.Ithink, and then you do as I say, or I disembowel you and stake you out for the dawn. Is that clear, Horace?”
“Y-Yes, Laurent.” Horace went paler, if that were possible.
Laurent yanked on the bell pull of the townhouse for a restorative. Afterwards, they could clean up the mess. But the person through the door wasn’t a maid.
“Laurent! Have you heard?” Oxley demanded, his eyes shining red. The door rebounded back against the wall and nearly clipped him.
“Have I heard what?” Laurent ground out.
“Well, you see, I was down in the Ossuary because I felt it was my duty to check on my progeny, and monstrous rank it was, too?—”
“Get to the point, Oxley.” The man was a born and bred bootlicker, and Laurent would’ve stricken him from his circle years ago if he did not possess an uncanny ability to find himself in the middle of gossip.
“Kendrick was down there?—”
“Don’t tell me you tried to put a knife in his back?” Laurent laughed. The very idea was ridiculous. Oxley had the backbone of jelly.
Oxley turned the shade of bleached parchment. “Lud, no!”
“Pity. I might’ve been rid of the both of you.” Laurent turned away.
“He was with Genevieve!”
“Hewhat?” Laurent swung on Oxley and seized him by the lapels.
“S-She was leading him around, s-showing him the Ossuary rabble…demmed near swung that monstrous sword at me when all I was doing was checking on my vassals!”
Laurent released his hold.
Oxley scuttled backwards and brushed ineffectually at his coat. “A fellow tries to tell a friend the news and gets treated like this…” he muttered.
Laurent held up a hand for silence and Oxley nearly swallowed his tongue. Gnashing his fangs in thought, Laurent turned the problem over in his mind.
Genevieve, his longtime plaything, was attempting to influence the new master. He had enjoyed toying with her over the years, forced as she was to obey him. How she had hated that! He had gained the sweetest pleasure from commanding her and watching her writhe under the weight of his metaphorical boot. So much more entertaining than puppeteering vampires of his own blood, like her little friend.
Genevieve and Elspeth had slipped his mind, focused on Kendrick as he had been. But now… his lip curled. Genevieve had not slunk off into the dark when her leash to Bacchus had been cut. She was still here, whispering in Kendrick’s ear. He could only imagine what she had to say—she was always entirely too mouthy for her own good, and she had a puritanical, do-gooder spirit. She was probably wheedling her way into his good graces to make himcarefor the rabble.
Laurent recalled the pathetic times she had tried to defy him or protect others from his displeasure, and the satisfaction he had gotten from punishing her for it. Though… she had been the only one to ever attempt defiance. He sneered.
She wouldn’t succeed in her little quest, of course…but it would be wise to have eyes on the situation. She must not be left to her own devices, especially if she was still trying to stand up to him. He’d show her, and Kendrick, what he did with those who got above themselves.
“I think I must question my dear, dear girl Elspeth,” Laurent mused to Horace and Oxley. “It’s been…far too long. But in the meantime, this is what I want you to do about our newmaster…”
ChapterFourteen
“Ah! MacPherson, just the man I was looking for,” Kendrick called the next evening.
Robbie MacPherson’s brows shot up in surprise. He stepped away from the huddle of men to whom he had been speaking and bowed.
“Are you sure you know what it is you do?” Etienne murmured beside Kendrick.
“No, but I know it needs to be done,” he said as they made their way towards the Scotsman. “MacPherson, you know Etienne?”
“Aye,” Robbie said as the two shook hands companionably. “Good evening to you both.”
“And you as well,” Kendrick said. “MacPherson, was Miss Dryden correct when she said you knew everyone in the Ossuary?”
