Hard Bitten - Chloe Neill [33]
“I’m surprised he’s not staying here if he wants to keep an eye on things.”
Ethan scoffed. “The largest room we have available is the consort suite, and Darius’s taste runs to something larger—and more refined.”
I hadn’t developed much respect for the GP in the relatively few months I’d been a vampire; this info wasn’t doing much for my impression of Darius West, either.
Now that he’d explained the furniture shenanigans, it was time to give Ethan a second dose of fun news. I gestured toward Helen and her helpers. “Can I speak to you privately?”
“To discuss?”
“House business.”
He glanced up, meeting my gaze for a moment while gauging my request. “Helen,” he said, his eyes still on me, “could you give us a moment?”
“Of course.” With a smile, she closed her binder. With a twirl of her hand, she rounded up her assistant and the movers.
“You have the floor,” he said when the office door closed behind them.
“First matter of business, my father wants to involve you in some kind of investment. Feel free to call him back or not; I only promised that I’d tell you about it.”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “That explains his chipperness at Creeley Creek.”
“My thoughts exactly. As for the other Creeley Creek business, I visited the Ombud’s office. They haven’t heard any chatter about violent episodes.” I steeled my will and offered up the lie I’d prepared. “Since we’ve suspected the raves are operated by Rogues, I called Noah.”
Ethan paused, probably debating whether it was worth the trouble to scold me for making a call to the leader of the Rogue vampires without his permission. But after a moment, he relented. “Good thinking.”
It was a lie, is what it was. And that did not sit well in my stomach or heart. But it had to be done.
“He called a few minutes ago,” I added. “He was flashmobbed a time and place for some sort of event tonight.”
“A rave?”
I shrugged. “He doesn’t know. He only got time and place. A high-rent place in Streeterville. Two a.m.”
Ethan pushed back his shirtsleeve and glanced down at his watch. “That’s not much time. And with Darius coming in, I can’t go, and I can’t spare any guards.”
“I know. Noah volunteered to go with me.”
Ethan watched me for a minute. We’d usually, by circumstance, ended up on our various adventures together. This would be a first for me—an escapade with another vampire.
“I’m not crazy about this idea,” he said.
“If Tate’s information is correct, we’re looking at something bigger and nastier than raves—maybe something the raves are evolving into. We have to figure out what it is. If we don’t, you’ll be wearing an orange jumpsuit.”
“I know.” He picked up a black pencil and tapped it absently on the desk before gazing up at me with translucently green eyes. “You’ll be careful?”
“I have no interest in ending up on the wrong end of an aspen stake,” I promised. “And besides, I took two oaths to serve your House. It wouldn’t exactly be kosher of me to skip out just because I was afraid.”
His expression softened sympathetically. “Are you?”
“I prefer to avoid violence.”
“I know the feeling.”
At the sudden knock on the door, we both looked up. Two vamps, unescorted by Helen, stood in the doorway, sharing the weight of a massive marble pedestal.
I glanced at Ethan, eyebrow lifted.
“It belonged to Peter Cadogan,” he dryly explained. “We’ve had it in storage, but Helen thought it would add verve to the room.”
“Far be it from me to disagree.”
“We can move this in?” one of the vamps asked.
Ethan waved them in. “Of course. Thank you.” As they scurried across the floor, marble in hand, he glanced back at me. “Good luck tonight. Report when you’re back.”
With that, he looked down at his papers, excusing me from his office.
It took me a moment to turn around and head for the door again. It was not that I’d expected a teary goodbye, but we had become de facto partners. I could understand his reticence to talk about raves