I Bite She Sucks Bloom, Penelope (howl and other poems TXT) 📖

but Henry took it on officially to thumb his nose at them."

Faraday grinned as he talked about Henry, and I gathered he had a fondness for the memory.

"Do students take classes here?" I asked.

"They do indeed. We have two hundred and twelve students at the present. That's including the two we lost last month when they ran afoul of the Brittlebark pack while on a school trip to the Alpines."

"What?" I asked.

Riggs grinned. "Brittlebarks are nasty bastards. They've got strict traditions, and it doesn't take much to bring them to violence. Vamps probably didn't bother looking into it before they made some offense."

"The vamps were two lovely young girls I was fond of. And they made an honest mistake that cost them their lives, Mr. Riggs. I'd appreciate if you didn't speak ill of the dead in my presence."

"I'd appreciate if we didn't need to be in each other's presence, too," Riggs said.

I had enjoyed his ornery nature with Victor, but I kind of liked this Faraday man. I elbowed Riggs in his ribs. "Behave," I whispered.

"The young woman could be a good influence on you, if you let her," Faraday noted. We had reached the fourth floor and he was now showing us down a long, carpeted hallway. "It's not common for your kind to take human mates, correct?"

"She's not my mate," Riggs said.

"He’s acting as my bodyguard," I explained. "And he thinks he's going to extort some wild amount of money out of me when this is all over for his services."

"Ah," Faraday said, nodding. "Werewolves have an unfortunate love for siphoning money and favors out of those in need, don’t they?”

“Better than blood,” Riggs growled.

Faraday smiled, unbothered by Riggs’ attitude. It seemed like the vampires almost expected him to be this way, because his grumpiness hardly faze them. Or maybe that’s just how vampires were—hard to irritate.

Faraday dug out the keys to a door and unlocked it. “You’ll have to excuse the lack of space. Your fellows have taken the other two rooms and Mr. Felix assured me you would be happy to share this room with your friend here.”

“Uh,” I started. “I don’t know if that’s the best idea. Could-”

“We’ll handle it amongst ourselves. You can leave us.”

Faraday swung the door open and gestured for us to enter. “Oh. Before I leave you two. There are just a few ground rules here at Blackridge. Nobody is allowed access to the second floor. Those are the private chambers of Victor and his inner council. You must also avoid the student dormitories on the third floor. Otherwise, feel free to explore the grounds as you like. And Mr. Riggs, I must warn that we will not tolerate violence under any circumstance.”

“If one of your vamps touches Sylvie, I won’t care what you tolerate.”

“I assure you,” Faraday said. “Our students, staff, and friends will have no reason to act against you.”

Faraday closed the door, and Riggs ripped off his jacket, tossing it on the bed.

I spread my arms, spinning a slow circle to take in the room. It looked like the sort of place an eighteenth-century writer would give her left kidney to come to and compose a masterpiece. There was beautiful wood everywhere from the moldings around the ceiling to the endless bookshelves and the huge bed in the center of it all. It was like a house all on its own, and I suddenly felt less worried about sharing it with Riggs.

“Isn’t this gorgeous?” I asked.

“Sure,” Riggs said. He sank into a claw-footed chair, curling his lip as he took it all in. “When you use your powers to oppress, manipulate, and kill humans for endless generations, you can afford some nice decorations.”

I crossed my arms. “Would you give them a chance? I realize I know basically nothing, here. But if these rebels are opposing the Coven, doesn’t that at least give you something in common?”

“These fuckers took my sister. A vamp is a vamp, and I don’t particularly care what their political affiliation is.”

“Yeah,” I said, suddenly feeling my bright excitement dim. “And my sister is one of them too. Just when I start thinking you might not be so bad you talk about them like they’re animals again. It’s ugly. You know that, right?” I was breathing hard and hadn’t realized how much I was already bottling up my thoughts on his vampire hatred after less than a week.

“You’ve known vampires exist for six days. Give it some time, then try to tell me I should go easier on them. Deal?”

“Yeah, deal. Asshole,” I murmured under my breath. “I’m going to take a shower.”

Riggs waved his hand dismissively. He was slumped in the chair with his legs spread and his chin resting on his fist.

Good, I thought. The man seriously needed a brooding session. I just hoped he’d use some of that dark energy to think about what an insufferable ass he was being.

24

Riggs

I waited for Sylvie to sleep and for morning to come before I quietly left our room. One advantage of being in vamp hell was that their world shut down at the crack of dawn. Some of the most powerful vamps could move around during the day, but it was rare enough that I could afford to trust a locked door to keep Sylvie safe for an hour or two.

Felix met me in the smoking room, which was a tapestry-lined room full of armchairs, thick rugs, and forest green walls.

He was sitting in one of the chairs looking exhausted. Felix was a big bastard, and he was as reliable as my old truck. If you told him to get something done, he’d do it. It might not happen as fast as you’d like or with as much finesse, but he’d make it happen.

Sure enough, he’d found a way to keep Maisey safe, but I still wasn’t sure I liked where it led us.

“This is a shit fest,” I grumbled. I was wandering around the room, restlessly yanking on things and prodding