Chapter Fourteen
Skye stepped out into the well lit hallway and squinted. Being in near complete darkness for so long had messed with her. Theo steadied her as followed her out of the room. The guy who’d unlocked the door was well over six foot tall and bigger than any guy she’d ever seen in real life, in a bulging mass of muscles kind of way. Theo was movie star hot, with a body that looked like he hit the gym three times a day. This guy was terrifying. He looked like he could snap a person in half with his little finger. She kept a few steps back as he walked them along the corridor.
She’d overhead that the man who might kill them was gone, but that he was coming back, and worse, he’d locked the whole place down. There was no escape. But there was time to figure out some way out of this, for both of them. She glanced at Theo. He put on a smile for her benefit when she caught his eye. He seemed even more handsome in the normal lighting. He wasn’t quite six foot tall, but he was more than a few inches taller than her 5’6” frame.
“So why is this happening, exactly?” She felt she had to ask.
Theo was the one to answer, “We don’t know. Mr. McIntosh is unpredictable. He does these things for a reason, but we rarely seem to find out what that reason is before it’s too late.”
Ominous. She shivered as she followed the body-builder up a carpeted set of stairs.
“I want my shoes back, and my bag.” She half wished she had a jacket to add to that list of demands too now. It seemed a little bit nippy outside of the room.
“You look cold,” Theo said.
“I might be,” she said, shrugging.
He stopped walking. “I’ll be right back.”
She watched him run back down the hall. The body-builder turned and she shrugged at him, kind of wishing Theo hadn’t left her alone with the guy. He glanced down the hallway, shaking his head.
“The reception is just through these doors.” He headed up the rest of the stairs.
She looked back before she followed him, slowly.
He held the door open for her and she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the plush looking reception area and the ordinary looking girl with poker straight dark brown hair standing behind the front desk.
“Please, tell me you’re human,” she asked her.
The girl smiled. “Got it in one.” Her gaze drifted to the huge vampire and Skye caught a strange mix of fear and adoration in her eyes before she got her focus back.
“So what are you doing here?” Skye had to wonder.
“I kind of work here,” she said, holding her hand out as Skye approached the desk. “Stacy.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Skye.”
She nodded. “I heard. This is Shayne.” She nodded to the body-builder vampire.
“I assume you want these back?” She passed the bag and Skye’s trusty wedges over.
“Yes! Oh, thank you. I’m so glad I have these back.” She felt one step closer to getting out of the insane situation as she slipped her feet into her comfiest shoes.
Theo’s return surprised her, because not only had he covered up with a shirt, he had a leather jacket in his hand that was apparently for her.
She let him put it over her shoulders. The lining was cool against her skin, but she knew it would warm her up in no time as she slipped her arms into the sleeves. It had an inner pocket that was just big enough to squeeze her little clutch purse in to so she didn’t have to carry it.
“Thanks,” she told him.
He nodded slightly before he turned to Stacy and Shayne.
“We need a plan.”
Stacy jerked back as the scary-big vampire moved behind the desk. The hurt in his eyes didn’t linger long, but it was visible enough to notice. Skye glanced at Stacy but the girl was too busy averting her gaze and fidgeting next to the vampire. She was stuck where she was between the vampire and the desk, close enough to touch, and apparently it was freaking her the hell out.
Skye found herself smiling. How could a girl who worked in a place full of vampires be afraid of them? There was something about this one too, some weird energy between them that she was guessing came from an attraction that might be one sided. Or not. She’d have to watch the guy more closely to figure that out.
He cleared his throat and looked up. “There’s an emergency exit out through the basement level, but we’re not sure if it might be a trap.”
“Does he know about it?” Theo asked, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.
“Brody created it, so he shouldn’t.” He shook his head. “We can’t know for sure. He always seems to be a step ahead in these situations.”
“Marina,” Stacy breathed, glancing at the vampire briefly before dropping her gaze.
Shayne nodded. “That would be a prime example. It may even be the reason for the lock-down.”
“Um, can someone clue me in to what’s going on, exactly?” Skye asked, wishing she didn’t feel so out of the loop.
“Marina would be one of the vampires Brody is close with,” Theo told her.
“You could say she’s the one he’s closest to,” Stacy added.
“So, he found out about her, or something?” Skye tried to understand what was going on.
Theo nodded. “It would make sense.” He turned to Stacy. “Still, if there’s a way to get Skye out of here before he comes back, I want to know about it.”
“There’s always blood magic, if anyone around here knows how to use it,” Stacy said, shrugging her shoulders.
The body-builder shook his head. “Brody, but we can’t reach him.”
“What’s the worst this guy could do?” Skye had to wonder. The atmosphere in the room was tense, and she was getting more and more nervous the longer they talked. “Would he burn this place down?”
They all shook their heads. Theo turned to her, “It’s a family business. Brody runs this place since his dad retired, but Mr. McIntosh likes to make sure he’s running it a certain way.”
Stacy folded her arms. “The last time he was here he killed Marina.”
Skye blinked. “But I thought you said…”
“Brody was able to bring her back, in a different body,” Theo cut in. “It’s kind of complicated.”
“Okay,” Skye said, “So he killed her the last time and his son brought her back. Yeah, it kind of seems like that might be why he’s pissed or whatever.”
“We can’t know that for sure,” Shayne said. “There’s a chance he wants to take Theo out too.”
“Why?” Skye had to ask. The insanity of the situation just felt like it was multiplying endlessly now. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take in without getting hysterical.
“He saved Theo from a bad situation. If his father knows anything about that he’ll know how much it would hurt his son to kill Theo.” Shayne looked as grim as he sounded.
“And he’s all about hurting Brody,” Stacy added, muttering “Arsehole” under her breath.
Skye took a few deep breaths. She needed to stay calm.
“So there’s an exit,” Theo said. “Where is it, exactly?”
“I can take you part of the way there.” Shayne came out from behind the desk with a key.
“Part of the way?” That sounded ominous. Skye felt her stomach begin to churn. What if it was a trap? She thought about hiding in the wardrobe again and groaned. She really didn’t want to do that. But… “Isn’t it riskier than staying here and hiding out?”
Theo looked torn. That really didn’t help with the nervous butterflies in her stomach. He turned his gaze on Stacy. “What about Marina?”
She shook her head. “She’s standing her ground. She said he can set her on fire again if he wants to. She’s getting bored of her new body anyway.”
“We think you’re the only ones who might be targeted.” She shrugged her shoulders.
Shayne sighed. “Not exactly.”
She frowned at him. “You know what I mean.”
The hard look she gave him seemed odd considering how jumpy she’d gotten when the vampire she seemed to have a crush on came anywhere close to touching her.
He shook his head. “Call Mark to wait with you until I’m back.”
The penny dropped as a Stacy picked up the phone. Skye realized the girl might be at risk too. She opened her mouth to ask why she wasn’t coming with them, when Theo took her hand and captured her attention, whispering in her ear, “Don’t worry. He won’t let anything happen to her.”
She watched him and knew he was right. All she had to worry about was getting the hell out of this place. As soon as the other vampire showed up to watch over Stacy, they were on their way.