Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 59151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
“Hello,” I say. “I see vampires come in size extra-large. How did Archie not steal you for his guard?”
Benedict snorts. “He tried. Many times. I understand he’s no longer with us?”
“Father tore his head off.” Henry puts a Robert Johnson record on the player. “You know what he’s like when he’s in a mood.”
“He challenged me,” says Lucas. “Sort of. Let’s talk in the living room.”
Benedict wanders back down the hallway, getting comfortable on a fancy-looking French chair. Henry flings himself into an armchair while Lucas takes a seat on the couch. Choosing to sit beside me for the second time tonight—which is weird.
“I’m not going to misbehave.” I nod to the big old wingback sitting empty. “You can go sit on your throne.”
Henry laughs. “Father’s favorite chair does look like a throne, doesn’t it?”
“I’m fine where I am,” says Lucas, and nods to Benedict.
“Leilah will enter the city at sundown,” reports Benedict. “She and her people will immediately move to infiltrate The Boulevard Hotel. She anticipates having it under family control by dawn.”
“We’ll be there.” Lucas pauses. “Has she decided if she’s going to run the place?”
“She said she’d see how she feels,” says Benedict. “But between you and me, she’s been bored lately. I saw pictures of that hotel. It looks like shit. You know how she loves a good renovation project.”
I put up my hand.
“What?” asks Lucas.
“Who’s Leilah?”
“You’ll meet her tomorrow night.”
“But—”
“Later,” says Lucas. “Let Benedict finish.”
“What are you doing?” Benedict frowns. “That’s not how you raise a newborn. You have to nurture their curiosity and interest in this world they now find themselves in. How else are they going to properly adjust to their new life?”
“I was just saying that the other night,” says Henry, who is absolutely full of shit.
“Perhaps if you spent more time talking to her and less time doing whatever it was you were doing on that bed…” The look of much judgment Benedict lays on Lucas makes my night.
Henry nods. “Yeah, Father. Good point, Benedict. Hear, hear.”
“You’ve never even turned anyone, Henry,” says Lucas.
“Of course not.” Henry wrinkles his nose. “I don’t want that kind of responsibility. Ew.”
Lucas squeezes his eyelids shut tight with an expression of great pain. I do my best to hold back a smile, but I’m not trying very hard. Watching his own people give him crap is one of the true joys in my new undead life.
“Skye,” says Benedict. “The position of enforcer in our family is held by Leilah. She was a seamstress to a Persian princess and was turned in the 1300s.”
“Oh, I love this story,” says Henry, sitting up straight. “She challenged Father to this game. It was kind of like an early version of backgammon. Whoever won had to grant the other a favor. She, of course, thrashed him, and he had to make her a vampire. Isn’t that great?”
Lucas frowns. “She didn’t thrash me. I wanted to turn her. The woman has a mind like no other.”
“What’s the difference between an enforcer and an assassin?” I ask.
“Both of them are Father’s boot for kicking ass,” says Henry. “They basically do his dirty work. But an enforcer does publicly what an assassin does in secret.”
“How big is our family?” I ask. “What even is the vampire definition of a family, for that matter?”
“Not as big as some. Lucas is careful in who he turns, and encourages us to be the same,” says Benedict. “Our family consists of all those turned by Lucas, and then all of those who we turned, and so on down through the ages.”
“What positions do you and Henry hold?”
“He’s the court fool,” says Benedict.
Henry ignores the insult. “I’m courtier. My job is to deliver Father’s messages and negotiate with other families when required.”
“But since Lucas was sleeping and Henry was available, he has been working with me as a guard.” Benedict scratches at his beard. “Now that Lucas is awake, I am here to watch his back once more, and Henry will return to the job of talking at people.”
Henry scowls. “I don’t just talk at them. It’s more involved than that. Then there’s the whole spymaster side of things. I’m a very important person, Benedict.”
“Whatever you say, little brother.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” says Lucas. “I still haven’t decided if you’re taking over as spymaster.”
“What happened to the last one?” I ask.
Benedict says nothing, but his gaze jumps to Lucas.
“She was killed, unfortunately.” Henry winces. “It’s a sad story. Let’s talk about it another time.”
Lucas says nothing, but his frown game is strong. He stretches an arm out along the back of the couch and starts playing with a lock of my hair. Again. He winds it around one of his fingers and tugs—just a little. It’s like I’m his fidget toy or something.
“Do all vampire families work this way?” I ask.