Blood Trial Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #1) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,139
down on the hazel-eyed beauty.
“Hand it over, young lady.” I extended my palm.
The woman peered at me. “I’m sixty.”
Channelling my grandmother, I set the full force of the Le Spyre glare on her. Sighing, she reached into her leather jacket pocket and slapped the phone on my palm.
I stared at the open app.
“Pinterest,” I murmured in surprise.
Interesting.
Retreating to my massive bed, I crawled into the middle and lay on my back, scrolling through the app.
“Stomach hurts,” I informed Laurel.
“It’s because you ate a litre of ice cream in an hour.”
Someone was jealous of how much I could put away.
I scanned the various blogs on Pinterest. “Wow, this has so much stuff on it. I’ve never been on before.”
“I like the travel entries,” the owner of the phone offered.
Odds were that she’d never get to see anything outside than Bluff City. The Indebted lived in comparative squalor to their brethren—no wonder she longed for escape.
My eyes landed on a blog titled 35 Home Craft Projects.
Hmm.
Clicking on the picture, I flicked through the web page. “Shit, you can do a fuckload with crates. Who knew?”
I thought back to how devoid of life Laurel’s room had been. No pictures, no warmth—except for the threadbare blanket.
“You guys just need a little happiness,” I choked out. Scrolling through the remaining projects, my gaze alighted on the very last one.
Perfect.
“I need to go out and get supplies.”
I had a shiny new bank card and over thirteen thousand dollars.
The vampire pursed her lips. “You’re not cleared to leave the tower during the thrall. I can send someone out for them. What do you need?”
I was going to infuse their prison cells with warmth, that’s what. The Indebted wouldn’t know themselves when I was done. “How many Indebted in this tower?”
“One hundred and twenty.”
Phew, I’d be busy. Lucky I had two and a half days before Kyros’s boner went away.
Smiling, I rattled off my list of items.
I hiccupped the words to “Catch a Shooting Star”, near tears as I flung the new bedspread out over the mattress in the last room.
While waiting for the craft supplies, I’d decided each Indebted needed a new duvet. I called Angelica and snatched the master key from her before pillaging tower rooms at random to borrow blankets. Some of the rooms I’d thieved from appeared lived in, but that didn’t matter. They had money, the Indebted didn’t.
I hiccupped through the rest of the lullaby and tucked the edges of the blanket in around Fernando who’d I’d caught napping when I barged in.
His eyes were wide and fixed over my shoulder.
Glancing back, I studied Laurel’s wide grin before returning to my tucking ministrations so the blankets were right up to his chin.
I knew blankets would make them happy.
Fernando’s wide eyes shifted to me.
“There you are. Sleep tight,” I told the man, blowing him a kiss.
He didn’t respond, probably overwhelmed with receiving the meagre scrap of kindness.
My lower lip trembled at the thought.
“I didn’t miss anyone, did I?” I turned to Laurel.
Pinterest woman answered. “That’s everyone, Miss Tetley.”
I beamed. Good.
Laurel’s phone buzzed.
“Your supplies are here,” she said after skimming the message.
I waved my crew of Indebted out of the way. “Why didn’t you say so?”
I hustled for the first elevator, the last of my crew leaped in just before the doors slid shut. The women exchanged grins as we rode up.
Totally happy.
When I arrived back at my room, my door was open and bags littered the floor.
“There are one hundred and twenty?” I asked the young woman Laurel had sent to the craft store. She wasn’t part of my ten but seemed kind of familiar.
The vampire straightened, eyes on my feet. “One hundred and twenty pinecones, Miss Tetley. A hot glue gun, hot glue, burlap ribbon, and twine.”
Yes, yes, yes!
“I’m going to make you one too.” I bopped her on the nose. “I’m going to make everyone a decor pinecone.” My smile faded as I looked at her again. “Where do I know you from?”
Laurel cleared her throat. “Deana recently joined our ranks after draining her human boyfriend.”
The night came hurtling back to me. The way her fangs had lengthened as I stood cowering and confused in my office.
Red tears slipped down Deana’s cheeks.
Her shoulders shook, her sorrow and guilt filled the room.
“I saw what happened,” I said grimly.
She covered her face. “I loved him and I killed him.”
“Your control slipped.” I agreed, patting her arm.
Deana straightened, not wiping her face. “I deserve my punishment.”