was lucky, there would be space for Sara and me to stay for a while. A couch to crash on, at the very least. Royce had often extended the offer to me to return to his side, though I’d made efforts to ignore it—until now. Hopefully he wouldn’t mind my dropping in and wouldn’t have a problem with Sara, or her dogs, tagging along.
I was lucky enough to find parking directly across the street from Royce’s home. We left the dogs and the bags in the car while we went to test the waters and find out if we were welcome to stay.
The apartment building didn’t look anything like you’d expect from a vampire den. With the white shutters and brick façade, not to mention the roses entwined through the iron-and-brick fencing surrounding the property, it looked more like a bunch of families with kids should be calling the place home. That it housed over a dozen vampires, and another dozen human servants, was enough to make me shiver once we passed into the shadow of the building.
Though the sun was still high in the sky when we arrived, I wasn’t surprised a vampire was pulling guard duty, seated in the shadows at the back of the windowless foyer. He looked up from the paperback he was reading, puzzlement reflecting in his gaze before he rose from his seat at the table covered with in-baskets for tenant mail. I recognized his angular, handsome features, and took his offered hand.
“Shiarra, I remember you. Good to see you again.”
“Hi, Wes. This is my business partner, Sara Halloway.”
The vampire took her hand as well, and she did an admirable job of hiding her uncomfortable flinch at his touch. Wes’s pale blue eyes locked onto her throat, and I was sure he’d detected her heart rate speeding up out of what I hoped was fear.
Like most of the vampires in the building, Wes was (pardon the pun) drop-dead gorgeous. With his killer physique, short blond hair, and neatly trimmed goatee, he looked like he would’ve made a handsome and dashing hero for the latest Hollywood summer blockbuster. Or maybe he would’ve played the part of a pillaging Viking warrior who left mayhem and murder in his wake. I cleared my throat to pull his attention off Sara and held my ground despite the fact that his pupils had taken on a reddish tint.
“We’re here to see Mr. Royce. I know he’s probably resting, but—”
“You never fail to surprise me,” Royce said, cutting me off. Sara and I both jumped, not having heard him as he settled into a comfortable lean in the doorframe leading deeper into Alice’s rabbit hole. Scars or no, he always cut a fine figure. The ancient vampire hadn’t bothered to put on a shirt, his hands pocketed in his fashionably faded jeans, leaving his toned chest and corded arms bare to view. If he hadn’t scared the crap out of me, I’d have been eating up the view with my eyes and damn the consequences.
Wes inclined his head to Royce, taking a step back from us to resume his station at the table.
“I suppose you’ve come because you need my assistance with something.”
“Yes,” I agreed, putting myself between the vampires and Sara as surreptitiously as possible. She reached for my hand and I took hers, hiding my misgivings at the way she was trembling by presenting as calm a front as I could manage. “I’m sorry to put this on your plate, but the police seem to think that Chaz and the other Sunstrikers might not be too pleased with us thanks to an article that ran in today’s paper. They suggested we get gone until we’re approved for a witness protection program.”
“So you came to me,” he stated flatly, frown lines appearing between his black-as-pitch eyes. “I’m not in the habit of doing favors like this, Ms. Waynest. The legalities of my involvement would be questionable, if it is as you say. Unless you have something new to offer?” His gaze flicked to Sara, back to meet mine.
“Shia, forget it, let’s go,” Sara whispered. The urgency in her voice only made me more determined.
“Don’t involve Sara in this. Whatever you want, take it from me. All I’m asking is for you to give her a safe place to stay until the trial is over and it’s safe for her to go home. If I can stay for a little while, too—”