dead. Somehow I don’t think that will be too much of a hardship for you.”
“Nope.”
Keira looked from one man to the other, feeling like she ought to interject something, evince some protest at their machinations. Yet, she couldn’t find the words.
Stefan leaned forward. “Bring me proof.”
Keira stared at Finn, aghast that he seemed more than willing to take out a council member. After all his protestations that he wasn’t a cold-blooded killer…pain skittered through her chest. She really didn’t know this man at all.
Finn’s mind raced as he tried to come up with alternative solutions to the job Liuz had assigned to him. He couldn’t, he wouldn’t, kill Tobias Caine. Not to cement his role in the group, not to save his own life, which might be in jeopardy if he failed to carry out this job. This damned test. “What kind of proof do you want?” he asked.
“Bring me his head.”
There was no way in hell that was going to happen. He shook his own head and folded his arms across his chest. “We’re not living in the Middle Ages. I’m not carting anybody’s head around town.” He ran his tongue across his teeth, and inspiration struck. He’d always heard desperation was the predecessor to inspiration. Or some such thing. “I’ll bring you his fangs.” When Liuz looked about to argue, Finn said, “Take it or leave it. Or get someone else to do it.” In which case he’d have to do what he could to stop the assassin.
It all depended on how badly this loony tune wanted Caine’s head.
Liuz stared at him for a few moments, his gaze hard, face dark with displeasure. Finally he said, “Fine.” He started to say more but stopped when his cell phone rang. He stood and walked away to stand in the corner of the room, his back to them, voice low.
Finn leaned over the arm of the sofa, trying to put a little distance between him and Keira so she wouldn’t sense what he was doing. Then he called on his chameleon abilities and took on the hearing of a werewolf. Liuz seemed to be kowtowing quite a bit to the person on the other end of the line, even if Finn couldn’t quite pick up exactly what he was saying.
Huh. Maybe Liuz wasn’t the one in charge after all. Finn pushed his ability, trying to hear the voice of the other person, but he couldn’t make out anything more than the cadence of speech. He couldn’t even tell if it was male or female. When he heard Keira sniff a few times, he stopped what he was doing and allowed the chameleon to settle back inside.
She looked puzzled. While the fey didn’t have olfactory senses as good as shapeshifters, vampires, and demons, they still could pick out scent better than humans.
Damn it, he hadn’t been able to tell who Liuz was talking to.
The vamp finished his call and turned toward them. “Thank you both. I expect to hear results by midnight. Tonight.”
Keira blinked, but Finn wasn’t surprised. Liuz would want to ensure they didn’t have time to cheat, so giving them a tight schedule would limit their opportunities to do anything underhanded. Well, other than the underhanded stuff they were supposed to do.
“Tonight?” Keira started shaking her head. “I can’t possibly pull off a job with this kind of notice. I need to stake out the place, check on their security measures, figure out the personalities of the staff so I know which approach is best—”
“Tonight.” Liuz sent her a hard stare, which he also turned on Finn.
Finn held up his hands in a surrender mode. He wasn’t the one who had a problem with the short notice they’d been given.
“Of course you wouldn’t care,” Keira muttered. “There’s no finesse in running off and killing someone. However, I’m supposed to swap out diamonds at a moment’s notice?”
“Are you saying you’re not as good as I’ve been told?” Liuz asked. His voice had gone silky, dangerous like a spider waiting for unwary prey.
“No, of course not.” Keira huffed a sigh. “I just…having only a couple of hours to do this is setting me up to fail.”
“Or setting you up to succeed magnificently.” Liuz once again wore his jovial expression, though his beady eyes held hardness. “Call me at this number,” Liuz said and handed them both a business card. The only thing printed on it was a phone number. “Once you contact me, we’ll arrange a meeting.” He stared at both