a few months ago that a vampire had encountered a being of exceptional power. He was spreading it around that there was a species out there apparently no one had heard of. It all pointed toward fae, and I wanted to know if he’d been in contact with you or one of the others. This vamp has money. He holds parties for those interested in S and M.”
Rose mouthed an o in reaction.
“He lures people to his fancy rented properties and while salacious but perfectly human debauchery happens upstairs, he picks his favorite for the night and takes them into a locked room in the basement where he drinks their blood while he fucks them.”
There he went using that word again.
Rose shifted in her seat, squeezing her thighs together as she glanced from left to right to make sure no one was listening in.
Fionn considered her a moment, his eyes narrowing as they dipped down her body and back up again.
What was that?
Fionn frowned. “I angled for an invite with an acquaintance of his so I might speak with him. I was with Alice at the time and this acquaintance was taken with her. To get the invite, I had to bring her with me.”
Uneasiness shifted through Rose. “Did you do it?”
He nodded, expression grim. “I regretted it, so you can remove that judgy little pinch between your brows.”
“What happened?”
“I met the vampire and surmised he’d been lying about fighting an all-powerful being to cover up that he’d gotten his arse kicked by a fucking werewolf. Unbeknownst to me, Alice had caught his eye.”
Rose considered this. This woman secured Fionn, attracted another guy, and then caught the eye of an indolent vampire. “She must be an intriguing lady.”
“Alice is very attractive.”
“Is that it?” Rose scowled. “A woman just has to be beautiful to warrant attention?”
He gave her an impatient look. “First, I said attractive, not beautiful. Many women are attractive. Beauty, being in the eye of the beholder, is harder to define. Second, Rose, I have no interest in relationships, which means a woman only has to be two things: physically appealing to me and sexually free. If that offends the feminist within, I could give a fuck.”
“Charming.” Did she really describe him as noble earlier?
“Anyway, this vampire was more than intrigued by Alice. He turned her. She came to me, said it was against her will, and I tried to help her come to terms with her new reality. But in truth, she was there as his spy. He’d heard I was a powerful warlock but beyond that, I was a mystery. He was a collector of information and he sent Alice to find out more.”
Oh shit.
“I left her in an apartment I’d rented in London. I told her I was away on business, but really, I just needed some time away from her. I went home to Ireland. I’ve never left any personal item behind around a mistress—but she’d stolen a silk handkerchief from me. They used it to trace me and she followed me there. By the time I found her, she’d already relayed information about my vault.”
“What happened to her?”
Seeing her fear, Fionn shook his head in disappointment. “My home is my sanctuary. It’s spelled. It’s almost impossible to find, but if a person stumbles upon it, they forget about it as soon as they leave. The only people the spell does not work on are Bran and the staff who worked there for generations. Bran has no spell on him but the staff were spelled to be unable to speak of me or my home.
“When I found Alice, I broke her neck. While she was unconscious, I had her removed. When she woke up, she had no memory of the place, but it was too late. She’d already sent the information on.”
“Shit. So Alice came back and broke into the vault?”
“Alice is dead. Along with others who returned to my home.”
Horrified at the casual way Fionn relayed this information, Rose couldn’t hide her reaction. There was a ruthlessness to him that she couldn’t pretend didn’t exist. It was confusing. Worrying.
“It would never be a safe place again. Someone could find out what I was. What good would that do? And why should I explain myself against a woman who betrayed me for a chance at immortality? That was their deal. He didn’t turn Alice against her will like she’d said.” He curled his lip in anger. “He offered her immortality to get to me.”