Vampire Debt - Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #2) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,16

stood upon jutting boulders, staring across a few metres to the clear water below.

Whoa. Higher than I recalled.

“Oh,” Kelsea gasped, her blue eyes popping at the sight of the waterfall. Water erupted an arm-length down from our position atop the rockface, pounding into the pool.

“Have you seen a waterfall before?” I asked her.

“Only in pictures. I was born into servitude.”

I gritted my teeth but bit back on my angry rant so as not to taint the moment. “Well, now you have.”

I looked anew, trying to remember the first time I saw a waterfall, and whether I appreciated the sight as much as the vampire beside me.

A few furtive glances confirmed at least four of the Indebted were seeing a waterfall for the first time. Laurel was one hundred and forty when her father committed his crime, so she didn’t appear overly excited. Josie and Vie were appreciative, but not wondrous like the others.

I eyed the drop, taking note of where the boulders were. “Time for a bath.”

Stepping back, I ran and leaped from the rockface.

I yelped as a body crashed into mine mid-air. Arms wrapped tight around me. The water came rapidly to meet us, and we plummeted through the surface.

The cold tightened my chest, and I struggled until the arms loosened.

Kicking for the surface, I scowled at a drenched Laurel, sucking in air. “What did you do that for?”

“You didn’t check the bottom,” she snarled an inch from my face. “You had no idea how deep that water was.”

It was plenty deep. “I’ve been here before.”

“Conditions can change.”

I’d never seen her lose her cool. I’d worried her. A lot. “You’re right, that was stupid.”

She shook her head and swam for the small beach opposite the rockface.

Eek. Really upset.

Cannon splashes erupted around me, the squeals of the six Indebted filling the tree clearing as they joined me in the pool.

I snorted as they surfaced and began dunking each other.

Hands shoved me down and I sucked in a breath, batting at their hands and breaking the surface again.

Kelsea shoved Josie away. “You’re not supposed to dunk our client.”

Josie cast me a guilty look. “It’s Miss Tetley.”

Did she know my real name? Maybe Laurel hadn’t told the others. I’d just assumed she would or that the others listened in at the time. Maybe Josie was just used to calling me that now. I coughed, my body tiring quickly. Shoot. Perhaps I should force myself to eat more. “Seriously, I don’t mind. I’m just wondering if I’m fast or strong enough to get you back.”

Kelsea displayed her teeth. “Want me to give you a freebie?”

“Where’s the glory in that?”

Stretching my body flat, I swam to the beach to join Laurel.

Water poured from my stained clothing as I stood. The top was definitely a goner, but at least there weren’t clumps of compost in my hair anymore.

“You like swimming?” Laurel grunted.

“Used to swim most days of the week.” At the estate. When the world was normal.

She sat on a small rock, knees hugged in and chin propped on top. Her hair was a midnight black contrast to my butter-blonde, but to all other outward appearances, she could be my slightly older sibling.

“There’s a pool on the 30th floor of Kyros Sky,” she said.

There was? “I’ll have to get a swimsuit.” Or ideally just return to the estate and use my own pool.

How to get there though? Fred couldn’t handle my business affairs forever. Maybe I could lie and say that a client from the estates had called expressing interest to sell. Kyros wouldn’t know the exact property I was on, right? Or would he? Except Live Right would definitely want to know the name of the clients.

Dang.

Maybe I could go there for a fake social function as the date of a friend.

In that case, I’d just need friends. Which honestly seemed like the more impossible of the two.

Fuck my life.

“Thank you for giving them this,” Laurel said in a low voice. “I apologise for snapping at you.”

Everyone was apologising to me lately. Laurel, however, meant it.

I shrugged a shoulder. “I deserved a scolding. Sorry for upsetting you.”

She hesitated. “If I act that way sometimes, it’s because your actions, your … continued safety has a direct effect on the lives of these women.”

Finding a rock to perch on, I mimicked her posture, chewing on that tidbit. “If I’m injured on your shift, this crew will be punished?”

“Usually there aren’t repercussions, but with how... tied Kyros is to you, I fear any injury to yourself could