Vampire Debt - Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #2) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,48
feel like for you?”
“As though I’ve lost one of my crucial senses and I’m more vulnerable to attack.” The vampire moved her jaw around. “What is it?”
I smiled. “No one outside this room will hear our conversation.”
She lowered her hands. “That explains your eight-hour silence four days ago.”
Smirking, I returned to my chair and gestured to the empty seat on the opposite side of the desk.
As the Vissimo lowered into the cushioned seat, I released a pent-up breath, trying to shove down my nerves. “I have one personal question to ask. Is that okay?”
Her cloak descended, smoothing her features into an impassive Indebted mask. “Depends on the question.”
“You’re two hundred and forty years old. Are there any Vissimo in Bluff City who can compel you?”
She leaned back, kicking out her leather-clad legs. “King Julius can compel me with blood—if he should so choose.”
Drat.
I tapped a finger on the desk, eyes darting over the papers covering the surface. “Not ideal.”
“I assume there’s something of great import you don’t wish leaving this room?”
“Not until the right moment.”
She didn’t outwardly react to the statement.
“How often do you encounter King Julius?” I asked.
“Five times in one hundred and twenty years. It would take a great deal for him to tie himself to an Indebted with a blood exchange. For a king to exchange blood with a slave would cause huge loss of face in the community. He trusts my integrity. As does Kyros. I held a high position before my father went berserk.”
High position, huh?
My ears pricked, but her expression closed off again.
I pondered her answer. “I’d planned to bring you into the fold later, closer to the time when I could free you. However, I need some reassurances before I make a choice that will affect the rest of my life.”
She froze, blue eyes widening. “Free me?”
“Laurel.” I struggled to find the right words. This was crucial to my strategy, but more than that, I’d be playing with peoples’ lives. “How many Indebted are in Bluff City?”
“570 million dollars,” she answered without hesitation.
Not as much as expected. “I’d like to free you all, pay off the debt of those in Clan Fyrlia and Sundulus.”
I studied her sudden tension. Her expression hadn’t altered but she’d stopped breathing.
Better keep going. “To do that demands an irreversible sacrifice on my behalf.”
“You’d need to exchange blood with Kyros three more times,” she whispered.
I had to exchange six times in total to be capable of owning Indebted. “Correct.”
She burst to her feet in a blur. “Why would you make such an offer?”
This was the part I didn’t feel 100 percent ethical about. “I’m glad you asked.”
The tension drained from her body. “Oh.”
Here goes.
“I’m working against Clan Fyrlia and Clan Sundulus in secret.” My heartbeat quickened as the words left my lips.
Her eyes widened. “Working against how?”
I had to let Laurel in enough for her to gamble on me. Not so much that my grandmother’s work would unravel if King Julius took a dip into her mind.
“By playing their game as a third, unknown player as my grandmother did before me,” I replied calmly.
Laurel sat with a thud.
“They won’t own Bluff City, Laurel. Not while I’m standing.”
She looked at me like I’d sprouted a third eye.
“But,” I said, sighing, “I’m human. My ability to defend myself against Vissimo is almost zero. In return for the freedom of those in debt, I ask for protection for the period of one year after I complete the sixth blood exchange with Kyros. All who join me will be paid a fair wage. All will have two days off each week, with twenty days of holiday leave annually. You will be provided house rentals at a discount while you get on your feet. When the one year is up, employment will be offered to any who wish to remain.”
I couldn’t tell how long Ingenium would go on. I dabbled with the idea of asking the Indebted to remain for three years, but I just couldn’t do it—not when some had been enslaved their entire lives.
Laurel stared at me, the blaze of her eyes surging. I struggled to stay still as my body demanded I turn tail and run.
“You want to win so much?” she whispered. “I thought you hated games.”
I inclined my head. “There’s only one way out of Ingenium for me now, and that’s to head further in. Innocent people are being hurt because of the