Vampire Debt - Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #2) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,82

ignored her. “What were the final decisions?”

Sometimes the siblings veered wildly from the recommendations of the seconds and their individual sub-clans. Other times, the path forward was clear.

Deirdre spun in her chair to face me. “Your agriculture acquisition changes our position dramatically. We must press our marketing advantage now.”

I’d had my own reasons for gifting them Lot 91 under the alias of Mr Barnaby Dwelt—an old friend of my grandmother’s who’d since left Bluff City—but stunning Kyros’s seconds to silence earlier had sweetened the transfer.

Because of me, Clan Sundulus was in the clear, and my game could continue.

Kyros kneaded my neck and shoulders, and I blinked sleepily, swaying forward and back in rhythm with his hands. That felt like heaven. I’d spent too much time at desks lately.

“You’re tired, my beauty,” Kyros said. “You should stay in the tower tonight.”

It was tempting. The drive back to the estate only took twenty minutes, but when I was this tired, twenty minutes took forever.

Neelan piped up. “I’m not sure Father would like that.”

“In a spare room,” Kyros snapped back.

Neelan’s jaw shut with an audible click. The room pulsed with tension, and I glanced between them.

“How long are you going to sulk, big brother?” Neelan asked the man at my back, who simply removed his hands from my neck in return.

Whoa, Kyros had cut Neelan out? That was kind of huge. Usually he beat the fuck out of them and it was done. I could only recall him giving Rory the cool treatment, nothing like this blatant animosity I could feel thrumming through Kyros.

What Rory did was a blip on Neelan’s bullshit, really, and I was just as pissed—if not more.

“What you did went too far,” I told Neelan as Kyros’s vibrating wrath spilled into me. “I don’t care if you have some kind of chip on your shoulder because you look more like you belong in Clan Fyrlia than Sundulus—”

His siblings froze. Safina shook her head rapidly, but I ploughed on.

“—You don’t see Deirdre being a fucking dick because of it. I don’t care if you’re proving something to yourself or if you’re coming to terms with who you are. When other people are hurt because of whatever imagined deficiencies you have, that’s when I have a fucking problem with it.”

Neelan was white-lipped.

I wasn’t done. “Grow up. You’ve had enough time to do so three times over. No one’s going to hold your fucking hand because your eyes have a different shape. Own it or be owned by it.”

One moment the vampire was there, and the next he was gone. Papers flew in the wake of his blurring speed.

“Gerome,” I said in the resulting lull.

He flinched. “Please don’t make fun of my hair.”

I arched a brow. “Does Sundulus own a nightclub?”

“Several. Don’t you have one?”

Damn, that never occurred to me. Screwing up my face, I said, “Probably not. My grandmother would have left nightclubs to the new-money estates.”

Gerome quirked a brow. “Your grandmother’s not in charge now.”

True. “There probably aren’t any nightclubs left.”

“Not buildings, no. But there are leases. There’s one nightclub lease up at the minute, but the rich brat owner is being fucking greedy over rent. Unless he budges, I won’t take it.”

“What’s the name of the brat?”

The vampire, the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome, scrolled through his phone. “It’ll cost ya.”

“What?”

“A favour.”

I quirked a brow. “What kind of favour?”

He pursed his lips. “I can’t think of anything on the spot, but the favour will be proportionate to what I’m offering.”

Lie.

Kyros once told me that with Gerome, the third answer was the truth.

That sounded like a super bad idea. “It won’t involve me being naked, right?”

Gerome held a hand to his chest. “I’m insulted.”

Lie.

I stared at him until he abandoned the innocent act. “Answer the question.”

He glared. “No.”

Truth. I hoped. “Okay, a proportional favour. No nudity. Don’t make me regret it.”

Which was immediately as he grinned wide enough to display his teeth. “Owner’s name is Ricky Pikar.”

The world had a great sense of humour.

“I know him.” Intimately.

“Hey, Kyros. What’s happening out here?” Lionel said, peering out at the other workers.

Kyros joined his brother at the internal glass wall. I dismissed his slight confusion, focusing on the seven siblings before me.

“I might be able to talk Ricky down,” I said. “For me though. Not for Sundulus. I want a nightclub.”

Francesca narrowed her eyes. “What for?”

“To throw a party. What else?” And to edge into the nightclub scene. I owned a number of buildings in Grey, but there was a lot