Wolves at the Door - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,36

held up a hand and silenced her with a look of death. “That is why I go by Ston now, and I have killed men for less.”

“It’s a fun song!” she said.

“Yes. Delightful. The first time or two.” He gave the serpent corpse a little kick toward her. “What is this, now? I see you have removed the toilet from the house. I remember when that was installed. Imported from Italy.”

“Gaston is a much better name than ‘Ston’,” Billie said. “Song or not.” I was inclined to agree with her and immediately pegged Gaston as the sort of man who might make some trouble. I felt I had a pretty good sense of these things.

Jake and Jasper were rushing to the van to change back into their clothes. They vanished from sight and Jasper called, “Vampire! He’s a vampire. Just so you know.”

That explained a lot. “Oh. Well. Nice to meet you, Ston the vampire. We are, in fact, contractors and we’re trying to just, you know, give the house a little update and some repairs so it won’t go the way of the servants’ quarters over there. It’s a gorgeous house and I’m thrilled to be working with it.” I also got a feeling Gaston was possessive over the house and grounds and he didn’t seem like a man we should anger.

Gaston looked toward the Sullivans.

“It’s my house,” Billie said. “Just so you know. I see you waiting for the menfolk to re-enter the picture.”

“You’re accusing me of sexism? I was just waiting for the entire party to assemble.”

“Well, I’ve dealt with enough vampires,” Billie said. “And I’m gonna guess you’re not a spring chicken because who would name a kid Gaston lately?”

“Well, no, I am three hundred years old. Close. Who’s counting?”

“Oh. Wow. Three hundred; you’re an old one,” Billie said.

“It all blends together after a while,” he said. “I’ve worked here since Deveraux was a little boy.” He looked at the blue sky, briefly wistful. “Looks like you could use some help with the shrubs.”

“Actually, yes,” I said, my mind immediately seizing on the opportunity. Gaston could be the answer to our problems. We were short on muscle and short on time. “I think that—”

Billie cleared her throat. “Group meeting.”

She pulled us back to the porch. The brothers were buttoning up their shirts, although I think they really could have left them off. “What’s up?” Jake said.

“I don’t know if we should hire a vampire,” Billie said. “I mean…they get hungry.”

“I’m sure he isn’t going to eat us! He was Deveraux’s friend! Vampires aren’t all bad. One of my brother’s bond-brothers is a vampire. If you want to destroy Etherium maybe you should think about these things a little bit.”

“I know how to operate heavy equipment too if you need someone to take down the servants’ quarters,” Gaston called. “Of course, I don’t work for free but I do know a gentleman who will give me a deal on the rental.”

“Don’t tell me you’re hot for vampires too,” Billie said.

“What!?” This was the last thing on my mind. “I’m trying to be practical! We need help and we are really getting in over our heads. Especially if—” I cut myself off and physically bit my tongue. I had promised myself I’d be nice to Billie.

“Especially if what?” she pressed.

“We could really use your help in the house,” I said. “Renovating the summer kitchen into an artist’s cottage is hardly the top priority.”

“Well, I think it’s going to be a real selling point,” Billie said.

“But Hel’s right,” Jasper said. “Unfortunately, thanks to my fucking leg injury, I’m falling behind. If Gaston can get the landscaping done and demolish the outbuildings that should put us back on track.”

“All right, all right, well, I’m gonna do my thing and y’all do yours,” Billie said. “I can’t wait to work on the main house but I just don’t have any experience doing the grunt work and you wouldn’t want me in your way anyway.”

I didn’t have time for nonsense and there was no better way to deal with unwanted emotions than to scrape paint off walls, so I got back to my thing and let Billie have her cottage. The guys stayed outside discussing the logistics of taking down the old servants’ quarters. In my experience, for guys, renting heavy equipment was right up there with sex.

Byron walked into the foyer and looked up at me, where I was currently wearing a mask to protect my lungs from potential lead and