Chapter Thirteen
CASIMIR
“Okay, so give me a rundown. Tell me a bit about these people so I can be confident as I strut in,” Julian says as I drive toward the casino where we’ll meet the others.
I glance over at him. “The first step is putting your bandana back on.”
“But… I want to only wear that for you,” he teases.
“Okay, so there will only be three vampires we care about. Baldin is the head vampire in the territory to the north of us. He has a lot of sway and is quite old.”
“Old as you?”
I ignore the question.
“You just look old,” Julian adds. “Like if you were a human, you’d need a walker.”
“I was in my twenties when I was turned! Your physical appearance is older than mine!” I declare.
“Oh shit… is it really? You look older than me. You look mature and sophisticated. How deceiving.”
I sigh, wondering if it was a horrible idea to bring the wolf along. “So Baldin is short-tempered, but he cares for all of his people no matter what they are, so you’ll have the easiest time winning him over.”
“What’s he look like?” Julian asks.
“He looks like if a gargoyle shat out an old, wrinkled potato.”
“Oh lovely, I’m sure I’ll be able to pick him out of a lineup,” Julian says sarcastically. “The real question… is Baldin bald?”
“The last guy who asked him that no longer has a head.”
He grimaces. “Well, I’m glad I asked you instead.”
“It was hilarious. I wish you’d been there.”
“That’s more than mildly concerning.”
I think about the next person he should probably know, which I guess would be Genevieve since I’d consider her the second strongest. “Then we have Genevieve who just floats between territories but has recently settled in mine. With her harem, she has quite the pull.”
“Harem, eh? Tell me more.”
“I joined it once. For five minutes. Worst five minutes of my life.”
“Why?”
“She told me I was the prettiest one in a room of women.”
“That… doesn’t sound horrific.”
“Gustov was also in the room. Everyone knows he’s the prettiest.”
Julian starts laughing. “You are ridiculous. What’s she look like?”
I think about it for a moment. “She has two eyes.”
“Okay?”
“A nose, and two ears. But don’t hold me to that, I haven’t seen her in about a week.”
“Ah, makes sense that she could have lost one of those items in the past seven days. Hit me with the third one.”
I scowl at the thought of the third person. I honestly hate considering him a person of interest. “Third person is Steve.”
“Steve sounds like a nice kind of guy.”
“We don’t talk to Steve.”
“Do I get any other explanation?”
“Nope.”
“Wonderful. And what does Steve look like?”
I contemplate this. “You know what a hairball looks like? You know, after a cat’s puked it up? That’s Steve.” That’s probably even too kind.
Julian’s laughing as he looks over at me. “Your descriptions of people are the absolute worst. Do you even look at them?”
“I try not to. Don’t forget, you’re the one who picked this over painting Gustov,” I remind him as we drive to the casino which is parked right on the edge of my territory.
“You own this place too?” Julian asks.
“I do. You’d be surprised how easily humans sell off properties when you wave some money in front of them. Wolves you toss a rawhide, humans you toss a wad of cash.”
“No, wolves like wads of cash too. We’re smart enough to know we can get many more rawhides with the cash,” Julian says.
“Makes sense.” The wolf is weirdly fun to tease, and I enjoy that he gives it right back. Most of the people I interact with do nothing but irritate me. Some of them irritate me without even talking… like Steve.
I park the car right out front before getting out. The moment Julian reaches the front of the car, he beams at me and holds his hand out.
“Let’s see… is he going to figure out which way the fingers go… do they go between, around, upside down? I will watch with bated breath!”
His commentary is clearly not needed. “Aren’t you supposed to pretend to like me?” I mutter.
“Says the man who calls me Toto.”
“Fair,” I say as I spread my fingers out as wide as they can go while I aim them for him.
“Why is this so much weirder?” he asks.
“How is it weird? You wanted the whole interlocked finger thing, and now I can’t even do that right!”
“It’s because you came at me like that. It felt like some weird secret handshake or something.
Here, just do a smooth handhold.” He reaches out and tries to slide his fingers between mine, but after being made fun of, they automatically suction closed so he’s stuck trying to force his fingers between mine.
I hear the click of heels that tells me we’re not alone and I turn my head to look back at who I assume will be Genevieve.
Julian uses that moment to successfully take my hand before turning as the woman walks up to us.
She’s dressed in a beautiful red evening gown that hugs her curvy body.
The slit in the side goes all the way up her thigh.
Genevieve’s grinning as she approaches us. “Oh my, oh my. I heard a rumor that the great and beautiful Casimir had gotten a partner, and I laughed the man out of the house! I was convinced Casimir only ever had eyes for his dog.”
“That makes me sound creepy,” I say.
“But imagine my shock when I find out it’s a wolf!
How delightful. The guys are going to love this.
” She walks up to Julian and cups his face in her hand.
“You are just delectable! I want to eat you right up, you’re so cute.
Casimir surely can’t be pleasuring you the way I could. You’d want for nothing under my care.”
“I don’t know… he already bought me a bandana and caught me a duck. Do you really think you could top that?” Julian asks, and I know Genevieve is going to have fun with that.
Genevieve hesitates before pulling Julian in for a hug.
“You poor thing, why don’t you come home with me?
I will treat you so nicely. You can have your own large room that’s surely bigger than the measly house you currently live in.
You will have fabulous meals, and if you don’t even want to feed yourself, I’ll hire someone to feed you. ”
“Oh, fancy. I love the idea of being incompetent.”
“My lovelies also get daily massages and pampering. And anything you have ever wanted, I would buy you in a heartbeat.”
“Anything? What if I wanted an elephant? I already asked Casimir and he told me no, which I felt was rather unfair, but I guess it isn’t even our week anniversary yet.”
She runs her nails teasingly over his skin. “Anything,” she purrs.
Julian gives her a sweet smile and it’s quite clear why Genevieve would want to add him to her collection; the man is extremely handsome. “Thank you, but I already got more than I could ever want or need right here,” he says as he lifts our awkwardly clasped hands and kisses the back of mine.
It’s all very convincing.
“That’s disgustingly cute,” she says. “And irritating. I will steal him from you, Casimir. He will soon get tired of you.”
“Are you threatening me?” I ask.
She eyes Julian, and I can tell she’s actually upset that she couldn’t convince him to join her. My guess is she has a lot of success with dragging anyone she wants to her side and probably rarely gets told no. “No, no. Let’s call it a warning.”
“I see,” I say, not at all afraid of losing my fake date. I mean, he’s not really mine to begin with, and Genevieve really does treat her harem well. “The rest are in the back playing cards?”
“They are. They’re going to be shocked you showed up and even more shocked you brought a wolf.”
“Good, maybe Steve will be so angry it kills him.”
“We can hope,” Genevieve says as we continue into the casino. She leads us to a room in the back where we’re scheduled to meet every other week. I never show up unless I get particularly bored—which has never happened—so they’re not expecting me when I walk in. They’re expecting Julian even less.
There are eleven vampires in the room, some I don’t know, seeing as a few of them bring new dates every time they come. The rest I don’t give a shit about. All eyes turn on us as we step into the room and only Ezio looks delighted to see us.
“What are you doing bringing it in here?” a vampire who thinks he wants to be in the running for being as annoying as Steve says.
“Don’t call it an it,” I say.
“You… also just called me an it,” Julian whispers.
“Yes, but I’m allowed to. He is not,” I inform him as I walk in farther. The majority of the people in the room stare at Julian in disgust, but he ignores each and every one of them as I realize how much I enjoy their misery.
“Who is this?” Steve asks, eyes snapping right onto Julian. Julian releases my hand to hold his out.
“Hi, I’m Julian?—”
“We don’t talk to that one,” I say as I steer him away.
“What the fuck?” Steve growls. “Is this a joke?”
I ignore him and walk to the front of the room. “I’m here to steal five minutes of your time. As I’m sure you’ve heard, we’ve recently had three vampires who’ve been killed.”
“All because of the fucking werewolves,” someone in the back calls.
“We were there, and it most definitely wasn’t a werewolf,” Ezio says from where he has two women on his lap.
“You were there, yet you two couldn’t handle it?” Steve asks. “Or was our new leader too hung up on a fucking dog?”
I just stand there and watch them while envisioning how I’d shut Steve up. I would like to say that I’d rip his head off but that’d be much too quick of a death. I would start with the arms and?—
Julian looks as carefree as if we were at a meeting with a bunch of humans as he gives me a warm smile.
“I understand tensions are high and rightfully so. For those who are younger, it’s scary hearing about vampires being killed and targeted, and for those who are older, it’s frustrating that someone thinks they can waltz onto our territory and do this shit without remorse or hesitation?—”
“Shut the fuck up, dog. Doesn’t anyone have a muzzle for this thing?” Steve growls.