Chapter 11 Sebastian #2
Nic watched them. He knew it was a question they couldn’t really answer.
Conri watched them too, but he seemed more curious than manipulative.
His position here was more useful than I’d expected.
I needed to liaise with Jason more on the things the beta told him, because the wolves had obviously heard things I hadn’t.
“You have to believe—” Gian Luca started, but Nic shook his head.
“I believe only those loyal to me.” If a direct conflict arose, he’d back Temple and Conri before ever believing these foreign vampires.
He owed them nothing. “But thank you for coming.” He stood, effectively dismissing them.
“I’ll be in touch soon and we can make a plan for the way forward.
In the meantime, I suggest none of you eat anyone else.
” The pleasant smile he gave them didn’t override his words of warning.
And neither did it suggest they could stay. The meeting was over, Nic had learned what he had planned to learn, and we all knew where we stood—and that there was a continued need to be careful. Nic still had enemies out there or those who weren’t loyal to him and didn’t plan to be.
These captains had loyalty only to themselves.
And while I understood that, it wasn’t something we could allow to continue if we wanted to stabilize New Orleans. None of us had properly taken into account how poorly Francois had run his territory and it looked as though we were going to pay the price now.
I sighed as Jason opened the door for them to leave and led them away from the meeting room — hopefully right back up the stairs and out of my club before they tainted it with their presence.
After they cleared the room and the door closed behind them, Kayla sighed with relief and I tugged her against me, wrapping my arm around her to hold her close.
“I didn’t know they were doing that here,” I muttered. But I should have known. To ensure the people of New Orleans were adequately protected, it was absolutely my job to know.
She shrugged. “Francois did a lot of things.”
The fact she didn’t follow that statement up told me how many things Francois had probably done and what kind—unspeakable things. Things everyone who lived here would probably rather forget.
Before I could reply, Nic spoke.
“Okay. Looks like we have a little more trouble here than our previous intel has discovered. Temple…”
Jason walked back into the room and made a face. “Well, they were delightful and unexpected.”
Nic waved him back to his seat. “As I was saying, Temple and Jason, I want you in charge of tracking those three. They’ve caused trouble in the past, they’re used to causing trouble, and they’re not going to stop just because I’m the new king or Sebastian has become regent.
We don’t know how much danger they pose, though, and that’s what I need you to find out. ”
I nodded. I should have been on top of this. I should have known about vampires in New Orleans who were killing humans. I glanced at Kayla. She could easily have been their prey and then I would never have met my mate.
“It’s not the last time we’ll see them,” Conri said as he eyed the door thoughtfully, and Temple nodded.
“I’ll get some of my best men on it. See if we can weed out the entire organization, so you can exert your power here for sure and we can put the lot of them down.
A power display might be just what those who are having doubts about the change of leadership needs.
” Temple slipped his phone from his pocket and seemed to melt effortlessly back into the shadows at the corner of the room.
Nic stood. “Okay, I think we’re done here for now. I’m going to head back to the house and fill Leia in on the meeting.”
He walked from the room, Kyle and Jason in his wake.
“Bye, then.” Conri offered them an antagonistically cheery wave before turning to me. “If I can be of any more help, Sebastian, let me know. I don’t like the thought of those three stooges killing unrepentantly on our turf.”
I almost growled at the way he said our turf, but this was a deal Nic had brokered, and I couldn’t get territorial over a land divide that had helped us win the war against Francois. “Thanks.” I forced out the courteous word instead and held out my hand.
He shook it then left the room, and I turned to Kayla.
“You ready to go?”
She nodded. “Yeah. That was…something else.”
“Yeah. Come on, we’ll go the quiet way.” I called my driver and led Kayla out the back entrance up to the club, through the utility hallways and out of the plain door to the parking lot.
Nic had already gone, and Kyle’s bike was no longer there either, but my driver turned the corner into the parking lot as we stepped forward.
“Look, I know we could walk…”
But Kayla shook her head. “No, this fine.” Her stomach gurgled and she laughed quietly. “I’m kind of hungry, though. Maybe I’ll need a beignet when we get back.”
I opened the car door and gestured for her to climb in ahead of me. “I think I can do better than that. Beignets are really very small, after all.”
“I thought you’d have to stay and finish opening night.” She looked directly at me as she buckled up her seatbelt.
“It’s why I have staff.” I shrugged. “And the staff does what I say.”
To prove my point, I leaned forward a little. “Andrews?”
My driver half turned, his attention on me over his shoulder.
“Nearest twenty-four-hour diner, please.” I sat back, a little smug as I prepared to meet my mate’s need for food.
I didn’t know the name of any restaurants in New Orleans, yet—at least not the type I’d directed Andrews to find just now.
“Sir?” Andrews sounded confused. He probably didn’t know anywhere either.
I turned to Kayla. “Where do you like to go?” I withheld a sigh, though. I’d wanted to look in control here, like I knew what I was doing.
“Uhh…” She paused for a moment, her finger tapping her chin. “Probably Manny’s? I’m glad I changed, or we’d be way overdressed.”
I chuckled. Clothing was the last thing that mattered if I was meeting the basic needs of my mate. “Can you tell Andrews where that is?”
But Andrews had already programmed the address into the GPS and he pulled the car smoothly out of the parking lot.
The ride there was beautiful torture. It was a joy to have Kayla in the same small space as me again, but her scent filled my nose and my chest and I longed to take her and make her mine.
Andrews drew right up to the entrance, like we were some sort of VIP guests, before taking the car to find a parking spot.
Kayla laughed as we entered, and the humans in there looked up at us before returning their disinterested faces to their meals.
I was really no one in these circles, which suited me for tonight, when I wanted Kayla to have my full attention.
She ordered the greasiest items on the menu, and I followed suit. I’d been vampire long enough now that I could keep up appearances by picking at human food and drink.
Her face shone with an excitement I couldn’t place.
“You look very happy.” My statement was ill-concealed probing, really. “Is the food here that good?”
She laughed. “It’s not bad,” she conceded, tilting her head as she appeared to consider my question.
“But I think I’m still buzzing from Nightfall, you know?
That was… It was pretty wow. I’ve never had an audience react like that before.
” She shrugged and grinned. “Nerve-wracking, though. And I hope I can pull it off again.”
“You definitely can.” I didn’t have one doubt at all. Kayla would be a huge draw for Nightfall.
She blushed, turning her face that pretty shade of pink and glanced down as the server put our plates in front of us.
We both waited for the server to retreat, but Kayla didn’t speak again right away, and I wanted to hear her voice.
“When did you get into singing?” I gestured toward her with one of my cheese fries. It was a surprisingly palatable meal. Maybe I’d have to talk to Chef. Especially if we had any more human visitors.
She shrugged. “I almost don’t remember.” Then she stopped as the server dropped by the table and poured us some extra coffee.
Somewhere, a tinny radio played a song I couldn’t identify, and cooks shouted back and forth in the kitchen. It was a quiet night in the diner, and the only server on duty had large shadows beneath her eyes.
“I don’t think I really got into singing,” Kayla said. “I just don’t recall a time I haven’t done it. My mom sang a lot too. When I was growing up, our house was always full of music and song.” Her eyes took on a faraway look. “I miss her. I miss both of them.”
I reached and covered her hand with mine. “Would you like to tell me about your parents?”
She hesitated.
“Or we can just change the subject?” I still wasn’t great at reading human emotions. I’d failed spectacularly with Leia, after all.
“No…no, that would be nice. Talking about them, I mean. I don’t get to tell many people about them these days, and they seem so far away, now—especially as I can’t leave New Orleans.” Kayla offered me a smile.
“You can tell me.” I couldn’t offer her a ticket out of here, but I could listen, and I liked listening.
“Well, Mom and Dad are both witches.” She paused and laughed a little. “Better witches than me. More sensible, anyway. They were good and they didn’t sign any contracts that kept them here. Didn’t fall out with any covens, either.”
She looked down and played with one of her fries, swiping it back and forth through the cheese, loading it up.
I watched its progress to her mouth, my entire body taut like a coiled spring, my focus on her lips as they parted.
She bit down suddenly on her fry, and I shivered at the sight of her teeth.
I’d never wanted a human to bite me before, but I did now. A human who wanted me to turn her. My human.
My mate.
“Your parents are welcome to visit. I can assure their safe passage through the city.” I was surprised at how much urgency I’d put into my words.