“Thanks for your time.” I pulled at Quinn. “We’ll hold on to your number in case we win the lottery. Come on, Quinn, let’s wait for the cab outside.”
That was it, then. It was over. I was stuck as a vampire forever.
“Just a moment,” Kalisan said. “If you truly have no money, I think there might be another way.”
We turned back around.
“You’re from Toronto, isn’t that so?”
Quinn crossed his arms. “That’s right.”
“There is a much-sought-after vampire who is reportedly living in your city. He is old, very old, and impossible to kill. He’s a legend. There is a price tag on his head, which would more than cover your fees. If you were to give me his location—information I could sell to those who wish to find him—then I think we could come to an understanding.”
“You’d give us the cure for this information?” Quinn said with disbelief.
“Yes.”
I didn’t say anything, but my mouth had gone dry. He wanted information for the hunters to capture and kill a vampire who was old and powerful enough to be considered a legend? There was only one vamp living in Toronto I was aware of who fit that bill. Gee whiz. What a small world.
“Who is it?” Quinn asked.
“His name is Thierry de Bennicoeur.” He smiled. “To bring the great Thierry de Bennicoeur down would be a feather in anyone’s cap. A feather that they’d be willing to pay quite dearly for.”
I dug my fingernails into Quinn’s arm before he had a chance to say anything.
“We don’t know him,” I said.
“Perhaps not. But I am quite sure he is in the city. I am confident that you are sufficiently motivated to find his location, his hiding spots, for such a reward as the cure.”
Quinn inhaled deeply. “I don’t know about that.”
I could have kissed him.
Kalisan nodded. “Ah, loyalty. I respect that. Misplaced loyalty, but loyalty nonetheless. Protecting your own kind, whether or not you wish to remain one of them, is an admirable gesture.”
Quinn didn’t say anything, and I knew it was a struggle for him. It wasn’t as though he liked Thierry very much, but he had saved Quinn’s life. Quinn was honorable, and that counted as something to him.
“There has to be another way,” Quinn said.
“I wish that there were. But I am not the only one involved in the process. If it were up to me, I would hand over the cure to you happily, for free. But I’m afraid that’s not the way
it works.”
“Then I’m sorry we couldn’t work this out.” Quinn’s voice sounded strangled.
The photo of Kalisan with Quinn’s parents had been placed for the time being on the shelf behind the doctor. He glanced at it. “Your mother was a wonderful woman. Beautiful, charming, a marvelous wife and mother. I had the honor of meeting her on several occasions. A shame about what happened to her.”
“I didn’t come here to discuss my family,” Quinn said sharply. “Sarah, I think you’re right. We should leave.”
Dr. Kalisan nodded. “A painful memory. Yes, I understand that.”
“You have no idea.” There was no more friendliness in Quinn’s eyes. He looked at Dr. Kalisan as he once looked at me. Emotionless, murderous, without compassion or feeling.
He grabbed my hand and steered us back in the direction of the stairs without another word.
Kalisan cleared his throat. “I see that you have no idea that it was Thierry de Bennicoeur who was responsible for your mother’s death, or I can’t imagine that you would be protecting him so fiercely.”
Quinn froze in place.
“Yes, he murdered her,” Kalisan continued. “It is well known in the hunting community, but I would assume your father has shielded you from the unfortunate details. I saw the papers, the reports. I know what he did to her before her death, and if I shared with you the grisly details, then you would be having no second thoughts about handing him over on a silver platter.”
I was screaming inside at what I was hearing, though I tried not to show anything on my face. I couldn’t think about what was true and what was not. I only knew that I had to get Quinn the hell out of there before he did something crazy. He was still in the same spot, hadn’t moved an inch. I touched his arm and he flinched.
Quinn glanced over his shoulder. “I’ll think about your offer.” His voice was dead.
“Yes, you do that.” Kalisan took a sip from his mug of coffee. “You have my number. Would you please be so kind as to close the door behind you?”
The entire ride back to the city was in silence. But it wasn’t just uncomfortable silence, it was torture. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to think. It felt like some sort of a nightmare come to life. Thierry killed Quinn’s mother? It couldn’t be true. Dr. Kalisan was lying, he had to be.
The cab pulled up in front of my apartment building. I turned to Quinn.
“What are you going to do?”
He didn’t meet my eyes. “I don’t know.”
“Where are you going now?”
“I don’t know.”
“I can come with you. We can talk about this. There has to be another way.”
“I want to be alone.”
“But… you’re not going to…” I swallowed. “Are you going to call Dr. Kalisan back?”
He looked up at me, and his eyes were full of pain. “I don’t know.”
“He’s lying to you… to us. He has to be.”
“Of course you’d think that.” His voice was scornful. “I don’t know, Sarah, I can’t think straight. I need to be alone. If what the doctor said is true—if Thierry really did that to my mother—” His voice broke off. “I still don’t think I’d tell him.”
I let out a breath.
He gritted his teeth. “I’d rather kill Thierry myself, even if it costs me the cure.”
“Quinn…”