Maybe I just needed a good stiff shot of Moonshine.
Yeah. That sounded like a plan.
I stood up from the desk and then sat down hard again. No. She wasn’t right. Why did I even call her?
Did I really think she was going to make anything better? She didn’t know Thierry any better than I did.
I wished I could hate him. It would make things so much easier. Why didn’t I? After everything I’d learned about him. After seeing his dark side, why was I having such a difficult time with this?
Why did he have to kiss me like that? It wasn’t fair.
It might not be fair. But it was over. It was clear to me. He didn’t love me. He never did and he never would.
I absently searched the top of Thierry’s desk for some Kleenex. I needed to blow my nose, wipe my tears, pull it the hell together, and get back out to the party. I didn’t want anyone seeing me like this.
No tissues. Great.
Just a lot of stupid papers. Faxes. Photocopies. Phone records.
I frowned. Some of the papers were from the sale of Haven. Some weren’t. Some had my name on them. That’s what caught my attention. I picked one up and stared at it, trying to make sense of it.
It was an agreement. The address of George’s house. A picture of me.
I flipped the stapled page over. It was for a bodyguard service different from the one I had now. Not
Janie and Lenny this time. Thierry had hired an agency to keep an eye on me starting tomorrow. And he was paying a very hefty fee. Indefinitely.
There was a notation at the bottom:
A bonus if Ms. Dearly remains unaware of your presence to ensure her continued safety.
Thierry had hired bodyguards to keep me safe. Even after he left town.
First the shard. Now this. Everything Thierry did seemed to be in my best interest, whether or not I ever found out he was responsible for it. What did it mean? Did he feel guilty that he was leaving? Or was it something else?
I gripped the side of the desk. It wasn’t hopeless. Itwasn’t . I clung to this small sliver of light.
I had taken one shaky step toward the door when the phone rang. I glanced at it apprehensively. Was that Veronique calling back?
I grabbed the phone and swallowed hard before speaking. “Haven. Can I help you?”
“I need to talk to Sarah.” It was Quinn. I could hear a lot of background noise and voices. Music.
“Quinn? It’s me. Where are you?”
“I’m at Clancy’s.”
My eyes widened. Clancy’s was a bar widely known to be a hangout for vampire hunters. After a big day of busting vampire heads, they’d go there and shoot some pool, yap about their conquests, throw some darts, and drink some beers. A real classy joint.
“What are you doing there? Are you insane? If they find out who you are do you know what they’ll do to you?”
He laughed, but it wasn’t a pleasant sound. “Why do you think I’m here?”
“Quinn—”
“Listen, Sarah. I’m not in a good place right now.”
“No, obviously. You have to get out of there right now.”
“No, I don’t mean here. I mean, in my head. I don’t know what I’m doing with my life. I’m all messed up.”
“So you’ve gone all kamikaze on me? I’m sorry, I’m so sorry about the other day, but this is no way to handle things.”
He laughed again. “I guess I’ll have to handle things the way I have to handle them.”
“Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. As in, not at all. Are you drunk?”
“If I could be, I would be. But unfortunately no. I’m here trying to get more info on the vampire killer.
Three more victims died last night. But I . . . I called for a reason. Are you going to listen to me or what?”
“Yes, of course. What is it?”
“I overhead some hunters here talking. They were discussing that female bodyguard of yours.”
“Janie?” The cord was twisted so tightly around my finger that it was cutting off circulation.
“That’s right. She and her partner aren’t just bodyguards. They’re also Mercs.”
“A Merc? What’s a Merc?”
“A mercenary. Usually ex-hunters, who now sell their services as bodyguards or assassins to vampire or hunter . . . or even regular humans. They don’t give a shit who they work for or what the job is as long as there is a great deal of money involved. They’re scum, Sarah.” He paused while I was trying to find my voice. “Where are they right now?”
I licked my suddenly dry lips. “She’s waiting outside the club. I don’t know where Lenny is. But, Quinn,
she’s not bad. We’ve talked lots of times. Even if she is one of these Mercs, she’s probably just got a lot on her plate. She says she’s working a bunch of different jobs.”
“Yeah, I bet she is.”
“I like her. And I think she likes me, too.”
He snorted. “Then you’re in more trouble than I thought. When I saw her yesterday, outside Haven, she seemed familiar to me. I couldn’t place it at the time. I thought she just had one of those faces, you know? But I was a little distracted and wasn’t looking at other women at the time so I didn’t pay much attention.”
I twisted the phone cord more tightly around my finger. “Quinn . . . ”
“But listening to the hunters tonight talking about her it finally hit me just a minute ago. Who she is.”