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“I’m sorry to interrupt you. I hope that you weren’t in the middle of a life-or-death experiment.”
He stared at me, eyes shifting from blue to black and back again. “I was sleeping.”
I frowned at him. “You’re doing it again. Vampires don’t sleep.”
“Perhaps you don’t know as much about vampires as you think you do. You wish to barter for your notes. We’d better sit and have some tea while we discuss such weighty matters.” He eyed my bag. “It looks quite heavy. Notes are supposed to be light, or were you not aware, Miss Morell?”
“I’ve taken a great deal of light notes,” I said with a tight smile.
He led me to the end of the room where a narrow hall mirrored the East hall of the library, down to the paintings on the walls, but the art here was all night scenes. Robert would have enjoyed the impressionist ones. I should have taken him down to the labs. That would have taught him a lesson or two.
The Scholar’s office was a room filled with cases of things, some alive, some not. A clawed arm was in one case, the flesh at the top pink and raw, like it was healing. I glanced at it then away. I hadn’t come to pry into The Scholar’s personal interests. I sat down in the comfortable wingback chair next to the fireplace while he pulled up another chair that looked far less comfortable. As I leaned back in the chair, I closed my eyes and for a moment felt him around me, his scent, his energy, his power.
I slid quickly out of the chair and gestured at him. “Please don’t let me take your chair, as I have no interest in disturbing you more than necessary. I’ll get to the point. Have you seen this?” I pulled out a card I’d carefully drawn the mark on.
He studied it before he took it out of my hand without touching me and rotated it so it was the other way. “You had it upside down. I am familiar, yes, but it’s not commonly mentioned.”
I took a shaky breath and sat back down in his chair. He knew something about the puzzle I’d been chasing my whole life! “How do you want to do the exchange? I would like some information before turning my notes over to you entirely.”
He shook his head, eyes dark and glittering as he stood. “I’m afraid there’s been a lack of clarity between us. I have time this morning to tell you whether or not I am familiar with the mark, but not the time to tell you about it. It’s a very long, convoluted story that requires much preparation. Have you been to the Piscerie?”
I stared at him, trying to follow the things he wasn’t saying, but it was too difficult with my current level of feverish excitement that I tried so hard not to show. “I believe that time is of the essence, Mr. Stead. I apologize for interrupting your rest, but I don’t have any way to communicate with you other than showing up at your door. I’m here, you’re here. Why don’t we proceed?”
He smiled and took my hand, forcefully helping me out of the chair and leading me to the door. His hand was very strong, like the rest of him, his skin cooler than I’d ever felt before. He was truly not in his usual state. Had I interrupted a feeding? My heart pounded rapidly at the thought of his fangs piercing my skin. “Miss Morell, believe me when I tell you that some things cannot be rushed. This evening, at the Piscerie, two hours after dark. I will send you directions.”
“What about Horace? Have you turned him?”
He flashed fangs in what may have been a smile if he weren’t so delicate. “I am in the process of turning him, but as you noted, raising someone who’s already dead requires more effort than the usual.”
“You’re giving him your blood? Is that why you’re so cold?”
“You ask questions that I didn’t know you wanted answered. Aren’t you afraid of vampires, Miss Morell?”
“I hate them more than I fear them, but that’s beside the point. If you’d rather not discuss the particulars, by all means, let’s talk of the mark instead. You’ve seen it before? Do you have a name to go with it?”
He patted my hand as we reached the door. “I am going to drink blood now, Miss Morell. If you don’t want to witness such an unpretty thing, you should go.”
“I’ve witnessed far uglier things. I’ve been searching for that mark my whole life. If you have something you know, please tell me. I would give you my blood for it right now.”
He released my hand, but I gripped it, holding on and digging my nails into his flesh. He looked down at our hands, mine grasping his as tightly as I could. “You are very persistent, but I’m afraid I must be even more resolute. Escort Miss Morell to the elevator. Gently,” he added, looking up at me with eyes that burned with a vampire’s hunger. My skin prickled, but I didn’t let go, however fast my heart pounded as his eyes flickered red.
The vampire from earlier had come in with another monster with scales and a barbed tail, and they took my arms and pulled me away from the Scholar until I couldn’t help but release my hold on his hand. I craned my neck around to stare at him, glare at him, fighting against the impulse to throw curses at him or scream something that wouldn’t help. Fine. If this was how it was going to go, I could be reasonable. I faced front and shook them off, determined to behave in a way that would get me what I wanted instead of banned from the Scholar’s lab permanently.
“Two hours after dark. I’ll be here,” I called back.
“I’ll send for you, Miss Morell. I would hate to have you get lost before you found what you’ve been searching for.”
Shivers rushed over me at his voice, the dusky growl that sent my thoughts into a tailspin. It wouldn’t be all bad to be bitten by a vampire, not at all, particularly if it gave me the answers I sought.
Chapter
Ten
My phone buzzed at six-thirty, reminding me that I had to meet Anna at the Cat’s Pause at seven. I took Pansy on a walk that would have been quick if he hadn’t sat down on the sidewalk to stare up at a lamp that was particularly out of tune until I dragged him back to the apartment. So far, he hadn’t had any accidents in the apartment, at least not if you didn’t count scorch marks on the floor.
I was pulling my hair into a ponytail getting ready to go when the bell rang. I checked through the hole and saw the delivery guy with a package. Was this the instructions the Scholar was sending? We had about twenty minutes until dark.
“Hi,” I said, opening the door.
