“Great,” Sascha groaned. “Mobstersandpsychopath vampires.”
“Again,” Ivan hissed. “He isAlexei’sfriend.”
Sascha pouted, seeming put out that he couldn’t throw the blame on Ivan, then pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’m calling him.” He rushed out of the room, already holding the phone to his ear.
Ivan had to bite back the immense surge of bitterness—Alexei would answer Sascha, no doubt. They would probably have a long, lovely conversation. Perhaps make Christmas plans together.
Nix’s hand fell, hot against the back of Ivan’s neck. “Are you spiraling?”
“No,” Ivan sighed. Not spiraling, exactly. But he did need to focus.
He had a meeting to attend, after all.
He glanced at Kai, who was already watching Ivan intently. “Would you care to be a tool for intimidation?”
“This Sergei is the reason Sascha was stabbed.”
Ivan wasn’t sure if it was a question or a statement, but he answered either way. “Yes.”
Kai grinned at him with a mouth full of sharp teeth. “Then I would. With pleasure.”
The basement was dimly lit,the overhead light ancient and dusted over. There were boxes shoved in different corners—some had brighter, fresher cardboard, possibly odd bits from Sascha’smove, and some clearly had been there for quite a while, remnants from the old owner.
It smelled musty and damp, in the way the warehouse Ivan’s father had operated in had always smelled.
Maybe Ivan was destined to always be finding himself in dark, dank places.
He entered with Kai at his back. The demon had chosen his human form for the moment, for whatever reason. He was still intimidating enough, six and a half feet of pure muscle, with a belt full of daggers he’d brought out for the occasion.
Sergei was as they’d left him—tied to a small wooden chair they’d found, the white paint on it cracked and peeling—although he’d woken up at some point while they’d been inside discussing, and his eyes were open. The vampires hadn’t been too rough with him—more was the pity—but he had a split lip and some impressive bruising. To his credit, whatever he might have been feeling at finding himself tied up at Ivan’s mercy, there was no telling just by looking at him. His roughhewn features were blank.
But Kai sniffed the air as he leaned against the wall by the basement door, directly in Sergei’s line of sight. “He reeks of fear,” he rumbled.
“Is that right, Sergei?” Ivan murmured, approaching the man who’d helped raise him. “And what would you have to fear from me? Yourfamily?”
Sergei didn’t answer. Of course, he couldn’t, not with that duct tape slapped across his mouth. Ivan walked over and ripped it off, wincing in a show of sympathy as he did so. “My apologies. Our new compatriots seem to be a fan of doing things the old-fashioned way.”
Sergei looked at Ivan as if he were an unruly child. “Untie me, Vanya.”
“No.”
Ivan could imagine the calculations going on in that thickhead, even if he couldn’t see them in Sergei’s expression. To continue to pretend or to beg for mercy? To plead complete ignorance or to plead for his life?
After a long moment, Sergei let out a sigh, clucking his tongue. “You already know, hm? I thought as much.”
“Yes,” Ivan confirmed. “I know.”
He thought it would be more climactic, the moment where the lies were over, but Sergei only let out a harsh breath. “Then time to kill me.” His gaze darted to Kai. “Is that what the brute is for?” Sergei bared his teeth in a false smile. “New hire?”
“You’re not already familiar?” Ivan asked, shaking his head. “You should get better intel. That’s Sascha’s new…partner.”
Sergei sneered. “Partner,” he muttered, and spat on the basement floor.
That earned a low, rumbling growl from Kai, although he still didn’t shift into his demon form.
“Watch it, Sergei,” Ivan said lightly. “He’s testy.”
He stood there for a moment, considering Sergei. The best thing to do—for himself if not his plans—would have been to end it right away. To remove any temptation to give in to wondering. To questioning. But still he found himself asking, “Why did you do it? Why change loyalties?”
