“We’ve got a problem to deal with,” Harry says, his eyes dark.
I glance up at Ophelia, but Harry isn’t waiting. He grabs her wrist, his touch gentle, and he leads her out of Ares’ vault and out to the other one. I look down at my fiancé’s sleeping form once more, but nothing has changed. So, I climb to my feet and walk out after Harry.
He’s just closed Ophelia back in her vault when I step outside. He pushes the door to Ares’ vault closed, and I look from Harry to Sysco, to Florence and Clementine, searching for the answers as to what’s going on.
“My security team just alerted me about a couple of vampires who have been in the city for a few days,” Harry says as he slides his hands into his pockets.
“Okay, why is that weird?” Florence questions, her brows furrowing.
“They just asked to meet with the Barons,” he says.
That grabs my attention. Nobody really knows about the Barons. It’s not exactly public knowledge that vampires exist in the first place. But that there is a board of powerful vampires in this city? The Barons don’t advertise their existence.
“We kind of have a lot of shit going on,” I point out.
“I’m aware,” Harry says, his tone slightly deadpan. “I’d ignore the request normally, given what else is going on. But they’re from Chicago.”
I wait for him to explain further. But he doesn’t. “And?” I encourage.
“When it comes to supernaturals from Chicago, I don’t ignore them,” Harry says.
Chapter 9
We end up at Harry’s building, one we’ve met in before. We take the elevator up four floors to that elegant room with no windows. It’s weird, going to a Barons meeting without Ares. We’ve always been a team. We’ve gone through all this together. But now I am one of them, all on my own.
Sometimes life is so damn wild.
Clementine practically forced Florence to go home with her. There was nothing they could do to help at the moment. They were only in danger of getting in the way. I saw them off with the promise to call when anything changed with Ares.
When we walk into the meeting, my eyes immediately go to the two figures across the space. A man, tall, strong, tattoos rising from the knuckles of his right hand, all the way up his arm and reappearing on the side of his neck, quite similar to Ares’ tattoos, except his left arm is clear of ink. Then, there is a woman with him. She’s not very tall, probably two inches shorter than my own short frame.
But the striking thing about them is that they bear identically white hair. It’s hard to describe. It isn’t like the white of age. It’s just pure and blinding. I’d almost wonder if they were siblingswith how identical their hair is, but it’s literally the only thing about them that looks similar.
“You asked to meet with us?” Harry asks, getting straight to business, as I’d expect.
“You know, we’re pretty used to big cities. Chicago isn’t small. But New York is really damn big,” the woman speaks up, and somehow, she sounds exactly like I expected. Spark and sass. “So, it seemed wiser to work smarter, not harder.”
Harry raises an eyebrow at the crass and bold woman. “Names might be a good place to start.”
“Sorry,” she says with an amused chuckle. She steps forward, extending a hand. “Juliet De Luca. And my husband, Roman.”
“For real?” Sysco asks with a smirk. “Roman and Juliet, married in real life?”
“In the flesh,” Juliet says with a smile that nearly rivals Sysco’s. She shakes his hand, then turns and shakes mine.
“Harry Kim,” he introduces himself as Roman shakes his hand. There’s something wildly evaluative in Roman’s eyes, like this guy should be on a SEAL team, not doing whatever it is he’s doing in our city.
“Sysco,” my friend introduces himself, though he doesn’t offer his last name.
“Lana,” I take cues from Sysco as I shake Roman’s hand. He studies me with vivid, powerfully blue eyes. Yikes. The man is intense.
“Shall we sit?” Harry asks, extending a hand toward the couches. Juliet nods and sinks onto one, Roman sitting beside her. He’s stiff, vigilant, prepared.
I thought Ares was intense, but he’s a golden retriever compared to Roman De Luca.
I take one couch, sitting beside Sysco, and Harry takes the third.
“You asked to meet with us,” Harry says, taking lead in an uncertain situation. “I’d like to know how the hell you even knew about the existence of the Barons. We don’t exactly advertise.”
