The Hollows Series Books 1-4

The man reached for a pencil with a casual ease, but his eyes jerked to mine when I shifted my feet. If I’d known him better, I would have said he was wound tighter than I was. He meticulously erased the question mark by Francis’s name and wrote mine in. Setting the pencil down, he ran a hand over his head to get his hair to lay flat.

“I’m a busy man, Ms. Morgan,” he said, his voice rising and falling pleasantly. “I have found it more cost-effective to lure key employees from other companies rather than raise them up from scratch. And where I would be loath to suggest I was in competition with the I.S., I’ve found their training methods and the skill sets they foster are commensurate with my needs. In all honesty, I would have preferred to see if you had the ingenuity to survive an I.S. death threat before I brought you in. Perhaps nearly finding your way to my back porch is enough.”

I crossed my legs and arched my eyebrows. “Are you offering me a job, Mr. Kalamack? You want me for your new secretary? Type your letters? Fetch your coffee?”

“Heavens, no,” he said, ignoring my sarcasm. “You smell too strongly of magic for a secretarial position, despite trying to cover it with that—mmm—perfume?”

I flushed, determined not to drop from his questioning gaze.

“No,” Trent continued matter-of-factly. “You’re too interesting to be a secretary, even one of mine. Not only have you quit the I.S., but you’re baiting them. You went shopping. You broke into their records vault to shred your file. Locking a runner unconscious in his own car?” he said with a carefully cultivated laugh. “I like that. But even better is your quest to improve yourself. I applauded your drive to expand your horizons, learn new skills. The willingness to explore options most shun is a mind-set I strive to instill in my employees. Though reading that book on the bus shows a certain lack of … judgment.” A sliver of dark humor showed behind his eyes. “Unless your interest in vampires has an earthier source, Ms. Morgan?”

My stomach tightened, and I wondered if I had enough charms to fight my way out of here. How had Trent found all that out when the I.S. couldn’t even keep tabs on me? I forced myself to be calm as I realized how deep in the pixy dust I was. What had I been thinking, walking in here? The man’s secretary was dead. He ran Brimstone, no matter how generous he was during charity fund-raisers or that he golfed with the mayor’s husband. He was too smart to be content running a good third of Cincinnati’s manufacturing. His hidden interests webbed the underworld, and I was pretty sure he wanted to keep it that way.

Trent leaned forward with an intent expression, and I knew he was done with the idle chitchat. “My question, Ms. Morgan,” he said softly, “is what do you want with me?”

I said nothing. My confidence trickled away.

He gestured to his desk. “What were you looking for?”

“Gum?” I said, and he sighed.

“For the sake of eliminating a great deal of wasted time and effort, I suggest we be honest with each other.” He took off his glasses and set them aside. “Inasmuch as we need to. Tell me why you risked death to visit me. You have my word the record of your actions today will be—misplaced? I simply want to know where I stand. What have I done to warrant your attention?”

“I walk free?” I said, and he leaned back in his seat, nodding. His eyes were a shade of green I had never seen before. There was no blue in them. Not even a whisper.

“Everyone wants something, Ms. Morgan,” he said, each word precise but flowing into the next like water. “What is it you want?”

My heart pounded at his promise of freedom. I followed his gaze to my hands and the dirt under my nails. “You,” I said, curling my fingertips under my palms to hide them. “I want the evidence that you killed your secretary. That you’re dealing in Brimstone.”

“Oh …” he said with a poignant sigh. “You want your freedom. I should have guessed. You, Ms. Morgan, are more complex than I gave you credit for.” He nodded, his silk-lined suit making a soft whisper as he moved. “Giving me to the I.S. would certainly buy your independence. But you can understand I won’t allow it.” He straightened, becoming all business again. “I’m in the position of offering you something just as good as freedom. Perhaps better. I can arrange for your I.S. contract to be paid off. A loan, if you will. You can work it off over the course of your career with me. I can set you up in a decent establishment, perhaps a small staff.”

My face went cold, then hot. He wanted to buy me. Not noticing my slow anger, he opened a file from his in-box. Pulling a pair of wood-rimmed glasses from an inner pocket, he balanced them on his small nose. I grimaced as he looked me over, clearly seeing past my disguise. He made a small sound before he bent his fair head to read what it contained. “Do you like the beach?” he asked lightly, and I wondered why he was even pretending he needed the glasses to read. “I have a macadamia plantation I have been looking to expand. It’s in the South Seas. You could even pick out the colors for the main house.”

“You can go Turn yourself, Trent,” I said, and he looked up over his glasses, seemingly surprised. It made him look charming, and I forced the thought from me. “If I wanted someone tugging on my leash, I would have stayed with the I.S. Brimstone is grown on those islands. And I might as well be human that close to the sea. I couldn’t even bring up a love charm there.”

“Sun,” he said persuasively as he tucked his glasses away. “Warm sand. Setting your own hours.” He closed the file and put a hand upon it. “You can bring your new friend. Ivy, is it? A Tamwood vampire. Quite a catch.” A wry smile flickered over him.

My temper burned. He thought he could buy me off. The trouble was, I was tempted, and that made me angry with myself. I glared, my hands stiff in my lap.

“Be honest,” Trent said, his long fingers twirling a pencil with a mesmerizing dexterity. “You’re resourceful, perhaps even skilled, but no one eludes the I.S. permanently without help.”

“I have a better way,” I said as I struggled to remain seated. I had nowhere to go until he let me. “I’m going to tie you to a post in the center of the city. I’m going to prove you were involved with your secretary’s death and you’re dealing in Brimstone. I quit my job, Mr. Kalamack, not my morals.”

Ire flickered behind his green eyes, but his face remained calm as he set his pencil back in the cup with a sharp tap. “You can trust me to keep my word. I always keep my word, promises or threats.” His voice seemed to pool on the floor, and I fought the idiotic urge to lift my feet from the carpet. “A businessman has to,” he intoned, “or he won’t be in business very long.”

I swallowed, wondering what the hell he was. He had the grace, the voice, the quickness, and the confident power of a vampire. And as much as I disliked the man, the raw attraction was there, heightened by his personal strength rather than a teasing manner and sexual innuendos. But he wasn’t a living vampire. Though warm and good-natured on the surface, he had a very large personal space that most vampires lacked. He kept people at arm’s length, too far to seduce with a touch. No, he wasn’t a vamp, but maybe … a human scion?

My eyebrows rose. Trent blinked, seeing the idea crossing me and not knowing what it was. “Yes, Ms. Morgan?” he murmured, seeming uncomfortable for the first time.

My heart pounded. “Your hair is floating again,” I said, trying to jolt him. His lips parted, and he seemed at a loss for words.

I jumped as the door opened and Jonathan strode in. He was stiff and angry, with the attitude of a protector fettered by the very one he has been pledged to defend. In his hands was a head-sized glass ball. Jenks was inside it. Frightened, I stood, clutching my bag to myself.

“Jon,” Trent said, smoothing his hair as he got to his feet. “Thank you. If you would please escort Ms. Morgan and her associate out?”

Jenks was so angry his wings were a black blur. I could see him mouthing something but couldn’t hear him. His gestures, though, were unmistakable.

“My disc, Ms. Morgan?”

I spun, gasping as I realized Trent had come around his desk and was right behind me. I hadn’t heard him move. “Your what?” I stammered.

His right hand was outstretched. It was smooth and unworked but carried a taut strength. He had a single gold band on his ring finger. I couldn’t help but notice that he was only a few inches taller than me. “My disc?” he prompted, and I swallowed.

Tensed to react, I dug it from my pocket with two fingers and handed it to him. Something swept over him. It was as subtle as a shade of blue, as indistinguishable as a snowflake among thousands, but it was there. In that instant I knew it wasn’t Brimstone that Trent was afraid of. It was something on that disc.

My thoughts shot to his neatly arranged discs, and it was with an incredible resolve that I kept my eyes on his instead of following my suspicions to his desk drawer. God, help me. The man ran biodrugs along with Brimstone. The man was a freaking biodrug lord. My heart hammered and my mouth went dry. You were jailed for running Brimstone. But you were staked, burned, and scattered for running biodrugs. And he wanted me to work for him.

“You’ve shown an unexpected capacity to plan, Ms. Morgan,” Trent said, interrupting my racing thoughts. “Vampire assassins won’t attack you while under a Tamwood’s protection. And arranging a pixy clan to protect you against fairies as well as living in a church to keep the Weres at bay are beautiful in their simplicity. Let me know when you change your mind about working for me. You would find satisfaction here—and recognition. Something the I.S. has been most remiss with.”

I steeled my face, concentrating on keeping my voice from shaking. I hadn’t planned anything. Ivy had, and I wasn’t sure what her motives were. “With all due respect, Mr. Kalamack, you can go Turn yourself.”

Jonathan stiffened, but Trent simply nodded and went back behind his desk.

A heavy hand hit my shoulder. I instinctively grabbed it, crouching to fling whoever had touched me over my shoulder and to the floor. Jonathan hit with a surprised grunt. I was kneeling on his neck before I realized I had moved. Frightened for what I had done, I rose and backed away. Trent glanced up in unconcern from replacing the disc in the drawer.

Three other people had entered at Jonathan’s heavy thump. Two centered about me, one stood before Trent.

“Let her go,” Trent said. “It was Jon’s error.” He sighed with mild disappointment. “Jon,” he added tiredly, “she isn’t the fluff she pretends to be.”

The tall man had risen smoothly to his feet. He tugged his shirt straight and ran his hand to smooth his hair. He eyed me with hatred. Not only had I bested him before his employer, but he had also been rebuked in front of me. The angry man scooped Jenks up with bad grace and motioned to the door.

I walked free, back out into the sun, more afraid of what I had turned down than of having left the I.S.

Fifteen (#u1e4cd244-3c3d-5afa-9b66-582f24b5f037)

I yanked at the pizza dough, taking my frustrations concerning my fabulous afternoon out on the helpless yeast and flour. A crackle of stiff paper came from Ivy’s wooden table. My attention jerked to her. Head bowed and brow furrowed, she kept her attention on her map. I’d be a fool not to recognize that her reactions had quickened with sunset. She moved with that unnerving grace again, but she looked irate, not amorous. Still, I was aware of her every move.

Ivy had a real run, I thought sourly as I stood at the center island and made pizza. Ivy had a life. Ivy wasn’t trying to prove the city’s most prominent, beloved citizen was a biodrug lord and play head cook at the same time.

Three days on her own, and Ivy had already got a run to find a missing human. I thought it odd a human would come to a vamp for help, but Ivy had her own charms, or scary competence, rather. Her nose had been buried in her map of the city all night, plotting the man’s usual haunts with colored markers and drawing out the paths he would likely take while driving from home to work and such.

“I’m no expert,” Ivy said to the table, “but is that how you’re supposed to do that?”

“You want to make dinner?” I snapped, then looked at what I was doing. The circle was more of a lopsided oval, so thin in places it almost broke through. Embarrassed, I pushed the dough to fill in the thin spot and tugged it to fit the baking stone properly. As I fussed with the edges, I surreptitiously watched her. At her first sultry glance or overly quick move, I was going out the door to hide behind Jenks’s stump. The jar of sauce opened with a loud pop. My eyes flicked to Ivy. Seeing no change, I dumped most of it onto the pizza and recapped the jar.

What else should go on it? I wondered. It would be a miracle if Ivy let me top it with everything I usually did. Deciding not to even attempt the cashews, I pulled out the mundane toppings. “Peppers,” I muttered. “Mushrooms.” I glanced at Ivy. She looked like a meat kind of a gal. “Bacon left from breakfast.”

The marker squeaked as Ivy drew a purple line from the campus to the Hollow’s more hazardous strip of nightclubs and bars by the riverfront. “So,” she drawled. “Are you going to tell me what’s bothering you, or am I going to have to order pizza in after you burn that one?”