"Glad to hear Michel was able to get you out of trouble."
Julien nods.
The vampire – Luke – turns to me.
"I thought I was going to have to train her myself. She's a cheeky one, despite the tears. Michel must like them saucy."
"You can leave the training to me," Julien says.
"Oh, that's too bad. You know how I like to break a new slave in, but I have a feeling this one will only top from the bottom," he says, smiling. He pulls up another chair and gestures to it. "Where's Michel?"
"Soren's making Michel stay in Pittsburgh. I'm taking over his territory."
At that, my heart skips a beat. Soren's making Michel stay in Pittsburgh?
"Julien," I say, unable to stop myself. "What do you mean Michel's staying in Pittsburgh?" Tears brim once more in my eyes.
Julien comes to me and stands in front of me.
"Hush," he says and runs the back of his fingers over my cheek, sending some kind of calm chemical through me. "We'll talk later."
"But, Michel…" I start to say but he shakes his head again, and holds his fingers up to my lips.
"Hush."
He returns to his chair and the two vampires sit facing each other, eyeing each other intently.
"How's he taking it? That must be upsetting for him, consideringshe'shere."
"He's resigned to it," Julien says. "It was him or her, and there's no way he'd want Soren to have her."
"I figured Michel would pay some price to get you back."
"So are you going to tell me what happened with Eve?"
Luke raises his hands.
"When Jim saw Eve wandering around and Michel's man wasn't in sight, he stepped in and took her off the street. You can't be too careful with the females, I always say. Too valuable. Tell Michel he really must hire better help."
"Point taken."
"And here she is," Luke says, pointing to me. "Only a little worse for wear. Jim was a bit exuberant in retrieving her. She got a bit of a bruise on her forehead when she fell and of course, there's that," he says and points to my breast. "He was a bit too enthusiastic in bringing me a sample of her blood as proof of life but better overkill than underkill."
"Of course," Julien says. "Now, if you don't mind, I think it's time to get back home. I have a long night ahead of me."
Luke smiles. "I'll bet you do. Be my guest," he says and motions to me. "Jim, cut her loose."
Jim goes behind me and removes the ropes binding my hands and I clutch at my breasts, trying to cover up. Julien stands and holds his hand out to Luke, palm up. "If you don't mind?"
"Of course." Luke reaches into a pocket and withdraws the vial of blood, handing it over to Julien. "It was just insurance, you understand. In case one of you didn't show and needed convincing."
"Ofcourse." Julien puts the vial into a pocket in his jacket.
Elaine comes in the room with some clothes on hangars.
"My Lord, you asked for these?" She holds them up, one after the other. One is a short black leather dress with a low cut back and the other is a sleeveless black velvet cocktail dress, with a scoop neck, corset bodice and a lace up back.
Luke stands in front of the two dresses and studies each one, a finger at his lips. "I think the velvet is more her style, don't you think Julien?"