Skylar glanced up at me. “She saw you explode her friend, huh?”
“Keep him back and I’ll talk,” she said.
Skylar nodded at me and I stood, then walked a few steps away. Slowly, she lifted the knife off the vamp’s neck.
“You try to run, I’ll have him break out the gold sparkles and take you out,” Skylar said, her voice cold as ice.
It stirred something deep inside me. Something I usually left hidden, the darker part of me that wanted to come out to play. Skylar seemed to speak to all parts of me. The good, and the bad.
“I won’t run,” Vamp said.
Skylar stood and slid her knife back into the pocket on her thigh. The vampire sat up and looked at me. She was clearly terrified. “You’re not going to explode me?”
“Not right now,” I said. “But explain that necklace.”
“Necklace?” Skylar crouched down to look at the charm on the female’s neck. The vampire tensed as Skylar neared, but allowed her to look.
“Why are you wearing the royal crest?” Skylar asked, then she stood and turned to me, her hands on her hips. “You better have a good explanation for this.”
I ignored her, despite the fact that I could feel her anger rolling off her in waves. “Where’d you get it?”
“He gave it to me.” The vampire nodded to the pile of vampire guts and goo a few feet away.
“Where’d he get it?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “He probably stole it.”
“Take it off,” I said.
Without argument, she unclasped the necklace and threw it toward me. It landed on the blood-soaked floor. I picked it up and looked closely at the round gold charm. It was a perfect copy of the royal seal and I could feel the remnants of a protection charm embedded in the soft metal. It was the same necklace worn by every member of the royal family, down to the enchantment.
“This is authentic,” I said.
“Where did he tell you he got this,” I said. “He must have said something. There’s no way he stole this.”
“He said a friend gave it to him, but that’s what he always says about pretty things he brings me,” she said. “I swear, that’s all I know.”
I looked at Skylar. “What did you get out of the others?”
“Nothing,” she said. “They wouldn’t talk and now they’re dead.” She glared at the female vampire.
“I told you everything I know,” she said.
“What happened to Jonas?” I asked.
“Max killed him,” she said. “He challenged him last night and won in the battle.”
“Why?” Skylar asked.
She shrugged. “He didn’t say.”
“Great, we caught the vampire that knows nothing,” Skylar says. “I should have killed you.”
“I’m new,” she said. “But if your offer stands to make a friend in the Coven, I’ll play ball.”
“Okay,” I said, pulling a business card out of my pocket. “When they come back and a new leader is crowned, you call me. I want to know who it is and if they’ll be open to working with me. Find out whatever you can.”
She nodded as she accepted the card.