"Just lucky I guess." I smacked his hand away, earning me a teasing grin.
"Oh, I doubt that. You have a fire in you, Piper. Something I haven’t seen in many of my hunters." He went back to pacing, speaking as if he were talking to a room full of people, or maybe he just liked to hear himself talk. "You went from broke and living in your car to the live-in maid and then to human servant. One would think you were enthralled by the vampires you serve—"
"I don't serve anyone," I interrupted him. "I'm not property. I get paid for a job and I do it."
"Very practical. I like that," Vincent mused, and then turned back to me. "That doesn't explain why you've decided to bed all six of them, including their ever-faithful butler."
"Well, have you seen them?" I retorted sarcastically.
Vincent cocked his head to the side. "So looks mean more to you than morality?"
I sneered at him. "Don't twist my words. My relationship with the Durands is my business and mine alone."
"Ah, not so alone I would think." Vincent winked.
It took me a moment to realize what he meant and I gasped.
At my startling realization, Vincent's eyes sparkled. "Oh, yes. I have eyes and ears everywhere. For instance, you thought we were oblivious of who you were when you snuck into our base." My shoulders hunched at that. "But I've had eyes on you from the beginning."
I twisted around to glare at Tristan, but he looked as surprised as me.
"Don't blame Tristan. He didn't know anything about it. They wouldn't be spies if everyone knew who they were." Vincent chuckled at his own joke. "No, I've had eyes on you for a while. It wasn't until Frankfurt that I realized how useful you might be to us."
I was beginning to piece together what exactly Vincent wanted from me and I didn't like it. Not at all.
Baring my teeth at him, I snarled, "I won't spy for you. I just want you to get off the Durands’ case, and if I have to kill you to do it, I will."
Vincent shook his head, his hands up in a defensive gesture. "You have me completely wrong."
I withdrew my daggers and pointed one in his direction. "Then you better start getting to the point. I'm getting tired of this back and forth."
Vincent inclined his head. "Very well." Taking a deep breath, seeming to steel himself for what he was about to say to me, Vincent closed his eyes for a second and then opened them, a look of what I could only describe as a cat about to devour their prey filling his eyes.
"I want you."
I blinked. "Uh, what? Sorry, I'm taken. Like really taken. Besides, the fact that you're on the vampire hunter side and I'm shacking up with vampires is kind of a deal-breaker, don't you think?"
"No." Vincent's voice showed all the patience of a saint. "I mean, I want you to work for me."
I gripped my blades tighter. "I already told you no."
Vincent dismissed me with a wave of his hand like my denial was of no consequence. "You do not seem to understand the magnitude of your predicament." He held both hands up as if they were a scale. "You want me to call the hunt off on your men." The last word came out as if calling the Durands men was painful. "And I want to bring order back to the vampire world. It's a win-win."
Now I was stumped. How the hell did he expect me working for him would make that happen? I was only one person. He had a whole organization to do his bidding.
"Now, I know what you're thinking, why you? What could you give me that the thousands of hunters in my command couldn't?"
Vincent had me there.
He laced his fingers behind his back and rocked on his heels. "You have only been a human servant for a little over a year now, yes?" He didn't wait for me to agree or disagree before he continued, "And in that time, you have shown more dedication to your training than any of my hunters and have come further as well. I can assume those muscles and blades aren't just for show?"
My lips twisted to the side in a wicked smirk. "Would you like to find out?"
"See? That!" He clapped his hands together with childish glee. "That fire. I want that. You have the determination I need to actually make a difference in the vampire world."
I flipped my blades around until they were facing the floor and stood my ground. "What exactly are you proposing?"
"In exchange for keeping away from the Durands, with the contingent you can keep them in line." Vincent gave me a pointed look, before continuing, "I want you to use your vampire connections and human servant position to help us take down the worst of the worst."