Wonderful. I supposed I could be grateful that the president of the vampire hunters had waited this long to come beating down our door for their information. Now I just had to keep Piper away from him.
Standing, I buttoned the front of my jacket and ushered Piper out of the office. “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off? I have an important client to meet with and we can continue this later.” I placed a hand on her shoulder and peered down at her. “Please do not hesitate to come to me with any problems. Anything at all, okay?”
Piper nodded her answer and headed down the hallway. When she was out of earshot, Darren turned to me, arching a brow. Ignoring the look he was giving me, I started toward the stairs.
“Do you even know what you’re going to say to him?” Darren asked me quietly coming up behind me on the stairs.
I glanced over my shoulder at him. “What do you suggest I say to him? The truth? How would that be beneficial to any of us? No, it would put Piper and the rest of us in danger.” I paused at the bottom of the stairs and pivoted to face Darren. “I will handle Vincent. You just make sure that Piper does not have a mental breakdown.” I rubbed my chin between my thumb and index finger and sighed, “From the way she was going on in my office I have a feeling it’s coming any day now.” With that final note, I stalked into the living room where Vincent sat on one of our couches.
When the slimy git saw me, he did not budge an inch. He lifted his cup of tea to his lips. “Well isn’t this an interesting surprise? I was expecting to see Piper and instead I got the head of the Durand household.” He sat his cup down on the saucer before him as I took the seat across from him. “Now, what do I owe this pleasure?”
Noting the sarcasm in his tone, I forced my body to relax into the chair. “Piper is unavailable at this time. What can I help you with?”
“Ah, now…” Vincent scooched to the end of his seat and stared me down. “See, I was under the impression that I owned your asses and when I say, ‘jump,’ you say, ‘how high?’ And when I say I want to see Piper…” he held his hands out before him waiting for me to fill in the blanks.
I kept my eyes locked on his as I spoke. “Piper is under the weather and cannot see you at this point in time. Now, I will ask again, ‘what can I help you with or did you just come here to gloat?’”
Wrinkles appeared in Vincent’s brow. “Well, I’m sad to hear that Piper is not feeling well. I hope it’s nothing serious?”
“I assure you, we have it well in hand.” I hoped that would be enough to satisfy him so he would leave.
Sadly, it was not.
“Well, that is good to hear. I would hate to lose my best hunter over something as common as the flu.” He shuddered as he stood up, buttoning the gold button of his garish green suit. The lights glinted off the product in his hair as he moved. “I don’t want to waste anymore of your precious time. I came for what we agreed upon.”
“And what would that be?” I asked even though I knew exactly what he wanted. The man just annoyed me.
“Why, the location of the council of course!” Vincent grinned, throwing his hands up before him. “You all get your freedom and you give me the keys to the kingdom so to speak.”
I stood from my chair and walked the short distance to stand before him. “I do not know the location of the council at this point in time. We have not been summoned to them yet. And with Piper under the weather we can all hope that won’t change any time soon.”
Vincent frowned. “I was under the impression that the council wanted to see you…badly. Why would they wait so long to call you out?”
I peered straight into Vincent’s eyes and asked, “Why would I know what the council thinks? I am simply a pawn in their little game just as we are in yours. Now,” I stepped back from him and gestured toward the front door. “I will let you know as soon as we find something out. We appreciate your patience in this matter and for stopping by.”
Giving me a suspicion once over, Vincent did not question me further. He stalked toward the door, his eyes scanning around him as if we were keeping Piper hidden somewhere.
When he was gone, Wynn appeared behind me. “What did the great hunter want?”
“Piper,” I stated and then sighed, sitting back down in my chair. “And the location of the council.”
Wynn walked further into the room, a glass of blood in his hand. “And what did you tell him?”
I grunted and looked up at him. “You shouldn’t carry that around so nonchalantly with Piper in her condition.”
Wynn took a sip of the blood and grimaced. “You know it’s just not the same when you’ve been taking it directly from the source. Not to forget the delectable spice that is added to it while given mid intercourse.”
I grunted again in response.
“So…” Wynn sat on the arm of my chair and poked at my face. “What did you tell him?”
I swatted his hand away. “What do you think? That we didn’t know and would tell him when we did.”
“And Piper?” Wynn slid off the chair’s arm and strode across the room before promptly flopping onto the couch. “What did you tell him about her?”
I rubbed my forehead. I could feel a migraine coming on. “That she’s sick.”
Wynn snorted. “You’re lucky the hunters don’t know shit about human servants or he would have seen right through that blatant lie. Human servants don’t get sick after they’ve been bonded to a vampire.”