Written in Red

delivery area’s street entrance.

No matter how fast a human could run, the Sanguinati could move faster. And per Erebus’s orders, unless Vlad was convinced that Darrell had done nothing more than act foolishly because of a woman, the man wouldn’t get past Nyx when he bolted for the presumed safety of the human-controlled land.

“Mr. Wolfgard?” Darrell said as he fiddled with the knot in his tie. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes,” Elliot replied, his voice smoothing into a sound that gave nothing away. “Do you know why?”

“No, sir. But . . . someone emptied my desk and put some of my personal items in a box.”

“No, we put all of your personal items in the box. The rest of the items in the desk actually belong to the consulate. Now you’ll hand over the keys you were given, as well as your pass to the Market Square.”

“But . . . why?”

“You’re being dismissed for a breach of trust.”

Rapid breathing. Pulse spiking. Face turning pale. And even with all those acknowledgments, the fool still tried to deny what the Others knew.

“I didn’t,” Darrell said.

“I hope for your sake that the breach begins and ends with you taking that female to the Green Complex. I hope you understand what will happen if you become indiscreet about what you’ve seen or heard in the consulate.”

“Sir, I think I’ve done a good job here,” Darrell began.

“You did. I was pleased with your work. But you broke the trust we had given you, and now you have to go. However, before I let you leave this room, I need one answer: What were you looking for in the Liaison’s Office?”

“I wasn’t in the office,” Darrell protested. “I was in the abovestairs room I was told I could use last night. I was with my . . . friend . . . until I woke up this morning.”

“So you were never in the office?” Elliot asked, his voice still smooth.

“Sure, I was in the office. Went to pick up the consulate mail a few times.”

“Why?”

“Why?”

“Yes,” Elliot said patiently. “Why? You’ve never done that before.”

Darrell squirmed in the chair. “I wasn’t comfortable being around the other Liaisons. But Meg is a pleasant girl, and she always has the mail bundled in an orderly manner. I just thought picking it up would be a friendly gesture.”

And a way to set up Meg as the next potential friend if Asia Crane didn’t work out? Vlad wondered.

“Whose idea was it to go to the Green Complex?” Elliot asked. “Your pass doesn’t extend beyond our business district without permission, and your guest didn’t have permission to go anywhere last night except the designated room for your . . . social interaction.”

“She wanted to see it, as an adventure.”

“See what? It was late. It was dark.”

“I think she wanted to see where Simon Wolfgard lives.” Darrell hung his head and talked to his tie. “She said she wasn’t interested in him anymore, but I think she is. I think she pretended . . .”

<That’s enough, Elliot,> Vlad said. <I’ll inform Grandfather that this monkey tried to impress the female and is nothing worse than a fool. Since that Asia is being banned from the Courtyard, the explanation will satisfy him.>

Leaving Elliot to finish the dismissal, Vlad flowed under the door, shifting to human form when he was in the hallway. When he got outside, he stopped long enough to tell Nyx that Darrell was allowed to leave the Courtyard intact. Then he walked down the access way between the buildings and stopped behind the Liaison’s Office.

The truck from Fallacaro Lock & Key was already there, and Chris Fallacaro was working on the office’s back door. Blair was watching him, which was probably why it was taking the human so long to change a lock. Having youngsters watching in order to learn was one thing. Having the Courtyard’s primary enforcer watching was something else altogether.

And there was Meg, pulling up and looking confused because the truck and Blair’s BOW effectively blocked her ability to park her own vehicle.

They hadn’t discussed what they were going to tell Meg, and he didn’t want to push Simon—especially when they weren’t on opposite sides. He would have preferred a more permanent solution to ridding themselves of Asia Crane, and he should have taken care of it last night. Since he’d made the wrong choice, he thought Simon should be the one to take the direct approach now—and provide them all with some blood and meat in the bargain.

But what would they have said to their Liaison? It’s like this, Meg. We didn’t like that Asia Crane, so we ate her.

When dealing with humans, honesty isn’t always the best policy, Vlad thought as he walked over to the BOW and opened Meg’s door.

“What’s going on?” Meg asked as she got out of the BOW.

“Let’s go inside. It’s cold out here.” He cupped her elbow as they walked to the back door.

Blair said something to Chris. The man jumped, whipped his head around in a way that must have made a few muscles twang, then pulled the door open wider for Meg to slip inside.

She swapped boots for shoes, hung up her coat, and went through to the other rooms to open up the office. Vlad followed her, then stood in the Private doorway while she leaned against the counter.

“What happened?” she asked.

“A breach of trust. Darrell broke one of the rules,” he replied, wanting to be blunt and direct as he would be with one of his own kind. But he suddenly wondered how much blood prophets in general, and Meg in particular, knew about sex and felt the need for caution when explaining why the human was upstairs last night. “He’s been dismissed. Since he had a key to the consulate as well as keys to this building, we’re getting the locks changed.”

“Do you do that every time an employee leaves?”

“Not every time.”

She paled, which alarmed him.

“Is Sam in danger?” she asked.

Interesting question. “I don’t think so.”

Of course, Nathan chose that moment to open the front door. He paused when one of the Crows cawed at him, then raised an arm in invitation. The Crow flew over, and the two of them came inside. The Wolf shot one look at the bed, then stomped the snow off his boots and approached the counter. The Crow hopped from arm to counter, sliding a little.

Meg looked at the two of them. “Good morning, Nathan. Good morning, Jake.” She slanted a look at Vlad. “Are you all going to stick around here?”

“Until the locks are fixed. Once the locks are changed, Blair will meet Chris at the Utilities Complex to make all the sets of keys. Front door lock will be changed too.”

“All this because Darrell broke a rule?” Meg asked.

“It was an important rule,” Vlad replied smoothly, trying to balance Nathan’s growl.

The crunch of tires on snow made all of them look toward the delivery area.

Meg pulled her clipboard from under the counter and accepted the pen Jake offered. “Try not to scare the deliverymen, all right?”

“Caw,” Jake said.

Vlad stepped into the sorting room, where he would be out of sight. It didn’t escape his notice that Jake was the only one of them to offer her any assurance about that.

He didn’t think it had escaped Meg’s notice either.

After giving her approach a good deal of thought, Asia walked into Howling Good Reads, satisfied that she had hit the right balance: makeup just a little too heavy, as if she were trying to cover up something; hair styled but not as well as usual; a cowl-neck sweater that would show off the bruises on her shoulders when she moved in