household rules; there had been many of those in Lord Daryl’s manor, most of which Turquoise had learned painfully.
“Eric will find you something to do. So long as you get your work done, you may go almost anywhere in the building. I suggest you avoid the west wing unless you plan on a little bloodletting. Beyond that, if a door is locked, you aren’t welcome.” Jaguar paused, considering. “I don’t mind intelligent conversation, so feel free to speak as you wish to me. If you bother me, I will tell you to shut up; I don’t feel the need to hit people for talking. Around others of my kind, hold your tongue. Most aren’t as lenient as I am.” These last words were accompanied by a glance through the door which Jeshickah had passed. “Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Turquoise answered. Ravyn echoed her assent, though her “sir” sounded like it was spit out through clenched teeth.
Jaguar gave the girls a sharp look. “You’ll want to practice that for Jeshickah, but I’m not fond of titles. Jaguar will do just fine.”
Ravyn nodded, her lips just barely curled into the edge of a smile.
“You’ll find I give few orders, especially once you get an idea as to how this place is run. If you choose to do everything I say, fine.”
“If?” Turquoise prompted. He was all but telling her that she could disobey him. “Since when has a slave had a choice?”
Jaguar laughed, a rich laugh that startled Turquoise with its warmth. “If you choose not to obey, I suppose we will discuss that then, won’t we?”
Completely shocked by the lack of threat in his words, Turquoise could not speak for a moment, during which Jaguar decided the conversation was over. “Eric, come here,” he called. The boy who had avoided Jeshickah like a beaten dog entered the room confidently. He did not seem afraid of Jaguar.
“Eric, get these two situated, and find something to keep them busy. I have other work I need to get done.” With the words, Jaguar effortlessly changed from what for a moment had seemed like companionable bantering, back to the arrogant Master of Midnight. “Dismissed, all of you.”
CHAPTER 6
ERIC CHATTERED ALL THE WAYdown the hall. “This whole building is pretty much a square surrounding a central courtyard. We’re in the northern wing now. There are a couple of shape-shifters housed here, but mostly it’s sitting rooms. There’s a seamstress, and her office is at the end of the hall, right there.” He pointed, and then led them through a dark oak door. “This is where most people sleep.” Turquoise noted his avoidance of the word “slaves,” though that was obviously who he was talking about.
The dйcor in this wing was just as elegant as Jaguar’s sitting room, if not quite as dark. The oaken panel and chair rail continued from the north wing, but the floors here were polished wood, and the walls textured, pale honey-beige. Sponge painted? Turquoise wondered, amused by the thought of a vampire sponge painting a wall. Though of course, human slaves would have done all the work. Lamps set in the ceiling provided a soft glow.
“Who did the painting?” Ravyn asked, apparently as curious as Turquoise.
“I did,” Eric replied proudly. “It was white before. There aren’t any windows in Midnight, so I thought something warmer would be better for the sanity of us humans. That’s my room,” he added, pointing to the first room in the hall. “And here is where you two will be staying.”
The room was simple—two stacked beds, currently unmade, sliding doors Turquoise assumed led to a closet, and an empty table. A second door was set in the side of the room.
“There are sheets folded in the top of the closet,” Eric said. “Bathroom is through that door; you share it with Lexi and Katie, who are your neighbors. Katie is the woman to talk to about clothing, toiletries, and stuff like that. Lexi . . . she doesn’t say much, but she works with Katie. They both usually sleep until about midnight, but after that you’ll find them either in their room or in their workspace in the northern wing. Anything else you need?”
Turquoise did have one gnawing question. “How old are you?” Jaguar seemed to trust this boy, and Eric certainly seemed to be in charge of the humans when Jaguar was not.
Eric seemed startled by the question. “Fourteen. I think. Yeah, fourteen.” After a moment, he seemed to understand what she was really asking. “I’ve been here since I was eleven.”
Turquoise felt her stomach churn.
“It’s not that bad,” he said softly. “And honestly, I’ve got nowhere else to go.”
She didn’t want to hear this. This boy was her brother’s age—the age her brother would have been, her mind forced her to remember. He was what Tommy might have become, if he had lived.
Eric must have translated Turquoise’s distressed expression as skepticism, for he continued, “Jaguar found me with the vamps that had killed my parents. He bought me; saved my life.” He shrugged. “He trusts me. And I can run this place cold.” With a half-smile that seemed forced, he added, “I’m actually one of the lucky ones. Some of the people here with different owners, they don’t even know their own names anymore.”
Turquoise understood, and did not want to know more. She had seen the human dogs Lord Daryl surrounded himself with. Only through pure luck and dumb stubbornness had she avoided becoming one of them.
Ravyn flopped down to sit on the lower bed, asking, “How many humans are in here?”
“Eighteen in the building,” Eric answered promptly. “That’s including you two and myself. Two cooks. We could use one more; can either of you cook?” he interrupted himself.
Ravyn nodded. “I can cook.”
Eric smiled, and continued, “Great. Besides them, of course there’s Katie and Lexi. Two more people work in the infirmary in the south wing. I’ll show you there later. That’s it.”
“That’s nine,” Turquoise stated.
Eric gave her a look, and then his eyes fell. “The vampires need to eat, you know.” The message was clear. “A few vamps live here permanently, and other vampires come and go. Most of them aren’t too threatening, but you should be careful. They’ve been starting to grumble that Jaguar won’t let them treat us like they want. Jeshickah showed up about a week ago, bringing her own pair of . . . pets,” Eric finished, voice apologetic at the last word. “She’s staying in the first room in the west wing, and she doesn’t care what Jaguar says she can or can’t do. Be careful around her. If she hits you, don’t get up. She’s less likely to hit you again if you stay down.” With that less than cheerful advice imparted, Eric glanced around the room, double-checking to make sure he had not left anything out. “That should be it,” he finally decided. “Get some rest; I’ve got some stuff to do, but I’ll be back about midnight to show you the south wing. Oh,” he added, “meals are served at sunrise, sunset, and midnight. There aren’t enough people awake at noon to make it worthwhile to cook. Nothing fancy is made, but if you want something special, you can feel free to ask. Generally, sunset is breakfast food and the other two are dinner.”
“Thanks.”
Eric disappeared out the door.
“Should we ditch and explore?” Ravyn suggested languidly.
“We need to talk first,” Turquoise responded.
“I suppose.” Ravyn yawned. “This looks like an easy job. Get a knife. Put it in the bloodsucker. You can take Jeshickah and I’ll get Jaguar, or the other way around, if you’d prefer.”
“The assignment was to get rid of Jeshickah,” Turquoise reminded her, “not Jaguar.”
“Jaguar’s the one running things right now,” Ravyn pointed out. “We take down Jeshickah, you don’t think he’s going to object?”
Turquoise shook her head. “Let’s avoid picking random targets until we know what’s up, okay?”
Ravyn shrugged dismissively, not agreeing. “Once the job’s done, suppose I can steal her car?” the hunter asked. “Lamborghini Diablo . . . that thing’s worth three hundred thousand easy, half mil maybe.”
“Could we stick to the problem at hand?” Turquoise interrupted.
Ravyn gave her a look as if Turquoise were mad. “It’s a nice car. Besides, it’d be fun to figure out. I hear they’re almost impossible to steal. I prefer the black, but all things considered—”
