Luc walked over to her. Glided was more like it. He moved so effortlessly. Once he was standing close he looked her up and down.
“Are you unhurt?”
“I’m fine, just surprised. Why does she hate me so much?”
“She is jealous. Aiden protected you. She thinks Aiden is hers. She also very much mistakenly thinks that I am hers. I have never, nor will I ever, be.”
Harley shook her head. She still didn’t understand Zoe or her reasoning. It didn’t matter. One thing she knew is that she would have to find some way to protect herself from Zoe. One day no one would be around when Zoe attacked her and she had to be prepared.
“I think it best if I leave.”
“We can continue our discussion later. Next time, I will make sure that we are uninterrupted.
“Can you get home alright without Aiden? I have some work for him to do.”
“I can. Thank you again for the information. I will be in touch soon.”
Harley turned smiling at Aiden. “It was nice having you visit.”
She wanted to hug him but she didn’t. Instead, she walked quietly down the hall and left the house. She turned on the music full blast on the way home and toyed with the idea of calling cowboy.
No, she didn’t want to wear out her welcome with him. They had an understanding, but everyone had their limits. Harley had just seen him yesterday.
She went straight to the library when she got home. There had to be something in the text she hadn’t yet found. There was a way to fight everything. She thought again of her favorite book character. Her way around vampires was weapons. Usually guns, lots and lots of guns.
Guns were not really Harley’s style but she admired those who did use them. Many in her field had no compunction of protecting themselves with firearms. Harley had nothing against them. She, in fact, owned several. It’s just she preferred the organic flow of more personal weapons. She liked knives and swords.
Hey, that’s a thought! Her sword. Perhaps she could bespell it to give her some kind of edge when fighting vampires.
Harley called her friend Emery. He would know exactly the right spell or ritual she needed to bespell her sword.
“Harlowe, you are calling me rather late.”
“Or early. It depends on how you look at it.”
“Either way it must be important.
“It is. I need a way to fight vampires. I thought perhaps I would bespell the sword.”
“It is important. I take it you can’t come to me?”
“Not right now. I’m in the middle of a case.”
“Then I will come to you. Look for me in the morning. I will be there for breakfast.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Luc waited until he knew Harley was long gone. He sat in the high-backed chair in the library and said nothing.
Aiden and the others looked around worriedly. Quiet was far worse than being yelled at. It meant that Luc was beyond angry. It also meant he was taking his time to decide the punishment that would be meted out.
“Michael, Randolph, you are to lock Zoe in the casket in the vault room below. She will stay there until I am no longer angry with her.
You will not visit her. She will not be fed. She will not be allowed out. Do you understand?”
Luc looked at the fear on their faces. To be locked away and hungry for an unknown period would scare any vampire. His anger was such that it was either imprisonment or death for her. She had disobeyed him for the last time.
He and Zoe had never been lovers. She had wanted him, or rather she had wanted the power he could provide her. Zoe was an ambitious vampire.
The politics in America were still unsettled. They had been out in the open for ten years and only legal for a couple of those years.
The vampire world was one of greed and power. The leader of one brood would often look to take over not only the region of another brood but the brood itself.
If a brood’s area was taken over, the vampires in the area either pledged their loyalty to the new leader, or they died. The deaths were usually prolonged and painful to set examples for others.
Luc maintained the area from just outside of Dallas to just north of Tulsa. It was a large area. Zoe had wanted to rule that area with him. He had no interest in her, or anyone for that matter, ruling beside him.
The more leaders you had, the more chance you had to muddle things up. One leader, one set of rules. If the rules were broken the punishment was decided by one person. It was consistent. Vampires, more than many supernaturals, needed consistency.
He’d like to think that vampires had become civilized in the last hundred years or so. It just wasn’t the case. Vampires were as savage as they had ever been. They were used to living life behind closed doors. Not much had changed.
He looked at the two in front of him. The fear showing plain on their face. He would have been displeased if they weren’t afraid. Fear was one way to lead vampires. It was a good way.
“You have your orders. Now go and let me know when it has been completed.”
They bowed to Luc and left the room. Aiden stood there the entire time by Luc’s right side. His face was carefully devoid of all emotion.
“Say what you need to.”
“Do you really think this stringent a punishment is necessary, Luc?”
“You know as well as I do, very few things would make Zoe stop and think. She needs time to cool
