“Why?” I demanded. “You afraid I’ll give youa citation for being rude?”
“No,” he said shortly. “It’s simply toopainful for me to see you.”
“Too painful?” I said softly. “What…what doyou mean by that? I thought—”
He gave me a long, level look. “You knowwhat I mean, Addison. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”
He was starting to leave the office and heclearly expected me to come with him. I had to think fast.
“Do you mind if I use your restroom before Igo?” I asked, trying to keep my voice cool and professional. “Theregular bathrooms here are always full of people making out andtrading gossip about which vamp is the best at glam-sex. It’sdisgusting.”
“Fine.” He sighed. “But close the officedoor when you leave.”
“All right, I wi—” I started to say but hewas already gone, moving faster than my eyes could follow out ofthe office and down the hall.
The minute he was gone, I walked over andopened and closed the bathroom door loudly, just in case he wasstill within earshot. Then I walked quietly back to the desk andlooked at the stake again. I had a feeling it held half the answerto what was going on with Corbin. And I had a pretty good ideawhere to get the other half.
I didn’t want to touch the weird thing withmy bare hand so I pulled the sleeve of my suit jacket down andwrapped it around my hand before picking it up. Sure enough, itseemed to writhe in my grip like a lazy snake. The sensation mademe want to gag and I nearly dropped it. But this wasimportant—something was going on and I was determined to get to thebottom of it, damn it!
I had originally been planning to stuff thething down the back of my pants and let my jacket conceal it as Iwalked out of the Fang with it. But now I found I couldn’tstand the thought of the weird stake so close to me. It seemeddangerous somehow, as though it was a predator that was mostly fullbut wouldn’t mind taking another bite or two if another preyhappened along and offered itself.
Instead of trying to carry it like aconcealed weapon, I put it back on the desk and took my jacket offall together. Then I gathered it up and hid it in the jacket’sfolds, making sure not to let it touch my skin as I walked casuallyout of Corbin’s office.
My heart was in my throat the entire time asI made my way out of the crowded club. I was sure at any minuteCorbin would pop up in front of me and demand to know why I wasstealing the stake. I didn’t see him at all, however—probably hewas somewhere still dealing with Antoine.
I blessed the little vampire assistant andpromised myself I’d be nicer to him next time I saw him—if therewas a next time. Corbin had made it pretty clear he didn’twant to see me again before he left, which hurt. But I was surethere was something behind his rejection. Something strange and notright and I was determined to find out what it was.
Chapter Twenty-one
It didn’t take long to find the witch’shouse—not when I was able to search her immediately on the PD’sdatabase. Gwendolyn LaRoux lived on the fringes of Ybor City—theoldest and most historic part of Tampa. At the turn of the lastcentury, it used to be home to Cuban immigrants and cigarfactories. Now it’s mostly a party spot for the college crowd witha few kink clubs, tattoo parlors, and cigar bars thrown in for thetourists.
The whole area had gotten pretty run downbut lately there had been a big effort toward beatification. Manyof the old wooden bungalows had been remodeled and some had beentorn down to make way for cute little cookie-cutter townhouses inall the pastel shades of the rainbow.
The witch’s house appeared to be one of theremodeled ones. A quaint, one story bungalow, it was painted a softcheery yellow with neat white trim. There were rows of pink flowersflanking the walkway leading up to the old wooden wrap-aroundporch.
Hmm…I checked my address again but there wasno mistake—this was Gwendolyn LaRoux's place of residence. But theoutside of the house certainly didn’t jibe with the angry Goth girlI remembered leaving Corbin’s office.
Taking a firm grip on the stake that wasstill wrapped in my jacket, I marched up the front walkway andknocked on the pristine white front door. There was no answer—notsurprising considering it was after midnight. Well, too bad if shewas in bed, I wasn’t waiting another minute to talk to her. Irapped on the door again.
“Gwen, honey?” came an old lady’s voice frominside. “Who is that at this hour?”
“I don’t know, Grams. You stay in bed—I’llcheck it out.” That sounded like Gwendolyn.
The front porch light popped on, immediatelyattracting a swarm of moths. The door opened about an inch and asuspicious jade green eye peered out at me from under a tousled mopof black hair.
“Who are you and what do you want?” shedemanded.
“You know who I am,” I snapped. “You saw mewhen you were leaving Corbin’s office.”
The eye flicked around nervously. “I don’tknow what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do,” I said stubbornly. “Look, I’man Auditor. If you want to make it official, I can bring youdowntown for questioning.”
“You can’t do that—I’m not a vamp.”
The front door started to shut but I stoppedit by shoving the end of the stake through the crack and into herface.
“Hey!” She jumped backward and the door flewopen. “Get that thing away from me! What the hell do you thinkyou’re doing?”
Her reaction told me my hunch about thestake was right. Now I just had to get more information.
“You know what this is, don’t you?” Idemanded, taking a step into her house. “You know what it can do.You’re the one who gave it to Corbin—I saw him tucking it into hispocket just as you were leaving.”
“Gwen, honey?” The old lady’s voice soundedfrom the back of the house again. “Who is that? Should I call thepolice?”
“No, Grams, it’s fine,” she
