Page 33 of The Devil and the Dancer
“I don’t need to know where you go or who you go out with, but spare me a thought, dove. If I don’t know you’re safe, I’ll more than likely go mad.”
Having had experience with more than one territorial vampire, Chloe eventually relented. After all, Ben washumanand he’d done the same thing. Ben didn’t know that Chloe knew about the bodyguards after she left Tom, but Tenzin had told her when Chloe confessed to feeling jumpy. In the end, knowing someone was watching to make sure her ex didn’t come close was reassuring, not invasive. She figured she could put up with it again if it kept Gavin from going mental.
Gavin had left for the Bat and Barrel around ten, and it was nearly midnight when Chloe heard the knock on the door.
Yay! More territorial vampires!
She opened the door to Beatrice De Novo, Chloe’s favorite librarian badass. “Beatrice, hi!”
“How are you?” She enveloped Chloe in a hard hug—sometimes she forgot her own strength. “I miss you. You and Ben need to come out and visit more.”
“Or you could just keep coming to New York.” Chloe stepped back, allowing what felt like a small crowd into the loft. “How many people—?”
“Just four. Don’t panic. Beatrice and me, Sadia and Dema are staying here.” Ben’s Uncle Giovanni stepped forward and gave Chloe a slightly softer side hug since he was carrying a sleeping toddler. “The rest have found accommodations elsewhere and are just helping to deliver…” He looked slightly bewildered. “Stuff.”
So much stuff. Since Beatrice and Giovanni had adopted their daughter Sadia, they moved with slightly less stealth than most vampires. Their two designer suitcases were joined by more and more kid stuff as the men with them delivered various bags in green and pink, a backpack shaped like a horse—make that a unicorn—a car seat, a high chair, and three canvas tote bags of books.
Chloe blinked. “Uh… wow.”
Beatrice’s smile was strained. “Giovanni likes to be prepared for all eventualities.”
“Well, you… seem prepared.” Luckily the loft, though short on sleeping space, was large on room. “We can move all her toys and books down to the practice area. With Tenzin and Ben gone, I’m only in there to dance. So no weapons and lots of room for her to run around.”
A trim young woman stepped forward. “If you’ll show me the training area, I can double-check it for any nonapparent risks.”
That had to be Dema, the bodyguard nanny. The woman’s skin was a smooth light brown, and her hair was covered neatly by a light grey hijab that brought out the unusual olive green of her eyes. She moved with military precision as she surveyed the room.
“I’ll show you.” Giovanni handed Sadia to Beatrice. “The stairs will be the biggest concern.” He looked around. “But it looks like they’ve already delivered the gates.”
“After we’ve gone over the lower floor, we should start on this one,” Dema said. “I can already tell there are quite a few areas that could be a potential problem.”
“Agreed.” Giovanni and Dema walked downstairs.
“This is quite a production,” Chloe said quietly.
“If I didn’t have Dema,” Beatrice said, “I would go insane.”
“I can only imagine. Are you working much? Or mom stuff only right now?”
Beatrice rubbed Sadia’s back as the little girl snored quietly. “I’ve started back on a couple of projects in the past month. Simple things that don’t require travel. Mostly research with Zeno and Fina. Organizing the collection. Things like that.”
“Nice.”
Beatrice nodded. “It’s good to have some time to just be in work. Sadia conks out between eleven and midnight most days, so after that we can both work.”
So weird. So, so weird. “Do you want to put her down? Does she sleep with you guys, or…?”
“No, she’ll sleep in Ben’s room, I think. Dema can share with her since she’ll be with her throughout the day.”
“Okay, no problem. And you know all the downstairs except for my room and Ben’s is light safe, right?” Chloe knew Beatrice didn’t sleep normal vampire hours. She was somewhere between Gavin and Tenzin, but she didn’t want to assume.
“Yep. I’ll be fine. I’m gonna go lay her down. You do what you do and don’t worry about us while we’re here.” Beatrice smiled as she started toward the stairs. “Though I hope Sadia and I can go to one of your rehearsals, if that’s okay. I’d love to see you dance, and I think Sadia will be fascinated. She already dances around any time music is playing.”
“Oh, that’s so cool! And I’d love if you visited. Most rehearsals are after work hours, so this time of year you’d have no trouble coming. I usually split time between here and Gavin’s, but he has company this week too, so I’ll be around.”
At the mention of Gavin, Beatrice’s smile tightened. Just a little. “Cool. We’ll work it out then. I’m excited.”
Chloe had forgotten that Beatrice wasn’t Gavin’s biggest fan. According to Ben, it stemmed from something that happened when his aunt was still human, but he wasn’t clear on what it was.
