Page 54 of Crimson Oath
“And you agree to our price?”
“Yes.” The price quoted over the phone was a small fortune, but Sibella had warned her about that. “I agree to your price for a full season of shelter.”
“Pack your things. Two suitcases only. No electronics or tracking devices. We will text you a bank account number tonight. On receipt of payment, a location will be sent to you. In two nights, you will be there.”
Two nights? No! Her computer from Grimace wouldn’t be ready.
She shook her head. “I need more time.”
“You do not have more time. If you no longer want passage?—”
“Wait.”
She’d have to manage. It was six months.
Six months. She’d be able to call her mother, but she’d be cut off from everything else.
For six months.
Tatyana felt like she was stumbling around in the dark, but she was out of options unless she wanted to return to Oleg’s territory.
And they were promising her six months of safety.
“I’ll be there,” she said. “Text me the location and I’ll be there.”
“Very well,” the voice said. “Welcome to the protection of the Poshani, Tatyana Vorona. We will meet you in two nights.”
Chapter 11
Oleg
“You’re fidgeting.” Mika paged through another book of poetry on the plane. “You cannot be nervous about meeting this driver.”
Oleg was flying to Moscow to meet the injured human driver from Polina’s territory who had moved from the hospital to rehab. “I’m not nervous.” He enjoyed meeting his humans. “I have simply been away from the citadel too long.”
“Your castle isn’t going anywhere.”
It wasn’t the castle that called him, it was solitude. It was space. It was physical activity. He’d been surrounded by vampires and humans and corporate constraints for too long. If he didn’t get some time to himself in the mountains, he would end up murdering Mika.
He might do that anyway if the man continued sipping his blood-wine like that.
Slurp.
Had Mika always drunk wine so loudly?
Slurp.
Oleg curled his lip, growled low in his chest, and Mika looked up. The vampire blinked, then frowned when he saw Oleg’s fangs.
“You don’t need your castle—you need to fuck someone.” Mika shook his head. “Forget about the Vorona woman and find a willing woman in Moscow.” He pulled out a small black book from his pocket. “Do you want me to call one of your ex-girlfriends? There are two living in Moscow right now that?—”
“Enough,” Oleg snarled. “Fuck you.”
“No, seriously, fuckyou.” Mika sighed. “You’re going to end up murdering Ivan if you don’t work out some of this tension.”
Murdering Ivan sounded delightful. Oleg closed his eyes and imagined how he would kill his most despised brother.
Beheading with an axe was classic but somehow not enough.
