Page 33 of That Mafioso Magic
I turned to him. “I need to get an ingredient for a spell.”
“Let me go with you.”
“Stay here, please… watch over Sage.”
I could tell by how he huffed that he wasn’t too keen on being surrounding by a bunch of shifters or mobsters. But I also needed someone I trusted to make sure Sage was safe. To Xavier’s credit, he didn’t argue, only waved me off.
“Buttercup,” Shi said, then rolled her eyes as she opened the door. “You could have picked a better password.”
“It was the first thing that came to my mind that I didn’t think would be easy to crack. Sue me.” I turned back to Xavier. “Thank you,” I said, then followed Shi out of the door.
I was a lot more apprehensive about walking outside than I had been before with what had happened to Sage. But I had to take the chance. We climbed into his car, which was bulletproof. Shi was behind the wheel and we were off in no time, heading to meet one of the most powerful vampires in the city. This could go a number of ways, but I was praying he was in a good mood.
“So, anything I should know about Salino Laurent?” I asked. The more I knew about him, the better I’d be able to handle him. At least, that was what I was hoping for.
“He’s a manipulative bastard, smart as hell too. Centuries old, so don’t go in there thinking you’re dealing with one of his minions,” Shi said.
“Oh, don’t worry. I wasn’t going to make that mistake.”
“Good, he may want your blood in return or some kind of favor, and that’s if you somehow convince him to be generous.”
“And what if I can’t. What do we do then?”
She sighed. “Then… we start a war.”
I didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Let’s hope he finds me charming then.”
“Yes, let’s hope.”
We got to the east side pretty quickly from my private eye business and Shi pulled up in front of what looked like a twenty-story condo in a relatively upper crust neighborhood with a golf course nearby. A valet approached the car, opening her door first.
Shi climbed out and looked at him. “Don’t park it,” she said, handing him some cash.
“Yes ma’am,” he replied.
He did climb in behind the wheel, but as we were walking away, I saw that he just drove the car a little bit out of the way. We entered into the lobby and walked right up to the front desk. I let Shi do the talking because I was nervous as hell at the moment. I hadn’t had many run-ins with vampires, and never one on Salino’s level.
“Can you tell Mr. Laurent that Shi Nioami is here to speak with him,” she said.
“Is he expecting you, ma’am?” the receptionist asked. Her tone seemed a little guarded.
“No, but he will want to see me, and tell him I have a guest,” Shi said.
The receptionist didn’t say anything else. Only picked up the phone to relay the message. After a moment of silence, she spoke. “Yes, sir… yes… I will.” She hung up and looked at us. “He will see you.”
Shi gave the receptionist a warning look before turning sharply and walking off toward the elevators. I quickly followed behind her and when the doors opened, we both climbed on.
“That was intense,” I said.
“She was lucky I didn’t rip her throat out for looking at me with that much attitude,” Shi complained.
“I believe she’s been drinking vampire blood. I could sense a bit of their aura within her,” I said.
“Blood slaves are so pathetic, but she must be special to them in some way. Most humans who give themselves to vampires don’t get their blood in return,” Shi said.
“And what does their blood do to humans?”
“You don’t know?” she asked me.
