Page 65 of Quiver of Cobras
Aware that Rubus possessed the same fine hearing skills that I did, I pushed Julie to the back of the toilets and turned on all the automatic hand dryers to mask our voices. ‘What in gasbudlikin hell are you doing?’ I hissed at her.
She gazed at me coolly in return. ‘Taking a leaf from your book, darling. I'm getting the monster to trust me. He's already gaga at meeting me. Maybe I can be the heroine for once, instead of the damsel in distress.’
The last thing Julie had ever struck me as was a damsel in distress. I put my hands on my hips. ‘You are going to tell him you're a vampire. Aren’t you?’
‘I am. It is not a spur-of-the-moment decision, Mads. This is a calculated manoeuvre.’
‘You made me sign an NDA! A magical NDA! And you're just going to tell him over dinner that you're a member of the undead? Just casually drop it into conversation?’
Julie didn't flinch. ‘I requested that you sign the nondisclosure agreement because at the time I believed you were human,’ she said. ‘Now I know otherwise. By telling Rubus what I am, I will distract him. And that's what you need, isn't it? You need him distracted.’
Her eyes met mine. ‘If he gets his hands on that sphere that you are all so anxious about,’ she continued, ‘it's people like me who will suffer. Not people like you. You will get to trip off back to your homeland but I will die. This is my home, Mads. I have as much of a right to defend it as you do. Don't underestimate me. I'm a great deal older than you and a great deal wiser. I know what I'm doing.’
She reached behind her, grabbed a paper towel and dabbed at her top. ‘At least it’s not red wine,’ she muttered. Then she pushed past me and left. All I could do was watch her go.
I heaved in several breaths, trying to stay calm. Julie was indeed older than me; she also had her own mind and was her own person. But that didn't mean she shouldn’t recognise my obvious superiority and do everything that I told her to do. I had no idea how Rubus would react upon discovering that she was a vampire – and I had a very bad feeling about it.
I considered hiding out in the bathroom for the next hour. I could make like an ostrich: what I couldn't see and what I couldn't hear couldn't hurt me. I sighed. If only that were true. Madrona the Madhatter was many things and had many faults but she was not a coward. I straightened my shoulders and headed out after Julie.
The restaurant had worked fast. Not only had both the champagne and the glasses been replaced, but so had the tablecloth. All the same, I still received plenty of glares as I wound my way back to our table. Anyone would think I tried to assassinate a national treasure instead of trying to save her from herself.
From the expression on Rubus’s face when I sat down, Julie had already told him. I poured myself a glass of champagne and gulped it down.
‘You knew about this,’ he said accusingly.
I shrugged helplessly. ‘I told you, I signed an NDA. And not the sort of NDA where I might simply be sued for breaking the terms. It was the sort of NDA that make your damned Truth Spiders look like cuddly teddy bears.’
At that last part, keen interest lit Rubus’s eyes. That was all we needed, for him to work out how to replicate Julie's blood-enhanced contracts. Who needed pixie dust when you could turn your entire community into slaves by getting them to sign on the dotted line?
I cursed inwardly but, because I was also a brilliant actress, I gave him a fawning smile. ‘I really wanted to tell you,’ I said. ‘But I was physically incapable of doing so.’
Julie nodded. ‘It's true,’ she said. ‘I didn't give her any choice.’
He glanced at her. ‘You are fabulous,’ he breathed. ‘I thought you were fabulous before all this, Stacey. Now I know that you are truly a woman after my own heart.’
‘Her name is Julie,’ I said tiredly.
Julie smiled at Rubus. ‘You may call me whatever you wish,’ she husked as she leaned in closer to him.
‘Leave us, Madrona,’ he ordered, without even looking at me.
I folded my arms. ‘That was not our agreement.’
‘I assume you felt you had to stay here in order to protect your friend, given her true nature. But now I know her true nature and she knows mine, no one has anything to fear. I will not hurt her. Far from it.’ The intensity of his gaze deepened. ‘I will not hurt you, Julie,’ Rubus promised.
‘We'll be fine, Mads,’ she said. She appeared to be as focused on Rubus as he was on her.
I couldn't argue. I had no good reason to argue – other than the fact that Rubus was a genocidally inclined maniac, of course. I was supposed to be on his side; if I protested, I’d only lose more ground with him. The vampire was already out of the coffin. I'd just have to leave them to it.
‘Fair enough,’ I told them, trying to look like I wasn't in the slightest bit bothered. My presence would only outshine them anyway.
I picked up the champagne bottle from the ice bucket, tilted it up to my lips and took a swig. ‘I'm taking this with me,’ I said. It was rather galling that neither of them paid me the slightest bit of attention so I took another long gulp and sashayed out. No one watched me go.
Good grief. I had to get myself some less attractive and less famous friends.
Chapter Seventeen
Rubus’s car had vanished but, unfortunately for me, Finn hadn’t. I’d barely gone three steps from the restaurant before he marched over to me, his long arms swinging. I took another swig from the bottle of champagne and eyed him.
