Page 7 of Quiver of Cobras
Rubus stared at me. ‘You really expect me to believe that you’d be happy if I poisoned Morganus? You’ve forgotten that I’m much, much smarter than you are, Madrona.’
‘I’ve forgotten everything,’ I told him in return. ‘But I can already tell that you’re a man after my own heart. Morgan is a stickler for the rules. And for being good. You’re … different. I like that.’
Rubus folded his arms; he didn’t believe me for a second. That was okay; I had plenty of time to work on him. It wasn’t like I had to be anywhere else. Maybe I should change tactics slightly, though.
‘Tell me what happened near the Travotel,’ Rubus asked. ‘Who were those humans I took care of for you? What did they want?’
I wondered whether I should point out that technically Rubus hadn’t done a damned thing to ‘take care’ of the humans – he’d sent his minions to do the job for him. But the last thing any of us needed was for Rubus to look too closely into the matter. The truth was that they were vampire hunters out to capture Julie because, in their narrow-minded view, she was an unnatural creature. Yes, she was a vampire but she had no special abilities beyond life-enhancing longevity. Regardless of that – and the binding magical non-disclosure agreement I’d signed to keep that part of her secret – Rubus couldn’t be allowed to discover the truth.
‘They were stalking a friend of mine.’
Rubus raised an eyebrow. ‘You have friends?’
‘You have brains?’ At the answering spark of anger in his eyes, I sighed. ‘She’s a new friend. Obviously. I met her not long after the amnesia started. She’s a soap star.’ I didn’t want to have to give away Julie’s name unless I had to.
‘A soap star?’ He frowned. ‘Wait. There’s only one soap filmed in Manchester. Do you meanSt Thomas Close?’
How in gasbudlikins had Rubus heard of it? ‘Yeah,’ I said, heavy reluctance colouring my answer.
For a brief moment, giddy boyish delight filled his expression. ‘I love that programme!’ he exclaimed. ‘Who is it? Who’s the star you know? Maybe you can introduce us!’
Uh-oh. ‘Actually,’ I said, ‘I signed an NDA because I promised to do some work for her. Help her out with those stalkers. I can’t tell you anything about who she is.’ I met his eyes. ‘My word is my bond, Rubus. I’m sure you know that.’
He wasn’t listening. ‘You will arrange an introduction at the earliest opportunity. Whoever she is, she will want to meet me.’ He splayed out in his hands in a dramatic flourish. ‘I am Rubus, after all.’
‘She’s not a faery,’ I said. ‘She’s not going to know who you are.’
‘She will,’ he answered confidently. ‘Make it happen, Madrona.’
I supposed it would at least give me an excuse to find out how she was. The surly Redcap Finn had obviously managed to escape with her in tow and no doubt was already aware that Rubus had executed his brother. I’d have to make sure Finn was alright – and it would give me a chance to find out about Morgan.
My heart tightened at the thought. I prayed he was alive; it had been difficult to tell after our fight with the vampire hunters. Rubus had whisked me away before I’d had chance to check on him. To all intents and purposes, Morgan had appeared to be unconscious. I could only hope that he was okay. I didn’t know what I’d do otherwise.
Rubus clasped his hands to his heart, his green Fey eyes dreamy. He let out a happy hiccup and then shook himself. ‘Anyway,’ he said. ‘We need to get down to business. This really is most tiresome and I’m a very busy person.’ He said this last part with the air of a harried martyr. Rubus was, of course, nothing like that. He was an evil arsebadger who I’d shove off this rooftop if I could.
‘Well,’ I told him earnestly, ‘I’ll do my best to hurry things along so you can get on with your other plans. I want your day to be just as wonderfully pleasant as you are.’
Rubus flicked me a look but I smiled back innocently. Apparently deciding that complaining about my acid tongue was a waste of time, he pointed down to the street below. ‘As the truce prevents me from harming you directly, and I don’t want my best pixie-dust seller to become addicted to the stuff herself and lose her ability to attract new clients, I’ve had to come up with a different method to persuade you to my side. This worked very well last time.’
He held out his palm and a lanky Fey jumped forward and gave him a brick. ‘All I need you to do, Madrona, is to drop this little beauty. It’s bound to hit someone on the head.’ His expression gleamed. ‘There will be a lot of blood. There always is.’
I clapped my hands. ‘I love blood!’
I reached over, snatched the brick from him and dropped it over the parapet. Rubus’s jaw dropped open and both of us leaned over to watch its descent. It narrowly avoided hitting three young women, crashing just to the left of them instead and cracking the pavement. Several pedestrians’ heads swivelled up to see where it had come from. Both Rubus and I pulled back out of sight to avoid being spotted.
I pouted. ‘I missed.’
Rubus watched me, his expression inscrutable. I couldn’t even begin to guess what he was thinking. ‘So you did,’ he murmured.
‘Morgan told me I was an evil bitch,’ I confided. ‘I thought I’d try and live up to his expectations. It didn’t take long to realise how much fun it is being bad to the bone.’ I dropped my voice into a conspiratorial whisper. ‘I think I might be a bit of a psychopath.’
‘Abitof a psychopath?’
‘I have discovered,’ I said airily, ‘that I’m also known as the Madhatter. I believe it rather fits.’ I added a maniacal grin for extra effect.
Rubus didn’t appear particularly impressed. ‘Morganus gave you that nickname. You keep forgetting that I know you were with him when I found you.’ His left eyelid twitched almost imperceptibly. ‘It looked to me as if you were very concerned about his welfare.’
‘Dude!’ I thumped his arm. ‘Of course I was concerned! He was all upset that I’d left him for you. I made a bet with myself that I could still get him to unzip his tight jeans for me. He’s a sexy arsebadger.’ I gave Rubus a critical look. ‘You look quite alike, you know.’
