Page 68 of Blind Date with a Werewolf
The north end of the meadow was capped by the building that housed the zoo’s carousel and the south end by a construction project protected by improbably tall walls. Asil had done what he could to keep tonight’s damage manageable.
Stripping out of his clothes, he tucked them next to the wall of the carousel building where the ground was dry under the overhang of the roof. Then he called upon his wolf and let the change take him.
VI
Ruby found herself tucked into the old Victorian’s reception room with Alan, Asil’s date for the evening, and a fourth person who turned out to be the driver, who introduced himself as Bobby and Asil’s date as Mari-Brigid.
They left the lights off so as not to make themselves targets—and to let them see outside. Hopefully, Angus had said before he went off to command his troops, the vampires would be too distracted by the werewolves to search for the vulnerable humans.
Alan had been tasked with guarding the entrance to the room, though he said that the mansion was a home and thatthe vampires, at least, wouldn’t be able to get inside. He thought that was why Asil had chosen to bring Bobby and Mari-Brigid here. Ruby thought so, too.
As soon as Angus had left, Bobby pulled a gun out of his ankle holster and held it as though he’d been born with a gun in his hand. Ruby moved him from “drives cars in traffic” to “bodyguard,” which fit him better.
“Who are you?” asked Mari-Brigid. She was an absolute bombshell. Thick mahogany hair, honey skin, and sloe-dark eyes, all wrapped up in an ice-blue, formfitting, floor-length gown that had probably cost more than Ruby made in a year.
Ruby had already introduced herself, so she figured that Mari-Brigid Alvarez—who spoke with a French accent though her features and last name were Spanish and her first name sounded Irish—hadn’t meant her name.
“I’m the fourth date,” Ruby told her. “Like you are his fifth.”
Mari-Brigid didn’t like her answer. “How long have you known him?”
Yep. Asil made a big impression. Ruby wondered uneasily if she was making more of their date than had been real. Like she thought Mari-Brigid was. She gave the other woman the truth, which served to remind herself how little she knew him.
“About three hours the day before yesterday—wait, we’re into the wee hours of the morning now. So about three hours two days ago. On Wednesday,” Ruby told her. “One phone call, four texts. Oh, and a drive-by. Just now. You were here for that one.”
The woman relaxed, just a little. Alan made a sound that might have been a groan. The driver looked out the windowinto the rain, as if he thought that would hide how he felt about his charge.
“Alvarez has people he can call upon who aren’t vampires,” Bobby told the room.
Ruby was pretty sure he was trying to change the subject.
“Hold up,” Alan said. “Let me get some of those in charge so you can tell them, too.”
He came back with a dangerous-looking man who had a scar down his face and a police badge hanging from his belt loop. Oddly, he looked at Ruby first, an examining look that ended in a crooked smile.
“Police?” Bobby sounded astonished.
“Day job,” the scarred man said. “But I thought if things go wrong, a badge isn’t a bad thing to have. I’m Tom Franklin, second of the Emerald City Pack. Tell me about other guests we might expect.”
“Alvarez has his hooks deep into a few humans,” Bobby said. “My dad, for one, hasn’t had a thought that was his own for four years. My cousin Rich. A couple more like him. Zombies. And there’s a witch, I think. Though I’ve only heard talk of her. I’ve never seen her. One of the fae sort of comes and goes. Any one of those can make it through unreinforced threshold magic.”
“Asil told me he didn’t think we’d see a planned attack,” Ruby offered. When Tom turned to her and raised an eyebrow, she understood that this was information Tom didn’t have.
“What else did he tell you?” Alan asked.
She didn’t know exactly what Asil had told everyone else, so she told them everything that might be useful.
“He said he was going to make sure this vampire was mad enough that he wouldn’t be thinking clearly. Would aim his primary attack at Asil and figure he could come after Mari-Brigid and Bobby afterward. He said that there were at least ten vampires at the ball, and he figured we’d get maybe half of those here. That Bobby—sorry if this is news to you—that Bobby has been bitten by several of Alvarez’s other vampires and that those would be sent here. He was pretty sure if we stayed in the house, we’d be safe.”
Bobby put a hand to his neck and looked a little sick.
“If it helps”—Ruby wasn’t sure it would—“Asil didn’t think any of them would be able to control you except Alvarez—apparently those kinds of vampire powers mean a victim only has to worry about one vampire. But if they’ve bitten you recently, they can track you. Which is why when Asil dropped the two of you off here, he made sure the werewolves would be here to protect you.”
“How long were those texts he sent you?” asked Alan, sounding fascinated.
She ignored that. “He said the Master Vampire, who is probably Alvarez, is a five-hundred-year-old monster known in vampire circles as the Angel or the White Angel.”
Tom’s eyebrows were nearly at his hairline. Evidently, she was the only one to whom Asil had told that also.
