Page 27 of Fanged Desire
God. Get a hold of yourself, please.I tried to haul my mind away from the doctor who dominated my thoughts, earnestly attempting to pay attention to whatever it was the other two were yapping on about.
"We tried a few different routes.” Jordan was seated now, rambling away with her paperwork long forgotten. Maxine was at her side as always, listening with rapt attention. "But Elliot’s the most promising elf we’ve worked with so far. The others were less pleasant.”
I stiffened in my seat. The elf deal. The deal I had nearly thrown in jeopardy with my reckless actions the night before.
I leaned my elbows on the table, vaguely attentive and trying desperately to veil my shame as Jordan continued, “Hell, there was one woman in particular, a rich elf with a stick up her ass and the most unsettling aura I’ve ever been subjected to. Also, who the hell wears sunglasses to a nightclub?"
I perked up immediately, suddenly on high alert.
“She was tricky to deal with, and justsorude,” Jordan continued casually as the conversation deviated from a serious meeting into a lighthearted gossip session as it so often did when those two were involved.
“Sunglasses?” I chimed in, eager to coax a few more details from the otherwise derailed conversation. “What kind of sunglasses?”
Somewhere in the back of my mind an idea was forming, though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
"I don’t remember – a pretentious pair that made her look like a bug.” Jordan scoffed, delivering the petty insult with a toss of her hair. “But she was really interested in our products,particularly the health serums. What was weird was that she insisted on having our meetings at Micere – same as Elliot. Seemed a bit coincidental, but elves are eccentric, right?"
That got my full attention. I leaned forward, not even trying to hide my sudden interest.
The same club where Penelope disappeared. The same club where Addison worked.The same club where I’d been spending far too much time, trying to decide what to do about her.
Jordan went on, oblivious to the change in my demeanor, "But she wasn’t interested in helping us set up shop. She just wanted an infinite supply of High Stakes products at half the cost. And she wasn’t too happy about being turned down either.”
“Do you remember her name?” I asked, keeping my voice as steady as I could.
Jordan frowned slightly, thinking for a moment as she chewed on her nail. “Flow, Flaura… no – something with a C? I’m not sure, we met with a few different elves. Maxine, do you remember?”
Maxine shrugged, but she raised her brow at me from across the table. “I’ve got their details filed away. But what’s got you so interested in elves all of a sudden?”
It was my turn to shrug, fixing my best smile in place as I answered her. “Just mild curiosity, these are potential allies after all.”
“I doubt that,” Jordan muttered, sinking into her seat. “Aside from Elliot, I don’t think any of the elves are willing to work with us. Some of them just don’t trust vampires, but that woman had something else going on. You should have seen the way she watched some of the dancers at the club. We’re the bloodsuckers here, but she looked at them like they were tasty little snacks.”
My instincts were screaming at me now. There was something here, something connected to Penelope, the mysterious private client, and that club.
After the meeting wrapped up I found Maxine at the front desk. She was scribbling something on a notepad balanced on her knees, but she glanced up when I approached, a smirk on her lips like she already knew what I was there to ask.
“Hey,” I said, trying to keep things casual enough to not trigger Maxine’s gossip alert. “Got a minute?”
“For you? Always,” she replied with a flourish, spinning her chair to face me. “What’s up?”
Maxine thrived as Jordan’s executive assistant, not just because she was organized and efficient, but because the position put her at the very heart of all the dramatic office dynamics. She was Jordan’s right hand, yes, but also the gatekeeper of secrets and an under-the-radar decision-maker.
It was a role that allowed her to wield a quiet sort of power, being involved in everything without drawing too much attention to herself (not that the preening vamp didn’t love attention). It also meant she always had information on hand, information that I currently needed.
I leaned in slightly, lowering my voice. “That list of names Jordan mentioned – the other elves she met with – do you have it? And… do you maybe know where to find them.”
Maxine’s eyes narrowed and she tapped her pen to her lips. “You’re being awfully mysterious. Something tells me this isn’t just corporate curiosity. What are you up to?”
I shrugged, forcing a grin. “Like I said, just gathering some intel.”
Maxine studied me for a moment, then sighed, flicking her hair over her shoulder. “Fine. I’ll text it to you. But do let me know what you’re up to some time – or I’ll be forced to do some digging myself.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” I said wryly, dropping the fake smile and leaning against the desk. “But seriously, doesn’t it get exhausting being up in everyone’s business all the time?”
“Never.” I watched the small vamp grin, curling her hair around her finger.
Maxine loved her job, not just for the tasks it involved but because it kept her in the loop on every piece of gossip, every whisper of intrigue that passed through the office. She often joked that her position was the corporate equivalent of being a spymaster – overseeing the flow of information and managing crises before they ever bubbled to the surface. Dylan, the actual spymaster, was not a fan of that analogy.
