Follow Me When the Sun Goes Down (14 page)

“Hand to God,” Felix replied soberly.   

I didn’t know how to react to such an offer.  While I didn’t relish the idea of sharing a border with Vetis, the amount was staggering.  “What was Tommy going to do?”

“Probably sign it.”

“Because Jennike told him to?”

“I think so.”

“Is it a good deal?” 

“It’s a lot of ducats.” 

I wasn’t qualified to make a decision like that because I had no basis for comparison.  And there was nobody I could ask besides Felix, not without looking like a complete and total idiot.  “Well, let’s see what he has to say.  You’ll be there to speak up if something sounds wonky though, right?”

“Not this time, boss.  Corley asked for a private meeting
.  That means no advisors, and no security, just the two of you.”

That set my
Spidey senses to tingling.  “Why would he ask for no security?”

Felix didn’t seem to think it was a big deal though.  “It’s not too unusual when dealing with sensitive matters.  I wouldn’t sweat it, we’ll be right outside.” 

Easy for him to say, he wouldn’t be the one trapped in a room with the devil.  “It’s probably because he’s hoping to intimidate me, or exploit my inexperience.”  It was a smart move, really, only I wasn’t about to fall for it.  “Whatever he puts on the table, I’ll just promise to review it and walk away.  He needs the deal more than we do, right?”

“Whatever you say, boss.  I think that’s a smart move
, ain’t nothing that needs deciding on the spot.”

“Right.  I’ll just try to ignore any pressure he puts on me and I’ll be fine.  I got this,” I said more to myself than anyone else.  “
Give me ten minutes to change into something more appropriate.”

“Take twenty, boss.  Knock his socks off,” Felix grinned.  “Feel free to make him sweat it a little.”

“That I can do,” I smiled back, hurrying off to pick out the perfect dress. 

As I stepped into Simon Corley’s office, I couldn’t help but wish Felix still had his bug in place to listen in on the conversation.  The device he’d planted on our last visit had been removed, so that left him out of the loop, and I imagined Corley’s security swept the room regularly for stuff like that, especially with the Gathering going on. 

“Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice,” Corley smiled, rising to his feet as I entered the room. 

“It’s not a problem.  That’s what I’m here for, right?” I smiled back cheerily, taking the seat across from his desk. 

He fussed around for a couple of minutes, taking his seat, offering me a drink, arranging some papers on his desk before he got down to it.  “I assume your Warden has brought you up to speed on the previous talks between our Houses?” he said, lowering his voice with exaggerated gravity. 

I leaned forward, matching the solemn cast to his voice.  “He has.” 

“And are you amenable to the suggestion?”

“I’d like to hear your pitch.  Felix was vague on the details, and it’s a big decision.” 

“Quite,” he agreed, pushing a slim, leather bound folder across the desk to me.  “You’ll find everything in order, including the time table for the transfer as well as the final compensation in the summary on the front page.  I trust you’ll find the details to your liking.”  Corley
leaned back in his chair, hands laced across his midsection while he waited for me to open the folder. 

I guess I’d been expecting more of a sales pitch, but apparently he wasn’t the type to attempt a hard sell.  Opening the folder, my eyes scanned to the bottom where the amount in question leapt out at me in bold print.  Against my best intentions to keep a poker face, my mouth dropped open, the breath leaving my body in a rush.  He’d bumped up the number by a good twenty percent, no small feat when talking about such huge sums. 

“Holy Hannah, are you trying to buy Canada or the entire West?” I gaped.  

Corley’s smile deepened at my reaction, a trace of smug satisfaction leeching into his eyes.  “I take it you approve of the terms?”

“Hold your horses,” I hedged, recovering from the initial shock.  “I haven’t had a chance to review the terms.” 

“There’s nothing untoward in those documents.  I think you’ll find they follow the standard convention for such a transaction.  The monies will be placed into an escrow account until the documents are all signed and ratified.  The amended amount only appears on the summary page, which is not an official part of the document.  Once all the stipulations are met, they can be dispersed… however you like.”

I started to see the manipulation in the increased offer.  He was saying I could pocket the difference and no one would be the wiser.  That set off all kinds of warning bells in my head.  Why the need for subterfuge?  “I see,” I said slowly, flipping to the first page of the actual agreement, my eyes getting stuck over the legalese almost from the first sentence. 

“So, what do you say?  Do we have an agreement?”

“It’s a lot of money,” I murmured.  What the heck was an estoppel?  I couldn’t make heads or tails out of most of it.  “I think I’m going to have to review this in greater detail,” I replied, sticking to my original plan.

“Time is of an essence in this, as you know, Anja,” he countered without skipping a beat.  “I’m sure you can appreciate that if this offer were to fall through, there are others I would like to negotiate while the Gathering is still in effect.”

“So in other words, this is an exploding offer?  Take it or leave it?”

“I wouldn’t put it in such finite terms, but essentially, yes.”

“Why do you want it so badly?”

His head tilted to one side in confusion.  “How do you mean?”

“Why would you want to pay so much for the rights to govern Canada?  There aren’t that many vamps up there, and I can’t imagine it pays very well.”  The income generated from tithing would take hundreds of years to recoup the expense.  Not impossible given the circumstances, but not the smartest business decision ever.  

“A fair question,” he settled back into his chair again with a smile.  “To be honest, I don’t think we ever should have let it go in the first place.  Now that Vetis is in a stronger financial position, it seems only natural to reclaim it.”

“And what does Sylvius think about you trying to buy Canada back now?  Or is this his wish as well?”  The Elder hadn’t so much as peeped his head in on any of the proceedings so far, and it sounded like nobody expected him to.  Was he even aware of what his Warden bargained for in his name?

“I can assure you, I have full legal authority to make this acquisition.”

“That’s not what I asked.”  But I had my answer, more or less.  Sylvius wasn’t on board either because he was being kept deliberately in the dark, or because he chose to ignore it on his own.  “Have you entered into negotiations with the East to acquire the rest of Canada too?”

The question caught him off guard, but Corley was quick to recover.  “It would be hasty of me to comment on any agreements with other Houses, just as I can assure you, I would be loathe to share the details of our negotiations as well.”  He shifted in his chair, leaning forward, his dark eyes boring into mine.  “I’ve answered all of your questions, is everything to your satisfaction?”

“Yes, I suppose so,” I allowed, closing the folder.

“Then we have an accord?”

“No.”

“No?”  He blinked as if he didn’t understand the word before his brows drew together with palpable menace.  “If you think to hold out for more money…”

“Oh no, that’s not it,” I waved him off.  “I told you, I need some time to review the document.”  I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me, no way, no how.  The whole pressuring me into agreeing on the spot made me dig in my heels even more.

Irritation swept over his features.  “My dear lady, I have other concerns at this Gathering
.  I need to see this issue settled.  If you have a counter demand, let’s hear it.”

Jeez Louise
, Corley wanted this to go through so badly, he could taste it.  I could tell from the way the cords stood out on his neck as he waited for me to reply.  That alone gave me the final answer.  “No.”

“No, you don’t have a counter demand?”

“No.  I’m not in the market to sell.  Thanks for the proposal though, it was a very generous offer.”

“Are you trying to be cute?  Make no mistake, I mean it when I say I will move on to the next deal if you refuse me.  This is a one time offer.”

I rose to my feet, sliding the folder back across the desk toward him.  “Well then, I wish you the best of luck in your venture.  If you’ll excuse me now, I need to see a man about a horse.”  I left him sitting there at his desk, staring after me in gaping horror as I called his bluff.   

Feeling fairly pumped about surviving the confrontation with Corley, I sailed out of his office, flashing Gunnar a triumphant grin.  Even though I hadn’t technically won anything, I felt like I’d made a major victory in turning the Warden of Vetis down. 

“Where’s Felix and Rob?” I asked, leading him down the corridor and away from prying ears. 

“I don’t know, I’ve been watching the door,” Gunnar
replied, his longer strides easily catching up with mine. 

“I’m sorry, this must be pretty boring for you, huh?  All the standing around.”

“It’s work,” he shrugged.  He’d retreated into his shell somewhat since Isak’s betrayal and I’d been too busy to try to pull him out of it again. 

“Well, maybe we can go into the city and have some fun later tonight?  If Felix doesn’t have anything else on the agenda, I mean.  Have you spent much time over here in
England?”

“If it isn’t the new Elder of the West
,” another voice called out. 

I turned to see Angel, Bishop’s boss, headed my way.  Swell.  “Hello, Angel.  It’s nice to see you again,” I smiled sweetly, a little happy on the inside when I saw how annoyed my politeness made her. 

Angel was beautiful, with lustrous black hair that just brushed the top of her shoulders and deep brown eyes above a flawless, alabaster complexion.  She was dressed for Order business, her clothing utilitarian, but still flattering on her feminine form.  In an evening dress she would have been breathtaking, but it wouldn’t make her any less of a cold b-i-t-c-h.

“I caught your performance last night.  Just heartbreaking,” she sighed, a pucker of sympathy marring her smooth brow.  “It hurts when you can’t get what you want, doesn’t it?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.  It was just a song.”  Did she think I was singing about Bishop?

“And I’m sure that’s all it looked like to most of the peopl
e in that room, don’t you worry.” She patted my shoulder in condescension.  “But at least you have your work to cling to.  Though… are you quite sure you should be making decisions without Felix to hold your hand?”

My eyes narrowed at that last dig.  What made her think I’d been making decisions without Felix?  Did she somehow know I’d turned Corley down?  I didn’t put it past her to be listening in on the negotiations, but the question was – did Corley know about it or not? 

“I’m the Elder, it’s pretty much whatever I say goes,” I said coolly, not letting her get to me.

“Of course,” she smiled.  “And I’ve no doubt you’re doing a bang up job of it.  Speaking of which, I should get back to my duties
.  There’s so much to see to with everything going on.”

Okay, so I know it made me a bad person to sink to her level, but I couldn’t resist getting in a dig of my own.  “I’m surprised to see you in charge of anything
these days.  Didn’t Bishop pretty much take over the top position in the Order after you botched up the hunter thing?”

“You’d be surprised at what positions Bishop prefers me in,” she returned smugly. 

I stared back at her.  Did she mean what I thought she meant?  From the look in her eye I could see the implication was intentional.  Only – was it true or was she just trying to get my goat?  I decided to ignore it. 

“I’ll let you get back to it then.  Come on, Gunnar, let’s get back to the suite.”

“You poor thing, you must be worn out from the ride earlier,” Angel clucked in exaggerated sympathy.  “I know I am.”

I wasn’t worn out in the slightest, and it would take a lot more than that to tucker out a vampire, even a young one.  “No, I’m fine,” I insisted.  “I didn’t know any of the Order came along for the hunt.  I didn’t see you out there.”   

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about the hunt.  You know Bishop, he always does like to start the evening off with a spot of vigorous… exercise.”  Her head tilted to one side when I didn’t reply.  “Then again, maybe you don’t at that.  Your affair with him was awfully brief, to hear him speak of it.  I’d better go take care of what he asked me to do before he decides I need punishing later.  Though that can be exhilarating in its own right.”  Her eyes sparked with malice as she stalked away, leaving me staring after her in the hallway.   

I didn’t know what bothered me more about the things she’d said.  The part where she and Bishop were shag-buddies, or the part where Bishop treated our relationship as pillow talk.  Or even just the part where I’d let her get to me
, and even worse, been unable to hide it.  I was so rattled by the conversation, I wasn’t even able to salvage enough wit to say anything back to her.  That was the worst part. 

The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to chase her down and give her a piece of my mind.  Whatever she had going on with Bishop (which I still wasn’t convinced wasn’t an out and out lie) gave her no right to talk to me like that.  I was the
gorram
Elder of the West, and she needed to play nice in public, whatever she might think of me personally. 

I could storm off after her and compel her into apologizing, or even better, I could scramble her brains and convince her that Bishop smelled like raw sewage which would effectively kill their little liaison.  In the end, I did neither of those things, but I wasn’t ready to let it go either.

“Are we going back to the room now?” Gunnar said softly, probably concerned with the way I’d frozen in the corridor to stare stupidly after Angel. 

“You go ahead, I’ll be up later.”

“I can’t leave you, you know this.  I’ll wait…”

“No need to wait for me, go ahead upstairs,” I repeated, too grouchy to feel guilty over the burst of compulsion I sent his way.  “I’ll be fine, I’m going to talk to Bishop.”  Once the words were out of my mouth, I slipped
into the elevator to the lower levels before I ran into anyone else who might try to talk me out of it. 

From my last visit, I remembered the living quarters were on the
third level down, and thankfully my sense of direction wasn’t too skewed as I navigated the corridors in search of his room.  Unfortunately, the door to his room was locked, and I stood there, fist raised, about to pound on it when I heard a familiar voice.

“Anja
, is that you?”  Fisher sounded clearly surprised to find me down there unescorted, but I tried to play it off like I had every right to be there.