Grave Peril (Page 67)

I got over my surprise that the girl had spoken that many words all together. "Is there some kind of grudge between them?"

Justine nodded, as on the dias, Thomas and Bianca exchanged bows. She presented him with an envelope, speaking too quietly for the crowd to hear. He responded in kind. Justine said, "It’s me. It’s my fault. Bianca wanted me to come be hers. But Thomas found me first. She hasn’t forgiven him for it. She calls him a poacher."

Which made sense, in a way. Bianca had risen to where she was by being Chicago’s most infamous Madame. Her Velvet Room provided the services of girls most men only got to daydream about, for a hefty price. She had enough dirt and political connections that she could protect herself from legal persecution, even without counting any of her vampire tricks, and she’d always had more than her share of those. Bianca would want someone like Justine – sweet looking, gorgeous, unconsciously sexy. Probably dress her up in a plaid skirt and a starched white shirt with –

Down, Harry. Hell’s bells. "Is that why you stay with him?" I asked her. "Because you feel that it’s your fault he has enemies?"

She looked up at me, for a moment, and then away, her expression more sad than anything. "You wouldn’t understand."

"Look. He’s a vampire. I know that they can affect people, but you could be in danger – "

"I don’t need rescuing, Mr. Dresden," she said. Her lovely eyes sparkled with something hard, determined. "But there is something you can do for me."

I got an edgy feeling and watched the girl warily. "Yeah? Like what?"

"You can take Thomas and me with you when you leave."

"You guys showed up in a limo, and you want a ride home with me?"

"Don’t be coy, Mr. Dresden," she said. "I know what you and your friends were talking about."

I felt my shoulders creak with tension. "You heard us. You aren’t human, either."

"I’m very human, Mister Dresden. But I read lips. Will you help him or not?"

"It isn’t my business to protect him."

Her soft mouth compressed into a hard line. "I’m making it your business."

"Are you threatening me?"

Her face flushed as pink as the dress she was almost wearing, but she stood her ground. "We need friends, Mister Dresden. If you won’t help us, then I’ll try to buy Bianca’s favor by exposing your plans to escape and claiming that I heard you talking about killing her."

"That’s a lie," I hissed.

"It’s an exaggeration," she said, her voice gentle. She lowered her eyes. "But it will be enough for her to call duel. Or to force you to shed blood. And if that happens, you will die." She took a breath. "I don’t want it to be like that. But if we don’t do something to protect ourselves, she’ll kill him. And make me into one of her pet whores."

"I wouldn’t let that happen to you," I said. The words poured out of my mouth before I’d had time to run them past the thinking part of my brain, but they had that solid, certain ring of truth. Oh, hell.

She looked up at me, uncertain again, catching one of those soft lips between her teeth. "Really?" she whispered. "You really mean that, don’t you."

I grimaced. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I do."

"Then you’ll help me? You’ll help us?"

Michael, Susan, Justine, Thomas. Before long, I was going to need a secretary just to keep track of everyone I was supposed to be looking out for. "You. But Thomas can look out for himself."

Justine’s eyes filled with tears. "Mister Dresden, please. If there’s anything I can do or say to convince you, I – "

"Dammit," I swore, earning a glare from Michael. "Dammit, dammit, dammit, woman. All women, for that matter." That earned me a glare from Susan. "He’s a vampire, Justine. He’s eating you. Why should you care if something happens to him?"

"He’s also a person, Mister Dresden," Justine said. "A person who’s never done you any harm. Why shouldn’t you care what happens to him?"

I hate it when a woman asks me for help and I witlessly decide to go ahead and give it, regardless of dozens of perfectly good reasons not to. I hate it when I get threatened and strong-armed into doing something stupid and risky. And I hate it when someone takes the moral high ground on me and wins.

Justine had just done all three, but I couldn’t hold it against her. She just looked too sweet and helpless.

"All right," I said, against my better judgment. "All right, just stay close. You want my protection, then you do what I say, when I say, and maybe we can all get out of this alive."

She let out a little shudder that ran through her most attractively, and then she pressed herself against me. "Thank you," she murmured, nuzzling her face into the hollow of my throat so that little lightning-streaks of sensation flickered down my spine. "Thank you, Mister Dresden."

I coughed, uncomfortably, and firmly shoved back any ideas of extracting a more thorough thanks from her later, despite the clamoring of my sex drive. Probably the vampire venom, I reasoned, making me notice things like that even more. Sure. I pushed Justine gently away, and looked up to see Thomas returning from his visit to the dias, holding an envelope in his hand.

"Well," I greeted him quietly, as he returned. "That looks like it went well enough."

He gave me a rather pallid smile. "It … she can be rather frightening, when she wishes, can’t she."

"Don’t let her get to you," I advised him. "What did she give you?"

Thomas accepted Justine into the circle of his arm, and she pressed her body to his as though she wanted to wallow in him and leave one of those angel shapes. He lifted the envelope and said, "A condo in Hawaii. And a ticket there, on a late flight tonight. She suggested that I might want to leave Chicago. Permanently."

"One ticket," I said, and glanced at Justine.

"Mmmm."

"Friendly of her," I commented. "Look, Thomas. We both want to get out of here tonight. Just stay close to me and follow my lead. All right?"

He frowned a bit, and then shot Justine a reproachful look. "Justine. I asked you not to – "

"I had to," she said, her face earnest, frightened. "I had to do something to help you."

He coughed. "I apologize, Mister Dresden. I didn’t want to involve anyone else in my problems."

I rubbed at the back of my neck. "It’s okay. We can help each other, I guess."

Thomas closed his eyes for a moment. Then he said, very simply and very openly, "Thank you."