Angel: Private Eye Book One (18 page)

“Something you don’t need to see. Now come
with me.” With his hand still around my wrist, he pulled me
forward.

His grip was just as careful as a jeweler
cradling the biggest diamond he’d ever seen. He was holding onto me
as if he was scared he’d break me. Or, perhaps, he was scared he’d
break himself.

He pulled me forward, never letting go of my
wrist.

I became almost obsessed with the strangely
light yet hard feel of his hand wrapped around mine. So obsessed
that I barely noticed when we reached one of the main corridors
beyond.

Benson noticed, though.

I felt him stiffen. While he only had hold
of my wrist, I was somehow connected to his whole body, connected
enough that I felt the tension snap through every muscle like a
coiled spring.

I heard footsteps and tugged my head back
just in time to see an exceptionally well-dressed man walk towards
us. He had one hand pressed into the hip pocket of his expensive,
tailored jacket. His head was tilted to the side, one striking
green eye visible as the other was hidden by a slice of his
ice-white hair.

I kept waiting for Benson to drop my wrist,
kept waiting for him to reinstate the personal space he only ever
demanded whilst he was around me.

He didn’t.

Instead, I watched as he swallowed. Watched
as his gaze became almost predatory as it locked on the well-kempt
man.

“William,” the man said in a rolling tone.
It was nowhere near as smooth as Benson’s. It was harsh. Sharp. If
Benson was the equivalent of whiskey over ice, then this guy was
like having methyl alcohol poured up your nose.

I took a step away, and before I realized
what I was doing, I pressed hard against Benson’s chest.

I felt one of his hands lock on my shoulder
and push me away, though only slightly. Not completely. He still
had a firm grasp of my wrist, after all.

The man now looked at me curiously, gaze
hesitant as it swept between Benson’s grip on my wrist to the
uncomfortable distance he was keeping between us.

“And who do you have here?” the man asked in
what he probably thought was a smooth tone.

“That is not your business. Why aren’t you
upstairs enjoying the party?” Benson asked. His tone and expression
were blank. His body, however, was locked with tension.

I still felt connected to him, connected
enough that I felt just how much rigidity was trapped in every
muscle and tendon. It was almost as if he was getting ready to take
over from Atlas and hold up the world. That, or fight a
cold-blooded vampire in the corridor.

Once that thought struck my mind, I could
hardly push it away, and began to notice even more signs of
Benson’s stress. The usually sonorous hum of his breath had turned
into raspy, uneven pants. And the skin around his eyes was so
pulled and crumpled it looked like tangled string someone had
scrunched between their fingers.

The man flicked his hard gaze on me. It was
exactly like he was trying to tie me up in ropes with his eyes.

I took another shuddering step back, but
this time had the presence of mind not to slam into Benson’s hard,
sculpted chest. Instead, I swallowed, and darted my gaze between
the two men.

Both of them were watching me out of the
corner of their eyes. Though it appeared as if their gazes were
locked on each other, they were also locked on me.

I felt exactly like the proverbial rabbit
who’d wandered in front of the lions.

I found myself clearing my throat
uneasily. “I– I think I can make my way back to the function room
from here,” I said.

Benson didn’t even react. Benson kept his
hand on my wrist and the majority of his gaze locked on Theodore.
“Are you enjoying the party, Mr Van Edgerton?”

My attention suddenly snapped on him. Van
Edgerton? This was Theodore Vann Edgerton?

Theodore chuckled lightly, that his gaze was
anything but light. It was like he was trying to wrap his hands
around Benson’s throat and drag him through the center of the
earth.

Theodore tilted his head to the side,
brought a hand up, flicked his hair from his eyes, and gave a cold
and dismissive shrug. “It’s about as scintillating as your usual
parties. Though I must admit, there does appear to be the
occasional distraction.” Theodore’s gaze cut to mine with all the
speed and biting strength of a blizzard slicing into your face.

I instantly felt the skin along my cheeks
and down my neck prickle. Now I’d met my fair share of vampires, I
realized the quality of their stares was different. If being locked
in Benson’s direct gaze was like having his hands resting gently
around your jaw, then being stared at by Theodore Van Edgerton was
like having a knife pressed hard into your back.

Still, I surprised myself when I didn’t
shudder back. Instead, I cut my edgy gaze towards Benson, wondering
what he would do next.

He cleared his throat. “This is my
secretary,” Benson said in a smooth lie.

On any other day, I would have pulled him up
on that. Pointed out to anyone who would listen that I would never
make a deal with Benson.

Today, I let the lie slide, hoping Theodore
would accept it and stop looking at me like some new piece of meat
that had been slung up in the butcher’s window.

He didn’t. Instead, he let all the force of
his gaze slide up and down my body, a truly awful smile pressing
over his lips. “Secretary?” he asked pointedly. “She doesn’t look
like your usual secretaries, Benson. In fact, she doesn’t look like
the kind of woman you would waste your time with. So who is she
really?”

I should have been insulted by that. Though
I didn’t want to be a leggy, dumb vampire broad, I could tell men
like Theodore didn’t think women like me should bother getting out
of bed in the morning. Let alone showing their faces.

Still, my indignation at his comment could
not rival my fear at the look in his eye.

Suddenly Theodore took a slow step to the
side, then another, almost as if he intended to circle us.

If Benson had tensed before, it was nothing
compared to how stiff his muscles became. It was as if he’d been
carved out of ice and thrown into space where no warmth would ever
touch him again. “I think it’s time you head back to the function,
don’t you, Theodore?”

“What exactly do you intend to do with your
secretary while I go back to that disappointing party?” Theodore
flashed me a smile.

Instantly I felt sick and scrunched my lips
into a crumpled line. Though I’d met some truly reprehensible
vampires, Theodore Van Edgerton was by far the worst of a bad lot.
He was the reason the humans had passed those work laws, the reason
smart people wanted to stay the hell away from the otherworlder
half of town.

I didn’t have that opportunity. I had to
find out what Theodore knew about Susan Smith’s death. Though
bravery was the last thing I was feeling in his presence, somehow I
managed to stiffen my back and tip my head to the side. “Mr van
Edgerton, I need to talk to you—” I began.

Benson cleared his throat and smoothly
stepped in front of me. “Head back to the party now, Theodore,” he
said in an unmistakably belittling tone that nonetheless brimmed
with authority.

I watched Theodore react to it, watched him
pare back his lips and stiffen them into a grimace. At the same
time he locked his full attention on me. “What were you saying,
miss?” he let the word hiss out of his lips. “What’s your name,
dear?”

Benson dipped his head forward in an
obviously fake bow. “Head back to the party now. I’m afraid I’ll be
busy for some time.” He turned around, still holding me in his
grip, and he began to pull me forward, away from Theodore.

I couldn’t help but turn over my shoulder
and stare at the man.

He flashed a wicked smile my way. “Have fun
there, Benson. Don’t hurry on my account.” With that, he turned,
one hand still in his pocket, and walked away.

I heard the resonating thump of every one of
his steps until he was finally out of earshot.

Benson didn’t stop pulling me along until we
reached an imposing silver door. I didn’t recognize it until he
opened it with one swipe of his hand and strode quickly inside.

It was somehow an alternative entrance to
his office, an entrance that somehow ported us up three floors to
the right level.

That megalithic sprawling room now stretched
before me. The picture windows along the wall gave an unrivaled
view of the sparkling city beyond. It was lit up like stars
scattered over the land.

It couldn’t hold my attention, despite its
wonder.

Finally Benson let me go. He seemed to
hesitate as if he had to pry his fingers back from my wrist, but
couldn’t quite find the strength.

With a tight breath he let me go and took
several jerked steps back.

He locked his hands behind him, turned, and
marched into the center of the room.

For a few seconds I thought that was it.
That he was going to ignore me, but then he turned slowly,
carefully over his shoulder, and locked me in a look I’d never seen
anyone use. It was at once as cautious as it was deadly. “Do you
plan on getting yourself killed, Miss Luck?”

I shuddered at his tone. Though it was
unquestionably hard, it didn’t have the menacing quality Theodore
had used on me moments before.

I shook my head. “I don’t plan on getting
myself killed,” I said in a stuttering voice that couldn’t convince
a child.

“Then stay away from Theodore Van
Edgerton.”

From outside, from far off beyond the city
limits, there was a clap of thunder. It made me shake so violently
it was as if it had rang out right by my ear.

“Are you… are you worried I will
inadvertently kill him?” I hissed through my teeth.

Benson half turned from me and let out a
slow, frustrated chuckle. “No, I am not worried you will
inadvertently kill him. I am worried he will deliberately kill
you.”

“I can look after myself,” I said. It was a
knee jerk reaction. The kind of thing you are meant to say in a
situation like this.

Benson unhurriedly arched one eyebrow. “When
exactly have you ever been able to look after yourself? You told me
yourself, you don’t belong in this world. So take it from a man who
does,” his voice slipped down low, echoing hard through the room,
harder than the strike of thunder that had shaken through me
seconds before, “Stay away from Theodore.”

I grit my teeth. “I don’t have that luxury.
He’s the next clue in my case.”

Benson half closed his eyes and laughed. It
was truly dismissive, and it alone ignited the anger that was
beginning to flare in my gut.

Before I knew what I was doing, I took
several steps forward. I was close enough that I started to invade
Benson’s personal space.

Though he glared at me for half a second, it
didn’t last, and he took a large step backwards. Tipping his head
to the side, he shook it as he placed one hand firmly in his pocket
and pulled his lips just a touch back from his teeth. “You may not
have come across many vampires, Miss Luck, but trust me when I say
that Theodore Van Edgerton is a true predator of old. He won’t be
cowed by the fact you work for Mr Marvelous. The only thing that
will interest him is my interest in you.”

It was such a direct statement, it almost
floored me. It also sent a shuddering wave of nausea pushing hard
through my gut. “Your… interest in me?”

“Don’t read too much into my comment.
Theodore understands that you’re not my secretary. He’s correct; I
would not hire a woman like you.”

Despite the fact I didn’t want to react to
that comment – I mean, I really didn’t want to react to that
comment – I couldn’t stop my cheeks from paling as if I’d just been
slapped. I also couldn’t stop myself from swallowing so hard it
sounded as if I was trying to gulp down a squirming fish.

Benson didn’t retract his comment and
instead kept an even hold of my gaze. “I suggest you don’t let a
man like Theodore understand what you can do. Though I have agreed
to help you find out what you are, Theodore will use you in every
way he can. Though he won’t be able to bleed you dry with his own
mouth, he’ll find some other way.”

I suddenly felt so sick I could barely
stand. I couldn’t stop myself from bringing up a hand and cramming
it under the buttons of my top to flatten it against my
stomach.

Benson didn’t drop my gaze and didn’t blink.
“I suggest you go home, Miss Luck. Find some other case for Mr
Marvelous.”

“This is the only case going at the moment,
and I need money,” I made the mistake of saying. As soon as the
words were out of my mouth, I gasped and crammed a hand over my
lips.

Benson ticked his head to the side, that
by-now-familiar smile spreading across his lips and denting his
powerful jaw. Rather than say anything, he simply slipped a hand
into the slim pocket of his shirt and plucked something out. From
the exact hue of the cream parchment, there was only one thing it
could be.

The contract.

He held it out to me, grabbing a pen from
his pocket and nodding my way. “If you need money, you know where
to come. And if you need help, I’m always here,” his voice dropped
to a husky note.

It was my turn to take several steps back to
reinstate my personal space. I also crammed my arms around my
middle, holding them so tightly it was like I was trying to keep
myself back from him. “I don’t need your charity, Mr Benson.”

“Who said it was charity?” he said, lips
pushing hard around his teeth. You rarely saw Benson’s prominent
fangs. Right now I swore they glistened in the reflected light from
the glowing city beyond.

I shuddered involuntarily and took several
steps back, shaking my head. “If you’re done here, I’m going to go
check out your party,” I said firmly, and was surprised when my
words didn’t shake in my throat.