Mitch (10 page)

“We neither one wanted it back then, but I
find that we want it now. And why not? It’s not like Victoria needs it.” Sure,
Millicent thought. And she was the next beauty queen of the undead. “Now,
however, after we’ve found out about the tunnels, we want it. Plus, and Amber
doesn’t know this, there is a treasure in those walls.”

“What sort of treasure? And what do you think
you’re going to do with a treasure even if there is one?” He told her. “Spend
it on what, Horrie? You do know that money and jewels aren’t going to help you,
don’t you? You’re fucking dead. Why is it that you have to be reminded of that
every day? I got it the first time I was told it. I don’t like it, but that’s
neither here nor there. We’re dead. And your daughter killed you because you
were too stupid to do what you were told when they told you. I’m dead because I
was arrogant enough to think that living forever came without a price. I paid
that when someone decided that vampires were bad news. And I blame that on you
too.”

“No. Victoria killed me because she begged
the council to let her do it for no reason whatsoever. She covered her ass and
killed me. You were killed because you were and are stupid. That man didn’t
even know me when he went looking for a vampire. Not my name anyway. I don’t
care what he said to you about me killing his wife. I might have, but why did
he blame me for her being dead? I was hungry and she was there. It’s the way
things are. But you can see now why I have to get that house.” No, she didn’t,
and told him that. “She has to die. And when she’s dead and gone, I’ll be able
to live in her home, using her things while I look for the treasure. If you’re
nice to me, more than you have been of late, I’ll let you come and help me.”

Millicent wasn’t even going to point out,
once again, that the money was useless to them. Not only that, but the house
was as well. They could live anywhere they wanted, do anything they wanted at
any part of the day, and who gave a shit? They were dead. But it did hurt her
that he thought her death had been her own fault. The man told her as he held
her with the stake at her heart that a vampire had killed his wife, and he was
going to rid the world of all of them. Millie didn’t have to hear her brother’s
name to know he’d done it. He was forever killing women for the pure joy of it.
She looked at him now and wondered for the first time in her life why she had
ever looked up to him.

“Why do you think this house is blocked to your
wife? And I’m assuming you as well?” Millie didn’t care and thought it was pretty
smart of Vinnie to have blocked them all out of her life and home. The girl
would certainly be safer this way. “And why do you think I’d have any better
luck than she does getting in it?”

“We neither one can get past her barrier. But
I think you can get in because you’re not her.” Millicent barely controlled the
urge to hit Horrie and to roll her eyes at him. The more time she spent with
her brother on this plane, the more she realized it was a miracle he had lived
as long as he had. The man was dumb. And he rarely, if ever, thought things
through other than he wanted it and by God, it had better be in his hands or
else. More and more of late, she was thinking her niece had been right in
staking him out in the sun. Millicent wanted to get as far from him as she
could. “I want you to go there right now and try. You get in and then I’ll have
you do some things to make it so we can get in. It’s a piece of cake.”

Sure it was. But she said nothing to him. It
would do no good to point out that the house belonged to another. That the
house was keeping his own flesh and blood safe and, more to the point, he was
fucking dead and didn’t need the house any more than Millie did. Her brother
was a moron, plain and simple.

As she willed herself to the house her niece
lived in, she thought of all the times she’d envied her. Vinnie had had her
shit together even as a kid, but she’d never been one to rub it in her face. And
she was pretty sure, now that she thought about it, the reason she’d hated her
so much was because she’d been so kind and good hearted. But not anymore.
Millie found herself wanting to get to know the woman she’d become, but knew it
was too late for that as well. Millie not only envied the girl her life of the
living, but what she’d done to get there. Millie, like her brother, had not
saved any money, made any kinds of preparation to keep safe other than her
crypt, and, unlike Vinnie, Millie had had no one love her but her brother, and even
that had been iffy. Even her mother had told her never to come to her again,
and she’d not. Not in centuries, and now she was also dead and gone.

Vinnie would be there, in one home or another
that her parents would squat in when they’d be kicked out of a place, just
doing things that no kid should have been doing. Paying the bills, making sure
the staff was all paid as well. And she even got herself up and ready for
school. And back then, it wasn’t as big a deal to have your kids attending
school as it was now. And she had Hugo.

Hugo was a shifter, or he had been. When he showed
up at the house one day, his body beaten and starved, Vinnie had taken him in
and kept him safe. It was years, of course, before she became what she was today,
a vampire, but he’d never left her side. Not for anything. Millicent had tried
to lure him away and into her bed, but he’d never strayed from Vinnie once,
keeping her safe in more ways than just from harm. The shifter had been her
shoulder to cry on and someone that Vinnie could talk to when her parents were
out doing whatever it was they were doing. Mostly not taking care of their
child.

Millie was standing in front of the house,
far enough back where she could see it but not into it, when she saw the young
man she’d heard about. Steele was there as well. You couldn’t be a dead person
without hearing his name all over the place, but she was more interested in the
man with him, the mate. Millie watched him as he moved about, his lean body
bent pulling weeds or whatever from the yard.

Mitch Riley was also a force to be reckoned
with. He was not nearly as strong as Steele was, but he could be lethal when he
needed to be. There were times, and she was sure the rumors were true, that she
would find herself wishing that he’d find Horrie and deal with him. Take him
out of the picture so she and even Vinnie could be safe for the rest of their days.
So Millie had been laying low, not doing things that would bring attention to
herself to bring his magic to her. And now this, this thing that Horrie was
demanding she do for him.

She found she didn’t want to do this for
Horrie. Not just see if she could get in the house, but do whatever it was he
would want of her once she got in. She was sure whatever it would be, it would
not get her in the good graces of Vinnie’s new mate or the necromancer’s that
could destroy her very quiet death. Standing there, she tried to think how she
could get out of it short of leaving this realm.

“Can you get in?” She nearly screamed when
Horrie spoke behind her. “Did you even try or are you just standing here
looking at the trees? Sometimes I wonder how we were ever related. You are the
dumbest person I’ve ever had the misfortune to be blood to.”

“As do I. Every single day, Horrie.” He, of
course, took that as a compliment. “I haven’t tried, as I’ve only just gotten
here. And with the fact that Steele is there, I’ve thought to wait until I can
try without getting my ass zapped. You do know who that man is, don’t you? And
the things he can do to one of us if he wanted to?”

“Yeah, I know who he is and what he thinks he
can do to the dead. Fucker. He needs to learn his place.” Millicent started to
point out it was his place to take care of the humans, but she only nodded.
Sometimes it was just too much to deal with Horrie, especially when he was like
this. Why had she never noticed that before? “Get your ass to trying. You think
we can wait around on you all fucking day?”

She reached out to see if she could get in.
And when she tried again, she got the same results. She was blocked as well. Millicent
was giddy with the knowledge and turned to her brother to tell him so when she
saw her niece. Christ, who would have ever thought she could come from her
parents and look the way she did? Not her, certainly.

“Having a mate has changed her into a real
beauty.” She heard her brother snarl something, but she didn’t care at the
moment. Vinnie was walking through the woods with a large panther. And when
they both stopped, Millicent knew that one or both of them could see them. “Horrie,
your daughter can see us. And I don’t think she’s none too happy to find us
here.”

“Good, then she can hear me too.” He moved
toward them and the panther’s hair stood on end. Millicent wondered if she
could do much harm to Horrie, and found that while she loved him, she didn’t
care if he was gone. As he approached them Millicent hung back, wanting no part
of this or whatever outcome there might be from this. But she didn’t leave,
wanting to hear what Vinnie had to say to the man that wanted her dead too.

“Father. What is it you’re doing here? I
thought for sure I’d sent you to hell.” He lunged at her, only to have her
laugh. “That will do you no good, I’m afraid. I’m a good deal stronger than you
are at the moment. Not to mention, I’d not fuck with me today. I’m not in the
mood for your bullshit. Not that I ever was.”

“You think so, cunt? I got news for you,
you’re going to pay for killing me. See if you don’t, and when I’m done with
you, nobody is going to want a thing to do with you.” The panther growled low
but didn’t move. It was then that Millie realized the cat could see them as
well. “What the fuck are you doing hanging around these animals anyway? You
should be with your own kind.”

“Like you?” He nodded at Vinnie, and she
laughed again after a few seconds. That was when Millicent realized Vinnie
couldn’t hear or see her father. She was relying on the panther to tell her
everything. A panther necromancer? Millicent took a step back and felt the man
behind her before she could disappear.

“Move and I’ll hunt you down.” Nodding slowly,
she closed her eyes. “What does he want here? Or for that matter, what do
either of you want here?”

“That’s his daughter and my niece. I only
came to see if I could talk to her.” The man behind her said nothing, and she
turned to look at him. It wasn’t Steele but the other man, Mitch. And he looked
no less scary. “You’re going to kill him, aren’t you?”

“You too if you fuck with what is mine.” He
looked at Vinnie as she spoke to her dad, and she did too. “She’s my mate. But
you never answered me; why are you here? Are you with him, a part of his plan
to kill her?”

“He wants the house. I’m not sure what plans he
has for it, but...well, I don’t want to help him. I might have as a living
person, but not anymore. Whatever he wants in that house...he says there is
treasure, but I don’t know. But whatever he wants with the house, it won’t be
good for the humans around here.” He looked at her, and she could swear he was
looking into her very heart. “I don’t want to hurt you or Vinnie. I’ve
discovered, too late as it turns out, I want to live a peaceful and quiet life.
Or death, I guess. And if...no, when you kill him, send him away, I’m going to
enjoy my death much more than I think I ever did my life. I wasn’t a nice
person.”

“My name is Mitch Riley, and you’re Millicent
Graham.” Millicent nodded. “She thinks…Vinnie thinks you’re in with her mom and
dad on whatever it is they’re planning. And that you might try to hurt her or
her grandmother.”

“I’m not. I have to...I can’t not do what he
tells me so long as it’s not harmful to others. If he wants to me hurt someone
I can refuse it, but coming here, to see if I could get in the house, I had no
choice but to try. In the event you don’t know, I can’t.” He nodded as if he
knew this already. “I can help you. That is if you’ll let me. I know that
you’ve no reason to trust me, but I really do want to help.”

“Do what?” Yes, that was a good question, and
one she didn’t really have an answer for. “From what I can see, you’re here
with him and he’s out there now screaming at my future wife to get her to allow
him into her home. Why? And since you say you don’t know other than this
treasure, you’re really of no use to me.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that my entire life.” It
hurt her that he was right. And worse yet, she hated that she could not go back
and change what had passed. But she really did want to help him, help them
both. “I could find out what they want the house for and tell you. I mean, I
don’t know how to tell you anything you might not already know, but I could
listen to him when he complains.”

“He seems to do that a great deal.” Nodding,
she told him he did. “What if I did use you to get information? Why do you
think I should trust you not to be with him anyway?”

“I don’t know. I could tell you that I find I
no longer like the man he is. But I’m pretty sure that I was just as bad as he is
when I was alive. I could tell you that I have found that I love my niece more
than him, but that’s not true. I don’t hate Vinnie like I thought I did, but
he’s my blood, dead or not. Amber? I never liked her, but that’s not the point,
is it?” He told her he was more interested in why they were going to hurt
Vinnie. “I don’t know that they want to hurt her. The house is all he can talk
about. I know for a fact that there are safety precautions that Vinnie put in
to keep the two of you safe. Even this, this power that keeps us away, is
helping, but as to why he wants in, I really don’t know. If there is a treasure
and that’s what he wants in for, then he’s dumber than I thought.”