Venom in the Veins by Jennifer Estep
“Why didn’t Mosley tell me that a photo of my parents was part of the auction?” I whispered.
Lorelei shook her head. “He probably didn’t realize it was them. He didn’t tell me about the photo of my mama either.”
She must have seen the play of emotions across my face, as well as the tears suddenly stinging my eyes. She didn’t want to intrude on my grief either, and she laid her hand on my shoulder. “I’ll see you back in the ballroom.”
I nodded. Lorelei gently squeezed my shoulder, then left the library.
I stared at the photo for the better part of a minute, especially my father’s face, studying and imprinting it on my mind. Then, with shaking hands, I pulled my phone out of my purse and snapped several shots of the picture. No one was going to keep me from bidding on and winning this picture, but I wanted to have a copy of it with me right now. I also texted the images to Bria.
I had just slid my phone back into my purse when heels clattered out in the corridor, warning me that someone was coming. Probably Lorelei, checking to make sure I was okay.
I cleared my throat, blinked back the last of my tears, and looked over my shoulder. “I’m okay. You didn’t have to come back—”
The words died on my lips. Lorelei wasn’t standing in the doorway.
Alanna was.
Her red lips puckered, as though I had annoyed her just by being in here, but she strutted over to me anyway. We stood there, side by side, in front of the bookcase.
I stared at Alanna out of the corner of my eye, looking past her uncanny resemblance to her mother and sizing her up the way I would any potential enemy. I didn’t sense any elemental magic emanating off her, but I was betting that she drank giant or dwarven blood on a regular basis, given the ripple of muscles in her arms. Her smooth, gliding gait indicated that she was fast as well as strong, and I had no idea what other vampiric abilities she might have. Everything about her whispered of power, danger, and death.
I wondered if Alanna shared her mama’s cannibalistic appetite for warm blood, flesh, and bones. Probably. Fletcher had told me that hunting humans for their dinner was a tradition that had been passed down from one generation of the Eatons to the next.
All of that made Alanna extremely dangerous in her own right, but most worrisome was the fact that she didn’t seem afraid of me. Not one little bit. Tucker had to have told her that I was the Spider and that I always carried several knives, but she didn’t seem bothered by the fact that I was within arm’s reach. Or perhaps she realized that I couldn’t attack her in such a public setting any more than she could go after Mosley.
A few other people wandered into the library, but they stayed on the opposite side, looking at the auction items over there, so I studied Alanna again.
Her green gaze focused on the picture of my parents, along with the blue book it was perched on. Her red lips puckered again, as though she’d bitten into something sour. I wondered if she recognized Eira and Tristan as my parents. No way to tell.
“Interesting photo,” she murmured. “I didn’t realize how much of Ashland society Mab had chronicled over the years until I was curating the collection.”
“You put the items together for the auction?”
She nodded. “I have degrees in art and history, so I suggested the minimum bids. Under Stuart’s close supervision, of course. He’s been in charge of the auction every single step of the way, from packing up what was left of the art at Briartop, to storing it at his bank, to bringing it over here and setting it up tonight. He’s been very…thorough.”
Her red lips puckered for a third time, as if Mosley’s attention to detail had been particularly vexing, although I couldn’t imagine why. Perhaps Alanna didn’t appreciate being micromanaged.
“I didn’t get to examine the items nearly as much as I wanted to in order to suggest the proper bids, and I didn’t get to look at some of them at all, like these books.” She waved her hand at the case. “Stuart thinks the auction items are all just old books and furniture. He has no appreciation for the artistry, the craftsmanship, that goes into such things. He didn’t let me study them the way I wanted to, the way I needed to.”
I got the impression that there was far more to her words than I was understanding, but I had no idea why she would be so focused on a case full of books. Or perhaps it was just the principle of not being able to do exactly what she wanted, when she wanted.
“What about the party decorations?” I asked. “Were those your idea too?”
“Of course. My mother used to throw such grand parties here. One year, for the holidays, she hired elementals to freeze the lake so she could teach me how to ice-skate. I wanted to recreate that to remember her, to honor her.” Her eyes darkened with memories, as if she was thinking about her dead mother the same way I had thought about mine countless times.
Guilt twisted my stomach, but I kept fishing for information. “Well, the decorations are lovely. I particularly enjoyed the white roses. They have such a sweet, intoxicating scent, almost like perfume. Seeing them brought back so many memories.”
I watched her carefully, wondering how she would react to my pointed words, but not a flicker of emotion marred her perfect features. I might as well have been talking to a statue for all the reaction she showed. If Alanna knew that I’d killed her mother, she was hiding it extremely well.
“Mmm.” She made a noncommittal sound, then pivoted on her stilettos, putting a bit of distance between us. “Are you planning to bid on this lot? It’s one of my personal favorites.”
“Why, yes. I’m a bit of a bibliophile. Tell me, is that a first edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on the shelf? I’m a sucker for Southern literature.”
“You have quite the sharp gaze, don’t you, Ms. Blanco?”
I smiled. “That’s not the only thing that’s sharp on me. Didn’t your new beau, Hugh, tell you that?”
She returned my smile, baring her fangs a bit. “He might have mentioned something to that effect.”
“I just bet he did.”
Her smile widened, revealing even more of her fangs. I kept my gaze steady on hers, not backing down for a second.
“I don’t know what game you’re playing with Tucker, and I really don’t care.”
She arched an eyebrow. “But?”
“But if you go after Mosley again, it will be the last thing you ever do. Trust me on that.” I let the coldness seep into my wintry gray eyes, telling her exactly how serious I was.
Alanna arched her eyebrow a little higher at my threat, then laughed right in my face.
Her loud, hearty chuckles echoed from one side of the library to the other and back again, attracting the attention of the other people, but I had a feeling that was exactly what she wanted. My hands curled into tight fists, and I had to dig my nails into the spider rune scars in my palms to keep from bitch-slapping her like Bria had done to Tucker.
Alanna finally stopped laughing, although amusement still crinkled her face. “Oh, Ms. Blanco,” she purred. “This conversation has been so entertaining. I’ve heard so much about you from Hugh, but it was nice to finally set eyes on you myself.”
The way she said that and the hard edge to her toothy smile made me think she knew all about my killing her mother. I frowned. But Fletcher had given me that assignment. How could Tucker have possibly known about it?
“I only wish that I could spend more time with you,” Alanna continued. “Perhaps our paths will cross again someday.”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll see you again real soon, sugar. Especially if you don’t take my warning to heart.”
“Warning?” She let out another laugh. “Why, I thought that was a joke. A sad, pitiful, pathetic little joke.”
Before I could say that I never joked about killing people, she leaned forward, staring at me with sudden intensity.
“But let me give you a warning in return, Gin. No one keeps me from getting what I want. Whether it’s something as simple as a nice, fresh,
The sudden hunger in her eyes told me that she was talking about a far more gruesome, human cut of meat—me.
I opened my mouth to snap back at her thinly veiled cannibalistic reference, but Alanna pivoted on her stilettos again, pointedly turned her back to me, and glided out of the library.
Once again, I had to dig my nails into my palms to keep from charging after her, but I couldn’t stop the worry swirling through my stomach.
On the surface, our conversation had been polite enough, at least until our mutual threats at the end. Still, for some reason, I felt a cold sting in my heart, like I’d been bitten by a viper and was helplessly waiting for its deadly poison to kick in and finish me off.
* * *
Another series of bells rang out, signaling that the auction was about to start, so I left the library and returned to the ballroom.
People were taking their seats, while a man wearing a tuxedo and holding a wooden gavel was standing at the podium, talking to a woman in a glittering gold gown. Several giants moved around them, rolling glass display cases and carts full of furniture into a line. It was almost like watching the behind-the-scenes action of some bizarre Ashland game show.
Finn was standing along the wall, talking to Mosley, who kept checking his silver pocket watch, clearly wanting to get on with things. Bria was a few feet away from them, staring at her phone and blinking and blinking, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing on the screen. She must be looking at the images I’d sent her of our parents’ picture.
I waved my hand at her. Bria noticed the motion and looked at me. Tears gleamed in her eyes, and she smiled and clutched her phone to her heart, as happy to see our parents’ faces as I had been. Bria nodded at me, then hurried over to Finn to show him.
I looked out over the seats. Alanna and Tucker were sitting in the front row in the left section. Tucker said something, and Alanna gave a nonchalant shrug in response. Tucker’s eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth as if to say something else, but Alanna turned away from him and starting whispering to Terrence Phelps, who was sitting on her other side. Tucker leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest with a stone-faced expression, clearly not happy about being ignored.
Alanna’s blatant dismissal of him only made me more curious about what they were doing here together. It obviously wasn’t a love match. So what was it? And how did it involve Mosley? Or the mysterious Mason and the rest of the Circle?
I spotted Owen waving at me from the back row in the right section, so I went over and sat down next to him.
“Is everything okay?” he asked. “Where were you?”
“Having a little chat in the library with my new friend Alanna.”
Worry darkened his eyes. “What happened?”
“Lots of vague threats and innuendos, for the most part.”
I recapped my conversation with Alanna, along with finding that photo of my parents. Owen started to ask me another question, but the auctioneer banged his gavel on the podium, and the ballroom slowly hushed. The auctioneer beamed at the crowd a moment, then launched into his spiel.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. As you know, we are gathered here to bid on items from the estate of Mab Monroe, a prominent Ashland citizen.”
I snorted at his benign description, as did several other people. Prominent Ashland citizen? Please. More like homicidal Fire elemental bitch. But I supposed that was the nicest, blandest thing anyone could say about Mab.
The auctioneer’s smile dimmed a bit at the lackluster response, but he cranked it right back up to full strength again. “Anyway, you all have your placards to bid on whatever strikes your fancy. Please don’t be shy—or cheap. Proceeds from tonight’s auction will benefit the victims of the Briartop robbery, along with their families.”
The auctioneer nodded at the woman in the gold dress. She rolled a glass display case forward where everyone could see it, then stood off to the side and made elaborate, sweeping hand gestures at the ruby necklace inside, as if her movements would somehow make it even more beautiful.
The auctioneer cleared his throat. “And the first item up for bid is…”
One by one, piece by piece, lot by lot, Mab’s things were sold to the highest bidders. The proceedings were far more civilized than I’d expected. Most folks had already picked out what they wanted during the preview hour, and given the hundreds of items up for bid, there was plenty of loot to go around. The only really tense moment came when two women got into a bidding war over a collection of antique crystal candy dishes. But the price finally got too rich for one woman, and the other triumphed, after bidding more than fifty thousand dollars.
I shook my head. Fifty grand for some flimsy old dishes? That was even worse than Finn lusting after that fifteen-thousand-dollar table. Then again, I didn’t collect things. At least, not things that were so easily breakable. Those dishes looked like they would crack apart if you put anything heavier than a couple of marshmallows in them. And given how many people wanted me dead, odds were that I wouldn’t even get home with those dishes before they got smashed to bits, either by my hand or by someone else’s.
Lorelei and Mallory were sitting across the aisle, a couple of rows up from Owen and me. Lorelei was perched on the edge of her seat, tapping her placard against her leg.
The lot with the bookcase and the photo of Lily Rose came up for bid. The auctioneer had barely gotten out the request for ten thousand dollars before Lorelei stabbed her placard up into the air.
“Okay,” the auctioneer said, taken aback by her enthusiasm. “I have ten thousand, ten thousand. Will anyone give me eleven? Eleven thousand?”
Lorelei got into a bidding war with someone else, but she eventually purchased the photo, along with the bookcase, for thirty thousand dollars. A relative bargain, considering that she probably would have paid three million for that picture of her mother. Beaming, she hugged Mallory, then got up and went over to the table at the ballroom entrance to make arrangements to pay for her items.
The next lot was the second bookcase with the photo of my parents. And just like Lorelei, I perched on the edge of my seat and whipped up my placard even before the auctioneer finished his spiel.
He blinked. “Well, it looks like the books are going to be some of our most popular items tonight. Must be a lot of readers in this crowd. I have ten thousand, ten thousand. Will anyone give me eleven?”
“Eleven thousand dollars,” a familiar voice called out.
I looked up at the front row of seats. Alanna glanced back over her shoulder and smiled at me. I might not know what she was doing with Tucker, but I recognized this game. She knew that I wanted this lot, and she was going to do everything in her power to take it away from me. Just because it amused her.
My fingers squeezed around my placard so tightly that the wooden handle creaked in protest. I forced myself to loosen my grip and smile back at her. Never let ’em see you sweat.
“Twelve thousand,” I called out.
“Thirteen,” Alanna countered.
“Fourteen.”
“Fifteen.”
And on and on it went. Everyone’s heads swiveled back and forth as they looked from me to Alanna and back again, as though they were watching a tennis match. A hush fell over the crowd, and the only sounds were our voices ringing out over and over again.
Finally, I’d had enough, and I decided to end the bidding. “One hundred thousand dollars.”
Murmurs rippled through the ballroom. It was a lot of dough to pay for some old books and furniture, as Alanna had called them.
She turned around in her seat and studied me, her green gaze locking with my gray one. She even opened her mouth, like she was going to top my bid, but Tucker laid a hand on her shoulder, as if he was warning her against it. Her lips
For now.
“And sold! For one hundred thousand dollars!” The auctioneer banged his gavel on the podium, officially sealing the deal.
Polite applause broke out. Owen grinned and hugged me close.
“I’m so happy for you,” he whispered. “I know how much that photo means to you.”
I kissed his cheek, then got up, went over to the table, and gave the auction official my bank account information. Even though I wanted to march over to the bookcase right now and grab that picture of my parents off the shelf, I had to wait until tomorrow to collect my things, along with everyone else. Finn had told me that the auction items were going to be stored at the estate tonight under heavy guard until all the payments went through. So I arranged to come back tomorrow afternoon and then returned to my seat next to Owen.
The auction continued for another two hours. Finally, all of Mab’s possessions were sold, and people got to their feet and began to leave. I wasn’t surprised when Alanna strutted down the aisle and stopped right in front of me. Phelps stood behind her, glued to her side the same way he’d been most of the night, but Tucker hung back, watching us.
“Why, Gin,” Alanna said. “Looks like you’re an even bigger lover of books than I am.”
“Reading truly is one of life’s greatest pleasures.”
“Well, then, I hope you enjoy your new collection for as long as you can.” She tipped her head at me. “Ms. Blanco.”
I returned the gesture. “Ms. Eaton.”
She swept past me and headed toward the exit, with Phelps trailing along behind her. I looked for Tucker, but the sneaky vampire had already left. Sometimes I thought that he must have been a magician in another life, the way he could seemingly appear and disappear at will.
“Why do I get the feeling that was about a lot more than just some old books?” Owen asked.