“Well, what have we here?” He raised his salt-and-pepper eyebrows, as he looked her up and down in her full sentry regalia. He removed his hat and placed it under his arm as he gave her the once over. “Decided to play the game again, my dear?”
“Hello, Vincent,” Olivia said wearily. Ignoring his comment, she stepped back and gestured for him to come in.
Vincent swept into the room with all the regality someone would expect from looking at him. Between the long steel-gray topcoat and the hat and cane, there was no mistaking how uptight and formal he was. He surveyed the apartment with the same look he gave her—disapproval. To top it off, Van Helsing came racing out of the bedroom, growling at Vincent as if he’d never met him. Luckily, the kitten didn’t appear, which would only have given Vincent more fuel for his fire. He detested animals.
Vincent glared at Van Helsing. “I suggest you call off that mutt before I break his neck.”
“Van.” Olivia snapped her fingers, and the dog sat at her feet. He stopped growling but still looked at Vincent like he wanted to bite his balls off. She wasn’t sure why Van didn’t like Vincent. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” she said in the most pleasant tone she could muster. “I can’t believe you came to New York. I didn’t even realize that you were back in the States until you messaged me.”
Vincent hated New York City. He detested America and rarely came across the pond in the last century, especially without more advance notice. The guy expected a fucking parade in his honor every time he came to visit.
Vincent sat in the overstuffed leather chair, crossed his long legs, and placed his hat in his lap. “It seems that you are having trouble managing your coven,” he said quietly, while he rolled the handle of his cane between his fingers.
Olivia didn’t sit, and if she wasn’t in the mood to be cordial before that comment, now she really wasn’t. She closed the door and stood in front of it with her arms crossed over her chest, trying to stop herself from telling Vincent to fuck off.
She was his progeny but had been on her own for the last two centuries, and the last thing she needed was Vincent butting into her business, her life, or her coven. Tension settled in her neck, but she managed to keep a civil tongue.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” she said a bit too sweetly.
“Must we play these games, Olivia?” he said wearily. “I know about the mess your little blond vampire has made. She was turned five years ago, and as you know, she is still your responsibility. Therefore, her mess is yours, and since you are my progeny,” he said, baring his fangs, “it is now mine as well. And you know how I loathe messes.”
Anger and resentment flared hard and fast, but Olivia held her ground. She kept her sharp eyes on him and let him continue.
“Imagine my disappointment to have my holiday ruined.” He smoothed back his dark hair that grayed in patches at his temples. He was distinguished, regal, and a snob. “I had planned on having a pleasant visit, yet it seems that is out of the question. My first stop was to the Presidium so I could pay my respects to the czar and his senators. Sadly, my visit turned into a reprimand from Augustus. He informed me that Maya killed a human and left a messy situation for the police to deal with.” He made a tsking sound. “Quite unfortunate.”
“What are you talking about?” Dread crawled up Olivia’s back. She wasn’t sure how Augustus found out, but that didn’t really matter. All that mattered was protecting Maya and the rest of her coven. “Maya didn’t kill that guy. Yes, I will admit that she fed on him and played with him all day, but she didn’t kill him. They only found trace amounts of Maya’s DNA, and according to Millicent, the prominent DNA in the wounds was from an unregistered vampire.”
“Not according to Augustus,” he said darkly.
“Augustus is a dick and a power hungry liar.”
“Maybe,” Vincent said evenly. “However, he is still the czar of this district, and as a former sentry, you know better than anyone that there is a chain of command that needs to be followed.”
“Really?” Olivia’s voice rose. “I guess he only bends the rules when it suits him or his progeny. His son, Brutus, let a youngling vampire out on the world with no training or guidance, and if you’ll recall, he was only sent into hibernation. Brutus was supposed to be put down with that poor creature he created, but Augustus seemed perfectly fine with adjusting the punishment for his son.”
“Be that as it may,” Vincent said with an air of boredom, “he wants Maya put down. He’s under the impression that while Maya may not have killed the boy, she’s still responsible.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Olivia scoffed. “How?”
“Augustus believes that Maya is the one who turned the rogue vampire, and therefore is indirectly to blame.”
“What?” Olivia seethed, and her body shook with rage and frustration. “No fucking way. She didn’t do that, Vincent.”
“I was quite sure that’s what you would say.” Vincent held both hands up to silence her. “I volunteered to come and speak to you myself, and since I am your maker, Augustus is allowing some leeway.”
“Why would you do that, or why would he even allow it?” She could not understand why he would dirty his hands with this business. Vincent hated messes, as he said, and he was volunteering to insert himself in the middle of this one. He made no mention of the dead girl, which led her to believe the czar didn’t know about that yet. “What gives?”
“He’s allowing it because he and I have been friends for longer than you’ve been alive,” he bit out. He brushed his long, tapered fingers along the lapel of his topcoat in a calming gesture. “You are many things, Olivia. You are defiant, strong-willed, and unpredictable. However, you are not, nor have you ever been, sloppy.”
Olivia’s jaw set, and she bowed her head in deference. She was all of the things he just said, but as far as she was concerned, they were strengths, not the weaknesses that he implied.
“I assured Augustus that we would clean up this mess and leave the city.” He opened his gold pocket watch and glanced at it quickly. “You will gather your coven and come back to England with me tonight. You and your coven will be absorbed under my household.”
Olivia’s hands balled into fists as she gaped at Vincent, and every shred of restraint shattered in an instant. There it was. Vincent had been itching to get her back under his control, and he was under the misguided impression that now was his chance. Not likely.
After leaving her position as a sentry, she vowed that no one would run her life or control her again. Which was why she ran her coven more like a family than a military state, but all of that would change if she allowed her coven to be taken over by Vincent.
“Who the fuck do you think you are? I will do no such thing,” she hissed. Olivia stalked slowly toward him, but he remained seated as calm as ever. “Maya didn’t kill that guy, and there’s no way she’s creating unregistered vampires. She’s a spoiled brat and cares more about getting her nails done than learning how to fight, but she wouldn’t put her coven—her family—in danger. We will hunt down the rogue tonight and kill it.”
“There is no need to go hunting, Olivia. You will simply leave the country with me tonight, and Augustus will forget this happened.”
“You may be my maker, Vincent, but you’re not my father, my husband, or my lover, and you have no say in my life. Your power over me ended after my first century as a vampire, and you know it. You have no right to come into my home and tell me what to do.”