Chapter 10

Anais

As Leo shook my hand, a small smirk on his face, I tried to process what I had just agreed to. This was insane. I was going to team up with a true-blood. I was a vampire hunter and I was going to make an ally of the very creature I normally killed. All to complete a mission the academy probably wasn't expecting me to succeed on.

When I returned victorious it would feel oh so sweet, however.

It was still something that I had to get my head around, but I was doing this.

For a few seconds Leo stared at me, his gaze roving over my body again. I let him, not sure where he wanted to begin. I considered asking him where Ludis was after the whole situation, but I couldn't bring myself to speak. As much as I wanted to get on with this mission, I also knew that I needed to get comfortable with this vampire.

"Ludis won't stay in Vegas after this and you will need to look like you are staying with me and mine to do with as I please. We should gather anything you want to bring with you and take it to my suite."

"Suite?" I replied, already amazed at this.

"Yes," he said as he looked at me, the corner of his mouth twitching up. "It may be difficult for you to get used to, but I have a lot of money and like to live comfortably. We will fly first class, stay in suites and eat good food."

"You eat?" I asked, not bothering to address the rest.

"Of course." he smiled again and reached out to take my hand. "We might not need to eat food, but it tastes good and it does give us some benefits. When coupled with more... delightful fare, it's more than enough."

He kissed my hand, making it clear I was what would provide the other sustenance as well. I swallowed slowly and barely dared to breathe.

"Come on. Let us gather your belongings." He didn't let go of my hand, but kept it in his as he led me from the room. I knew I would need to get used to him telling me what to do and to be interested in pleasing him, almost submissive to his every will if I was to be his enthralled. It was going to be a big adjustment.

He led me down the hallway to the elevators, and when we got there I pressed the button to go down and out of the casino and hotel.

"Anais, where do you think we're going?" He asked, sounding surprised by what I thought was a logical decision

"An apartment nearby. I need to pick up some belongings I don't go anywhere without." I looked at him, wondering what he thought we would have been doing instead.

"We can't do that. I wouldn't normally let you do that. If you are offering yourself up to me as an enthralled, then there is nothing of importance for you to go back for unless I say it is of importance."

I frowned and pulled my hand out of his. "And you need to understand that this isn't what I wanted exactly. I have a few items that I must go back for. If I don't they won't be here when I get back. No matter how swiftly we make this mission happen."

"How far would we have to go?" he asked.

"It is about a thirty minute walk from here," I replied. I knew this deal could be about to crumble and had to hold my breath while I waited for him to let me know what kind of vampire he was.

There wasn't a lot in this world that mattered to me, but I had a few sentimental items that were all I had left of my parents and I wasn't about to let this vampire tell me that I couldn't keep them safe. I would rather throw this job than leave them behind and be worrying about them the entire time.

While there was a chance I would get back and find my belongings still at my friend's house, there was also a chance that she would sell them or ruin them. It wasn't as if this was some trusted best friend. She had been kind enough to give me a bed for a night, but she wasn't someone I knew well.

"And by car?" he asked, almost snapping the question.

I shrugged. "I've never owned a car and can't usually afford a taxi. It's a thirty minute walk."

He lifted an eyebrow and seemed to relax again. "And how much does this stuff matter to you? Can you carry it all in a rucksack or something similar at least?"

"It will fit in my pockets for the most part. Well..." I trailed off as I looked down at the dress I was still wearing. "It would normally fit in my pockets. But it is important to me and they're not just possessions. There are memories attached."

He pulled me over to an open elevator door and tugged me inside before he pressed the button for the main hotel lobby and gave me my answer. I finally relaxed, grateful that he understood how much this mattered.

"If we go to get what you care about, we're getting all of it, is that clear?" he replied. "We might not get another chance to leave like this and I don't want to have you distracted."

"Understood." I tried not to think about what his opinion of my friend's house might be, or if he would want to wait outside. All I knew was that I had to have everything from the house and I was letting him into a part of my life I would have rather kept private.

This vampire was different to any I'd met. Not that I'd met a true-blood before. Others had spoken of them being different, but no one had gone into more detail than that. They usually kept to themselves.

Although it was me who wanted to leave the hotel, Leo led me to the parking lot underneath and to one of the sportiest cars I had ever seen. I was useless with makes and models but it had the two tone paint that made it appear as two different colors depending on the angle it was viewed at and it was low to the ground and sleek.

He clicked a button in his pocket and it unlocked.

"Get in," he said as he opened the passenger door for me.

I wasn't used to anyone being so much like a gentleman, even if he didn't want to go to gather my belongings he was taking care of me and we were going to drive there in style.

The seats were clad in leather and I almost slid across it until I was nestled in the low down machine. Leo was quick to get into the driver's seat and then flicked a display on between us, pulling up the built in satnav.

"Put in the destination," he commanded as he strapped up.

It was strange to see a vampire being so concerned for his safety and I almost laughed about him bothering but I reached forward and began typing in my friend's address instead.

The location was about a ten minute drive away to the south of the strip and further out of Vegas, but if it bothered Leo to drive that far, he didn't comment on it.

I tried to think of something to say while he drove, not sure what I was supposed to talk about with him and still trying to wrap my head around what was happening with my life. In twenty-four hours I had gone from disgraced hunter with an almost failed mission to explain, to sitting in a car more expensive than my entire life's earnings so far and going to collect everything I owned in life so I could be the car owner's whore for a while.

The last part I wasn't so proud of, but if this was the only way to get my mission done and keep my place in the academy then I was willing to do it. It didn't hurt that I was curious about it all. I wanted to know what it truly felt like to be an enthralled and I couldn't deny how attracted to Leo I was.

Maybe this was the exact sort of thing the academy had feared, but there was something about Leo. He was trying to stop Ludis as well. Whatever was going on, I had a sort of ally.

Of course, I still didn't know why I was being targeted as well and who or what had ordered the hit. That part made having Leo as an ally even more important. As his enthralled I had a lot more protection. He was a true-blood and I knew that the academy was wary about upsetting them. I hoped any other forces at play would feel similar. Leo really was giving me more than he was getting.

"Thank you," I said when we were almost at the apartment.

"You're welcome," he replied. "I meant what I said when I offered to take care of you."

"I wish I understood why." The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them and I glanced across at him as he chuckled.

"Is it so hard to believe that I might be attracted to you enough to want this? To want you? Not to mention all the other benefits."

I tilted my head to one side as I considered the question. "I know I'm not ugly or anything, but surely there are true-bloods out there. Brethren who you want more than me?"

"All any Brethren female would want from me is power. You just want to complete your mission and live. You don't care which mafia don is on top and which one I serve or what crimes we're committing and in which territories."

"No, I can say for sure that none of that means anything to me." I glanced over at him again, wondering what that world might be like. It seemed so strange.

"Then you have your answer. You want only one thing. To protect your race. And I don't want to threaten them. We go surprisingly well together." He shrugged, but didn't say any more after that and I didn't pry any further. I was sure he'd tell me more if he wanted to.

The other reason I was happily sitting where I was lay in that feeling. I trusted him to be honest with me if nothing else. He didn't need to have told me some of the things he had and it had even worked against him to be so honest at times.

He soon pulled up outside the apartment block. There was a small parking lot underneath, but I had no idea how to get inside.

"We're only going to be a few minutes, right?" he asked as he switched the engine off again.

"I hope so," I replied. "You don't have to come in with me if you don't want."

He shook his head and got out of the car before hurrying around to me. By the time I had my seat belt off he was holding the door open for me again. I got up and looked out at the apartment block, nervous.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight right now. You could run off anywhere."

"I told you I wouldn't." I frowned as I made my way over to the door. I had a key, thankfully, having told my friend I would be coming and going at strange hours and I let myself into the block. I hurried up the several flights of stairs toward the front door.

To my surprise, it wasn't fully shut despite the early hour of the morning. My friend should have been sleeping. As I reached out to push the door open, Leo put his hand over mine and stopped me.

"Something isn't right here," he whispered. "The same scent from the hotel room."

I paused, not sure what to do.

"I'll go first, stay close behind." He didn't wait for me to respond before he hurried inside. I had little choice but to follow. With someone out in the wild trying to kill me, I needed his safety.

We tiptoed inside and he shut the door behind us as softly as he could, keeping close beside me. The hallway had been trashed, the furniture broken up and a small drawer from a table in the hallway pulled out. The contents were on the floor along with all the jackets, coats and shoes that had been stored to one side.

From the hallway we could see into the living, dining and kitchen area and I could see that the kitchen had suffered the same treatment for sure, all the drawers pulled out and many of the visible cupboards open.

I didn't doubt that all the areas I couldn't see from here would have the same mess. Someone had been in here looking for something. Throwing caution to the wind, I hurried toward the bedroom I had crashed in. There were only two in total and the one I had used was tiny.

This room hadn't contained as much stuff, but it had everything I'd left behind in here somewhere. At least I hoped it did. The mattress had been pulled off the bed, the bedding scattered over the whole room. All the belongings my host had stored in here were scattered everywhere too, clothes, makeup and all sorts.

I gingerly pushed some of it to the side so I could get over to the bed and the wall beside. While it was clear that the room had been searched from top to bottom, I had to hope that I'd done a good enough job of hiding what mattered.

Because I had stayed here more than once in the past, needing somewhere to bunker down away from everyone, I had made sure there was somewhere I could hide my most precious possessions from anyone. I had feared that Emma would have found it on previous occasions, but she hadn't either.

I was soon on the wonky mattress and pulling at the wallpaper in the corner. Normally the mattress sat over the bottom part, which is what made me fear it had been discovered, but the wall panel behind was still in place. As I reached down to shift it out of position, Leo came to the doorway.

"It appears as if the occupant of this apartment is no longer alive. Whoever was searching through the house, they didn't want her talking about this."

Not sure how to take this information, I froze, barely balanced in place. My friend was dead and it was likely to be my fault.

"Do you think they were looking for me?" I asked, thinking of the photo he had found of me and that the same scent was here. It hadn't occurred to me that they might kill people associated with me as well.

"It's likely. But that doesn't make this your fault." He came closer, looking around the room. "Is this where you slept?"

"Only when I had nowhere else to go. And it looked a lot better earlier than it does now." I tried to smile, but I was as shaken by this news as I had been earlier.

Leo came closer, also picking a path through everything. I focused back on the wall again and pulled away a small chunk of the plasterboard. Being careful how I did it, I revealed a small cavity I had made in the wall. Inside sat a small waterproof pouch that contained everything in this world that mattered to me.

He didn't say a single word as I pulled it out, put the panel back and smoothed the wallpaper back down again.

Somewhere in here, I had left a small rucksack and I made my way over to where I'd left it. After pulling a couple of blankets and some t-shirts up from on top of it, I revealed it and most of the emptied contents.

Leo picked it up, correctly anticipating that it was mine. I tucked the pouch into it first before bending down and retrieving my hairbrush and a few other basic items that had been mine.

It wasn't all my worldly possessions, but it was enough of them combined with the weapons and supplies at the hotel that the rucksack would be easily full once I put it all together, but there would be little left over other than the blades that wouldn't fit inside.

Leo didn't say anything, but he handed the half empty rucksack to me when it was obvious I was done taking anything from here.

On the way back out I considered going to the other rooms and seeing the body of my friend, but Leo took my hand and pulled me away.

"We should get back to the hotel where it's easier for me to keep you safe," Leo said. "We still don't know where the shooter went."

He had a point and I was beginning to get very tired. This night was going from bad to worse. I truly had nothing left for me now but this vampire who had decided to adopt me as a pet of his.