Chapter Twenty-Seven

My father was coming unglued. The idea that Vanessa and his own sister would work together to invade his hotel had him enraged.

“You know why Vanessa wants the ruby,” I said. “Tell me.”

I’d managed to surprise him. His eyebrows drew together, and he frowned. “What makes you think I know?”

“Quit stalling, Mason,” I said. “And tell me. And while you’re at it, tell me why you lied to me. You knew I had the ruby the whole time.”

“I suspected the whole time,” he corrected. “But I didn’t know for sure until your mother attacked Thorn and took the fake.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about it,” I said. “I put everyone in danger.”

“No, Tansy,” he replied. “Vanessa is to blame. Not you. In fact, your faux ruby was rather clever. It fooled Vanessa.”

“Where are all the feral vampires coming from?” I asked.

“They travel through the underground tunnels,” he said. “And from what I can tell, there’s a large population of feral vampires living in an abandoned mine in the desert about twenty minutes from here.”

“They’ve never been a problem before?” I asked.

“Not like this,” he said. “In the past, a few hikers…”

He trailed off at the look on my face. “They rarely ever came into the city. They certainly didn’t dare to enter my hotel.”

“What does the ruby have to do with that?” I asked.

“I think your mother is involved somehow,” he replied. “But what I can’t figure out is why a group of ferals would listen to her. Or to anyone really.”

“Anything else?”

“There’s a rumor that the ruby has magical powers to grant a wish.”

I snort-laughed.

“You don’t believe me?” He studied my face for a moment.

“Why would Vanessa want the ruby?” I asked.

Another long look.

“You’re good at not telling me anything,” I said. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared.

Then my father said something I was not expecting. “I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

“There are so many applicable scenarios for that apology,” I said. “Sorry for what? Abandoning me? Leaving me with Vanessa? Lying to me?”

“All of the above,” he said.

“Do you even know what my life would have been like if Vanessa hadn’t dumped me at Granny Mariotti’s?” I shuddered to think. Granny had been a better mother than Vanessa had ever been.

“I want to make it up to you.”

Oh, hell no. This father-daughter bonding moment was officially over. “Not actually possible.”

“I want to try,” he said. “When this is all over, I want you to consider staying in Vegas. We can spend time together. You and your sisters have grown close.”

“I’ll think about it,” I hedged when the bedside phone rang, which startled me. I’d almost forgotten the thing existed.

When I picked up, a woman said, “This is Alicia with the front desk. Queen Tansy, sorry for disturbing you, but there’s a man here who says he urgently needs to speak to you—in private.”

“Who is it?” I asked, trying to be vague as I looked at Mason.

There was a brief pause, and then she came back on the line. “He says his name is DeWitt. I believe he’s your father’s best friend.”

Why did DeWitt want to talk to me? And what was he still doing here?

“I’ll be right there,” I said and hung up the phone.

“Mason, something came up,” I said. “We can talk more later.”

“Need my help?” he asked.

“I can handle it,” I replied, then threw on some shoes and raced to the elevator.

DeWitt was seated at a table near the stone fireplace in the otherwise empty lobby.

“Why didn’t you leave with everyone else?” I asked.

“I couldn’t abandon Mason,” he said. He was telling the truth, which surprised me. I’d gotten the impression he didn’t care about anybody but himself.

“What do you want?” I asked as I stood above him.

“I had a premonition,” he said, his smile fading.

I groaned. “Now is not the time,” I said. “And I already have a boyfriend, remember? My true love?”

DeWitt shook his head. “Not that kind of premonition. Please sit.”

I remained standing. “Just spit it out.”

“I dreamed you died,” he said, his face solemn.

I gaped at him, certain this was some sort of bad joke. “I thought you were a matchmaker psychic.”

“I’m a matchmaker by trade,” he replied. “But my psychic abilities aren’t some sort of psychic SupeDate. My abilities are real, but I’ve never dreamed of a death before.”

“How do you know it was me?” I asked.

“I saw red hair,” he said. “And a crown. Who else could it be?”

Who else indeed?

“Thanks for the heads-up, but any actual details that might help me survive?” I asked.

He shook his head, looking contrite. “I can only tell you what I saw. Please be careful.”

I thanked him, although I wasn’t feeling very thankful to learn he’d dreamed of my death. Still, a warning was better than nothing. He was still sitting there when I left, so I turned back around and asked him the question that had been on my mind.

“Why didn’t you tell my father that I was still alive? You knew.”

“I did know about you,” he confirmed. “But Vanessa was out of the picture and Granny Mariotti would never have let anything happen to you. You were safe.”

“I was safe,” I said softly. “But it would have been nice to know I had a father who cared about me, especially since I had a mother who didn’t.”

On my way back, I stopped by the suite to check on my friends. Rose, Beckett, and Lucas were the only ones there.

“Where are Granny and Skyler?” I asked.

“Down in the kitchen at Contessa,” Rose said. “They’re working on a new tonic.”

“Vaughn and Connor?”

“Patrolling,” she replied. “They volunteered to help make sure the hotel is secure.”

Suddenly, my cell pinged with the sound of a new text. I looked down, and my heart started pounding when I realized it was from Vanessa. A selfie of her and Mr. Sheridan, holding up their left hands…both adorned with glittering gold wedding bands.

The text said: Surprise!

“I’d like to kick her ass,” Rose said fiercely, looking at the selfie from over my shoulder.

Not if I got to her first.

I texted Vaughn that he needed to come back to the suite ASAP.

I got another text from Vanessa while we waited for Vaughn, telling me to meet her at an address. When we searched it, it came up as an abandoned mine outside the Vegas Strip. Cool, cool. That didn’t seem murder-y at all.

Vanessa had been playing me the entire time. They were already married. And from the pit in my stomach, I had a feeling this wedding was not going to have a happily ever after.

And now she wanted to meet.

Ten minutes later, Vaughn came rushing in. Connor and Skyler came in behind him. Connor had Skyler on his shoulders but was barely panting more than Vaughn.

“What happened to you?” I asked Skyler.

A sour look passed over her face. “Nothing,” she replied. “Connor just thinks my legs are too short.”

“We were in a hurry,” he protested. “And your legs are perfect.”

I took a deep breath and said, “Vaughn, you might want to sit down.”

“What’s wrong?” Vaughn asked. “Is my dad hurt?”

“No, he’s okay,” I said. “Just married.”

“Married?” he replied. “To Vanessa?”

“That would be the hell beast who delights in torturing me, yes,” I said.

My boyfriend’s growl shook the table and rattled the dishes. I heard his neck crack as he released the tension in his spine. “Any more bad news?”

“He doesn’t exactly look free of her compulsion,” I admitted.

“That means we’re going to have to meet with her,” Vaughn said.

“And then figure out what to do with her,” I said. I waited for an explosion of swear words, but he took another deep breath.

“Okay,” he said.

In the next hour, we hammered out a plan. Connor, Skyler, Vaughn, and I would go to the mine to confront my mother, while Rose, Lucas, and Beckett would try to orchestrate an ambush. Or walk into one. Whichever.

But before we could head out, fire alarms blared.

I immediately scooped up my parasol and my drumstick. I didn’t wait to see who followed me as I ran to the elevator.

“Take the stairs,” Connor said. “This floor is on lockdown. The elevators won’t go to this floor. And they are probably full, anyway.”

Full of feral vampires? I didn’t wait to find out. I ran down the stairs.