The centaur wasn't going to let Casimir back up to his room. He snorted and stamped, bellowing that he'd seen what had happened, and that he didn't want that trouble in his hotel. It was Mikki that convinced him by saying, "Don't be such a horse dick. He's just getting his shit and leaving."
Apparently, that was reasonable enough, and the centaur stood aside. "You have one hour, or I'm coming after you."
"Can horses climb stairs?" Mikki asked as they headed up to Casimir's room.
"I'd really rather not find out," was his grunted response. His body was fraying. Casimir just wanted to drop onto the bed, but he knew if he did, if he wasn't thrown out and did manage to sleep, he would wake starving to the point of desperation. He sat on the end of the bed instead, trying to ignore the burning pain in his throat and shoulder. "I don't have much to pack. I just need to grab my bag and the clothes on the floor."
Instead of picking up either, Mikki pulled himself up to the open window and sat on the sill. "So, Olivia," he prompted.
Casimir closed his eyes. "Why are you so curious about her?"
"Look, just because I let you play with my junk, it doesn't mean we're best friends." Mikki crossed his long legs. "I want to make sure you're the kind of guy I think you are."
Sighing, Casimir lay back against the bed, letting his tired body rest for a moment. "Olivia was a human pet of Jared's, but she was more than that, really. I told you we were lovers, but I think he loved her more. He was planning on turning her as soon as she got a little older. She was only eighteen, the brain is still developing, all of that."
Mikki pursed his lips but only nodded.
"Anyway, there was a group of hunters in the area, and they ambushed us. I got away—I mean, of course I did—and managed to crawl back. I was bleeding out almost to the point of being empty, out of my mind from it. Olivia told me to feed from her." He closed his eyes. "She was always nice. So I took her up on it, and the next thing I knew… she was dead in my arms."
He exhaled heavily. "I tried to explain what happened to her, and apologized, but he didn't listen. He accused me of being jealous, of doing it deliberately. Maybe I was a little jealous, but like I said, it was an accident. She was sweet. I never would have hurt her. He told me to leave or he'd kill me. And I did, but other vampires have been turning up wherever I go. I have to kill them, or they'll kill me."
"So, what? You came here to wipe them all out?" Mikki asked.
"No, nothing like that. I don't think I could even if I wanted to. They weren't here the last time I came through, but the last one that jumped me said that Jared wanted to talk to me. When he sent his mate after me, though, I knew he didn't have anything good to say. Lilin is the muscle behind his group. So I decided to just leave, but Jared isn't going to let me."
Mikki pushed away from the window and walked over by the bed. "What are you going to do now?"
Casimir rubbed his forehead. "I don't know. At this point, I'm thinking that I might need to kill Jared. I don't want to, but it doesn't look like he's ever going to stop."
"Yeah, I see that." Mikki crossed his arms. "I haven't been too happy with them since one of 'em almost killed my brother. I'll help."
"Thank you. It would be you, me, and the fox demon—"
As if summoned, a three-tailed black fox jumped in through the window, landing directly on the bed. She ignored Mikki, who had pulled his knife, and instead trotted over until she could sit directly on Casimir's chest. Do you have my food?
Casimir, grunting under her weight, lifted a hand to point to the small, ancient fridge in the corner of the room. "I was going to bring it to you."
I know, but I needed to tell you something anyway. As Inaho jumped down to the floor, she changed from fox to fox-woman, her tails swishing as she opened the fridge. Her ball was wrapped tightly in one of the tails. Do you remember the boy in the red robe that was at the whorehouse? The one that you stopped feeding off of when he got upset?
As Mikki started, Casimir replied, "Yes, Garnet. He—Wait, how did you know about that?"
She picked the fish he'd kept for her up by the tail and bit down into its head, tearing it away. Oh, I was bored, so I watched. Anyway, the vampires you don't like brought him over earlier. I think they're waiting for you to notice he's gone then go charging in to rescue him. She pulled the fish's eye out, looked at it, and popped it back into her mouth, chewing with obvious enjoyment.
"Fuck yeah, we are," Mikki growled. "Just let me load up on Molotovs."
Casimir lifted a hand. "Wait. We're going to go help him, but we can't just barrel through the door. They'll be expecting us." With difficulty, he sat up. "Inaho, are you ready to cause some trouble?"
Inaho was already halfway through eating the fish. She paused, the tail end hanging out of her mouth. Oh, yes! I'm always ready to cause trouble! But I want to finish my fish before we do.
"That's fine," Casimir chuckled. "I really need more blood before I go. Do you think that Adeline would allow me to feed on her boys and girls if I told her it was to go save Garnet?"
"Maybe. Probably," Mikki replied, half-mumbled from chewing on his lip as he spoke. "Let's meet there."
No, I'll meet you at the lake. I need to hide my ball so no one can take it, Inaho said. I'll find you, so don't worry about looking for me. With the fish still in her mouth, she turned back into a black fox and leaped out of the window.
"Weirdo," Mikki muttered, finally putting his knife away. "I'm going to go with you to the Jewel Box first so Adeline knows you're telling the truth. Maybe she'll let me borrow her shotgun. I dunno. Do you need it?"
"I have guns, but I don't have a lot of ammunition." This wasn't what Casimir had been hoping for when he came into town. He was tired of killing vampires, and tired of running from the ones that were after him.
One way or another, that was going to stop tonight.