Boundary Crossed (Boundary Magic #1)(27)
I swallowed, focusing on my wording. I didn’t know much about vampires, but it had occurred to me, of course, that they might be involved in some nasty stuff. Illegal stuff. I needed to set my limits clearly without making myself unattractive as an employee. “Security. On call, part time, however you want to do it. The army taught me how to drive a truck, gather intelligence, and look for weapons and for lies. I won’t kill anyone or hurt the innocent,” I added, “but I could be your daytime Quinn. I’m very motivated, reasonably intelligent, and apparently no one can press my mind.”
Itachi stayed silent, waiting for his next cue. Maven was looking at me very speculatively, her fingers now tapping on the file of information Itachi had been reading. “You just got out of one army,” she said finally. “What makes you so willing to join another one?”
That took me aback for a moment. Was that really what this was? Another army? There were similarities, I supposed, but the comparison was too strange to really wrap my head around. Then again, I knew that I would do a hell of a lot more than rejoin an army for Charlie.
I started to say just that, but stopped myself. That wasn’t what she was really asking me. She didn’t care why I wanted to join, she wanted to know why I would stay. Why I wouldn’t just sell them out to the first person who promised to protect Charlie instead.
“Because I’ve been part of an army before,” I finally said, “I understand concepts like taking orders, chain of command, and working for the greater good. I also know,” I went on, “that sometimes protecting the greater good means being the lesser evil.”
Maven’s eyebrows raised just a fraction, and I knew I’d managed to say the right thing. “Give me your wrist,” she commanded.
I started to reach out before I even knew I’d moved, but I caught myself and asked, “Why?”
“We are vampires, Lex,” Maven said, not unkindly. “I want to taste your blood. If you work for Mr. Itachi, you’ll be expected to make the occasional donation.”
I weighed my options, then reluctantly held out my hand. I had no problem with giving blood, and so far we were still well within the “small price to pay for Charlie’s safety” arena.
Maven took my hand, turning my wrist to expose the veins. Her fingers were very cool, but not ice-cold like the grave or anything. “I can’t press your mind properly,” she warned, “but I’m strong enough to press it a little, to help with the pain. Do you want me to do that?”
I shook my head. I’d take pain over mind control any day. Maven nodded and bared her teeth without another word. Her canines looked a little bit sharper than normal, but there was something else off about her teeth, too. Before I could figure out what it was, she was pressing them into my wrist.
To my surprise, they sank through my skin without any resistance. I squeaked as the pain hit, but I managed not to pull my wrist away. She pressed her lips into the wound, forming a seal as my blood spurted into her mouth. I realized dimly that her teeth had looked odd because they were scary sharp—they were roughly rectangular, like any other human’s, but razor-edged.
She held out her free hand to Itachi, and he leaned forward, lifting a clean white handkerchief out of his pocket and handing it to her. I looked away. After a few seconds, Maven deftly pulled my wrist away from her mouth, pressing the handkerchief to it at the same time. She tied the handkerchief around my wrist and released me. When she raised her head, there was a luminous smile on her face. “Well,” she marveled, shaking her head a little. There was still enough blood in her mouth to stain her teeth red, and I fought the impulse to flinch. “You are just full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“What is it?” Itachi asked, suddenly curious.
Maven raised a small hand and dabbed at her lips with one finger. “She certainly has active witchblood,” she told him, without taking her eyes off me. Though Itachi looked like he had more questions, he said nothing. I couldn’t figure out the distribution of power between the two vampires, but I decided I didn’t really need to know until I understood my own situation a little better. Maven could taste the magic in my blood?
With everything that was going on, I’d nearly forgotten about Darcy’s comment that I had “weird blood.” Now it made more sense. I didn’t know whether to be intrigued or grossed out by that, so I just pressed the handkerchief into my wrist. It hurt, but although I was pretty sure she’d nicked a vein, the blood wasn’t seeping through the delicate white cloth.
“Don’t worry, vampire bites clot very quickly,” Maven promised. “It won’t scar, either.”
I nodded. I wasn’t really worried about bleeding out. Both vampires were watching me carefully, probably waiting to see if I would freak out. “This is officially the weirdest job interview I’ve ever had,” I muttered.
Maven smiled.
“So?” I asked. “Do we have a deal?”
Itachi’s eyes narrowed. “Not so fast,” he chided. “There’s nothing for you to—”
Ever so gently, Maven laid a hand on Itachi’s arm. She leaned over and whispered something into his ear, too softly for me to hear. Itachi’s expression didn’t change, except for the slightest tightening of his lips. When she was done, he leaned back and nodded.
Maven peered at me through the thick glasses she undoubtedly didn’t need. “A probationary period is in order, I think,” she said at last. “We want you to help Quinn find out who came after your niece in Itachi’s enclave.”