After checking on her father and giving him his meds, she dematerialized to the sidewalk in front of the Commodore building in the thick of downtown. Standing in the shadows, looking up at the high-rise’s sleek flank, she was struck by its contrast to the dingy, low-to-the-ground place she rented.
Man…to live in all this chrome and glass cost money. A lot of money. And Rehvenge had a penthouse. Plus this had to be just one of the places he owned, because no vampire in his right mind would crash out during daylight hours surrounded by all those windows.
The divide between the normal and the rich seemed as wide as the distance between where she stood and where Rehvenge was supposedly waiting for her, and for a brief moment she entertained the fantasy that her family still had money. Maybe then she’d be wearing something other than her cheap winter coat and her uniform.
As she stood down below him on the street, it seemed impossible that she’d connected with him as she had, but then, the phone was virtual relating, one step up from being online. Both people were in their own environments, invisible to each other, only their voices mixing. It was false intimacy.
Had she really stolen pills for this male?
Check your pockets, moron, she thought.
With a curse, Ehlena materialized up to the terrace of the penthouse, relieved that the night was relatively still. Otherwise, with how cold it was, any wind this high up-
What…the hell?
Through innumerable panes of glass, the glow of a hundred candles turned the dark night into a golden fog. Inside, the walls of the penthouse were black, and there were…things hanging from them. Things like cat-o’-nine-tails made of metal, and leather whips, and masks…and there was a large, ancient-looking table that was-No, wait, that was a rack, wasn’t it? With leather straps hanging at the four corners.
Oh…hell, no. Rehvenge was into this shit?
Right. Change of plan. She’d leave the antibiotics for him, sure, but it was going to be in front of one of those sliding doors, because there was no way she was going in there. No. Frickin’. Way-
A tremendous male with a goatee came out of a bathroom, drying off his hands and straightening his leathers as he went over to the rack. With one easy hop, he got up on the thing and then he started shackling his ankle.
This was just getting sicker. A three-way?
“Ehlena?”
Ehlena wheeled around so fast she jammed her hip against the wall that ran around the rooftop. As she saw who it was, she frowned.
“Doc Jane?” she said, thinking this night was going from the oh-hell-nos straight into WTF? territory. “What are you-”
“I think you’re on the wrong side of the building.”
“Wrong side-oh, wait, this isn’t Rehvenge’s place?”
“No, it’s Vishous’s and mine. Rehv’s on the east side.”
“Oh…” Red cheeks. Very red, and not because of the wind. “I’m so sorry, I got it wrong-”
The ghostly doctor laughed. “It’s okay.”
Ehlena glanced back at the glass, but then looked quickly away. Of course, that was the Brother Vishous. The one with the diamond eyes and the tattoos on his face.
“East side’s what you want.”
Which Rehv had told her, hadn’t he. “I’ll just go over there now.”
“I’d invite you to cut through, but…”
“Yeah. Better for me to take myself there.”
Doc Jane smiled with a good dose of badass. “I think that’s best.”
Ehlena calmed herself down and dematerialized to the right part of the roof, thinking, Doc Jane a dominatrix?
Well, stranger things had happened.
As she regained her form, she was almost afraid to look through the glass, considering what she’d just seen. If Rehvenge had more of the same-or worse, stuff like ladies clothes in a male’s size, or farm animals milling around-she didn’t know if she could chill enough to dematerialize her ass out of there.
But no. No RuPaul. Nothing that needed a trough or a fence. Just a lovely, modern interior done in the kind of sleek, simple furniture that must have come from Europe.
Rehvenge came out from an archway and stopped as he saw her. When he lifted his hand, the sliding glass door in front of her opened because he willed it so, and she caught a wonderful scent coming out of the penthouse.
Was that…roast beef?
Rehvenge came over to her, moving with a smooth gait in spite of the fact that he relied on his cane. Tonight, he wore a black turtleneck that was clearly cashmere and a stunning black suit, and in his fine clothes, he was something off the cover of a magazine, glamorous, seductive, ever out of reach.
Ehlena felt like a fool. Seeing him here in his beautiful home, it wasn’t that she thought she was beneath him. It was just clear they had nothing in common. What kind of delusions had struck her when they’d talked or been at the clinic?