I had thought her fangs were just small, not that they'd get bigger. Interesting. "I watched her rise from her grave," I said. Dominique lifted her gaze to me. "Her first rising," I said, to clarify.
Dominique closed the flap. She pressed a button on the small table beside her. WWF opened the door fast. "Take this. Tell Ernestine that a bounty check should be drawn up for Ms. Yellowrock. Retrieve the head and return the satchel before she leaves. Ms. Yellowrock will also provide you with a locale. Send a sanitation team in to dispose of the body before morning." Dominique looked at me. "Is that all?"
I thought about Derek Lee and the heads he was keeping. For some reason he didn't want me to negotiate with the council in his name. "I have six more heads in a cooler. Young rogues."
This time Dominique's eyes did widen, surprise on her face. WWF shifted on his feet and looked at me, his gaze traveling up and down me, reassessing. A different expression raised his brows. Amusement and maybe respect. Which I didn't deserve since I hadn't killed the vamps, but now I was stuck in the sort-of lie.
"Six more?" Dominique asked. When I nodded, she said to WWF, "See that a retrieval car is sent for the heads at a place and time of Ms. Yellowrock's choosing. Once the fangs are verified as young, instruct Ernestine to write an additional check to Ms. Yellowrock."
To me, she said, "Will there be anything else, Ms. Yellowrock?"
"Nothing at the moment," I said. Remembering manners, I added, "Um, thank you."
Dominique inclined her head, very regally. "You may go."
I hated that about vamps, especially the old ones. Everyone was an inferior, a servant. They always kept you waiting and then dismissed you, which ticked me off. But then, I was on their territory, not my own. Holding my tongue, I followed WWF out of the room.
In the hallway, he again studied me, this time as if looking for proof of my vamp-killing prowess. He gestured with his hand for me to follow him. "Six more?" he asked as we walked to an intersecting hallway.
Since he didn't ask if I had actually killed the six, I nodded.
"Damn. George said you were good."
"George Dumas?" I murmured. WWF nodded and I allowed myself a smile. George was Leo's blood-servant, first in command of Leo's household security. The guy was seriously cool. And he had a nice butt, which I might not mind seeing out of his jeans, someday.
"He says you call him by a nickname, him and Tom, Katie's blood-servant, but won't tell us what they are." Katie was the vamp who had done my employment interview, owned Katie's Ladies, the house of ill repute that backed up to mine, and was the title owner of the house where I was living. She was currently in an honest-to-Bella-Lugosi coffin, drowned in mixed vamp blood, healing from a near-true-death experience. And her bodyguard, Troll, was talking about me? I wasn't sure I liked that, but I wasn't about to tick off the security of the vamp council. I shrugged and didn't enlighten him.
"Do you give us all nicknames?" When I shrugged again, the tiniest bit, he said, "What's mine?"
I looked him over, feeling mildly self-conscious.
"No. Really. What's mine?"
I sighed. "WWF."
After a moment he said, "World Wrestling Federation?" I nodded and he laughed, the tone appreciating. He ran a hand over his bald dome, considering. "WWF. I like." He stopped at a doorway and knocked before opening it. Inside was a small room, an even smaller desk, a huge safe, its thick black door open to reveal stacks of money and papers. Sitting in a leather desk chair was a shriveled, wrinkled crone of a human, whom I instantly and tritely nicknamed Raisin, for obvious reasons.
"Ernestine, this is Jane Yellowrock," WWF said.
The woman stared at my boots and lied. "Charmed, I'm sure." Her accent was British, maybe Welsh, and I put her age at over one-fifty. Blood-servants lasted a long time, extended longevity being one benefit of letting vamps drink your blood and use you as they wanted.
WWF said, "Ms. Dominique said to cut her a check for twenty thou, and make funds available for a hundred twenty more, bounty money, to be paid on proof of death of six young rogues."