“Yeah.” She turned to Horrie to tell him what it said. “It’s an appraiser. What do you suppose she wants one of them for, unless she’s found your treasure? You think that’s it?”
Amber looked up at the big house, and her anger doubled at her daughter, and her envy for all the things that Vinnie had that she didn’t. A lovely house, servants, as well as her familiar. Amber had lost hers years ago when in a fit of hunger, she’d taken more than she should have from her and she’d died. And there had been no one to replace her with. The only reason that didn’t come back to bite her in the butt was because she’d not died at her hands, but the taxi that had hit her when she’d staggered away from her. Stupid woman. What was she supposed to do, go hungry? No way.
“You said she’d never find it. You told me it was hidden so deep in the walls that there was no...Luther.” Her temper got the better of her when she thought of the man again. “He told her, didn’t he? Showed her where the safe was and then how to open it. Why, the nerve of the man, giving away our money.”
Amber stomped around the grassy area she’d been hiding in since the sun had gone down. Luther had betrayed her. Amber looked over at Horrie when he said nothing. But he was gone, and she called for him three times before she realized he’d just up and left her again. Making her way to the end of the drive and where she’d left her car, she was cursing up a storm when a man was suddenly in front of her. She knew who he was even before he opened his mouth to tell her.
“I’m Mitch Riley. And you need to go away and leave us alone.” She was so shocked by his statement that when he laughed at her, she lost her temper again. But before she could touch him, reach out and snap his little human neck, she was pinned against a tree hanging from her daughter’s hand. Amber tried to think what she needed to do now.
“Vinnie, where have you been, child?” Vinnie shook her hard, and she felt her teeth snapping together. “This is no way to treat your mom. Put me down this minute and let’s go up to your house and talk.”
“No. I don’t think so. I’ve found I like you not being there.” She asked her why she was being that way. “Because, Mother dear, I know you and Father are plotting against me. To take my house and the contents. You’re not going to, just so you know. I have things set up nicely now, and I’m not in the mood to have you snooping around anymore.”
Her mind nearly shut down. How the heck had she figured it out? But she knew that if she messed up now, Horrie would never forgive her. Smiling as best she could, trying to make her face softer around the feeling of being pissed off, she patted Vinnie’s hand and spoke softly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, dear child. Your father is dead. Remember? You staked him out while I stood there and watched you. Now he’s gone.” Vinnie shook her again. “Stop that right now. I don’t know where you get off thinking you can treat me this way, but I will not stand for it.”
“But killing me was going to be all right with you, right?” Amber said nothing because she wasn’t sure what to say. “And so you know, the money, the treasure that you’ve been trying to get at? It’s not here anymore. I’ve had it moved to a safer location.”
“All of it?” Horrie was going to kill her, Amber thought. “You can’t have done all that. And...and...and I don’t know what you’re talking about anyway. What treasure?”
She was put down, but she wasn’t let go. Mitch stood there watching her, and Amber felt like a bug on the end of a pin. It was on the tip of her tongue to order him to go away, but to be frank, she was more afraid of him than she was of her daughter.
“Why are you here, Mother?” When Vinnie asked her again why she was there and where her father was, she snapped.
“What do you need with a house like that for anyway? And the money. You have more than most vampires twice your age have. Why did you have to go and move it all? Your father is going to be mad, and I’m not going to take it from him either.” Vinnie just stared at her with that look on her face that Amber had come to hate. “Don’t look at me like that. I tried to do this nicely, asking you if I could move in with you when your father died. But you’d not have anything to do with it or me. Why not? And now that he’s back and wanting something that I can’t give him because of you, I’m going to be the one to pay the piper. As usual. Why are you doing this to me?”