He moved until his mouth was near one of the airholes. “I regret it, you know. We’ve had good conversations. You’re one of the few people I enjoy talking to, but I can’t take chances with my identity.” He quieted for a moment. “Do you want to know what your biggest flaw is?”
Had I not been wearing the bracelet, my Mage energy would have been dripping out of my hands.
“You want so desperately to believe in good and evil, to fit yourself somewhere in that spectrum. There is no good and evil. There’s only cause and effect.”
I scooted back, eyes low. “Murder is evil.”
He sounded as if he was losing patience. “If you kill someone to save lives, is it good or evil? Do you really believe killing all those men in your past makes you evil? It’s the glass-is-half-full argument. You always want to see it as empty.” He sighed and leaned his shoulder against the glass again. “We’re not so different, and deep down, you know it.”
It horrified me to think how many pieces of my life he had in his pocket. Did he know all my secrets? Had I told him about my father?
My God, what have I done?
I stood up and hurled my chair against the glass over and over. The wall vibrated, but the only damage was to one of the metal legs on the chair. I threw it at the door and paced the room like a caged animal. This guy was the crème de la crème of the criminal world to have captured me without a fight, but that wasn’t the insufferable part. No, the real icing on the cake was how many times he’d gotten to me. He’d taken his time.
“I apologize for the Sensor-spiked moonshine. You’re more reserved working for Keystone, and it holds you back. It was a mixture of trust and courage, but the intention was for you to trust your instincts—not a complete stranger. I can never predict how emotions will mix.”
“Why did you do it?”
“Sometimes you need a little push.”
Out of breath, I lifted my gaze but stopped at his Adam’s apple. “I thought you were a Vampire?”
“You’re too clever for an asinine question. Anyone can buy Sensor-spiked alcohol. When you appeared in the club just after the unique request went up on the message board, I knew you were behind it. It was fun watching you work.” He traced his finger around one of the holes in the wall. Despite my predicament, he struck me as innocuous. “I hadn’t planned on abducting you. Had the human not shoved you down, I would have kept driving. The fates had something else in mind.”
I collapsed in the upholstered chair. “I feel sick.”
Houdini disappeared, his footsteps traveling around the dark room. After another moment, he reached through the rectangular opening on the other side of the room and placed a water bottle through the opening. I briefly saw his hand.
“Sometimes charming has side effects, especially with alcohol. Do you want coffee or tea?” he asked, turning away. “It’ll take me a minute to heat up the water. Be right back.”
I stared down at my studded boots with the red soles. Somehow, this hazel-eyed imposter was a Vampire. Or at least that was what he wanted me to believe. Maybe he had a Vampire buddy hiding in the back, and this was all a ruse to throw me off. How could I know for certain?
Several minutes ticked by while I stood up and analyzed every detail of my surroundings. The mattress on the floor didn’t have a box spring for me to rip apart and search for wood or coils. Usually upholstered chairs like these were made of wood, but turning it over revealed plastic elements. No carpet on the linoleum floor, and when I peered inside the bathroom, there wasn’t a curtain rod or toilet tank lid. The bathroom didn’t even have a door, just a light piece of fabric hanging from one end with pushpins.
I stood in there for a minute so I could have some privacy to think.
What the hell was his motive in kidnapping me? To find out more about the key? If he’d crawled into my room once before, then what was stopping him from getting the box himself? I thought about it and realized I kept my windows locked. One of the jobs that now belonged to Kira was to do a daily check of all the windows to make sure they were locked and unbroken. Could Vampires shadow walk up a wall to the third story? What did he stand to gain from my abduction? He certainly couldn’t set me free now that I had all this information.
A cold chill ran up my spine when I realized the most likely scenario was Houdini scrubbing my memory of this whole thing and planting a suggestion for me to drop off that key somewhere in the city. Right now that key was the only thing keeping me alive.
I vowed not to look him directly in the eye. The times before, I must have still been in his thrall long enough for him to wipe my memory. Otherwise I would have staked him. Houdini seemed like the kind of guy who thought out his moves like a chess game and didn’t like making things difficult. Now that the charming had worn off, I could use it to my advantage. He’d have to enter the room and physically force me to look him in the eye, and that opened up a window of opportunity—if even the smallest one—to get myself out of this mess.
“Your tea’s ready,” he announced. “It’s the one that you like.”
My jaw slid forward. The one that I like?
I took a deep breath and glided through the doorway. “How would you know what I like?”
“I know tea isn’t something you drink very often, but when you do, you prefer this particular flavor.” Scratching the back of his head, he strode back to the table. Houdini’s hair had a mind of its own. Not short spikes but longish chunks sticking out every which way. He still had on his leather pants but now wore a white tank top.
I collected the steaming cup from the cubbyhole and then set it on the table. After righting my chair, I sat down, the legs now wobbly after my tirade. The lemon tea went down smooth, a hint of honey lingering on my tongue.
Damn him. I needed to know more.
“Did we go to tea parties or something?”
He folded his arms on the table. “I have incredibly good hearing. Sometimes you mention personal things in conversation with strangers.”
“How’s your vision? I noticed I’m all lit up in here while you’re in the dark.”
“Better than average, but not up to par.”
“Then turn on the lights on your side. I like to see who I’m talking to.”
He drummed his fingers on the table once before getting up. Houdini strode toward the far side of the room and switched on a yellow lamp. The mellow light revealed a rather unremarkable living room. His brown leather sofa looked old, and there was no television. I suppose the person locked in this room was his entertainment. I furrowed my brow at his coffee table, which looked like a giant rock with a polished top.
Houdini tapped his foot against the base. “It’s lava stone. I could have used wood that isn’t an impalement weapon, but it’s got a unique look, don’t you think?”