“That’s not why I fight vampires,” Leo said.
“So explain it to me,” Cassie said, handing him one of the shots of whiskey and batting her eyelashes at him. Good God, Dax thought. Cassie was relentless. He was certain that if she was given enough time, she’d for sure have the young shifter in the sack by the end of the day and have him thinking it was his idea.
“Why don’t you two discuss that while Bella and I have a chat,” Dax said, pushing himself off the bar and moving to Bella’s side.
“Oh, I’d be happy to,” Cassie said with a grin.
“Um, Dax? I think… I think I should…” Leo stammered.
“You’ll be fine. Just go easy on the booze.” Dax flashed him a shit-eating grin and pressed his hand to the small of Bella’s back as they walked down the hall and into her office.
“Have a seat,” she said, waving to a pair of pale blue velvet armchairs.
Dax sat in one while she sat in the other. He turned to the vampire, a woman he’d come to respect over the past six months. She was a levelheaded, steady force who seemed to mostly keep her staff in line. And she’d come to trust Dax herself, often passing along intel on dirty vampires. Though Dax had to admit that none of them ever worked for Cryrique.
“How are you holding up, Bella?”
“As well as to be expected. You? How come you’re here and not out hunting the vampires who took Rhoswen and her husband?” She blinked then sucked in a sharp breath. “Wait, you don’t think Cryrique had anything to do with that, do you?”
“No, but if I find out they did, I’ll rain hellfire down on y’all,” he said conversationally.
“Rightly so.”
Her conviction made him remember why he’d always liked her. “I’m here trying to work out a hunch.”
“Interesting.” She perched on the edge of her seat and leaned in closer. “How can I help?”
“First, I have to ask about Lacy Wallace. Do you remember her?”
“The human?” Bella asked, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise. “Yes, why?”
Dax tapped his fingers on his thigh. “She’s filing a formal complaint against you.”
“For what?” The look on Bella’s face made it clear she had no idea what this was about.
“Says you repeatedly pressured her to turn vampire, and when she finally said no, you attacked her. Fed from her without permission.”
Bella stood abruptly, her expression incredulous. “You’re joking, right? Lacy Wallace said I pressured her to turn?”
“I’m not.” Dax frowned. “Want to tell me what happened there?”
Bella let out a huff of irritation. “That little piece of work. Total trash is what she is. A trust fund baby who is obsessed with eternal youth. I wouldn’t turn her even if she was on her death bed and it was her only chance of survival. That woman would be a nightmare as a vampire. If someone did turn her, I bet she’d be in the Arcane jail the first week for attacking someone. It’s all she knows how to do.”
“Whoa. No love lost there then,” Dax said.
“None at all.” Bella shook her head and sat back down. “When Eadric finds out she lodged a complaint, there’s going to be hell to pay.”
Dax sat up straighter, concerned with what that might mean. “How so? You do realize intimidation will only make this worse, right?”
Bella scoffed. “Not intimidation. She’ll get slapped with a lawsuit. She was given a year’s severance and signed a nondisclosure. And she only got that because she—” Bella raised her hands and made air quotes as she continued, “—‘slipped and cut her arm’ in the store room. Only problem was Cassie saw Lacy slice her arm herself. Lacy apparently thought she’d drive one of us crazy with the smell of her blood and was trying to manipulate us. Eadric got her a healer and put her on leave that night. She was let go a week later.”
“And the severance was because… Why?” Dax asked.
“To get her to go away quietly. Guess that backfired.” Bella shrugged. “Let her file her complaint. We have plenty against her from patrons complaining about her asking them to turn her or hook up with her after work.”
“I see.” Dax nodded, knowing in his gut Bella was telling the truth. “So I’m guessing you never fed from her either?”
She snorted out an incredulous laugh. “Me, feed on Lacy Wallace? I’d rather drink rat blood.”
“That’s what I thought.” Dax scribbled a couple of notes, completely convinced the report was false. He just wondered if the other two were as well, and if so, was Bandu actively recruiting former employees to lodge bogus complaints to bolster support for his vigilante pack? He was leaning toward yes. “Okay. If the complaint makes it up the chain of command, I’ll make sure whoever ends up with it gets my notes. Thanks, Bella.”
“Sure.” She smiled warmly at him. “But I still don’t quite understand why you’re here instead of out looking for your fae friends.”
“I have a hunch that all of this is part of the bigger picture. That’s all.”
“You think Lacy Wallace is involved?” she asked, her expression dubious.
“No, not directly. I’m thinking someone is pulling her strings.” Dax put the notebook down and met Bella’s gaze. “And that brings me to my next question. Were you at the gala last night?”
“Sure. Everyone was.”
“Okay, good,” he said. “I know at least a few of the guests saw Pandora’s abduction or glimpsed it. Were you one of them?”
“Actually yes, I couldn’t tell you who they were. They were wearing hoodies and had their faces covered, so I’m useless in that sense.”
Dax flipped his notebook open to a blank page. “Tell me everything you saw.”
“Before or after those vampires antagonized that poor boy out there?” She jerked her head, indicating the front of house.
“You saw that? How they baited Leo and Dali?”
“Sure. Then you jumped in and defused the situation. Kept them from giving their control over to their wolves. I was impressed.”
“Did you recognize those vamps?”
“Nope. No idea who they were. Never seen them in here before, that’s for sure. I can tell you this though; that kind of bullshit wouldn’t fly in here. Not that we get many shifters besides your fine ass.” She winked.
Dax let out a small chuckle. “Too much fang for most.”
She nodded her agreement then turned serious. “Now those shifters that took Pandora? I know I recognized one of them from somewhere, but I can’t put my finger on it. I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure it out, but dammit, the memory won’t surface.”
“What do you mean the shifters who took Pandora?” he asked, eyeing her carefully. Allcot had claimed the same thing, but Dax hadn’t believed it. It might’ve had something to do with the fact the vampire leader had been trying to rip Dax’s head off. But if Bella was saying the same thing, and he’d always known her as being forthright, then he’d have to give the information serious consideration.
“Exactly what I said. As far as I know, no one here actually saw the moment they managed to subdue her.” She met Dax’s gaze, her expressive eyes stone-cold serious. “Can you imagine the fight that must’ve gone down? Pandora’s not someone I’d want to contend with when she’s pissed off. She’s crazier than Allcot.”
“You’ve got that right.” Dax had seen Pandora out of control exactly once—when the Crimson Valley pack had tried to abduct Allcot. She and Phoebe had tracked them down fairly easily. And while Phoebe had done her best to defuse the situation, Pandora had taken matters into her own hands and drained four shifters in the time it took Phoebe to fight off one. She was savage. “Now, how do you know shifters took her if you didn’t see them snatch her?”