Heartless

Heartless - Chapter Seven

“Do you want a drink?” Joseph murmured in my ear, steering me away from a crowd of dancing people.

“I have a feeling I’ll need one.”

We walked over to the bar and Joseph took two flutes of Champagne, of course, off of a tray. Sometimes I felt as if I did nothing but drink Champagne when I was with Joseph.

“I don’t think I’ve asked you what you’re doing for Christmas yet,” he said casually.

“I’m spending it with Luna,” I replied levelly. “We’re going out for the day.” To tell the truth, we didn’t have any plans if you didn’t count staying in and watching bad TV all day before hitting the Christmas parties in search of rogue vampires. Somehow I didn’t think that was what Joseph wanted to hear.

“Aren’t you going to spend it with your family?”

I shrugged, glancing away. “I’ve told you, they live in England. It’s hard to arrange such a long journey, especially round this time of year.”

“You could always come with me on one of my business trips. I’m going there next month if you’d care to join me.”

Oh shit, how was I going to talk myself out of this one? A trip to England would be just as effective as handing myself in to the police.

“I don’t know if that would be a good idea…”

“Why not? Don’t you want me to meet the family?” he said, only half teasing.

“It’s not that, Joseph, and besides, you can hardly talk. How come I’ve never seen any of your family?”

“Do you want to see them? You’ve already met my sister.”

I thought for a second. “Oh, that’s right. Alyssa, wasn’t it? I’d hardly call it a proper meeting, since we met for five minutes at a party while you two talked to each other. Half the time she glared at me, and for the other half she ignored me.”

 “She was shy.”

“She hated me.”

Alyssa was a shifter like Joseph and she mistrusted anything that wasn’t supernatural, including, and especially, me.

We were interrupted when a large woman stopped next to us, smiling widely. “Joseph!” she exclaimed. She was red in the face, and her chubby hand was clutched around an empty wine glass. She’d obviously been heading back to the bar to get it refilled.

“Petunia,” he greeted. He smiled, though it looked forced.

“And who’s this?” the lady asked.

“This is Anne,” Joseph said. “Anne, this is Petunia Loftus. She’s one of my clients at work.”

“Anne you look absolutely beautiful,” Petunia gushed. “This one’s a keeper, Joseph. Her legs just go on and on and-“

“Thank you, Petunia,” Joseph cut off.

“I was only paying a compliment, Joseph!”

Joseph leaned towards me. “Sorry about this,” he murmured in my ear.

“It’s fine,” I whispered back.

“Now, Anne,” the lady continued loudly. “You’ve got to take good care of Joseph for me, okay? He’s a good young man. I mean, even the other day he…”

I allowed myself to zone out as she described some business deal that Joseph’s company had made with her husband. I scanned the crowd absently, searching for anything unusual. My gaze focussed on a head of messy black hair, overgrown amongst the short hairdos of the other men. I peered closer, trying to figure it out. Could it be…?