HEARTLESS
CHAPTER THREE
When the elevator doors slid open smoothly in front of Luna and I, we saw that the party had already started. A low murmur of voices filled the already crowded room along with the chink of champagne glasses, a slow, graceful tune playing in the background.
We stepped out into the room, joining the crowd of elegantly dressed people that filled it. It was a sea of glamour – shining jewels, shimmering dresses, perfectly fitted suits that were probably worth more money than I owned. I hated it.
“I can’t believe we’re here,” I muttered to Luna, tugging on my own dress. It was a horrible, shiny mauve thing that clung to the top of my body like a second skin and then fanned out ridiculously, making it both impractical and ludicrous. I looked similar to all the other women around me, but I felt like an utter fake.
I was a fake. I’d come here pretending like I owned thousands of these dresses and paid for them without a sweat, just like I did every time I came to one of these parties. In reality, the dress was one of the many that I owned that had once belonged to one of my more unfortunate supernatural victims, a vampire who’d liked to find her prey at parties. It’d been a task to wash off the blood.
“It was your choice to come,” Luna replied smoothly, taking two flutes of champagne off a passing waiter’s tray and extending one towards me.
There were bags under her eyes, which makeup couldn’t even conceal, but she still wore a smile. We’d visited a few more buildings after we’d found our first guess abandoned and even kept watch over a few at night, but we’d still had no luck. I was itching for the night to be over so we could investigate our newest suspicion. Maybe we could find a vampire in the room and tail him home. My mind was already spinning with plans.
I bluntly ignored her offer. “Just because I chose to come, doesn’t mean that I want to,” I sighed. “I could think of a thousand and one things that I’d rather be doing than this.”
Luna shrugged at my rejection of the glass and quickly downed both flutes, earning her a few reproachful glares. She smiled slightly, as if she was amused by it all. “You need to stay friendly with Joseph,” she said quietly, wary of all the people around us. More than one of them would be trying to listen in, and some would have the power to do so easily. “He’s the best access you have to the supernaturals and you know it perfectly well.”
“I was hoping that I could just occasionally pop in to see him whenever I needed to coerce information out of him,” I hissed into her ear. “You never mentioned anything about actually dating him.”
“Oh, just shut up and look like you’re enjoying yourself,” Luna replied calmly.
“I wish that I could,” I muttered, my teeth clenched in a strained, half-crazed smile.
All around us were New York’s most elite, and not just the humans. There were vampires, werewolves, shape shifters and elementals, all milling around the room. The special thing about Joseph Lloyd’s parties was that they were attended by almost everyone. He had contacts in both the supernatural and human world, and was powerful in both.
His one fatal flaw, though he did not know it just yet, was me – Anne Forbes, his girlfriend of two months, who had conned her way into his life without him suspecting anything, purely so she could gain access to the supernatural world. It had been overly easy to do so, actually. Luna, who’d known Joseph, had introduced us, and I’d played the part of oblivious human to a tee. Within a few minutes of knowing him I’d already arranged our next date, got his number and address, and secured myself an invitation to his next party. With Luna’s help, he stayed totally clueless to the whole thing. To him I was just another ornament, pretty but useless, on his arm. As far as he knew, I had no idea about him being a powerful shape shifter or about the less than normal people he was always inviting to his parties.
Speaking of less than normal people, I could definitely spot a few. It was strange to think that some people never noticed it when it was so blindingly obvious to me that a person wasn’t completely human. How could they not see the paleness of a vampire’s skin, or spot the way a shape shifter carried themself, or the gleam in a werewolf’s eye?
“Quick, laugh like I’ve said something funny,” Luna hissed in my ear, pulling me to a halt at the side of the room.
I let out a relaxed laugh. “Why?” I asked, my mouth still contorted into a smile.
“Some werewolf was eying you up. He looked too suspicious to just be admiring the view.”
“There’s not much to admire,” I snorted, self-consciously tugging at the mauve dress again. “I look ridiculous.”
“We all do,” Luna said, rolling her eyes. “But keep an eye on the werewolf. He’s going to pass by in five… four…”
Not four seconds after her voice died down, a well-built man brushed past us. His hair was shaved closely to his head, making his square face and harsh features more pronounced. That, along with his muscled form that stretched against his expensive suit, was enough to make my eyes follow him across the room. He didn’t look like the sort of person who I’d want to cross and if what Luna had said was right, and he had been watching me, then I was in deep trouble.
“Do you recognise him?” I asked as I watched him disappear back into the crowd.
“Never seen him before,” she whispered back. She hadn’t dared turn to watch the werewolf’s progress and her eyes were still trained on me. “And he’s not the only one who I don’t know. Joseph’s parties are always crowded, but nowhere as near as this. I usually know most of the people here. There’s something going on.”
“Anything to do with the increase in vampire attacks?”
“I don’t know,” she said, almost in a growl. “Whatever the reason is, nobody thought to tell me.”
“I’ve got to-“
I stopped speaking midsentence as I saw Luna’s face contort back into a smile. She laughed, resting a hand on my arm.
“Joseph,” she hissed in explanation.
A second later I felt a hand on my shoulder, gently turning me around. I looked up to see Joseph Lloyd; billionaire big shot, shape shifter, and, technically, my boyfriend. His perfectly fitted suit looked like it had cost thousands of dollars, and there wasn’t a strand of his short black hair out of place. He looked effortlessly flawless.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he said, his voice soft. He leant forwards, planting a soft kiss on my cheek.
“I only arrived a few minutes ago,” I replied, smiling up at him.
“I know. Scott told me.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Scott?”
He shrugged. “New bodyguard. You might’ve seen him – he’s hard to miss.”
So that explained the muscly werewolf that’d been watching me. I just hoped that Luna and I had looked normal enough to him. The last thing that I needed was someone so close to Joseph get suspicious, especially an angry looking werewolf.
Thinking of Luna, I turned to her. “I think we saw him. Big guy? Muscled?”
“Sounds like him,” Joseph confirmed. “But enough about him. Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?”
It was times like this that I wanted to bang my head repeatedly against the wall, or preferably throw Joseph himself against said wall. It wasn’t like I didn’t appreciate the effort that he went to sound nice, but it was plain excruciating for me to go through every time we met.
I didn’t know if it was because I was guilty for leading him on and using him, or if I just couldn’t stand when people tried to complement me. Maybe it was a mix between the two.
I forced myself to look abashed, looking down at the floor as if in attempt to cover a blush. “Thanks,” I murmured. “You look nice too.”
“I’ll leave you two to it,” Luna snickered. Before I could stop her, she was waltzing off into the crowd. I saw her grab the hand of one of her shifter friends, and then she was gone.
“Nice party,” I said to Joseph, trying to mask my annoyance with Luna.
He smiled down at me, linking his arm with mine and beginning to walk through the crowd. I was disappointed to see that we were heading in the opposite direction that Luna had taken. “Thanks,” he said.
“What’s it in aid of?”
He let out a barking laugh. “I don’t need a reason to throw a party, do I?” he said. “But I guess it’s to welcome a few new business clients into the city.”
“Oh? I’ve been noticing a few new people here. Luna said she didn’t know most of them, too.” I paused, considering my next words. My curiosity was getting the better of me. I took a deep breath. “What kind of business are they on?”
We stopped abruptly. Joseph’s light eyes narrowed, something that always told me that I’d overstepped the line and I better hop back behind it as quickly as I could. I’d let a little too much of the real me show, and the façade of a clueless, ignorant girl had slipped away for a second.
“Sorry, sorry,” I sighed. “I should’ve have asked. Hey, do you want to get a drink?”
He didn’t even have to move because as I said the words, a waiter laden with a tray of glasses walked past. He took two flutes off the tray and handed one to me, still not speaking.
I took a long sip of the champagne, the fizzing liquid giving me something else to focus on instead of the expression on Joseph’s face.
After what seemed like an age of silence, I laughed nervously. “I love this room,” I said, as much a conversation filler as anything. Flattery was never a strong skill of mine – I preferred to straight off insult the people around me, and if they didn’t like it they’d just have to deal with it.
Joseph seemed to visibly relax. “Yes. It’s nice, isn’t it?”
It was just one of the rooms in his penthouse apartment, a sprawling room that could easily fit the few hundred people that were inside it. Saying that I liked it was once of the few things I had never lied about to Joseph. It was impossible to resist the sheer glamorous lustre of it all – the polished marble floors, extravagant chandeliers and gilded furniture was enough to make anyone let out a sigh of wonder.
“It’s like something from the past,” I murmured. “I feel like I’m at a ball from the 1800s or something.” And no doubt that had entered Joseph’s calculating mind, too. It was all aimed to please, and his vampire associates wouldn’t be disappointed.
In fact, the first time that I’d entered the room, I’d matched it to a vampire owner who was probably nostalgic of their past, but it’d been Joseph who’d come in. This said more about his personality than any conversation with him could. He loved it all – the glitz, the glamour, the golden finishes. Everything had to be perfect, presentable, flawless. It was an ethic that he followed not only with the rooms in his apartment, but with his whole life. Everything about this man was perfect, and he strived to make it so.
“I loved the apartment already,” he admitted. “But this room was the moment I knew I had to have it.”
“I’m glad you did. It’s beautiful.”
His arms wrapped around me, and he pulled me close to him. “Like you,” he whispered.
“Joseph… people are watching.”
“Why should I care?” he said, pulling me closer.
I looked up at him, gently disentangling myself from his arms. “Even if you don’t, I do,” I said softly.
He sighed, taking a step back. “Okay, okay.”
A second later, I felt someone step up behind me. I turned slightly, seeing a tall man. His hair was a dark brown, and his eyes an even darker shade. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” he said, his voice betraying no emotion.
“Nothing at all,” Joseph said levelly. “Anne, this is Zane Richards. He’s a client of mine. Zane, this is Anne Callison.” He used the fake name that I’d adopted when I’d entered the city. It had been the first name that had entered my mind, and I’d had to stick with it. There was always a chance that someone would look further into the name Anne Forbes, and they might not like what they found.
“Miss Callison,” Zane said, as if testing the word. “Would you mind if I steal Joseph for a little bit? We have some business to discuss.” He flashed a dazzling smile. If you looked carefully enough, you could see the small points that marked the beginnings of fangs. Most humans didn’t notice them, and if they did they’d ignore them, but I knew better.
I nodded. “Of course,” I said to the vampire before turning to Joseph. “I’ll see you later?”
Joseph nodded. “I’ll find you.”
Turning away from the two, I silently thanked Zane Richards for choosing that moment to interrupt. My aim was to stay friendly with Joseph, yes, but I also needed to take care of some other things while I was at his party. Now I had time to do what I was really here for.
I slipped back into the crowd, heading away from the entrance and to the other side of the room. I knew the place well by now, so it didn’t take long for me to find the door I wanted among the throngs of people obstructing my view.
I paused next to the door, lingering as if I was merely taking a break from socialisation. I scanned the room, making sure that there were no watching eyes. I was relieved to see that Joseph’s bodyguard Scott was nowhere in sight. My hand strayed over and rested on the door handle, gripping it tightly. I twisted, inched the door open a crack, and slipped through.
The door closed quietly behind me, completely cutting off the sounds of the party. I was left in silence, alone in the quiet rooms that made up the rest of Joseph’s apartment. I let out a sigh of relief, glad to be away of the dazzling formality of the party.
My heels clicked against the marble floor, echoing down the empty hallway. If there was one downside to Joseph’s elegant ballroom, it was that the other rooms in the apartment were no way as glamorous and spacious. To me, it meant that I didn’t have to navigate through a maze of winding hallways and useless rooms, and I was perfectly content with that.
I pushed open a door, stepping into a large room with a four-poster bed. Joseph’s room. Everything was perfectly arranged, the bed made and the ornaments on the bedside table aligned. I knew that if I opened one of the draws in his mahogany dresser I would see neat piles of clothes, impeccably folded and positioned.
I’d spent a few nights here with him, but he never let me in here on my own. So, naturally, I was here on my own. He had something to hide and I was going to find it.
I closed the door behind me and walked across the room. There were three doors in the large room – one I’d just come through, one led to his en suite and the other to his study. I went towards the door to his study, a sturdy wooden one with a polished golden door handle. I tugged, but it wouldn’t open. Of course he would’ve locked it. He wouldn’t just rely on an unlocked door to dissuade people.
Sighing, I reached up and took a hairpin out of my hair. A ringlet of hair toppled down from my bun and settled down onto my shoulder. My hairdo was ruined now, so I took the other pins out so that the rest of my hair was left untied, hanging down my back. I always felt more relaxed when my hair was down.
I’d always thought that using a hairpin to pick a lock like in the movies was ridiculous, but Luna had showed me wrong. I knelt down, putting the pin into the lock, twisting it carefully about. A few seconds later I heard the first click and grinned.
“Yes, I understand what you’re saying, but you’ve got to understand the situation that we’re in.” A voice echoed down the corridor.
I froze in place. I could hear footsteps along with the voices, and they were heading straight towards Joseph’s room.
In an instant I’d yanked the hairpin out of the lock and dove under the bed, the only bit of cover that I could find. I worked on my breathing, slowing it down and making it as quiet as possible. My heartbeat gradually slowed. Even if I was trying to be as quiet as possible, if an undistracted supernatural were to enter the room right now, they’d know I was there.
The door opened. I peered across the floor and saw two pairs of feet walk through before the door swung back closed.
“If you’re with us, Lloyd, you better start showing it,” the same voice growled. “You and your shifters promised us your assistance.”
“We are helping,” the other man replied. It was Joseph, and I’d place my bets on his companion being Zane Richards, the vampire he’d gone off with a few minutes ago.
“Really? Because I don’t see any sign of that. My coven has had to move from place to place, each one more horrible than the next, and I’m sick of it. If you were really on our side you wouldn’t be demoting us to those shit holes while you stay in this place.”
Joseph paused outside his study door. “Me and the other leaders are planning on moving your coven soon, Zane. Be patient. Until we can assess the risk we have to keep you on the move. You must know about the group of hunters in the city. If you settled down they’d be right there – you need to stay as hidden and inconspicuous as possible for now, until things are set into motion.”
The group of hunters? I’d hardly count Luna and I as a group. Luna had told me that there were a few other shifters like her, who rebelled against the order and hunted the vampires, but I’d never met any. As far as I knew, I was alone. But there must be more hunters in the city. There had to be.
My mind flicked back to the vampire I had killed a few nights ago. You’re one of those hunters, he had said. I’ve heard that there’s been an influx of hunters right now. This whole big group of them.
Maybe there were more hunters in the city than I’d anticipated.
“You could’ve at least given us somewhere better to stay,” Zane growled, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Hardy seems happy with where you are right now. I see no reason to disrupt our plans if he’s okay with them.”
My heart stopped. Had I heard Joseph correctly? It was too much of a coincidence for him to mention a person called Hardy who had something to do with the vampires. Could it really be Edric Hardy, the vampire that I’d been searching for? Maybe he was closer than I’d thought. A grin spread across my face.
I heard the click of a key turning in the lock and saw the study door swing open. The two men made to walk through it.
“Hang on,” Zane said, pausing.
I saw the vampire’s legs begin to bend as he reached for the floor, and I inched backwards into the shadows of the bed, even though I knew it would be no use. I was going to be caught. My eyes darted around, searching for anything I could use as a weapon.
I could see him now, but his eyes weren’t in my direction as I’d expected. He picked something up off the floor, straightening back up. I relaxed.
“This belong to your girlfriend?” he asked.
“What? A hairpin? I don’t know.”
Shit. It must’ve slipped out of my grasp while I was trying to pick the lock.
“She been in here recently?”
“She stayed over a few days ago.”
“The place reeks of her.”
“Like I said, she stayed over.”
“I wouldn’t mind taking a drink from her. You’re a lucky man, Lloyd.”
“You shouldn’t be thinking things like that. You know what I’d do if you tried anything,” Joseph said, suddenly hostile.
“Relax. I’m not going to,” he replied calmly. “Though, it would be fun. She knows nothing about us, right? She probably wouldn’t twig on until it was too late. From what I saw she’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. She’d be easy prey.”
“She’s under protection all day,” Joseph said. “One of my shifters is always with her.”
I thought that saying that was stretching it a bit. Sure, I lived with Luna and we spent most of our time together. But it wasn’t exactly like we were joined at the hip. I already knew that Joseph had trusted her with the task of watching over me.
“Shame,” Zane said, but he didn’t pursue it anymore.
The door swung closed behind them and I let out the breath I’d been holding. A few seconds later, after I was sure they wouldn’t be coming back out, I crawled out from underneath the bed. I dusted off the dress.
My eyes flickered over to the study door again. I paused, thinking. Was I really going to be that stupid? The answer was yes.
I slipped off my shoes so I wouldn’t make any noise as I walked, holding the straps in my hand. Slowly, I padded carefully across the floor, trying not to make a sound. I knelt back down outside the study door, peering through the keyhole.
Joseph was sat on a chair behind his heavy wooden desk, while Zane paced back and forth around the room, unable to stay still. I pressed my ear again the door, straining to hear what they were saying to each other.
“It’s still not good enough.”
“We need to wait for Hardy’s word. You can’t go bounding into this.”
“Easy enough for you to say. You’re on top here. You have your fancy apartment and all the food you can eat. Do you know that my coven is being restricted? We can’t even hunt anymore without you breathing down our throats.”
“You can’t hunt in the city. I’ve told you before,” Joseph said. His voice was calm, but I could tell that there was an added strain to it. “You’ve got to stay hidden. Have you seen the news reports recently? Even the humans know that there’s something up.”
“Maybe you should’ve called in the vampires when it was time, then.”
“Who knows when Hardy will be ready? You need to stay in the city in case you’re needed.”
“Well maybe we can’t stay. Have you ever thought that we might not be able to? Those blood bags that you send us aren’t enough; we’re getting hungrier each day. And the living conditions aren’t exactly ideal.”
Joseph sighed. Through the keyhole I saw him rip a bit of a piece of paper and scribble something down on it. “Here’s your next address. Hopefully you’ll find it better,” he said curtly. “If you don’t like it, then tough. Blood will arrive there tomorrow evening. Hardy expects you to be there by then.”
Zane didn’t move forward to take the paper from his outstretched hand. “You seem awfully friendly with Hardy.”
That same thought had been going through my head. Maybe knowing Joseph was going to be more useful than I’d previously expected. I’d known that he was important in the supernatural world, but I’d never imagined him being in contact with Edric Hardy, one of the oldest and most ruthless vampires alive.
“Not particularly. I’m in contact with one of his coven. They’re passing down all his orders to me,” he said. “Speaking of which, he’s requested to see you in two weeks time.”
“Who? Hardy or the guy from his coven?”
Joseph gave him a withering look. “Who do you think? Hardy’s not going to want to spend his time dealing with the other covens. By next week, there’s going to be three more moving near the city. You need to coordinate, so he’s set up the meeting.”
Zane looked down at the ground, and then in a flash of movement reached forward to snatch the piece of paper from Joseph’s hand. He looked down at it. “17 Garranza Avenue?” he read. “Where is this place?”
“Do you need a map?” Joseph smiled sardonically.
“No,” Zane growled, taking a step back. “I can find it myself, thank you very much.”
“Well. Good luck,” Joseph said, standing up. His chair legs scraped against the wooden floor. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to the rest of my guests.”
Zane turned towards the door. “I don’t mind at all.”
Knowing I only had seconds, I leapt quickly back on to my feet and ran out of the room. I opened the door to the corridor as quietly as I could, closing it quickly behind me. A few seconds later, I heard the faint sound of the study door slam behind the two.
I slipped my shoes back on, ran a hand through my messy hair to try and straighten it back out, and walked back down the corridor.
A grin spread across my face. I knew where I’d be going tomorrow night.
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I quite like this chapter. Huzzah.
For all those asking, next chapter is going to be a good one. Something that you've all been wanting is going to happen. You can probably guess, but oh well.
Don't forget to vote, comment and give me feedback! You've all been absolutely amazing so far. :)