JENNIE
I wanted to run but Somi's grip tightened until I had no choice but to stumble inside the room after her. She pulled me over to the elegantly set table and then stood back, leaving me alone in Raphael's line of sight.
He took me in slowly, starting with the top of my head before his obsidian gaze roved all the way down to my heels. His expression never changed, but I felt stripped bare, exposed.
Similar, I supposed, to how a gazelle might feel while a lion sized it up.
"Have a seat." He gestured to the empty chair across from him. "Can I get you anything? Water? Wine?"
"N-No." I shook my head as I perched on the very edge of the chair. Pure instinct kept me from turning on my heel and trying to bolt.
Keep your mouth shut, Lisa's voice hissed in my mind, rather than my mother's for once. Say nothing.
I glanced around, half expecting to find her brooding in one of the corners. Even though a part of me already knew the answer, I couldn't resist asking, "Is … Is Lisa here?"
From her position against the wall, Somi scoffed, but Raphael's face remained expressionless.
"No," he said. "I thought that I should arrange a time for us to meet. Alone."
His words sent a shiver racing down my spine, and I knew instantly that the driver's little detour had come on his orders.
"Why …would you want to meet me?"
Raphael smiled, but there was no warmth in the expression. "Why wouldn't I? There seems to be no end to the gossip circling Lisa's newest 'friend.'"
His deliberate pause made me guess that he'd intended to say another word instead: Pet.
"I'm glad that we finally have the chance to speak. Bread?" I flinched as he gestured to a basket full of steaming rolls in the center of the table.
"N-No thank you."
Raphael shrugged. "I've scoured the menu." He picked up a sliver of crisp, cream-colored paper from the table and held it out to me. "What would you like? A tazza with lamb or linguine?"
I vaguely recognized the dishes. Italian?
"No thank you."
"Well." The menu slid back to the table. "I suppose we could just make do with a little conversation."
He paused expectantly as if that was my cue to speak.
The seconds crawled past as I remained silent. Instead, I scanned the polished wooden floors, the rich red walls, the ceiling—anywhere but in the direction of those soulless eyes.
The restaurant was grand, more elegant than the Café Claret.
I felt underdressed. Somi would have been a more fitting companion to dine with Raphael, who still managed to look regal in a black shirt and dark pants. Before I could help it, my eyes caught something glinting against his chest: that long, silver chain, so much like Lisa's.
The menacing serpent-shaped pendant enthralled me. Its ruby eyes seemed to glow almost with the intelligence of a living creature, and I found myself gazing at it longer than I meant to. I swore that I could almost hear its hiss inside my head quelling my urge to flee. Stay …
"Remarkable, isn't it?" Raphael murmured, reaching up to brush a finger along the silver chain. "I have lived a long time, Jennie, and yet the creativity of other beings still surprises even me."
The words were wistful though his voice was still unnervingly flat and emotionless.
"It's lovely," I croaked. Inside I was morbidly curious as to why he, Lisa and Mikhail all sported similar pieces of jewelry. Were ancient necklaces passed out among their organization like friendship bracelets at a summer camp?
"As are you," Raphael said. The compliment caught me off guard, but there was no warmth in it. His tone was as dry as someone pointing out that the gum on the sole of their shoe was rather pink. "Though …I must say that you are not the type of woman Lisa usually surrounds herself with."
It was with those simple words that the false, elegant façade of this 'meeting' was ripped away. Suddenly the air in the room felt a million degrees colder. The back of my neck prickled. I couldn't seem to sit still, and my fingers fidgeted against the tablecloth.
"She's gone through beautiful women like a connoisseur through wine. Exquisite women," Raphael added, as if only to drill home the fact that I didn't fit the mold. "And yet her interest in them waxes and wanes—" He waved a hand dismissively. "Not to mention that she's been a bit of a recluse, these days. Rarely venturing out from the shadows … Tell me, Jennie, what do you know of our world?"
The question seemed simple enough, but I wasn't fooled.
"Lisa doesn't tell me much of anything," I said as innocently as I could manage.
The corner of that ageless mouth quirked. Liar.
"It is a simple existence we have," he replied rather than prod me for more answers, "those of us in this shadow world. We keep to ourselves. Most mortals never know we exist."
Except those unlucky enough to forge a contract, of course. I thought of George Washington and shuddered.
"Do not believe the common rumors about my kind," Raphael warned as if reading my mind. "We are not all monsters or fiends. In fact, we've had a rather peaceful co-existence with mortals. Even your own family …" He paused, watching my reaction. "What do you know about the history of the Kims, Jennie?"
I shrugged. "Just that we have ties in this region that go back decades—"
"Centuries, even," Raphael corrected, cutting over me. His eyes glimmered. Was that amusement I saw in them? "Your family has ties in the foundation of this very country, Jennie. I even knew your ancestor, James, personally ..."
I didn't know why the statement shocked me so much.
James Kim had lived nearly three hundred years ago, but Lisa claimed to have lived nearly five hundred. According to my father, our ancestor had been a nut who'd abandoned his comfortable home in England and journeyed to the New World out of some misplaced sense of adventure. Everyone knew that our money came from his brother William and his descendants who had wisely cultivated their fortune.
"You must have lived a very long life," I said, choosing the least threatening words I could think of.
"An unnaturally long life, yes," Raphael agreed, "but does that make me evil?"
It was a dangerous question, so I licked my lips rather than answer.
Raphael's mouth twitched into the shadow of something that could have been interpreted as a smile on a different person.
"Our world may seem complex to you—brutal even—but it is how we survive. Do you know why I had Lisa offer you a contract, Jennie?"
If Lisa had asked me that question, a mocking quip would have sprung right to my lips. Why for my family name, of course.
But with Raphael, I didn't dare. The walls themselves seemed to warn me to be on guard.
"No."
He smiled again—but it was a terrifying imitation of the real thing.
"Not surprisingly," he murmured. "I suppose that she wouldn't. Especially not when she seems to have grown so very fond of you …"
"What do you mean?" I sat straighter, feeling every muscle in my body tense. 'Fond' and 'Lisa' were two words that should never be linked so closely in a sentence—especially one referring to me.
Some shadowy emotion flickered across those ageless eyes but was gone in the blink of an eye.
"That is not important," he said finally. "Do you know what she paid for you, Jennie?"
"No." I shook my head, even as Jisoo's words haunted me. Money is meaningless among our kind.
So much for my guess of five dollars—and something told me that I was much better off not knowing the real answer.
"I know that Somi offered to enlighten you," Raphael stated in a tone as dangerously soft as a snake's hiss. "What did she want in exchange?"
My gaze darted to the succubus in question who leaned against the wall, admiring a pale hand topped by blood-red nails. She didn't look in my direction, but I knew that she listened to every single word.
"She wanted to me to say something," I managed to croak, turning back around. "To Lisa. A word."
Raphael shifted in his chair, and the motion reminded me of a lion impatiently batting its tail as it waited for the antelope to skip closer in range.
"What was it, if I may ask?"
I swallowed and it took everything I had to keep from asking for a glass of water after all, if only to keep myself from having to speak any further.
"Pranpriya."
Even without Lisa in sight, my stomach flipped. That name tingled on the tip of my tongue, forbidden. For the longest time, Raphael just watched me as if noticing every uneasy tremor that slipped down my spine.
"Pranpriya was the name of a friend of mine," he said finally. From the corner of my eye, I saw that Somi had gone rigid. "A very old friend …"
His tone slithered against my ear drums and I frowned. Why would Somi want me to mention the name of Raphael's 'friend' around Lisa? Was there some kind of bad blood between them?
Somi's face was turned away from me, and Raphael's was as blank as a sheet of ancient parchment.
"Why do you think we broker contracts, Jennie?" he asked, catching me off guard.
"For favors?" I remembered Jisoo's 'hypothetical' story that I now suspected had been more factual than anything else.
He laughed, but I'd heard the wind howl with more emotion. "We share our …gifts and require simple things in return. That is all."
He made it sound like a harmless transaction, but I could still remember those empty women Mikhail and his cohorts had dined from like an all-you-can-eat buffet.
There had been nothing simple about it.
"Lisa used to understand this," he added, only his tone wasn't quite so flat anymore. There was an edge to it that made me shudder as those black eyes scanned my face. "In a way, you could say that she designed this system we live by. But ...rarely has she purchased a contract for her own—at least not without a clear reason. So, as you can see, I am rather curious as to why she bought yours."
"She had no choice," I blurted, cringing at the thought of that fateful auction and the fool I'd made of myself. "No one else wanted me—"
"Dear God!" A sharp bark of laughter had me turning to where Somi clung to the wall as if for dear life. "Did she really tell you that?" Her eyes blazed as they found mine. "While you may be dowdy and dull and unattractive, Jennie, make no mistake, Jisoo is not a fool. She knew damn well what she was doing by having you prance around like a virginal little innocent. You," she snarled, "were the most requested morsel of the evening. What?" she added at my expression. "You don't believe me? Even your precious Lisa couldn't resist you. She all but begged—groveled—for me to let her have you over anyone else. Personally, I was more inclined to let you go to Mikhail—"
"Somi." With a word, Raphael had her silent. Her spine stiffened, eyes downcast.
"Milord."
With little more than a wave of his hand, Raphael sent her out of the room, leaving us alone.
A million thoughts raced through my mind and I fought to keep my face from revealing them. Lisa. The auction. Mikhail. Pranpriya.
Somi was lying—she had to be.
Any other possible explanation was far too lethal to consider.
"I will make you a wager, Jennie," Raphael began, cutting through the tumble of thoughts crashing through my mind. "I will tell you what Lisa bartered for you—in fact, I will give it to you. As long as you help me discover something that she might value more. I think that's a fairer transaction than your arrangement with Somi."
No, Jennie! Say no! Run away!
"What would I have to do?" My palms were slick with sweat. I could barely get the words out. Those black eyes held me captive, boring deep to scrape my soul.
Suddenly, Raphael sat back.
"Nothing at all." I shivered as his hand reached across the table for mine, as quickly as a striking cobra. "I already have my suspicions."
He was so cold—shockingly, abnormally so. I could tolerate Lisa's glacial touch, but Raphael was a different matter entirely. It felt as if death itself had taken hold of me.
"All you would be required to do is help me prove it to be true or false. Then, I shall uphold my end of our bargain. Simple enough?"
A frigid thumb traced the back of my hand. Every instinct in my body warned me to pull away, to push back from the table and run. However, as if drawn by an invisible force, my eyes drifted back down to the serpent pendant. Its red gaze seemed to mesmerize me once again, and I could only sit there as Raphael continued to stroke my hand.
Then, almost casually, he brought it to his mouth as if he meant to kiss the back of it like some gallant, old-fashioned gentleman.
"A simple suspicion," he repeated in a burst of breath so cold that I half expected frost to crystallize right there on my skin.
Then he lowered his head, bared his fangs …
And before I even had the chance to scream, he bit.