Rufus will do anything not to remain staked in a coffin, including stealing a psychic and forming a blood bond with him.
Rufus Mabuz was a badass assassin until his coven leader had him staked and stored away in a coffin for seven years. He was still a badass assassin, only he couldn’t move. Then one day, the coven leader makes him an offer -- bond with a psychic or stay in the coffin for years to come.
Jaki Sage is kept prisoner together with a group of psychics. He’s a psychic too, but a crappy one. He can’t foresee anything. The only thing he can do is look back in time to see what the weather was like around a certain event. Not useful. But then his friend, who can foresee things, tells him to go with Rufus the Dead.
Rufus isn’t sure why he’s stealing a psychic and forming a blood bond with him, but anything is better than being staked. Jaki might not know much about vampires, but he thinks he’s better off with Rufus than if he hadn’t run away with him. But then the coven leader demands he uses his skills to find someone, or she’ll put Rufus back in the coffin. How will Jaki be able to find anyone when all he can see is weather?
Rufus glanced at Jaki as they walked through the gate of the estate. If he’d understood it correctly, he’d seen the gate from outside the door of the house. He’d seen Orla. Pain stabbed at his heart. He’d never see Orla again, and he wanted Iris to die a gruesome death if she’d been the one who’d taken her out.
“What are we to expect?” He didn’t much care, but he asked Gregory anyway.
“I have no idea. I don’t know why we had to go to the facility and grab a seer, but I guess we’ll find out.”
Jaki took half a step in Rufus' direction. It shouldn’t please him, but it did.
“If she wanted a seer, she’ll be sorely disappointed.” Jaki grimaced.
“She can’t have you anyway. You’re mine.” Rufus grinned at him with fangs and all. Jaki was his.
They entered the big hallway. Rufus hadn’t been there since he and Gregory hurried out the door to look for attackers, but it looked the same. A little colder, but it might be his mood.
Walking toward a double door leading into what Orla had referred to as the ballroom, Rufus took Jaki’s hand. He didn’t know who he was trying to soothe, Jaki or himself. He didn’t want to be there.
Right as they reached the door, it opened from within, and Rufus stared at two vampires he hadn’t seen before dressed in black suits. He sent Gregory a questioning look which was met by pursed lips and wide eyes. New to Gregory too then.
“Rufus.” Iris sat on a throne at the far end of the huge room, dressed in a baby blue dress with lots of frills, making her look like a little girl.
“Iris.” He met her gaze without so much as nodding his head.
“How’s the fresh air treating you?” She ended the question with a huffed little laugh.
“Haven’t had much time to enjoy it yet.”
“Hmm. Where’s my seer?”
Jaki’s grip on his hand tightened, and Rufus made a show of looking around. “I didn’t know you had one.”
Snorting, Iris got to her feet. “The one you were to get me. It was the deal. Your freedom for a seer.”
Rufus struggled to keep a blank face. It wasn’t what she’d said when she came to the mausoleum to release him. She’d said he had to bond with the seer she’d booked a meeting with.
Jaki’s grip on his hand loosened, and he tried to pull away, but Rufus didn’t let him.
“You said to bond with the seer you’d set up a meeting with.”
“I did.” She chortled. “Where is she? You were meant to bring her.”
For a second, Rufus wondered if Jaki had some magic trick to make him invisible since she hadn’t once looked at him despite him standing right next to Rufus.
“This is Jaki.” He raised their linked hands. “Bonded as ordered.”
If Jaki understood what they were talking about, he didn’t show any emotion. This was not how Rufus had wanted to tell him, though he should’ve known Iris would force him to. Had he been smart, he’d broached the subject this morning before Gregory arrived. Jaki would have questions.
“He’s a man.” Anger flashed in Iris’ eyes.
“The psychic you set up a meeting with.”
She sneered. “No. They said on the phone they had a Jackie or a Kendra or something, but Kendra is a stupid name.”
Rufus said nothing. He could’ve been bonded to someone named Kendra. He was pretty sure Kendra was a woman.
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