Hellbent by Priest Cherie

Author:Priest, Cherie [Priest, Cherie]
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780345520630
Publisher: Spectra
Published: 2011-09-05T22:00:00+00:00

9

We arrived home Sunday which was good—since that’s roughly when I’d told Max he’d hear from Ian. Adrian and I had discussed my strategy in the car on the way up, and together we decided I’d drop him off at home and I’d work on Ian alone first. I could always summon Adrian as backup emotional blackmail, if such became necessary.

I hoped it wouldn’t. And the truth was, I was afraid Adrian would push too hard. His eagerness at the prospect of infiltrating his sister’s old House … I’m not saying it made him sloppy, but it worried me. I didn’t think he’d stay put if I ordered him to, and I’d been absolutely honest with him when I’d warned of his one-hour life expectancy there.

Adrian is a badass. Let the record reflect. But let the record also reflect that the Atlanta House is considered a badass house among badass houses—tempered with a good measure of insanity and very bad behavior, both in public and behind closed doors.

I told myself that if I had to, I could drug Adrian and leave him locked up in the penthouse flat with Ian and the kids to look after him for a few days, but that was an idle threat. My not-a-ghoul was full of surprises, and even if I could keep him home for a few days, I couldn’t keep him there indefinitely. He’d find a way to get loose, find a way to Atlanta, and get himself killed if he tried to get inside without me.

No matter how I approached the problem, the same conclusion always worked its way to the top: I would almost certainly have to bring him along. And if he could present himself as a plausible ghoul, so much the better. He’d be safer, for a feeble value of “safe.” If something were to happen to me, they might not kill him. They might just absorb him into the House—a nightmare scenario if ever I heard one, though I didn’t think he’d see it that way. Adrian would look at it as a silver lining in case of my death—an opportunity to get even closer, even more quietly.

I hated all those goddamn variables. It made it tough to plan, and if I can’t plan, I start getting crazy. Not that I’m always a very good planner. I think this ought to be apparent by now.

So. One thing at a time.

First: Ian.

I entered my compound via the old service elevator and found the place in cheerful havoc, with Pita tearing around and Pepper tearing around after him—and Domino ignoring both of them while playing a video game in the common area. Whenever the kitten felt cornered, he’d rush to Domino and try to hide in his lap, as if the boy were “base” and it meant Pepper couldn’t grab him and … I don’t know. Tickle him, or whatever torture she was inflicting. I could tell by watching the cat that he wasn’t really afraid and that Pepper wasn’t really out to hurt him, so I didn’t worry about it.

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