Angel: Private Eye Book One by Odette C. Bell Read Free Book Online Page B

would dare
attack my fine establishment.” He brought his fingers up and stuck
them through his suspenders, pulling them out as his lips pulled
into an almost corny smile. I could bet it was the same smile he’d
use on his TV advertisements or on his mirror after he brushed his
teeth.
    It didn’t work on me. “Mr Marvelous, I don’t
need your job. Benson has offered—”
    “Benson wants you under his thumb,”
Marvelous’ tone dropped and the shadows along his face became
deeper as he ducked his head down and looked at me directly. “You
look smarter than that, kid. Do you really want to be under the
thumb of a vampire? Haven’t you stopped to ask yourself why William
Benson the bloody III is offering to solve your every problem if
only you sign yourself away to him?”
    I snorted, though it was an unsure, kind of
rattling noise. “I’m not selling myself to him,” I tried to say
family. My voice was about as firm as unset jelly that had been
left in the sun to melt.
    “You’ve had a rough night, kid. But you have
to think clearly here. Don’t make the kind of mistake you’ll regret
for the rest of your life, and your death,” he said pointedly.
    “I…” I trailed off. My eyes locked on the
contract. “Maybe I should read it,” I muttered to myself. But what
help could that make? You had to have a PhD in magical law to
understand the complicated language vampires used in their
contracts. They’d probably been work-shopping them for centuries,
perfecting their circuitous, mind-boggling language until it felt
like every sentence was a maze and every clause a noose around your
neck.
    “There you go. I’ll read it for you,” Mr
Marvelous began as he tugged the contract down.
    He cleared his throat, but didn’t get a
chance to read the contract.
    Instead someone smoothly snatched it out of
his grip. Somebody who appeared at his side like an unwelcome
apparition.
    Benson.
    I hadn’t seen him walk up.
    I had such a visceral reaction to his sudden
appearance, that I doubled back so hard in my chair, I almost fell
off it. I had to scoot a hand out and latch it on the edge of the
desk to steady myself.
    Mr Marvelous slowly turned around, crumpled
his arms over his pot belly, and tipped his head back to stare up
into the cold blue eyes of William Benson III.
    “What are you doing?” Benson asked in a
falsely patient tone.
    “Disposing of this unnecessary contract
here. My new employee doesn’t require your services anymore,
Councilman,” Mr Marvelous said with a real note of irony shifting
through his tone.
    It surprised me. Hell, it practically
floored me like a hay maker to the jaw.
    No one – and I mean absolutely no one, from
the heads of the werewolf clans to the strongest sorceresses in the
city – talked to William Benson like that. It was like shoving your
face against a hornet’s nest and opening your mouth wide.
    “Employee?” Benson sliced his gaze towards
me. His look was direct, so direct that I swore I felt his hands
against my neck.
    I immediately twisted my fingers through the
collar of my torn blouse, closing it as tightly as I could.
    “That’s right,” Mr Marvelous said in an
almost chipper tone. “The Miss here now works for me.”
    “She does? Do you even know her name?”
Benson challenged.
    “I don’t need to. I just need a signature.
You know how the magical courts work, Councilman.” There it was
again. That unmistakable note of sarcasm.
    Just who did Mr Marvelous think he was that
he could take on the strongest vampire in the city? Was it nothing
more than a dangerous ploy of courage to get me on side? Or did Mr
Marvelous have some ace up his crumpled sleeve?
    Benson smoothly turned from Mr Marvelous, as
if the man were nothing more important than an irritating fly. Then
Benson locked his full attention on me.
    If his direct gaze was like two hands on my
neck. His full attention was like his fingers locking around my jaw
and holding me tight.
    I couldn’t