“To buy a hot plate, I think. To cook eggs on.”
“I wish you hadn’t told me that,” Ginny grumbled, pushing the hair out of her eyes. “I’m trying to stay angry about being held prisoner. And suspicious, too. Why does this door lock from the outside?”
“Sorry, what was that?” Tucker made a crackling noise that was clearly just him making Donald Duck sounds into his cupped hands. “You’re breaking up on me…”
“Oh, stop that. Open this door. Or aren’t you offended that Jonas doesn’t trust you to guard me while he’s gone?”
“Very clever playing us against each other, sweetheart. I won’t fall for it.”
Ginny shifted on the balls of her feet. “I can’t hold it anymore. Please.” There was a click and then the door opened, revealing Tucker with a cloud of smoke obscuring his face. Ginny ducked around him into the hallway. “You fell for that, though, didn’t you?”
Tucker blinked. “You don’t have to pee?”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “Sorry.”
His laugh echoed off the hallway walls. “Women. Dead or alive, you’re a tricky breed.” He moved past her toward the front of the apartment. “Since I’m already courting the prince’s wrath, you want that beer?”
“Yes, please,” Ginny called after Tucker. Instead of following him, however, she turned and tiptoed down the dark hallway, stopping in front of the door across the hall from Jonas and opening it. Clearly this was Tucker’s room. The pungent smell of cigar smoke hung in the air, dumbbells the size of Ginny were situated in the corner and rap album vinyls were stacked on top of a high-end stereo.
She closed the door quickly behind her and moved on.
The next door was locked. Elias’s room, perhaps? He’d come from this general direction earlier, but she couldn’t be sure from where.
The snick of a bottle cap being popped off almost made Ginny abandon her Scooby Doo-like investigation. What was she even looking for? She wasn’t totally sure. But there was a driving need to gather knowledge, to remember the tiniest details about her time with Jonas. If she gathered enough information without him knowing, the less likely he would be to make her forget every little thing, if he erased her memory.
She wanted to at least have the option of piecing these moments in time back together if she woke up one morning with gaping holes in her timeline.
There was one final door at the very end of the hallway and she power walked to it now, a shiver climbing her arm as soon as she curled a hand around the knob. A sense of foreboding made her hesitate, but she shooed it to the side and opened the door. She only caught a glimpse of metal shackles attached to a filthy brick wall before a hand shot out above her head, slamming the door closed.
Tucker sighed. “Jonas is never going to let me humansit again.”
Ginny whirled on the stocky vampire with wide eyes. “Why are there shackles and chains in there?”
“Would you believe Elias is a kinky bastard?”
She blushed, unable to meet his gaze. “I-I…well, I…”
Tucker barked a laugh and fell silent. “So you’re brave enough to go sleuthing through a vampire crash pad, but dirty jokes turn you bright red.” He handed her a beer and gestured for her to precede him toward the living room. “It makes more and more sense why my roommate is out trying to find a hot plate at three in the goddamn morning.”
Unclear of his meaning, Ginny frowned and took an absent sip of her beer—and promptly choked on the bitterness. “Maybe I’m a fruity drink person,” she said, following Tucker into the living room. “This is terrible.”
“If I’m remembering my debauched youth correctly, beer tastes better every time you take another sip. Best to keep going.”
Ginny took another cautious pull. “Oh! You’re right. Not so bad this time.”
Tucker executed a bow.
“Now can you tell me about the shackles?”
“Not much for small talk, are you, sweetheart?” He leaned a beefy elbow on the mantle beneath the television. “I’m not sure what I should tell you.”
She shrugged and took another long sip of beer. “I’m going to forget all of this, right?”
“Right,” he drew out, sighing. “Every once in a while Jonas comes across a freshly Silenced and they require some…time to adjust. Where they can’t harm any fragile humans, like yourself. Jonas keeps them put in silver chains. They’re impossible for our kind to break free of.” His smile reminded her of a jack-o’-lantern. “Having an angry, bloodthirsty rookie chained in silver down the hall makes for some interesting living conditions. You’re a much better house guest.”
“Thank you.”
He plucked the cigar from the corner of his mouth, gesturing at her with it. “You finished your beer.”
“I did?” Ginny covered her mouth to prevent a hiccup from escaping. “I did.”