Nine Shillings

Loose Ends

York - 1842 (A Few Weeks Later)

I dropped down into the chair opposite Gale in a crowded pub. 'You should've kept running.'

She stared at me as if it was unbelievable I'd found her. We could start with her aiding and abetting a woman who threatened my family, as well as killed God knew how many people, and end with the things she'd done to or made her 'girls' do. Plenty of reasons for me to give chase.

She sighed. 'I always knew we'd end up here.'

'Did your cards tell you?' I tapped the tarot cards stacked on the table.

'Wouldn't you do anything to save your children?'

I raised my eyebrows. 'There's doing anything and then there's murdering innocent people.' A few more nameless people had been fished out of the river in the weeks following Tessa's death. She'd been busy. 'I might choose to save my children and not someone else, it's not the same as going out of my way to kill them, before you bring that up.'

'They weren't entirely innocent,' she said.

'Nobody is.' I spread my arms. 'Everyone used to think I was such a sweet, little innocent.'

'You could've made good money from that.'

I smiled. 'I made better money as a wicked harlot.'

She nodded. 'A good mistress is hard to find, in any sense. I could've made money from that too.'

'Is it really the moment to talk about all the ways you could've packaged and sold me?' I asked.

She sipped her drink. 'You're going to kill me anyway, what does it matter what I say?'

I inclined my head. 'I try to give people a chance to change my mind.'

'I don't think there's anything I could say to change your mind, you made it up when you were barely a woman.'

'And right there you prove why.' I sat forward and rested my arms on the table, hand stretched towards her. 'The brothel is doing fine without you, by the way. Not that you asked.'

'Looking out for my girls now?'

'Someone has to.'

'Mistress and madam.' She chuckled.

'I'm a vigilante, looking out for people goes with the territory.'

'You used to be so sneery, as if being a thief was any better but you sold your cunt in the end.'

I was never sneery; I just didn't want to work for Gale, there was a difference. It would've been hypocritical of me to be sneery.

I shrugged. 'I chose who to.'

'And here we are,' she said.

'And here we are.' I sighed. 'I don't suppose you're going to tell me who the woman I came to ask you about was.'

'When I can let it torment you for the rest of your days?' She smiled but her eyes were cruel and hard. 'No.'

'Well, you had your chance.' I stabbed her in the chest.

She gasped, her shoulders fell, and she folded over her drink like a hunched over drunk.

I clicked the knife back into place and walked out of the pub. Nobody gave me a second glance.

Bran was standing in the mouth of an alley leaning against a wall, smoking his pipe, his face half painted in shadow by a nearby street lamp. He looked quite menacing in his great coat and battered top hat.

I crossed the street to him. 'Do you realise how delicious you look when you're menacing?'

He smiled and blushed at the cobbles, air of menace gone.

I rested my hands against his chest. 'Here I am, still in one piece.'

He touched my hair. 'You asked me to come.'

'I could feel your anxiety across the street, even with the door closed.'

There wasn't anything I could do to make Bran any less aware asking Josef hadn't been an option. Despite his agreement to stay out of vampire politics the York Master still refused him entry. He'd also insisted I have an escort to make sure I didn't eat anyone. It made it too easy to turn desire into necessity.

'You know you saved the day and got the woman,' I said.

He took his pipe from his mouth and examined the stem as if it would hide his smile. 'I'm sure you could've done it without me.'

'I'm many things, a marksman isn't one. The world is lucky you have no interest in being a master criminal.'

He chuckled. 'I was never very good at being bad.'

I ran a finger down his chest. 'Oh, I think you're very good at being bad.'

He grinned and brushed my hand away.

I scrunched his waistcoat and drew him down to me. 'I have plenty of ideas to keep everyone fully satisfied. As long as everyone is comfortable with them.' I looked him straight in the eye. 'And I mean everyone.'

'I know.' He kissed me softly.

'Good.' I smoothed his waistcoat. 'We could always catch a slightly later train and I can show you how important your satisfaction is to me.' I plucked at one of his buttons. 'No interruptions.'

He blushed and swallowed.

'I could bend you over the foot of the bed and...' I slapped his rear.

He touched my jaw and leaned in. 'You've only got your hand.'

I flexed my fingers. 'I will make that sacrifice.' I put my fingers to my lips. 'Oh, or are you saying you'd like something... rougher?'

He glanced away. 'Or we could catch the next train and we might make it home in time to help the children spread their toast.'

'Using my weaknesses against me, someone's been paying attention.' I smoothed his coat and slipped my hand into his. 'Home it is.'