I woke up in my room at Viktor's house not really remembering how I fell asleep or even how I got into bed. I know that I was talking to him about Pandora and the hunters, but then things got fuzzy after that.
Not one to dwell on new things when I had enough on my plate, I hopped out of bed and jumped into the shower. Trying to figure out what was on my list for the day, I just took a moment to stand under the shower head and enjoy the feeling of the water falling on me, the pressure bringing some relief to my tight muscles.
I didn't know if I was ready to deal with House Gypsy today, but at the same time, I knew that I couldn't just ignore it, no matter how much I wanted to. I turned off the taps and closed my eyes. I didn't have a good opinion of that House, and quite frankly, I didn't want anything to do with it. What I wanted to do was sell the house and just let anyone living in it go to Hell. As far as I was concerned, as much as they claimed to be Gyspies, they belonged to Jenny, not me, and so they shouldn't be my problem to deal with. Unfortunately, things rarely worked out the way that I wanted them to.
It should not be my responsibility to deal with someone else's mess, but deep down inside I knew I would not be able to just walk away from it. I would have to interview everyone to see if they deserved a place in my House or if they should be left to fend for themselves.
I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my hair and body. As the list of things to do got longer in my head, I quickly dried off, got dressed, and when in search of food.
Finding my peanut butter cookies, I sat down at the kitchen table and tried to organize myself. I had not talked to Mike yet, and that was the most important thing to do. I would not be giving him my two weeks' notice, so that might put him in a bind. Then I would have to arrange a time to speak to all the Gypsies and see where they stood. After that, I would need to speak to Viki and find a mansion and condo for myself.
The more I thought about it, the more things popped up. If this was the life of a Head of House, it made perfect sense why no one would want the position. If stress was able to kill any of us, I think the others would have been dead long ago… especially Viktor, he had to worry about his own House on top of all the other Houses.
Speak of the devil… I lifted my head up to see Viktor coming into the kitchen area. I was surprised as I thought that he would have already been at work, but at the same time, he was the CEO and could probably determine his own office hours.
"Morning!" I said, a big smile on my face. I held out the box of peanut butter cookies… you know… to be polite. He shook his head and went to make himself a cup of coffee. Meh, suit yourself… more cookies for me that way.
"Good morning," he replied, his voice deep and husky from just waking up... even if it was 8 o'clock in the morning.
"I thought you'd be at work by now," I said, going back to snacking on my cookies.
"Sasha can take over for a while, I'll be accompanying you for the day. I need to make sure that you don't get into too much trouble."
I jerked up with surprise and looked at him like he managed to grow a second head. "Why?"
"Because the sooner we can deal with the people hunting you, the easier it will be on me," he answered, taking a sip from his black coffee.
Have I mentioned my theory that only psychopaths drank their coffee black? I'm pretty sure that the man was a psychopath in a designer suit. I liked my coffee with more milk and sugar in it than actual coffee. I hated the taste.
I forced my brain to go back to the conversation at hand. "But we don't know when they will show up… do you really have that much time to spend on my shit?" I asked, clearly confused. I knew that working was not high on his list of priorities. After all, the man had to have more money than Midas, and running a company like Knights Security would be more of a way to keep himself occupied than anything else.
Still, I felt bad.
"I can take the next little while and help figure out your…shit…" he said, taking another sip of what had to taste like death.
"Ok," I nodded. No point in looking a gift horse in the mouth. I wasn't too crazy about the idea of hunters in the city, so if having my own bodyguard around would mean taking them out sooner, I was not going to argue. "I have to go to the precinct first to talk to Mike and then I still need to find a place to live," I said as I stood up and put the rest of the cookies back in the cupboard. "Do you know of any condos around here for sale?"
"There is one two doors down from here," he said, looking at me over the rim of his mug. "Should be available for immediate occupancy."
Once again, the man managed to surprise the heck out of me. "Are you sure?" I asked, my brows scrunched. "Wouldn't that be too close to you? I know how protective monsters can be of their territory."
He just looked at me like I was stupid and put his empty mug in the dishwasher. "Let's go find Mike and get this day started," he said, grabbing a light coat and heading towards the door.
I was left scrambling after him. Not sure what the Hell was going on.