Blood & Spirits Read Online Free PDF Page B

important.
    Julie was the first girl I took in when I reopened the house in 2002. She was eighteen then and already working in the industry. I took her in to protect her but she has a good head on her shoulders that has proven to be more than worth my investment. With her looks and deviant personality, I’m really lucky she’s so loyal.
    She was born Julia Elizabeth Jeffries, but who can’t use a good alias these days? Especially when you are working in a largely illegal trade in a small town in Middle America?
    She manages my accounts and works with clients these days because she enjoys the job, the control and the feeling of superiority it gives her. Not because she has to. The financial perks for her aren’t bad either, I suppose, and I think she gets off on running the rest of the girls.
     None of my girls work unless they want to, and they set their own rates, per client generally. Half of what they earn goes back into the house, which more than pays the bills. They know better than to lie to me about their income. Someone tried once. No one speaks about it. No one has to. I provide them with a stable home, legal and medical care, and safety with physical protection.
    Julie has two ‘lieutenants’, Leslie and Piper. I’d call them assistants if I didn’t think they’d take it as an insult. She occasionally defers responsibility to them, and as long as everything runs smoothly, I trust Julie’s judgment.
    Leslie is my favorite of the two. A tiny green-eyed girl with auburn curls and all the elegance and grace of a ballerina, with the attitude of a hungry Great White in chummed up water.
    Piper is more demure, a tall thin ebony statue you’d expect to see on display in a museum. She’s calm and calculating; I’d almost say insidious. I like the things she’s done for the house, and by proxy done for me, but I trust her as far as an infant could toss a city bus.
    Tonight, Julie has asked for some personal time. Her brother is in from Louisville, and she’s taking him out for dinner and drinks.
    Leslie is on a ten thousand dollar ‘out call’ to Will Planton, a member of the wealthiest and most politically connected family in Pekin. He’s certainly connected, but not the brightest or best looking. He’s into some heavy kink, likes to be punished, so Leslie is in full on Dominatrix mode this evening. She almost didn’t even wear a coat to cover the latex and spiked straps. I’m sure she’s had a blast.
    Now she needs a pick up, though. Since Julie is out for the night, I call Frank and let him know I’m going to get her and ask him to run by the house to check up on things while I’m gone.
    I duck into the basement and see Rachel reading a book. She’s so lost in the pages that she doesn’t even notice me at first.
    How did I get to be parental? It’s not like I changed who I was to adjust to her being here. It’s more like I simply incorporated things into myself that I never knew I could. Caring for her has become a part of my routine, and it’s so much better than the burden I’d assumed it would be.
    She fills a void in me that I didn’t know I could have. Like somehow by caring for her and helping her grow, I’m redeeming a few of the sins I commit nightly. I guess there really is a heart left in me.
    When she sees me looking in at her, she gives me her best devious grin, like she’s caught me up to something, and mouths ‘I love you’ before looking back down.
    “I’ve got to go pick Aunt Leslie up. Are you going to be okay down here until I get back, troublemaker?”
    “Yes,” she says without looking back up at me.
    “Okay. Aunt Piper will be up stairs if you need anything. I’ll be back soon. And please! Stop being so loud!”
    I can hear her giggling as I close the basement door.
    I ask Piper to watch the house. She informs me there are only three girls ‘working’ at the moment so there really isn’t much to watch, but she’d be more than happy to manage things until I