by Lauren Dane
“You know me so well.”
“That’s what they pay me the big bucks for.”
“Oh, you made a joke! I’m having such a good influence on you.”
The car was waiting for them just a few blocks away and it was nice to use her Czech since she’d gotten rusty. She’d also be able to park it securely in the same location, which meant freedom from Nation politics at least in that one thing.
“So, do either of you want to hazard a suggestion on which place to head to first?”
“I don’t think she’s going to be sleeping rough. That’s not her style,” Alice ventured. “Given the relative importance Vampires as old as she would place on the opulence of her lifestyle, she’s not going to opt for anything but the very best.”
David nodded. “I’d like to think she’s sleeping in a crypt under the Bone Church, but I have to agree with Alice. She’s going to be close to the city if she’s here. Otherwise why do it?”
The thought of Enyo hiding out in some country house when Prague was so fabulous? Rowan agreed with them both.
“We can walk to one of the addresses so let’s do that. If a bunch of pompous Nation Vampires have a fully stocked and staffed villa up here, it’s not a stretch to imagine Enyo doing the same.”
The streets up near the castle were lush with trees. There were people out and about but it wasn’t exceptionally crowded. Enough to provide some cover as they shifted from group to group as she circled the block where the large, gated home was located.
There were plenty of Vampires in the area, Rowan knew that much. Their energy was easy enough to locate. This was a good lead, though she didn’t really feel any power as ancient as Enyo’s.
But they weren’t all baby Vampires either.
Alice separated from them, linking her arm with a man standing outside a quiet little café. She spoke in an undertone but Rowan felt the wave of her persuasion.
Rowan took note of a few places to get a better view of the other side of the tall stone wall surrounding the house.
Alice leaned in close to the man and then kissed him, walking down the street away from the house. At the end of the block she tipped her head and Rowan headed down the parallel street to meet up with Alice several blocks away.
“He says there was a lot of activity last week at the house. Mainly in the evenings. Pale skin. Expensive cars. He never saw a female though.”
“There’s an apartment building across the street. I’m going to see what sort of view I can get from the roof. I want to see what’s on the other side of the wall.” She paused and looked up at Clive as he approached. “Good evening.”
“Have a nice stroll?”
Rowan took a quick look, noting the lack of blood. His hair was still perfect and after he fought it was mussed up. “I take it you handled your whatever with Warren. As for our stroll? As a matter of fact we totally did enjoy it.”
Clive’s smile changed and she could tell he was amused. “There’s a lovely little wine bar we’re expected in shortly. Why don’t you come back to the house and we can all talk about it.”
“Because there’s a lot of posturing and dick measuring and it’s boring and makes me want to punch every one of you people in the nose. Except for Alice because she’s a superior specimen. And Recht because he would punch me back and clean my clock.”
He put a hand over his heart. “Even me? I’m wounded.”
“That was some pretty decent sarcasm. It’s the British thing, right?”
He took her hand and tugged, bringing her down the sidewalk along with him as Alice and David followed.
“Don’t think we won’t discuss the way you snuck out of here earlier,” Clive murmured as they got back to the house and David and Alice had gone inside.
“I’m up for that,” Rowan said with enthusiasm.
He nearly tripped over his feet as he came to a halt when she’d responded that way. Which made her laugh even harder. She bumped her hip to his.
“Just kidding, sport. I don’t negotiate with terrorists.”
“What on earth does that mean?”
“It means fuck off. I do what I want.”
“Of course it does. How could I not know that?” His tone was dry, but he was amused. Deep down.
“I don’t get it either. It’s like you’re new here.” Rowan went inside, smile on her face.
* * *
Clive watched the confidence in her stride—along with her arse—as she headed into the operations room.
Warren looked her up and down. “We’ve got a meeting set up with one of my sources in about forty minutes. It’s not far. Where did you go?”
“I went to work. It’s why I’m here.” She looked around the room but said nothing, accepting the Nation Vampires had been sent away because she’d insisted.
And being exactly correct because that’s who she was.
Rowan got to work. “We’ve done some reconnaissance at this address.” She pointed to the map. “Alice spoke with a neighboring business owner who says people who can pretty much be described as Vampires were there last week but it’s been quiet for a day or two. There’re a few spots I’m going to attempt to get a better look from so I’ll head over just before dawn and get into place. Plenty of Vampire energy though. I’m sure you’ve got plenty around here, Prague being the perfect gothic wallowing spot for all the Vampire emo types. So, it could be that. But I don’t think so. Don’t know who they are or why they’re here, but there are a fuckton of Vamps in that house.”
She looked from the map back to the rest of the people in the room. “You said we had a meeting with sources? We’ll handle that then I’ll head back to that house. After sunrise will do me nicely.”
Warren started to argue and Rowan stared at him, daring him to make an issue out of the way she’d taken control again.
They all knew she’d only take so much Vampire politics before she dealt with things on her own. There was no reason to be surprised or even offended by it. She was driven and couldn’t possibly care less about hierarchy within the Nation except to protect her father and, Clive had to admit with great internal satisfaction, him as well.
“I assume we’ll head to this meet with your sources early? So we can get a look at the layout before we walk into it?” Rowan asked.
“I’m not freshly turned, Rowan.” Warren did this thing to his voice that embarrassed Clive on the other male’s behalf.
Rowan only snorted at Warren. “I suppose not. What I’d like to see is a map of the Vamp population within a twenty-five mile radius.”
“You’re mad to think the Nation would share that with a Hunter!”
“I’m going to get you a string of pearls to clutch every time I say something outrageous. I’m totally mad. Barking. And yet, if that villa I was just at regularly housed older Vampires I’d know more than I do now. It could be a guest house. An estate owned by some old Vampire family and people use it when they come to Prague. Whatever it was, I’d have more information. Which would help me track her down. The entire point of this exercise, remember?”
“Give her the data,” Recht said with a scowl.
“This is my ground. I am Scion here. I make the decisions regarding this sort of situation,” Warren faced Rowan when he spoke, but it was clear he meant his reply for Recht.
Rowan threw her hands up in the air. “You see, this is why I fought the idea of a team with the Nation to start with. This stupid, pointless display of feathers and power game nonsense. I don’t have anything to prove to you, Warren. I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Hunter Corp. I’m going to find her and kill her. I’d like the help but it’s going to happen regardless of your feelings on the matter. Killing Vampires, contrary to whatever you have in your head, is a huge pain in my ass. There’s paperwork. If I wanted to sca
mper about the planet gleefully lopping off heads and stabbing Vampires to death, I’d be doing it and I wouldn’t need a map from you, or a paid position from Hunter Corp. to make it happen.”
Clive pushed away from the wall. “Enough. Rowan, you’ll get the data. There’s no reason to hie off on your own.”
“There’s a reason right here.” She flicked a hand at Warren. “We’ve known from the start that to get hunting we’d be in someone’s territory. One of you Scions would be dealing with a hunt on your ground and the others in the group would have to suck it up that they weren’t in charge at the same level. You all repeatedly assured me this was not going to be a problem and yet, it totally is.”
“Rowan, will you excuse us for a moment?” Clive asked. He thought they’d handled this but apparently not. “Five minutes. Alice, please get her the data she’s requested.”
Warren didn’t argue.
“You have six minutes. If this issue still exists when I walk back in here? I’m done with every fucking one of you. Well, not you.” She looked to Clive. “But this hunt.”
She left, David at her heels. Alice nodded at him crisply and he was sure would handle this as well as she did everything else.
Recht held his hand up. “Scion, if I might.”
Clive waved a hand.
“She’s not yours.” Recht tossed this at Warren hard enough to bring both Clive and Warren’s attention snapping into place.
“What are you talking about?”
“I understand. She’s exceptional. But she’s made her choice and her choice is Clive. She’s had enough to manage, I won’t allow you to make this worse. We need her and she needs her focus. Her focus is this hunt.”
Well. That was unexpected.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. This is my land. Of course I take control here. And she’s not with Clive. She fucks him.”
Before Clive even thought it through, he’d rushed the room, grabbed Warren by the throat, lifted and thrust up into the wall hard enough to knock things down. Cold, detached rage seemed to ice through his veins. That part of him that would never be close to human surged to the fore to protect what was his. “Think upon your next words very carefully. She is mine and I will not tolerate your speaking of her in such a way.”
“You haven’t claimed her.”
Clive squeezed tighter. “Stop struggling because you need to hear me and also get as much oxygen as you can to stay alive.”
Recht sat, watching but not intervening.
“I don’t need to mark Rowan so you can see it. It’s enough that she sees it. Which is why a Vampire like you doesn’t have her and I do. You should also understand I would do anything to protect her, because, as I just told you, she’s mine. Your feelings are irrelevant but for one point, you need to accept right this moment that you have no chance. None. You’re making a fool out of yourself, you’re making her job harder—which displeases me—and you’re still not going to have her.”
Clive let him go, stepping back but not turning around.
“One last thing. I will kill anyone who is a threat to her.”
Warren glared as he straightened. “She’d be angry you didn’t trust her to take care of her own business.”
“You can’t bait me, Warren. Get yourself in order and stop acting like your incisors just descended. I’m going now, I’ll meet you all in the foyer in ten minutes so we can get to the meet early and size the area up.”
Then Clive turned his back and left the room.
Chapter Ten
As they came up the sidewalk heading to the wine bar, Clive slowed as he realized the sounds of evening had stopped. The silence hanging in the air was ominous. Hesitant and afraid. The street was deserted and the hair on the back of his neck pricked up as his incisors elongated, readying.
Something was wrong and in another breath, that was underlined as the sticky-sweet stench of death blood hit Clive’s senses.
He glanced toward Rowan, whose expression told him she knew the same. With a few hand signals, they all fanned out.
Clive pushed everything from his mind but the moment. His senses rocketed out, heightened hearing, he could smell the fear, the death, the pain and anger still in the air. There had been other predators in the area and not very long ago.
The wine bar had been shuttered, but it was clear something had happened inside.
Recht held up a hand to stop them as he peered closely at the catch where the shutters had been hastily closed.
He shook his head. Traps were part and parcel of what they did so it wasn’t so hard to be wary when it came to opening those doors up.
From the corner of his vision he watched Rowan hop up on a tall stone wall, nimbly walking along the edge. Just as nimbly she leapt from there to the second floor balcony above the wine bar and disappeared inside.
In moments she’d showed up downstairs, pushing the front doors open. “It’s bad,” she murmured as they passed her and entered the wine bar.
She’d been right.
There was no other way to describe the scene but as a massacre. Blood spatters and bits of gore covered every conceivable surface including the ceiling and the underside of tables and chairs.
Limbs had been strewn around, torn from the human victims heaped here and there.
They hadn’t even fed really. This...destruction was wanton in the worst sort of way. It disgusted Clive to be associated with any being who’d do this.
He met Warren’s gaze as the other Scion cursed and took in the scene. “Looks like six human victims, given the various parts. Three scorch marks and some dust. Sound right to you?” Warren asked.
“That was my estimate as well,” Clive nodded.
Recht came in through the back. “Blood trail leading through the kitchen and out the rear door. There was a fairly crude booby trap but I handled it. I did a cursory sweep but found no more. There’s a three car lot back there. The blood leads to one of the spots and disappears.”
“So they flew or got in a car,” Rowan said.
“That would be my best guess. Once I’m done here, I’ll head off to see if I can pick up that blood scent anywhere else.”
Warren thanked Recht and pulled his phone from an inner pocket. “Let me call a team to clean this up.” He headed off to a corner while the rest of them checked the remaining bodies in the room for any identification.
The fury rolled from Rowan in waves so hot he sensed them from across the room. She took in the mess with a curled lip.
She put her toe on a scorch mark. “I hope the human who killed this one made it hurt. A lot.”
“Some of these might be my sources. They were good Vampires, Rowan. They wouldn’t have done this. Not to innocents and surely not in public. Prague is full of Vampires, yes, but older ones. Less emo as you claimed and more Byron and Keats. This is sloppy. Not their style at all. This is repugnant.” Warren waved a hand, disgusted.
She sighed. “You’re right. I apologize.”
One warrior to another as was appropriate. Warren nodded, accepting the apology and they moved on, getting back to work until the clean up crew arrived.
* * *
From there they headed back to the house. After a quick clean up, they re-convened in the ops room and worked until Recht arrived, wearing a dour expression.
“Why don’t we do an update on everyone’s status?” Warren asked and when they all agreed, he went first. “One of my people has handled the police. The owner of the bar was one of mine. His brother will take over tomorrow. He’s also promised to help in any way he can.”
Rowan nodded, pacing as she listened. “Did he have children?”
“Why?” Warren eyed her carefully.
“Because Hunter Corp. has a fund for the children of parents who’ve
been slain in Vampire-related violence. This most assuredly was, wasn’t it? Even Vampire kids have to eat and need new clothes and stuff.”
“I’m the one who has to apologize now,” Warren said. “I misjudged you and your intentions.”
“It’s fine.” And it was or Rowan wouldn’t have said it. Like he’d said her name aloud, her gaze cut his way for a moment. Once they’d connected she put her attention back on the job. “Shitty night all around.” Rowan paused. “And I’m about to make it worse when I tell you it looks like your source was exposed so where’s the leak?”
Vampires killed one another all the time. They were a contentious group. The young were impetuous but powerful and the old got progressively disconnected with the rules and filters that kept one from pulling someone’s spine out over a minor offense.
But for the most part, they killed one another clean. There were rules. That scene was an ultimate violation of everything the Vampire Nation stood for. The risk of exposure from a scene like that? The fact that it had happened in the presence of a Hunter alone brought Clive’s hands into fists of rage. Multiple Treaty violations bringing Hunter Corp. squarely into their business. And rightfully so.
“I’m not going to report this to Hunter Corp,” Rowan spoke at last.
All four Vampires looked to her, surprised.
“It serves nothing to report it. First, I’d have to deal with Roth the asshole. And he’s an asshole, as I said. Second, it would eat up time. I have little of it. Third, it won’t bring any of those humans back. Lastly? You need to understand I will kill each and every Vampire I find responsible for that unholy mess back there. I need no warrant. If you’re clear on that, I’m clear and we’re good.”
“I find no fault in that. Though if I find them first, I will kill them. This is my ground, this happened to Vampires under my protection,” Warren said.
Rowan shrugged at his words. “Dead is dead.”
Recht filled them all in on his activities. “I managed to track at least one of the fleeing Vampires to the front of the Four Seasons. He didn’t go inside. There’s a street car that runs out front as well as numerous busses, cabs and two metro stops within easy distance.”