by Lauren Dane
“Let me set about getting the information as to what cabs were called from the bell desk at the Four Seasons.” David tapped Rowan’s arm and she nodded before he left the room.
“He’s awesome at getting people to do things he wants them to,” Rowan murmured as she looked at the papers on the table before her.
“We could call, but I think it’s better if we pay a visit to my source in person.” Warren looked down at the phone in his hand. “The one we were meeting at the wine bar was sent on orders of another. He’ll be skittish if he’s heard about this. You can cover me. We have to go in quiet. He’ll run if he sees us coming.”
Rowan took a deep breath. “I suppose that’s also a good sign she’s here. Or she was and they want to keep us here so she can leg it elsewhere. Whatever the case, her stench is all over this city. I can’t wait to find her one-eyed ass and kill her dead, dead, dead.”
Clive moved past her, breathing her in as he did, sipping her power. She gave him a look under her lashes and he smiled, just a brief one for her eyes only.
Bloodthirsty. Mmm.
* * *
A giant, black luxury SUV waited for them as they left the house. Rowan eyed it but said nothing, though it was laden with judgment.
Clive disagreed. This vehicle was big enough for all of them and it was clearly armored.
He came to Prague frequently enough that he knew, too, that SUVs like the one they were in dotted the city all the time these days so there was no reason not to be comfortable and safer too.
They headed away from the city center and toward the big blocks of apartments ringing it. Hundreds of thousands lived in these mini cities under communist control and even now nearly forty percent of residents of Prague still called them home. Plenty of lights were on all over the blocks. But after they parked and began to head into the heart of the jungle of buildings, it was fairly quiet.
Once Warren had them all come to a halt at the edge of a building, David handed a pair of binoculars to Rowan, who waved them away. “Don’t need them anymore.”
Clive sent her a raised brow but didn’t comment. He’d save it for when they were alone.
David watched through the scope in the high powered rifle he carried. Recht had taken position across the courtyard, perched on someone’s balcony. Clive passed Rowan to settle in south of her and the apartment Warren was headed to. Alice was back at the house, coordinating all the various arms of that night’s operation.
And suddenly Clive knew something was wrong. He sped from his place, keeping low, noting Rowan had left her place and was running across the small concrete courtyard, moonlight glinting off the edge of the sword she’d drawn.
He followed and knew Recht did the same as they burst into an attack in progress inside that flat.
Clive let the animal part of him take over, let the teeth tear from his gums, let his muscles take over to propel him into the room to tear a Vampire off Warren’s back.
“Thanks, mate. Don’t kill that one if you can help it,” Warren called out right before he ripped the throat of one of his attackers.
Rowan pinned their prisoner to the wall with her blade through the Vampire’s chest. “Don’t move or the blade will slice your heart and you’ll die.”
“So romantic, darling.” Clive drew the curtains back over the broken out window. No one moved or made noise outside, but they could only hide it for so long, so they needed to get this wrapped up.
“I’d rather he moved and died.” Rowan shrugged. “But if I can’t kill him, I guess knowing he’s freaked is a little bit of a salve to my agitated nerves.” She leaned close to the Vampire she’d impaled. “What’s your story then? Didn’t get enough love as a kid? Mom never tucked you in? I can relate. My dad liked to whip me bloody. And I’m not a Vampire like you so it took me a long time to heal up. It’s the root cause of my general crankiness and dislike of Vampires. But I did something positive with all my rage. Look at you and your bad choices.”
He dropped to the ground with a pained grunt when she pulled her blade free, bending to wipe it on the Vampire’s shirt before returning it to the sheath.
Once that was done, Rowan grabbed the prisoner by the hair and hauled him behind her like a bag of laundry. Clive made sure the way was clear for her to get their captive back to the car, which she did remarkably fast.
He got in on her other side and she scowled.
“This is some real bullshit, Scion.” She pointed to the leather jacket she wore. “I really love this coat and now it’s covered in Vampire goo.” Her scowl turned into something else. Something dirty and his cock approved mightily.
“I’m sure there are papers you can fill out to get it cleaned at Nation expense. Or I can buy you a new one.”
“You sure know how to spoil a girl.” Rowan’s satisfied tone made him smile.
“I’ve got centuries of practice.”
She laughed and bumped the slow healing Vampire between them as she did. “He’s a card, that one, right? What’s your story? What’s your name? You should tell me or I’ll make one up and it won’t be nice. I should do that anyway because your friends made a mess with their internal organs all over my clothes.”
“Your name,” Warren barked. And as that Vampire lived in Warren’s territory, the compulsion to obey was too strong for any but the strongest to deny.
“Szabo.”
“Really?” Rowan snickered.
“That was my father’s name!”
Rowan shook her head. “You don’t get to be indignant with me, Szabo. That makes me cranky. I didn’t name you something weird. Blame the mom who never cut the crusts off your bread.”
He started babbling, this time Clive recognized Magyar.
Rowan cut him off. “Don’t care about your name really. What we do care about is why you were in that flat attacking Nation Vampires.”
Once back at the villa, they loaded the prisoner into the house. Clearly impatient, Rowan gave them all a censuring look. “This is your deal. Crack Szabo here so we can get moving.”
“Tell us what you were doing at Gabor’s flat.” Warren’s voice was smooth and calm, but the command in it was unmistakable. As Scion, Clive had the same hold on the Vampires who lived on his grounds in North America. But lone wolf Vampires were harder to crack because they never cleaved to any leadership.
Harder, but not impossible. Clive had his own range of skills and gifts that came from his line. One of them was the ability to go in and take whatever he wanted from a Vampire’s head. It was messy usually and quite often fatal so he rarely used it.
Clive gave Szabo a glare, rarely didn’t mean never. Fatal or not, they’d have answers.
* * *
Rowan pretended to be relaxed as Warren began to interrogate the Vampire but really, she was in a killing mood. Not that being in a killing mood was unusual for her, but it meant that she had to accept that this was more than Enyo, damn it.
This had conspiracy all over it. Conspiracies took a lot of time. People who plotted them were usually assholes she needed to kill or maim.
Rowan didn’t have the time for this to be a conspiracy.
Recht stood near the doorway, his presence scary and threatening. Even if Warren didn’t have the mojo to get Szabo to tell all, Recht could have done it in moments.
Clive as well. She knew he had a gift from Theo’s line. One that enabled him to reach into memories and take what he needed.
Szabo at least got the idea he should give the appearance of cooperation. “I got a text. It told me to go there.”
Warren slowly raised one brow and Rowan settled in.
“One of the things that irks me most, Szabo, is having to play semantics with my subjects to get them to obey me. I don’t like it. Describe exactly your purpose in going to Gabor’s flat,” Warren
ordered.
“I was told to go to that address and kill anyone inside.”
“On whose orders do you act? Do not attempt to avoid answering.”
Szabo’s mouth hardened but he was weak already so he didn’t hesitate long. “I don’t know who sent the text. But the orders usually come from Lacoste or his people.”
Everyone froze at the name of one of the most influential old lines in the Nation. And it was the name they already had from Theo’s little jaunt into vengeancetown.
It was Recht who spoke then. “Francois Lacoste?”
Szabo nodded. “Yes.”
Recht and Rowan shared a look. Theo was going to lose his shit so they needed to handle Lacoste before Theo got it into his head to do it first.
“How are you involved with Lacoste?” Recht used his super spooky whisper. She’d spent years trying to mimic it but she never came close.
“Blood Front.” The words were torn from Szabo’s lips and she wanted to beat him bloody with them.
He looked to her, terrified, at the sound she made. Recht smiled and that was a blue ribbon she’d remember forever.
“Who else do you speak to in the Blood Front?”
Szabo gave the names of three other Vampires but didn’t have much more. The Blood Front appeared to work in blind cells, which limited their exposure in situations just like this one.
“Who died in that flat tonight?” Recht continued.
“She’s going to kill me!” Szabo screamed and Rowan slapped him hard enough to shut him down.
“Who is she?” Rowan demanded.
Szabo shook his head, gaze frantic and fearful. Rowan didn’t have their nifty power of compulsion so Warren stepped in and repeated the question.
“Gabor died. We killed him when he opened the door to us. There was another in the flat with him. I don’t know who. He and Pavel struggled but Pavel killed him. That’s when you burst in.”
She may not have Vampire compulsion, but she had other tools to get some compliance. Rowan reached down into her boot, slid the stiletto from its sheath and stabbed his hand through the table before he’d even realized she was moving.
Szabo screamed and Rowan leaned in, taking his jaw in her now-bloody hand and squeezing. “Be quiet. I know just how to stab you and not do permanent damage. Which means I also know how to stab you and make sure you’ll never be able to use this hand again. Shall I tell you which method I prefer?”
Once the violence hit that level the power in the room rose and crackled against her skin. She dug her nails in deep and stared into his eyes. Brigid rode through her then, that magic flowing effortlessly once Rowan called on it.
Szabo went very still, his eyes gone a little dreamy.
Rowan leaned even closer, her hands gripping the arms of the chair. “I’m done fucking around with your bullshit. You think Enyo is scary? She still only have one eye?”
He nodded.
“I did that. You get me? You’ve been commanded to tell your Scion what happened and why. Instead you’re dancing around wasting my time. My time is valuable so that offends me. When you offend me and then play shitty little word games to get around the question like you think you’re smart? That makes me want to choke you with your intestines. You’re a pawn, you stupid fuck. You’re a handful of pebbles she tossed my way because she knows I’m coming for her. I don’t need to kill you as scarily as Enyo, I just need to do it first. But I am scarier.” She shrugged and let go, wiping her hand off on his shirt. “Talk or I’ll rip your jaw off. Then it’ll grow back and I’ll ask you again.”
And he talked.
Chapter Eleven
Once they’d cleaned up the mess in the situation room, they’d begun to add all the information Szabo had given them to what they already knew.
Recht came back after he’d made a call back to the Keep. “The Lacostes will be apprehended and questioned.”
Which meant the Nation was sending the Five after them. Since Recht was with them and Nadir would need to stay back at the Keep to monitor The First, it wouldn’t be all of them, but these were The First’s personal guard, one of them could more than handle it. Three? A hearty good luck to anyone who thought they could withstand that.
Rowan sighed long and annoyed. “I knew this Enyo crap was going to have politics all over it. Here’s my question, boys, how the hell did this Blood Front group get so comfortably funded? And now all these old Vamps are jizzing all over themselves to get a special invite to the party? Maybe I should let Theo come out to play more often to keep you dumbasses afraid of him like you should be. This was going on in pretty plain view. Why was no one looking?”
“Are you insinuating I can’t hold my ground?” Warren asked.
“Put your dick away, Warren. Do you need a hankie for your tears? What I’m saying, because I don’t need to insinuate, is the Nation has been asleep at the switch and now this is a big ass mess that I’m going to have to clean up and this will most assuredly mean paperwork. And we all know how I feel about paperwork.”
“You just make David do it anyway,” Recht teased.
She sent a glare to Recht and then snorted. “Yes, but I still have to deal with Hunter Corp. bullshit and politics and I have to be nice and not punch anyone at the office even though we all know Roth Wesslyian needs a punch to the face.” Rowan smirked. “Well, another one. Also, this conspiracy stuff means I’m going to have to talk on the phone. A lot.”
“Why didn’t Hunter Corp. know?” Clive countered.
“That’s a good question.” And it was. This part of Europe had a Hunter but she was retiring, and Rowan had quite often felt she’d been pretty damned ineffective when she was active.
The problem was, if Rowan started poking around and it was obvious, she’d get dragged in to some quicksand Hunter Corp. administrative rules stuff. It would take forever and Enyo would have an even bigger lead and more time to dig in without Roth getting in her way.
She’d find out why, but she’d be sneaky and quiet about it until she had more information and after she’d handled Enyo.
“Sorry you made me send my Vampires away?” Warren said in such a smug voice she had to grip her pen tighter to keep from popping him one.
“Let me give you an essential Rowan Summerwaite truth. I’m never sorry to see less lackeys. I’m never sorry to not have to hack my way through Vampire ridiculousness in the form of entourages. We clear?”
“You’re very cranky.” Warren lifted a shoulder. “You’re far too powerful a being to be so angry all the time.”
Rowan paused. “I’m angry all the time because I’m a powerful being. I think about how hot Jared Leto is to keep from going nuts on everyone. We all have our ways of coping.”
“Who is this Jared Leto?” Clive demanded and she nearly giggled and swooned because it was so hot and unexpected.
“He’s Jordan Catalano, Clive. My heart is yours, but sometimes, a tiny part of my other bits think about him. Not while you’re in the room, I promise.”
“He’s an actor and a musician,” David said mildly as he placed a cup of tea in front of Rowan.
“Honestly, you spoil all my fun, David.”
Clive didn’t look any less unhappy though, so without thinking, Rowan smiled at him. “Even if he gets less than twenty percent of all my pop culture references, he’s pretty all right. I prefer him over Jared and those mile long lashes of his.”
Total surprise burst over Clive’s features and then there was nothing else to call it but love. This man loved her. And as freaked out as that made her that she’d fuck it up royally, it also pleased her. And maybe she should let herself be something more than angry all the time.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she looked at the text on the screen. “Motherfucker.” She put her phone down and opened her inb
ox to find Carey’s email and attachments. She downloaded them all and managed to get the document she needed ready. “Here’s a thing. Before I left the Keep I had Carey working on figuring out who owned each of those properties on our list of leads. Not surprisingly it was a shell of a shell of a shell with layers of corporations and trusts. Thankfully, Carey is a beast and he managed to finally distill it down.” With a few keystrokes the graphic Carey had made showed up on the whiteboard so everyone could see. “That villa we looked at earlier is owned by a front company that’s owned by someone else and that’s owned by Sangre International. Which is you guys.”
Warren looked down at the records he’d given her hours before and then back to her. “We can’t. I’d know.”
She shoved her laptop his way so he could take a closer look. “Because I’m so compassionate I’m going to say it as nicely as I can.” Clive snorted and she gave him a look. “It’s impolite to interrupt with your noises of derision, Scion.”
“Which is why you do it so often?” he replied.
Someone was feeling sassy. She got the feeling he was all worked up over the way she’d interrogated Szabo. When they finally got naked later it was going to be the kind of session that left her bruised and sore. Which was just dandy with her.
Rowan snickered. “When I do it though, it’s necessary. You guys just do it because you’re Vampires. Like oh no! There’s something I don’t know? It can’t be!” She clutched her chest dramatically as she flailed.
“I thought you said you were going to be nice.”
Rowan rolled her eyes at Recht. “This is me being super nice. I want to punch people. There I was, feeling tender about my Vampire boyfriend. I was attempting to not be perpetually angry, wasn’t I? And you guys did it again so my tender feelings are all gone and I’m left with all the grumpy ones.”
She took a deep breath. “Look, it’s clear there’s a whole lot going on that none of us knew about. Hunter Corp. has its own set of complicated issues so I’m not throwing stones like that. But if you have a problem within Sangre, that’s Nation business and that means your leak is pretty highly placed.”