by Lauren Dane
Clive spoke up. “She’s right. We need to get on this and ferret out all our problems before we have too much to slog through and it spins out of control.”
Rowan shrugged one shoulder. “I’d planned to get some reconnaissance done from rooftops and stuff, but as you own that villa, I say we just walk in.”
“They won’t expect it. And if she’s in there, we won’t be wasting any more time,” Clive agreed.
Warren paced. “This is appalling. You know that, yes?”
He was as shocked as everyone else had been. He wasn’t faking it. His distress that this occurred and was happening on his ground was real and she took pity on him. “I do. Look, as annoyed as I am, Hunter Corp. didn’t know either. So, there’s nothing to do but handle it now. How you discipline your people isn’t my concern as long as they keep their shit together, consensual and in private. That’s not happening so I’m assuming you’ll deal with them or I will.”
“Understood. This will be dealt with on our end. Let’s go,” Warren said.
Everyone else left the room but she and Clive waited a few moments. He touched her arm and leaned in close. “You and I have some things to address once all this is done.”
“That so? Will you lecture me while naked?”
“You’ll be. But we both know you’d ignore a lecture, even sex based.”
Touched by his silliness, she cupped his cheek for the briefest touch and he smiled.
She let herself be happy and accept what they had. “I might pretend. If you make me come hard enough.”
The arrogant expression he wore then made her all hot. “I’m insulted you felt the need to say that.”
She laughed and he hugged her to him, one armed and then stepped back.
“You do a fine job, Scion. But sometimes you need to be kept on your toes or you might take me for granted.”
His teasing look faded into something dead serious. “I know what I have in you. I’d never take that lightly.”
He was supposed to always be an arrogant ass so she could manage him and pretend it was just sex. But he of course had to go and be impossible not to love.
“I know. Thank you. Now, I’m uncomfortable being nice so let’s move this along because if all goes according to plan I get to work out my pique with my fists so we can get back here and you can address me while naked.”
* * *
Time, when dealing with a Vampire’s world, took on a different set of expectations. There were about four hours to sunrise, which would be prime work time when most humans would be sleeping.
It just didn’t seem odd to be heading over to that villa at this late hour and once they reached the front gates, though the street was quiet, it was clear the Vampires inside the house were up. Lights shone through the windows and there was some visible activity.
Warren didn’t bother with the intercom or a request of any sort to be let in. Instead, he shoved at the gates so hard they groaned and fell away with a puff of dust as they sagged to the sides.
“Nice trick. That was some superhero shit right there.” Rowan followed them through the rubble and up the drive, though she and David weren’t as graceful as the Vampires, who just sort of hopped over it easily.
Vampires came flooding from the front doors of the massive residence but they sure as hell weren’t expecting to see two Scions and a Hunter standing outside and stuttered to a stop.
Rowan smiled at them, showing her teeth.
“What are you doing here?” one of the biggest Vampires demanded.
Rowan didn’t even see Warren move, but the other Vampire was on the ground, bleeding and Warren stood over him, eyes going amber. “You dare question your Scion? On what authority?”
The Vampire on the ground froze against Warren’s words and the rising power of those standing in the courtyard just then. His eyes went wide and very round at the realization and then panic chased it away and Rowan knew they’d come to the right place.
“My apologies, Scion. We didn’t know to expect you.”
“I don’t need to RSVP. This property belongs to me. Every Vampire inside it belongs to me too. I don’t seek permission for this.” Warren grabbed him by the collar and dragged him, up the steps and into the house where other Vampires were busy arming themselves.
“Disarm and stand down immediately.” Warren’s command froze everyone in place before the weapons they’d been holding fell to the marble floor.
Warren pointed at one of them. “You, bring me whoever is in charge here. Immediately.”
Rowan flanked left, Clive went right. Recht stood in the front doorway still, his gaze flicking around the space. No doubt measuring the threat level of everything in sight.
Then he moved, heading past them and into the heart of the villa. Rowan motioned for David to take her place before she followed Recht, getting his back.
“She’s not here,” Recht said as he paused at the top of the stairs they’d just ascended.
Rowan had been listening for the power signature of every being in that house and she agreed. “You’re the oldest Vampire in this house.”
He nodded. “But there’s older energy here.” He opened a set of double doors, revealing a posh, light tight suite beyond.
Rowan found herself in the space before she’d thought about moving. “She was here though.” Brigid stirred within Rowan, agitated.
Recht smiled then, sending a burst of fear skittering over her skin for a moment, even though all that violence in his expression had nothing to do with her.
He closed his eyes as he moved slowly through the room. Rowan studied him, as she always had. Learning.
After several minutes he opened his eyes and looked straight to Rowan. “She was here no longer than a day ago, maybe two. And she’s weaker.”
Rowan harrumphed because the whole topic agitated her.
“You’ll get there, little goddess. She’s on the run. I bet she knew we were on the way and got out fast. You sent her scampering off. Well done.”
“I want to be as scary as you when I grow up,” Rowan declared.
He laughed then. “Everyone needs goals. Let’s clear the rest of this floor.”
They did, finding two Vampires hiding in a closet, a bunch of weapons, some laptops and several cell phones. Which they brought downstairs.
Warren was still pissed, arms crossed over his chest as he glared at some Vampire who’d claimed to be in charge.
Clive leaned against a pillar, his foot on the throat of a Vampire on the ground. She wondered what that story was and was disappointed she’d missed seeing him deliver a smackdown. He was really fucking sexy when he did that.
“This Vampire claims he doesn’t know who Enyo is.” Warren’s tone was amused, but it was only a thin veneer over his anger.
Rowan moved to Warren’s side to look the Vampire he’d been questioning over. “That’s a disappointing answer, huh? What’s your name?”
The Vampire actually sneered at her. “I don’t answer to you. My Scion is in charge.”
“In charge of killing you because you harbored a criminal the Nation has issued an execution order for? Yeah he is. I’m bummed naturally, because I’d love to kill you myself. But I can live with it as long as the killing you part happens. Your Scion’s been at it longer anyway. As far as you needing to answer my questions though?”
She punched him in the face. Twice.
And then wiped his blood on his clothing. She said, you’re so beneath me I won’t even let your blood remain on my skin.
When he got that message he was even angrier that she’d punched him. He started to move to attack, but she pivoted on one foot, delivering a fist to his temple, sending him stumbling back to his ass, more blood on his face.
“Are we done yet? Sun’s coming and I wou
ld like to relax before bed.” Clive’s bored delivery made her want to grin at him over her shoulder. But she retained her I will kill you face as she glowered at the Vampire who’d tried to attack her.
“Because I’m a lot like Ms. Manners, I’m going to introduce myself first. I’m Rowan Summerwaite. I’m a Hunter. Now you.”
He flicked his gaze to Warren and she kicked him in the side hard enough to break some ribs. They’d heal soon enough. But it would hurt.
“You don’t need to look anywhere but at me. What. Is. Your. Name?”
“Klaus Krier.”
Rowan managed not to send a raised brow to Recht.
So the Lacostes and the Kriers. Important old families who apparently hadn’t learned much in their time on earth.
“Well, Klaus, you’re a liar as well as guilty of treason against your own people. I was just upstairs in the room Enyo used until yesterday. Should we try this again or do I need to hurt you more?” She held up a hand. “I should stop you by saying I’m totally good either way. Hurting you would probably help me sleep better.”
“If you don’t tell me what the hell has been going on, Klaus, I’m going to kill you so slowly it’ll take years.” The power and command flowed from Warren like a shove.
“This is about the health of our people. Go on and tell him, Klaus. We should not be ashamed of our goals,” one of the Vampires Alice had been holding shouted this out with the fervor of the newly converted.
Beings with as much power as Vampires were dangerous enough. Give them a cause or a belief and it had sent them into fervor more than once over history.
It was how the war originally started between the Vampires and the group that eventually formed Hunter Corp.
“If she wanted them to know she’d tell them.”
“May I?” Clive asked Warren, indicating the Klaus with a wave of his hand. He wasn’t the Scion here so Rowan noted his manners and was pretty impressed given the level of friction between the two Vampires.
Warren’s face took on the same bored mien as Clive wore. “You can if you don’t leave him such a mess he won’t know I’m torturing him for not cooperating.”
“I’ll do my level best. But.” Clive’s shrug was elegant and menacing all at once. He rarely got this way but holy shit it was so hot. She wanted to be back at the villa, behind a locked door naked and being sex lectured, not playing this dumb game.
“Oh for fuck’s sake! Klaus, this one over here? He’s the Scion of North America. That one?” Rowan pointed to Recht. “He’s one of the Five. You can’t win. We already know this is Blood Front activity. We already know Enyo was here. We already know you were behind the attacks tonight at the wine bar and a private residence. She left you all exposed but she’s gone and we’re here. A distant threat as opposed to a blatant promise. Don’t be more stupid than you already are. I thought you creatures liked to pontificate about your plans and machinations like you’re all Machiavelli? If that’s not true and it’s only in the company I keep I’m going to be super pissed at how much pontificating I’ve been listening to over the years.”
“I do find it incredible that Clive can get you to shut up long enough to kiss you.” Warren rolled his eyes.
“He’s magic that way. Anyhow, Klaus, you gonna tell us all the master plan or tell us anyway but have it ripped from you and leave you a lump? You can’t brag if it’s the latter.”
The Vamp on the floor kept swiveling his head to look back and forth between them, confused. He could resist Warren’s power to answer a general question by avoiding a subject or trying to change the topic. Which meant Warren would have to ask him very specific questions, which would take longer and she was done waiting for Vampires to make up their minds on stuff.
“Yo, Klaus.” She knelt in front of where he’d remained partially on his back. “Tick tock. I have things to do. This is a one-way street. You know it. You knew it when you threw in with the Blood Front. I bet you all made a big deal of it. How brave you are to stick it to the man. So tell me about it. Go on. Impress me with your master plan.”
“Make fun all you want, but your day is done, human. The time when Vampires look to Hunter Corp. or humans to exist is over. We descend from kings! Why should we have to bow to humans?”
Oh goddess, this one. Rowan kept her features impassive. They always said too much when they bragged. “Sure. So how you do plan to make that happen?”
“You started it!” He pointed to Warren and Clive. “You didn’t have to agree to let the Hunter Corp. be our masters. You signed us over to them. Again. There are those of us who are tired of waiting. She came to you in good faith and you pursue her. It is you who violates the law!”
Rowan thanked her luck that night when neither Scion argued back with Klaus.
“How long have you been with the Blood Front?”
“Fifteen years.”
Fifteen years? Years? What the hell? Why had they been so quiet until just recently? Yes, the Joint Tribunal and the addition of an amendment to the Treaty had stirred up people on both sides. But this was more. That sort of agitation could explode into action, but it was also shallow and easily dealt with and extinguished.
Rowan knew right at that moment that while the Vampire Nation hadn’t known Enyo was about to crack open a can of governmental overthrow, they had known more about the Blood Front than she’d assumed.
Or been led to assume.
* * *
She couldn’t get a look at Clive because she had to keep herself locked down and she didn’t want Klaus to see any weakness in their team. But she’d get her answers all right.
“Why not declare war then? If you’re sure your path is righteous, why do you not take it boldly and openly?” Warren asked.
“Because this would happen. You would stamp us out. Like you’re doing now. So we act smart and when the time comes we will reveal ourselves. We’ve been around a long time. We can be patient.”
“How long has the Blood Front existed?” Rowan asked before Warren could speak again. The jagged change in his energy hit her shoulder and arm as she got her own damned answer.
“Centuries. It’s an exclusive club you know.”
Of course it was. Every Vampire organization ever was an exclusive club because they were all assholes that way.
“Have the Kriers been Blood Front all this time?”
“No.”
Warren snarled. “Answer the question!”
“My father and I were the first. My grandfather doesn’t know but my uncles and brothers do now.”
“Where do you think Enyo went?” Warren leaned close, his voice the barest whisper but it cut through her on the way to Klaus.
If he’d asked where Enyo went the Vampire could say, and honestly so, that he didn’t know. Enyo wouldn’t tell any of these lackeys where she was going and leave herself vulnerable.
But ask what he thought? Rowan was impressed with Warren’s skill. Also, he’d shifted the conversation away and if he thought she hadn’t noticed she’d take all that impressed stuff back.
Klaus visibly attempted to clamp down on the words. His body tightened as he fought it.
“Enyo loves sorcery. I bet she put a pretty little geas on everyone here. But it can’t defeat what is in his very cells, allegiance to his Scion.” Generations of allegiance. Century upon century of obedience and loyalty. Even though he appeared to have shifted his loyalties, he couldn’t resist the magic he was born to.
“Italy,” burst from Klaus’ lips.
“What city in Italy do you think she went to?”
“V-Venice.”
“When did she leave Prague?”
“She was gone when I awoke tonight.”
“What’s the household feeling on when she left?”
The Vampire Clive was stepping
on yelled and the sound died on a gurgle as Clive bent to grab him by the throat and gripped tight enough to choke off air.
“No one saw her go to rest at sunrise. It could have been any time after she left the house to feed at nine or so that night.”
“Why do they think that?”
“We got news you were coming.” Klaus was defeated by that point. He’d expended all his will, which Rowan thought was disgusting. He lay there, staring up at Warren, answering questions without even trying to protect Enyo.
“Keep going. What did you do tonight?”
“We were sent to dispatch the Vampires at the bar who were going to betray her and the Blood Front. And then we heard about the one in the apartment block in Chodov. They haven’t returned so we wondered if you had found them. That’s how you found us here?”
Warren’s features went so hard and sharp Rowan leaned back a little. “We found you here because this house belongs to Sangre International, which apparently no one saw fit to tell me until a human had to. For that humiliation alone I would have killed you.”
They got some more details from him, but the nature of their organization meant they really didn’t know a whole lot about specifics other than what their own cell was up to.
Before they left these Vampires to Recht though, Rowan had to correct some misperceptions.
“Oh and Klaus? You don’t descend from kings.” Rowan made air quotes around the last word. “You descend from Theo. The First. Every last one of you descends from him. Your disobedience is to your king. The Kriers have taken an esteemed place of trust in the Vampire Nation and broken it. You betray the oath that has kept you safe and prosperous for generations. You have consorted with a being who attempted to shame all Vampires with the laws she’s broken. And you didn’t even do a good job with that. You will not die well and your family will be hunted down until every last collaborator is no longer. Know this before you take your last breath—that’s all your fault.”