At Blade's Edge

by Lauren Dane

  Inside...well, inside appeared to be the solution to many of her problems. If the flash drives and small memo books were any indication.

  “Genevieve, can you put the spell back? Make it look like we never found it?” Rowan asked as she tucked things into the messenger bag she carried.

  “I’ll pretend not to be offended by that question.”

  Rowan snorted. “Thanks. Can you perhaps lock it so we can delay the moment he realizes his stuff is gone? I need to go through it all and we don’t have the time here.” Rowan finished up, standing once more.

  “I will put it back so he believes it hasn’t been disturbed, but I’ll change the unlock. He’ll have to track down whoever crafted the spell for help. That will take more time. Then, naturally, the caster will have no luck. Ever.”

  “I really love the way you think, Genevieve. Eventually, he’ll just hack through the wall with a tool of some sort, that’s what I would do. But this gives me all sorts of time. Thank you”

  “I can also create a sphere around this little space that pickaxes can’t get through. Just for fun. They’ll realize they’ve been duped, but until they do, it will be extra frustrating. I find I like the idea of these idiots being frustrated and afraid of you.”

  Truly, her crush on Genevieve grew by leaps and bounds each time she said stuff like that. “I like that too. It’s one of my best, happiest things.”

  Genevieve cast the spell and after one last look through the house and finding nothing else, they headed out.

  * * *

  David met them back at the house. In her office, she thought with a slight frisson of fear and excitement.

  There was a lot going on, even for Rowan’s life, and it seemed she’d been fighting not to drown for a very long time.

  “You’re taking on new, powerful allies in a manner I quite approve of, darling.” Clive kissed her temple while David got the tea ready.

  “I never imagined she’d want to involve herself like this. I haven’t seen her since before I met you. I certainly appreciate the help. Goddess knows I need it right now.”

  “After all we’ve found of late, you don’t think this is the Vampires or Hunter Corp. at all, do you?” David asked as he brought a tray in.

  Rowan had gotten Carey on Skype and started the meeting after activating the very fantastic and expensive security Clive had thoughtfully paid for.

  “I don’t think whoever is pulling the strings is doing so to advance the Nation or Hunter Corp.” She held up a flash drive. “There are three of these.”

  “David, connect those to the shared network. I’ll access from here,” Carey said, his fingers flying over the keys on his end. “Don’t worry, Ro, your dude made sure the setup there had antivirus and top of the line magic shiz.”

  Rowan allowed herself a small smile. “He’s pretty okay for a Vampire, right?”

  Carey snickered as he worked. “So, you were going to tell us who the big bad is this week.”

  “I don’t know the who, but I know the what. This is magical. Genevieve knows it, which is one of the reasons she helped me at first. They’ve got their own internal shit apparently.”

  “If so, why involve Enyo and the Blood Front? Why bring Roth in?” David asked.

  “It’s a pretty Vampire move, actually. I’m impressed. The more your enemies fight with each other, the easier your job of getting rid of them both is. I don’t know the bottom line here. If there’s a pure magic thing like the Blood Front or if they’re power mad and want to rule the world. There’s a lot I don’t know right now.”

  She paged through the memo book with names and numbers that looked suspiciously like a payment log.

  Clive looked at it over her shoulder and winced as he took it all in. “Tell me he can’t have been stupid enough to write this down in such an easily deciphered way.”

  Rowan snorted. “I’m sure it’s no surprise to you just how stupid people are when they should be far more careful. My job would be way harder if they were smarter.”

  “This isn’t even encrypted,” Carey said. “Password protected, but I’ve already got some of it unraveled.”

  Rowan moved to where David sat looking at a screen he shared with Carey.

  Addresses and other coordinates, along with dates. Sick knowledge gathered in her belly as she grabbed the memo books and began to compare the dates.

  Down the page she connected things bit by bit. She pointed at the dates and then slid her finger across to what were city names and then, she realized operation titles scribbled to the side.

  “See here?” Rowan got their attention. “June 17 of last year, Geneva, and Lofty. Lofty is a field designation. It’s one of Celesse’s people from the Paris Motherhouse.”

  She rolled her chair over to the unused screen and opened up her spreadsheets. Hunter Corp. kept the data ready for easy collection at the end of every quarter. It was only put together after an op had ended.

  June of the prior year showed an operation in Switzerland, ending up in Geneva.

  “I don’t give them this much detail in my reports usually, but...” Rowan scrubbed a hand over her face. “These are meets. They appear to have been arranged through the staff at the Motherhouse here and in Paris. I’ve used at least two of the safehouses on these. This address is coded do not use now.” He’d given their enemies information used to harm not only the mission of Hunter Corp., but the people within it.

  More information popped up as she went though files. More proof. Connections between the data that had been given to some elusive someone in exchange for money were right in front of her.

  “Two of our operatives were injured on this particular trip. One spent three weeks in the hospital and is still going through physical therapy to use her right hand again. There was a fire, uh, twice that I can figure out. Data destroyed. Op ruined. Money comes in to Roth’s account some before, the rest after.”

  Roth Wesslyian was going down. Rowan would make sure of it.

  Carey set up a program to mine all the data from the flash drives, comparing with the memo books. He and David would work with Susan’s valet to go point by point.

  “I want it air tight. I want to walk in to Hunter Corp. with this data and not leave one tiny centimeter of space for him to crawl out of danger.”

  Carey’s offended expression that she’d have to remind him to be thorough made Rowan want to laugh. But she was tired and really pissed off, so she settled on a reassurance that she knew he had the skills to do such a thing and did on a regular basis.

  By the time they’d gotten everything humming, dawn was very close and Rowan knew Clive was loath to rest so she’d make sure it happened. Like he would with her. Hell, did with her all the time.

  “Carey, I want a progress report in an hour. I’m going to shower and clean up. Meet back here then.”

  “Are we headed to the Motherhouse today?” David asked.

  “Yes, I think we are. But I want all my ducks in a row before that. So, you have an hour to catnap or shower or whatever. I’ll be back.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “You don’t have to tuck me in, Rowan.” Clive tried not to gloat that she’d left her work to be with him before he slept.

  “So much happened tonight, I thought it would be nice if we could talk about our day like normal people do.”

  “I’d be far more amenable to that if you were naked.”

  She pulled her clothes off and got into his bed, sliding across sheets she knew would now have her scent.

  “Admittedly, I’m nervous that you’re so easy with me right now. After that regrettable scene at my parents’ house I wasn’t sure you’d be speaking to me.”

  She stared at him, one brow raised until he got into the pajamas he preferred to sleep in and joined her.

 
“Of course you knew I’d speak to you. Just like you knew there’d be fuckery if your uncles showed up, which is why you got very shirty indeed when they not only came but then acted a fool. It’s what you all do when you’re in groups. Put more than three Vampires in a room together and there’s always drama.”

  He stacked his pillows to allow him to lean back, inviting her to come to him.

  She did, the heat of her skin nearly searing him.

  “I won’t allow my uncles to speak to you in such a manner in the future. Not without disciplining them.”

  “You know it gets me tingly when you do that.”

  “Part of the pleasure in doing it, darling.” He was a Scion. Their superior. As his wife, Rowan was extended that stature. As The First’s daughter, she already had it. “You bring power to my House. Connections. I will not deny this pleases me.”

  “All part of the services I provide. Because I am awesome.”

  “You’re quite amused with yourself. Is there something I don’t know?”

  “I think Brigid is pumping me full of feel-good chemicals. Like Goddess wine or whatever.”

  “Well, that’s interesting.” He’d seen her like this a few times. If She thought Rowan needed a little help to not have some sort of heart attack or hie off on a killing spree because she was utterly done with Roth Wesslyian, he had no problems with that being remedied.

  Rowan laughed. “You can make so many sentences mean forty things all at the same time. I’m totally not amused by most of what has happened. I want to flip tables and twist heads off like the stem of an apple. I knew Roth had given the sorcerers the location of the safehouse in Venice, but this level of betrayal wasn’t something I’d imagined.”

  She was quiet a while. This was what he knew she struggled with so much. Rowan didn’t give trust or loyalty frivolously and both had been destroyed. Her work, her safe place was crumbling at her feet.

  “What’s his bottom line? Roth has a nice enough life. He lives like a rich asshole. He’s got a good job. Responsibility. He took an oath when he joined HC. He promised to keep us all safe. He gave his word, Clive. And he broke it.”

  “You know the price for such a thing in my world.”

  “Would killing him make any difference?”

  The question was clearly hypothetical, Clive knew. She would do it when the time came because that’s what needed to happen. That she would trust him enough to have this conversation meant a great deal to him.

  “That’s a human question. You’re not human. The difference is, he’d be dead and no further threat to you and yours. He’d be a lesson to anyone else considering such a betrayal. Nothing you do can undo what his actions created so stop focusing on unwinnable scenarios where you get to wallow in guilt. As you so bloody often like to remind me, you have a path.”

  Rowan giggled. “She loves it when you say She’s right.”

  “In this situation your Goddess is very much right. If you wait until sundown I can attend this scene you’re going to make.”

  “Uh, no. I can’t bring my husband to my rumble! Everyone will think I’m weak. I don’t need you to hold my earrings on this one, thanks.”

  “Earrings?”

  “It’s a saying. Like when women fight they take off their earrings so the other chick can’t grab them and rip them out.”

  Horror rolled through him. “This is a thing women do?”

  “You mean in between pillow fights and smearing lotion all over each other?”

  He liked the sound of that only to realize she was being sarcastic.

  “In other words, I got this. I’ll deal with this data, connect with Susan and Rex and figure out a plan. They’re going to be very angry. Susan lost a Hunter in the field last year. If it turns out Roth had anything to do with it, I can’t guarantee I’ll be the first one to Roth to kill him.”

  He hated not being at her back when she’d be walking into Roth’s territory. Clive knew she’d prevail, for Rowan there was nothing else but that. He trusted David and having spent time with Susan and Rex as Rowan recovered after her latest near death experience, he trusted them too. Everyone else’s motives were murky.

  “I have to get back to work in a few minutes and I don’t want to talk about this right now. I think you should tell me what you were like in the sixties since Thomas felt it necessary to mention it so pointedly.” Rowan petted her hand down his chest and belly.

  He laughed, warmed by the tease, by the intimacy of her touch. “I do admit to going through a rather rough stage for a few years.”

  Her eyes widened and she snuggled in closer. “Really? Oh my Goddess! You have a dark past? Like when Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer was Ripper? I wanted to bone him so hard. Now I can. Only better, of course,” she amended quickly.

  “You know how much I hate that television show.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Before you start with the sniffing and the polite ranting—complete with apologies for ranting as you rant—about Whedon’s portrayal of Vampires, we were going to talk about your dark past. You know, as a bad boy who practiced dark magic and was totally bi.”

  Caught between hilarity and horror, he managed a sigh. “No dark magic.”

  “Oh! You did boytouching stuff? With who? Tell me that too. Was it part of your dark past?”

  He rolled so she was on her back and he leaning above her. “You are a miracle.”

  Tenderness flooded her features. “Are you trying to avoid telling me about the time you and some hot regency Vamp duke crossed swords?”

  He gave up trying to stop his chuckle. “You’re very determined on this point. But back to you being a miracle.”

  “I’m sure there are many who’d disagree with you.”

  “As if anyone else’s opinion mattered.” He nipped her chin. He let her shy away from his compliments for now. “I can guarantee my uncles won’t show you disrespect in the future.”

  A memory of her ferocity made him shiver, pause at her pulse point, just beneath her ear to breathe her in.

  She slid her fingers into his hair. More petting. He hummed his pleasure.

  “We’ll see.”

  There was no mistaking the satisfaction in her tone.

  “I did not maraud through London in the 1960s in a leather jacket and a punk rock haircut.”

  “Oh.” Her frown had him kissing her hard and fast.

  “They refer to the 1760s.”

  “No leather jacket, but you had a frock coat or somesuch. That’s the same.”

  “The entire world was changing. The balance was shifting away from our freedom and security in the secrecy of our existence. So many more humans meant more food, but we died in greater numbers because more humans meant more Vampires, especially young or Made ones, were killed upon discovery.”

  He’d been performing his duty for centuries by that point. He’d been rising within the ranks of the Nation. He’d done it all without question. Without a hint of disobedience or even a second thought.

  “I’d been so sure of what I was to be. And then, I wasn’t sure anymore.” He rested his head on her chest, curling his body into hers, taking comfort in the beat of her heart and the way she touched him.

  “I can’t imagine how hard that hit you.” No cutting irony or bitterness in her tone.

  He chuckled and closed his eyes. “Of all the people I know, you understand it better than anyone else. Better than me, I imagine. You’ve had all the same training and push since birth and you’ve done it in thirty-one human years. I’d had centuries to accept my responsibilities.”

  She swallowed and then took a slow breath. “I suppose that’s true. But you like obedience.”

  He groaned. “I like it from other people, yes. I had to wrestle with that, the knowledge that I’d still be the one having to
toe the line, the one having to be obedient, unless or until I was chosen for Penultimate or Scion. I didn’t want to go on feeling as if my life and the direction of it was all in someone else’s hands. Very emo, as you’d say.”

  “Well, sure. I might tease you in other situations when you’re being a big baby. But as you just pointed out, I know what you mean. But you’ve been at this a lot longer. I’d have broken way before a few centuries.”

  “I just dropped out a while. Traveled. Discovered which substances I could get off on via human blood and which I couldn’t. Killed a lot of humans. I wallowed in what they had, what they did, how they lived and then I stole their lives. Thomas had to pay a bribe to get me out of a town lockup right before dawn. I Made someone.”

  Her heart sped a few beats but she remained silent.

  For a Vampire of his stature to have Made a human without express permission from the head of his House—in this case his father—was a career-killing error.

  That she’d shown mercy to that fledgling some other Vampire had made and then abandoned had meant a great deal to him for that reason.

  “I’ll just say I’ve been in The First’s dungeon with the lock on the other side of the door. In the end, he forgave me and I went back to my studies.” It had taken another fifty years or so to get The First’s trust back.

  “I can’t believe I never knew this story.” Emotion made her voice thick, but he knew the mention of that dungeon was a difficult trigger for her sometimes. “You were a rebel. Got arrested. Pretty much knocked a totally unsuitable chick up and then got major punishment for it.” She blew out a breath. “And then you came back from that, were put in the Penultimate pool, made Scion, kicked ass and married me. And in all that, your uncles still couldn’t come out on top. I totally get them better now.”

  Rowan had let him tell the story. Had taken some of the weight of it and then she’d said exactly the right thing so he could truly let it go.

  A miracle indeed.

  Chapter Thirteen