I looked into Mercy’s desperate eyes. “You think he’s a half-caste turned vampire groupie who thinks I’m the next best thing because I don’t see him as a lesser race? Even if that was true, what does it prove?”
“I think he asks too many questions and he shows no fear of someone that should make him quake in his shoes. He wasn’t even intimidated by walking through our front door and we could have ripped him to shreds and buried the pieces in the backyard with no one the wiser. That says to me that he has spent time with something scarier than us.”
“Like a vampire.”
“Exactly. Whoever hired this woman had to search the groupie scene to find someone willing to do anything to be near a vampire and newbies stick out, this would have had to have been a regular, maybe someone who wanted to find a vampire to turn him so he’d be stronger or find a human who would look at him as something special. Christopher may not be anything special to covened half-castes, but to a human he’d be-”
“What I am to him,” I finished for her. “He could be working with a vampire of his blood to pull this off. Hell, he could be related to one of the non-Hadi vampires Anton let into his caste.”
“Are you sure he’s not of Anton’s line?”
“Yes. I would sense it if he were and Anton isn’t this stupid. But you still haven’t given me a reason why Chris would set up Kain of all people.”
“To leave you vulnerable.”
“Come on.”
“No, it makes sense Natasha,” Mercy said. “He casts suspicion on your enforcer costing you a measure of protection and in the process it costs you your two oldest friends. Who would you turn to? Why of course your new boy toy. One moment you’re crying on his shoulder, the next your leaning on him and then you’re depending on him. Now the new guy has the keys to the kingdom as your second or consort.”
“That’s a pretty big leap. There is no way I would make someone as weak as Christopher my second; if I fell he would never stand a chance. All we do is fight so he could not think I would lean on him for anything.”
“But you see where I’m coming from about his questions?”
“I do.”
“Let’s go then.”
“Go where?”
Mercy rolled her eyes. “Go question Chris.”
“No.”
For a moment she looked confused and then she said, “You don’t want me there in case it is Kain and I’m in on it with him.”
“No.”
“Natasha! You aren’t saying you’re going to ignore this are you? You can’t!”
I gave a low snarl. “You do not tell me what to do.”
“You are not Mistress here yet. Rainor-”
“Supports Natasha in this matter,” he said as he haltingly came down the stairs. “She has full autonomy when it comes to investigating this travesty and she will rule here when I am gone. Her lips speak my will Mercy, remember that.”
Mercy went pale and bowed because she could think of nothing else to do. She knew better than to cry in front of Rainor, we all knew that, but I noticed tears standing in her eyes as she bent. They were gone when she straightened up. “Forgive me, sir, but I cannot stand by and allow the man I love to take the blame for something someone else might have done. If Kain is guilty I will help you tear him limb from limb, but if he’s innocent how could I ever live with myself if I abandoned him without at least trying to fight for his honor?”
Rainor put his hand on Mercy’s shoulder and gave me a pointed look. “There are times when we must play the hand we are dealt and in this case Kain was dealt a bad hand, but we will not execute him tonight. If you bring me proof another is behind this and set up my enforcer I will see them dead in his place. You have my word on that.”
That was all the comfort Rainor had to give her and she knew it. Mercy thanked him and left. When I was sure she was gone I said softly, “She could be right.”
“When will you go?”
“In the morning. Let them think this is the end of it.”
“Or let guilt out itself. I know you want to flee the drama, but I would like you to stick close this evening in case you are needed.”
He feared a coup. I inclined my head. Looks like I was going to be hitting a punching bag in the basement instead of a vampire.
Chapter 21
I would never publicly admit it because I would never hear the end of it, but not that long ago I was fan of TV show about a young woman who fought vampires and other assorted baddies as part of her grand destiny. Most half-castes made fun of anything that hinted at our world because of all the errors and the biggest thing that made them laugh at this particular show was that most of the work, and a good deal of the action, had gone on in a library that contained about six cases of books. Everyone sniggered at the idea of researching the monster killing half the town instead of just offing it, so it was with no small amount of irony that I heard from the receptionist at The Sun that Christopher had gone to the library to do some research on a story. If I willingly admitted I watched that show to anyone I knew, I would be gloating when I got home, but since I didn’t want a closet full of wooden stakes or bottles of holy water in my purse I planned to keep my mouth shut. Still it gave me a smile at a time when I thought it impossible.
I spotted Chris walking between stacks of books that might actually be older than I was, in a basement that smelled like it hadn’t had a window opened in just as long. Poor thing had no idea that he was being stalked when I said, “You must have a real thing for antiques. Let’s talk about that.”
Chris jumped and bumped into a bookcase hard enough that it wobbled. My hand shot out and steadied it like it weighed five pounds instead of 500. He grimaced. “That wasn’t at all emasculating. Tell me I didn’t shriek a little too.”
“No shrieking.”
“That’s something I guess.” He smiled and took a step closer. “I was going to call you, for two reasons actually, but they gave me this story at work and I told myself that I was too busy to dial a phone…who am I kidding? I was hoping if I waited you would call me instead so I knew I was forgiven. I’m sorry I pushed at the beach that day. You were obviously uncomfortable and I plowed full steam ahead with my own agenda.”
“At my age I should be over it by now, I suppose, but I don’t like talking about my family I guess is what you would call them. I could have said that instead of running off like that.”
“We’re ok then?”
“That remains to be seen.”
“That was ominous. Why do I get the feeling that now is the part where I should be running for my life?” He looked nervous and that was not a good sign for him.
“I want to know why you have so many questions about mothers of half-castes. If you were human I could understand a certain fascination, but you are one of us so you have your own mother to ask,” I said.
“Does that come with a choice of doing this the hard way or the easy way?”
“Chris.”
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I guess I wasn’t very sly with the questions was I? I didn’t want you to think I was using you, but I thought I could kill two birds with one stone.”
I think he wanted me to ask what he was talking about, but I waited in silence. I wanted him to exonerate himself or slit his own throat all on his own.
“You aren’t going to ask me what this has to do with you are you Natasha?” he asked after a few moments. When I still didn’t respond he said, “Fine. I liked you and I wanted to spend time with you, but having vowed to have nothing to do with my ‘kind’ because they were vicious and violent, I told myself it was ok because I had a reason to. Then I felt bad about how you’d feel if you thought I was only with you to get information so I told myself that I wasn’t using you because I enjoyed spending time with you no matter what we talked about.”
“Information about what?”
“I want to know what coven ordered my casting and what blood flows in my veins. I want to know if
my mother volunteered or was forced into it. I want to know who my father was. I thought you would have the resources to help me if you didn’t know already,” Chris said.
“Oh.” I didn’t know what else to say. He had so many questions and I couldn’t blame him for wanting answers. At least I knew who caste me, and why, and I knew my mother’s role in it. “How old are you?”
“Now you think I’m a baby.”
I smiled. “No, I want to know if you’re the twenty-something you look or if you’re older, it will point me in the right direction.”
“I’m twenty-five.”
“Then you were most likely made by a coven looking to make foot soldiers unless your mother was someone’s dessert who drank her keeper’s blood before she knew she was pregnant. Or she could have been a groupie in the same boat as the dessert I mentioned. Vampires weren’t willingly making half-castes twenty-five years ago.”
“What’s a groupie? I know what a groupie is in the band context, but we’re not talking about the music scene.”
“Someone who chases after vampires for sex or in hopes of becoming a vampire.”
“Oh.” After a second Chris said, “A groupie is a relatively new term. What did they call them back in the day?”
“Imbeciles.”
“Right.” He gave himself a shake. “I don’t know what my mother was, she doesn’t talk about it and any time I tried to ask in my younger days she would get this weird look on her face and walk away from me.”
“Just a guess, but I’d say she was abducted and force fed the blood if not forced into pregnancy. My coven was never into that sort of thing, but others were. It would explain why you weren’t raised in a coven, she must have escaped or they had a seer look at your future and tell them you weren’t going to be that strong.”
Chris winced. “Don’t sugar coat it for my sake.”
“There’s no way to know who caste you unless we got a vampire to drink your blood and tell us, but even then they couldn’t tell you the specific vampire who did it, just the name of the caste. Most likely the vampire whose blood is in your veins wasn’t willing either and was used until it was drained to death.”
“What about the coven that did that to my mother?”
“That could be harder since territories changed as battles with vampires were lost and then new covens came along and won the cities away from the vampires. It might help to know where you were born, but your mom probably fled the city where you were caste before your birth.”
“I don’t know where I was born anyway.”
“You could ask your mother, tell her you needed to know for a story at work or something,” I suggested.
“What kind of story would I need to know that for?”
“A study on how people migrate across the country.”
“In The Sun?”
“Say they think alien brainwaves influence it.” Christopher laughed and it made me smile. “I would offer to ask for you, but if she was forced nothing about me is going to be welcome to her. I’m a half-caste which would be offensive to her and I look like a vampire which flips out people without the trauma she would have endured.”
“That’s why I’m afraid to ask her. I don’t like reminding her that I tie her to a past she doesn’t seem to want to remember.”
He had been raised to reject what he was. I may not have been the most welcome person with the vampires that raised me, and had been told I was second-class to them, but I had always been encouraged to embrace what I was. No matter how much I might find some of my own actions disturbing at times, I never hated myself and I could see Chris hated his own blood. “Finding the truth won’t change what you are Chris and it could only hold misery for you. The truth doesn’t really set you free; in most cases it only creates a new cage.”
“I know, but at least I’d know why I was sentenced to this.”
“Have you never had any fun with it? Never jumped off a rooftop knowing you’ll land on your feet and that the bones in your legs won’t shatter? Never tried to see how fast you can move without running?”
His eyes studied my face before he said, “You love it. I envy you that Natasha. You know yourself.”
“I’ve had a long time to figure it out, but I’ve never turned away from my true nature.” For a moment I was silent, trying to decide how I could best say this to him without sounding condescending. Finally I placed my hand on his shoulder and said, “I have a deal for you. I will help you get what answers the cosmos holds on your lineage, but in exchange you have to explore your half-caste blood. You will never understand why you were made if you don’t understand what you are.”
“I still don’t think I want to join the coven.”
“You don’t have to. We’ll go out and have some fun and then you can talk to my people. Pretend you’re writing a story on us and treat it like research done by an unobtrusive, casual observer.”
“That sounds like a plan. Can I let you know later?”
“Sure. While we’re on the subject of stories, what could possibly have you down here in the dust and mold?”
“As luck would have it, I’m doing a story on vampire society. Seems your visit has them thinking I am an expert on the underworld.”
“Don’t use Mike as your photographer, he’ll wind up dead in a night.”
“That’s a good piece of advice.”
“If you plan to do a companion piece on us, I am going to have lay down some ground rules about what you ask or see. I thought telling yourself your visit would be about work would make you feel more at ease when I offered it, not a true in-depth study.”
“I knew that, but I think rules in general would be a good thing. I don’t want to violate some cardinal rule and wind up dead.” He smiled. “But for right now, if I take your deal, I’m there for me only. Oh! All this deep conversation made me forget the other reason I was going to call Tash.”
“Ok.”
“Tom, the guy who wrote the article on the half-caste baby, got back from vacation. You mentioned you wanted to talk to him. He’s not in the office today because his kid is nursing a jellyfish sting, but I can set a meeting up for sometime this week if that works for you.”
“Get him on the phone now.”
“Or I can get him on the phone now,” Chris said dryly. He dialed. “I don’t know that he’s available right this second.”
“All I need to know is the name of the person that leaked the baby story to him.”
“We rarely get names and if we do they are usually fake. Maybe I can get a description. I – oh, hey Tom. How was Maui? Great. Sorry to bother you at home. How’s Luke? Good to hear. Listen, I need to ask you about that story you wrote on the baby. Yeah, that one. Did you get a name on the person that tipped you off? I didn’t think so. What did she look like? Thanks. Bye.” Chris put his phone away. “Ok. According to Tom the woman was average height, very tan and very blonde. He said she looked like she stepped right off the beach at Malibu. Does that ring a bell?”
An alarm bell to be exact. “Yes and it means I have some very big trouble brewing if this is accurate. Sorry, but I have to get going.”
I turned to go, but he stopped me. “Natasha?”
“Yeah?”
“You came here because you thought I had something to do with this, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
Silence. Then he said, “Is the only way to find my caste really to have a vampire drink my blood or was that a scare tactic?”
“If there was a half-caste of your line that was strong enough they could sense you. A vampire of your line could sense you too, but most of the vampires in the city are…related to me and while I can sense any vampire’s presence, I can also tell if a specific vampire is a Hadi.”
“Hadi?”
“That’s the name of the vampire line I descend from. They’ve gotten away from using their formal names these days. One thing I can tell you is that you aren’t a Hadi.” I was about to comment on how he shou
ld be glad since most Hadi were sneaky bastards, but I needed to get going.
“One more thing before you go,” Chris said. “Will you forgive me for sort of using you?”
“I’ve been used for worse and I was sort of using you too, you know. Call it even?”
“Dinner will make it even.”
“I think I can handle that now.”
“Could I get a firm yes if I promised potato salad won’t in any way, shape or form be involved?”
I grinned. “I’ll call you once things settle down. I really need to go now.”
“See you later.”
As soon as I left the library I called Fitch. “I need you to do some checking on another bank account for me Fitch and tell me if any large sums were deposited recently.”
“Sure thing Tash. What’s the name?”
“Megan McCoy.”
“I checked her account already and there was nothing.”
“But an immediate transfer of funds would look suspicious. Now that some time has passed and in light of recent events, I’d bet her bank account got larger. Just check.”
“Will do Mistress. I’ll call you back as soon as I have the scoop.” He hung up.
I got in my car and was about to turn it on when my phone rang back. Fitch had what I needed. There had been a cash deposit of a million dollars to Megan’s account an hour after we locked Kain up. Now there was a thanks for a job well done. But which job? Having a baby she didn’t really want or pointing a finger at Kain?
Chapter 22
There were two possible solutions to this situation, neither one was particularly pleasant to consider. One was that Dawn had set Kain up. The other was that Dawn and Kain were accomplices. I really didn’t think Dawn was smart enough to do this alone, which meant that someone with a brain had to be pulling her strings. But the big question was if that puppeteer lived between my walls or Anton’s. That meant I needed to pay another visit to the woman who identified Kain as her abductor and find out if she was paid to implicate him or if that was part of his master scheme with Dawn. A plot that included planting that pink piece of paper I slipped on yesterday so that I would believe his story about his trip to the vampire quarter whenever whoever eventually stumbled upon it recognized the address and commented on it. Even without the trial, anyone who read the receipt would mention that someone had been shopping in the vampires’ territory. Although I had simply thrown it away in annoyance, it did wind up working in Kain’s favor since it created doubt in my mind about his guilt.
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