Sophia

by D. B. Reynolds

  “Would you like to try that again?” Raphael said coldly.

  “Sire!” Loren gasped. “My lord, I—”

  “Get back here now. And bring the woman with you.” He hung up while Loren was still sputtering, trying to justify his duplicity. Stupid son-of-a-bitch. He exchanged a quick look with Juro who nodded and took several steps away, taking two of his security people with him.

  As they began to confer in low voices, Raphael turned to Murphy. “Do you know who these killers are?” he asked.

  “Some of them,” the human replied. “And I think I know where at least some of them have been hiding out. But I don’t know all the names. If we can take the ones I do know alive, we can—”

  From behind Raphael, Robbie spoke up, “Wait a minute.” He walked around Raphael to face Murphy. “Cyn took pictures of the license plates in that parking lot.”

  “That’s right,” Murphy agreed, snapping his fingers. He switched his gaze to Raphael. “We need her cell.”

  Raphael pulled his phone from an inside pocket and rang Peter Saephan, who answered on the first ring.

  “Yes, my lord?” he said quietly.

  “Cyn?”

  “She is resting well, my lord. The fluids are helping already.”

  “Excellent. I require Cyn’s cell phone. Her clothing from last night is in a bag in the closet. Could you check and see if her phone is there?”

  There was a brief pause and then Raphael heard the closet door slide open and the sharp crackle of a plastic bag. “One moment, my lord,” Saephan said, followed by a soft thud as he put the phone down. More rustling of plastic and then the phone was picked up again.

  “I have it, my lord. Let me . . . I’m cleaning the blood off with a bit of alcohol.”

  Cyn’s blood, Raphael knew and was grateful for the good doctor’s hygienic impulses.

  Saephan had continued, saying, “It looks okay, but the battery is low. Do you want me to—”

  “That won’t be necessary, Doctor, thank you. If you would put it in the elevator and send it up.”

  “Of course, my lord. Was there anything else?”

  “No, thank you.”

  Raphael disconnected and turned to the others. “The phone is coming up in the elevator now.”

  Murphy stepped forward as if to retrieve the phone himself, but Raphael growled and Duncan stepped in front of the human, blocking his path.

  “Elke will get it,” Duncan said. His tone was calm enough, but his body language left no room for dispute.

  Murphy opened his mouth as if to protest anyway, but it died unsaid when he swung toward Raphael and saw the look on his face. Duncan might be calm, but Raphael most definitely was not.

  Murphy fell back to stand next to Sophia who placed herself slightly ahead of him and cast a hostile glance in Raphael’s direction. Duncan, meanwhile, waited until they heard the elevator doors close once again and then sent one of the vampire guards over to get the phone from Elke who remained at her post.

  The guard brought the phone over to Duncan. He looked to Raphael for permission, then accessed the phone’s memory. “They’re here,” he confirmed, paging through several photographs. “There’s a shot of the entire lot and then the individual plates. It looks as if . . . yes, she got them all,” he said with a note of admiration.

  “I can run those—” Murphy started.

  “That won’t be necessary,” Duncan interrupted

  He beckoned Maxime over from near the front office where she stood along with Wei Chen and some others, watching events unfold. None of those watching were hunters—Raphael’s soldiers were specifically chosen and trained. But even among the vampires who wouldn’t actively participate tonight, even to those who spent most of their waking hours in front of a computer, the excitement level was high and contagious.

  Duncan turned the phone over to Maxime, and she flipped through the images, moving far more quickly than he had. She gave Murphy a smug look. “Give me five minutes,” she said and headed for the nearby office.

  “Most of those license plates are local,” Murphy commented, watching Maxime walk away. He turned back to Raphael. “So I’m guessing the owners are, too. And I have a couple of possible locations for the guy who called to taunt me this afternoon—Garry McWaters. He was raised around here, but until yesterday I thought he was living in San Diego.”

  “Clearly not,” Raphael observed dismissively.

  “You’re right,” Murphy admitted. “But that’s what he wanted me to think. I’d know if he was staying in town. You can’t keep a secret in this place. But his family has a couple of old properties way the hell back of nowhere. I didn’t even know they were there until I went looking for something like it.”

  “How do you know him?”

  Murphy frowned, as if reluctant to speak. “He was a friend,” he admitted grudgingly. “I thought I recognized his voice out at the bar yesterday, after Leighton went down, but now I’m sure.”

  “Then tonight he dies,” Raphael said darkly.

  Murphy shook his head, but didn’t argue, which was a good thing, because Raphael wasn’t in the mood to be contradicted by anyone, much less a human.

  “Look,” Murphy said impatiently. “You don’t need us here. While you wait for Loren to show up, Sophia and I can swing by Leon Pettijohn’s place.”

  “The owner of the bar where Cynthia was attacked, my lord,” Sophia supplied. “He and his wife own it jointly, but only the man works there. She has a day job at the local market .”

  “I don’t think they’re part of this,” Murphy jumped in to add. “I tried calling Leon at the bar already, but there’s no answer. He’s probably running scared after yesterday’s shootout, but if I can get him to talk, he’ll know who else was there. It wasn’t only McWaters shooting at us.”

  Raphael studied the human silently. He wasn’t inclined to trust him, but Cyn had.

  “Our hunt will begin at the bar, then,” Raphael said. “By Robbie’s accounting, it’s likely one or more of the attackers were shot, which means they bled. We’ll catch their scent and track them that way, if nothing else works. Sophia, you and Murphy go to this bar owner’s house, and if you discover anything of worth from these people, let us know. If not, you may catch up to us later.

  “Loren is at the gate, my lord,” Duncan murmured.

  Raphael smiled slowly, viciously. “Excellent.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “Well, that was intense,” Colin commented as he held the door open so Sophie could climb up into the Suburban they’d borrowed from the compound’s garage. Sophie had suggested they take the Lexus she’d been driving earlier, but there was no way Colin was going out on an op—even a civilian one—driving a damn luxury sedan. It would be too embarrassing. Since his Tahoe was pretty much totaled and, according to Sophia, stank of blood, he’d commandeered one of Wei Chen’s fleet of SUVs.

  He closed Sophie’s door, hurried around the hood and settled himself behind the wheel, starting the truck with a quick twist of the key. He pulled out of the garage and started down the curve of the driveway, slowing as the gate opened and a gray BMW pulled through with Loren at the wheel. Colin caught a glimpse of the vampire’s shaken expression as he drove by. There was a woman sitting next to him and she didn’t look happy, either. Colin shook his head. He didn’t envy Loren. Not one little bit.

  It was a short drive to the Pettijohn’s place. Their house was on the near side of town, down a narrow slice of dirt that barely qualified as a road. Like a lot of the other homes around Cooper’s Rest, theirs was older and in a state of gentle disrepair. The wood could have used a good oiling and the eaves were clogged with pine needles, but the roof was sturdy and there was a brand new aluminum garage off to one side. The double doors were open and Colin could see Ellen’s Honda sitting inside, but there was no sign of Leon’s truck.

  “Let’s make this quick. Looks like Leon’s left already and I’d like to get to him before Raphael does.”
>
  Sophie snorted delicately. “Only if you want him to keep breathing.” She opened the truck door and slid to the ground, closing the door quietly behind her. “Maybe we should go directly to the bar and this Leon fellow. You said the woman’s never there anyway. She won’t know anything.”

  “Yeah, but Leon probably tells her stuff. As long as we’re here, it’s worth a five minute conversation.”

  Sophie shrugged. “It’s your call. I don’t know these people.” She glanced around the yard and then at Colin, as if to say, and I’d really rather not know them.

  Colin grinned, taking the steps to the front porch in two long strides. Before he could ring the doorbell, the door whipped open and Ellen stood there, rifle in hand and pointed right at his face.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Raphael felt Loren’s fear long before the vampire entered the building with the human woman at his side. He looked awful, his face pale and his eyes wide as he scanned the vampires gathered around the entrance. He pushed his way through, took one look at Raphael and dropped to his knees.

  “Forgive me, Sire,” he sobbed.

  Raphael gazed down on him dismissively. How had he ever thought this one was worthy of responsibility?

  “In the other room,” he said coldly.

  Two of his vampires grabbed Loren by the elbows, hauling him to his feet. The woman wailed noisily and Duncan stepped up, cutting off her cries with a thought. At his signal, another of Raphael’s guards escorted the now placid female after Loren.

  “Duncan, you’re with me.” He turned to face Juro. “This won’t take long,” he told him. “We’ll go directly to the bar and move out from there. Make certain everyone understands the rules of engagement. I want to be absolutely certain we catch every one of these animals in our net. Information first—” He lowered head and let a fraction of his power flow outward, swirling around him. “—and then we hunt,” he finished.

  His vampires roared. He gave them all a fierce grin, then spun around and strode through the double doors and into the nearly empty room. With just the few of them there, the lights were low, the night nothing but a black space beyond the windows. Loren was on his knees, hunched over, arms wrapped around himself miserably. The human woman sat on a chair nearby, although she didn’t seem aware of anyone, much less her vampire lover.

  Raphael walked over to Loren and stared down at him, hands on his hips. Raphael had given Loren life. He owned him body and soul. It was impossible for him to lie to his Sire, even if he’d thought to try.

  “How long have you been fucking her, Loren?” Raphael asked flatly.

  He swallowed dryly before speaking. “Almost a month, my lord.”

  “Who is she?”

  “Deb Jenkins. But I’ve told her nothing, my lord. I swear—”

  “Silence.”

  Loren’s mouth closed and he dropped his head to his chest, his shoulders bowed and shaking with fear. Raphael hadn’t yet decided what to do with him. Despite Loren’s protests to the contrary, Raphael knew the vampire had been spilling secrets to the woman. The question was with what intent? It was one thing if he was simply a fool who let information slip while lying in bed with her. But if he’d intentionally dropped secrets to persuade her of his importance or to curry favor, that was something else. The next several minutes of Loren’s life would depend on what he’d told the woman . . . and what she’d done with it.

  “Deb.” As Raphael said the woman’s name, he wrapped a thread of power around it, ensuring her cooperation. If necessary, he’d rip the truth from her mind, but as he touched her thoughts, he knew it wouldn’t be necessary. She was wide open to him.

  She looked up, meeting his gaze with a smile. “Yes?” she said pleasantly.

  “How long have you known Loren?”

  “Just since I’ve been back from L.A. We met in town at the Post Office. I was in there makin’ sure that old bat Mavis didn’t fuck up my mail. I don’t know why they keep her on there. Anyway, Loren was there. Gettin’ his mail, too, I guess.”

  “Did you know who he was?”

  “Oh, sure. My brother Curtis told me all about you guys as soon as I got here.”

  Raphael’s gaze sharpened. When he’d scoured Hugh Pulaski’s mind—after teaching him the folly of threatening Cyn—the human had identified someone named Curtis as one of those he’d overheard plotting against the vampires.

  “Curtis said if I got the chance,” Deb continued, “I should hook up with one of you. Loren was good-looking enough—”

  Loren had turned to stare at her in horror, and she winked at him when she said this, unaware of his reaction.

  “—and I’d heard the sex was mind-blowing,” she added. “So I thought why not? I’ll give it a try. It’s not like Coop’s is crawling with eligible guys, you know?”

  “Sire, I swear—”

  Raphael simply looked at Loren. The vampire shut his mouth with a whimper.

  “You were saying, Deb?”

  “Right, well, Curtis, him and his friends that is, wanted to know all about it. Not the sex so much—that would have been too creepy, him being my brother—but everything else. He used to grill me like a steak after I’d spent the night with Loren. Pissed me off sometimes, because all I wanted to do was sleep. You know what I’m saying,” she said with a meaningful look.

  Raphael sighed. “What sorts of things did you talk about?”

  “Well, shit, there wasn’t much to tell. I mean sex was pretty much all we did. At least until you showed up. Loren was pretty stressed about that, because you wanted everyone living in this place,” she said, waving a hand around. “That would have meant no more sex, and neither one of us was too thrilled about that, I gotta tell ya.”

  “But then that poor girl got attacked,” she went on, shaking her head. “I didn’t know her, but that shouldn’t happen to anyone. I asked Curtis was that him or any of his buddies—‘cuz they might have a grudge against vamps, but that girl was as human as me or—” She grinned. “Well, not you, but you know what I mean.”

  “What did Curtis say to that?” Raphael asked curiously.

  “He told me no. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I believed him. I mean I believe him, but some of those boys he’s hanging around with . . . well, I wouldn’t wanna run into them in a dark alley.”

  “What about Loren?”

  “Oh, Loren’s sweet as can be. He’d never hurt a fly.”

  “No,” Raphael said patiently. “I mean what did Loren tell you about Mariane’s attack?”

  “Oh, well, he told me all about her husband Jeremy and how upset he was. How it was a good thing you came when you did or she would’ve died and that would have been it for Jeremy, too.”

  “And you told your brother this?”

  “Well, sure. It was the first real thing I ever had to tell him.”

  “The first? Was there more?”

  “Well, last night Loren was pretty upset. I guess some woman got shot, so he couldn’t stay over. Is she okay?”

  Raphael ignored the question. He wasn’t about to tell this woman anything about Cyn. Unlike Loren, apparently. “Did you talk to Curtis about this, too?”

  “Hell, yes. He woke me up this morning with that damn phone.”

  Raphael turned away, walking over to the window and staring out, seeing in his mind’s eye the bloody mess they’d made of his Cyn, hearing her cries of pain. And why? Because they wanted to weaken him. Because Loren had been so hungry to fuck this ignorant human that he’d run his mouth off like an eager-to-please child. He hoped the woman had been worth it, because Loren wouldn’t be fucking anyone else for a very long time.

  He remembered the other conspirator Pulaski had overheard in the bar, and he spoke without turning to look at her. “Tell me, Deb, are any of Curtis’s friends called Junior? Maybe a nickname?”

  “Oh, sure. That’d be Garry McWaters, but he hates that name. Pretty much hates his old man, or hated him. I think he’s dead.”

  Raphael s
pun away from the windows, striding across the room, signaling his guards as he went by.

  Two of them grabbed Loren who cried out, “Sire, please!”

  Raphael ignored his cries. If he stopped now, he’d kill Loren without a thought. As for the woman, her mind would be wiped. She’d remember nothing of the last month—not Loren, not the post office, not anything. Certainly not Mariane or Jeremy, and especially not Cyn.

  As for her brother, Curtis. He wouldn’t be a problem after tonight.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven