Declan didn’t respond. Which was fine. When he was snarky, he wasn’t a terribly interesting conversationalist.
As the phone continued to ring in my ear, I slowly scanned the reception area, noting the bank of elevators to the far left. Then I pivoted, scanning the entrance and the quiet lobby a second time. General chatter and faint music wafted in from the lounge.
Two vampires — a male and a female — walked through the automatic sliding doors.
“Holy hell,” I said, spinning back to face Declan.
“What?” He glanced around behind me.
Apparently he hadn’t spotted the two predators prowling their way through the lobby. But then, if I hadn’t spent quite so much time with Kett three months ago, I might not have immediately noticed their ‘otherness’ either. But now I couldn’t unsee it, noting it in every deliberate step they took.
The clerk interrupted the phone still ringing in my ear. “She doesn’t seem to be answering. Would you like to leave a message?”
“Let’s give it five minutes and try again,” I said.
“Of course. I’ll ring through in five minutes.”
“Thank you.”
I hung the phone up.
“Two vampires,” I whispered, risking a glance over my shoulder.
The vampires in question had paused in the empty seating area around the fireplace. “They appear to be waiting for something … or casing the hotel. A man and a woman. By the fireplace.”
Declan frowned, eyeing the two over my shoulder. The female sat down, flicking a neatly folded newspaper off the two-seater, square-sided black leather couch before settling in. Her dark hair was slicked back in an intricate braid, skewered through at intervals with what appeared to be shards of bone. She was dressed in sleek black leather pants, a sheer, banded top that exposed everything except her breasts, and an ankle-length mink coat. Her lipstick was blood red against dark skin.
The ivory-skinned male with short, spiked, dark-brown hair was sporting black-framed, gray-tinted sunglasses, dark-washed jeans, what looked like a black-printed rock band T-shirt, and boots that had never spent a minute on a construction site. He braced himself against the black slate fireplace surround, leaning toward the fire — rather obsessively for a vampire for whom flames could be deadly.
“Please,” Declan scoffed. “Wannabees, maybe.”
Completely in contrast to the business-casual attire of the other hotel guests, the two dripped of money and sex, moving languidly and barely bothering to conceal what they were. Thankfully, the lobby was fairly empty, but if they wandered into the lounge, they would likely create a stir even among those who couldn’t see that they were vampires.
“Look closer,” I snapped. “Watch how they move. Take a peek at their auras.” I wasn’t about to look at them without my personal shields firmly in place. But since Declan hadn’t just spent far too much quality time with an ancient vampire, he would have no issue with doing so.
Though even without seeing their magic, I could tell at first glance that they were younger than Kett. Way younger. The clothing alone gave them away. Though obviously, they weren’t mere newborns. From what the executioner had told me, fledgling vampires could have slaughtered every human in the hotel and still not sated their bloodlust.
Declan simply didn’t know what he was looking at.
“They were just joined by a third,” he said.
I glanced over my shoulder again. Another vampire had approached the first two, gesturing emphatically with her hands. The first two didn’t appear at all moved by whatever she was saying. Her shag-cut hair was shiny black, bone straight, and obviously dyed. Her skin was olive toned, and seeing her alongside the darker-skinned female, I wondered whether vampires grew paler with age.
The new arrival’s fingernails were at least an inch long and painted a purple so deep that it could have been black. Below a thin black turtleneck and a calf-length black pencil skirt, she wore silver-buckled boots with four-inch silver spiked heels.
“She’s not even trying to pass,” I murmured.
“Three vampires in Litchfield, Connecticut,” Declan said. “Are you sure? I expected …”
“Blood-red eyes? Fangs? Deathly pale skin? They’re young.”
The phone began to ring. I picked up, going through the motions again of calling up to Jasmine’s room, though I didn’t expect her to answer.
“Three vampires,” I said, keeping my back to the predators and my voice as low as possible. Whatever argument they were having by the fire was escalating, but I couldn’t hear what was being said. “In the same hotel as Jasmine.”
“Jasmine’s dating a vampire,” Declan said. “Maybe that guy? Though I suppose it could be one of the women. I never ask for details. I can’t keep track.”
I bit off a retort about his hypocrisy, focusing on the pertinent part of his revelation. “Jasmine’s dating a vampire?”
“Yeah. Though I’m not sure dating is the correct term.”
“Since when?”
Declan eyed me. “You really don’t know?”
The clerk said something over the phone that I didn’t quite catch.
“No message, thanks.” I carefully replaced the phone in the receiver. Then, thinking quickly through all the possible implications of Jasmine dating a vampire, I pulled my phone out of my bag and texted Kett.
Why are there three vampires in Litchfield?
A response appeared on my screen almost immediately.
>Three vampires. Together?
Does this have something to do with Jasmine?
>You’ve disturbed a nest in Connecticut? That’s very unlikely.
As I’d expected, he didn’t offer any response to my query about Jasmine. The vampire clearly enjoyed withholding information. He was even more controlling than I was. But I kept my mouth shut to protect those I loved, while he seemingly did so to cement his position of power over every situation.
We’re in a hotel lobby. Fairhaven Hotel.
>We?
Declan.
>You traced Jasmine to this hotel?
She’s registered.
>Stay away from the vampires. They won’t know you’re under my protection. You have no proof other than your word.
“Who are you texting with?” Declan asked irritably.
“Kett,” I said. “The vampire who hired us last October.”
I assumed that Jasmine must have mentioned having worked with the executioner when she’d told Declan about our investigation into Teresa, Ben, and the fledgling vampires. Either that, or Declan had been approached about the Conclave contract and was keeping it from me just as much as I was keeping it from him.
And who else would Jasmine be dating? Some random vampire? Or the vampire she’d practically thrown herself at a few months ago? It pained me, actually, that she hadn’t mentioned she was seeing Kett in a nonprofessional manner. But then, I hadn’t told her about the contract either.
“He says to stay away from the vampires,” I added.
“It’s terribly sweet of your boyfriend to be concerned about us.” Declan’s sarcasm quickly turned menacing. “But this is witch territory. We’ve tracked a missing witch to a hotel occupied by vampires. You do the math.”
I didn’t correct Declan on his boyfriend assumption, choosing instead to lay a cautioning hand on his arm and adding the sums as I tallied them out loud. “What do you think three vampires are going to do if confronted by the two of us?”
“I don’t know about you,” Declan said, breaking my hold with a tug of his arm. “But from me, they’ll run.”
“I’ve just been working with a vampire,” I said, keeping my tone even and professional. “Trust me, the Academy is ill informed when it comes to vampire lore. Or perhaps even deliberately misleading.”
Declan locked his dark, angry gaze to mine. “Perhaps you are the one lacking information. About me.”
I kept my eye contact steady, but as nonconfrontational as I could. “The
only way to destroy vampires is to cut off their heads. In this case, we’d need to do all three at once. Then set them on fire. Remembering that they move quicker than your eye can track, and can break every bone in your body with a twist of the wrist.”
Declan’s gaze flicked over my shoulder to the vampires still congregated by the lobby fireplace. “Sunlight … wooden stakes … holy water …”
“Not if the vampires are older. And only when wielded by a necromancer of power, plus I think the stake needs to be silver to be truly effective. And no.”
Declan’s expression blanked.
Then the skin between my shoulder blades started to itch. “We’ve drawn their attention.”
“Yes,” he said. “They’re moving this way.” He slipped his hand in his pocket as if readying one of his spells. “Toward the elevators.”
We couldn’t get into a magically fueled fight in the lobby of a hotel filled with mundanes. Not only would doing so expose Adepts to the world at large, but I was fairly certain Declan and I wouldn’t survive it. My offensive power was limited. And despite the boost the dowser had given my bracelet, I had no idea what the trinket would do against three of the immortal undead.
“Meet me in the parking lot,” I said, peeling away from the sideboard and leaving Declan behind.
“What?” he hissed after me.
Head held high, I strolled toward the trio, who were now standing before the bank of elevators. They were already watching me.
Putting a slight sway into my hips, I tugged my cashmere lace scarf away from my neck as if I were sweltering. Touching my exposed skin in a light caress, I then smoothed my hand up and over the back of my French twist.
A wolfish grin spread across the male vampire’s face.
A few feet away from them, I deliberately flicked my gaze to each of the females in turn. The darker woman was regarding me coolly, and a sneer had spread across the face of the vampire with the purple nails.
I dropped my gaze as if suddenly overwhelmed by their presence — so that I could unobtrusively glance at the security panel that controlled the elevators. The guests’ key cards would confine access to the common areas and the specific floor of the room assigned to each individual in the hotel. The eleventh floor was highlighted on the security screen.
I continued onward, sauntering past the vampires as the door to the elevator opened. The male leaned forward as if to smell me. I practically brushed him with my shoulder.
I held my breath. If he was planning to grab me and haul me into the elevator, I wouldn’t have any time to react.
He let me pass.
I glanced back over my shoulder. The male vampire was still watching me, holding the elevator door open with one hand. The other two were waiting within.
Channeling Jasmine, I grinned at him saucily and winked. Then I turned my back on him.
He chuckled huskily. “Witch,” he said with some satisfaction. I couldn’t place his accent.
“What did you expect?” one of the females snapped. Her voice was American, through and through.
The elevator doors closed. I continued down the hall, pushing open a set of exterior doors that led to an outdoor courtyard and a side parking lot.
I had just completely baited three vampires, and my heart rate wasn’t even elevated. So much for following Kett’s advice.
Chapter 5
“What the hell was that?” Declan snarled.
I had circled around from the courtyard on the far side of the hotel through the parking lot. Declan was waiting for me, leaning against the nose of the Jeep.
“Eleventh floor,” I said, completely composed in the face of his temper. I preferred to not waste my time with bullies, but Declan would have had no way to know that about me.
I crossed to his side as I snugged my cashmere scarf to my neck and rebuttoned my coat. I contemplated grabbing my hat out of my suitcase as I turned to gaze up at the hotel.
Declan grunted something I didn’t catch, then crossed around to the driver’s side of the Jeep. After digging around behind the seat, he produced a set of binoculars.
“So we just hope they haven’t closed the curtains?” he asked snidely.
I shrugged. “And that they’re not on the other side of the building.”
“Idiotic,” he muttered, looking through the binoculars.
“Then we find our way up and start knocking on doors.” I was scanning the windows on the eleventh floor, most of the rooms still with their curtains open and appearing empty. TVs were flickering behind a few drawn blinds as well.
“Nothing.” Declan lowered the binoculars after a cursory pass. “Is it my turn to tell you to wait while I stalk off and do something completely stupid now?”
“I’ll come with you,” I said, blithely ignoring his interpretation of my actions. That vampires were either staying at the hotel or meeting someone there was disconcerting — even without factoring in Jasmine’s disappearance. And the odds that my cousin wasn’t somehow entangled in whatever had drawn the vampires to Connecticut seemed astronomical.
And as such, moving continually forward no matter how thin the lead might be was my only defense against the dread of losing Jasmine — and the agony of being back in Connecticut.
I stepped into the shadows along the edge of the parking lot, Declan at my heels. We circled the hotel property as slowly and unobtrusively as possible. A fence and what appeared to be a massive mechanical room hampered us on the east side, so we backtracked to get around it. Declan took the lead, pausing every so often to gaze up at the hotel and count floors.
Halfway around the building, nearing the courtyard through which I’d exited after my reconnoitering pass of the elevators, the skin between my shoulder blades started to itch.
Someone magically inclined was following us. Or something.
I glanced quickly over both shoulders, seeing only a smaller parking lot to my right, partially filled with cars, and low shrubbery running the length of the fence to my left.
Knowing that any predator who could hide from my sight would most likely have excellent hearing, I slowly reached forward, brushing my fingers against the back of Declan’s neck in warning.
He spun around, shoving me behind him while pulling some sort of long, dark object from the inside of his jacket. From the way he held it, it was some sort of weapon.
I tripped over the curb at the edge of the parking lot, tumbling sideways into the low bushes that bordered the property.
Magic exploded, ringing through every one of my senses. Momentarily disoriented, I clamped my hands over my ears, peering up at Declan. He was standing over me, holding what I recognized now as a wooden blasting rod — and looking vaguely confused.
He’d obviously just discharged the weapon. The rune-carved, tapered rod was eighteen inches in length and maybe two inches thick — and similar to the rods Jasper had taught Declan to carve out of maple and ash branches. They were a focus and repository for his unusual witch magic, which had asserted itself while we were all in our midteens. Carrying the rod with him was likely one of the reasons he wore the long leather jacket. But why Declan would need easy access to that sort of firepower, I had no idea.
I cranked my head to see what he’d aimed for.
A white-blond, exceedingly pale vampire was standing a few feet from us, gazing down at his chest. His three-quarter-length black cashmere coat was on fire.
Kettil, the executioner and elder of the Conclave. Apparently, he’d been skulking along the fence line a few steps behind us. And Declan had hit him directly over the heart with whatever explosive spell he’d channeled and amplified with the blasting rod.
Kett casually patted at the flames on his chest, reducing them to embers, then putting them out. Crisped flakes of his jacket and the sweater he was wearing underneath it fluttered down to speckle his high-sheen leather boots. Underneath the ruined sweater, his exposed chest appeared completely unscathed. His skin practically glowed in the moonlight.
> I scrambled to my feet, brushing as much dirt and decomposed bark mulch off myself as possible.
The vampire glanced my way, then locked his silvered gaze on Declan, who still held the blasting rod between them. “It takes more than that to kill me.”
“I could always push you into a volcano,” Declan said with darkly tinted amusement, as if he attempted to take down ancient vampires every day.
“That might do it,” Kett said, dispassionately continuing the insane conversation. “Provided I couldn’t crawl out quickly enough, and that you wielded enough power to move me in the first place.” He curled his lip with a hint of humor. “I know of fifteen beings with such power. Those who could do so, though perhaps not without dying themselves. And nine of them wouldn’t bother. I’m nothing to them.”
Declan snorted derisively.
I felt a little light-headed. The situation was about to tip over the edge into something terrible, and I wasn’t sure I knew how to defuse it.
“You, I could kill with a mere thought.” Kett’s tone turned stomach-churningly ominous.
“Declan Fairchild,” I blurted out in desperation, quickly forcing myself into a more formal tone. “Witch, nephew of Rose Fairchild, healer of the Convocation. Brother of Jasmine.” I gestured toward the vampire seemingly carved out of marble. “Kettil, elder and executioner of the Conclave.”
Kett held out his hand.
Declan switched the blasting rod to his left hand, grasping the vampire’s hand without hesitation with his right.
As they clasped, sparks of Declan’s magic cascaded from their mutual grip.
Kett chuckled.
Declan grimaced ruefully. Then he threw his head back and laughed.
They dropped the handshake. Apparently, measurements had been taken, assessed, and accepted — length, width, and power of thrust. They were both acting ridiculous.
“Took you long enough,” I said snippily.
“I was aware of where you were at all times,” Kett said.
“Because you’re tracking me?”
“Do you doubt it? Though a blood exchange would make that easier.”
Tangled Echoes (Reconstructionist 2) Page 8