by Lynsay Sands
“Where did you sleep?” Inez asked with a frown. There were only two bedrooms and both were occupied.
“Both couches in the living room pull out,” Bastien explained.
“Which is a good thing,” Terri announced dryly and then explained, “We finally got a hold of Lucern and Kate and they’re on their way here to help look for Marguerite. They should arrive sometime tonight.”
“Lucern and Kate?” Inez asked uncertainly.
“Lucern is Bastien and Etienne’s older brother,” Terri said helpfully. “Kate is his lifemate. He writes romances and she does too now, though she used to be his editor. She’s also my cousin.”
“Oh. I think Wyatt has mentioned them,” Inez said, but was thinking the townhouse was about to become very crowded.
“I hear someone moving around upstairs,” Terri said quietly.
Bastien stiffened and looked almost alarmed as he glanced toward the ceiling. He sat stiff and still, listening for a moment, and then suddenly relaxed, saying, “It’s Etienne. Thomas was always a late sleeper.”
Inez felt trepidation creep down her neck at those words. They seemed to suggest that his tension was because it might have been Thomas. Why would it upset him if Thomas got up?
“Because we want to talk to you before he comes down,” Bastien said quietly. “In fact, I’m afraid if you hadn’t come below when you did, I would have slipped into your thoughts and brought you down.”
Inez sat back in her seat, her eyes widening with distinct dislike at what she considered to be a threat. Having experienced being controlled, she wasn’t likely to look kindly on anyone who suggested they might do it.
“It wouldn’t have been anything like what happened to you last night,” Bastien said quietly. “I would have eased your thoughts so you weren’t frightened.”
“It still would have been forcing me to do something against my will,” she pointed out coldly.
“Yes, I know,” Bastien admitted apologetically. “And we generally don’t do it unless it’s necessary. With most mortals that constitutes keeping them from learning something that could endanger our people or themselves.”
“And with me?” she asked, her accent a little thicker with her upset.
“Because we needed to talk to you without Thomas,” he said simply.
“Why?” Inez snapped the word, her wariness leaping back to full throttle.
“Last night Bastien and I came up with a way to find Mother,” Etienne announced from the doorway. Walking into the room as they all glanced his way, he moved to the teakettle and began to make himself a tea with the just-boiled water as he continued, “But we knew Thomas wouldn’t even consider it and we wanted to see what you thought of it without him there bellowing ‘No!’ and drowning us out.”
“And before you ask, yes, we are certain he won’t be pleased with our idea, because we wouldn’t be pleased if it were Terri or Rachel we were asking to do this,” Bastien said, his voice quiet. “In fact, I’m not too happy to ask you to do it, but we couldn’t think of any other way.”
Inez glanced slowly over each person in the room, noting their grim expressions and thinking that they rather sucked as salesmen. All they’d managed to do so far was scare her silly, and they hadn’t even yet said what they wanted her to do.
“You’re right, of course, we aren’t selling the idea well,” Bastien said, a small wry smile briefly twisting his lips. “First of all, before we even mention it, I want you to know that you are completely free to say no. We won’t be angry or upset and neither your job nor your acceptance into the family will be affected. We’d just have to brainstorm and hopefully come up with something else.”
“It’s just that this seems like the way most likely to succeed,” Etienne added, joining them at the table with his tea.
“Oh boy, this gets better and better,” Inez said dryly. “Please, just tell me what you want.”
There was silence as Etienne and Bastien exchanged a glance and then Bastien faced her solemnly and said, “From what I understand, you’ve been controlled and mind-wiped twice and then controlled and nearly killed last night?”
Inez nodded slowly, that creeping feeling of trepidation turning into a fast march of all-out fear.
“He seems to have focused on you,” Etienne pointed out.
“Probably because I’m the only vulnerable one,” Inez said dryly. “He can’t control Thomas or any of you.”
“We’re hoping he doesn’t know the rest of us are here,” Etienne said. “He was presumably trailing you and Thomas around when Rachel and I showed up, and it was daylight when Bastien and Terri arrived.” He shook his head. “He won’t know we’re here…which is to our benefit.”
Before Inez could ask why, Bastien continued, “The point is that he’s focused on you, and we’re hoping to use that focus to trap him so that we can ask questions and get answers out of him. We hope to find out where Mother is.”
“You want me to be bait in this trap,” she said slowly.
“I’m afraid so,” Bastien acknowledged. “And we need to do it right away, before he realizes the rest of us are here, which means you can’t be turned until afterward…which leaves you somewhat vulnerable.”
“Will you do it?” Etienne asked.
“No, she damned well won’t!” Thomas said coldly from the door.
Fifteen
“I can’t believe you talked her into this,” Thomas growled, his eyes fastened on Inez in the coffee shop across the street. He’d walked her there from the townhouse, stopping in a bookshop along the way to pick up a couple of books to make it look like a normal outing, and then had escorted her to the coffee shop, ordered two cappuccinos, and sat with her for about ten minutes before looking at his watch as if just thinking of something he had to do or someone he had to meet. He’d then got up and hurried out of the shop.
Thomas had walked two blocks in the direction of the townhouse, and then had turned the corner and backtracked up the next street to join Bastien and Etienne on top of one of the few modern buildings in York. The roof of this building was the reason they’d chosen the coffee shop he and Inez had visited the day before. The three men could—and were—lying on their stomachs on the flat roof, peering down on the shop across the street. Its position and the glass windows that walled the coffee shop gave them a perfect view of every inch of the building and everyone in it. Not that it mattered. Thomas didn’t care about seeing anyone else, he hadn’t torn his eyes from Inez since dropping to lie between Etienne and Bastien several minutes ago.
“We didn’t have to talk her into it,” Bastien reminded him wearily from his right, his own gaze fixed on the coffee shop. “She listened to the plan, thought it was a good one and agreed to do it.”
“Then I never should have let you tell her the plan,” Thomas snapped. “I should have dragged her right upstairs and turned her at once.”
“Why did you let her listen?” Etienne asked from his left. “I was rather surprised that you stopped yelling and bellowing, and settled down to let us explain what we were thinking of doing.”
“Because I didn’t want her to think I was a bloody dictator,” he admitted with regret, and then added, “Besides, I thought she had the sense to say no.” Shaking his head, he scowled at the woman under discussion and asked with bewilderment, “How could a woman who is as competent and accomplished in business as Inez is agree to this nonsense of a plan?”
“Precisely because she is competent and accomplished and saw that this was really a very sensible plan,” Bastien said through gritted teeth.
Thomas was so angry he finally tore his eyes from Inez and turned sharply on Bastien. “Sensible? You’ve thrown a helpless bit of bait in the water without attaching a hook first and are hoping that when the shark shows up, you can dive in and chase after it before it eats the bait. That’s not a plan, it’s a suicide mission and you sent my lifemate on it,” he said heavily and then added bitterly, “And without letting me turn her f
irst which—at least—would have made her harder to kill and given her a fighting chance.”
“I know,” Bastien said, guilt joining the weariness in his eyes as he met his gaze. “I won’t let anything happen to her, Thomas, I promise. But whoever this guy is, he seems to have focused on Inez for some reason. He has to be connected with Mother’s going missing.” He glanced back to the building across the street unhappily. “It’s been seven days now since we’ve heard from Mother, we’re…I,” he corrected quietly. “I am getting desperate. We couldn’t wait another day until she was turned.”
“I’m worried about Aunt Marguerite too,” Thomas said stiffly, his own gaze shifting back to Inez again. “But dammit, Bastien, I’m not willing to sacrifice Inez to find her. Especially if we’d just figured out what she figured out.”
Bastien glanced at him with confusion. “What do you mean what she figured out?”
“Well, that’s why he’s focused on Inez,” Thomas pointed out and then frowned. “At least I think it is. She must have figured out something. That’s the only thing that makes sense.” Thomas watched Inez brush her hair behind her ear as she read the book she held. “We were talking about who the seven people in the group might have been.”
“The seven people in the group?” Etienne asked with confusion, reminding Thomas of his presence. “What are you talking about?”
“With Aunt Marguerite,” Thomas said and then explained the conclusions Inez had come to about the room request. “We were trying to figure out who the seven people were when Inez excused herself to find the ladies’ room. I wondered if she hadn’t kept fretting over the problem while away from me and came up with the answer. I thought maybe he had controlled her, and sent her back to the table with her mind wiped because of that. Hoping, perhaps, that removing the memory would remove the problem, but then when we talked about it in the pub afterward…” He shook his head. “We were trying to sort it out and I went to get us more drinks and came back and she was gone. That’s when he tried to kill her.”
“So you think because she kept coming up with the answer that he’d realized wiping the memory wouldn’t suffice and that he’d have to kill her…” Etienne reasoned slowly.
“Rather than letting her identify these seven people…” Bastien continued.
“Which would lead us to Aunt Marguerite,” Thomas finished with a nod. “Or at least put us one step closer.”
A moment of silence passed and then Thomas cast a quick glance to both his cousins. Etienne and Bastien had their eyes on the coffee shop across the street, but they also wore thoughtful expressions and he knew they were probably trying to figure out what it was Inez had sorted out. Scowling to himself, he shook his head and turned back to the coffee shop. It was his opinion that they should have been thinking about this before dropping Inez out as bait. They should have made her talk out the matter of who it could be and not let her out of their sight to ensure the bastard couldn’t get his hands on her again.
Thomas shifted his eyes to a woman with short spiky black hair as she walked past Inez, studiously ignoring her. He followed her with his eyes as she moved to the stairs and went below. It was hard to believe that was Etienne’s redheaded wife, Rachel. The wig and goth clothes she wore made her completely unrecognizable.
He watched her stop at the counter on the main floor and place an order, and then lifted his gaze back to the second floor where Terri in a long blond wig and flowery dress was also at the ready. She too was hard to recognize in the get up.
Rachel returned upstairs with her drink and claimed a different table where she could still watch both Inez and the stairs. The moment she was seated, Terri stood and headed below to fetch herself another drink. Thomas wished they wouldn’t, he’d rather both women not be more than five feet away from Inez, but knew they would be kicked out if they didn’t have something to eat or drink.
Inez would soon have to refresh her cappuccino too, Thomas thought and glanced down at his watch, frowning when he saw that she’d been seated alone for more than half an hour.
“It’s not going to work,” he announced with relief. “If he was going to make a move, he would have done it by now.”
“He’s right, Bastien,” Etienne said, but he sounded disappointed rather than relieved.
Bastien was silent for a minute and then said, “She’s reading a book.”
“As you instructed,” Thomas said. She was reading one of Lucern’s novels. She’d insisted on buying it so she wouldn’t have to admit that she’d never read his work when Lucern and Kate arrived later that day. “You said to get her something to read so she wasn’t sitting there thinking about the trap, unintentionally warning the guy off.”
Bastien nodded silently and then said, “Call her.”
“Why?” Thomas asked warily.
“You have to tell her to try to figure out who the seven people are. If she did work it out and that’s what set him on her before, she might work it out again, and he might make a move,” he explained. “After you call her, Etienne and I will call Rachel and Terri and tell them what’s happening and not to let their guard down in case the long wait makes them think nothing’s likely to happen.”
Thomas peered unhappily down at Inez. He didn’t want the guy to make his move. He wanted to take Inez back to the townhouse and keep her safe, not to mention turn her. When Bastien touched his arm, he turned reluctantly to peer at him.
“Please, Thomas, I promise I won’t let anything happen to her. I’ll jump off this building in full view of everyone, if necessary, to give chase and keep her safe.”
That was a big deal. Bastien was the one constantly berating anyone for doing the least little thing to draw attention to their kind. For him to be willing to openly reveal what he was if it became a necessity to save her…
Sighing, Thomas slid the phone out of his pocket and called Inez.
Inez turned the page of the book in her hands, her eyes eating up the story of how Thomas’s cousin Lissianna and her husband had got together. It was fascinating to read about people she’d met as well as those she would soon meet, and she was glad she’d picked it up. It was actually distracting her from the reason she was there, which was exactly why Bastien had said she should read.
Realizing that her thoughts were heading into an area she was supposed to avoid, Inez forced herself to concentrate on the story once more and reached blindly for her cappuccino, frowning and glancing down at it when she tipped it to her mouth and got nothing.
Her cup was empty she saw and wondered how long she’d been there. She was about to check her wristwatch when her cell phone began to ring. Leaning to the side, Inez picked up her purse and quickly dug out her phone.
“Hello?” she said as she placed the phone to her ear.
“Inez, I’m sorry to be taking so long,” Thomas said quietly, and she presumed it was in case she was being read and then immediately tried not to think about that.
“That’s all right,” she murmured, managing not to look around and try to spot the men on the roof where they were supposed to be positioned to watch her.
“I shouldn’t be much longer, but in the meantime, I was thinking about that seventh person business.”
Inez tilted her head, a frown plucking at her brow. “Were you?”
“Yes, and I want you to think who those seven people might be while you wait,” Thomas said, his voice very solemn.
Inez stiffened, understanding at once.
“Can you do that?” Thomas didn’t sound like he really wanted her to, but she wasn’t surprised. He’d been angry with her ever since she’d agreed to be the bait in Bastien and Etienne’s plan. In fact, he’d been short and stiff with her when he brought her here to the café. She’d almost been relieved when he’d left after sitting with her for ten minutes or so.
“Yes,” she answered calmly. “I’ll do that.”
There was a long silence and she knew Thomas wanted to say something, but was hesitating. Finally, he
simply said, “I’ll see you soon.”
“Yes,” Inez whispered and closed the phone, and then slipped it back into her purse.
Leaving her purse on the table, she closed her book, but continued to hold it. She stared down at it, trying to do what Thomas had suggested and then glanced around as she heard a phone ring. Spotting Rachel pressing her phone to her ear, she glanced quickly away, cutting off the thought that Etienne must be calling to tell her what was going on. And then her gaze moved to Terri and away, as her phone too began to ring.
Forcing her mind away from the two women, Inez concentrated on focusing her thoughts. It took her several moments to manage it, however, but finally she found herself picking away at the puzzle of who the seven people in Marguerite’s party could have been, but nothing happened. She wasn’t suddenly controlled and forced to leave the café. Instead, half an hour passed and then her phone, Rachel’s, and Terri’s all rang at the same time.
“He’s not going to make his move,” Thomas said in her ear. “Something must have scared him off. Etienne and Bastien and I are coming down.”
Inez felt her back and shoulders, and indeed, her entire body suddenly relax. She’d thought she’d been relatively calm about sitting there playing bait under the watchful eyes of five immortals, but now that it was over, Inez realized she hadn’t been as relaxed as she’d thought, or even really distracted by the book she’d been reading. It had absorbed her conscious attention, but her subconscious had been as wound up as a clock.
“We’ll be there in about five minutes,” Thomas continued. “Why don’t you order us both a cappuccino and we’ll relax a bit and decide where you want to have your last meal as a mortal.”
Inez wanted to smile at his words, he certainly sound cheerful saying them, but then he wasn’t the one who was going to suffer the unbearable agony, drowning in a vat of acid that’s eating you up inside and out, horrible, nightmare-ridden, desperate pain that will make you wish someone would just put a bullet in your brain and end it all. At least that’s how she thought Etienne had put it. While she wanted to be with Thomas, the whole suffering-the-agony-of-the-damned part to do so kind of sucked.