He glanced at his watch. “No, I didn’t sleep, but I’m not tired. He tipped his wine glass and drank the last of it then set it on the coffee table.
“Was it good?” she asked. “Your wine?”
“It was. I’ll have to start writing down the names of the good vintages while I’m here. That way, I can try to find them when we get home.”
“I’ve never seen you drink wine before,” she said, going to the fridge for her sustenance.
“I don’t drink much, not since you recruited me and gave me purpose. I do admit to enjoying an occasional glass of wine, though.”
“A little wine is good for the soul,” she said, quoting a commercial that was playing on French television. “Or so they say.”
He appreciated the fact that she hadn’t made him feel like a lush sitting here drinking by himself. He had been close to alcoholism when she’d signed him up as a vampire hunter. He knew it—and so did she.
That was then. He’d never be that man again.
“Guess where I was today?” he said.
Her eyebrows rose while she rinsed her glass in her personal sink and put it in the specialized dishwasher for her alone. “I can’t guess— you’ll have to tell me.”
“I found Veronique’s apartment and staked her movements today.”
“Why would you do that?” she asked seriously.
“You saw how she reacted to Vlad at his club that night. What if she’s in league with him? I’d like to know a little more about her personal life.”
“I want to trust her on the basis of our previous friendship, but . . .” She indicated the leather outfit she wore. “I was going to suggest we do that tonight, too.”
“I’ll tell you about my findings on the way to the factory.”
“Factory? What factory?”
“I followed Veronique to a soap factory.”
Jess opened the garbage to dispose of her plastic container and frowned. “Why are there cigars in the garbage?”
“That was one of my surveillance locations,” he said on his way out of the kitchen. “The shop owner was getting a little suspicious until I bought two of his most expensive cigars. After that, he wanted me to stay, tempting me with other brands. I couldn’t tell him that I don’t smoke, because then he’d know I was using his place to watch Veronique.”
“I’m glad you weren’t tempted,” she said. “I have a hard enough time working around the scent of coffee.”
“Well, you might have a problem with where we’re going tonight,” he said. “I think we should go back to that soap factory and check it out.”
“Maybe she just bought something for herself?”
“Nope. She came out empty-handed. And she looked around pretty carefully before going in and when she came out. There’s something odd about that place. I think we need to see what’s inside.”
“Ignoring the nauseous odors we’ll experience on this search, it sounds like fun,” Jess said. “Can I play cat burglar again tonight?”
“We both can.”
“You know, Britt,” she said. “I think we’d make a decent living at robbery, if the mood struck us.”
He knew it had been a joke. There was not a more true-blue cop than her.
“And who would do the policing of vamps in New York if you turned to thievery?” he asked. “Besides, what would Regent think?”
“Oh, yes, there is Regent.” She looked at the ceiling and tapped her chin. “I guess that line of work is out. I wouldn’t want to disappoint him by being something so evil.”
“Very funny, doll.” He kissed the tip of her nose.
She grabbed her coat and headed for the door.
“You in a hurry?”
“I’m dying to see this factory. Get a move on, mister. You’ve been out having fun all day while I was stuck in stasis. I want to see why Veronique is so interested in soap.”
They cabbed it and got out near the tobacco shop. By the look of things, the factory had closed for the day. Good. It was time to break and enter. Jess grinned. She really should talk to someone about this. It wasn’t normal to have so much fun breaking into places.
They crossed the street. Since the factory itself was closed, there were no vehicles in the parking lot. Even though it was in the city, the factory was protected by an old-style chain-link fence. “Hopefully a fence is all they have for security. I don’t see anything high tech at this point. It’d make this foray so much more fun not to have to worry about cameras and sensors all over the place. Besides, who’d break into a soap factory?” Jess said.
“Yeah, we’d better not count on that. Nowadays, everyone needs security.”
Since the sun had set an hour ago, and most of the shops on this street were family-run operations, many of the businesses were either closed, or closing. One shop, a general store, was still open across the street. That could be a problem. She didn’t want anyone to catch them slinking into the courtyard.
“What’s on the other side of the building?” she asked.
“I didn’t do surveillance on the building itself,” Britt said.
“That’s okay. There’s no time like the present. Besides, we’ll be less conspicuous in the dark.” They walked east and found a very narrow alleyway. So narrow, it was almost touching the building on the other side. “Not good either,” she said. “We can’t squeeze through there.”
They worked their way around the block. There were no homes or open businesses on this street. “Guess no one wants to live near this smelly place.” She wrinkled her nose and then covered it with her hand.
“It is stronger here. We must be downwind,” Britt said.
“And with my enhanced olfactory abilities, the smell is horrendous to me. So many competing, overpowering scents are bursting to life inside my sinuses.”
“Can you handle it?” he asked. “It’ll be a lot worse inside.”
“Only one way to find out.”
They turned the corner and worked their way back to the factory on the next street over.
“Holy crap,” he said. “Ever see razor wire on a fence around a soap factory before?”
She planted her hands on her hips. “Must be something a lot more valuable than soap inside, after all.”
“Interesting. And I’m sure the scents also keep out meddlesome vampires,” he said, narrowing his gaze on the building.
“Everyone but me,” she said, shoving her toe into the chain and grabbing it. “Let’s go inside and see what’s in there.”
Britt joined her on the fence. “We’re lucky there’s minimal lighting back here.”
“What about the razor wire?” If she cut herself, she wouldn’t bleed much, and she’d heal quickly as long as the cuts were fairly superficial. Unfortunately, Britt wouldn’t manage quite as well.
“We’re about to find out,” he said, reaching the top before her just as a vehicle drove down the street. They pressed hard against the fence just below the razor wire, hoping they’d blend into the shadows in their dark clothing.
Jess waited until the car had gone before she pushed off with her feet and vaulted over the wire without touching it. To her surprise Britt managed the same thing—something he would’ve been incapable of doing before he’d developed his angelic presence.
“Copycat,” she said, pleased he hadn’t hurt himself. “The chain and padlock at the front of the building gave me a false sense of this place’s security. After seeing the razor wire, I imagine the building will be electronically protected as well.”
“We’re pros at shutting down security systems. Let’s do a perimeter scan to see if there’s any hardware outside,” Britt said. “Still, I think our best bet is to try to go in via the roof. The building has slate tiles. All we have to do is lift a few of them to get inside.”
“I can go in first and dismantle the security. Then I’ll open the door for you,” she said. “It’d probably be better to only have one person on the roof. And since I’m smaller, I’ll be less noti
ceable.”
If she’d said it any other way, he’d be on that roof by her side. But now that he knew he could sprout wings that had allowed him to take a dive off the Eiffel Tower, he was still considering going up there with her, no matter what his size.
“Okay,” he said. “But be careful.”
She shot him an adventurous look, then climbed up a drainage pipe with ease. In just a few minutes, she’d made it to the roof, moved a few tiles, and slipped inside the building. Her vampiric vision would let her know if there were any ultraviolet sensors up here so she scanned her surroundings—nothing.
She climbed further inside the three-story opening inside the factory. She stayed in the eaves, moving across the building slowly until she found the security panel on the right wall. She wrapped her legs over the wooden beam and hung upside down in front of the panel, shutting it down without setting anything off.
Pulling herself back up, she grabbed onto one of the beams and swung down like an acrobat, making a silent landing. Cat burglar extraordinaire.
She found the side door and opened it for Britt.
He slipped inside and pulled the door shut behind him and listened. “We’re not alone here, babe. There are others in the building.”
“You’re saying maybe I didn’t have to shut the system down?”
“Not sure. The thing is, I saw two men going inside about three minutes ago. Probably before you shut it down.”
“Good. Otherwise, they’d have realized the security system wasn’t operational.” She listened but couldn’t hear because somewhere, an automated machine had started working even though the factory was closed.
“What did the men look like?” she whispered, wondering if they had fangs.
“I couldn’t really tell in the dark. They weren’t talking very loud, either.”
“Let’s find out who they are and what they’re up to,” she said.
Britt shone his penlight on her face for a second. “Wait, are you crying?”
She ran a hand across her cheekbones and felt moisture. “No. Would you believe the soap is making my eyes water?”
“Oh, right. It’s quite strong, even for me.”
She shrugged. “Which way did the men go?” she asked, wiping moisture from her face again.
“I’m not sure. Maybe we can check from above,” he said, pointing to the catwalk over the factory floor. They climbed a set of stairs until they were on the catwalk, giving them a perfect view if no one spotted them.
They sneaked along silently over an extended area of vats, drums, and conveyor belts. One vat was still churning soap, unfortunately for Jess. When they crossed over it, the odor nearly overwhelmed her.
It was behind them now. Jess mopped at her face and eyes with her sleeve. At the front of the factory, they heard men’s voices.
Jess grabbed Britt’s hand—her vision was blurry. It would be a relief to descend. “The smell is awful,” she whispered.
“Hang in there, the voices aren’t far away now. Just on the other side of that vat, I think.”
They quietly made it over to where they heard the voices. Soap residue dripped from the top, leaving streaky, smelly strips of soap way too close to Jess’s face. It didn’t matter—something was going on, and she planned to find out what it was. They crawled around the vat until Britt held up a hand to stop.
He moved so she could get a look at what he’d seen while she rubbed her eyes and blinked away the moisture.
Vampires. Four of them seated at an old, dirty oak table. How’d they manage the smell? She glanced over at Britt in a questioning way.
He shrugged.
“When’s he going to be here?” one the vampires asked impatiently. “And who the hell picked this horrible place to meet? It reeks.”
“This place was chosen because of the odor. What vampire in their right mind would spend much time in here?” he said, wiping the moisture from his watering eyes.
“Do you think he’s doing the right thing? I hate that he’s considering collaborating with a human. It’s not smart.”
“Do you really dare question his motives?” The vamp who’d said it looked around nervously, just as Jess and Britt ducked out of sight. He’d almost caught them.
A door creaked open, and footsteps echoed toward the vampires. “Gentlemen, good evening.” The other vampires murmured a response.
It was Vlad’s voice, no doubt about it.
“If the Hierarchy finds out we’re meeting on our own and collaborating with the cops, we’ll be hung out in the sunlight,” one of the vamps said almost immediately. “I’m not sure we’re doing the right thing, sir.”
Jess needed to see the look on Vlad’s face at that comment. She stole a glance around the vat. He appeared angry enough to rip the guy’s head off but maintained more control than she’d have given him credit for.
He gripped the back of the chair so hard, it snapped in two. The offending vamp looked suddenly panicked. “Must we have this discussion again? Don’t you think it’s time the olde guard moved over and let the younger generation create a more palatable and safe atmosphere for vampires in Paris? You know what they’re trying to do. It’ll be bad for all of us if they succeed.”
One of the vamps dared to sputter a laugh. “Younger generation? If you call four hundred years younger,” he said.
“Some of the olde ones are over a thousand years old. They may have lived for an eon, but they’re taking risks that could affect us all. Someone needs to be brave enough to confront them, to prove to them that we can exist in this world in a more efficient way.”
“How did you come to that conclusion?” a big vamp with a goatee asked.
“I’ve been researching the hunter from New York City. She works with the NYC police force. She has a cadre of humans at her command. This is the existence we could have too, if we played our cards right. She’s the one who can help us reinvent ourselves.”
“I heard she can walk in the light without being burned alive,” one vampire said.
“Where’d you hear about this? You’ve never been to North America, have you?” another vampire asked.
Vlad seated himself at the table, and the chair creaked underneath his massive size. “I don’t know where you heard it, but I learned it from a cop friend of mine. I guess word is spreading about her.”
“So, it’s really true?” one of them asked.
“Guess so. There’s only one way to know for sure, and that’s to see it for ourselves. And we all know that’s not possible.” He looked around the room. “Okay, back to what we were discussing . . . “
The vampires grumbled.
“The plan has already been set in motion. It was actually the cop who gave me the idea to start with. She met the vampire hunter in New York on assignment a few years ago.”
Jess’s jaw dropped. Holy frig! It was Veronique they were talking about now. Was that why she’d been here earlier, to leave information for Vlad?
“But your message said there was trouble and we needed to meet?” the guy with the goatee said, crossing his arms over his vest. For modern vampires, some of them still dressed like they were in the twenties.
“There’s someone out there killing women in the city. If the killer is a vampire, it looks bad for us. If it’s a human, he’s trying to implicate us. Until this thing is solved, we’re going to have a very difficult time to convince anyone we’re ready to move past the Pact and become a useful part of society.”
“Seriously? A useful part of society?” one vampire dared to say. “Since when has that been the Order’s agenda?”
Vlad laughed. “Since it’ll help to give the Order the power it needs to move forward with our plans, with no one the wiser.”
Jess’s insides tightened, and her hands clenched. She couldn’t believe it—they were working with Veronique.
Britt stepped back a tad too far, while Jess frantically made a motion for him to be careful. Too late, he knocked over a bottle that had been left ne
xt to the vat. The odiferous resulting smell nearly made her gag.
“Someone’s in here!”
All the vampires sprang to their feet. She and Britt fled as fast and as silently as they could.
They climbed the stairs and made it to the place where she’d entered the building via the roof. The ceiling tiles were still ajar. She jumped up and held her hands down for Britt. He didn’t really need her help but acquiesced and let her yank him through the hole. She slid the ceiling tiles closed quickly, and they ran across the tiles toward the razor wire.
It surprised Jess that the vampires weren’t already hot on their trail. Instead, they’d run into the courtyard below before spotting them. That wonderful odor must have thrown them off.
“They’re on the roof. Get them,” Vlad shouted. “Don’t let them get away.”
Chapter Eight
HEAT WAFTED OFF the sidewalks behind them, creating a mirage effect that she thought was unusual for nighttime. That normally only happened in the sun. “Keep going, Britt,” Jess shouted. “They must be right behind us.”
He kept pace with her, and every now and then, they looked back. Not a single vampire to be seen. They only dared to slow their pace when they reached Pont Neuf.
“That was close.” Britt bent over and pressed a hand against a stitch in his side. He breathed heavily.
Jess frowned at him. “You’re tired?”
He nodded. Then realization struck him. “Why am I tired? We didn’t run that far or that hard.”
“I don’t like it. Were you affected by the soap?”
He laughed. “I’m not allergic to soap.”
“What could it be, then?”
“It’ll pass, doll. Nothing to worry about.”
“I’ll leave you alone for now, but if you feel the least bit tired again, promise me you’ll talk to Sampson. You don’t get tired these days.”
“One good thing about the factory—no vampire out there could track a person through that odor. Maybe that’s why we lost them,” Britt said.
Even though he said it, she’d never known a vampire who tracked solely by scent. She frowned at Britt. “Unless you did something to stop them?”
Silenced by the Grave Page 10