Morana didn’t dare move from her spot on the stool. The vampires would definitely sense her this close to them. Or, at the very least, scent her as they drove past. Could she make it to the manhole cover without giving herself away?
To her surprise, they moved past without pausing in front of her position. She looked down at her feet, only then noticing the circle in chalk and the weird symbols under the stool. Did it protect Sinclair from being found? Had it just saved her, too?
She stared at the now-empty road where Regent’s vehicle had stopped. Making sure there was no one around, she walked to its position and stood there, all of her attention focused on this location. She felt a bit of electricity—a tiny buzz zipped up her arms and down her spine. She ran one hand across the back of her neck and shook her head.
She wasn’t crazy—she knew she’d seen Regent and Sampson both looking worse for wear. The vamps admitted to wanting to capture Regent again, and maybe even kill him. Who wanted him dead?
She stood in the middle of the street and did a three-sixty, studying the buildings around her. Death seemed to be more a part of this place than her own resting place. She had a bad feeling about what might happen to her brother.
She ground her teeth together. Yeah, her brother!
She moved down the street and didn’t glance at the manhole that had been her entry point to this part of the city. Instead, she made her way toward Jess’s place. It was still early enough that she might not have gone out yet. What would she tell her twin?
Certainly not that this was the place her father spent most of his time. Not until she found out what he was up to.
Morana reached Jess’s building and rang the front doorbell. No one answered. Where would she be?
Pressing two fingers against her temple, she thought about it. Jess might be at LaCave, since she was always around irritating her. Or she could be at the police station if she was trying to find Regent. But there was no way Morana was going there, not even for Regent!
She made her way to LaCave and peered inside without Gervais noticing her. Jess wasn’t in the club. She searched the killing tunnel. No cops and no sign of Britt.
Sometimes they walked the city. Merde! She’d never find them this way, so she reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. Even vampires used cell phones in Paris. Regent had insisted she put his phone number and Jess’s in her empty contact list.
They were the only two numbers she had. She didn’t even know if Sinclair had a phone, nor did she care.
Well, she didn’t have much choice. She dialed Regent’s phone first. It rang and rang, then went to voicemail.
When she dialed her sister’s number, Jess picked up on the third ring.
“Jess, it’s Morana,” she said in an unaffected voice. “I’d like to talk to you.”
“Tonight?” Jess sounded a little miffed at being bothered. “I’m kind of busy.”
So, she’d irritated her sister. Too bad. “Yes, it has to be now. It’s important!”
“Okay. Give us half an hour.”
“No, it has to be now.” No matter how irritating Jess was, she needed to hear about what had happened to Regent.
“I . . . uh . . . can’t right now,” Jess said.
It sounded as if Jess had muted the phone since there was a dull silence until the line opened again.
“Well you’d better, because it’s important,” Morana said. “Meet me at my place and stop screwing around. Regent’s in trouble.”
“What?” Jess shouted. “You know that Regent and Sampson are missing?”
“Duh! I saw them disappear,” Morana said. Then she hung up. Served Jess right.
Chapter Eighteen
JESS FELT AS if the blood had rushed out of her face, but that was a physical impossibility.
Britt’s caring eyes instantly bored into hers. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“Morana just told me she saw Regent disappear. That must mean she knows where he is. She wouldn’t tell me anything on the phone, so we have to meet her at her place.”
They’d been trying to come up with ideas about how to find Regent while awaiting Veronique’s arrival.
Veronique let herself into Vlad’s office without knocking. Vlad seemed a little rattled by the state Veronique was in. She appeared to be afraid, and more ruffled in appearance than normal, but he didn’t comment or ask why.
They filled Veronique in on the phone call Jess had just received.
“Do you trust Morana?” Veronique asked.
“Not really,” Britt said, casting a regretful look at Jess.
“She wouldn’t hurt Regent,” Jess said. “I’m sure of it.”
“We’re going with you,” Veronique said. “What if this is a trick to get you and Morana together, in order to fulfill the prophesy?”
“Not something I considered,” Jess said. “I don’t understand how we can change things when that’s the last thing I’d want to do.”
Her gut suddenly felt tight at that thought. Was that why Regent was missing? If his life was on the line, would she give in? Hell yes!
She sighed. “I need all of you to help me through this. If Regent’s life is at stake, I’m not sure how strong I can be.”
Vlad grabbed his jacket and shrugged into it, then wrapped a white silk scarf around his neck. “Whatever is going on, we’ll solve it together.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea—”
“We need to help you, Jess,” Veronique said. “Don’t you see? We have as much at stake as you do. We won’t let any harm come to Regent, right, Vlad? Besides, if this is a play to gain more control, I need to be there. I don’t care if the cops throw me in jail. I’m not going to roll over and hide. Not anymore.”
Vlad’s eyes burned into Jess. “I promise you. I will lay my life down for your brother in order to save my city and the humans and vampires that live there.” His gaze washed over Veronique next, and she met his look with the same fierceness.
“Okay, come along. But don’t slow us down.”
“As if,” Vlad said.
Britt stuck close to Jess. “Where did Morana say she’d meet you?”
Jess inhaled deeply. “At her house in the country.”
“What? That doesn’t make sense. Surely Regent wasn’t kidnapped there,” he said.
“No. But she insists that’s where we have to meet her.”
Outside the club, Vlad beckoned to a man they hadn’t noticed before. He jumped into a Bentley and pulled up in front of them. “Hop in. Griggs will get us there quickly.”
LIGHTS WERE ON in Sinclair’s house, and the front door stood open, with Morana just inside.
She eyed Vlad with distaste the second she saw him. “What are you doing here? You weren’t invited.”
“Not by you, no,” he agreed. “But I have been invited.”
She made an irritated noise then waved them all through the door.
“Where is Regent? I need to find him. He’s in danger, and I think it’s got something to do with the fact that you and I are twins,” Jess said, her voice cracking. She hated showing emotion, but when it came to her brother, she couldn’t control her inner turmoil.
Morana made a scoffing sound. “At least you had a brother for a while. You had someone who would have given his life for you.” She strode to the chair her father always sat in.
Jess wondered where Sinclair was at this moment, but given Morana’s odd behavior, it could wait.
“What if the prophesy about twin vampires was the reason my so-called loving father stole me from my family? Maybe that’s why he kept me here until the prophesy could be fulfilled,” Morana asked.
“Did he say that to you?” Britt asked.
She shook her head. “He didn’t have to.”
As much as Morana had sworn she had no feelings for the man who’d raised her, she obviously did. She had been found by her true family, but Morana’s expression was one of loss and anger, and nothing she could say would calm her at this moment.
“I found paperwork in the tunnels below,” Morana said unexpectedly. “Sinclair’s lab is deadly to me, but there are two other rooms where he keeps files. I found paperwork that proved he’d been searching for Jess for decades without any luck. When you showed up, he must’ve been ecstatic. I imagine he couldn’t believe his good fortune when my better half arrived.”
“Morana, you know that’s not true,” Jess said. “You and I were torn away from each other. None of this is our fault. We were just babies.” She grasped for anything that might make Morana feel better about having been stolen from her cradle. “Maybe Sinclair did what he thought was best for you? You, yourself, told me he wanted you to rule the Order—it sounds like he did that for you, and not for himself.”
“Yes, but was it true? That’s what he led me to believe, until I found the lab in the basement. He said he’s Immortal. Did you know that?”
Jess nodded. “Regent told me about it.” She emphasized Regent’s name to remind Morana that he was the reason they were here right now. She knew there was no sense trying to force information out of Morana. She’d just shut down. Panic bloomed inside her. Having patience right now was almost impossible.
“Mon Dieu!” Veronique said. “Do you think it’s him? Is he the ruler of the olde ones?” She slammed one fist against the oak table.
“Two nights ago, I would have told you Sinclair never left home, but it was all a lie. While I believed he was at home, he was sneaking all over the city in tunnels that stretch from here to the center of Paris.”
“What about Regent?” Jess broke in. “We can discuss Sinclair later. Right now we need to find our brother. He’s in danger.”
“He looked like he’d been beaten when I saw him in the car,” Morana said in an unaffected voice that stripped Jess raw. “Sampson looked even worse. They were being chased by a car full of vampires, but they stopped on the street in front of my hiding place, and when I looked away for a couple of seconds, they’d disappeared.”
“I’m sorry?” Jess said. “Disappeared?”
Morana nodded, but didn’t elaborate. And by the expression on her face at that moment, Jess figured it was best not to push her too hard.
“Can you tell us where that is?” Vlad asked gently.
Morana looked at her father’s chair again. “He should be here, but the house has been empty since I got home. He’s always here at this time of night.”
“Are you speaking about Sinclair?” Jess asked frowning. Had Morana even heard her question about Regent? She asked again.
“No. I’m sorry. I can’t give you the location, not until I speak to my father.”
“Why the hell not?” Jess asked.
“It’s between Sinclair and me. I’ll contact you as soon as I speak to him. You should be grateful I told you anything at all—I didn’t realize you knew he was missing.”
“But, Morana, surely you realize that every moment we wait could mean Regent’s death? We have to find him now. And if you know where he disappeared, please tell me.”
She shrugged. “I will, after I’ve spoken with Sinclair. You should leave now. I’ve told you Regent’s missing—at least that’s something.”
“We already knew that!” Jess said in a loud voice that contained too much emotion for a vampire. Her self-control was dangerously unstable.
Morana simply clamped her lips together and threw her arms over her chest, then opened the door, motioning for them to leave.
“Damn you,” Jess said, barely able to contain her anger. But if she kicked her sister’s ass right now, she’d be even less likely to tell them where she’d seen Regent.
They crawled into the back of Vlad’s car, and everyone started talking at the same time.
Vlad held up a hand. “Wait. I’m going to send Neo-Order members out to search for Regent right away, Jess. If he’s out there, they’ll find him, I promise you.”
Jess’s hands unclenched just a little. “Thank you, Vlad. I appreciate that.”
“I wish I could send my officers, but that’s no longer possible,” Veronique added. “I can’t believe there’s been a virtual coup within the police force and no one has noticed.”
“I’m so sorry about your missing team members. You must be really worried about them,” Britt said.
“Yes, it’s awful not knowing what’s going on. I’ve been searching for them without much luck. Their spouses are very concerned. Hopefully, they’ll be found soon. And Jess’s brother and Sampson, too.”
“We won’t give up until we find them,” Vlad said. “We’ll scour the whole city if we have to.”
“Why, do you have a tracking team?” Britt asked.
Vlad stared out the car window watching the country scene go by on their way back to the city. “I haven’t been totally honest with you about the olde ones and the Ancient. I was a member of the olde ones for a time. I know the kind of power the Ancient wields. While the olde hierarchy doesn’t care about the average vampire citizens in France, they’ve been caught in a trap of their own making. They thought the Ancient could give them the ability to overtake humans whenever they wanted to. They were wrong. He had his own ideas about how to utilize vampires. And you can believe me when I tell you, it’s all for his own benefit.”
“You’ve seen him, then?” Jess leaned toward Vlad in the seat facing hers. “You know who he is?”
“No. At least not in his normal state. He’s always disguised through magic when he meets with the vampires. He’s strong and clever. He brandishes magic like a silver stake, and the olde vampires must bow to his will or die.”
“How’d you get out?” Veronique asked, looking very concerned.
Jess bit her lip. So, this was news to Veronique as well. That surprised her. “How can we fight a mirage, if we don’t even know who he is?” she said, more to herself than to the group.
Britt’s warm hand closed over Jess’s icy cold one, and he squeezed.
“It wasn’t easy. I was left to die but managed to survive. The Immortal thinks I’m dead,” Vlad said.
“But you’re well known in Paris,” Jess said. “Surely he’s not so easily fooled.”
“I am, but I am no longer the same vampire. I’ve done whatever I had to become Vlad,” he said. “But you’re right, I don’t think he’s been fooled, and I have no idea why he’s let me live all these years. My best guess is that I’m not a threat to him anymore.”
“That tells us one thing,” Britt said. “The Immortal doesn’t know everything. Maybe he’s not as powerful as he projects either.”
She thought about that. Britt had powers and abilities he hadn’t even accessed yet. He might be able to defeat the Immortal—but a thick pit settled in her chest at the thought.
“Let’s not get too comfortable with what we think we know,” Veronique said. “Let’s get back to our suspicion that Regent is a threat to him. Is there any chance Regent has learned anything about how to control this Immortal? Could that be why he’s been kidnapped? You did say he found something recently, didn’t you?”
Jess’s spine stiffened. It’s all about that damned book!
“We need to make Morana tell us where she saw Regent,” Veronique said.
“Leave her to me,” Jess growled. “If I don’t hear from her in the next couple of hours, I’ll make sure she talks. Or else.”
MORANA PACED BACK and forth in the living room, every now and then stopping to stare at her father’s empty chair. Where in Hades was he?
When she heard the secret door creak open down the hall, she took on a blank expression.
If he realized how angry she was, he’d balk.
“Hello, ma chère,” he said the second he saw her, his expression tentative when he saw the look on her face.
She didn’t miss the fact that he’d quickly tucked something into his pocket, something that looked like an old iron key. He’d been in his lab. But why? What was he doing down there every night?
He glanced at his watch. “I thought you’d be at work by now. Anything wrong?”
She showed the tips of her eyeteeth and focused her black eyes on him. She didn’t miss the shiver that racked his spine. “Why do you go to Paris each night and watch a decrepit building?”
He froze on his way toward his bottle of brandy. His hand hovered in midair at her comment.
“How do you know about that? Were you following me?”
“No. I followed your scent tonight. I found a chair with weird markings on the ground, and I’m guessing it protected me from being seen by a car full of bloodthirsty vampires. Your scent was strong-—proof that you’ve spent a lot of time there lately.”
He let his hand drop away from the decanter top.
“You shouldn’t ever go to that place again,” he said. “It’s not safe for you. There is an Ancient living in that area. An Ancient who could kill you as quickly as find you in his neighborhood.”
“What kind of Ancient are we talking about?” The Ancient Vlad described?
“A dangerous one,” he said, reaching out and lifting the crystal decanter top off the bottle, then pouring half a snifter of the amber liquid.
“Is he like you?” she asked.
Sinclair stopped drinking instantly. “Why do you ask that?”
She hated to admit it to herself, but now that she’d seen his deadly lab in the basement, she realized he was a very dangerous man—to vampires, and probably humans, too. His agenda for rearing her had most likely been completely self-centered. She’d often wanted to kill him in the past, when she thought he was merely a doting parent who’d adopted her, but she couldn’t harm him now, even if he allowed it. She needed to know what he was up to, especially if he had the kind of power that she now believed he had. Who was this man who’d reared her? Was he the Immortal ruling the vampires? Did he have that kind of strength?
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