“What do you want from Eric?” Stephan picked up a paperweight on the corner of Raoul’s desk and examined it closely. “I didn’t think Victoriana was your style.”
“Because you don’t know me.” Raoul plucked the paperweight from his hand and set it firmly on the desk. “It’s about the Ancients. I’ve been doing some research.”
“I’m listening.”
“Your Yangzei. I want to know more about him.”
“Why?”
“I’m looking for parallels with our own Ancients.”
“This sounds like something you can go to Wavena for.”
Raoul wrinkled his nose delicately. “Wavena’s not really a scholar.”
“Then ask Estelle.”
“Same deal. Brilliant and street-smart but not into the research.”
“What exactly do you want?”
“Access to your archives and to the head of the Pharos Council,” he said. “She had direct experience with Yangzei.”
Miaoling wouldn’t appreciate Stephan answering on her behalf. “I can put in the request but no guarantees it’ll be granted.”
“That works,” Raoul said promptly.
Stephan thought about this. “What can you tell me about the Dawning?” he asked, without committing himself.
“Not much.” Raoul’s eyes ticked away from Stephan’s gaze.
“How about you tell me who you and Felix met the other night and I get you the access you want.”
Raoul licked his lower lip. “The other night?”
“We know you met the Dawning.” Stephan took his phone out and found the photos.
“Ah, that.” Raoul’s laugh was more of a choking wheeze. He sighed, paused and smoothed down his hair. “You win.”
“It’s not a game. Who were they?”
Raoul moved forward so he sat on the edge of his chair and tucked his hands under his chin. “I don’t know.”
“Seriously? You expect me to believe that? Also, this makes for a pretty shitty deal.”
“The contact went through Felix, and you’ve met Felix. He likes power and prestige and money. They promised all of that.”
Now they were going places. “Tell me all of it.”
“I didn’t know Felix had been in touch with the Dawning,” said Raoul slowly. “He said they first contacted him about a month ago.”
“How?”
“Apparently came up to him and started talking. It was slow, like they were feeling him out. They dropped a couple of potentially treasonous pro-Dawning comments and found he responded well.”
Classic recruitment. “Do you know why him in particular?”
“I assumed the money and the contacts. Felix has both as a result of Estelle’s position and his own as heir to the LaMarche hotel business. After they were sure of him they offered the kind of role he thought deserved but would never get with Wavena.”
“Sounds like a deal he’d go for.”
“He only told me when we were on our way after dinner the other night. They weren’t surprised to see me, but I don’t know if it was because Felix told them or they didn’t want to show their hand.”
“Did you get names?”
“Levi and Delia. They weren’t vampires. Lithu.”
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Stephan wasn’t sure if it was meaningful but it was good to have confirmed. They knew the lithu were involved. He gestured Raoul to continue.
“They didn’t say anything overt. The conversation alluded to the Dawning but they never said it.”
“What exactly did they say?”
“That their organization was looking for arcana like us, who held similar values to their own. They didn’t say what. That there were opportunities for us. It was flattering but vague enough they couldn’t be held to any specific promise.”
“Did they sound like they were preparing for war?”
“They said their numbers had been growing and they needed more commanders.”
Shit. “They didn’t give any details?”
“No. I didn’t want to be there. I don’t like humans but the Dawning’s message doesn’t appeal to me.”
“How did it end?”
Raoul’s eyes narrowed. “Felix said we’d think about it and would be in touch.” He sniffed. “He had the nerve to speak for me.”
“You know Felix is missing,” said Stephan.
“What?” Raoul’s entire body stilled.
“He’s gone.”
“With the Dawning?”
“What do you think?” Stephan was honestly curious. Would Felix have left without Raoul, his partner in crime, and what did Raoul think of that?
Raoul chewed his lip. “I…no. I don’t think he would have gone. Not now, anyway. He’d want more wooing. He’d want them to beg him a bit, make him feel important. They weren’t doing that the other night—it was more offering information.”
“He hasn’t been in touch?”
“Not with me.” Raoul hesitated. “He wasn’t happy when we left. For all of his issues, Felix is extraordinarily good at reading people and he didn’t like those two. It’s his ego that gets in the way of acting in a way that benefits him, not his understanding.”
“I can see that.” Felix had managed to needle Estelle like a virtuoso the other day.
“I heard others have gone missing.”
Stephan eyed Raoul. “Why are you being friendly all of a sudden? The other day you could barely handle me being inside your sacred library.”
“I’ve changed my mind.”
“Right.”
Raoul pursed his lips. “Fine. If you must know, I need help and I’ll even take it from a masquerada.”
This was more reasonable. “Others have gone missing,” he confirmed. There was no reason to lie about this; it was well-known by their security and through general gossip.
The librarian nodded. “Then I suggest you get me that meeting as soon as you can. Whatever they’re using those people for, it can’t be good.”
Chapter 17
Estelle paused at the door and swung her arm around in the dark until she touched the piece of twine attached to a naked light bulb. A quick pull and the harsh white light illuminated the mops, rakes, and old lawn mowers that filled the space. The main room was designed to resemble a storage area for maintenance equipment, and it smelled like old oil.
Agata sniffed behind her. “Realistic,” she said with what appeared to be grudging approval.
Estelle led the way to the back, where a battered workbench lined the rear wall. She pulled on the bench’s underside, which opened to reveal another door.
Another security code—repeated for Agata—and they were in the staircase. The lights here came on automatically but had the same unpleasant fluorescent glow. “Two flights down,” she said.
The Ancients’ home—or crypt, or prison, depending on how you looked at it—was best described as institutional. There were only two rooms: a waiting room and the other where the Ancients were kept. Both rooms were painted a light salmon and even the furniture was that greenish faux-leather vinyl so often found in a doctor’s office. Every time Estelle went in, she expected to find old dog-eared copies of Reader’s Digest.
The waiting room had CCTV and both women glanced up at the screen automatically. The Ancients on their beds, covered under light blankets that appeared to be placed more out of respect—a covering of the body—rather than a desire to keep them warm. If it wasn’t for the steady rise and drop of their chests Estelle would not even have known they were alive. As it was, it was a full minute between breaths.
The entire place always felt stagnant.
The vampire Ancients were completely cut off. They had chosen this hibernation as a way to protect themselves from the madness th
at had overwhelmed their peers, so it was hard to explain why Estelle always had such a bad feeling near them—perhaps it was the potential danger that they could awake and repeat the havoc Paulina had caused.
“Lucia is on the left,” she said. “Vincenzo is on the right.”
“So I see.”
Estelle took a deep breath. “Take a seat here. You can watch me on the video,” here she pointed to the CCTV mounted in the corner of the room, “but you don’t come in. We need to keep separate in case they decide to act. Understand?”
“You’ve made it very clear.” Agata ignored the cracking chairs and stood in the center of the room like a solider.
Estelle walked to the reinforced steel door and tapped in the security code. When she heard the familiar clicks as the locks disengaged, she entered to a thick and heavy silence, as though she’d walked into a fog that muffled her own breath. The Ancients were dressed in blue robes, their eyes closed and hands clasped across the chest.
Estelle grabbed the checklist from the wall and did the usual routine of going through the equipment to make sure it was in good order. All fine. She did a final check, this time looking closely at the Ancients. There was a thin layer of dust on their faces and she couldn’t decide if it was less respectful to dust it off or leave it.
She paused and shivered, the hair on her arms standing on end; the sensitive tips of her fangs almost numb.
Estelle.
Shocked, she stared at Vincenzo’s face. She must be going crazy from stress to think the Ancient was talking to her.
Where is Cressida?
Nope. There was definitely a voice in her mind. She checked behind her in case Agata had come in but the door remained closed.
“Vincenzo?” she whispered.
Cressida. Where is she? We have been alone.
“She died six months ago.”
Ahh. The Ancient’s voice was a sigh. She will be missed.
“You spoke to her?” Estelle calmed down. Maybe this was a rite of passage Cressida had neglected to tell her about.
I tried but her mind was closed to us.
“Us? Is Lucia here?”
My beloved speaks to me only. We have had many generations of our own company and very few of you come to visit. She has lost the ability and desire to communicate with you.
Estelle began to back away and Vincenzo gave a low chuckle that tickled her mind. We are not like Paulina. She was brash. We are content here in our solitude. Or my beloved is, and I am content with her.
Yes. She was hallucinating. Estelle backed away and the moment she stepped out from the room, Vincenzo’s presence disappeared.
Okay. Good. That was good. Nothing to be worried about. She needed more sleep and less coffee.
Time for the farm team. She’d wait to see if Agata had the same experience.
“Your turn.”
“What’s the security code?” Agata asked. She must not have noticed Estelle speaking to Vincenzo—or possibly herself—because she made no mention of the one-sided conversation.
Estelle told her and Agata walked into the fucking room like it was no big deal.
Estelle watched on the CCTV. She was surprised Agata did exactly as expected, then was surprised at her surprise. Why did she think her deputy was going to disobey?
The unwelcome answer came promptly. Because she’s a lithu and they can’t be trusted.
She didn’t like this part of her.
Agata did nothing for the first few minutes but stand near the door. Her head was cocked to one side as though she was listening intently and occasionally Estelle saw her lips move as if she was repeating a word or phrase. In the middle of the room, the two vampires lay on their Spartan cots.
Agata leaned over so that she was only inches away from Lucia’s face. Agata’s hands lay on the edge of the bed, yet she made no move to touch the ancient vampire. Apparently satisfied by whatever she saw, she moved over to look at Vincenzo.
A minute later, she’d joined Estelle back in the other room, as unfazed as ever. “Are there more tasks to do here?” she asked.
Estelle regarded her. “How did that feel?”
“Fine. They are dusty.”
“Did you hear a voice?”
Now Agata looked suspicious. “You said they were comatose. I heard nothing.”
Definitely less coffee and more sleep.
Agata was the one to look back at the Ancients as they left. “Can they not be released?”
“They chose this life.”
“Maybe they changed their minds. You’ll never know.” Agata stared at her accusingly. “Do the others know how you are treating these Ancients?”
“No.” Was that her game? To release the Ancients and take their power for the lithu’s benefit?
“Because they wouldn’t allow such torture,” Agata said flatly.
“It’s our protection. When Paulina was out, she drove vampires insane and caused a massacre.”
Agata nodded slowly. “I know.”
“They should have been killed then and there. It was a mercy that we kept them alive.”
Agata glanced back at the door. “A mercy? Or even worse punishment?”
Estelle didn’t have an answer.
* * * *
Stephan hung up, then regarded the phone in his hand. Estelle had sounded, if not chipper, at least resigned to being seneschal, and one with a lithu deputy. She’d asked him to meet with Agata. The lithu had apparently recognized the two in the photos he’d taken at Disney Springs.
He wasn’t surprised when he arrived at the restaurant for dinner an hour later to see Raoul at the table with the two women. The librarian appeared whenever there was intrigue and gossip and although Stephan didn’t entirely like him, he admitted the man’s knowledge. Plus he was going to be at the table with three of the only four vampires who were allowed access to the Ancients. That could be interesting.
Their day together had not made Estelle and Agata more relaxed with each other, and Raoul watched the lithu with the same degree of trepidation that Stephan would direct toward a wild animal. He hid a grin. Agata was almost a foot shorter than Raoul and as compact as a gymnast. Her auburn hair was bright against her black shirt, and held back from her sharply featured face by a black velvet ribbon. Stephan had not seen her smile and when he arrived at the table, it was no different. She looked at him with her lips tightly sealed. Estelle, on the other hand, gave Stephan a wide smile that relaxed his whole body. He’d missed seeing her this morning.
Conversation was general for the first few minutes: weather, how one’s day was, the menu. Once the wine arrived, they came to a mutual stop.
“I showed Agata the photos from the restaurant,” announced Estelle. Curious, Stephan checked Raoul’s reaction. He looked merely interested, nothing in his face betraying the fact he’d been one of the two to meet with their enemies.
“They are known to me,” said Agata. Her voice was clear but Stephan couldn’t identify her accent. Northern European? South American? Mongolian? It morphed with each syllable.
“Who are they?”
“A long time ago, cowardly vampires slaughtered our ruling family.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Stephan saw Estelle make a slight hand movement. Raoul shut his mouth and silenced whatever he was about to voice.
“The two you saw are part of a family who claim to be descendants of a survivor. There is no proof of this, but they have forwarded a claim to the ruling chair based on it.”
“Is there currently someone on the throne?”
“There is and he is well-respected. We would not dream of deposing him for such a claim as this.”
“They have to be a pain in the ass, though.” Stephan reached for the bread and ripped it open. A small puff of steam arose with the rich, yeasty smell.
&
nbsp; “That may be true.” Agata paused. “I would not be averse to seeing these two punished for their presumption.”
Raoul leaned his head to the side. “How powerful is their base at home?”
Agata addressed her answer to Stephan. “It’s not. I’m not surprised they have connected with the Dawning. They’re looking for support.”
A minute later, the server arrived to take their orders. When they returned to the conversation, Agata said, “The Ancients.”
She sounded as though she was about to make a proclamation. Both Raoul and Estelle sat straighter and Stephan leaned in. Agata looked at them with faint surprise. “I wish to know more about their connection with the Dawning.”
Estelle took over, sketching out what they knew and their experiences with Yangzei six months ago. His arm throbbed as she described what happened in the battle and about Cormac and Miaoling’s central role in driving the masquerada demon back. The tale took most of dinner and Estelle left out nothing. She was a born storyteller. Agata stayed silent, nodding her head occasionally and moving her gnocchi around her plate without taking a bite.
“The missing ones?” she asked Stephan when Estelle finally finished and began to eat her food, which had gone untouched.
“We have no idea what makes them vulnerable to the Dawning.” Stephan speared his last rigatoni. “You?”
Agata shook her head. “We had multiple theories but there were always too many outliers. Now we think they each have a trait the Dawning needs.”
Estelle laughed wryly. “What could Felix have that anyone needs?”
Stephan wanted to reach across the table and hold her. The deepest hurt could only come from family.
“He has no desirable characteristics?” asked Agata.
“He’s ambitious.” Estelle held her glass up for the waiter to refill and thanked him before turning back to Agata. “How many of yours are gone?”
“One percent of our population. It is enough.”
The rest of the meal passed in casual conversation. Agata directed most of her comments to Stephan and rarely interacted with either Estelle or Raoul. Stephan watched her closely. Once, her hand shook slightly and she brought it down under the table as she took a deep breath. He pitied her. He knew what it was like to be surrounded by enemies, and to have to build an iron shell to protect oneself.
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