Dark Heir

“The way I heard it,” Eli said, beeping the SUV locked and stepping behind it so he was protected but in an excellent firing position, “you boys never offered her anything. George got her by default.”

“Never offered?” Brian said. “She clearly never told you about the nights in Asheville.”

“She stayed in our rooms. With us.”

“I had my own room,” I said crossly, sniffing the night and searching the shadows for signs of anything out of place. For the smell of Santana. For the smell of Dominique. Someone had been cooking spicy fried food, the smell/taste of peppers, shrimp, and hot oil on the air. No smell of scorched vamp or Dominique. “No fighting in the ranks, boys. We need to know that Grégoire is safe. Joseph Santana got burned and he’ll be looking for strong vampire blood to feed him.”

“And what burned him?” Brandon asked, his voice a little too silky for my tastes. And for Eli’s too, seemingly, since he showed the nine mil he had drawn, aiming it between the brothers. I took two steps to the side so I was out of the line of fire. “It’s okay, Eli,” I said. “Sabina’s sliver of the Blood Cross burned him. She’s burned too, but Del is sending Leo to her.” And if my answer let them believe that Sabina was burned when the priestess wielded the sliver of the ancient weapon against Joseph Santana, well, I was learning to lie by omission way better than I wanted. It made the skin between my shoulder blades twitch, as if God was watching and wasn’t happy with my methods.

“Is the priestess okay?” Brian asked.

“Arm burned to blackened bones. Not in very good control.”

The brothers looked at each other and flipped their night-vision goggles out of the way. “We’ve heard tales about the months after she used the Blood Cross to stop the Damours back in the late seventeen hundreds. It was bad.”

Brian rested his left elbow on the hilt of a sword. “Amaury cleaned out his scion lair and locked her in. It took the better part of a decade for her to heal enough to regain control around humans. Or so they say.”

Or so they say was a common phrase humans used around vamps, because vamps explained nothing and offered even less fresh intel. Vamps were born and bred on secrets. Or rather, raised from the dead and nursed on bloody secrets.

“Some say she didn’t come back to herself until Amaury put her on a boat and sent her to the Europeans. They fed her on the oldest Mithrans. The Sons of Darkness even offered blood,” Brandon said. “Or so they say.”

“Old tales,” Brian said, and changed the subject. “Grégoire is safe, here. He rose with us at dusk, fed, and is currently on conference calls with his businessman in the Philippines.”

“Here?” I asked.

“Yes. Why?” Brian asked.

“Who’s watching him?” Eli asked.

“As per the orders of the Enforcer,” Brian said, his tone going glacial at a perceived questioning of his decision-making process, “we’re integrating the teams. With our master are three of the new people from Atlanta and four of the Tequila boys.” Team Tequila had been with Derek since the beginning.

“No offense, Grandpa,” Eli said, his expression and tone proving his words a lie.

“None taken, Sonny.”

“I can’t take you anywhere,” I said to Eli. And then I asked the Onorio twins the really important question. “And Dominique?”

“Away. With her scions.”

“I’ll need that address,” I said slowly.

The twins altered position in the dark, the difference subtle but certain. They were ready to draw weapons. “Why?” Brandon asked.

I shifted my own position, just as delicately, to keep any stray shots from neighboring houses. It was like a dance. The boys might like me, but if they thought I was the slightest threat to their master, they’d hurt me bad. “Because there is some indication that she was involved with Adrianna.” Behind me, Eli’s weapons ratcheted as he readied two, seemingly at the same time, which took dexterity. My partner wasn’t subtle at all.

The twins glanced at each other, and some indefinable communication occurred, a twin thing where layers of exchanges were taking place, even as they glanced back to us. Brian said, “You understand that this request places us in a difficult position. You understand that as head of clan security, we know the most personal and confidential details of our clan Mithrans’ lives and are charged with their protection, well-being, and their privacy.”

“I do. I know how to protect those who give me the information I need,” I said. “And I know that we have a killer on the loose who threatens the delicate balance of safety between the Mithran world and the human one.”

Silence settled between us as the two thought and impatience crawled under my skin. No way to bash the info out of them, but I wanted to. Thoughtfully, Brandon said, “Dominique is in love with Grégoire.”

I considered that for a bit, before saying, “And Grégoire is in love with Leo.”

“Yes,” Brandon said, his tone weighty. There was a lot of meaning in that simple word.

“Our clan heir has a new lair in the Garden District, but we don’t know where,” Brian said, the words formal and guarded. “Dominique has been staying there often, for the last few weeks. When she comes home she smells of blood. Mithran blood.”

“Does she smell of sex?” I asked.

The brothers glanced at each other again for half a second. Brandon said, “Not sex with a man.”

“I see. Let’s go, Eli. Call us if you need us,” I said to the twins. “If Dominique shows up here, I suggest that Grégoire protect himself. No telling who she might bring with her. And if Grégoire wants to stay at HQ, for any reason, including being attacked by someone close to him, let us know. He may need a convoy and diversions.”

“We’ve seen what the vampire you’re hunting can do,” Brandon said, gravely. “We’ll be careful.”

“Yeah. Do that.”

Back in the SUV, I said, “Idiot.”

Eli said, “I was just having a little fun. And so were they.”

“Maybe.” I leaned my head back on the headrest and closed my eyes as we motored down the street. “But you’re still a pain in the ass.”

Eli choked at my use of language and I smiled into the darkness, letting my shoulders droop into sleep. Eli woke me when we reached the first body of water, a family pool. I didn’t even have to step out of the SUV. I could smell the stench of burned vamp from the open window, along with the smell of pesticides and dog poop. And Brute. But no dead people. I marked it on my map on the cell and closed my eyes until we reached the next site, a fountain in a park I didn’t recognize. It was empty and stinky and tainted with were-taint also. As were three of the other sites. At none of them did I smell Adrianna.