Quinn's Undying Rose

“He what? I don’t understand.”

Quinn pointed at the prisoner who now stared at him, interest flickering in his irises. “Gabriel can dive into his memory and see what he’s seen. He’ll be able to tell us where Keegan is hiding. Once we have the information, we’re going in.” Then he stared straight at the captured vampire, addressing him directly. “Nobody can resist Gabriel’s gift. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Realization spread in his eyes, and Quinn could firmly see this mind working. Rose was right: he was afraid of Keegan more than he feared torture. His arms bound behind him, his legs shackled to one of the machines, he struggled against his restraints. But they didn’t give an inch.

Then he glared back at them. “There is.”

Before Quinn understood what he meant, he saw the prisoner work his mouth as if he was chewing something, or trying to move something around in his mouth.

“Ah, shit!” Zane yelled and jumped him, trying to force his mouth open. “Suicide pill,” he said by way of explanation as he continued to try and pry the vampire’s clamped jaws apart.

Quinn rushed to him to help, but it was too late. He heard a tiny cracking sound as if something had popped. An instant later, the captive’s body turned hot, and both he and Zane backed away from him.

The hostile vampire burst into flames from the inside, incinerating within seconds.

“Fuck!”

Quinn could only echo his colleague’s curse. Behind him, Rose gasped uncontrollably.

“Oh my god! What happened?” she asked, stunned.

“In World War II they handed out cyanide capsules to high ranking officers so they could kill them themselves if they got captured,” Zane explained. “While cyanide doesn’t work on vampires, silver does. He must have had a silver nitrate capsule hidden in his mouth.”

Quinn could only agree. “Silver nitrate, if ingested, causes spontaneous combustion.”

“So much for getting anything useful out of him,” Zane added.

“Back to the drawing board,” Quinn conceded.

***

Thomas didn’t have to look over his shoulder to know that Eddie was standing over him as he was sitting at his computer. In the far corner of his living room, Portia and Delilah were keeping Blake busy with a game of Wii while the baby slept peacefully on the couch, oblivious to the noise the adults were making.

“Still nothing?” Eddie asked and pulled a chair closer to sit next to him.

Thomas gave him a sideways glance, willing his eyes not to linger too long on the young vampire’s broad shoulders and narrow hips. All it would result in was a bolt of lust coursing through his body, scorching him from the inside. And he was determined not to go down that road, knowing it was a dead end.

“It’s like this Keegan is a ghost. I can’t find anything on him, not even with all the info Rose gave us. All we have is where he last resided, but Rose already knew that. Before that, there’s nothing. And from my contacts in Chicago I know that he’s already cleaned out that place and disappeared,” Thomas elaborated.

Eddie frowned. “It’s not like you to find nothing. You’re the best.”

He smiled at his mentee’s enthusiastic exclamation.

“I wish. But even I can’t find anything. No birth certificate, not even a fake one, no social security number, no driver’s license, no photos of him, no property in his name, no trusts that lead to him, nothing. It’s impossible that a man with his apparent power can remain invisible like this. But there’s no trace of him. Keegan doesn’t exist.”

Eddie gave him a puzzled look. “You mean Rose invented him?”

Thomas shook his head. “No. Keegan invented himself.”

And that bothered him. Because only a man who had something very important to hide would go to the pains of erasing every trace of himself and turn into a ghost.

“But why?”

“Because he needs to hide who he really is.”

It was the only explanation that made sense to Thomas. And for a tiny moment he felt a kindred spirit with this man, because just like him, Thomas had made sure his own origins would never be discovered. He’d all but destroyed any evidence of who he was.

The insistent ring of his phone pulled him from his thoughts. Automatically he reached for it.

Glancing at caller ID, he answered. “Yes, Quinn?”

“We need to get Blake back here.”

“Already?” He lowered his voice to make sure Blake, who was still playing Wii, wouldn’t hear him. “Has Keegan already attacked?”