Chapter 38 Asher
WE MOVE AS one across the floor, Dante’s bodyguard parting the crowd as we make our way toward the exit. I pull out my phone and text Benjimen to meet us out front.
Cord is talking to Dante, their heads bent together, then he turns around and drops back to me. “I can ride with Dante. You should go home.”
“No. I’m coming with you.”
“Ash–”
“This isn’t open for discussion. I have friends at Lupercalia. I want to help in any way I can. If you want to ride with Dante, I’ll follow you there.”
He looks like he wants to argue, then grits his teeth and nods. “Fine. But stay in the car.”
“I’m not a child.”
We exit the building and head down the steps. Three black SUVs roll up out front, one of them mine.
“If something happens to you,” Cord starts, then I grab his arm and pull him around to face me.
“He knows who I am, Cord. There’s no hiding from this.”
“Are you coming?” Dante calls as he opens the door to one of the SUVs.
Cord looks at me and rolls his eyes. “You better be safe,” he mutters, then looks over at Dante. “We’ll follow you.”
As we get into the car I tell Benjimen to follow Dante then look over at Cord. “You know they’re going to step in now.”
“Who?”
“The Black Guild. A White Guild blood den was just attacked. There’s no hiding that.”
“Fuck.” He drags a hand back through his hair, pulling it loose from the ponytail. “That fucker stood right there talking to us while he knew this was going on. Probably laughing his ass off right now.”
I don’t know what to say that won’t make him madder. I’m pretty pissed myself. I’ve never wanted to punch someone in the face as much as I did Thalium when he was baiting us. And I knew that’s what he was doing. If I had any doubt he was the Python, it’s been erased now.
The scene outside Lupercalia is like a circus.
The flashing lights of official vehicles are everywhere.
We follow Dante’s SUV around the block and pull up in the alley.
I don’t know how we’re going to get inside with all the police here, but Dante exits his car and approaches the back door, bending close to the cop stationed there.
After a minute he motions for the rest of us to follow him inside.
“Dante has men on the police force?” I ask Cord.
“Does that surprise you?”
I guess it shouldn’t. We get out of the car and follow Dante inside, where the overhead lights create a harsh backdrop for the destruction.
Broken glass litters the floor, and tables and chairs are overturned around the perimeter.
The scent of alcohol and blood is almost overwhelming.
I swallow my hunger and focus on why I’m here.
“I’ll be right back,” Cord murmurs to me then joins Dante, who’s talking to a vamp I recognize as the bartender.
Paramedics are still tending to the human victims. I see several covered with sheets, I’m assuming dead. There are a few injured Clansmen, who refuse treatment, and I stop one heading for the door.
“What happened here?”
He looks a little dazed. “They just came in shooting. There was no chance to find cover.”
“How many were there?”
“A half dozen? It’s hard to say. People were running and screaming everywhere. Look, I want to get upstairs and feed so I can heal and get out of here.”
I watch him move across the room toward the lobby. Cord is still tied up with Dante, so I follow the vamp toward the elevator. A policeman is questioning a small group of Clansmen gathered there, all obviously trying to get to the den on the second floor.
“You’re injured,” he insists.
“We’ll be fine,” one of them assures him. “We just need to get upstairs.”
Another cop approaches him and pulls him aside.
“Let them go,” I hear him say. I realize he’s a vamp; probably one of Dante’s plants.
I don’t know how he works among human death and injury all day without losing control.
Just being here among all this bloodshed is awakening urges I haven’t felt since I was newly-transitioned.
He looks up and meets my eye and I walk over to him.
“Did they hit upstairs?”
He glances at the other cop, who’s moved on, and keeps his voice low. “No, thankfully. Just the club. But we still have some severely injured vamps. I’m here to make sure they get up there to feed. We don’t need blood fever on top of this.”
“No we don’t,” I agree. “I’m going up to see if I can help.”
“Thanks.”
The elevator dings and one of the assembled Clansmen uses his member keycard to open it. We all pile in and he punches the button for the second floor.
The lobby of the blood den is more chaotic, as Esmerelda and her staff rush around trying to match the injured with donors. Some need two, as well as another vamp to supervise since Code 3 victims can’t drink directly from donors.
I spot a frazzled Lazlo and head over to him.
“Mr. Winston. I can have someone for you in a few minutes.”
“That’s okay, Lazlo, I’m not here to feed. I heard what happened and came to help.”
He lets out a relieved sigh. “Can you supervise some feedings?”
“Of course. Just tell me where you need me.”
I’m on my second victim when my phone dings with a message. I pull it out and see it’s Cord.
Where did you go?
I’m upstairs helping out.
Going to be there a while?
Probably.
Okay, I’m going with Dante. He’s going to drop me at home to change then head over to the other site.
I’m disappointed because I wanted to be the one to get him out of his suit, but I know he has things he has to do.
Call me later?
I’ll try. Be safe.
You too.
I spot Armand when I return to the lobby for my next victim and breathe a sigh of relief to see him alive and well.
He rushes over to me, his face a mask of concern. “Asher, were you downstairs?”
“No. I was across town and heard what happened. Just came by to help out.”
“Oh thank god. I’m sure Esmerelda appreciates the help. I’ve already donated tonight but I told them I would be good to go again if they needed me.”
“That’s dangerous for you.”
“I know, but I feel so bad. I know many of the victims personally.” He leans closer. “Did you come from the club?”
“Yes.”
“How bad was it?”
“I don’t know the human toll yet, but I saw a lot of bodies and paramedics helping people. The club itself is a mess.”
He wrings his hands in distress. “Who would do something like this?”
I’m wary of telling him more than he needs to know, but I also want to warn him. “This isn’t the only den to be hit tonight.”
“Oh no. Is it someone who has it out for the Clan?”
“I don’t know,” I lie. “Just be careful when you’re away from here. Or better yet, stay in the building for now.”
“But it wasn’t safe either,” he insists.
“They didn’t get up here, did they?”
“No,” he agrees. “I hate this.”
“I do too.”
? ? ?
It’s after midnight when I finally leave the club. We managed to get all the wounded vamps fed and taken care of. Some were so badly injured they had to be kept overnight in one of the club’s holding rooms. One in particular was shot nine times and was close to blood fever.
I’m bone-tired when I get home, but I can’t sleep.
I take a shower and make myself a drink then turn on the news, hoping to get the official word on tonight’s assault.
Not surprisingly, there isn’t much, just a mention of a shootout at a local nightclub.
No details on how many were killed or injured.
I don’t know if it’s Dante or the White Guild, but someone is doing a good job of keeping things quiet.
I turn off the TV and decide to try to get some sleep when Cord calls.
“Where are you?” I ask.
“Still at Sangue, our club that was hit. I just stepped outside to get some air. The blood scent in there is oppressive.”
“Yeah, I felt that way at Lupercalia. I don’t know how the Clan members on the police force handle that.”
“They’re trained.”
I don’t even want to know what kind of training that entailed. “I checked the news but there wasn’t much.”
“Dante’s people have put a firm hold on what gets out. He’s worried about the Black Guild hearing about this.”
As well he should be, but I don’t know how he’s going to keep this under wraps.
Maybe if it was just his clubs being hit, he could chalk it up to human gang violence or something equally as mundane.
The fact that a White Guild property was hit on the same night though screams a vamp hit, which means the Crimson Guild is no longer in control of the city.
“How bad was it?” I ask.
He sighs tiredly. “Eleven humans dead, twenty injured at Lupercalia. Not sure of the vamp count.”
“There were enough to overwhelm the den,” I inform him. “Some serious. One near blood fever.”
“Shit. We lost all but four donors at Sangue, and it’s our biggest club. There were about a dozen injured vamps. Luckily there’s a stocked fridge in the back for emergencies, so there were no blood-related incidents.”
“It’s a good thing they couldn’t get upstairs at Lupercalia, or it could have been a whole lot worse.”
“I know,” he says. “Unfortunately we can’t do that at Crimson Guild dens since they’re open to everyone.”
“Did you manage to catch anyone?”
“No. They were gone before we got here. Dante has a good security force at each den, especially after the recent troubles we’ve had, but there was no warning for this. They came in firing in force and were out in minutes.”
He’s quiet for a minute, then says, “I’m beginning to think you’re right.”
“About what?”
“About the Python wanting the Black Guild to show up. How else would you explain this? I can understand him kidnapping donors, but gunning them down? It makes no sense. His people need blood, too.”
“Unless he just wants to dismantle Dante’s entire operation.”
“Then why hit Lupercalia? It’s a White Guild property.”
That I can’t answer. Every time I think about Thalium standing there taunting us while his men were out shooting up Guild establishments, I want to strangle him.
And the worst part is there’s nothing to tie him to any of it.
We’ve got circumstantial evidence at best, but nothing we could use to convince the Black Guild he was at fault. He set it all up perfectly.
“How long are you going to be there?” I ask him.
“I don’t know. We’ve got to clean this mess up. We can’t afford to have even one blood den go offline. There’s a lot of hungry vamps in this city.”
“Where are you going to find more donors?”
“Dante’s had people recruiting ever since the first den got hit. Guess he’ll have to step up the effort now.”
“So I suppose I won’t be seeing you tonight.”
“Probably not for a while, actually. It’s all hands on deck for this one. If there was any doubt before that we are at war, it’s been erased.”
I know it’s necessary, but I hate it all the same. This has to happen just when we were making progress.
“Cord, please promise me you’ll take care of yourself. And be careful. He knows who you are.”
“I could say the same for you. How good is that driver of yours?”
“He’s ex-Special Forces. I trust him with my life.”
“I’d feel better if he was Clan.”
I recall a conversation about that very subject a few years ago.
“You could transition.”
“Sorry, Asher. I know you mean well, but I like being human.”
“Don’t go anywhere without him,” Cord warns. “I don’t trust this fucker Thalium.”
Nor do I.