Chapter Sixteen
Kyan
KYAN brOUGHT A FIST DOWN ON THE EXTRAVAGANT GOLD gates of the house’s porch as Callum finished parking his sports car.
‘I don’t know why you insist on driving things like that,’ he said over his shoulder.
‘That’s because you’re a bore who doesn’t appreciate beauty,’ Callum said, jogging smoothly up the steps.
Kyan immediately thought of Nicole and a small smile flickered across his mouth. He arched a look over his shoulder at the low-slung car’s dark silver exterior winking in the afternoon light, and snorted.
His own was black and simple by comparison. He’d Influenced the rental people so he didn’t have to use his Wake-issued ID or one of their cars in case it had a tracker.
Kyan slid Callum a look. ‘Do you think he’ll answer?’
‘Possibly,’ Callum mused, looking up at the manor with interest.
A surge of impatience simmered through Kyan’s muscles. They couldn’t wait all day. He needed to start tracking Nicole. He thought of calling the Palmers, but it felt like such a betrayal to only have the news that the Wake knew about them.
At least testing the blood should get them an idea of how the Wake were doing these transformations, and if there was a cure.
He wasn’t hopeful though as he opened the gates to reach the double set of glass doors, one to an inner porch, the next to the entrance hall.
As his fist came down to knock again, someone came into view.
Kyan had expected a doorman of some kind, but instead the Vampire appeared, his expression a picture of irritation. He opened the first doors in a flourish, but the next only a sliver to speak.
‘As much as I love an unannounced visit from the Wake,’ Verin Vinter said, ‘I’m quite detained. So, my exquisitely restored Tijou gates and I, bid you and your ham fists, come back another day.’
Kyan’s foot landed in the gap before the Vampire could close the door, a tight smile on his lips.
‘Verin,’ Callum greeted from over Kyan’s shoulder with a saccharine smile. ‘Always a pleasure.’
Verin’s eyes narrowed. ‘A pleasure when you spilled wine on my favourite robe?’
‘It was a hideous robe,’ Callum whispered to Kyan.
Kyan’s already tense body tightened further. ‘Callum is very sorry about your robe—’
‘I’m not sorry.’
‘—but we need to …’ The words died in Kyan’s throat as a familiar scent struck him like a blade. There, beneath something like bleach and an incredible amount of nose-stinging dust, was blood.
Nicole’s blood.
It was a ridiculous thought, one his logical mind almost rejected.
How could he have stumbled across her after six months? Perhaps he’d been away from her for too long and the stress of the Wake’s mission had made him delirious.
But this was different, despite its familiarity.
There was no echo of the newly turned scent that had triggered his oath.
Beneath the heady fragrance – entwined with the subtlest scent identifying her as an Empyreal, but complicated by her Seer heritage – it had matured, darkened.
And it twisted his stomach and need up a notch.
He’d gone still as a standing stone. Only Callum’s pointed cough made him realise his hand was splayed against the door, ready to shove it open. He blinked, his vision gold at the edges.
Nicole—
If she was in danger, he needed to get inside this damn house. But snarling and shoving his way in might get her killed.
It took every inch of his control to stop himself squeezing Verin’s throat until the trachea crumbled to a pulp.
The Vampire shouldn’t have any idea that Kyan knew Nicole, but Verin was watching every minute transition on his face with unnerving interest.
‘Ignore him, he’s had a long night,’ Callum said, gripping Kyan’s shoulder with a force that cut through his screaming urges. He’d never met anyone stronger than Callum, and his friend was unleashing a fair bit of that strength right now.
Kyan could only release a pained grunt in response.
‘Smells like blood,’ Kyan managed instead. ‘Care to explain?’
Verin’s eyes glittered. ‘I am a Vampire.’
‘Blood and rubble.’
‘Ah. We had a little … architectural incident.’
You’ll have a fucking incident if you don’t let me in this house—
His collarbone creaked under Callum’s fingers.
‘A nasty little beastie decided to break through my priceless windows last night,’ Verin said.
Nicole?
Gods above, had Nicole come here on her search? This place was full of antiquities and paintings. What if she’d needed to break in and got caught, and Verin—
Red replaced the gold pulsing in Kyan’s vision, his clothes suddenly too tight.
Bone crunched in Kyan’s shoulder.
Verin’s brow arched slightly.
‘Why don’t we discuss it over some tea?’ Callum asked. ‘After all, we have something you’re going to want to see.’
‘I don’t have many tea parties any more. Not after the Wake killed most of my “co-conspirators” as they liked to call them.’ The Vampire’s teeth flashed in a smile that was anything but pleasant. ‘Give me one good reason why I’d let you in.’
‘You owe me, remember,’ Kyan near growled.
It was true – Kyan had let Verin go once when he’d found him collecting blood from the site of a kill.
Callum stepped closer, dragging Kyan back slightly so he could face the Vampire. ‘Because we might have exactly what you need to get the revenge you’ve wanted since the Wake killed your partner.’
The words singed the air with a dark promise.
Verin’s gaze slid to Callum, his eyes so cold Kyan was amazed the Vampire didn’t try to kill them there and then. Verin deliberated for what felt like a small eternity, and then the centuries-old Vampire opened the door to his palatial home wider.
‘You have ten minutes. You step out of line …’ He smiled, canines sharp. ‘You’re in my kingdom. I can’t be held responsible for any more … incidents.’
Kyan would make sure they took as long as they needed, but he nodded anyway and shouldered into the house’s art-clad hall. The echo of Nicole’s pleased little sigh every time she approached a painting breathed through his mind.
For a moment the memory was so strong, so visceral, it stopped him in his tracks.
Gods, it was getting worse.
He felt like an unruly bloodhound and evidently seemed like one from the silent warning in Callum’s eyes to get his shit together.
‘This way,’ Verin said, gliding ahead.
‘Fancy house,’ Callum commented.
The Vampire sniffed.
‘I thought it was built by William Cecil,’ his friend continued as they dipped through rooms and wound around Elizabethan architecture.
Kyan tried to focus on the conversation and not the rushing in his ears.
‘Will had the place built under my direction,’ Verin explained.
‘We couldn’t have the queen’s right-hand man knowing a powerful Vampire was keeping us all secret.
Especially at the height of the Witch hunts and in the midst of Elizabeth’s fascination with the supernatural.
It also meant I was able to keep watch on the human political situations, even if I didn’t “involve myself” – per the Wake’s request, of course.
’ He said the words like a phrase that had been repeated to him a thousand times and that he found just as tedious as the first.
‘Of course,’ Callum purred.
Kyan knew for a fact the Vampire hadn’t followed that order to the letter, and that the Wake hadn’t either.
Verin led them through the house to an exquisitely panelled library room where great tables had been set up in one long spread. Brass and copper vial-holders and measuring devices were set between sparkling glass for his bloodwork.
‘If you’d be so kind.’ Verin held out his hand. ‘I assume blood has something to do with why you’re here. That, and whatever foul thing is in that bag.’ The Vampire tipped his chin to the bag Kyan had nearly forgotten he’d brought.
Kyan proceeded to stop strangling it and dug the vial from his pocket to hand them both over. ‘We need to know what creature this is and, if possible, an identity. Perhaps it matches one of your samples.’
He went to inspect the living area that scented faintly of food. There was a splotch of warm tea on the coffee table, as if someone had hastily removed a set of teacups. The slightly depressed seats also told him there’d been people here. More than one.
She’s been here, a primal part of him urged.
Anticipation hummed through him loud enough to ring in his ears. Tea was a good sign. That could mean guests, not prisoners.
‘Unless I’ve tasted the person’s blood before, I’m unlikely to be able to help you. But creature identification, I can do,’ Verin said.
‘That might help,’ Kyan said as Verin removed the fang from the bag.
Verin’s expression smoothed with rage. ‘You bring me the fang of a Vampire? Is this a threat?’
‘No. Something’s been done to it. It had a double row of teeth. I want to know what mutated it and how to reverse it, if possible.’
Verin showed the first signs of concern. ‘I see. Do I get more information than that?’
‘I’d prefer to hear your take first.’
The Vampire unstopped the Huntbringer vial and then inhaled.
If it was possible for his alabaster brow to have creased with confusion, it would have. But it was the words that followed that caused Kyan’s own mind to crumple like a piece of paper.
‘This is Empyreal blood.’
Nicole
NICOLE PACED IN THE SOUNDPROOFED LUXURY OF THE THIRD George Room.
They’d only managed to get this far and slam shut the door when the front one had opened across the house, immediately muting Verin’s conversation with whomever the Wake had sent.
This room gave them easier access to the Hell Staircase and back down the stairs to try and find a way out.
But right now, they needed to know what they were dealing with.
The wallpaper was a rose-red paisley, the walls choked with Old Masters’ paintings in varying sizes and gold frames. Antique couches were dotted about, and Bells sank nervously onto one as Dylan began to pace.
‘Did Verin betray us?’ he asked.
Staying back from the window, Nicole peered outside to see a sleek sports car and the edge of a black one in the drive.
Not the type of car she’d expected from the Wake, but then their higher-ups were infinitely mysterious.
She already knew they had eye-watering amounts of money at their disposal, what was one ostentatious car?
But why were Empyreals arriving now? Had Verin called them?
‘Two Empyreals,’ he’d said, ‘I’ll get rid of them.’
But could they trust that?
What if the Empyreal who’d killed their mother was here to finish the job?
Ice lanced down her spine.
‘No one is going to take you anywhere, you understand?’ her father said, breaking through her thoughts. ‘We need to find out who they are, and why they’re here.’
He was already rearming himself from the weapons case they’d grabbed on the way, passing a gun to Bells who took it expectantly.
‘They wouldn’t be here for us with those cars,’ Nicole said. ‘But I can’t hear what they’re talking about while I’m in here.’
‘Unless they’ve got a van elsewhere,’ Dylan said, scoping out the grounds.
‘Call him,’ Nicole found herself saying.
Dylan’s eyes flashed to hers. ‘What?’
‘Call Callum and find out if he knows who’s come here. We’re going to need to speak to him and Kyan about what Elisabetta said anyway, and now we have actual information to use, so …’ She gnawed on her lip, nerves fluttering at the thought of hearing Kyan’s voice again.
But the Wake were literally at their doorstep.
Nicole nodded tightly. ‘Do it. It’s Callum’s number, not Kyan’s. Call him. Find out.’ Dylan’s jaw worked. ‘One day, we’re going to talk about your problem with him, but right now—’
‘Fine.’ Dylan took a breath, and began to tap the numbers in to the phone without looking at the paper.
Then he put the phone to his ear, and it began to ring.