Chapter Twenty-Six
MARIUS
My heart pounded as I circled the riverside park, peering into the shadows. Fortunately, Mina wasn’t hurt, but I wasn’t about to relax. Not when another foe could appear at any moment.
I dipped for a closer look at Etienne’s lifeless body…or the ashy remains of it. Then I exhaled, but only slightly. One bitter enemy eliminated, but others remained. Like Szabo.
After another tight turn, I swooped down. The ground rushed up at me, and I stuck out my claws for landing. At the last possible moment, I braked by catching the wind with my wings. Touching down, I took a few skipping steps, then stopped, gazing at Mina.
She stood a few steps away, startled yet stubbornly holding her ground.
“Marius…”
My heart thudded as she stared at me, wide-eyed.
“Are you all right?” she whispered.
I snorted. She was the one who’d tangled with Etienne and his gang.
I grunted quietly. I’m fine. What about you?
She nodded. “Thanks to you.”
My dragon preened.
A snarl drifted up from the tunnel entrance. We both whirled, and I opened my wings, forming a protective wall before her. The next vampire who showed his pale face would be toast — literally.
“Not if it’s Henrik,” Mina yelped.
I grumbled. She might be ready to forgive him, but I never would.
I flared my nostrils, analyzing the mixed scents drifting out of the tunnel, then growled quietly.
Szabo, my dragon rumbled, more on the basis of his preferred cologne than his actual scent.
Mina nodded. “He turned up in Greenwich with two other vampires. I guess Jensen’s men were wrong about sighting him near the warehouse?”
I growled under my breath. More like a deliberate false alarm, though I couldn’t understand why Jensen would cooperate with Szabo, nor how Etienne fit in with any of this.
“Bene…Roux…” Mina fretted.
Footsteps sounded from the pavilion, and I opened my mouth, prepared to spray it with fire. Two figures appeared — one man leaning heavily on a low, sleek animal.
I prefer “King of the Jungle,” Bene muttered into my mind.
Yes, that was him, helping Henrik limp out of the tunnel.
“Henrik! Bene!” Mina rushed over. “Are you all right?”
Henrik croaked something about being just fine, though he looked terrible. Bene played up his own injuries by limping and whimpering.
“Poor baby,” Mina cooed, stroking his mane.
Asshole, I grumbled.
He snickered into my mind. I always knew she liked me.
I let out a thunderous roar. Mina’s hair and Bene’s mane flattened, but Henrik’s slicked-back hair didn’t so much as flutter.
Bene crouched, muttering a weak, Just kidding.
“Please do make sure to alert all of London to our presence,” Henrik muttered.
Stupid dragon, Bene grumbled, moving away from Mina.
She shot me one of those sharp, teacher looks that asked, Was that really necessary?
I glared at Bene. Yes.
Roux appeared next, sporting a gash on his striped shoulder that looked painful, though not serious.
Everything all right here? he asked.
Only if the dragon refrains from torching us along with the rest of the Docklands, Bene grumbled.
Roux sighed. Let me guess. You provoked him.
Bene licked his paw and touched up his whiskers. Maybe a little.
Henrik brushed at the blood seeping through his torn sleeve, then looked at Mina.
“That was quite the trick you pulled back there.” For once, his voice was a little awed.
I tilted my head. What trick?
Mina slumped, looking ashamed. “You mean, running for my life while you fought three vampires? Thank you, by the way. They would have killed me…or worse.”
I fought away horrible images of vampires drinking from Mina.
Henrik shook his head. “Running was your only option. But that shadow-walking… Well done.”
My eyes went wide. A compliment from Henrik was like a twin moon — it never happened. But Mina just shook her head.
“They figured it out, though.”
Henrik shrugged. “Only after a while, and in close quarters. If we’d been out in the open, they might never have caught on.”
Mina brightened a little. “Really?”
Henrik looked genuinely impressed. “I haven’t seen anyone create that convincing an illusion in decades.”
I wasn’t surprised, but Mina just looked back at the tunnel.
“Are they…?”
Henrik’s clothing was splattered with crimson that turned to ash and fell away as he plucked at the fabric.
“Szabo and one other are dead. The third…” He looked at Roux.
The tiger flexed his claws and dipped his head in a nod.
Is that all of them, then? Just three? I asked.
Henrik shot me a hurt look. “Just?”
Not what I meant, I muttered.
Mina rubbed her arms in the night chill. “So, what now?”
Henrik straightened, wincing, but already healing. “No cleanup necessary in the tunnel. But out here…” He gestured at the slain shifters with disdain, implying something like, At least we vampires have the grace to go cleanly.
Yes, conveniently. They left nothing but piles of ash, which wouldn’t be noticed in the tunnel. But shifters…
Bene tilted his head at the river, and Roux nodded. I held up a wing, trying to distract Mina as they disposed of the bodies. Still, she peeked around the edge, grimacing.
“I can’t even bring myself to feel bad for them. God, I really am going over to the dark side,” she lamented.
I snorted. Etienne deserved no pity, and neither did the other two, whom I’d recognized as a couple of thugs from his fight club. The world was truly better off without them.
I led Mina over to the van Roux had parked nearby and quickly shifted into human form. Mina watched, rapt, as I did so. Scrutiny like that from anyone else would have felt invasive, but I loved it.
Roux and Bene joined me, and we all pulled on the workmen’s jumpsuits Roux had packed along with an assortment of equipment.
“Let’s go,” Bene urged, sliding the van door open.
“Where to?” Mina asked.
Roux waved. “I’m not sure, but let’s start by getting out of here.”
***
We were on edge all the way to Anastasia’s, where we dropped off the cash — all three million pounds worth.
“Are you sure you want this much cash sitting around your apartment?” Mina asked, as ever looking out for others. She was a lot better at that than looking out for herself.
Good thing she has us, my dragon declared.
Yes, but I wasn’t counting my baby dragons before they hatched. I would only relax when we got home to Chateau Nocturne and put all this behind us.
“It will be fine,” Anastasia assured her.
Bene snorted once we’d extracted ourselves. “Did you see the way she grabbed the cash? She didn’t even ask about the painting.”
We piled back into the van, with Roux, Mina, and me in the front, as before, and Bene and Henrik in the cargo area.
“I don’t get it,” Mina gazed glumly out the window as we drove away. “What happened to principles?”
“Not sure she ever had any,” I said.
A few seconds ticked by. Then Mina murmured, “Maybe I should pose the same question about my principles.”
I took her hand. “Just asking shows they’re right where they ought to be.” Then I managed a little smile. “Then again, I am biased.”
We drove the rest of the way in silence. Roux’s eyes constantly roved the streets, but we made it back to the hotel without further incident. Once there, we all flopped into chairs or the couch.
“I still don’t understand what happened,” Bene said. “With Szabo, I mean. And what the hell was Etienne doing in London?”
“Celeste,” I grumbled. “It had to be. In both cases.”
Bene stirred the air with his hand. “Explain.”
I looked at Mina, then laid it all out. The threatening photo. The grudge Etienne held against me. Szabo following Mina to London…
“But how would Etienne have taken that photo in Mallorca?” Roux asked.
“He didn’t,” I said, having finally figured it out. “That had to be Celeste’s doing. But she passed it on to Etienne, probably hoping we would take each other out.” I grimaced, squeezing Mina’s hand. “And maybe take Mina out too.”
Her eyes met mine, grim but grateful.
“Why would anyone want to off Mina?” Bene asked.
To her credit, she didn’t glare at Henrik, but I did.
“I think Celeste is a bit…jealous,” Mina said carefully. “You know, of the chateau. Of the preferential treatment I get from Gordon.”
Roux snorted. “The preferential treatment that nearly got you killed?”
“Also, the chateau is kind of a money pit,” Bene said. When Mina grimaced, he threw up his hands. “No offense.”
She sighed. “None taken.”
Henrik rubbed his chin, thinking. “So, that report of Szabo lurking around the warehouse…”
“Celeste,” I grunted. “Again. I’m sure she came up with that.”
Mina grimaced. “Was Szabo there at all, or was it all a false alarm?”
“He was there,” I said, “But only long enough to lure me away.”
“Why?” Bene asked.
Roux had an answer to that one. “To give us one less man on the job. You know — divide and conquer.”
And to get me away from Mina. I was sure of it.
The clincher was Szabo and Etienne working together to trap her in that goddamn tunnel.
There was no way those two would ever have cooperated on anything…
unless Celeste put them up to it, promising a reward she may or may not have delivered in the end.
I glanced at Henrik. I’d never thought I’d feel indebted to him for anything, but hell. I was. If he hadn’t been there to help Mina…
I shook that ugly scenario away.
Everyone remained silent for a while, digesting all that.
“God, what a night,” Roux muttered, summing things up perfectly.
“Not over yet,” Bene pointed out. “We still have to call Gordon.”
Everyone groaned, but Mina raised her hand. “I’ll be happy to do it.”
Roux side-eyed her. “Not sure that’s a good idea.”
It was a terrible idea, but Roux wasn’t as blunt as I was.
But Mina, of course, pulled out her phone and began dialing.
Everyone tensed.
“Uh, Mina…” Bene started.
She put the phone on speaker mode, muttering something that sounded like No more Mr. Nice Girl.
Roux and I traded looks. What the hell did that mean?
“Clervaud here,” Gordon answered the phone in a clipped tone.