Prologue Kyle
Prologue
Kyle
Fucking Sebastian.
That was what Nic would always say about his brother, although less so recently, but it still held true as far as I was concerned. I liked him but…well, shit. He was a paler imitation of the real Dupont king.
I shifted my position against his wall, stifling a yawn as he continued to yap from the other side of the room. Temple was barely listening, and Jason looked about ready to fall asleep. What the hell were we doing?
We’d been through everything with Nic last night. Why did Sebastian think he could do it better? I did yawn then.
I mean, I liked Sebastian, but he wasn’t the king. Wasn’t my king, anyway, and I wasn’t his fucking errand boy here in New Orleans. Sebastian was kind of like a brother to me, too. It was like a true sibling relationship. Some days we got along great…Other days he danced right along my last nerve.
Today was one of those fucking days.
I wanted to be out there hunting the people who attacked the club, who nearly killed Kayla. Plus, I wanted to be out there before the fucking trail went cold but yap, yap yap… Sebastian’s mouth was still moving.
“But now I’m going to hand over to Temple,” Sebastian said. “There has been another update since Nic went home.” He perched on the corner of his desk, one leg swinging loosely while he rested his weight on the other.
He nodded at Temple who stood, still half in shadow as he started to speak.
“We’ve found out who we’re dealing with — who the rogue vampires are.”
“Hoo-yeah!” Jason pumped his fist but largely seemed to remain disinterested. He glanced at me and cracked a smile. “Gonna enlighten us, dude?”
Temple huffed quietly. “They’re a faction of made vampires. Made by someone other than Francois, but right under his and émile’s noses.”
I leaned forward. Now, this was interesting.
Francois had created an army of fledglings in the first stage of his war with Nic, and he’d kind of been skating on thin ice since then because really only émile had the right to create so many fledglings.
However, acting as his father’s regent, Francois had taken it upon himself.
But someone else had also been creating an army?
“Did émile know?” I directed my question at Temple.
He shook his head. “Nope.” Then he amended, “I doubt it, anyway. There’s no indication that this faction of vampires is in any way acting on behalf of House Ricard or that they’ve been officially sanctioned to be here.”
“They’re certainly not sanctioned now, anyway.” Sebastian scoffed.
“We actually think they move from city to city,” Temple continued. “They create new vampires where they can and pick all the other vampires in the area off before moving on.”
This was more information than he usually gave out in any one sitting. Sebastian stood, his casual pose forgotten as he pushed a hand through his hair. I rubbed my head reflexively, the short hair there making a rasping noise and my fingers nudging over my thickened scar.
“What the hell? They move around cities decimating the vampire populations they find there and increasing their own ranks by turning humans? Are they under anyone’s control at all?” Sebastian’s eyes were wide, and his hair was looking increasingly mussed.
Temple shook his head. “Nuh-uh. They answer to no one but themselves, and they’re called The Blackbloods. They have no humanity left at all. They can’t be reasoned with.”
“Ruthless killers,” Sebastian murmured, and Temple nodded.
“Makes them incredible organizers. They’re funded by the crimes they commit.
They provide drugs for supernaturals, assassinations for hire, smuggle artifacts…
All that good stuff.” Temple cocked his head.
“In fact, they’re likely to be butting up alongside Conri and his guys sometime soon in the future. ”
“Do they have a leader?” I pushed away from the wall. “If we could nail their leader, maybe we could destabilize them and take them all out.”
“Yep.” Temple nodded. “Call him Brock Dalton. He’s the most ruthless bastard of all of ‘em, and he’s not from around these parts, that’s for sure.
We haven’t been able to find out where he’s from, actually, but apparently he never takes no for an answer — take from that assessment what you will.
” Temple narrowed his focus on Sebastian, who sighed.
But I tensed. Shit. This was big. So big. There was an entire side to New Orleans that neither Sebastian nor Nic had known about or planned for. A seedy underbelly, but worse somehow.
“The last thing I need is a crime war overshadowing everything Nic and I are trying to accomplish with establishing his new reign and stabilizing New Orleans.” Sebastian spoke out loud and I stepped farther into the center of the room.
“I’ll go undercover.” I spoke directly to Sebastian. I’d done some work similar to that for Nic, and I could be useful again now. “We need to make sure this doesn’t get out of hand.”
“Yeah.” Sebastian sighed again. “We don’t have enough numbers here to take them on full force.”
“We need to be smart,” Temple said. Then he glanced at me. “And Kyle’s smart.”
I shrugged. “Nic might not like the idea, but he’ll get over it eventually.”
Sebastian sighed again. “Fuck. I don’t even like this idea, Kyle.”
“But what else are we gonna do?” Jason spoke from his position in the chair. He already had his orders—liaising with the wolf pack.
I had nothing. I was just a spare wheel kicking around here in NOLA. Going undercover would give me a purpose I didn’t have now.
Sebastian nodded. “We have no other fucking way. Dammit. I need to call Nic. I’ll report back.”
I almost laughed. More reporting from Sebastian when what we needed was action. But I didn’t say anything.
Jason stood. “I’ll go make some calls, too.”
As they left, I beckoned to Temple. He was my way in. Temple had connections all over this city, and I trusted him — or trusted him enough, anyway.
“I need to get into the Blackbloods,” I said. “We need to take them down from the inside. You think you can help me?”
He scrunched his nose while he looked at me. “It’s risky.”
“But like Jason said, what else are we going to do? They’re not going away. We have to make them go away.”
Temple nodded. “I do have a source…” He spoke low and urgently. “But I don’t like this, man.”
I just stared at him. I didn’t care if he liked this. We needed to do it. “Who’s your source?”
He stepped closer to me and lowered his voice. “Her name’s Esmé. She’s Dalton’s second-in-command — or supposed to be, but she isn’t loyal to him.”
I lifted an eyebrow. This did sound risky. Unpredictable people were both a necessity and a curse in this type of work.
Temple nodded like he’d caught wind of my thought. “She’s climbed the Blackbloods’ ladder because she wants revenge for Dalton’s group killing her human mate. She wants an end to Brock Dalton as much as Nic and Sebastian do.”
“We already have an agreement about something, then.” I nodded slowly and ran my hand over the back of my head. “Set up a meet for me. This could be the perfect situation, Temple. After all, there’s nothing like a woman scorned to topple a reign.”