Chapter Six
When they arrived, David shoved an insulated mug of hot coffee and a little plate of cookies her way as they stood in front of the map of the area hung up in their operations room. “We’ve only been here like five minutes. How the hell do you produce this stuff so instantly?”
“It’s my job,” he said. “I have a feeling you’ll need the sustenance before this is over and as you’ve shifted your dinner later in your schedule, this will give you fuel in the meantime.”
She snorted. “My life is full of people who shove food at me every ten minutes. It nearly makes up for the reason I’m burning through all those calories constantly healing from assholes trying to kill me. Not complaining about cookies. Thank you.” To underline that, she took a bite. “Oh, lemon? Yum.” She ate another because it would be rude not to. “No need to delay this. I’ve wanted to rile up this Vampire since Aron told me about him.”
Rowan’s—Hunter Corp.’s—new Vampire employee had told her the story of how and why he’d left his Maker. And of the way he’d been still a teenager when Elmer had first brought him over. Elmer was a fucking creep who liked young humans because they were easy to manipulate.
“He’s hunting. In my city. I don’t like it and I want to be assured he’s not violating any laws. Which we know I won’t be. This guy is wrong in a dozen ways.”
Her gut told her he was up to something far worse than cruising for young white men with popped collars, cargo shorts, and boat shoes.
Vanessa came in. “We’ve been able to tap into multiple traffic cameras and the security cams for the subdivision, as well as the outside of his house. Do you want to knock on the front door or break and enter? Vihan has managed to secure the code for the door leading into the house from the garage. Take the bay furthest to the west. It’s empty and I’ve got control of that entrance to the house. I’m working on the interior cameras. I’ll have it for you by the time you roll up to his place either way.”
Rowan realized just how quickly and ably the other woman had become part of their team. “I’ll let you know if I want to kick a door down or just show up in their sitting room when I get a look at the place when we approach.”
“Roger that.” Vanessa indicated a black case she’d opened on a nearby table. “I’ll be on overwatch here through David’s earpiece. I brought these body cams. They clip onto your button here.” She indicated Rowan’s chest just below the hollow of her throat. “Vihan will be with me at the controls.”
Good. David’s new assistant was smart and a very fast learner, but the more experience he got, the better he’d be prepared. Rowan liked that her new employees were creating relationships with the rest of the team. That sense of unity would keep them all safer.
Rowan snapped the nifty little camera into place and David did the same before seating his earpiece.
“I’ll have a Scion with me, FYI. You might see Patience or Seth because they’re not going to let him travel without a guard either. Any other Vamps and I want to know. He can’t be doing this alone and I don’t want to be ambushed again.” Clive would never let her leave the house if that happened.
Malin called up to say Clive had arrived. Rowan polished off the last three cookies before she told David, “I’m going to kit up. You do the same. Bring weapons.”
After David left, Rowan slid the custom back sheath for her blade on first and then loaded knives into their slots on each boot. Should be enough, though she had handguns in a weapons locker in the back of her new car.
As they reached the first floor, she said quietly to David, “I’m sandbagging the news that Aron was hired until the perfect opportunity. I want to pop him in the nuts with it. He might already know given the way the information was disseminated within the Nation. But if he doesn’t, it’ll be fun. And people make mistakes when they’re caught off guard.”
There was a leak—most likely more than one—within the Nation that was feeding her enemies sensitive information that left her vulnerable. She’d figure that out too.
“Do you think the Nation will ever accept Vampires on our mixed teams?” David asked. All this drama and extra work for Rowan was because Hunter Corp. had wanted other paranormals on their teams when the case they were investigating needed the eyes of someone from that group. The Vampire Nation actually benefited from these special teams but they were so dramatic and petty more than one group of them had caused trouble over the choice.
“They already have. They’ll act aghast and play the victim because that’s what they do. No matter what we do they’re going to complain so we may as well do what we want and let them die mad. It’s done and they can’t change it.”
Clive approached looking suave and dangerous. He gave an approving glance toward the tactical gear she wore, the style mirroring his. Sexypants.
“Let’s go to his house first. Then we try the other places if he’s not around. That way, we can perform a search before he gets a tip-off that we’re looking for him and starts trying to dump evidence. If he’s not there, he won’t be under my feet. If he is there, I can fuck with him. Win/win.”
“And for those who get to watch you in action,” Clive said.
David took the wheel and Rowan frowned, annoyed her leg was still keeping her from the driver’s seat, but satisfied herself, screen on her lap as she worked with Vanessa remotely and they were able to get through two layers of guards and gates.
“Drive past and turn around,” she told David.
Elmer’s house was gigantic with a big, circular driveway. Angled to shield the front door from the street. It was bright enough from the rising moon and she could see there were no guards stationed anywhere at the front of the place.
Though she did love some breaking and entering, Rowan decided subtlety wasn’t the angle she wanted right then. “Yeah, I say we ring that doorbell. Park right in front of the steps to the door,” she told David.
“One moment,” David said before murmuring something to Vanessa via his mic and earpiece. He drove them in a big circle, taking time as Vanessa did whatever it was back at the office. Finally, he headed back and pulled up into the drive, turning to back in so they could make a quicker exit. “We’re good to go. All external cameras are on a loop for the next three minutes.”
Clive slid out and opened Rowan’s door before she could do it herself. Then he put himself between her and the house while David caught up on her other side.
The front of the house was...fine. There were cameras and the overall security of the neighborhood was excellent. Her home had been landscaped to interrupt sightlines and foil anyone with a rifle and a hate boner for a Hunter or a Scion. This place wasn’t nearly as secure. For a Vampire as powerful as Marsc, it seemed lazy. The cost of inattention to such important details could result in someone you don’t want about to pound on your front door.
Clive took it all in and shook his head. Clearly disappointed in this Vampire. He’d had his power signature muted in the car, but in the space of a breath, he let it free. The heavy, delicious weight of a Scion rolled from him.
Brilliant. Fierce. Clive Stewart was one of the most powerful beings on the planet and right then, she bet his power was visible from miles away.
“I think the Scion should knock,” she told him.
“I think that’s a fine idea,” he said as they climbed to the shiny black lacquer double front doors.
He knocked twice and then adjusted his cuffs as he waited. The night all around them seemed to hold Clive in its arms. This was his ground and he would occupy it, drowning anyone who dared oppose him with his power.
The human who answered the door started and then bowed low. He swept an arm out, indicating Clive enter. “Scion, it is our honor. Please, come inside.”
Rowan followed him with David at her back and the servant who’d answered the door paled. “You aren’t alone.”
“Why would I be? Please let Mr. Marsc know I’m to be attended to—by him—immediately.” Clive didn’t bother with any sort of compulsion or glamor because it was unnecessary.
The human looked from side to side. “He’s unavailable. What can I do instead?”
Rowan made a sound in her throat. Horror and dismay, if Clive knew his wife. And he did.
She said, icy and disapproving, “You can go to your employer and let him know a Scion is standing in his foyer and hasn’t yet even been offered a seat or refreshments. Because, as I’m utterly certain you know, unavailable isn’t an option when a Scion visits. Unless one is looking to be offensive. In which case, I’d wonder why that was.”
Rowan turned her attention from the human to a spot just above a china cabinet on a nearby wall.
The human blushed and then went stiff as no doubt, Marsc was using the blood bond to inform him of his unhappiness.
The servant bent very low. “Apologies, Scion. Please, come through to the sitting room. I’ll ring for tea and refreshments for you to enjoy while I let Mr. Marsc know you’re here. He’s been in meetings, that is all I meant. I was clumsy in my explanation.”
Clive watched the interplay closely. Rowan usually went out of her way to be patient and kind with any human servants. This time though, she narrowed her gaze at the man until he left quickly.
Rowan didn’t bother to sit. She ranged around the room picking things up, turning books out, shaking to see if anything was between the pages.
David examined things closely, but made no move to touch anything. He remained on point should he need to protect Rowan. Clive approved of the rhythm that had developed between Rowan and her valet.
She got a text. Frowned and then smiled before tucking her phone away once more. In a few steps, she’d pressed her mouth to his ear. “He’s here. Vanessa tapped into the in-house cameras and there’s a suite beneath the main house. Probably where he goes to daytime rest. Possible panic room. But he doesn’t appear panicked. He’s watching an action movie. She says he’s dressed like he sells something for a living.”
It was certainly easier than trying to deal with him in a public place surrounded by humans.
He hummed his agreement and breathed her magic in for long moments before she stepped away and slipped back into public mode.
“I’m giving him one more minute to present himself with the appropriate grace. Then I’m going to look for him and he won’t like that. I’ve not only got a warrant, I’ve got cause to search without it. I can promise anyone watching this video feed they won’t like the result of making me find Elmer myself,” she said loud enough for anyone watching to have heard.
Clive said, “Darling, please don’t be cross with me, but I rather hope they don’t believe you. I, for one, love the results of such behavior.”
She snorted a laugh. “Fair warning, Scion Stewart. We both know this Vampire is playing games. I’m going to fetch him.”
“As you say, sometimes, they must touch the hot stove to learn. Go on, then, burn things to the ground.” He stood, waving an arm to indicate she go ahead.
Her heartbeat kicked up and she shot him a—very brief—look that promised they’d both be very sore after they next were able to fuck.
Out in the foyer, Rowan noted the human who’d opened the door. “What’s your name?” she demanded.
He looked around the room, but she waited until the inevitable when he had to answer. “George.”
Rowan said to him in a quiet voice, “Here’s what’s going to happen, George. I know you don’t have a damned bit of say in whatever Elmer Marsc gets up to. Like you have no say in what I get up to. But you do know what a household is supposed to act like when a Scion comes to visit. And this isn’t it.”
“Go to Die Mitte and ask the front desk for Alice,” Clive said. “There are other households who always need more daytime staff. We can help you with that if you separate yourself from him now.”
Clive essentially told George to choose the Nation or Marsc. One had a future. A new job. The Nation not angry with him. The other? That way lay uncertainty. Most likely death. Surely pain. Human servants could, and did, defend their Vampire masters all the time. Out of loyalty. Some fear, definitely. But in this case, as George clearly understood, Clive was the far scarier threat of the two.
“Do you wish to sever your bond with him?” Clive asked.
George’s eyes widened and he said quietly, “He said that wasn’t possible.”
“He lied to you.”
Clive hadn’t gotten truly angry. Yet. He was getting annoyed though.
“Get my back, David. Which way?” she called out. He had the architectural plans on his screen and consulted.
“Down that hallway to your right,” David said as they headed in that direction.
Clive could deal with George, and she’d shut down surveillance so wherever Elmer was, he couldn’t access the feed.
Of course Elmer would assume she had no way of getting into his basement lair, much less this control room. Rowan smiled to herself as she punched in the code Vanessa had just texted, and the three red lights above the door went green.
She pushed the door open, sweeping down and to the left while David went right. In the center of the space was a large oak desk surrounded by screens.
That was a lot of screens, even for a seven-thousand-square-foot house.
The Vampire behind the desk stood and showed his hands, palms out. “I do apologize for the delay in attending you,” he said.
Most definitely not Elmer, but a scumbag just the same.
“Stephen Baker,” Rowan said as she took in the Vampire in front of her. One she’d had a run-in with the first year she’d been in Las Vegas. He’d been one of Jacques’s hangers-on. A human at a nightclub in one of the casinos had been harassed by Baker and another Vampire as gross as he was, and Rowan had to educate him—and Jacques—about what one did and didn’t do under the Treaty.
“Hunter. What an unexpected surprise.”
“Where is he?” Rowan asked flatly.
Her surveillance team would let Rowan know if Elmer moved.
“Shut it down,” David said to Vanessa, who’d been connected via phone.
With a few audible keystrokes, her tech queen made David’s command a reality.
At her back, Clive entered the room. He took a look, first at all the screens, and then over to Stephen, with a perfectly raised eyebrow. The British arch. And then he poured his Scion magic through the area. It was like he’d sucked away all the air as a hot wave of energy rolled past them and toward the other Vamp.
Rowan was intimately familiar with his power, so she wasn’t startled. But she did like the way Stephen jumped back, dropped his gaze, his head to one side, exposing his neck.
“David, do grab all the data cards from these cameras. I want to see everything,” Rowan said.
Stephen sputtered, holding his hands out. “You will do no such thing. You are in a private residence.”
Rowan strode up to him, right into his personal space, only giving him a breath. “I will do what I want to do. Who’s going to stop me, even if I didn’t have the right? You? Golly, I fucking hope you try. I haven’t made a Vampire bleed in...hours.”
David, ignoring anything but what she’d said, moved and began to collect the data cards. “I’ll leave a receipt for everything I remove,” he murmured offhandedly.
“You will meet with me now. Not in this room,” Clive said.
Stephen was clearly torn as he looked back and forth between the screens and Clive.
Rowan was fairly certain Clive would escalate this little power display to a painful degree if this meathead didn’t obey.
He and George left to have this meeting, so she just shrugged her shoulders and got to looking.
Then. Stephen reached out, grabbed her upper arm, and yanked her back. “ I said no. ”
Rowan let him carry her as she began to turn, using the energy he’d already expended as she cocked her fist back and let fly, punching him square in the temple with about half her strength because she used her non-dominant hand.
He folded, crumpling to the ground and at her back, Clive flowed in, hot and full of outrage.
“That’s yours.” She pointed.
“Who is this Vampire to Elmer, George?” Clive asked and Rowan wanted to kiss him for not asking if she was okay. He knew she was, even if he worried, and he wouldn’t weaken her in front of anyone else.
Whatever he’d said to George had turned Elmer’s former employee into the president of Clive’s fan club. He answered immediately. “Mr. Marsc’s head of security . Stephen Baker.”
“Is he in contact with Elmer? Right now? Does Elmer know we’re here?” Rowan asked quickly.
“No. Mr. Baker does not bother Mr. Marsc outside an emergency when he’s...relaxing before he goes out for the evening. There’s another control room downstairs, but Mr. Marsc only uses this one to watch. And he doesn’t watch before he goes out.”
Aside from the ick crawling through her at what that meant, that a Hunter and a Scion in the front parlor didn’t constitute an emergency was further evidence these Vampires were up to something dodgy as fuck.
“Watch?”
“All the rooms, bathrooms, common areas, the yards, pool, pool house, garage, all of it is covered by cameras. He’ll watch people he brings back. People who visit. Replays of his own activities. You have fifteen minutes until he’ll ring for the car to be brought around so he and his boyfriend can go. There’s only one exit and it’s through that door there.” He pointed. George sounded miserable and there was a pang of pity at the thought of what his day-to-day life must have been like.
“Okay, what’s with the italics when you said Stephen’s job title?” she asked.
“Baker doesn’t act like an employee. They have their own schedule and do...things. But Baker acted like a partner or an equal to Mr. Marsc.”
Interesting.