Chapter Twenty-Four
Clive knew she was taking things hard. Like he knew she’d never allow him to bring it up in mixed company. He didn’t want to weaken her further, so he and David, after a look, had teamed up and had food delivered, along with plenty of tea in to-go containers.
Not that she’d have an appetite after hearing that poor girl tell her story. But she’d need the calories and something to do other than rage and grieve. Though she’d do both.
“Vampire update. Patience has been in contact with Seth back at Die Mitte . We’ve already got Baker and Elmer in custody. You know we located his nest and those Vampires and some humans he’d been feeding on long term are either in a cell or they’re in a locked medical facility being evaluated. I’ll go meet Alice in the field while you and Genevieve go to the Clares’.”
Her surprise edged through their bond. She’d expected him to horn in on her trip and normally he would without hesitation. But there were multiple situations going on at once and with dawn on the way, he was focused on giving her what she needed while also taking care of the mess Vampires had busily been making.
“Depending on what happens, I may join you or I might go home for daytime rest.”
“I’ll speak to them all when we get back to Las Vegas. Hunter Corp. needs to be satisfied they’re being treated appropriately. And by that I mean if one or more needs killing, it had best be handled. I’m not concerned you’re going to hurt any innocents.” She waved a lazy hand.
Was it any wonder he was mad for her?
“I’m pleased to hear it.”
“Do you know who this woman is?” Genevieve asked Konrad as she handed over one of the photos Dorothy had seen.
Clive leaned in to take a look as well. “I recognize many of the Vampires here.” Jacques, the former Scion, Elmer, Baker, and... “Rowan, this Vampire here bears a striking resemblance to Mardoc.”
She froze and then cursed. “Mardoc? The one who was part of this Vampire lord thing? You’re shitting me.”
Everyone moved to peer at the group shot.
“This photo, along with a few others, had been tucked into a manila envelope. It was at the bottom of a file cabinet drawer. Not hidden as much as forgotten,” David said. “There’s no date on it. Ignoring the Vampires who never stick to current trends, this witch is wearing Chanel. Early nineties. She’s got great taste. The others,” he paused a moment, looking closely, “I’d say no earlier than ’90 and no later than ’95 or ’96.”
“So handy with your fashion info,” Rowan said. “So who’s the redhead?”
“Samaya, can you run this through an image search in the Conclave archive? I want to say I know who she is, but we’ll need more information than I have to verify. I believe this is a witch in the Clare line somewhere. Not in a powerful position. Or so I thought. I can’t recall her name.”
Samaya and David bent their heads over a screen as they got to work.
“Her name is Teresa,” Samaya called out. “She’s been married a few times and changed her name each time.”
“Current isn’t Davis by any chance?” Rowan asked, using the name of Sergio’s mistress.
Genevieve looked to them, eyes wide a moment.
Samaya nodded. “Yep, that’s her.”
“At a party with a bunch of Vampires. The absolute worst Vampires,” Rowan said.
“Vampires also connected to the Procellas and the Sansburys,” Clive added.
“The link with the Salazars will be there too. And,” Rowan stabbed a fingertip in the direction of the single named Vampire lord, “now this creep who is handily in a torture dungeon with the most deadly skilled inquisitor and hunter of all Vampirekind. People don’t actually forget about Andros, they just want to pretend him away because if he comes for you, it’s over. I’ll send his office a text about this, along with a copy of the photograph. What about the other lords in custody? I didn’t really recognize any of their names and I did run them all through the Hunter Corp. database but nothing overly alarming came up. Which could easily mean they’re good at being horrible by staying under the radar.”
“I hadn’t considered them any part of this situation, which was only barely developing when they inserted themselves into the process the way they did.” Clive couldn’t even be angry at himself on that one. This twist came entirely out of the blue. “But I’ll get my people on it to figure out what their connection might be to this situation.”
David came back into the room and handled that on Rowan’s behalf, but Clive could see his wife chafing at giving him even more work instead of doing it herself. As if she hadn’t nearly died less than a week before. As if he’d ever forget that.
He flicked his gaze to her cane and sent her a raised brow. Mainly to needle her because he needed to keep her on her toes, and she liked being agitated. But also, to remind her he wasn’t going to let her guilt herself sick over giving David work instead of trying to do the job of eight people at once herself.
“Sunrise is on the way,” she said.
“I’ve got ninety-three minutes. Tell me before I head out, what are you thinking at this point?”
She huffed a breath, and he suppressed a smirk.
“Assuming all the basic disclaimers about how we don’t know everything yet. I think the Vampires and witches are working together to locate, woo, and, if necessary, traffic potential blood servants into Vampiric households. I bet part of it is even aboveboard and consensual. There are plenty of humans and witches alike who choose to work for Vampires in one form or another. Every part of this conspiracy isn’t going to be as nefarious as what they did to Dorothy and her friends. Maybe it even started out as purely aboveboard. But it happened once, and then again. Each time it got easier. They can tell themselves it’s really a good deal for the blood servants or whatever, since Vamps pay handsomely in many cases. But they know what it is. They only ask for permission until someone says no. Then they take what they want just like they’d planned all along.”
Clive knew her chill demeanor was a lie. She was on a Hunt, and it was clear to him that she was correct in her suspicions regarding the witches and Vampires.
“I think there’s a lot more we don’t know. But the pieces are all here. We just need to take it step by step to put it all together,” Rowan said. “To think I believed the Blood Front were the biggest bad we’d faced and here comes this Sanguis bullshittery. There’s no way I believe they’re not part of this mess. Elmer, Baker, and your little guard Eduard were in these photos. Eddie might not be the same kind of pervert Elmer and Baker are, but he’s definitely involved.” She rubbed her hands together. “Can’t wait to chat with him. I’ll wait to see what Andros gets out of Mardoc and then use that to bury him alive.”
“Won’t that be fun?” Clive sent a smirk only she could see as his back was to everyone else.
“It will be if I do it right. Now. I have some witches to go harass and you’re going to be Scion and hunt scumbags. I’ll see you after sunset if we don’t connect first.”
Genevieve and the others left the room, getting ready to head out in different directions.
“I should go with you,” she said. “What if there are still Vampires or witches there?”
“Alice will protect me,” he said, deadpan.
That made her laugh as she stood and leaned into his embrace for a few moments. “If you can’t make it before sunrise, just text me or I’ll worry.”
“I’ll text you if we find anything, or if I have to take my rest away from home. I will be careful and so will you. I love you.” He kissed her forehead quickly, before she could duck away, and led her from the room.
Darius waited at the front doors leading to the parking lot. He tipped his chin in their direction. “We’ve located the second location Dorothy and her friends were held in and my Trick nearly has the first location locked down.”
Rowan put aside her thoughts of Fiona Clare as they changed plans and headed over to a four-bedroom single-story house on Twentieth, less than two miles from the house on Holly. The neighborhood was a mix of apartment buildings and single-family homes with an elementary school nearby. Quiet enough but with plenty of people coming and going.
On the way over, she texted Andros to inform him of the possible connection with Mardoc. She left all the Vampire Nation stuff to Clive, but suggested to Andros there might also be ties to the others in the dungeon. Whether or not a Scion knew or was involved? Well, that was going to be something she had to stay out of for the time being.
If Tahar or Takahiro were part of this, Rowan was perfectly fine letting the Nation handle all the necessary executions. And it would be execution because there was no way Theo was going to let it slide that they did all this so publicly, using his process to mess with Rowan on top of it.
It would save her a lot of time and effort to let them do it, and the responsibility would stay where it belonged. Delegation. Everyone was always telling her to delegate and this time, she planned to listen.
As long as she agreed with whatever their discipline was.
Genevieve and Darius went first to deal with what turned out to be multiple spelltraps. Deadly ones.
“I expect these witches to be punished for that,” Rowan said. “Anyone could walk in here and get injured or worse. This is more very public wrongdoing and I’m not here for it.”
“The wipe here is markedly similar to what they did at Dorothy’s house. Quickly done, so it’s not complete.” Genevieve shook her arms and wrists, jingling and clacking, and on an exhale she said something, and a warm mist of magic seemed to fall all around them.
A team of witches and some of Pru’s Hunters rolled through to gather evidence once it was safe. Whatever Genevieve had done, suddenly all the smudges and sparkles where magical workings had been performed seemed to bloom into life.
No one had been left behind, but the imprint of several witches was clear, and Genevieve made a call.
“We’ve found the original location,” Clive murmured to her. “Stephen Baker’s scent trail led us.”
“Well, isn’t that a delightful irony? Since he’s in custody, he’s less of a threat.”
She itched to find Dorothy’s missing friends. Jaylin was a maybe, but with the specter of Mardoc or another very old Vampire having taken Kerry, Rowan knew their window for finding her alive was getting smaller with every moment that passed.
“They’ve arrived and are locking it down.”
Konrad had gone with them and after they did a check of the house, the group joined everyone else at a mixed-use commercial building in San Pedro.
“Super close to multiple cruise terminals,” Rowan said as they pulled to a stop around the corner.
Darius opened the door. “First thing. Some of Genevieve’s team located Jaylin. He managed to make his way to the house again and called the Conclave. They’ve taken him to the clinic where Dorothy is.”
Rowan breathed out all the anxiety she’d been swimming in as she’d worried over him. “Good to hear.”
He nodded once. “There are life signs inside. Three.”
Clive had melted from the car, disappearing off somewhere. Rowan figured it was to check in with his team.
Darius looked her over carefully and then nodded once, apparently judging her capable of whatever might lie ahead.
The sun was coming, so she—and Star, who’d turned up to trot along at Rowan’s side—made for the post the others had created in the neighboring building, in the back room of a clothing store.
“What have we got?” she asked once she got there.
“One Vampire on the third floor,” Patience informed them. “Two witches on the second in a room fronting the street.”
“On watch?” Rowan would handle the breach of the building differently if they were.
“They’ve been stationary. One appears to be in a bed and the other is sitting.”
“There’s a television. The one sitting is facing it,” Konrad said as he approached from outside. “I sent a team over to the Clares’ home to be sure no one leaves.”
Once they finished planning how they’d enter the building and handle the apprehension of all those inside, Rowan caught Clive to the side. “Sun is coming. Go home. I’ll see you after sunset. I won’t go back to Las Vegas without you unless it’s absolutely unavoidable.”
He took her features in carefully and apparently was satisfied by that promise, because he gave a nod. “Have a guard with you at all times. No driving. Don’t kill any of the guards outside our house here. I adore you and expect you to be careful and not get any more injured than you are.”
“You must think because there are lots of people around you can be bossy without getting socked in the taint,” she whispered in his ear.
“You always bring the party wherever you go. But as I value my wife, I’ll repeat my request that you be careful.” He risked a squeeze of her hand. “Once you’re inside safely and the three there are secured, my Vampires and I will leave to take to our rest.”
“I love you, Scion.”
He gave her a sexy smirk. “What a lucky Vampire I am.”