Chapter Twenty-Six
Rowan wouldn’t admit it out loud, but the four solid hours of heavy sleep had been exactly what she’d needed. After a quick shower, she followed the smell of food and found Elisabeth and Betchamp in the kitchen.
“Come and sit at the table. The Scion was clever enough to have the house stocked so when we arrived, we were able to get a meal prepared for you. Betchamp conferred with David, and we brought some clothes and necessaries for you.”
“Ah, I was wondering about all my toiletries being here, along with a change of clothes and pajamas.” She’d just figured Clive made it happen. “Thank you for doing that.”
Genevieve came in just a few minutes later and plopped down at the table. “Konrad called and said Jaylin is awake and happy to speak to us later today.”
David put his phone down and said, “They searched Mardoc’s compound and the surrounding area. Empty. No staff. No adepts. No one. Adaeze and her team are tracking and will keep us apprised as they do.” Adaeze was the Hunter in charge of that part of Africa. She was sharp and mean as hell, so Rowan had every confidence things would get done right.
“Let me call the Keep. I need Andros to know this.”
She excused herself, taking her plate to the adjoining room.
Andros answered on the fourth ring.
“Like I said in my text, I’ve got a positive identification that it was Mardoc who contracted with witches to identify, track, kidnap, and coerce a human named Kerry. My team searched his compound to find it empty. She’s still missing. Where is she, Andros?”
In one-or two-word questions, he satisfied himself of the accuracy of her information and then said, “I began our conversation just after sunset. He has continued to claim ignorance. I am disappointed in this Vampire.”
“Are these other lords in the dungeon part of this trafficking scheme? Is that why they decided to insert themselves into Nation protocol with Hunter Corp.? Why I can’t imagine because all it did was piss me off enough to pay attention to them.”
“There were six lords total. Two were stripped of their holdings, all their staff, had their Made severed from their bonds of affiliation. They are not in custody as they were forthcoming immediately. They do still suffer, and they will not repeat their past mistakes with you.”
Damn. To sever affiliation was to cast the Vampire at the head of a line adrift. Without their holdings or staff, they’d have to start over. And do so under the intense scrutiny of the Vampire Nation. All for swinging their dicks around.
“As for the rest, there are four guests below. Two have been very cooperative. Like the ones I just told you about, I believe them to be ego-blinded fools who thought to gain power in our world by challenging Hunter Corp. when they perceived it to be weakest. Their allegiance belongs to the First and they squandered it on a being like Mardoc.”
Rowan couldn’t stop her snort.
“They now understand what weak is. And isn’t. They will remain here as well as suffer the same fate as their brethren above. For a time.”
“How much of a time?”
“However long your father wills it. He is very angry. Nadir is very angry. I am annoyed by having to hunt down riffraff who should know better.”
“Pays to keep sharp these days,” Rowan said.
He grunted. “The third Vampire of the four is Vincent Armas. He believes he can evade the truth. That he can talk his way out of a cell. Or he did before he had some time to reflect. I will speak to him again and let him know your father has been asking to speak with them directly. This will most likely loosen their tongues.”
Yikes. Better them than her.
“And the Scions who assisted these Vampires by bringing them to the First and allowing this Vampire lord nonsense? What of them?” Rowan asked.
“That is Nation business.”
“Respectfully, that’s bullshit. It was Nation business until they threatened to kill my staff on sight. It was until one of them came to my continent and contracted to kidnap an adept. His fourth, I should add. Where are the others, Andros? This is bigger than them lying to Theo. They horned into a process that has led to multiple incidents of public exposure of our world.”
“The death threat situation has been handled. Are you demanding the witches do things?”
“I sure as fuck am!”
“Language,” he said, and it made her want to laugh.
“I demand they do things all day long. This is my job. I am administering the Treaty. Witches are in violation and so are Vampires. In fact, they’re working together to pull all sorts of shady shit that will absolutely get them caught. But they’re so blinded by money they’re high on fantasy. If one or both of the Scions who forwarded these lords to Theo did it because that’s what you do when ancients in your territory ask, or because they don’t like me and wanted to make waves, that’s one thing.” Childish Vampiric posturing, but that was who they all were. “However. If one or both Scions are connected to whatever Mardoc has done? The Nation must answer.”
“What does your husband say?”
“Do not condescend to me. This is a Vampire Nation issue. I am speaking to one of his Five. I am not running Hunter Corp. protocol by any Scion, even if I’m married to him. I’m bringing it to you because it is your job .”
He was silent for so long she thought he might have disconnected. Until his laughter sounded over the line. “Your claws are still sharp. Good. It’ll keep you alive. Recht and I have investigated the Scions involved quite exhaustively. They both came to me freely, as it happens. Neither wants war, or to be removed from positions both have held for a considerable length of time. Neither is overly concerned with how much trouble it caused you or Hunter Corp. either, but they both grasp the gravity of their very poor choices. I am satisfied they are not involved with this trafficking ring.”
“Hunter Corp. needs to be assured both Scions will examine the Vampires under their rule in their territory. If there are any adepts who’ve been bought through these witches or any such scheme, those Vampires must be investigated, and the adepts examined. We are not prepared to let this continue and all the Scions need to clean up their territory.”
“I will speak with the others about this and possible wording and get back to you. Will that satisfy?” he asked.
“For the time being, yes. What is the connection with the Sanguis Principatus ? I know there is one. I found out just a few hours ago that Mardoc is one of them. I have photographs of him with Jacques and others from this little group. I know they’re members and I want to know if this is their new business plan, or if these assholes are traffickers who also belong to this stupid club. And before you tell me it’s not illegal to belong to such a club, I don’t care. I do not care about their little fantasies of world domination and their bigoted bullshit. They’re as ridiculous and worthless as humans who do the same. We both know what’s the legal issue here. Elmer and those like him seem to pluck up humans and anyone else they decide they want like they’re shoes. That’s not going to continue on my ground. And if that attitude extends to adepts? You better find them first because I will wipe them off the earth.”
He blew out a breath. “I will apply some pressure on that subject.”
“Okay. Andros, help me find this human. She doesn’t deserve whatever horrible thing they’ve done to her.”
“I will do all I can. I’ll update you.” He hung up and she took her things back into the kitchen.
“When we get back to Las Vegas I want to head directly to Die Mitte . I want to talk with the Procellas and with Elmer and Stephen too. Now that we’ve got the link between the witch families, we bring the hammer down on Sergio. Hugo is a fool. But grandpa isn’t. He’s been suffering and wallowing in his circumstances over the last few days. It’ll be time. And we’ll use Teresa to strike the blow. If we can’t get Fiona to undo the geas, we can still get information from him. The bonus will be that I’ll get to rattle him some more.” Rowan thanked Elisabeth for warming up her cup of coffee.
“I’m looking forward to seeing his face when we let him know all we’ve discovered,” David said.
“Who is this Mardoc, then?” Genevieve asked.
Most of the planning for the raid had been done while Rowan and Genevieve had been tasked with a dozen other things, so she hadn’t really had much opportunity to explain.
“Mardoc is a six-hundred-year-old Vampire. He’s one of those self-proclaimed lords who caused all that mess with the Vampire hires at Hunter Corp. Powerful enough for what he is, but no big showy past history. He’s got a compound in N’Djamena,” Rowan explained of the largest city in Chad. “There’s a Hunter Corp. chapterhouse in Kano, Nigeria, and as you know, they did a joint raid to see if Kerry was at this compound. I’m told normally he’s got about two dozen humans and Vampires living there, but it was totally empty today. Adaeze, the Hunter in charge, says it looks like maybe a week or so since anyone had been there. Probably scattered when Andros started hunting Mardoc. Hunters are tracking, along with some Vampires, trying to locate the staff or Kerry. Andros is going to question Mardoc about Kerry as well.”
Rowan skirted around some of the more complicated Nation issues. That was Vampire business. She didn’t want to give away more than necessary. And she’d do the same if it was witches she was discussing with Vampires. Everyone was just trying to do the best they could while serving their goals.
“Let’s finish eating and head back out to make all sorts of people uncomfortable,” Genevieve said.
Rowan sent Fiona a smirk as she sat across from her an hour later. “So, we searched your house from top to bottom. We found some incriminating stuff.”
Fiona pursed her lips like she had a secret and Rowan openly rolled her eyes. Honestly, liars were so stupid.
“But not a lot of it. Certainly not enough given the sort of shit you’ve been getting up to with the Sansburys and the Salazars. And sadly, I’m around criminals so often, I knew there’d be more but where was it?” She tapped her chin, pretending to be perplexed and then pulled the keycard they’d found in the painting in the guest room, and put it on the table between them.
Fiona’s face fell and Rowan laughed.
“Right? I knew the moment they pulled the obfuscation spell free, and the keycard fell out. This was what I’d been looking for.”
“It was a good spell,” Genevieve allowed. “You placed it in such a way that it wouldn’t have been found in most searches. Even if the painting had been pulled off the wall, as it had been, nothing would have been discovered if Rowan hadn’t noted the small scratch at the corner of the frame.”
A tiny, magical hinge had opened, and then Genevieve had been able to see the spell hiding something.
“Then, of course, we had to find what the keycard opened. Which might have taken us another hour, but I realized there were other paintings around that had similar themes.” Empty places. Just like her dreams. “A deserted Times Square in the garage seemed strange. You’d have been smarter to use something totally unconnected, but I imagine you like feeling cleverer than other people. That hidden room under your garage floor was quite a treasure trove!”
“It’s a nice thing witches are such excellent recordkeepers,” Genevieve told her. “Now we have ever so much more concrete information connecting you all to one another. After this, we’re headed to speak to Tristan and Joseph. Joseph is already about to jump out of his skin at the hint of being connected to you. Started confessing on the drive over—what he could, anyway, as he too was operating under a geas you put on him. I’m quite certain he’ll have many more things to say once we’re finished with you. He seems very dedicated to finding ways around the prohibitions in the spell.”
“The point is, we don’t need you,” Rowan told Fiona. “You can decide to clam up and pretend it’ll help you. But Teresa has plenty of information she’s been sharing. She’s quite the braggart. Naturally, everything is your fault. And since you’re not a very nice person, the others will roll, and boot you over a cliff without a second thought.”
“She’s a stupid skank who only has her power because she opens her legs.”
The real Fiona glared at them. Disgusted by her lackeys and their inability to keep themselves under control.
Rowan wrinkled her nose. “Ew. What’s your excuse then, Fee? Hmm? You were right there with her this whole time. Slut shaming your cousin who was your fucking procurer is a bold move.”
Fiona pointed at Rowan, her anger fully engaged. Good. Angry people made mistakes. “Talk to Rose! She’s the problem. I’m not going to jail for her.”
Rowan guffawed at that. “ You’re the one who put the geas on her. Release it and I’ll talk to her all day long.”
Genevieve added, “Don’t make the mistake in assuming if you don’t remove the geas, we won’t come for you. We already have you. And the entire Procella family. Which, if you recall, aren’t all under magical gag orders when it comes to a good chunk of this conspiracy you’re involved in.”
In other words, just because Sergio couldn’t directly talk about their little workgroup didn’t mean they wouldn’t get all sorts of useful information from him by coming at him sideways.
“And, of course, you know that being under a geas means they’ll all be treated with more leniency in sentencing because they’re unable to defend themselves against any accusations.” Genevieve hummed, pleased. “Unlike you.”
Fiona’s mouth was tight from holding back all the vitriol she bit back. Rowan wanted to rub her hands together with glee.
“You’re wasting time and resources you should spend on witches in need instead of harassing successful business owners.” Fiona attempted to look down her nose at them.
“Go on and tell us about this successful business, then,” Rowan invited. “How can we understand your side of things if you won’t explain?”
“There’s nothing illegal about connecting adepts with Vampires who wish to engage their services.”
That tired line.
“Sure. I’m certain you won’t have any trouble producing the names of the Vampires you sold adepts to. So that we can verify ourselves they’re all in place of their own free will. Seems like consent has been a tricky issue for you in this business venture,” Rowan said.
“I’m bound by a nondisclosure agreement.”
Rowan laughed long and hard at that. “No, you aren’t. Even if you did such a ridiculous thing, it doesn’t matter. You can’t NDA your way around this. NDA. ” She laughed some more. “You’re not some starlet going to a celebrity sex and drug party up in the hills. You’re stalking and trafficking in humans and other witches to sell off to Vampires to use up like a carton of milk.”
“They’re treated like royalty!”
“I’ve got two witches recovering from being your idea of royalty and another still missing.” Their physical wounds were healed, but the emotional and mental damage would take a great deal of time and effort to process. That spurred Rowan on. “Both have identified you as being at the scene of multiple events. I should add this lest you get ideas, that Vampire who bought Kerry? He’s in Vampire Nation custody. In a cell in a dungeon kept by the First. Nothing you could even dream up would be half as bad as the reality he’s facing. I spoke to his inquisitor a few hours ago. He texted me twice to let me know they were getting somewhere. Mardoc is not going to protect you. He can’t even protect himself. And when he’s offered a chance to get a reprieve from his interrogations, we’ll know more about you . You’re fucked. So, you can make it worse by refusing to tell us what the hell you’ve done. Or you can at least raise the standard of the type of fucked you are by answering our questions.”
“For over thirty years everything was legal,” Fiona all but snarled. “I said all along we didn’t need the ones who weren’t interested. There are plenty of adepts over the years who jumped at the opportunity. More than enough profit for everyone. Our stop-loss rate was very low. Those adepts who didn’t wish to be bound to a Vampire rarely even made it to the stage where the Vampires met them and began to...we called it courting because they would get to know each other. Vampires are very charming.
“But Teresa got greedy. She and Rose decided even that loss of a few adepts a year was too much. Teresa ran to the others to tattle. Convinced them we lost too much money each time we allowed anyone to leave because we had to start the process over with new recruits.”
Recruits. Stop loss. Rowan shoved her disgust deep, trying to keep a blank expression to encourage Fiona to keep talking.
“By that point, Teresa had moved on from Hugo to Sergio. And she convinced the others to let the Procellas join the group. Her big selling point was that Sergio had Hugo on a leash and Hugo had a talent with coercive magics. Worse, she arranged a premium! The Vampires she was dealing with directly were willing to pay more when it wasn’t willing and extra measures like magic and other types of discipline had to be employed.”
The casual way this witch spoke about the depraved things they were doing to adepts brought a rage so hot it scalded. It was more than just Brigid being upset; it was a union between them. Each new thing she learned was worse than the last. These witches and Vampires needed to be ended.
It was like a cork had been popped as Fiona continued this torrent of bitter truth.
“Joseph is weak, and Rose is, well, she’s a sociopath. She only did it for the entertainment. Like pulling wings off flies. The Sansburys don’t even need the money. The Salazars live a quiet but very expensive life. The new bonus and premium system seemed to put paid to any qualms they may have had. Gerard and I were outvoted. What could we do by that point? At least there were people on the inside who tried to ensure the adepts were willing by the end of the trial period.”
Rowan showed her teeth a moment as she leaned over the table slightly. “So when they weren’t willing and you ordered a witch to be bitten repeatedly and not have her wounds healed? This is the discipline you mean? Why not use Hugo to change her mind? Why torture her?”
“Cases with reticent recruits are very rare. The female witch needed discipline because she had a natural resistance to Hugo’s coercion magics. The other one with her, the male, he was swayed and most likely we could have turned the woman around too. But we didn’t have time and then she escaped. Gerard and I didn’t have any choice. Were we supposed to call the Conclave to turn them in? Walk away from a business I was instrumental in starting and running for over three decades when it hit a bump or two?”
“But you, the face and power within the Conclave as it pertains to the Clare line, were...helpless against a witch you described as a secretary? This is rather confusing.” Genevieve cocked her head.
Fiona flinched, but to her credit, she soldiered on. “It didn’t start out that way. A hundred years ago Teresa worked for me doing administrative tasks. I still had a stage career, but the Clares have always run a business empire, so she worked on that side of things. Teresa isn’t very bright, but she’s vicious, petty, and greedy. She used everything she could to gain power and influence all while she ingratiated herself into the family business. Like a tick.
“Then in the seventies, she met and attached herself to Rose. And the two of them liked Vampires. A lot.” Fiona curled her lip a moment. “They partied in Las Vegas with the Vampires there.”
Bingo. That’s how they hooked up with Jacques and the other Vampires and discovered the world of adepts. And the Clares discovered Sanguis Principatus . Damn all these long-game feints Vampires were so fond of.
Fiona kept going. “That connection to the Vampire Nation and the Scion was quite profitable for us. We arranged parties and events with er... paid entertainment who were all adepts. That’s how it all started. And it only allowed Teresa to dig her claws in deeper to the family and the group until she worked out what each member of the group wanted or needed and manipulated until she got whatever she wanted.”
Genevieve huffed an annoyed breath. “Then you decided to come to the Conclave for permission to use more coercive magic on humans? You didn’t think this could get our attention when you were already breaking our most sacrosanct laws? What sort of madness is this?”
“Those fucking Procellas!” Fiona threw her hands up, rage on her face. “Truth is, none of us even knew about that petition to the Conclave until right after they’d done it, and it was too late. Sergio and Teresa figured since Hugo had the gift, they could use it on their various properties to fleece humans more efficiently. She said she wanted to diversify her arm of the business. She sold it as a way to also keep an eye out for anyone they might recruit for a Vampire client. We’ve had a great deal of success in attracting adepts through our various entertainment-based events so that’s what she claimed when we called her out.” Fiona sighed deeply. “All that greed made Teresa even more stupid because Hugo is not only a pig, it was that petition that ended everything!”
Genevieve shrugged. “Well, it was the petition that made me look twice at what you were all doing .”
Rowan added, “That and trying to have me killed in the middle of the day on one of the busiest and most surveilled streets in the country.”
“Of course their vulgarity ended up with werewolf assassins on the Las Vegas Strip. And of course it’s my bimbo cousin who’s put us in this position. We are legitimate business owners. We made a mistake, but it was to rely on family. Surely you can see that.”
“Who’s the connection with the Vampires? Not back in the day when you ran adept hookers for their parties, but now,” Rowan asked instead of replying to Fiona’s bullshit.
“Teresa used to sleep with some friend of the Scion. Not the one you’re married to,” she said to Rowan, “the one before him. She was always at their parties. Eduard something or other.”
The guard who’d attacked Rowan at Die Mitte and a known member of Sanguis Principatus .
Fuck. All sorts of things began to shift and began to make sense.
“He and Mardoc, the creepy old Vampire, were friends from way back.” She looked at Rowan with a smirk. “Then Mardoc got himself in big trouble for threatening to kill Hunters. The other Vampires in their group lost their minds as they should have, because this sort of thing should be private! He and Hugo, absolute creeps. We had to send the two recruits we had left to another location because of the brawl the Vampires started and then disappeared after everything began to crumble around us. The male, Jaylin, had been engaged by a Vampire recommended to us via Mardoc. He was supposed to have gone with the human Mardoc took, but Mardoc ran off with the human and left Jaylin behind. I don’t know where Stephen is. He’s the one who engaged the services of the female witch, but he’s ghosting us. And Eduard hasn’t returned my calls either.”
“That’s because Stephen and Eduard are in custody of the Vampire Nation.” Rowan stared at Fiona. “But back to your story. You’re saying Teresa met up with Eduard and hung out with all those Vampires who were buddies with Jacques and then you hatched this trafficking ring?”
“It’s not trafficking! For over thirty years we simply brought parties with the same interests together. A lucrative introduction service. Teresa is the one who changed things five years ago. I can’t be responsible for that. It was her idea.”
They could call it whatever the fuck they wanted, but it didn’t change reality.
“Where did Mardoc take Kerry? If you help us find her, you might escape with your life,” Genevieve said.
Fiona paled. “Life?”
“Have you been paying attention at all? Is the situation not dire enough for you?” Rowan snapped.
“If you do not cooperate—and that includes removing the geas you’ve placed on the others, as well as giving us the location of our missing—you will be executed for your part in this conspiracy. It’s up to you.”