CHAPTER TEN
ALEXIUS
Alexius left her there in the office, not wanting to linger too long.
He spent the entire first half of his night thinking about her, wondering if she was safe, hoping that seeing her brother was everything she had wanted and needed it to be.
He’d been half listening to Maria, who had recognized the distraction.
What she needed wasn’t really something that required him to be on the ball, though.
She wanted him to do a couple of things, actually.
First, she noticed vampires she didn’t know entering her area of influence.
She was having a hard time pinning them down, and she didn’t want to risk her people.
Second, she was losing money. Someone in her nest was stealing from her.
“The first I can handle with ease, and with recent events, I don’t blame you for wanting a professional.” He’d frowned. “The second… Everly would be the most helpful, but I’m not letting her get involved with work on this trip.”
“With the second, I’m hoping your very presence either forces them to stop or makes them sloppy enough to get caught.” Maria smiled. “You know how the hunted behave. They panic and slip up, no matter which choice they make.”
“Of course. Now, you have some files?”
He was now staring at those files as a distraction from the fiery redhead with steam coming out of her ears over her brother’s choice in partners.
Seeing reported sightings of vampires that never checked in with Maria and her nest; it was suspicious.
Vampires knew that unless they were passing through, they reported to the Master or Mistress of the area.
If they were passing through, they would be willing to stop and say that.
These vampires ran every time someone approached them.
He didn’t like that. He could see how Maria was getting uncomfortable with it.
He’d be on the streets all night in the right places and would have to hope to get a trail on one of them.
This was a proper hunt, if they were still around.
If he could prove they moved on, all the better for him and Maria.
If he did get his hands on them, he’d have to make the decision of whether to kill them or not; it might be better to drag them in front of Maria for her to deal with.
They seemed quick to the people she had sent after them or those who ran into them.
Everly could outrun them, but…
He groaned and got up, closing the files.
He paced, trying to put together his plan of action for finding these shadows running in the night.
He could ask her, but now she was dealing with politics on her own for the first time.
She needed to pay attention to how she was behaving around the werewolves and her brother, not getting distracted and running from her problem to help him.
He looked at the equipment Maria had provided him, knowing how he liked to work when he had the time and space to do it.
He turned on the projector and got to it.
The map filled the entire wall, and he liberally drew on the wall, knowing she could handle it from there.
He marked areas where they had been and what directions they reportedly ran, trying to get a pattern.
It was three vampires, all seen repeatedly.
All in abandoned places or near them. Probably places they scoped out to sleep, then moved on when they were sighted.
Places he would probably be sleeping in during the hunt because he wasn’t going to be able to head back here every night. He would have to keep Everly informed.
And he hated it. Since she became a vampire, they were close. He could get to her if a daytime threat appeared. If he was out in the city hunting down vampires, that would no longer be the case.
This is why we’re doing this. Even Maria could tell when she saw me.
“You look like a starved man, Alexius,” she said sympathetically, almost concerned. “You need to deal with that. It’s not good for a vampire to starve any appetite.”
“It’s not a concern.”
“It is if I can tell it is,” she retorted.
He knew she was right, but his options were limited.
He either forced Everly to move out and found someone to help him forget about her, or he fell to the temptation.
He felt like they had something tenuous and good, and doing anything would ruin it.
He was her boss and the far more powerful vampire.
It was a breach of his responsibility and power, and he didn’t want her to think it was required to live with him.
He couldn’t bring himself to do either.
“Bring her to the club in three nights. I’ll be there with some of my favorite vampires. Show her a bit of vampire culture more appropriate for her age instead of…” Maria had given him a look. “Whatever you and Isaiah cooked up to take her to an estate full of ancients.”
“It was work,” he had replied.
“Certainly. Well, she’s not here to work. Bring her to the club.”
“I’m not certain—”
“I hate to do this to you, but that’s an order from the Mistress of the Tribunal, not a friendly invitation from Maria,” she said over her shoulder. “Take everything you need. Report when you feel you have something.”
Then she was gone, and he was left to take everything back to the house. He’d planned to get more done, but then Everly got home, and she became a distraction again.
Not that she wasn’t always a distraction. He felt relieved she was home. He was frustrated with the reason, mostly Declan.
How do you sleep with someone and not realize they’re a werewolf? How do you hide that, especially with werewolves being out to humanity? Foolish boy.
Perhaps he was missing something, but it would have been very obvious to him. He could smell the soft trace of the wild scent on Everly when they collided, but he hadn’t had time to consider it in the moment. By the time he thought about it, she was already telling him about it.
It was nearing dawn when he got a call from Maria.
“What was this about a werewolf and Everly I heard tonight from Callahan. He barely elaborated, but it’s been less than seventy-two hours, Alexius!” She was sharp, and she had good reason to be.
“Her brother. His girlfriend. It’s…” Alexius tried to find the best way to explain that didn’t sound childish.
“She’s here to see her brother. He was unknowingly dating a werewolf.
It’s being handled. He clearly knows now.
Once Everly was in the same room with her, things apparently got tense.
The werewolf didn’t know the human had a vampire sister. ”
“And the vampire sister didn’t know about the wolf,” Maria said, sighing. “That explains Callahan keeping it quick and not elaborating. His wolf is at fault.”
“She is,” Alexius agreed. “Not the worst thing to ever happen. From the sound of it, she’s young and in love and stupid.”
“Love makes everyone stupid; young has nothing to do with it,” Maria muttered. “Rest well. I’ll stay out of the werewolf situation. Callahan was probably just giving me a courtesy call.”
“Yes. He, Everly, myself, and the wolf’s father already decided on what the plan of action would be. Probably why he waited until you were about to go to rest. Though…”
“He also did that to make me fret all day.” Maria chuckled. “The little games we play.”
She hung up on him, and he tossed his phone on his bed, his eyes settling on the king-sized bed. Everly really thought she got the best room. She had, but it didn’t do much. Every room here was nice.
Nice enough to think about her there.
The intrusive thought ran through him, and he hissed at himself, deciding he would stay up again to continue working on his plan.
The more work he did before starting his hunt, the faster his hunt would hopefully go.
He went back to the projection. He’d marked out five places where he could go on surveillance and another three where he would have to scope out the area to find the best place.
Street view on modern maps was useful because it gave him at least some idea of what was there, even if it was outdated.
He used to have to scope everything out to get an idea of what the actual buildings were like in the area. He could cut some corners now.
An hour after dawn, he felt the pull to rest but was strong enough to ignore it for a while longer.
All he had to do was get through midday, then the rest of the day was easy.
He didn’t want to sleep. He had a lot of reasons for that but blamed it on the work and his need to know if their location was safe was easy, and he would use those going forward.
He couldn’t get away with it at home, or he would.
Everyone there would know he wasn’t rested, then he had to have conversations about it.
Anything that made him have more conversations was the last choice.
“Though… if I go out tonight, I should be rested,” he admitted to himself.
“Unknown vampires, though none of them seem to be old to those who have seen them… I should also feed.” He looked at the bed.
He could almost hear Rupert chastising him or worse, Everly yelling at him.
“Fine. I shall take care of myself,” he said to them, though they would never hear it.