Chapter 13 #2
“I didn’t know you already had... guests,” the new arrival said, a slight accent to his words that suggested he was from this area of Europe.
“Sorry, Petros. This is the rest of the team I put together. Hunters from Vegas. They’ve already helped me out in the past. I trust them entirely, just as I do you.”
I lifted an eyebrow, not expecting Leo to trust a turned. At least, I assumed it was a turned. He was certainly a vampire. For the first time since walking in, Petros looked over at the four of us properly. My team was tense still, but waiting for me.
Because I was the only one sitting down, appearing the most relaxed, Petros turned his attention to me after all.
“I’m Anais Lawrence,” I said, still not getting up. I wanted to make it look like I was very comfortable here. Not threatened by a vampire at all, no matter how powerful he was.
“Lawrence?” he replied. “And a hunter?”
I nodded, but I had to fight not to react. Why was my surname important?
“Daughter of the hunter couple?” Petros looked toward Leo for this question.
“I assumed so,” Leo replied, but he shrugged like it didn’t matter. I frowned while my team looked at me, not understanding either.
“Wow, you must be quite the team then.” Petros held out his hand toward me. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Anais. If Leo is working with you on this, then I’m sure you’ll be as successful as your parents.”
I took his hand, not even flinching at the slight coldness. “Nice to meet you, Petros. It’s going to be fun to work together on this.”
He nodded, the first to break the gaze and look away.
Leo raised an eyebrow at the slight power play and I knew it wasn’t an attitude he’d have expected from me, but I also knew this wasn’t what I’d thought would happen.
Leo had mentioned he had another vampire involved, but not much more in the way of details.
“All right, well, this is Alan, Tess and Naomi as well. They’re also hunters,” Leo said, taking back control of the situation.
Petros nodded and then looked around the room for somewhere to lean or sit where he wouldn’t be too close to us.
“Anyone learn anything useful?” Leo asked. “I set up us learning some possible information in the future, but there were no obvious factions I could see at dinner.”
I shook my head. As much as we’d tried to talk at dinner, the vampires on our table hadn’t been particularly chatty, and because they were already in relationships, they also hadn’t been paying attention to anyone else. Other than the vampire who had followed us here, there was nothing to go on.
“About all we could do is get out there again and try to find the vampire who was following Naomi and me earlier,” I said, wishing I had been able to keep the one in the room alive and ask him questions. Not that I thought he’d have talked, or knew much.
“Most of the vampires will be in the lounge now, or out about the ship finding themselves a new pet.” Petros focused more on Leo still, not looking comfortable but beginning to relax.
Tess shifted like she wanted to say something. “Can we go in there to get information?”
“Only with a vampire,” Petros replied, giving her his attention properly for the first time.
“Leo and I can go in there. Pretend I’m his new pet,” I said, knowing it was the simplest suggestion. We’d done that before.
“What if they recognize you?” Leo asked. “There are at least one group of vampires on this ship trying to kill you.”
“Might flush them out,” I replied. “They’re going to keep trying no matter what I do. And isn’t there some sort of code among all of you? If I’m your pet and others attack me, won’t a bunch of vampires be obliged to defend me too?”
Petros nodded. “In theory. It depends how many go to kill you.”
“What if more of us are in there as well?” Tess asked, looking between Leo and Petros. “What if I pretended to be a pet as well?”
“I can’t keep the two of you safe and... I—”
“Not you,” I said, looking at Tess and surprised at what she was suggesting, but she had set her jaw and I knew her well enough to know she meant her offer. “She’s offering to go in with Petros.”
“Neither of us have been seen with the rest of you,” Tess added. “If I go in with you, Leo, then they might know who you are. Some of them will almost certainly know who Anais is, and Naomi has now been seen with Anais. It’s the only way we can get people in there. Me and Petros.”
Leo didn’t look as if he was going to agree, but Petros slowly moved over to Tess and took her hand. “I would be honored if you would trust me in such a way. It is not an easy task, but I think we can take it gently enough that I can promise your safety.”
I studied Leo as he studied Petros and I got the impression that he was trying to decide if he trusted Petros with this.
If Tess didn’t have such a good point about her being the only female left in our group who could do this, I would have refused it simply based on Leo not being entirely convinced yet, but I didn’t know what other choice we had.
Whether we liked it or not, we had to trust Petros. He was in here with us and that meant he knew enough to betray us anyway.
“Okay,” I said, getting up and making the decision for Leo. “We’ll go into the lounge in two separate pairs. Naomi and Alan can go check out the more human areas of the ship and see if we have any stray vampires around. Maybe look for the one that was following Naomi and me earlier.”
“They’ll recognize me,” Naomi pointed out.
“I know, which is why Alan is going to have your back. See if you can capture them and bring them here, but only if you can do it safely. Otherwise message us and we’ll pull out whichever couple is having the least luck to back you up.”
Leo lifted an eyebrow at me taking the lead, but he must have recognized the sense in what I was saying because he didn’t argue. Instead, he offered me his arm.
It was time to walk into the vampire’s den.