Chapter 14
She wasn't in her room.
She wasn't in the harem with any of the girls, none of whom admitted to having seen her.
He breached the suites of the Vampyren females. They didn't have her.
She wasn't working her position with the leaders. They said they didn't know where she was.
He didn't believe them.
Something was wrong. Something was coming that his men weren't being told. The other units weren't relaying information. He'd never had cause before to approach the council or the elders or the leaders when he hadn't been called.
They weren't as good at subterfuge as they thought.
When he found Pan, Pan told him to trust the leaders. And then he smiled, showing too much fang.
They were brothers. But something had changed since they came to Earth. On their home planet there'd been no chance that either of them would ascend to any seat of actual power for another century or two. They were young, both of them, twins who had killed their mother during birth.
Here, though, they found themselves on a planet that was still in flux.
Power was being taken from the humans still and it was harder than the Vampyren had expected.
Resources were stretched thin and all the thinner because the last planet they'd colonized was still in flat out rebellion.
So here Alek and Pan stood a chance of moving up in rank and doing so fast. Alek had received the rank he now had before Pan.
That was all. The only thing that had changed. And now his brother was his enemy.
Pan wasn't stupid, but he was arrogant and that made him careless. He assumed Alek didn't know that some decision had been made that would affect Alek and probably his men.
That was the only thing working to Alek's advantage.
He played it. His brother wasn't part of the council of elders, the council of war. But he had ways of finding things out. Now Alek asked as supplicant.
"What have you heard?"
Pan's smile was wide. "You know I'm not on the council, brother. You'd be asked before me, with your rank."
Every second was time he should be searching for her, not dealing with Pan.
"But you have friends in high places. You have ways of accessing secrets I never will." Every word was an act and an effort.
Pan knew something. Alek could see it in the smug look of his face. It wasn't until they heard footsteps, someone coming their way, Pan's moment of smug triumph almost over that he said it, fast and low, and let slip too much.
"The Lucian are here. You said you thought they were and you were right. They're here and they're planning their attack from the city towers."
That meant the city government was dead. It meant the Lucian held a building the Vampyren hadn't taken. It meant they had access to the weapons the humans stockpiled there. They had their own, of course. But there was a disadvantage.
But an advantage in knowing.
For an instant he forgot the subterfuge, too shocked to carry it out. "Surely they mean to attack! Counter measures before!"
In that instant of honesty, he saw the truth written across his brother's face. "They're gathering information yet. They've sent a spy."
He didn't allow himself to even close his eyes. To even take a breath. He only waited.
"She's someone you know."
"Candy?" Because that would explain where she'd been taken.
"Candy?" As if he couldn't quite place the name. "No. I believe it was Mindy."
Alek didn't react. He'd already seen it coming. "And the attack? The counter?"
Pan shook his head. Nothing planned. The council was saying nothing yet. He didn't know.
That tipped his hand. The leaders would never wait. That meant Pan was lying. There was only one reason Alek could think that Pan would lie.
Everything in him wanted to run. He wanted to get to his men and get them ready. They were a team, honed in battles they'd fought together. Their allegiance was to their own kind first. And to each other.
Slow. He couldn't just run. He couldn't tip his own hand. "What do you think?"
Pan stopped, caught unawares. He looked vulnerable in that instant, as if pleased and surprised that Alek would ask what he thought. The emotion was so honest it caught Alek by surprise and made him wonder if he had abandoned his brother in his own way, despite knowing he hadn't.
When Pan spoke again, the Earth Pan hadn't returned yet. There was an honesty in his words.
"That we should do?" Again, the honesty in his voice. As if the question had taken him out of himself and his battle for dominance with his brother. "I think the entire force should attack. I think the Vampyren should go to war."
Entire force. If he'd needed confirmation of what they intended, he had it. Had Pan intentionally tipped him off? He threw a sidelong look at his brother, but couldn't tell. Pan looked as arrogant and angry as ever.
He took his leave, then, said he'd be heading to get food and went in the direction of the dining rooms, hoping Pan wouldn't follow him.
He didn't. Of course he didn't. Even Pan would have a hard time holding the charade that much longer. Already he was slipping back into the Earth version of Pan.
Alek got out of sight before he ran.
His men were training in the weight room. There were a few conscripts, some of the human businessmen they'd taken from the party.
"You. Humans. Out."
They left without question and without hesitation. The weights would never do them as much good as it did the invaders. They could never hope to be an actual force.
They were grateful as they left.
That left him with his second, Kev, and with the other ten men in his unit.
Who waited, fists tight, faces tighter. They'd fallen out of favor by advancing too far on their own when first in the metro area.
They'd lost ground because of Pan, as well, because of his anger and greed and his battle with Alek.
That was Alek's fault and he wouldn't let his men pay for his own family problems.
He looked at them each in turn and saw explaining would be simple. Every one of them had been waiting for something like this, probably since before the incident with the runners.
The hard part would be when they figured out how to go in and fight the Lucian before the threat of losing face brought the other Vampyren into the fold.
The hard part for Alek would be explaining just why it was imperative they retrieve the girl from the harem, the spy the council had sent in, without admitting to them the real reason.
That he cared about her.