by Tina Folsom
So he clung to the first reason. After all, the toothbrush had looked rather new and clean, and he’d found only a half dozen hairs in Hannah’s brush. Probably not enough to get a reading on her, particularly not if she was far away.
His phone rang, interrupting him.
“Yes?”
“Wes, it’s Matt. I’ve got the results for you.”
“Coming down now.”
He needed to clear his head anyway. Maybe he’d come up with something later.
Wesley marched down the hallway of one of the basement floors of Scanguards’ Mission headquarters, heading for the IT lab. Both Thomas and Eddie had left shortly after Wesley had brought the suspect’s laptop to the office, so the task of hacking into it and examining the information on it had been given to Matt, one of their trusted human employees.
It was quiet as he walked down the corridor. Mostly humans and hybrids manned the offices during the day. Few vampires were around, most of them having gone home to sleep. It was midday. As soon as the winter sun set, headquarters would be buzzing like a beehive again. But during the day, this was his domain: he was the highest-ranking Scanguards employee on site. And he liked it that way.
Without knocking, Wes entered the IT lab.
Only a few people were sitting in front of the many computer workstations dotted around the large room. Including one person he hadn’t been expecting.
“Isabelle? What are you doing here?”
Samson’s twenty-two-year-old hybrid daughter looked up from the computer and smiled. “Hi, Wes.” She jerked her thumb at the man next to her. “Clark is teaching me programming and stuff.”
Wes raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you were interested in IT.”
She shrugged, tossing a strand of her long dark hair over her shoulder. She was as beautiful as her mother, and as smart as her father. “I’m not. But I figured if I want to run the company one day I should know as much as possible about how everything works.”
Wesley couldn’t help but chuckle. “You wouldn’t by any chance be competing with your brother again?”
“Which one?” she shot back.
“Both, actually,” Wes said.
Though Grayson, one year Isabelle’s junior, was the more ambitious of her brothers. Patrick, who’d only just turned nineteen was a little more laid back and wasn’t yet thinking of how to position himself to take over his father’s company, should Samson ever decide to retire. Which, considering how much Samson loved his job, would probably never happen.
“All Grayson wants to do is go on patrol.” She scoffed. “If that’s how he plans to prove to Dad that he’s a grown-up, then let him. It takes more than brawn to run Scanguards.” She tipped her finger to her temple. “It takes what’s up here.”
Wes shook his head. “You should be out having fun like other young women your age, and instead you sit in here and work. When I was your age, I had fun.”
Isabelle laughed. “Oh I’ve heard all about the fun you had when you were younger. Haven is quite a storyteller.”
“My brother likes to distort the truth.”
She winked mischievously. “Your brother is standing right behind you.”
“Really, Isa? You think I’d fall for such an old trick?”
A heavy hand landed on his shoulder, making him whirl around. His heart nearly stopped.
“Shit, Hav! Why the fuck do you have to sneak up on me like that? You’re not even supposed to be here.”
His vampire brother grinned from one ear to the other. “You know you should never talk bad about me behind my back.”
“I wasn’t. If you want, I can talk bad about you right in front of you.”
He wasn’t afraid of his older brother. Hadn’t been since his brother had saved him and their sister from certain death. Ever since then he’d idolized Haven, though he would never tell him that. Too much admiration was bad for a man’s character.
“That’s my brother,” Haven said.
Wes tipped up his chin. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping in the arms of your beautiful wife?”
“I would be if John hadn’t called me to come in and take a look at this guy they brought in.”
“What guy?”
“A suspect in one of the recent robberies. Donnelly transferred him over to us.”
“So he’s a vampire.”
Haven shook his head. “Human.”
“Then why is Donnelly sending him to us? Does he want us to handle human crime now, too?” He glanced at Isabelle. “Maybe you should add renegotiating contracts with the city to your curriculum while you’re at it.”
“Something is off with him. Donnelly asked us to take a look at him. And boy, is he messed up. John can’t figure out what’s wrong with him. He’s running some tests, but he won’t have the results for a few hours.”
“What kind of tests?”
“Blood tests. We could use your help.”
“Why’s that?”
“Seems he’s under the influence of something. Could be a spell, or drugs, or mind control. You’re better equipped to figure it out.”
Wes grinned. “Aren’t you lucky to have a witch for a brother?”
Haven turned toward the door. “I’m lucky to have a brother. You coming?”
“I’ll be there in two minutes.” He marched to one of the computer stations, where another human was sitting. “Hey, Matt, what have you got for me?”
Matt stared up at him through his John Lennon glasses. “I’m afraid it’s not much.” He reached for a few sheets of paper. “I printed out what I thought was important, but I can also send you the electronic file, which is a little more comprehensive.”
Wes motioned to the pages. “Give me a quick summary. I’ll look at the details later.”
“I found the usual: shopping, YouTube stuff, online gaming. But I’m a little stumped by this.” He pointed to a spot on the sheet. “I can’t pronounce it, sorry. Seems to be some herb.”
Wes leaned closer. “Höllenkraut?” Fuck! “Where did you find this?”
“In what looks like an online cookbook he’d saved. Which is odd—”
“—given that this guy is a vampire, and doesn’t eat or drink.” He patted Matt on the shoulder, cutting him off. “Well done. Send the entire file with all the links to my email. I’ll check into it.”
“Will do.”
Wes had already turned away, heading for the door, when Matt added, “What is that stuff? That Höllenkraut?”
He looked over his shoulder. “If I’m right, and I hope I’m not, then it’s one of the most dangerous plants in the world.”
And if Ronny had used it on Hannah in some way, all rescue efforts might already be too late.
A moment later, he was marching toward the interrogation room. Inside, Haven and John hovered over a human who was slumped over in a plastic chair.
John glanced up and acknowledged him with a nod. “Let’s see if you have more luck with him than I,” he said in his Louisiana accent.
Despite the fact that he’d moved to San Francisco and joined Scanguards four years earlier, he’d lost nothing of his Southern drawl.
Wes joined his colleagues and perused the suspect. “What do we know about him?”
“His name is Michael Thorland. He got picked up for possession a few times, but all the charges were dropped. No criminal record until he got caught robbing a liquor store two days ago. At first they threw him in a cell in the hopes that he’d sober up so they could question him, but when he didn’t, Donnelly figured something wasn’t right and transferred him over to us.” John put his hand underneath the guy’s chin and lifted his head. “He’s been like this ever since he arrived.”
Wes looked closer. The suspect’s eyes stared at him blankly. “Catatonic?”
“Looks like it, doesn’t it?” John said. “And he doesn’t respond to mind control either.”
Wes lifted an eyebrow. “I thought every human responds to mind control.” He motioned to the sus
pect. “Even in a drugged state.”
“That’s what I thought, too.”
“Maybe you’re just tired,” Wes suggested.
John instantly flashed his fangs at him. “I’m not fucking tired!”
“Just saying…”
“I’ll try it,” Haven interrupted, but a moment later had to concede, too. “John is right. He doesn’t respond to mind control. Very odd.”
“Something is wrong. Seriously wrong,” Wes murmured.
Mind control worked on all humans. And this man was clearly human.
“He might be under a spell,” Haven mused. “It’s a possibility, right, Wes?”
“We’ll find out. Somebody get me my black bag from my office.” It contained basic tools for witchcraft. While he kept a more comprehensive collection of tools, books, and herbs at his home, he always had the essentials in his office. “And then clear the room. It won’t be safe in here for any of you.”
Because not even vampires had any protection against spells.
14
Blake got out of the shower and dressed quickly. It was mid-afternoon and he’d only slept a few hours, but he’d gotten a call from Scanguards twenty minutes ago that they’d found Hannah’s car and were transporting it to headquarters for examination. He wanted to take a look at it, in the hopes that Hannah had left a clue as to her whereabouts.
He opened the door to leave his bedroom, when he heard sounds from the guestroom Nicholas and Adam were occupying. The boys were stirring. He knew he couldn’t leave them to their own devices, particularly since he didn’t know how long he’d be gone.
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Wesley’s number. It took three rings before Scanguards’ resident witch finally replied.
“Yeah?”
“Hey Wes, how did the scrying go?”
“It didn’t.”
“You didn’t find anything with Hannah’s DNA on it?”
“I did, but it didn’t work. The crystal couldn’t pinpoint her location. I can’t find her.”
“What does that mean? I thought you could find any human.”
“I thought so, too.” He sighed. “Listen, I’ve gotta get back to what I’m doing.”
“One more thing.” Blake stopped him from disconnecting the call. “I need your help.”
“I’m really busy right now.”
“It’s important. They found Hannah’s car. I need to check it out. Can you look after Nicholas and Adam, and keep an eye on Lilo, too?”
“Can’t you find somebody else? I’m examining some files right now.”
“Can’t that wait?”
“No!”
Blake sighed. “Then why don’t you bring the files with you to the house? You can work in my office. Come on, be a good sport.”
“Why is it that your work always takes precedence over mine?”
He heard the edge in Wesley’s voice and knew to tread lightly. “It doesn’t. But this is about Hannah.”
There was a short pause, then Wes replied, “Blake, I don’t want you to panic, but… there’s something we found on Ronny’s computer.”
“What did you find?” His heart was suddenly hammering as loud as a locomotive.
“It’s possible that Ronny has been experimenting with potions.”
“Potions? You mean like your kind of potions?”
“Not exactly. More like drugs.”
“Doing what?”
“I don’t know yet. There’s something else: today Donnelly transferred a human into our custody. It looked like he was under a spell or something. But when I examined him I couldn’t find any sign of witchcraft. Which leaves us with something physical.”
“Physical?”
“Yeah, as in drugs. Something mind-altering. And it just happens that I came across an herb today that scares the shit out of me.”
“An herb scares the shit out of you? You’re exaggerating.”
“I found the name of the herb on Ronny’s computer. That’s why I’m going through these files. I need to find out what he’s been up to. If he’s been using this stuff, this Höllenkraut, on humans…”
“Shit! What does it do?”
“Not sure exactly. There were other ingredients, too, that have strange effects on humans. I’m not sure exactly how he’s combining them and what the point of all this is. But I don’t like it.”
Blake blew out a breath. “Neither do I. Any leads on Ronny’s car?”
“Donnelly and his team are keeping their eyes and ears open, but nothing so far. Have you spoken to the vet?”
“The office wasn’t open yet when I went to sleep. I left Ryder a message to stop by the clinic during office hours and find out whether Hannah kept the appointment she had for her dog.”
Ryder was Gabriel and Maya’s son, and a hybrid, which meant he could be out in sunlight without the rays damaging his skin. But he and his brother Ethan and sister Vanessa were different from the other hybrids in his care. Their parents were very special vampires: before they’d been turned they were satyrs. Their species’ DNA was so dominant that even as vampires they retained some of their satyr traits and had passed them on to their children. And while their parents’ ability to tolerate sunlight had been extinguished at their turning, as born vampire-satyr-hybrids, just like as born vampire-human-hybrids, Ryder and his siblings were able to be out in sunlight without being turned into ash.
“I’m waiting to hear from him,” Blake now added.
“Good.” There was a short pause, before Wes added, “You’re doing everything you can.”
“It doesn’t seem to be enough.” Because Blake still had no lead on Hannah’s whereabouts. And with every hour that passed, the chances of finding her alive and well, dwindled.
A sigh on the other end of the line. “I’ll be there in half an hour. But you’d better tell those boys that I need to work and am not there to hang out with them.”
“You’ve got it. You won’t even notice that they’re here.”
“Yeah, right.”
Blake disconnected the call and walked to the guestroom. He knocked briefly, then opened the door and walked in, pulling it shut behind him.
Nicholas sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes. Adam turned beneath the duvet and mumbled something.
“Hey, sorry guys, but I’ve gotta go to the office. Wes will be over shortly; he’s going to stay with you until I’m back.”
Adam shot up to a sitting position. “Wes is coming? Cool!”
Blake raised his hand. “Now, just so you know, Wes is bringing his work with him, so I don’t want you to disturb him unless there’s an emergency.”
Adam grimaced. “Then what’s the point of him coming over at all?”
“To watch us, dummy,” his brother replied. “As if we were little kids who needed a babysitter.” He huffed.
“Wes isn’t your babysitter, he’s your bodyguard,” Blake corrected him. “You should be used to it by now. You’ve had bodyguards since you were born.”
Nicholas rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and it’s getting old.”
“You won’t be saying that when your bodyguard saves your life.”
“We’re not in danger,” Nicholas protested. “I don’t know why everybody is constantly making such a fuss.”
Blake sighed. He’d had similar conversations with some of the other hybrids, who at some point or other, had rebelled against their parents’ over-protectiveness. He took a few steps forward, and sat down on the edge of Nicholas’s bed.
“There’s always danger, even if you don’t see it. You and your brother are hybrids; you’re precious not only to your parents, but to the entire vampire community. You can do things an ordinary vampire can’t. You’re stronger and less vulnerable. But there are many in the vampire world who consider your very existence an abomination. Your parents are right to protect you.”
For a few seconds there was silence in the room. Then Nicholas sighed. “Fine. We’ll just ignore Wes.” He swung hi
s legs out of the bed. “But it’s not fair. If I’m really stronger than you and less vulnerable, then why do I need protection?”
With a few skilled movements, Blake lifted Nicholas off his feet and pinned him down on the floor, before the kid even had occasion to blink. “That’s why. You might be stronger, but I’m smarter and more skilled. Once you’re able to defeat me, I’ll gladly resign from protecting you. But until then, my dear boy, you’ll have to tolerate me or somebody else from Scanguards as your bodyguard.”
From the other bed, Adam chuckled.
Nicholas raised his head and glared at his brother. “Not funny, Adam!”
15
Lilo hesitated before walking down the stairs. She’d slept surprisingly well—and long—despite all the things that had happened the night before, the good and the bad. In the end she’d been so tired that she’d fallen asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. Now, as she slowly descended the stairs, she felt apprehensive about seeing Blake again. Would the sizzle that had flared up between them last night still be there today? Or had it been only a reaction to the stress they’d both been under?
When she reached the hallway, she heard a sound coming from Blake’s office and walked toward it. The door was open.
“Hi, Blake, I—”
She stopped herself. The man looking up from behind the desk wasn’t Blake. It was Wesley, his colleague whom she’d met the night before. He was casually dressed, a light gray polo shirt complementing his dark hair and bronzed skin. Dark stubble showed around his chin, as if he hadn’t shaved in a while. The two-day growth looked good on him.
“Hey, Lilo,” he greeted her. “Sorry, Blake’s not here. He had to go into the office. They found Hannah’s car.”
Instantly her heart beat faster, and her legs carried her into the office until she stood right in front of the desk. “And Hannah?” She was scared to hear the answer, but she knew she needed to find out.
Wesley shook his head. “Sorry, no sign of her yet. Blake’s having a forensic team comb through the car to see if there’s any evidence of—” He hesitated, then made a dismissive movement with his hand. “Anyway, they’re trying to figure out where the car has been, so they can possibly try and retrace her steps.”
