“We have one shot to get on that island and find that box, and I guarantee you it will be our last.” He glanced at the terrace. “We should get Hawk in here. We’re going to need his expertise again.”
I motioned for them to come back inside, but I wasn’t sure my sister was up for planning her fiancé’s demise. “You can stay in the penthouse as long as you like. Why don’t you go and unpack your bag in one of the spare bedrooms?”
“Why would I stay here? I have an apartment two floors down. Unless you decided to change the locks.” The old Avery was back. She sat down and gave me an irritated look. “Well, you don’t expect me to leave now, do you? I’m through with men disappointing me, so if that little conversation the five of you are about to have involves taking these bastards down, count me in. I was born a hunter, remember?”
To say I was shocked didn’t do it justice. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Avery.”
“Hold on,” Samuel said. “She might be useful.”
“Useful?” She huffed. “I don’t think I like your tone.”
“We’re not getting her involved,” I said. “She couldn’t handle hunting with the Circle. What makes you think she’s cut out for the Order?”
He shrugged. “She is your sister, and she’s immortal.”
“And a snob who can’t even clean her own toilet. Sorry, Avery, but it’s true.”
“No one cleans their own toilet, and I’m perfectly capable of putting my seal back on and carrying on the family tradition.” She grabbed the bag she’d packed and headed for the elevator. “I’m going down to my old apartment.”
When she was gone, I gave Samuel a look. “You’re insane if you think my sister is cut out for this.” Then I picked up my phone to call Wilson Woodard. We had an auction to plan.
Chapter 27
I hadn’t looked at the jewels since shoving them into the safe. When I locked them inside, I was hesitant to touch them, fearing they’d somehow end up on my wrist or around my neck. Before I knew what was happening, I’d be wearing the entire set and listening to my father call my name.
“Like hell,” I said, spinning the dial on the lock, mustering a little more courage each time a number in the combination clicked into place. When I stopped on the final one, I took a deep breath and opened the door.
“Are they in there?” Samuel asked when I stared inside without moving.
“Just give me a second.” I didn’t know what to expect when I reached inside and grabbed the box, but I didn’t expect to feel nothing at all. I finally took the box out and carried it to the living room.
Edward stepped closer to get a better look when I set it on the table. “The Caspian jewels are inside that box, eh?”
“Last time I looked, they were.” I was a little curious about why I couldn’t feel them though. If that box was empty when I opened it, I’d never sleep with both eyes closed again.
Samuel grabbed the box and shook it. “There’s definitely something in there. May I?”
I took a step back. “Be my guest.”
He lifted the lid and unfolded the old scarf I’d wrapped them in. “Hmm. They look pretty harmless to me.”
“That’s because you’re not a Caspian,” Edward said. “Personally, I find them… alluring.”
I felt nothing, which was a whole lot different from what I felt a few weeks ago when they stripped me of my free will. “That’s funny. I don’t feel a thing.”
“I suspect it’s because you’ve become much more powerful over the past few weeks.”
“So I’m immune to their power?”
“Well, I wouldn’t put them on if I were you.”
No chance of that. Those rubies were a weapon, and when this was all over, we needed to find a way to destroy them for good. That would be much easier once we got our hands on that third box. I glanced at the jewels cautiously as Samuel set the scarf on the table and spread it open for everyone to see the rubies that were at the center of all the fuss.
Hawk seemed almost as uncomfortable as I was. “I hope you’re planning to send them back to the auction house with Woodard. I don’t like the idea of you sleeping under the same roof with them any longer than you already have.”
Right on cue, Wilson texted me from the lobby. As Jakob went down to get him, I pulled Hawk aside to explain. “I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d react this way. What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t destroy them, and I had to put them somewhere.”
He was still waiting for an answer.
“Don’t worry. I’ll send them back with Wilson. Edward will drive him and escort him to the vault personally.”
His concerned face relaxed a little. “Good. Now I don’t have to hover over you until Friday.”
Jakob returned with Wilson a few minutes later so we could plan our sham of an auction. I’d asked him to come here so Cabot’s nosy mistress didn’t get wind of it.
Wilson looked at the table. “I guess those are the jewels?”
“Yep, that’s them.” I let out a slight gasp when he walked over and picked up the earrings.
“It something wrong?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Do whatever you need to.”
They didn’t seem to have any effect on him. He looked puzzled as he examined the rubies. “Are these the same earrings you found on your desk a few weeks ago?”
Samuel and Edward both shot me a look. I hadn’t told them how I’d actually acquired the rubies, so Wilson’s comment must have raised a few questions.
“Yes, but it’s a long story. You’ll have to trust me on this.” I’d been asking for a lot of his trust lately.
He nodded and sighed, examining each piece with his jeweler’s loupe. “I’m no expert, but I know enough to tell you these aren’t just rubies. They’re the finest I’ve ever seen.”
“You’re damn right they are,” Edward said.
Wilson gave him an odd look before turning back to me. “Where did you get them?”
“Like I said, you’ll have to trust me. But there’s nothing illegal going on here. I own those jewels.” Well, possession is nine-tenths of the law. After what those damn stones had put me through, those rubies were mine.
He knew better than to push me, but he still looked conflicted. “Are you sure you want to rush the sale? It’s nearly impossible to advertise a fine auction with two days’ notice. You’ll lose a fortune if we can’t notify international bidders.”
“We’re trying to flush someone out. Someone who wants those jewels with a vengeance.” Wilson looked more confused than ever. “Don’t worry, we’ll make sure this person knows about the auction. We’re going to lure him out of his hiding place and distract him for a few hours. Every time he raises his paddle, a phone bidder is going to outbid him.”
His eyes had a suspicious look. “You know as well as I do that shill bidding is illegal.”
Shill bidding was the act of bidding on your own item in order to inflate the price, and yes, it’s illegal.
“Yes, but we have no intention of actually selling those jewels. As I said, we’re just trying to lure someone out. A very bad person. So don’t worry, no money will exchange hands.”
Wilson let out a frustrated sigh. “All right. I’ll get started on it.”
“Thank you for trusting me.” He deserved a very large bonus, which I intended to give him when this was all over. “Edward, would you mind escorting the jewels back to Winterborne’s? They’ll be safe in the vault for now.”
“Of course.” He put them back in the box and headed for the elevator with Wilson.
As soon as they were gone, Samuel expressed his concerns with the plan I’d just laid out. “You don’t really think Vikktor will concede to another bidder?”
“He’ll eventually give up.”
A laugh burst from his mouth. “Yeah, right. Then he’ll destroy the place looking for them and kill anyone who gets in his way.”
“That’s why Edward and the twins will be there.”
He must have thought I’d lost my mind, because he was speechless for a few seconds. “So it’s just the four of us attacking that island?”
“We’re not attacking anything. All we’ll have to do is take out a few guards. The only real threats will be at the auction house. You heard Edward. Vikktor and his brother wouldn’t miss it. And since he doesn’t go anywhere without his chief assassin, Ryker will be there too.”
Hawk snickered. “Yeah, shitting his pants when he sees those rubies with his own two eyes.”
“Unless you have a better plan?” I said.
Samuel shook his head. “You’re in charge now.”
Jakob beamed at me proudly. “You’re definitely your mother’s daughter. Katherine would have done the same thing.”
Now that the plan was in place, Hawk brought up the subject I’d been avoiding. “You need to call Jules. You’ll need another dose of her blood before heading to that island.”
As usual, he was right. I was already starting to feel my energy wane, and now was not the time to gamble. “I’ll call her tonight.”
“If we’re done here, I need to go have a word with Charlotte about the prisoner.” Samuel looked less than thrilled about having that conversation, but we needed Charlotte’s toy to spread the word.
“What?” I said. “You don’t think she’ll give him up easily?”
“She will. I just haven’t seen her this alive in ages. But something tells me she’ll also enjoy rearranging his mind before we cut him loose.”
He left with Jakob, and I went out to the terrace to call Jules and invite her to lunch, to ask her for more blood. The two of us were going somewhere warm with a beach when this was all over. Maybe Spain.
When I stepped outside, Fetch descended from the sky and landed on my shoulder.
“God, you scare me when you do that!”
I thought I heard you calling me.
I didn’t even realize I had, but come to think of it, we needed his help again. “How good are you at spying?”
I met Jules at her shop around noon the next day. With everything going on, I hadn’t been there for a while. “Got a lot of new stuff, I see.” The upper loft that used to serve as storage space was now lined with racks of vintage shirts and jackets.
“Yeah, I got lucky and bought some guy’s estate for practically nothing. His partner said the guy used to work in the film industry and had been collecting vintage shit for decades. A real hoarder.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I guess he just wanted to get rid of it as fast as possible after the funeral.”
“Good for you.” I put on a bright pink beret that was hanging from the coat rack by the register.
She took it off me and headed for the door. “Get a fedora.”
We decided to grab a quick bite at the café across the street. After ordering at the counter, we sat at a table next to the window, where she proceeded to stare at me without saying a word.
“Why do you keep looking at me like that?”
She arched her brows. “I haven’t seen you very much lately, and I’m just wondering what you’re not telling me.”
I could count on half my fingers how many times I’d seen her over the past couple of weeks, which was unheard of for us. But I’d never had the weight of the world on me like I had since my mother’s memorial service. Not only was my time monopolized by Order business, but nothing good would come from keeping Jules close while we were about to go to war with a superior race of vampires. Especially with that prized blood running through her veins.
There was no time to explain everything that had happened since I saw her the night of the fundraiser because she had to get back to the shop before the afternoon rush. I also needed to get to the real reason I was here—I needed more blood before going out to the island. Not knowing how to broach the subject without scaring the hell out of her, I dove right in.
“I don’t have time to tell you everything, but we’re going to war with the Caspians tomorrow night.” I opened my mouth to ask her, but I couldn’t get the words out.
“Just say what’s on your mind, Morgan. Jeez, I won’t bite.”
Bad choice of words.
Now I’d irritated her. I pulled my eyes away from the tabletop and looked up. “God, I’m shit for a friend,” I whispered before looking her in the eye to say it. “I’ll stand a much better chance of making it home alive tomorrow night if I have some of your blood in me.”
“What do you mean by making it home alive?” She squinted at me. “Isn’t it just another hunt?”
I gave her a half-hearted smile. “Night Walkers are easy to kill. They’re stupid and careless. But Caspians.” I slowly shook my head. “Caspians are the devil.”
She pushed her plate away and so did I. We’d both lost our appetite. “When do you need it?”
“Right before we leave tomorrow night. You’re a lifesaver, Jules. If it wasn’t so important, I wouldn’t ask.”
She shook her head, her eyes filled with disappointment. “You really think you have to beg me for my blood? Jesus, Morgan. Don’t ever do that again. When you need it, you ask. Got it?”
“Yeah, sure. I wasn’t trying to—”
“Oh hell no!” Jules stood up and stared out the window. “That asshole showed up right before closing last night and started sniffing around the shop. I mean literally sniffing. If a couple of my regular customers—big guys from the gym down the street—hadn’t shown up and escorted him out, I think he would have jumped me.”
I looked across the street, and my heart skipped a beat. Leaning against a mailbox in front of the shop was our prisoner from the cellar.
Without waiting for Jules, I ran out of the café and across the street. He choked on his cigarette when I confronted him and barked an order to get inside the shop. I thought he was going to run, but he decided to cooperate when I started to mess with his head the way I had back in the cellar.
While he cowered in the stockroom, I called Samuel to let him know his plan wasn’t working. Not only did our prisoner not go running straight back to Vikktor, he was stalking Jules. I knew that because I’d continued to mess with his mind until he confessed. He said he smelled her blood in the air the minute he hit the streets, then tracked it back to her shop.
When Samuel arrived, he asked Jules and me to give them a little privacy.
We left the stockroom, and Jules went to lock the front door and flip the sign to Closed.
“What do you think he’s doing to him?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Probably yanking his fangs out slowly.”
“Seriously?”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “I don’t know, Jules, but this is really bad. That thing in there knows what you are.”
Samuel came out a few minutes later, rubbing his forehead. “Fuck!”
“Well, that can’t be good,” Jules muttered.
He gave her a grave look. “If a lowlife like that can smell you, so can others. You need to close the shop for a few days and stay with Morgan.”
Her face twisted up. “I can’t close my shop for days!”
“Yes, you can,” I said. “A Caspian just hunted you down for your enticing blood, so unless you want to end up getting passed around a vampire’s lair, you’re coming home with me.”
She argued with us for a few minutes but finally saw the light when Samuel took her back to the stockroom to show her the vampire’s reaction to getting an up-close whiff of her. His fangs grew longer and his eyes heated up, but I think it was the sudden erection poking against his pants that finally convinced her.
Samuel had a few more words with the prisoner before cutting him loose through the back door to the alley.
“How do you know he’ll go back to Vikktor this time?” I asked.
“Because I reminded him of what his king will do to him if he doesn’t. Then I threatened to lock him up with Charlotte if I ever see his face in the city again.” He snickered. “He’s halfway to the island by now.�
�
Chapter 28
After having breakfast with Jules and warning her not to leave the penthouse unless the building caught fire, Hawk and I headed over to the brownstone to meet the others. We had a plan to devise.
“Did you get Jules settled in?” Samuel asked when we arrived.
“Yeah, but she’s not very happy about being sequestered.” Keeping Jules locked away in an apartment for days was the equivalent of caging a wild bird, but the alternative convinced her to cooperate. “I think for now she’s okay, but how the hell are we going to keep her safe forever?”
He thought about it for a few seconds. “Let’s just hope it’s only Caspians who can smell her out and not every other garden-variety vampire in the city.”
“And if it’s all of them?”
The look on his face was answer enough. “Then she’s fucked.”
“Great. We’ll have to move to Death Valley or some other god-awful place even a vampire wouldn’t set foot in.”
He grinned and patted me on the back. “I believe you’d do that for her.”
“Damn right I would.”
“Let’s hope that’s not necessary. The Walkers would have probably found her years ago if her scent was that obvious. But if one of them gets a taste…”
After I sat down, Olivia leaned over the back of my chair to mutter something to me. “Jules is my friend too. Don’t worry—we’ll keep her safe even if we have to make her one of us.”
I wasn’t sure if her comment was just a way of easing my mind, but the serious look on her face as she sat down next to James told me she meant it.
“Settle in, folks. We need to get started.” Samuel sat down and looked at me. So did everyone else. “Go on. This is your show.”
My heart started to beat a little faster. This was it. If I messed this up, we were all going down. “The auction is scheduled to start at eight o’clock sharp. I’ve instructed Wilson to put the jewels up last, so whoever is interested in them will have to sit through at least two hours of other lots going up for sale first.”
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