Blood Sin (2)

by Marie Treanor

  Only, Saloman’s tantrums killed people. Like his cousin.

  Return to Dmitriu’s, he said curtly. Wait for me there.

  Elizabeth bristled at his tone of command. Did he imagine she was one of his minions? Why, where are you going? she demanded.

  I have a takeover to finalize and some people to organize. In fact, I’m late.

  Elizabeth turned away from a woman with a luggage trolley who was staring at her, presumably because of the appalled expression on her face. You’re going to a fucking business meeting? Saloman, Josh could be anywhere! Dante and probably Travis are here, to say nothing of the homegrown vampires who would love to drink his blood!

  My plans don’t halt because you’ve mislaid your cousin.

  I mislaid the sword too, she snapped. Don’t you even want that back?

  Oh, I’ll get it back. Again. I’ll even get your wretched Josh back. Later.

  Saloman, couldn’t you even— She broke off the thought, feeling it bounce back on her as if from a brick wall. Saloman?

  He’d gone. In frustration, she kicked the bottom bar of the railing and called to him. There was nothing. He was blocking her. While continuing to take over the world.

  “Elizabeth!” Mihaela threw her arms around her in such enthusiastic welcome that the café table shifted in noisy protest. Laughing, Elizabeth hugged her back and grinned over her shoulder at Konrad and István, who waited their turn to embrace her.

  It almost felt like a homecoming, meeting at this street café where they’d drunk coffee together last year. The hunters’ unabashed pleasure in seeing her again warmed her heart.

  “So how come you’re available at this time of the afternoon?” she asked as they sat down with their freshly ordered coffee. “Are you playing hooky?”

  “We’re just back from the mountains,” Konrad said, wrinkling his nose. “Emergency clear-out of a troublesome fledgling commune. Messy business, but we have the rest of the day.” Konrad winked. “Thanks for Severin. We owe you.”

  Mihaela nudged her. “Bloody well-done, Elizabeth. How did you manage it all by yourself?”

  “Luck, largely,” Elizabeth said deprecatingly. “That and the fact that I seem to be turning into a bit of a vampire magnet.”

  “You are an Awakener,” István said seriously. “And stronger than any on record. Because Saloman hasn’t killed you. Most Awakeners were killed very soon after the event.”

  Elizabeth closed her mouth. “I never thought of it quite like that before.” Was this the potential Saloman had talked about? Her strength?

  “Whatever, Konrad’s right,” Mihaela said. “We owe you for Severin.”

  “Well, if it makes you feel better, I was hoping you could help me find Josh. He followed me here and now I’ve lost him. He’s got the sword.”

  Mihaela frowned. “Josh has the sword again? I thought you said Dante had it?”

  Elizabeth took a mouthful of the excellent coffee to bolster her courage and set down her cup. “There have been a couple of developments since then. Dmitriu—your old mate Dmitriu—took the sword from Dante. Josh nicked it when his—and my—back was turned and made off into the night. Neither Dmitriu nor I could find him, and now I don’t even know where Dmitriu is.” She looked around at their stunned faces and gave a faint, sardonic smile. “In a nutshell,” she finished.

  Konrad let out a sigh that was half whistle as he sat back in his chair. “Okay . . . I think you’ve been misled. Dmitriu was never our ally, merely an erratic informant. I think he fed us tidbits of information from time to time to keep us off his back, but his loyalty, as I think was clear from his stance in St. Andrews last year, is still to Saloman.”

  “I know that,” Elizabeth murmured.

  “The likeliest scenario,” István said heavily, “is that Dmitriu caught up with Josh and either killed him or took him back for Saloman to kill. In which case, Saloman has the sword too.”

  “No.” Elizabeth glanced around the three surprised faces across the table. “I happen to know Saloman’s still looking for it.”

  “How do you know this?” Mihaela demanded, leaning forward. “Elizabeth, what’s going on here? If you’re working with Dmitriu, you might as well be working with Saloman. If anything, Dmitriu used you, got what he wanted, and has now disappeared off your radar.”

  Elizabeth held up both hands in a gesture of acceptance before closing both of them around her coffee cup, despite the warmth of the afternoon. “I’ve made mistakes. We all know I’m not a real hunter. But the main thing is to find Josh. I’ve been thinking and I’m sure he’s not dead.”

  “Why?” István asked.

  Elizabeth shrugged a little uncomfortably. “It’s an empathy thing. Maybe I’m kidding myself, but I sort of understand Josh, know what he’s thinking when I’m with him, and I’m pretty sure I’d know if he were dead. I can still . . . feel him.”

  Mihaela and István exchanged hasty glances, but Konrad kept his gaze on Elizabeth. “You’ve discovered some kind of telepathy?”

  “It’s been growing,” she said with odd reluctance. “Since last year.”

  Konrad nodded. “As you’re getting stronger. I have it a little, though only with kills so far.”

  “The vampires you kill speak to you?”

  Konrad’s lips twisted. “Not for long. But occasionally I’ve heard them, yes. Is that what you hear?”

  “No, but . . .” She hesitated, then took a deep breath. “I hear Saloman. When he chooses.”

  “Fuck,” said Konrad with awe.

  István pursed his lips in a soundless whistle.

  “Does he choose often?” Mihaela asked, and some inflection of her voice made Elizabeth glance at her more warily. Her friend’s dark, perceptive eyes gazed back at her with more concern than suspicion, and she had to fight the sudden urge to lay everything at Mihaela’s feet.

  But sharing the pain was a luxury she couldn’t afford. It would distract from the main issue, which was to find Josh and stop Dante from using the sword to become undead.

  “No, not often,” she said steadily. Not often enough.

  “Do you think he can read what’s in your head?” István asked anxiously.

  It was a good question and one she still wasn’t quite sure of the answer to. “I don’t think so,” she said cautiously. “I think I have to . . . project? . . . for him to receive. It’s a bit like a radio conversation.” She glanced around them all. “Don’t look at me like that. He doesn’t ask me about you or tell me anything about what he’s doing. He just does it to entertain himself, to keep me on edge. . . .” To keep me in thrall.

  “When was the last time he contacted you this way?” Konrad asked.

  “This morning,” Elizabeth said steadily. “That’s how I know he doesn’t have the sword or Josh or even Dmitriu.”

  “He’s as concerned as we are?” Konrad gave a short laugh. “Well, well, maybe we’ll get the upper hand this time after all. So what’s your theory, Elizabeth? Where are Josh and the sword?”

  Elizabeth picked up her cup. “I think they’re with Dante.”

  Konrad cast a quick glance around the nearby tables, which were filling up as the afternoon wore on. “Come on,” he muttered. “Let’s go somewhere more private.”

  As they drove across the city to Mihaela’s bright, almost impersonal flat, Elizabeth explained her fear that Dante sought not just immortality, but instant power in the vampire world.

  “Is that possible?” Mihaela said doubtfully, taking her eyes from the road to glance at Konrad in the passenger seat beside her. “Could he really become as powerful as Saloman just like that?”

  “I don’t know,” Konrad admitted. “It depends what power this sword actually has. No one reliable has ever studied it; it’s been effectively hidden since the eighteenth century, so we’ve no way of knowing how much of the legend is true. However, the fact that Saloman himself is looking for it probably tells us enough.”

  “You’ve seen it, Elizabet
h,” István said. “Did you feel or witness any special power?”

  “It burned me when I touched it, threw up a vision of Saloman demanding its return. It did the same to Josh, but only after Saloman was awakened. I think it recognizes us as descendants. Which is worth your remembering, Konrad, if and when we find it. Don’t touch it.”

  Konrad peered back between the front seats and nodded.

  They drove the rest of the way in thoughtful silence, and István insisted on carrying her slightly battered traveling bag up to Mihaela’s flat.

  “Sometime,” said Mihaela, opening the fridge door to find milk for her coffee, “we must meet without a crisis.” She flicked her hand at the wine bottle, but only on her way to the milk. “I got a nice bottle of wine in, but I think we’d better leave it until this is dealt with.”

  “I think you’re right,” Elizabeth said ruefully.

  Mihaela glanced at her. “You’re looking well.”

  “Am I?” Elizabeth laughed. “Not sure how—I feel as if I haven’t slept in the last week. Apart from on the plane over here.”

  Mihaela smiled faintly, sloshing milk into a jug and placing it on the tray beside the coffee and the cups. “I don’t suppose that’s because you and Josh . . . ?”

  “Oh, no,” Elizabeth said, and yet she felt herself blushing, because Mihaela had guessed so much of the truth, just with the wrong partner. “What about you?” she asked lightly. “Discovered any sexy lovers in between hunting expeditions?”

  Mihaela wrinkled her nose. “No one I’d care to introduce to my grandmother. Or even to you.” She tossed a packet of biscuits to Elizabeth, who caught it in one hand and raised her eyebrows quizzically until Mihaela sighed and let go of the tray she’d been about to lift. “I think I only go after unsuitable men so I don’t feel bad about being unable to form a relationship with them. Who wants a bastard for a boyfriend?”

  “There’s a definite attraction in unattainability,” Elizabeth agreed, feeling for the understated pain Mihaela didn’t usually reveal at all. “To say nothing about badness.” She raised the biscuit packet in a mock toast. “Here’s to unsuitable lovers.”

  Mihaela laughed, her eyes just a little lighter for the understanding, and picked up the tray. Elizabeth followed her back into the living room.

  Sitting down and waving at everyone to help themselves, Mihaela said, “We’ve been checking up on Dante too. Incidentally, I think we know now what his secret mission was the other night. His volunteer team remained pretty tight-lipped—presumably under instruction—but they came in the next morning well beaten-up.”

  “How?” Elizabeth asked in quick distress.

  “Dmitriu,” Mihaela said dryly. “Dante must have taken them to try to capture Dmitriu, taking along Saloman’s sword for extra protection. Obviously it didn’t work, because you say Dmitriu took the sword from him.”

  Elizabeth frowned. “But if he couldn’t capture Dmitriu before, how come he can now?”

  “We don’t know that he has,” Konrad pointed out. “You’re just assuming it because you believe Dante came here for that purpose. Dmitriu could be anywhere; he could have taken himself back to Transylvania, or be trailing after Saloman somewhere else entirely.”

  Elizabeth opened her mouth to say that Saloman was definitely here in Budapest, and without Dmitriu, but, perhaps fortunately, Mihaela answered her original question.

  “Perhaps because he’s been studying enchantments.”

  “Don’t be daft,” István said, leaning forward from the sofa to pick up a cup. “Enchantments don’t really work.”

  “Yes, they do,” Elizabeth said, at exactly the same time as Mihaela said, “You don’t know that.”

  Elizabeth waved her hand to give Mihaela the floor, and her friend took a sardonic bow.

  “We only think enchantments are bunkum,” Mihaela said, “because we never studied the material. I’ve noticed it on the shelves but we were never shown the books, never trained in it. What if it’s a skill that’s been lost to hunters in a more scientific age? What if vampires still use it? Besides,” she added, by way of a clincher after she’d knocked back her coffee like medicine, “we all accept that our headquarters building is safe. How can it be, without enchantments? Have you ever heard an alarm go off, or any vampire detector in the building? We say it’s masked, as if it’s disguised as something else, but come on, guys, would a sign saying, ‘State Pensions Office,’ or something really fool a vampire?”

  István grunted, clearly unconvinced.

  “István, we’ve had vampire prisoners in there! We’ve had visiting victims, sought-after descendants, even an Awakener!” Mihaela flung her hand out at Elizabeth. “No attacks, nothing. The vampires know we exist, just not where to find us.”

  “Vampires do use enchantments,” Elizabeth volunteered. “And they use the word ‘mask.’ They can mask themselves or objects they choose to hide. I’m sure that’s why you’ve never found Saloman’s pal—lair,” she corrected herself hurriedly, well aware that the other reason was that she herself had never chosen to take them there. “And I think there’s some kind of mask on the Angel Club too.”

  The others gazed at her in some surprise, clearly thinking about it. Elizabeth looked at Mihaela. “What sort of enchantments has Dante been studying?”

  “Powerful masking. Whatever that is. I got only a glimpse at his book pile before we got the emergency call to the mountains yesterday.”

  “The more powerful the vampire,” Elizabeth said slowly, “the more powerful a mask would have to be to hide from him. He must be trying to hide from Saloman.”

  “Don’t blame him,” Konrad said with feeling. “If he’s got the sword and Dmitriu, then Saloman’s going to be in a towering rage. The question here is, do we want either Dante or Saloman to do our dirty work for us by taking the other out?”

  “No!” Elizabeth said with spontaneous revulsion, and when everyone looked slightly taken aback by her vehemence, she managed to say by way of explanation, “Josh. Where would he come in any battle between Dante and Saloman? It seems to me our best hope is to find Josh and Dante before Saloman does. Rescue Josh and take the sword into safety at headquarters. About Dante himself, if we catch him before he’s turned, simply grassing him up across the world hunter networks should clip his wings enough. On the paranormal front.”

  From her handbag, her phone made its out-of-charge bleep. Elizabeth bent to rummage for it and the charger.

  “It might be enough,” Konrad allowed. Elizabeth pulled her phone out, together with the charger that she wanted, plus a comb and her passport, which she didn’t. They tumbled onto the floor and her forgotten American newspaper came too, springing free onto the carpet and unfolding itself at the picture of “Adam Simon.”

  Elizabeth dropped the phone to stuff everything quickly back in. But Mihaela’s hand was before hers on the paper, and Elizabeth straightened, watching Mihaela’s face.

  “So that’s the connection we’ve been looking for,” Mihaela said slowly. “There’s no hold over Adam Simon. He is Adam Simon.” Her dark gaze lifted to Elizabeth. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “There’s been no time,” Elizabeth exclaimed. “I’ve been distracted with the sword and Josh’s disappearance!” It was true, and yet she deserved all her uncomfortable feelings of guilt, for her instinct had been to cover up the paper before the hunters saw the photograph. In order to protect Saloman. She wondered when she would have told them—if she ever would.

  Mihaela’s gaze fell. “You’re right, of course. And now that we know, we’ll have more chance of dealing with him. Once we’ve dealt with Dante.”

  “Which is the issue,” Elizabeth agreed. “How the hell do we find him?”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Finding him turned out to be easy. Thanks to the hunters’ connections, they were given access to all the city’s hotel registers. The only Dantes they discovered there were a visiting Italian family from Milan, but they did find an Am
erican “Grayson” at the Hilton in Buda.

  Konrad went in alone to ask and was informed that Mr. Grayson wasn’t in his room. However, since Konrad had managed to see the room number the receptionist contacted, Elizabeth and István wandered in next and walked straight up to room 242.

  “It’s true,” Elizabeth murmured, after they’d both listened at the door for some time. “There’s no one in there.”

  “Watch for me,” István said, and to her amazement he picked the lock with a pin from his pocket and a credit card.

  “How the . . . ?” she began as the door swung open.

  István grinned. “Misspent youth. Go and look, but make it fast.”

  It was a single room, pretty modest by Dante’s standards. The bed was neatly made up. Some tourist brochures about the castle and several unwritten postcards lay on the desk, promoting his cover, presumably. But otherwise, there was no clue as to his intentions or his whereabouts. After looking through every drawer and cupboard and checking the bathroom, Elizabeth crept out again. István closed the door just as an elderly couple came out of the room across the hall, and they walked smartly back toward the lift.

  “Nothing,” Elizabeth said ruefully. “He’s using it as a base, nothing more. He might not even sleep there, for all I know.”

  “But it is your Dante?”

  “Oh, yes. His passport’s in there. It’s in the name of Grayson, but the photograph is him.”

  “That guy must have some dodgy acquaintances for a senator.”

  “For anyone. Now what do we do?”

  István shrugged. “Look around the area. If this is his base, then presumably he won’t want to move too far away from it.”

  It was a long and frustrating evening. As darkness fell, the clouds gathered too and it began to rain. Elizabeth and the hunters split up in order to cover more ground individually, but since they had no idea what they were looking for, Elizabeth began to think it was a waste of time. Concentrating on an item could break through the masking enchantment, and Elizabeth’s eyes and head ached from staring intently at everything from doorways to drain covers. All it took to miss something was one lapse at the wrong moment, and they could cover the entire city without finding what they were looking for.