"How could you hit me in the face?" she moaned. "You're not supposed to hit a woman in the face."
"Honestly, I thought you would be harder to fight," I said as the pungent scent of her blood filled the enclosed space.
"Mind if I take over?" Peter asked, and I looked over to see that he had snuck down into the garage while I had been preoccupied with Cate. His jaw was set, and his dark eyes were harder than I'd ever seen them before.
I held out the stake to him and stepped back. "She's all yours."
Tears welled in her eyes and Cate struggled to get up. Peter had the stake in his hand as he stood over her, and she knelt before him. Her face was swollen on the left side where I'd hit her, but it was already starting to heal. Blood soaked the front of her shirt, and streamed down her mouth and chin.
"Peter," she pleaded as tears mixed with her blood. Her black hair hung wild around her face, sticking to her wet skin. "Everything is so twisted. I didn't know what I was saying last time."
"I want you to tell me what her last moments alive were like," he said in a low growl.
"What? I don't..." She sniffled. "Peter don't do this. Elise wouldn't want this."
"Maybe, but she's not here now."
She sobbed. "Peter, please."
"Answer me, Catherine!" he roared, and she recoiled at the rage in his voice. "What happened with Elise?"
"I didn't mean to do it," she whimpered. "I didn't plan it or anything. Not until the second before I did it. She was singing and packing, and I couldn't stand it."
"What did you do?" he demanded in his low rumble.
"I had the pitchfork from my chores, and she looked back at me and she said, 'Please don't.'"
He inhaled sharply and held his breath before managing to ask, "She begged you not to, as her friend? And you killed her anyway?"
Cate shook her head. "It was an accident. I wasn't thinking."
"Beg me, the way Elise did," he said quietly. "Beg me, knowing that I won't listen, the way you didn't."
"Peter," Cate said as she stared up at him. "You don't need to do this. It won't bring her back."
"And thanks to you, nothing ever will."
She closed her eyes and implored him, "Please, Peter."
Peter raised the stake up and drove it straight down through her chest. I heard her bones cracking, and she gasped before crumpling back onto the concrete. He crouched over her body for a few seconds, then he stood up and pulled the stake from her chest.
"Is there something you want me to do with this?" he asked.
"I don't really have time to deal with this, so..."
I pulled my key ring out of my pocket, which happened to have Milo's car keys on it, and pushed the fob so the trunk on the Lexus would pop open. He had an emergency kit, along with a few blankets and tarps, because my brother was nothing if not prepared.
Together, Peter and I wrapped the tarp around Cate's body, then dropped her and the stake into the small trunk of Milo's car. To make it less obvious, I dropped a blanket over her.
"I can take care of this when I get back from the Agency," I said as I slammed the trunk shut, and then I turned my attention to Peter. "What are you doing down here?"
He shrugged and stared down at the closed trunk. "I just thought you might need help, so I came down to check things out."
"How are you feeling about taking care of Cate?" I asked.
His brow furrowed as he thought. "Good. I'm glad I did it."
"I'm glad that you're glad, but I gotta get out of here," I said, since I didn't want to waste any more time when the Agency might have important information.
Peter walked around the passenger side of my car. "How abut I go with? For old time's sake."
I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Whatever gets us out of here faster."
WHEN WE REACHED THE AGENCY, Abner was pacing the lobby. He normally kept his hair styled in a modern pompadour, all slicked back and smooth, but it had come free and fell over his forehead. His tie had been loosened, and he looked every bit like an expectant father pacing in the maternity ward from an old movie.
He stopped when we came in, and his thick eyebrows pinched in suspicion.
"Who is this?" he asked, pointing to Peter.
"Peter. He's basically my brother-in-law," I said, which sounded like a scandalous way to explain it given our history, but it was the truth.
"Is he safe?" Abner asked, but Peter only shrugged unhelpfully.
"Yeah, he's safe," I assured him.
Abner made a hmmff sound, then nodded. "I don't really have time to argue, so come on."
He motioned for us to follow him, then turned and walked briskly down the hall toward Ettie's office.
"What'd you find?" I asked.
"Ettie thinks she knows who the leader of the House of Basarab is," Abner said over his shoulder as we reached her office.
"Well, the current leader," Ettie corrected him in her thick French accent. "They've had others in the past, but the reigning head seems to be more ambitious than their predecessors."
The shades were drawn, for the first time that I'd seen, and the thick gray fabric blocked out any hint of the city skyline. The only light in the office came from the desk lamp and the soft glow of the computer screen as Ettie sat hunched over her MacBook.
She looked up from the screen, and her gaze settled on Peter.
"You didn't tell her to come alone?" Ettie asked Abner but she kept her eyes on Peter.
"I didn't, but he's her family, so..." Abner trailed off to defer to her judgement on the matter.
"I can't go wait in the lobby," Peter offered. "I just didn't think it was safe for Alice to travel alone."
Ettie waved him off with her slender fingers and went back to looking at her laptop. "You can stay. If Alice trusts you, that'll be enough for now."
"So, the leader of the House of Basarab," I asked, returning the conversation back to the important issues. "Who is he?"
"He is a she," Ettie replied sharply. "And she's gone by many names as she's one of the oldest vampires we've encountered. Lenore, Christabel, Clarimonde, Lilith, Mircalla, to name a few. She claims to be the daughter of Dracul, and she's hell bent on restoring her father's design for vampire-kind."
"If she's changed her names so often, how do you know it's her?" Peter asked.
She looked up at him over the screen, her dark eyes piercing. "We have extensive records, and most importantly, we have photographic evidence."
"She has amassed quite a few followers, but one of her right-hand people really stood out to me," Abner elaborated. "And I realized it was because I saw her at your wedding."
Ettie turned to the computer to show us the screen. There were several small pictures open, creating a haphazard gridlock of images. Several of them were dark and grainy, which led me to believe they'd been taken from CCTV, but there were a couple others that appeared to be lifted from Instagram or Snapchat, since they were clear and bright selfie-styled photos.
Her shoulder-length hair lay in loose curls, and her full lips were always on the verge of a smirk. Her olive skin seemed to glow, and her dark eyes pierced right through the screen at me.
Peter gasped. "Holy shit, that's Aisha."
"How do you know her?" Ettie asked, but her voice became white noise to me as I came to a horrifying realization about what this all meant.
"She used to date my brother Jack, but they broke up like six years ago," Peter explained, sounding very far away.
My mouth felt dry, but I managed to calmly ask, "The leader, the vampire Aisha works with, is her name Liesel?"
Abner looked taken aback. "How did you know?"
A headache was growing at the base of my skull, and I rubbed my temple in a futile attempt to alleviate the pain and the panic that was threatening to take hold.
"Do you have any pictures of her?" I asked, ignoring Abner's question for the time being. "I need to see her."
"Of course." Ettie began typing frantically on the keyboard, and
as she did, she explained, "Our information says she's using the surname Tepelus. It means 'little impaler,' since Dracul was known as the impaler."
The images of Aisha blinked away, and they were quickly replaced by pictures of a slender woman. All of them were grainy and blurry, thanks to the CCTV screenshots, but there was a close-up of her in a fitted trench coat walking down the street with a determined expression hardening her delicate features.
It was her. It was unequivocally her. The woman that appeared so awestruck with Jack that I had stupidly suspected she might be bonded with him.
"Do you know her?" Peter asked, concerned. "How?"
"She and Aisha ran onto us on the street. Liesel was enamored with Jack, and we thought..." I trailed off as the full severity of the situation hit me. "Oh hell. The House of Basarab isn't after me. They're after Jack."
PETER DROVE ON THE WAY back, so I could spend the car ride frantically redialing Jack's phone, but he never answered a single call or text. By the time we reached the apartment complex, the calls had started going directly to voicemail, but I kept calling anyway, as if by some miracle he would answer.
I raced up the to the apartment and threw open the door, and I was already yelling his name. "Jack! Jack!" I ran into the living room, where Milo, Bobby, and Ezra looked at me like I was insane. "Where's Jack?"
"He's at work. Remember?" Bobby asked.
Milo stood up. "What's going on?"
"I don't know exactly," Peter explained, much more reasonably than I would be capable of right now. "But I think someone is after Jack, because he doesn't have a soul."
"What the fricking frick are you talking about?" Bobby asked.
While Peter explained the situation - as best he could, given his limited understanding, since I had quickly filled him, Abner, and Ettie in before rushing out to find Jack - I hurriedly dialed the comic book shop. As it rang through, I rubbed my temple and willed Jack to pick up.
"Jack's Wasted Life, this is Jeroen," he answered.
"Is Jack there?" I asked, practically cutting him off.
"Uh, no. He hasn't been in today," Jeroen said, sounding perplexed. "Is this Alice? He said he would be in later tonight, but I haven't seen him yet."
I hung up on him, not to be rude but because I knew we were running out of time. It was just like Elise warned, but she'd been telling me it was about Peter. Why couldn't she have said it was Jack? I needed to protect Jack. I never would've let him out of my sight if I'd known.
"Did you get ahold of him?" Ezra asked, pulling me from my panicked thoughts.
"No. He's not at work, he's not at home. He's not answering his phone. I think they took him. They took him, and I don't know where, and I don't know what they're going to do."
"Are you sure?" Peter moved closer to me. "When Jack was kidnapped before, you felt it. You were sick, and I think you even threw up."
"That's only because they were hurting him," Ezra explained sadly. "If she's not feeling anything now, it means that they haven't hurt him."
I swallowed hard and whispered, "Yet."
"How did we find him? Where could he be?" Milo asked.
"He's with Liesel or Aisha, and the House of Basarab," I said.
Bobby stepped toward the door. "Let's go then."
"I don't know where they are!" I shouted to keep from screaming and took a deep breath. "Ettie wouldn't tell me. She doesn't want me going alone. She says it's too much, and the Agency needs to plan an attack together."
"But there isn't time," Peter argued, sounding plaintive.
"I know that!" I snapped. "You think I don't know that?"
"Abner," Bobby said confidently. "Abner will help. Tell him it's about Jack. He'll understand."
We were out of options, and running out of time, and the pain in my skull was only intensifying, so I hurriedly called Abner, holding my breath as the phone rang.
"Are you still at the office?" I asked the second he picked up.
"No. I just left," Abner said. "Is everything all right?"
I paced the length of the apartment, feeling a panicked sense of vertigo. My heart pounded in my chest, causing my skin to flush hotly. The sheer level of my fear left me feeling sick, and I just wanted Jack back safe and sound.
"No, not at all," I said. "They have Jack."
"Are you sure?" Abner asked.
"I'm sure. But I don't know how to find them. I don't know where to go."
"I'm on my way over," he replied instantly.
"That's... kind of you, but it's unnecessary," I told him. "I just need to know where to find Liesel."
"That's why I'm coming over. I'll take you to her."
DURING THE LONG DRIVE, AS I sat anxiously in the passenger seat of Abner's classic Porsche coupe, my wrists and ankles began to ache. I wanted to chalk it up to tension and stress, and tried not to think of other possible implications, like what it might mean for Jack.
"What the hell is taking so long?" I lamented as I shifted in the seat.
We'd been on the road for over two hours at that point, with Bobby squished into the narrow backseat of Abner's car while Ezra and Peter followed behind in my Mercedes. The Netherlands was well behind us, and we'd ventured deep into the south-western part of Belgium. Sunrise was now only a few hours away, and I wasn't sure if confronting the House of Basarab in daylight would be to our advantage or our detriment.
"Liesel's tried to keep her place private," Abner said.
I rubbed my sore wrist and groaned. "This is ridiculous."
"We're almost there," Abner assured me. "I'm speeding as fast as I can, so we're actually getting there in record time."
"I thought she lived closer to Amsterdam," Bobby said from the backseat.
Bobby joining us had been rather controversial, particularly with Milo, but if we were going up against a den of vampires, I knew we needed all the help we could get, and Bobby was a capable hunter. He'd brought his crossbow along with this time - a weapon we only reserved for the most violent of situations.
Back home, Milo waited with Matilda, in case Jack came back or a vampire called. Peter thought Aisha might be stupid enough to taunt us or attempt to hold Jack for ransom.
"No, I don't think she likes living too close to actual cities, since she detests humans," Abner explained. "We believe she just came there looking for Jack."
"Why?" Bobby leaned forward, poking his head between the seats. "How did they know Jack is the one they were looking for?"
"Ettie and I discussed that briefly tonight, after Alice and Peter had gone," Abner said. "We think it was a combination of preparation and dumb luck. Aisha has been working with Liesel for some time, hunting for someone like Jack. Nostalgia and a wedding announcement caused her to crash your wedding to see him again, but then she must've sensed that he was different."
"How could she tell?" I asked.
He shook his head. "I don't know exactly, but supposedly, there's a scent they give off and a look in their eyes. All the information we have is more legend then fact. Aisha has been honing her skills under Liesel, so she caught whatever scent is that the soulless give off."
"Why didn't she just kidnap him that night? Like at the wedding?" Bobby asked.
"I suspect that they were trying to discern whether they were right, before risking the ire of vampire hunters and the Agency, which is what those odd run-ins were about that Jack had with Liesel," Abner answered. "She and Aisha presumably stalked him for a while, and when they saw him go to the psychic, they cornered her and finally had their confirmation. Then they killed her so nobody else would discover what they were up to until it was too late."
"Are you saying that's it too late now?" Bobby asked. I shot him a look in the rearview mirror, but he just shrugged.
"I'm saying that I don't know how long it takes for someone to possess a vampire," Abner replied carefully.
After that we lapsed into silence and I stared out the window at the darkness that surrounded us. Eventually, the flat terrain began
to give way to the rise of the Ardennes Mountains in the distance. Farm land changed over to thick forests, and Abner turned off the main road, following a winding path away from civilization.
Finally, the trees gave way to a rough clearing before a rocky mountain. It seemed unremarkable at first, until the headlights of Abner's car landed on the set of stairs carved into the sheer face. He cut the lights and parked the car, but my eyes were already travelling upwards, to the spectacle of Liesel's dwelling.
Several staircases were carved into the stone, leading up to multiple entrances that opened directly into the mountain. All of them were engraved with surprising detail, though they appeared worn and dull by age, and the doorways were flanked on either side by Romanesque columns.
"What the hell is this place?" Bobby asked as we got out of the car. Ezra and Peter had pulled up beside us, and both of them got out quickly.
"These are old tombs," Abner asked. "They were built back during a Vandalic empire, where they would keep the dead that died in battle. It's called Aiweins Dautheins."
"And this is where Liesel lives now?" Peter asked, motioning to the stone mausoleum with a raised eyebrow.
"Fitting, isn't it?" Abner asked.
"So what's the plan?" Bobby asked as he loaded up his gear - adding stakes to ankle holsters and making sure his satchel was full of platinum quills for the crossbow. "Do you want us to storm the castle?"
Ezra scowled. "I'd been hoping for a sneak attack. Peter and I could scope out for some kind of secret entrance."
"I doubt there is one," Abner said. "Liesel chose this place as the House of Basarab headquarters because it was so hard to break in."
"Well, we've got to come up with something better than charging in blindly," Ezra said.
"Alice, there is something we need to talk to about, before we go in," Abner said, and put his hand on my arm so I would look up at him. "We need to discuss what we'll do if we're too late."
"If Jack's dead, it doesn't change..." I began but then I realized what he was saying. "You mean if Jack is alive, but he's not himself."
"If he's possessed by someone as evil and powerful as Dracul is rumored to be, I don't know that we can risk letting him live," Abner explained carefully.
I shook my head. "Can't we just exorcise him or something?"
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