I could hear the caution in his voice. I wondered what he was talking about. It had to be some sort of vampire thing. If it could help find Dante though, I was for it, even though I didn’t trust Gregory for the simple fact he was a vampire.
“Do it,” Radek said. He was going to do whatever it took to find Dante. Not that I blamed him. He apparently knew Gregory better than I did anyway.
“I’ll need blood to do it.”
“I’ll give you directions. Don’t bring anyone else. If you do, they’ll be killed on sight,” Radek said.
I looked at him. Why would he be trusting Gregory? What was going on? I knew he couldn’t shift tonight. Why would he take such a risk of informing Gregory of our whereabouts? I didn’t say anything as they finished their call, but I wanted to.
“It’s close to dawn; I’ll need shelter. I won’t be able to return home tonight,” Gregory said.
“I understand. You can sleep here. No harm will come to you if you come alone.” Radek was dead serious. His expression scared me a little.
“It’s settled then,” Gregory said.
Radek gave him the directions and hung up.
“Was that a good idea, telling him where we are?” I asked as I followed him up the stairs to the bedrooms. “How do you know it’s not Gregory?”
He grabbed a clean shirt and put it on. “He won’t cross Dante.” He headed back into the living room and I followed him.
“Why not?” I asked, irritated he wasn’t being more forthcoming with the information. I sat across from him this time so we could both control ourselves, and picked up my coffee. I sipped it, trying to relax so I didn’t agitate Radek further.
“Dante made him. For a vampire, that means they have control over them as long as the vampire master is strong. They go way back as well. I really believe that Gregory and Madon aren’t involved. I’ve known Madon’s father since he was a cub.”
My eyebrows rose at this news. “Oh now there is a story I would love to hear.”
“We found Madon’s father, Cian, as a pup abandoned after his entire pack was annihilated in a pack war. Father raised him. By then Dante and I were travelling around a lot. We had just gone to the Americas. Father placed Cian with a new pack and stayed with him in Ireland for a while before joining us. When Madon was ready for his own pack, Father set him up here.”
I was glad to see him relax a bit. There wasn’t any use getting angry. I knew he was worried about Dante.
He continued, “I have to believe Gregory wants Dante back as much as I do. Like I said, Dante is the one that made him. Either way, he’ll be here soon. He’s also putting his trust in us. If he’s sleeping here, we could kill him as he sleeps, not that I would do that. I’m just saying that it would be possible. If this could bring us closer to finding Dante then I’ll do it. We will move as soon as it gets dark.”
“I don’t like it, but I see where you’re coming from. So what exactly is he going to be doing?” I asked.
“Dante told me once how it could be possible. What I do know is that he’ll have to take my blood. As you know, I have a blood relation to Dante, so it has to be me. Then he’s going to try and connect to Dante’s mind. If it works, we’ll be able to locate him. It’s a lot more difficult for Gregory because he was made by Dante, not the other way around. So there is a chance it may not work at all.”
“Is it dangerous?” I was a little surprised that Radek was willing to do this. He was giving his blood for just a chance of finding Dante. Of course, if they’d asked I would’ve been just as willing to do it. So I really shouldn’t have been too surprised.
“For Gregory it is. I’m not sure what could happen to him, but if he’s willing to risk it, I am too.”
“How much blood will he need from you?” I was concerned for him. It just didn’t sit well with me.
“Not much. It won’t affect me whatsoever. Why? Are you worried about me?” he asked suggestively and smirked at me.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Yes, that’s it, I’m just falling at your feet. Really though it’s because if anything happens to you I’ll have to deal with Val. I’m sure that wouldn’t be pretty. Also that would leave me by myself to clean up this mess and rescue Dante.” I knew he could smell the lie in my words.
“You have nothing to worry about in that department. I’m harder to get rid of than you think. I’ll find Dante and bring him back. If he’s dead, then I will avenge him.” As he started in on the computer, I could feel his mood change. He was in work mode again.
“Val said it wasn’t your fault, and it wasn’t. It would be more my fault than yours anyway. If it hadn’t been for me then none of you would’ve been in this situation.”
He looked at me sharply. “Oh hell no. If I’m not allowed to do that then neither are you. We have five agents dead so this might not even be about you. This might be about Father as well. He has more enemies than any of us, some very powerful ones. Dante and I have pissed off our share of people over the years too. So let’s just concentrate on getting Dante back.”
“Fine, whatever you say. What do you think this is all about then?” I sighed, then leaned back and drank my coffee.
“What do you know about the Council and how the PIB was developed?” he asked.
“Not much really.”
“The Council was created about fifty years ago after a fight between some of the vampires. I think the fae were involved too. The war was started over a minor indiscretion. I’m not sure of all the details. I wasn’t here at the time; it was just after the human’s World War II. I was still in the South Pacific.
“Toward the end of the struggle, an outside group of paranormal beings, including my father, got together and decided they were going to need a central body to help prevent future battles. All the main clans, seethes, and packs were asked to nominate someone to be the head of the North American Council. Then the nominees were asked to present themselves and campaign for it. My father was nominated right away. Most of the factions liked my father for it. You have seen he’s a strong leader and compassionate toward all. He’s definitely not biased unless it comes to those he considers family. Louis decided to nominate himself. Louis has always been jealous of my father. And before you ask, I have no clue what it is between them. Father had earned the respect of others, which led to a power that can’t be received any other way. There were a few other contenders, but it was almost unanimous. Father won. Louis was furious.” He paused for a breath. “They appointed representatives for each of the major races to make up the rest of the Council. They make all the decisions in North America. There are a few international equivalents. There are, I believe, eight councils in total in the world and they get together and discuss international matters. Anyway, after the last couple of wars that we’d watched the humans wage, the Councils all got together and decided that we needed to get our acts together. The humans were creating weapons that scared even us. Plus they’d been getting more advanced scientifically. We knew it would be only a matter of time before they realized most of us existed. The debate about revealing our existence had been going on for a long time. Roughly ten years ago, it became clear that we needed to come out. There were a few groups of humans that knew about us. They didn’t like us much, and still don’t to say the least. I’m sure you know who I’m talking about.”
“The People Against the Devils?” I asked. That was the current group causing the most problems right now.
He nodded before continuing. “They are the real reason that we came out. When we came out and the government created the PIB, it was a given that Father would head it. By the way, Father picked the name. It’s his little twisted joke.”
I couldn’t help but laugh a little at that. I knew Val’s favorite drink. Why the old tiger liked that nasty soda was beyond me. I couldn’t stand carbonated drinks.
“The Council figured that it would be best to have the head of the Council as the head of the PIB. Ever since then, Louis has been trying to get Fat
her to either step down, or get rid of him in some other way. Dante and I’ve always stood in Louis’s way. He knows that we’re brothers, and that messing with us would be detrimental to his health.
“The vampires are major supporters of Father. It goes back to Dante’s history. You’ll have to get that part of the story from him. Most of the shifting and changeling community backs Father as well, thanks to us tigers being near the top of that particular food chain. The fae, witches, and all the other creatures respect our family since Father made it a point to reach out to them. If he was somehow taken out of the picture, Dante or I would be asked to take his place. Neither one of us want that, so we make sure nothing happens to him. Louis knows the best way to bring disgrace to my father is to go through one of us. With you in the picture now, I’m sure you have a large target on your back, being female.”
“Why is Louis still around and why would he kill other agents?” I asked.
“We can’t ever link him to anything. He’s very careful about what he does. He stays just on this side of the laws. For the last year I have been assigned to the special unit that goes after and watches our most notorious nonhuman troublemakers. We think he is involved in human and nonhuman trafficking. He’s always thought that the humans and any creature he deems lesser is nothing more than a toy for him to do with as he wishes. Survival of the strongest is his creed. If Father gets into it with him without hard evidence, my Father’s enemies will see he’s killed. See, Louis’s few supporters have been stirring up rumors of Father having a vendetta against him. But our hands are tied until we can get proof of Louis’s wrongdoing and bring it before the Council. I have barely found anything this past year. We were so close – then all this started happening. When Father was called to Washington, he asked me to come here and check things out.”
“I see. So who are his biggest supporters?” I asked. This was a lot to take in. Most of it was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place where I’d heard it all before. Something was nagging me and I couldn’t pin it down. It was frustrating.
“Some groups of the minor fae that he’s made big promises to – mostly the ones that eat human flesh. A few of the witch covens, the ones that want to use dark magic. A few packs of werewolves, one or two vampire seethes and a few others. Most of them don’t like the regulations against feeding on humans, harming humans and things like that. He promises them that he’ll change the laws if he’s put into power. I believe him. He has that whole ‘take over the world’ complex.”
“That figures. Since he hasn’t done anything out in the open, the laws state he can’t be prosecuted for having an opinion. That just sucks.”
“Yes, the Council feels it’s a way to keep my father in hand. Personally, I think most of them are just idiots. They just can’t see how dangerous Louis could be.”
“I have the same opinion,” I said, and we shared a smile. “So which of his supporters are in the area?”
He scrolled through the lists, categorized by region. “These ones,” he said. It was a group of fifteen. One familiar name popped up.
“Joshua is on there, I see.”
“Not a surprise. But this one is. Why didn’t I think of him before?” Radek said, tapping the screen.
“Who is Richard Crauss?” I asked. Next to the name was his race: vampire.
“He’s the vampire master of the Portland, Oregon area.”
“He supports Louis?” I asked.
“He owes Louis a favor of some sort, I believe. Louis has some kind of blackmail on him. We’ve never been able to find out what. Neither Gregory or Dante know.” He took a drink of his coffee and sat back, staring at the wall.
I left him to his thoughts. We both sat there mulling it over for a while.
Chapter Nine
There was a knock on the door. I looked at him and he motioned for me to stay put. I stood next to the couch. We couldn’t be too careful. I only relaxed a little when Gregory sauntered in behind Radek.
“Come on in. You got here fast,” Radek said.
“I want to find my master.”
Gregory was visibly upset. I sized him up. He was tall with a lean build, blonde hair and blue eyes. He had a different air about him than every other time I’d met him. He wasn’t as arrogant. The little hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Something was definitely not right. His usually impeccable dress and mannerisms weren’t present. His clothes were rumpled and his hair looked like he’d been running his hands through it all night. The fact that he also called Dante master was telling. His obvious concern relaxed me a little, and I decided that maybe I could trust him. After all, Radek trusted him and Dante had made him. He couldn’t be too bad. I trusted both of them with my life. I would go with Radek on this.
“I see you know my little secret now, Natalya,” Gregory said, keeping his cold blue eyes on me. He was studying me as well.
“It’ll not go past me,” I assured him, then added, “it’s an interesting development.”
“I’m glad to see you’re doing better,” he said.
I guess I passed his assessment. I decided that I could be civil, especially if he could help us get Dante back. “I didn’t know you cared. But thank you.”
“I wouldn’t, except those that I have allegiance to care, so that makes you my concern as well.”
“What do you need?” Radek interrupted our little exchange.
“We should probably do this wherever you want me to sleep for the day. I’ve never tried this before and it will most likely exhaust me if not be my demise. I’m willing to try it though.”
Now that was very encouraging – and a bit overly dramatic. Not that I expected less drama. Vampires were predisposed to being melodramatic, and that’s putting it mildly.
“There are quarters set up in the basement that can house you for the day safely. We can do this down there. Follow me,” Radek said.
He went down the stairs and Gregory followed. I was surprised that Gregory let me walk behind him. I looked around – there was a workout area set up and in the darkest corner, there was a door. That’s where Radek was heading.
He clicked on the light. It was a small room with no light coming in. It was perfect for a vampire during the day. It had a cot set up. No blankets, of course; vampires are dead – they don’t get cold. I stayed in the doorway while the other two entered the room.
“Tell me how this is going to work,” Radek said, his voice steady. He had nerves of steel, I thought in admiration.
“I’ll drink from you. The combination of your blood tie with him and mine should be powerful enough to let me bond to Dante’s mind. Once that happens, if he decides to let me in and not kill me outright for trying, I’ll be able to communicate with him. I should also be able to tell where he is. My best guess is that they knocked him unconscious to capture him. That requires damaging the spinal cord near the base of the head, but not severing it. A vampire his age should’ve recovered by now. I can feel that he’s still alive, so to speak, and quite infuriated. It might take all the energy I have, so I don’t think I’ll wake up until the evening.”
“If you can do this then that’s the best lead we have. It might take days or weeks to find him any other way,” Radek said.
“Give me your arm.” Gregory didn’t waste any time asking.
Radek complied.
I watched as Gregory sunk his fangs into Radek’s wrist. I clenched my fists to keep from ripping him away from Radek. He took a few swallows and then released his wrist. I didn’t know whether to be fascinated or disgusted. The wounds closed almost instantly, which must have been the vampire venom mixed with Radek’s own ability to heal fast.
“I’m afraid the rest of this will be boring for you two,” Gregory said as he laid his head down and closed his eyes.
“We’ll leave you to it then, and be here when you rise,” Radek said as he followed me out the door. He shut it and we went back upstairs.
“Now what?” I asked.
“
We wait. If this works, it’ll be better than going and chasing our tails all day.”
I could tell he didn’t like the idea of waiting, but he was right. We really didn’t have any better options.
“I don’t want to wait,” I said under my breath. I knew he heard me. It’s hard to get away with anything around supernatural creatures like us.
“Me neither.”
We stood there for a moment looking at each other. I was wondering if he was thinking about the kiss we’d shared before Gregory called. What would’ve happened if he hadn’t called right then? I asked myself. I knew that answer and was a little glad that we had been interrupted. That wasn’t something that I was ready for.
There was a challenge in his stare, and I couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m going to go get cleaned up and change my clothes.”
I scampered up the stairs. I’d really wanted to kiss him. That was so not going to happen. At least that’s what I kept telling myself. When he had said that we would have to wait, the things going through my mind were totally inappropriate. I had some very good ideas of what we could do to kill time. I barely knew him, though. On one hand, he was Val’s son, so I felt like I knew him. On the other hand, he was Val’s son. That was only part of my problem, but a big part. I was very confused as I walked into the room.
I could hear Radek on the phone again, but couldn’t tell what he was saying or to whom he was speaking – he was talking too softly. I grabbed my things and went into the bathroom. I unwrapped my arm and noticed that it had basically healed. I could take out the stitches. Rather than asking Radek for help, I dug around the cabinets until I found what I needed. I quickly removed the stitches, then jumped in the shower. I tried to take as long as possible. We had the whole day to wait. But when the warm water ran out, I was forced to go down and join Radek.
“Dek,” I said as I came into the living room.
He was staring out the window. He’d changed and it looked like he had taken a shower as well. His dark hair was still wet. He was wearing dark grey sweats and a black snug t-shirt. He looked damn good.
Seizing Darkness (Fur, Fangs, and Fairies) Page 9
