Revelations in Blood

by Patricia D. Eddy

  With hard stare at Carlo, tacitly telling the male they still had much to discuss should Nic return, he followed Sylvie and Bayard out the door.

  As Bayard eased the car to a stop two blocks from Antonio’s home, Sylvie turned in the front seat. “You follow our lead, yeah?” Her accent was thick, her brows drawing down, the worry painted on her face highlighted by the street lamps.

  “Antonio has Evangeline,” Nic snapped. “If you think I am going to take a passive role in this—”

  “You’re only upright because Vittoria shot you full of adrenaline. What happens if it runs out inside?”

  “It won’t.” Nic patted his pocket. “I have another dose.”

  Sylvie rolled her eyes as she flipped off the safety on first one pistol, then another. Bayard mirrored her movements, then unfolded his tall frame from the car, checked around, and gave the all clear signal.

  “Split,” Sylvie hissed and streaked off to the north while Bayard and Nic rushed south. On the drive, they’d come up with a rough plan. Sylvie would take the rear of the house, Bayard would knock at the door, and Nic would hide in the bushes as backup.

  A thicket of roses obscured him from view, and Nic crouched, the thorns digging into his thighs. Vaffanculo. He could not afford to lose more blood. Shifting slightly, he touched the faded bonding mark at his wrist. Nothing. No reassuring presence of Evangeline’s love, her life, her heart. No indication of their bond. Not even the comforting warmth spreading along his skin.

  “Evangeline, please come back to me.”

  If Antonio had her here, Nic would be able to sense her. Despair pressed down on him as Bayard rang the doorbell.

  A knock, followed by another ring, and finally, several hard thumps on the thick wood door passed before lights came on upstairs, then behind the door.

  Nic tensed, ready to spring.

  “What is the meaning of—?” Antonio took a step, drawing his left arm back, as if he were about to throw a punch. “You have no business here. You were relieved of your duties three—”

  The glint of Sylvie’s silver dagger against Antonio’s throat signaled Nic to rise from his hiding place.

  “Back up. Slowly,” Sylvie ordered. “Or Bayard will shoot your balls off.”

  Both men bared their fangs, but Bayard’s toothy grin must have warned Antonio he meant business, for the Conclave elder nodded carefully as he started walking backwards.

  Striding into the house behind Bayard, Nic ached to pummel Antonio until the man was nothing but a bloody lump, but that would not bring Evangeline back to him.

  “Where is she?” Nic demanded as Antonio’s eyes widened.

  “Nicola?”

  A low growl rumbled in Nic’s throat as Bayard removed silver cuffs from a shielded pouch at his waist. But before Sylvie could turn Antonio around, he rammed his elbow into her stomach and sent her stumbling back, gasping for breath.

  Nic managed to slam the front door shut as Bayard tackled Antonio, taking him to the floor as Sylvie coughed, doubled over. The two men struggled, Antonio knocking the gun from Bayard’s hand.

  “Va te faire enculer, salaud,” Bayard muttered.

  “A bastard?” Antonio landed a punch to Bayard’s jaw. Despite being outnumbered, Antonio had the strength of several hundred extra years, and threw Bayard right into Nic. The two tumbled to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs, but Bayard rolled to his feet quickly.

  In Nic’s periphery, Sylvie took aim. “Nic, move.”

  He ignored her, pushing past Bayard to haul Antonio up by his arms and shove him against the wall. “Where. Is. She.”

  Shock widened Antonio’s eyes, and a mask of confusion slid over his features before he tensed and bared his fangs. But Sylvie shouldered Nic aside to snap silver cuffs around Antonio’s wrists. “Fucking wanker,” she muttered as she pulled him into a formal dining room. “If you want to live through the night with all of your fingers intact, you’ll tell us what we need to know.”

  “You invade my home and you expect me to cooperate?” Antonio dropped his shoulder, tensing, but both Bayard and Sylvie shoved him down into a chair and held his arms.

  Wrapping his hand around Antonio’s throat, Nic bared his fangs and glared at the man. “I expect you to tell me what you have done to Evangeline. I do not care if I live through the night, stronzo. Not unless I find her. Alive. I have already been convicted of a murder I did not commit. Do not test me or I will live up to the charge.”

  Slumping back in the chair, Antonio shook his head. “I did not want to charge you with murder, Nicola.”

  Of all the things Nic imagined Antonio saying in his defense, he’d not expected that. “Then who did?”

  “Luigi. I only wanted to study your blood. To order you confined to house arrest until we discovered what made you immortal and determined if you and the human posed any threat to us. Luigi would not agree. But he presented irrefutable evidence that you had Pietro killed.” Grimacing, Antonio rolled his shoulders under Sylvie and Bayard’s firm grips. “You will die, Nicola. Nothing can stop that now. Every member of the Polizia Secreto will have your photo once your escape is discovered.”

  Nic leaned close enough so Antonio could feel the heat of his words. “Then I will leave Italy. As soon as you bring me to Evangeline.”

  “I do not know what happened to the human.”

  Catching Antonio in the jaw with a sharp right cross, Nic was about to follow with a punch to the man’s gut when Sylvie grabbed his arm. “Save it,” she hissed before turning to Antonio. “I have a much more effective method of extracting information.”

  “Torture? You can have your fun, cagna. But I cannot tell you what I do not know.”

  With a snarl, Sylvie brought the dagger up so the tip rested against Antonio’s carotid artery. “We know you brought her here in the boot of your car. Where is she? If we have to search the house, you’re not going to like the state we leave it in.”

  “I did no such thing. Where is your evidence?” The rough note of disbelief in Antonio’s tone wore on Nic’s last nerve.

  “Bring him,” Nic spat and headed for Antonio’s garage. He’d only been to the elder’s house once—for a welcome dinner when Philipe had been inducted to the Conclave—but he had no trouble remembering the way.

  The garage held the faint scent of petrol and oil, along with three vehicles. Nic paused for only a second at a workbench to grab a large screwdriver, then strode over to the sedan Sylvie had tracked here. “Evangeline’s blood,” he said, pointing at the dried reddish stain on the license plate.

  Wedging the flat of the screwdriver under the lid, he snapped the lock. The sweet scent of his life mate lingered, mixed with her fear and the spicy tang of her blood. His vision went red, and he reached into the dark space to withdraw one of her sandals. “You cannot deny your part in her kidnapping any longer, stronzo. Tell me where she is, or I will drive this screwdriver into your heart before Sylvie starts removing your fingernails.”

  Antonio paled, and he sputtered for a moment before shaking his head and meeting Nic’s gaze. “I swear on my mother’s soul, Nicola. I had nothing to do with Evangeline’s disappearance. I will tell you everything I know, but if we do not leave now, I fear you will die, and she will never be free again.”

  32

  Bayard shoved Antonio into the back seat of Sylvie’s car.

  “You could not have removed the handcuffs?” Antonio grumbled as Sylvie threw the car into gear.

  “No,” the other three vampires all replied in unison.

  A headache brewed behind Nic’s eyes. Hunger, the after-effects of too many cups of coffee, and worry for Evangeline conspired to steal his focus, but he dug his fingers into the faded bonding mark at his wrist, using the pain to center his thoughts. “You are only still breathing because I know how much you respected and loved your mother. My patience is wearing thin. What do you know about Evangeline?”

  “Very little with any certainty. But I would bet my life Luigi
has her.”

  As Sylvie merged onto the motorway and accelerated, Bayard leaned forward between the two front seats. “We should not bring him to the safe house. I do not trust him. Or…the other two.”

  With a nod, Sylvie yanked her phone from her pocket and pressed her thumb to the fingerprint sensor. When the device beeped, she said, “Ring O-72251.”

  A moment later, Thom’s voice came through the speaker. “What do you need?”

  “Somewhere on the north side of Rome for an interrogation. Empty, sound proof, easy to clean,” she said sharply. In the back seat, Antonio swore under his breath, and Nic glared at him.

  Thom rattled off an address, and Sylvie veered off the motorway, barely missing two other cars. “Thanks, mate. Going dark for a while.”

  “Keep talking.” Nic didn’t know how much longer he could keep his emotions—and his fists—under control if Antonio didn’t give him something he could use to find his Evangeline soon.

  Antonio blew out a breath. “Luigi called me early this morning and advised me to be at the Conclave by ten. I left my car keys in my top desk drawer, as I always do, stopped to use the espresso machine by the dining room, and entered the conference room. I was the first to arrive. Luigi did not join me for ten minutes. When he arrived, he showed me a video of Pietro’s death. One that did not match your testimony.”

  “What did it show?” Nic’s stomach roiled. If Luigi was involved—or responsible for Evangeline’s disappearance, would Nic ever see her again? The elder had resources like no other, courtesy of his more than two thousand years of life.

  “A dark room. Computers all around him. Pietro started to transfer data to a portable drive. Before he finished, you entered the room, fired six shots into his back, glanced up at the camera, and walked out again.” Antonio met Nic’s gaze and shook his head. “I admit…your detachment in that moment seemed…odd. We have never seen eye to eye, Nicola. But that is because you are passionate about the value of humanity. About all life. To see you murder Pietro in cold blood was shocking.”

  “Because I did no such thing. Evangeline and I were in another room when Pietro was shot by Longo’s men.” Anger pulsed through him, but Sylvie eased the car to a stop next to a dark building, and Nic forced himself to scan the area for cameras or passersby, though at five in the morning, he did not expect to see anyone.

  “Come on. Let’s get this wanker inside before anyone notices the car.”

  “Si,” Nic said. “And then he can explain why he agreed to sentence me to death based on a single piece of evidence with no trial.”

  Bayard wasn’t gentle with Antonio, and Nic hid his smile as the two preceded him through the door of the old warehouse. It smelled like mold and too much dust, but in an office at the far corner, they found a working lamp and several chairs.

  Antonio landed in one of the chairs with a soft grunt and tried to adjust his hands until Bayard flicked the safety off his pistol. “Continue,” the bodyguard ordered. “Nicola deserves an explanation.”

  “You do not understand how tense things have been, Nicola. I was weak.” He turned his gaze to Nic, sorrow and shame aging him beyond his eleven hundred years. “Luigi is approaching the end of his life. Two thousand years? Not many of our kind live that long. Several of us…we noticed his mental state degrading before you disappeared.”

  Nic nodded. “Si. Philipe came to me a few months before my capture worried about Luigi’s reasoning for several of his decisions.”

  “I met with Luigi several times over the past several years, but he always refused to step down. This morning…he agreed to step down and appoint me the Conclave’s leader if I went along with him and sentenced you to death.”

  “And you did not wonder why he wanted me dead? After he released me from interrogation?” Nic turned and started to pace so he wouldn’t strangle Antonio where he sat. Only his desperate need for Evangeline kept him in the room.

  “Of course. But this is everything I have always wanted, Nicola. You know that. And…I reasoned if Luigi were gone, perhaps I could simply keep you in prison while our doctors studied you. If we found answers, I could commute your sentence.”

  “You strapped me down and took my blood, then forced me to feed. You shattered my bond with Evangeline.” Nic thrust his wrist in front of Antonio’s face. “Look.”

  Shock paled Antonio’s cheeks, and he hung his head. “I am sorry, Nicola. Truly. I would bet my life that Luigi has your Evangeline. And with what we learned from your blood already…I think I know why. You may not have much time left to save her.”

  Sylvie spit out an oath as she stalked over to Antonio and grabbed him by the lapels. “Then tell us where the fuck she is.”

  “If you find Luigi, you will find Evangeline. Your blood, Nicola, is unlike anything I have ever seen. If your human’s blood shows the same qualities, I believe any vampire who feeds from her…it will be like they have discovered the fountain of youth.”

  “Shite,” Sylvie said. “So Luigi thinks if he uses her as his blood slave, he’ll live forever.”

  Antonio nodded. “And now that he has set me up for her kidnapping, he can have me removed from the Conclave and locked up next to Nicola.”

  “So how do we find him?” Bayard asked.

  With a grin, Sylvie withdrew her laptop from her bag. “Leave that to me.”

  33

  The rough, scratchy blanket grated along Evangeline’s bare legs. Her stomach twisted itself into knots, making it hard to breathe. As she forced her eyes open, the dark gray stone floor seemed to shimmer and pulse with each beat of her heart.

  “Philipe,” she whispered. “Are you…there?” She couldn’t see much further than the sandwich in front of her.

  “Oui. Eat while you can,” Philipe said. “You were unconscious many hours.”

  Her fingers closed around the soft bread, and she forced herself to take a bite—though her teeth ached, and her tongue felt too big for her mouth. Washing down the peanut butter and jelly with half a bottle of water, she tried sitting up, and when she didn’t immediately fall over, wriggled her body so she could use the wall for support.

  “I can’t feel him,” she whispered as she ran her fingers over the fading bonding mark at her wrist.

  “Nicola?”

  Nodding was a mistake, and she clamped her hand over her mouth, praying she wouldn’t throw up the little she’d managed to eat.

  “I am sorry, mon cher.”

  “Did you…” Evangeline struggled to take another sip of water. “Um, were you and Bayard…”

  “We had started to bond.” Philipe sighed and shuffled over to the bars separating them. Dropping to his knees, he rubbed his neck. “The last night we were together, I felt…the stirring. The need. But then…”

  “What happened?” Evangeline took another sip of water and tried to focus on Philipe’s face, but there were three of him, and she let her head fall back against the wall and pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders.

  “Luigi had someone drug my blood delivery. Bayard fell asleep in our bed. I was reviewing paperwork in my office and passed out. When they came for me, I think I fought. But I remember little until I woke here. I felt the pain of our separation until…they started experimenting on me.”

  Evangeline didn’t need to ask him what that felt like. Everything hurt. Her hair. Her fingernails. Her eyelids. Breathing. “I’ll never see Nic again. He’s going to die, and I’ll be Luigi’s…”

  “Evangeline. Look at me.” Philipe reached through the bars. “I am in control. I will not harm you.”

  She started to cry as she stretched for his hand. “I wanted to be free. Wanted Nic to have a life. And now I’m chained to a wall, with a crazy vampire forcing me to be his blood slave, and Nic’s about to die.”

  Philipe closed his fingers around hers. “Nicola is the most resourceful male I have ever met. If there is a way out of this, he will find it.”

  Though she wanted to take comfort from his
words, she couldn’t. Pulling her hand back, she huddled under the blanket. She’d seen Nic after the interrogation. So weak he could barely walk. How long had she been here? A day? The drugs made it hard for her to focus on anything other than the pain and dizziness that were her constant companions.

  “Bring the restraints!” Luigi shouted after a door in another room banged open. “I want her to pay for what that stronzo did.”

  “Luigi, no. You promised you wouldn’t hurt her if I—” Marie raced after him, and as Evangeline scrambled back, knocking the water bottle over, Luigi unlocked the cell door.

  Even through the haze the drugs cast over her vision, Evangeline could see the murderous rage pinching the elderly vampire’s features. “Please. Not again.” Throwing up her hands, she tried to protect her neck, but Luigi wrapped his thin fingers around her upper arm, hauled her to her feet and sent her sailing across the cell. Only the chain around her ankle stopped her from hitting the far wall.

  “Your former life mate escaped,” he growled. “And you will suffer for his idiocy.” His kick cracked a rib, and Evangeline wheezed as she curled her body into the fetal position.

  “Luigi, no!” Marie wrapped her hands around Luigi’s arm, but he whirled and slapped her. With a whimper, Marie fell to her knees. “You promised you wouldn’t physically harm her!”

  “And you believed me?” His laugh sent ice flowing through Evangeline’s veins, and she tried to crawl away.

  Philipe threw himself against the bars separating their cells. “You bastard. Leave her alone.”

  As Luigi’s fingers closed around Evangeline’s foot, she kicked out with her other leg, catching him in the jaw. He roared, and pain shot through her ankle as he dragged her to him. The chain snapped, a single link dangling from the manacle.

  Evangeline fought with everything she had left, clawing at Luigi’s neck, punching him in the gut, and finally, bringing her knee up and catching him in the balls.

  “You fucking bitch,” he spat before hauling her against him and piercing her vein. Evangeline whimpered as her blood gushed, burning her skin, stealing what little strength she had.