by M. J. Scott
Neither was staking me out like a goat. So, next idea required. We needed to hit him where he lived. Stop him. “No. I think we should try cutting off his funding.”
“Don’t we need to find his funding to do that?”
I rubbed my temples, trying to work out what my instincts were telling me. Putting together puzzle pieces. “He rang me at Esteban’s. He knew what I was doing there. So something—or someone—warned him that we were looking into Esteban’s problem. Maybe we should freeze Esteban’s accounts, see what happens.”
“You want me to try and get a court order to freeze Lord Esteban’s accounts?” Dan leaned down, staring at my eyes. “Is this the same Ashley who freaked when I wanted to get his security tapes? Are you sure you don’t have a concussion?” He held up three fingers. “How many fingers?”
I batted his hand away. “I’m serious. Making vaccines, doing high-tech biological research and all that stuff doesn’t come cheap. He needs a facility and staff and all sorts of supplies and equipment. Cut off the money and Smith will be in trouble.”
“I thought you didn’t want to piss Esteban off,” Dan said slowly.
“Maybe we can just ask him to go along with it. Give him a chance to move enough cash to keep him afloat for a week or so to a brand new account that we can watch. Freeze the rest.” Even as I spoke, it sounded like a terrible idea. Esteban wasn’t exactly the kind of guy to help the FBI out of the goodness of his heart. Maybe Dan was right; maybe I did have a concussion. Or maybe I just needed to find the right way to sell the idea to Esteban.
“What if he’s helping Smith?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think he is.” I didn’t know why I felt so sure. Esteban had a nice little thing going on with his clubs. Not so little really. He made his money from humans and vamps. He didn’t need an army of infectious vampires causing trouble with humans. Besides, Tate had been Marco’s lineage...something told me, Marco would’ve gone after Esteban already if he had any suspicion Esteban was in any way involved in creating a blot on Marco’s bloodline.
“It’s a big risk to take if you’re not sure.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
He shook his head. “Other than seeing if we can identify your mystery vamp, no.”
“Who says we can’t do both?” I put my mug beside his on the sink. “I’m sick of waiting around for Smith to jump out at me. Let’s make him jump.”
He hesitated.
“Look, they knew about Rhianna. They’re three steps ahead of us. We need to do something unexpected. Will you think about it, at least? Smith might be Rhi’s only chance.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, Smith might be able to fix her—no, not change her back,” I said as Dan’s eyebrows shot up“—make her noncontagious. I—” My throat closed for a second.
“What?”
“I don’t think she’ll survive the way she is. Marco said he thought she’d choose the sunrise.”
Dan went still. “Suicide?”
“Yes. Dan, I can’t lose Rhi too. Please, we have to try something.” I held my breath, waiting for an answer.
Eventually he nodded. “I’ll think about it.”
* * *
“Well, well, look who’s here,” Jase said when I arrived at the office after a long drive which had featured a heavy rotation of Dan trying to dissuade me from asking Esteban to cooperate with us. Apparently ‘thinking about it’ meant ‘try to come up with every possible reason why it’s a bad idea and tell me about them.’
But despite his misgivings, my theories seemed to have gone some way to convincing him that there was some merit in trying to cut off Smith’s funding. He currently seemed to be leaning toward getting a court order to freeze Esteban’s assets.
I don’t know what Jase thought he had to feel snippy about but I wasn’t in the mood. “Last time I looked, I owned the place,” I said shortly. The few parts of the trip that hadn’t involved me arguing with Dan had been spent trying to understand more about shielding. I’d only had time for a few minutes discussion with Ani before Dan had wanted to leave and really, I was none the wiser. She’d suggested more practice but that would mean finding a vamp to try and voodoo me. Not an experience I was keen to have.
Jase passed me a stack of mail. “I thought you were at the Retreat.” His tone was more polite this time. Which was almost worse. Jase and I didn’t do polite.
“I was. But I’m heading back to—” I paused“—Caldwell.” I wasn’t allowed to tell Jase where Rhi was. I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone.
“Caldwell isn’t Lake Stewart.”
Lake Stewart was the town nearest the base. I hoped my surprise didn’t show on my face. How did Jase know about Fort Lyman? Was he...?” Get out of my head.” I slapped the mail back down on the desk.
His lips went thin. “I’m not in your head.”
“Then how do you know about Lake Stewart?”
“That’s where all your cell calls have been originating from.” He looked insulted. Insulted and upset.
Just like I felt. I hated the fact that my mind had leapt straight to ‘Jase is reading my mind.’ I wanted to trust him again. I rubbed my temples, feeling the first twinges of yet another headache. “Oh. Right. Sorry.”
Jase nodded, as if accepting my apology. “What’s in Lake Stewart?”
“Would you believe a romantic getaway with Dan?”
Jase picked up a pile of message slips from the desk. “On a weekend between your memorial and full moon? Hardly. Try again.”
“It’s something to do with the Tate case. Something I can’t tell you.” I held out my hand.
The message slips hit it with a slap. “Several of these are from Esteban. He’s not happy.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t send his pet to deliver them.”
Jase’s hand strayed up toward his throat, faint color staining his cheeks.
Shit. What had Jase been up to with Niko? Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good but I had bigger problems right now. Like convincing Esteban to go along with my plan. I could just imagine the conversation. “So, Lord Esteban, wanna give me all your money for a few weeks to help me?” Followed by Esteban laughing wildly and squashing me like a bug. I needed a backup plan. But the only one I could think of was Marco. He could pull rank on Esteban.
Asking Marco for yet another favor would cause Dan to squash me like a bug instead.
Maybe I should let Dan go after a legal solution after all.
But that could take days. Or weeks. Not to mention the fact that a judge would want something more than my gut instinct to tie Smith and Esteban together. It would take too much time. Time I didn’t want to give to Smith.
“Where is Lord Esteban likely to be at this time of day?”
“How should I know?” Jase snapped.
“I thought you might be familiar with his routine seeing as you’ve been hanging out with one of his...minions.” I didn’t know what the correct term for Niko was.
“Niko is not Esteban. And he’s not a minion.”
“Employee then. He works for Esteban, yes? I’m in a hurry here, Jase. Do you know or not?”
“Most likely Maelstrom or his house.”
I had no idea where Esteban lived so I guess that meant I was going to Maelstrom. Wonderful.
Chapter Thirteen
Even at four p.m. the music pounded at me as I walked through the doors of Maelstrom. I couldn’t help looking toward the stage. Luckily it was empty. The dance floor wasn’t. It wasn’t as packed as it had been last time but it seemed like the freaks of Seattle had plenty of time to party all day long. As I headed for the stairs, the tall black vamp who’d hassled us last time stepped into my path.
I moved around him. “I’m here to see Lord Esteban. He’s expecting me.”
Maybe expecting was overstating it. I’d left a message on his voicemail that I was coming to see him. He hadn’t responded. I was taking silence as consent.
“He didn’t mention you,” the vamp said, blocking me again. Vampire speed is annoying when you’re in a hurry.
“Does he discuss everything with you?”
Silence.
“Fine. Then let me through.” I spotted Leah standing on the balcony. I doubted she’d go out of her way to make this easier for me but I was feeling desperate. I wanted Smith and Esteban was my best chance at smoking him out. “Ask Leah. She’ll vouch for me.”
“Leah doesn’t like werewolves.”
“I didn’t say she was my best friend, I said she’d vouch for me. Get out of the way.” I put my hand on my hip. The gun I usually carried in my purse was on my belt today. With no one to back me up, I wasn’t walking into Maelstrom unarmed. The bullets were silver hollow points. According to Tommy, they’d blow a big hole in either a vamp or a were. I’d never had to test out their effectiveness for real.
It didn’t look like today would be the day either. Leah came halfway downstairs and beckoned. The vamp moved out of my way.
“Ms. Keenan,” Leah said when I reached her. “Lord Esteban has been expecting your call. For several days now.”
Something about Leah always made my spine creep. The hairs on the back of my neck rose as the scent of vampire mixed with the spiced amber perfume she wore hit my nose. If I hadn’t come to ask a favor I might’ve been inclined to try those bullets after all. “I was out of town. Family emergency. Which is why I’ve come to see Lord Esteban in person today.”
“He is not a patient man.” Her tone suggested that she was looking forward to the dressing down I was about to receive.
“Then why are you keeping him waiting now?” I asked sweetly.
It earned me a glare that sent an even stronger prickle crawling across my nape. Note to self: do not ever be alone with Leah in a dark alley without an even bigger gun than the one I was carrying. Maybe even two. But hey, pissing her off was worth something. I raised my eyebrows as she held her ground. She broke first, whirling with a sound close to a snarl and heading up the stairs.
I followed, concentrating on keeping my balance so I wouldn’t accidentally brush the silvered banisters. I wasn’t going to give Leah the satisfaction of seeing me hurt.
Instead of taking the corridor I thought led to Esteban’s office, she turned right at the top of the stairs heading toward another wall of black-mirrored glass. A door slid open as she approached and she stepped through. I stopped. The air coming out of the door smelled like blood and pain and fear. With a heavy side of lust. Not a combination I wanted to become any more familiar with. But if Esteban was inside, then I had no choice. I steeled myself and stepped through the door.
The blood scent hit me like a blow. Old, old blood mixed with new. Beneath the blood was sweat and suffering. And sex. I wrinkled my nose, tried to breathe through my mouth as my eyes adjusted to the lack of light.
The long narrow space I’d stepped into was lit by dim bulbs in lanterns hanging high on the walls. The lights flickered like flames, giving off a reddish-orange glow but I didn’t smell smoke. It reflected off the mirrored walls, setting up weird flickering shadows and infinite reflections of flames in the walls. I put my hand back on my gun.
“Welcome to the dark side,” Leah said with a smirk.
She stood about ten feet beyond me. In the strange light, her hair and eyes seemed to glow red.
“Charming,” I said. “What’s with the lighting? You guys forget to pay the electric bill this month?”
“Our guests like the dark.”
I just bet they did. I suppressed a shiver. I didn’t want to think about what it was that people did to each other behind those glass walls. “I appreciate the tour but I’d really like to see Lord Esteban.”
“Are you sure? You might find it educational. You might even like it.” She waved a hand to her left and a panel of glass in the wall from floor to ceiling turned transparent.
Which gave me a bird’s-eye view of what the occupants of the room beyond the wall were doing. A naked man hung from chains suspended from the ceiling, his arms stretched painfully above his head. There was a woman dressed in strips of black something kneeling in front of him, her face buried in his crotch.
At first I thought she was blowing him but then I noticed the blood running down his legs and the angle of her face. She was biting, not sucking. My stomach rolled and heaved. But I wasn’t going to show my distress to Leah. Instead I kept my face blank and watched as the man bucked against her. A door opened in the wall behind him and another woman stepped into the room. Her strips of whatever were red, not black. In her hand she carried a long blade that glinted red in the light.
I looked back at Leah, not wanting to know what happened next. “Lord Esteban?”
She grinned at me, not in a good way. “This way.”
As we walked down the room, she kept gesturing at the wall, revealing one room after another of twisted sex and pain. I tried to focus on her back but the reflections and the lights made it hard to miss what was happening in those rooms. In fifty feet I saw more bodies and blood and leather and live sex acts than I ever wanted to. Sweat started to trickle down my neck as one tableau after another brought back the scent and feel of Tate to me.
I gritted my teeth, determined not to faint. At least I couldn’t hear anything even though the scents grew stronger the farther we walked. When we reached yet another blank wall, I braced myself for what would be revealed by another wave of Leah’s hand.
But the wall didn’t turn transparent. Instead a door, like the first slid open, revealing yet another room. Esteban stood by a long low padded leather bench. As we entered he was buttoning the top button of his shirt. The smell of blood was stronger than ever. But he was alone and I was just glad that I hadn’t witnessed whatever it was he’d just been doing. I wasn’t sure my stomach could take it.
His eyebrows lifted as we appeared. “I thought I wasn’t supposed to be interrupted?”
Leah made a half-bow. “Ms. Keenan insisted, my Lord.”
Gee, thanks for blaming me. As Esteban turned his blue gaze on me and I felt the squirming of my stomach change from nauseated to something more pleasant but equally unwelcome, I tried to resist the urge to throw Leah across the room. “Lord Esteban, I didn’t want to keep you waiting any longer.” I told myself to ignore the desire creeping over me. Not real. Just vampire mind games. Pity it felt so real.
“That hasn’t seemed to bother you the last few days.” His voice was cool but still managed to warm my skin.
I flushed and then gritted my teeth, breathing through my nose. Maybe the smell of blood would remind me that the vampire was not something desirable. “I was detained on other business. I apologize.” Now would be a good time to practice that shielding, I realized and tried to conjure up the image of the moonlit glass again. It shimmered a few times then seemed to stick. To my relief, the warmth in the pit of my stomach retreated.
“Your other business costs me more money each day. The thief is still at large.”
“These investigations take time. I didn’t promise instant results.”
“You didn’t tell me you would be leaving town either.” His eyes turned a brighter shade of blue. “You should have told me, Ashley. Do I need to remind you that I could make you wish to never leave?” He lifted a hand and for a moment, I thought the shield had held when nothing happened. Then, once again, glass shattered in my head and desire suddenly roared through me. My nipples went hard and I took a half step toward him, toward the source of the pleasure that suddenly seemed like all I needed.
All I had ever wanted.
The weight of the butt of my gun digging into my palm as my hand clenched brought me back to myself. Just a little. Just enough for me to stay where I was.
My breath came faster. It was an effort to speak. “If you do that, then your case won’t get solved either.”
He smiled. “Do you think so? I think you’d do whatever I asked.”
I squeezed harder on the gun.
“Yeah, but it’s so hard to read spreadsheets when you’re having multiple orgasms.”
His shout of laughter startled me. Like a tap turning off, the need for him vanished, leaving only a vague sense of frustration and a pounding heart. He gestured to Leah, who bowed slightly then left the room.
“I can see why Lord Marco likes you,” Esteban said, settling back onto the bench. “You are entertaining for a wolf.”
My mind blanked on a suitable response to that. I still wasn’t comfortable with the thought of Marco being on my side. And I really didn’t want to think about Esteban taking an interest in me either. No, not that kind of interest. I had no illusions about that. Esteban didn’t want me; I doubt he really wanted many people.
He liked what he could make them do.
He liked being in control and watching others lose it. Which might just be how to get him to agree to my proposal. “I have been doing some work on your case, my Lord. I have a theory. How much do you know about McCallister Tate?”
“The vampire you killed? I know that he was crazy and Lord Marco thinks you did us a favor by ridding us of him.” He paused as if expecting me to jump in.
I didn’t. I was trying to work out whether he knew anything else and wasn’t telling me. And if he didn’t know anything else, how much could I actually tell him without getting myself in trouble? The Taskforce had gone to a lot of trouble to keep the news of the anti-vaccine quiet. I didn’t want to be responsible for letting it slip to a vampire with questionable ethics.
“Is there more to the story?” Esteban asked.
“There is.” I chewed my lip. “I can’t tell you too much. But Tate wasn’t working alone. He was involved in...in a conspiracy.”
“To do what?”
I still didn’t know if he was testing me or in the dark. “Let’s just say something that wouldn’t be great for either the supernatural population or the humans. Something that required him to have access to quite a bit of money. Money we haven’t been able to trace. Tate wasn’t running things. A human was.” At least Smith seemed to be running things. There might still be someone—or something—else pulling strings somewhere higher up. Like my freaky friend from the woods.
