by Parker Blue
Val laughed. “Fang said you’re learning—you didn’t order me to wait for you.”
He grinned. “I can be taught.”
“Sure, I’ll wait. That’s why I called before doing anything. I figured you’d want to do the questioning.”
“Thank you. I’ll grab some backup and meet you there. Watch for my text.”
She agreed, and Austin hung up. As he’d arranged before, he did a group text to all of his guys to meet in the parking lot and be prepared to withdraw. Luis’s men could continue searching the park on their own, just in case the two trespassers weren’t the candy twins. Austin debated with himself for a moment, then called Luis and left a voicemail, telling him they were following up on a hunch. If the technophobic Luis didn’t get the message until too late, that was his problem.
Austin met his team in the parking lot and instructed the drivers of the other two cars to head to the mansion Val called the blood house.
Partway there, one of the drivers called to let him know they were being followed.
“By who?” Austin asked.
“Not sure, but I think it’s Luis.”
Austin pulled over into an empty parking lot just shy of the neighborhood and waited. Sure enough, Luis pulled up next to him.
Austin rolled down his window, and Luis did the same. “What’s going on?” Luis asked suspiciously.
“Val said there are two men inside Emmanuel’s former mansion. I’m going to check it out, see if it’s the rogues we’ve been looking for.”
“So why’d you stop here?” Luis asked, frowning.
To keep you from scaring them off, Austin thought to himself. But aloud, he said, “To coordinate a plan. We don’t want to spook them, so let’s park a few houses away, surround the place—quietly—and go in to find them.”
Luis nodded curtly. “I’ll take the front. You take the back, and we’ll both station men on the sides in case they try to go out a window.”
Luis just had to try to take control, didn’t he? It wasn’t worth it to argue, so Austin said, “Okay. I’ll text you when my men are in place.”
At Luis’s annoyed look, Austin amended that. “I’ll text Catalina.” Did Luis even know how to text?
Luis nodded curtly and raised the window. Sighing, Austin set the car in gear again and called Val. “We’re almost there. Luis is going in the front. Can you meet me at the back? We’re going to make sure they can’t escape.”
Val hesitated. “I can do that all by myself, if you want.”
“I know, but this is something we need to do—it’ll make everyone feel better if they have a hand in finding Alejandro. I’d like to keep you in reserve, okay?”
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll meet you there.” She paused, then added, “Hey, can you give me a ride home? Ivy wants to head home.”
“Of course.”
A short time later, Austin found Val and Fang waiting quietly in the backyard of the mansion. She pointed upstairs, to let him know where the two intruders were. He nodded, then unlocked the back door and texted Catalina to let Luis know everyone was in place.
Go, was her reply.
Hearing Luis’s unsubtle entry into the house, Austin gave up all attempts at subterfuge. Bursting in through the door, he rushed through the kitchen and up the stairs, hearing Luis bark, “Fan out. Find them.”
Luckily, he had his own homing system with him. “First door on the right at the top of the stairs,” Val said, right on his heels.
But he didn’t need to open the door, because they came out to meet him, snarling and fighting to get past. Ike and Mike, all right. Austin grabbed one of them and slammed him up against the wall. Jeremy, now almost healed from his injury, did the same with the other. He had a score to settle. With the help of the rest of his men, they subdued the twins as Luis came pounding up the stairs.
“Val?” Austin said.
That’s all he needed to say, because she understood perfectly. “Freeze!” she yelled, and Fang growled for good measure.
Austin felt one of the twins stiffen against his hold, but he stopped fighting.
“I have them,” Val said unnecessarily, probably for Luis’s benefit.
“Check their mouths,” Luis ordered.
Since Austin was already doing that, he decided not to respond, but nodded at Jeremy who had looked to him for permission.
Sure enough, the candy twin had the telltale blackness of the hollow teeth the rogues used. Austin yanked it out of the twin’s mouth and ground it beneath his boot. Jeremy did the same.
“Are these the men you saw here the night Alejandro went missing?” Luis asked.
“Yes,” Val said, then glared at the two men. “Answer Austin’s questions,” she ordered.
Luis gave her a scowl, but Austin was grateful that only one person would be interrogating them. Less confusing that way.
Austin allowed a bit of satisfaction to creep through him. Finally, they had the two men responsible for Alejandro’s disappearance. Now he could put this ordeal to an end. “Which one are you?” he asked the guy he’d slammed up against the wall.
“Ike.”
“Where’s Alejandro, Ike?”
“I don’t know.”
What? Damn it, this could not be happening. “You have to know—you were there the night he went missing.” He was so frustrated, he didn’t know what to ask next.
Val came to his rescue. “You came here that night to assassinate Alejandro, didn’t you?”
“Yes, those were our orders.”
“Tell us what you know about that night in this place.”
Ike spoke obediently. “We followed Alejandro and one of his men to this place and waited for them to go inside, then followed them in. We figured they’d be soft, easy to take, one-on-one.”
“But there was a third man here, too,” Austin said. “Guillaume.”
“We didn’t know he was here at first. He must have already been inside, waiting for them.”
“What happened next?” Austin prompted.
“We followed them to that black room and heard them talking to Guillaume. We thought we might be able to take three of them since we had the element of surprise, so we rushed them. Guillaume was faster than we thought, and he had Mike pinned up against the altar in no time, so I went to my brother’s rescue.”
“Where was Alejandro at this time?” Luis barked.
Ike didn’t reply, so Austin said, “Answer that question, Ike.”
“Against the far wall. He couldn’t get out the door because we were blocking the way. His man was trying to convince him to go out the window, trying to get him to safety,” Ike said with barely concealed contempt.
Apparently, he had no respect for a leader who wouldn’t fight his own fights, but Vincent had done the right thing—especially since it was obvious that Alejandro was their target. “What happened next?”
“I had to save my brother, so I grabbed a knife from the altar and stabbed Guillaume. When I turned around to get Alejandro next, he disappeared.”
“Out the window?”
“No. One moment they were standing against the wall, the next, poof, they were gone. Vanished.”
“That isn’t possible,” Luis snarled.
Austin had to agree. He glanced at Val. Were they still under her control?
“He’s telling the truth,” she said, frowning. “At least, as he sees it. Tell us the rest, and don’t leave anything out.”
“We searched behind the curtains and everywhere in the room and outside the window, but there was no sign of them. After a while, we felt some kind of shock wave, and all the lights went out. Thinking maybe they’d teleported using some kind of spell or something, we ran to check the rest of the house. When we heard your voices in t
he foyer, we thought it was them. That’s when we ran into you guys. We pretended we worked for Luis and got the hell out of Dodge.”
Val glared at Ike. “Did you hear or see anything else? Anything unusual, outside the norm?”
“I didn’t, but Mike did. He was facing them before they vanished.”
“What did you see?” Austin asked the other brother impatiently.
“A purple cloud, shot through with lightning. It, like, swallowed them.”
Similar to the shadow demon’s portal. Austin gave Val a sharp glance. Did Shade have more to do with this than they realized?
Hastily, Val said, “I think I know that spell.” She shot him an imploring glance, as if asking him not to reveal Shade’s potential part in this. For emphasis, Fang poked his leg and glared up at him.
Austin hesitated, then realized she was probably wise. If Luis thought Shade had something to do with it, he’d take the shadow demon apart. Austin nodded reassuringly at her. He wouldn’t rat on Shade to Luis, but he wasn’t letting the shadow demon off the hook, either.
“What does the spell do?” Luis asked.
Val frowned at him. “I don’t want to say anything until I know for sure. Let me do some research in the encyclopedia and see what I can find out.”
“Do it now,” Luis said.
“I will, but it’s at my house, and my ride left. I’ll need Austin to take me there. It might take some time to find it,” she said warningly, obviously trying to buy some time.
Knowing Luis had no patience for research and biding his time, Austin wasn’t surprised when the Spaniard growled, “Let me know as soon as you find out anything.” The man had major control issues.
Austin nodded in acknowledgment but refrained from promising anything. “Shall we go, Val?”
“Yeah. The sooner we figure this out, the sooner we can get on with our lives.”
“Just one moment,” Luis said, raising his chin as if he were the King of Spain. “Don’t forget your promise to duel for the right to lead the Movement. We aren’t much closer to finding Alejandro. Your time is up tomorrow night.”
Damn it, he’d tried to forget about that. “If I’m not busy trying to find Alejandro,” he snapped.
“Are you trying to back out on me?” Luis’s tone implied Austin was a coward.
“No, I’m trying to find Alejandro. Tonight, I want to see what I can learn about this spell.” Questioning Shade shouldn’t take that long. “If we can’t find him tonight, I will meet you on the dueling grounds tomorrow night at midnight.”
The men around them shifted in response—eager or uneasy, Austin wasn’t sure.
“I’ll hold you to your word,” Luis said sternly. “I’ll set up the arrangements—”
“No,” Austin said. He didn’t trust Luis not to set a trap or lay things out to his advantage. “Rosa will make the arrangements.” He could count on her to be impartially pissed at both of them.
Luis nodded curtly then glanced at Val. “Release them, Slayer, and we’ll take care of them.”
She hesitated for a moment then nodded. “As soon as I’m out the door.”
They left, and just as they closed the front door behind them, Austin heard a commotion upstairs. He put an arm around her waist. “Lost your appetite for violence, have you?”
She seemed surprised by the physical contact but, after a moment’s hesitation, rested her head briefly on his shoulder. He exulted in the feeling. She was finally coming to trust him.
“Pretty much, especially after last night.” She raised her head. “Though I think I might make an exception for one shadow demon.”
Austin nodded. “I thought it sounded like Shade might be responsible. But his portals are normally green, aren’t they?”
Val strode away from him. “Yep. Come on. Let’s go find out what really happened that night.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Val
AUSTIN LED ME down the block to where he’d parked his car. “We’re going to Shade’s?” he asked.
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO SHADE? Fang asked. FORCE LOLA DOWN HIS THROAT? THAT’LL GO OVER REAL WELL.
I’d forced Shade to do enough in the past few months. If I have to, I told Fang. But maybe I didn’t.
“Yes,” I said aloud to Austin. “But let me see if Ivy’s available to come with us first. She can tell when Shade’s lying.”
Austin gave me a raised eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
NAW, HE’S PRETTY BRIGHT. HE KNOWS WHY YOU’RE NOT GONNA USE LOLA ON SHADE.
I called her and asked, “Are you still up?”
“Yeah—I figured I’d wait until you came home to go to bed.” She laughed. “Might as well match my sleep cycle to yours.”
“Good. We think Shade may be responsible for Alejandro’s disappearance. Can you come with us? Make sure he’s telling the truth?”
She didn’t answer, and I asked, “Ivy?”
“Sorry, I was trying to remember our first conversation with him. You never actually asked him if he had anything to do with the disappearance. Sure, I can help.”
“Okay, great. We’ll pick you up.”
I checked the time. Micah should be closing the club right about now, so I called him next. “Hey, Micah, we think Shade knows more than he’s saying about Alejandro’s disappearance—the two vamps who tried to kidnap him said he vanished into a cloud that sounds remarkably like one of Shade’s portals.”
“And you believe them?”
“Yes—they were under Lola’s influence at the time. Can you come with us to question him?”
Micah sighed. “What do you think I can do that you can’t?”
“He respects you as leader of the Underground. If you ask him to tell us the whole truth, he probably will.” And Micah should know why I didn’t want to use Lola on Shade—ever since Dina had used him as her love slave, the poor guy had had enough succubi forcing him to do their bidding for a lifetime.
“Okay, hold on. Let me check something.” I heard his keyboard clicking, then he said, “Shade is on watcher duty tonight. He’s not far from your place. I’ll ask him to meet us there.”
“Works for me.” I hung up and told Austin what Micah had said. “It’ll be a few minutes yet.”
My stomach growled, and Austin gave me a sideways grin. “Hungry?”
“I guess so.” It had been a long night. “Can we stop and grab something to eat on the way?”
PIZZA? Fang asked hopefully.
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, pizza. There’s a twenty-four hour grocery store not far from me.”
We stopped there, and I grabbed Fang’s favorite frozen brand, then we arrived back at my place the same time as Shade and Micah.
I let them all in, and Ivy looked surprised. “Change of plans,” I told her. “We’re doing this here.”
She glanced down at the pizza box in my hands. I shrugged. “We got hungry.”
Grinning, she took it from me. “I’ll heat that up.”
While Ivy messed about in the kitchen, I motioned the guys to take a seat in the living room.
I STILL CAN’T READ HIM, Fang told me and leaned up against Shade so we could at least see his expression.
The shadow demon looked apprehensive. “What’s this about?”
“We’re here about the night Alejandro went missing,” Micah said. “And need your help.”
“Okay,” Shade said warily.
“Remember those two vamps who came running into the foyer after you smashed the crystal?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Well, they were the ones who tried to kill Alejandro. But he disappeared before they could do anything.”
“So?” He looked confused as Ivy slipped back into the room. She sat behin
d Shade so I could see her face, but Shade couldn’t.
“So, they said he disappeared into a purple cloud. You know, like the kind you make when you’re building a portal.”
Annoyance flickered over his face—he still hadn’t perfected the trick of hiding his emotions. “I didn’t make a portal that night. And my portals are green, not purple.”
Ivy fingered a stone in her ear and nodded to let me know he was telling the truth.
“Normally, yes. But are you sure it wasn’t yours?” What else could it have been?
“Of course I’m sure. You were there—you didn’t see one, did you?”
True, but the vampires I’d questioned weren’t able to lie, not with Lola all up in their chakras. “But you were trying to create one, weren’t you?”
Shade shrugged, looking annoyed.
“You’ve never failed before,” I persisted. “Why was this time different?”
“Who knows?”
Austin leaned forward. “When we arrived, you were gesturing toward the altar room, where Alejandro disappeared. Do you think you did it by accident?”
“I doubt it.”
Austin’s question reminded me what else Shade had been doing. “You looked like you were saying the words to a spell. Were you?”
Shade cast a glance at Micah, as if wondering if he should say anything more.
“Please,” Micah said. “Anything you can share may help us find Alejandro.”
“Yes,” Shade said curtly. “I was trying to use a spell. It didn’t work.”
“What spell?”
“It was something the books helped me with.”
Sheesh, this was like pulling fangs. “What spell?” I asked more forcefully.
“How was it supposed to work?” Micah added.
“It was supposed to make a one-way portal.”
“What the heck for?” I asked, surprised.
Shade pressed his lips together, looking as though he didn’t want to answer.
