Famine's Feast (The Templar Book 4)

by Debra Dunbar

  “I thought that would be obvious,” Dylan laughed. “He wants Baltimore. We’ve outgrown our territory. It’s time to expand, and yours is perfect.”

  “So he brings a plague demon into the mix?”

  Dylan blinked in surprise. “Why would you think that?”

  Dario loomed over the other vampire. “Because there’s a plague demon in town, and vampires are being infected along with humans. Since we’re not susceptible to illness, there’s clearly a magical component to this. There’s intent. And no one has better motive than Simon to weaken our Balaj by taking out over half of our members.”

  “I don’t know anything about a plague demon, but I have information that would be useful to you. I need something in return, or it will go with me to my grave.”

  Dario snarled, looking more non-human than I’d ever seen him. I took a few steps back, not sure what to make of this feral creature conducting the interrogation. He was a far cry from the vampire who’d joked and laughed with me in the homeless shelter, the one who I’d been intimate with two nights ago. Which one was the real Dario? And if both were, could I deal with this side of him?

  “What are you proposing?” Dario asked, his eyes narrowed.

  “Let me go. I’ll tell you everything I know if you let me go.”

  Balen snorted. “Just kill him. You’ve got a Templar blood-slave. She’ll get rid of the plague demon as well as whoever summoned him. You said she’s got someone to cure our infected. We don’t need this guy.”

  Dylan squirmed in the chair, his eyes darting to me then back to Dario. “I have information. Valuable information.”

  “We won’t let you go until this is over,” Dario told him. “If we’re defeated, you’ll die. If we win, you won’t have a Balaj to go back to. Even if they retreat to Philadelphia, they’ll never take a traitor back.”

  Dylan didn’t think twice before nodding. “Done. I was telling the truth when I said I didn’t know about a plague demon. I do know that Simon has a mage he is working with. The mage was supposed to help weaken your Balaj so we could take the city. He was supposed to ensure your Mistress didn’t survive the feast.”

  “What does the mage want in return?” I asked. Because mages generally didn’t care about money. Well, they did but not nearly as much as items or supplies related to the craft. Any mage powerful enough to have summoned and bound this particular demon probably had more than enough money.

  “There’s something Simon is supposed to give to him. It’s in Baltimore and the mage can’t get it.”

  The scepter? I could see why a mage would want that, but Simon would be a fool to hand something over that could be used against him. And, of course, neither most likely knew that Leonora had relinquished it into my custody. At this moment, it was safely locked in the Temple with other dangerous artifacts.

  “He’s not from around here. He’s got a Spanish accent, and he’s really snooty.”

  My brain did a one-eighty. Maybe I was making connections where there were none, but I had a bad feeling this mage was the one who Dark Iron had stolen the soul trap from. Maybe he was tired of waiting for the Conclave to intercede and decided to take matters into his own hands. If so, I had more to worry about than the plague demon. If this mage traced the soul trap to me, I’d be his target. And I wasn’t sure whether he’d ask nicely for me to return it or just kill me on principle.

  “Do you know what he’s looking for?” I asked.

  Dylan shook his head. “I think it’s another mage. I don’t know why he doesn’t come get the guy himself. He agreed to help Simon by weakening the resident vampires.”

  I turned to Dario. “So the mage is with Simon. They somehow got access to the donor schedule and poisoned the humans.”

  “We have a traitor,” Dario added. The other vampires snapped to attention, suddenly eyeing each other with suspicion.

  “Who, Boss?” Madeline asked.

  “Could be you, Bertram, Opal, Lawrence, or Zoe. They’re the only ones who had access the last three nights.”

  Zoe’s eyes grew huge. “It wasn’t me. I swear it, Boss. I’d never do that. Never. I’ve been with you since Haiti. I’d never betray you.”

  “Bertram had Lawrence sub for him last night,” Balen said. “And he did the same for Opal the night before. Lawrence said he had a band he wanted to see next week, so he swapped with her.”

  Lawrence. The one who’d been missing since the feast. That was going to make tracking him down even more difficult, especially when the rest of the Balaj was too busy protecting their territory to help with the hunt.

  “Aaron was in charge of the schedules this week,” Balen added.

  “My Aaron?” Dario’s voice had gone cold. “Why was he doing the general population schedule? That’s not one of his duties, that’s Ian’s.”

  Balen swallowed, and looked intently down at the carpet. “Ian disappeared. Four days ago. Vanished, no note, nothing. We were scrambling to find someone who knew how to run the schedules to fill in, and Aaron volunteered. It was just for this week until he trained someone else.”

  “A Renfield vanishes, and no one is suspicious? Right before a rival Balaj is in town for a feast?”

  Tension filled the room. Now none of the other vampires would look Dario in the face.

  “I’m sorry, Boss,” Balen half whispered. “Renfields sometimes run off. Everything was chaos trying to get ready for the feast. It’s my fault. I didn’t see it. And I just blindly trusted Aaron, was thankful even when he stepped up.”

  “Because he’s mine,” Dario replied, his voice calm and even. He had that look again, as if he were about to slash his way through an army, dispassionately wading through their blood. “You trusted him because I trust him, and the second in command would hardly have a Renfield that would ever turn traitor.”

  “I’m sorry, Boss.” Balen’s voice was barely audible, but he straightened his back and raised his head to meet Dario’s gaze. “I’ll accept my punishment.”

  I held my breath, wondering if Balen’s head would be rolling on the floor in the next few seconds.

  “I need you,” Dario told him. “I need every strong, able-bodied member of this family to protect our territory. And I’m just as much to blame for having brought someone into our Balaj that would betray us.”

  I winced. Vampires trusted their Renfields with their lives. The servants knew their daytime resting places, coordinated donors, and handled all the daytime activities needed to support their vampires. In return they were generously compensated, protected and granted special privileges, and often they were the ones who were turned, continuing their service as part of the Balaj family. They were never fed from, and while a vampire might not have quite the emotional connection with his Renfield that he did with his blood-slave, they were in some ways regarded with more esteem.

  “Aaron may have been an unwitting pawn,” I said, trying to bring some reasoned fairness to what I was afraid would be the man’s last night alive. “Lawrence had the contact with the donors. He had the most opportunity to give them the infection right before the vampires fed. Maybe Aaron shared the list with Lawrence early, thinking that was part of the process in the general population scheduling.”

  Dario considered that a second, then shook his head. “Aaron wouldn’t have had contact with the donors, but Lawrence wouldn’t have known who was on the list until directly beforehand. They both have to be involved in this.”

  “But nearly all of us feed each night from the donor schedule,” Balen argued. “Why aren’t we all infected?”

  “Maybe the infection isn’t one hundred percent effective in transference,” Dario replied.

  “And not all the donors might have consumed the infected food or drink,” I added. “At the tourney, it was something in the food that spread the disease. Those of us who didn’t eat the infected course were fine.”

  “And donors would be suspicious if Lawrence pressured them to eat or drink something,” Madeline said.
“They know what we are, and while they like the money and the hit of venom, it’s always in the back of their minds that we might just decide to kill them.”

  “Bring Aaron here,” Dario commanded. “I had him stay over. He’s upstairs in one of the bedrooms.”

  My stomach twisted as Jasmine headed out of the room. It wasn’t long before the vampire returned, the short stout balding man following her. He stopped dead once he saw all of us gathered in the room. Then his eyes moved to Dylan. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.

  “You handled the donor lists this week.” Dario said it as a statement.

  Aaron nodded then clasped his hands in front of him, twisting his fingers together. “Yes, Boss. Ian vanished, and there was no one that knew how besides me and a few of Leonora’s Renfields. I thought I’d help out.”

  “And Lawrence was the one who gathered the donors and assigned them?”

  Aaron was beginning to resemble a sweaty bobble head. “Yes. I never saw the donors. I don’t know which vampires they served. I just pulled the rotations each night and told Lawrence whose turn it was.”

  “We believe Lawrence slipped the donors something—it gave them an infection they passed along those they served.” Dario’s voice was smooth and calm without the slightest hint that Aaron might be a suspect.

  “He did?” I could practically see the gears turning in the man’s brain as he desperately thought of how to get out of this alive. “I saw him meeting with the Philadelphia vampires. Maybe he’s switched loyalties and is working for them.”

  Maybe Aaron was an idiot. He was digging a hole that was about to become his grave.

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  Aaron paled. “They’re here as Leonora’s guests. They were coming to the feast. Lawrence was in charge of donors, I assumed he was getting their preferences so he could assign suitable humans to the Philadelphia vampires during the feast.”

  “But vampires picked their own meal at the feast,” Dario said smoothly. “It was an open buffet. There was no assignment, and both you and Lawrence knew that.”

  Aaron froze like a rabbit in the briars, his entwined fingers beginning to shake.

  Dario took a few steps toward the man. “Lawrence would need to know how many donors were coming each night so he had the correct number of doses. He needed to know who was offering their blood at the feast so he could tell the Philadelphia vampires which humans were clean and which weren’t. This was targeted, and a few hours before he collected the donors wouldn’t have been enough time to coordinate it all. You gave him the lists in advance.”

  Aaron dropped to his knees. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know what he was going to do. He paid me a little extra and I let him see the schedule for the week and for the feast. I didn’t know.”

  “But you did. The first vampires got sick, then more got sick. You put two and two together, but didn’t warn us before the feast. You didn’t warn us.”

  Aaron was beginning to cry. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

  “You know the penalty,” Dario said softly, not a hint of sympathy in his voice. “You knew going into this that betrayal meant death. You have a choice. Let me know the truth, and that death will be fast and clean. Continue to lie and it will take you weeks to die, slowly, painfully, with as much humiliation as possible. Make a choice.”

  The man’s whole body was shaking at this point. He looked up at Dario, eyes red and puffy. “They promised me they’d turn me. I’m not getting any younger. I had my doubts that I’d be offered immortality here. They offered to turn me. I met with Simon, a mage, and a demon. They gave me a box of vials with liquid in them—one for each donor. I was to give the bottles and the list to Lawrence and tell him one vial per human. I met with them three times. The last time was before the feast. That’s all I know.”

  “Describe the mage and the demon,” Dario commanded.

  “The mage looked around sixty. Fit. Tan. Silver hair. Good-looking guy. He had some kind of Spanish accent. The demon looked like a plague victim. He had greasy hair and sallow skin that hung on him. The whites of his eyes were jaundiced. When he spoke, I could see that his teeth were black and rotted. He smelled horrible. Flies buzzing all around him.”

  That was the demon alright, and his description of the mage matched Dylan’s.

  I opened my mouth to ask a question, but before I could utter a sound, Dario sprang forward, knife in hand and sliced the guy’s head from his neck.

  It was fast. It was painless. It was unexpected in its speed. And unlike with Marcus, it was unbelievably messy. Blood sprayed everywhere, all over the furniture and walls. Aaron’s body slumped forward, spilling even more blood on the floor.

  I was surprised that I didn’t feel any sense of moral outrage over Aaron’s death. He’d made a deal with the vampires. He knew the price of betrayal. He’d sold out his family. Vampires and humans had died because of him. Even more vampires and humans might die because of him. The Balaj might lose their territory because of him, which would adversely affect every human in the city. Two months ago I would have hesitated, I would have pleaded with Dario to spare his life. All I felt now was a sense of sorrow—for Dario who’d trusted this man, for the vampires who’d trusted him to provide a safe food source, and for the carpet that was surely stained beyond any ability to clean at this point.

  Dario nudged the head aside, not bothering to wipe the blood from his hands. His shirt was coated, his pants splattered. I could even see the wet spray along the skin of his arms and face.

  “Where is Lawrence? Someone must know where he is. I want him found, and I want him brought to me.”

  I tensed, expecting a replay of what I’d just seen.

  “No one has seen him since the feast,” Jasmine said, her hands twisted in front of her. “I’ll put the word out. We’ll find him. Do you want him dead or alive, Boss?”

  “Alive.” Dario finally wiped his hands on his pants. It didn’t do much to clean the blood from them. “I want to question him before I offer him the same deal as I did Aaron.”

  Chapter 29

  By the time I left Dario’s it was just past midnight—not late by vampire time, especially since sunup this time of year didn’t occur until nearly seven a.m. He, Balen, and Madeline had headed out to round up any remaining vampires from their Balaj, leaving Jasmine, Leo, and Zoe in charge of the prisoner.

  I doubted Dylan was going anywhere, given that Simon was most likely to distrust and kill any POW who unexpectedly returned. The infected in the basement were another story. I couldn’t hear them at all, but I was sure the vampires could. How the vampires could stand staying in a house with their own brothers and sisters screaming in agony as they starved to death in cages was beyond me. I know they wanted to put them out of their pain, but as long as there was some hope of a cure they wanted to wait.

  Which meant we needed to find Lawrence. Dario’s scant remaining forces had conflicting priorities—fend off Simon, keep the infected contained, catch Lawrence so the magical link could be broken and Wolfram could heal the infected vampires.

  My priority was all of the above, plus ensuring the infected humans could be cured. Plus getting rid of this demon mark in two nights. But I wasn’t sure about Lawrence. From what Aaron had said, Lawrence had provided the vials to the human donors. Did he know what he was doing? Or was he an unwitting accomplice? Could I kill him if he’d spiked the food or drinks without knowing what was happening? Was one innocent life an equal trade for a hundreds of human and vampire ones? I longed for the days of my childhood when I was so confident of right and wrong. I longed for the life of a knighted Templar where we did as the Elders told us, spending most of our time in the lap of luxury.

  No, I didn’t. This life, this responsibility, was preferable by a long shot.

  My phone rang just as I was walking into my apartment. It was a number I didn’t recognize. I hesitated, knowing I’d be pissed if some vinyl siding sales person was calling after midnight.
Vinyl siding sales people usually didn’t call this late, though, so I answered it.

  “Is this the Templar?” A voice asked, hoarse and anxious.

  “Yeah. Who is this?” I threw my keys on the table and adjusted the phone so I could unstrap my scabbard and lay it on the table.

  “Lawrence.” That got my attention. “I’m a vampire with the Baltimore Balaj. They’re looking for me. I need help. I need sanctuary. They’ll kill me.”

  “I know who you are.” I frantically looked around, grabbing a spare pen and paper to take notes. “Where are you?”

  “I didn’t do it.” His voice hitched on the last word. “I’m being set up. I saw the donors get sick, saw what happened. Aaron told me the stuff in the bottles was a supplement to help the humans recover quicker, but when everyone went crazy at the feast, I knew there was something else in those vials. I knew he’d blame me so I ran and hid. He’s Dario’s Renfield. The boss will take his word over mine. You’ve got to help me. I had nothing to do with this.”

  “Calm down. Where are you?”

  “I need your promise that you won’t tell the Balaj, that you’ll give me sanctuary.”

  “I can’t promise that. Go home. Tell Dario your story. He’ll be fair.” I didn’t know that. In the last week I’d seen two heads rolling on the floor from Dario’s knife.

  “They’ll kill me.” His voice rose in panic. “They think I’m to blame and they’ll kill me.”

  I opened my mouth to reassure him then thought of Dario, killing Aaron without a second thought. His Balaj was in danger. I’d just told him the vampire behind this had to die in order for the sick to heal. Everything pointed to Lawrence. But if it truly wasn’t his fault… I couldn’t execute a man, or vampire, just because he’d been an unwitting carrier. There had to be some other way to break the link. Wolfram might be a good doctor, but by his own admission, he wasn’t a mage. Maybe there was another option beyond killing this guy.

  “We need to know what happened,” I told him instead. “I don’t want you killed for this, but we need to know which donors are infected and if someone else is involved. Dario can’t lose any more of his family.”