Weird ass choice for a vampire servant. Daniel picked up Pedro easily and walked back out of the kitchen.
“Where did you find Daniel?” she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
“He’s from Brooklyn, a former mobster but pretty low level,” Alec said.
Diana lifted an eyebrow.
“He was too decent to get very far up in the organization. I gave him a better alternative,” Alec said, answering her unasked question.
Diana pursed her lips and cocked a hip. “Do your parents know about him?”
Alec smiled slightly and said, “I think you already know the answer. He doesn’t fit with the general image of a coven’s servus. But he is loyal, and I have several servants outside the coven hierarchy. It’s not uncommon.”
Diana’s only response was to lift the other eyebrow for a moment before her face turned serious. “I’ll be back tomorrow to talk with Pedro once he’s rested. You don’t need to be here if Daniel agrees to watch him. Consider your debt paid.”
Alex stiffened. “My house’s debt will not be paid until the children are found.” His voice was firm. “Even if they are no longer among the living. I will help you search for them.”
It sounded more like a command than an offer.
Diana bristled. “That’s taking your responsibility a bit far. And we don’t let outsiders into our investigations,” she said in a cold, flat voice.
He gave her a little smile. “You sound like a soldier,” he replied in a softer voice.
“I am a soldier.”
“Well, I’m a scholar of some renown. I’ve done a lot of research on black rites. I could be helpful,” Alec added.
Diana narrowed her eyes, shifting her body weight so that her position was a touch more menacing. “And just why do you know so much about black magic?”
“It’s not what you think. I’ve studied black circles because I’ve run into them before. Well, truthfully, it was one wannabe circle and a genuine one. But afterwards I worked up a summary of them, something akin to an anthropological study,” he continued. “You’ve already noted that this circle seems to operate outside normal bounds. I could offer some useful insights.”
Diana tried to take the offer seriously. She knew plenty about the top magic families. Probably a lot more than he did, but they weren’t dealing with someone familiar. Which meant her target hadn’t grown up in one of the families trained in the history and proper use of magic.
Someone who had grown up with that background wouldn’t have done that to Pedro. The spell was powerful but clumsy. It only partly worked because of the raw power behind it—not the finesse and skill with which it had been applied.
The spellcaster could be someone who had been banished from one of the family circles early in their training. Or it could be a remnant—one of those humans who was spontaneously able to work magic. They were usually so distantly related to a magical line that the family itself was unaware of the connection. Otherwise they were required to monitor them according to the rules of the covenant. One of those remnants could have pieced together some twisted version of spell craft through trial and error. There were enough books filled with half-truths about magic that had leaked into the human world.
“A wannabe circle?” she asked eventually.
Alec took the chair Pedro had just vacated, while Diana leaned on the counter, arms crossed below her chest.
“It was the first one, close to two centuries ago. The village elders of this little town in southern England had acquired these fake spell books. They thought they could summon a demon to do their bidding and give them riches.”
“What did you do?” Diana asked.
“I. . .um. . .I pretended to be the demon,” he said, grimacing minutely.
Diana burst out laughing before she could stop herself. The vampire blushed. A real honest-to-god blush.
“I know it was pretty silly. I was still relatively young, on the Grand Tour with some friends. I stumbled across this group by chance and decided to teach them a lesson,” he said, sitting up a little straighter.
“How?” she asked, still amused but trying to hide it.
“Scared them straight basically. I made them do silly rituals involving nudity. They were all middle-aged and rather portly. They ran around in the woods naked to commune with the dark forces. I also made them give away their money to the poor.”
“Wasn’t that supposed to be the other way around?”
“Yes, but I convinced them that the spirits would multiply a thousand fold whatever they gave away. None of the poor children in that town starved that year.” His smile faded slightly. “I learned a few had died the year before. The crops were blighted. And those rich bastards let them go hungry.”
Alec’s expression became grim and forbidding, and for the first time, she could see him for the truly powerful vampire scion that he was.
“So what did you do to them in the end?” Diana was careful to keep an even expression to avoid betraying her curiosity.
“I bankrupted them. I tricked and threatened, and they did as my demon alter ego demanded. Then I exposed them to the town as devil worshipers by pretending to be the devil myself. One of my friends helped me with a costume and some special effects,” he said, his eyes lightening in remembrance. “After that, we got the hell out of there, with the only genuine spell book they had. I didn’t think they deserved to keep it. It’s still part of my collection. No one has ever tried to claim it,” he said.
“And the genuine circle?” she asked.
His expression shifted from serious to apprehensive. “That was almost a hundred years later. And it wasn’t an accident that I found it. I met a warlock, a scholar in Prague with whom I had a lot in common. He must have known I was a vampire. I thought he was simply a normal warlock at first. My radar has gotten a lot better since then. It took me months of correspondence and a few meetings before I realized he was a black magic practitioner.”
“How did you find out?”
“I had begun to suspect he was hiding something, but I didn’t know what it was. I had traveled to visit him that winter. He was excited to have another scholar visit. He welcomed me into his home, and at the end of my stay, he invited me to observe a secret rite, unbeknownst to the rest of his circle. I hid in the upper story of this old manor house at the edge of town until the members of the circle came in and did their rite. That’s when I realized what he was.”
“What did you think of him before that?” she asked, curious about his impression of the man before he revealed his dark secret.
He pursed his lips and lifted a shoulder. “He was my friend, a fellow scholar. But what I saw that night changed everything. I cut off contact and left town. I was still trying to decide what to do when I got word that he and his circle had been killed in a terrible storm.”
Ah yes. The previous Air Elemental’s handiwork.
Alec gave her a steady look. “That’s when I found out that your kind wasn’t a myth.”
“Is that right?” Her tone made it clear that it wasn’t a question.
He nodded. “I had to go back and find out what happened—if the circle had done something that caused a major accident or if they were taken out by something worse. Everyone knew the myths about your kind. I needed to know if their deaths were of their own doing or. . .an execution.”
Diana stared at him impassively.
“It wasn’t you, was it? With the storm. I figured it was an Air Elemental,” he said, leaning forward slightly.
“That was a billion years ago. How old do you think I am?” Diana said with a frown.
But it wasn’t because she was insulted. It was because Alec knew too much. Elementals were not immortal. It was one reason their enemies found the courage to sometimes defy them. But what wasn’t commonly known was that they could be very long lived. As long as they were in service to the Mother, they didn’t age. When they were ready to move on or settle down aging resumed and they lived fa
r quieter lives. Most. . .not all.
In any case, Diana was only a decade off her age in appearance. Vampires also enjoyed a suspended period of aging but after eight or so centuries they aged slowly but steadily. Some even made it to a millennium.
“You look very young, but that means little. Take myself for example. Do I look two hundred and fifty-six years old?” he asked with a wave at himself.
“Yes,” she said simply.
Alec paused, his face falling a little.
“Oh.”
She couldn’t help but smile at his disappointment. “I’m an Elemental in service to the Mother. I can tell how old a vampire is. Part of the job,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Of course it is. . .that makes sense. You would totally be able to do that,” he said, clearing his throat as he rose.
“And no, it wasn’t me in Prague. Or any of the current Elementals. Just in case you were itching to avenge your friend,” Diana warned quietly.
Alec scowled, offended. “I wouldn’t do that. I know what he was and what he was doing. Avenging someone like him would be wrong.” He walked to the swinging door to the living room and pushed it open. “And I still want to help you.”
She followed him out of the kitchen, trying to decide what to do with him. For a vampire, he wasn’t so bad. But there were aspects of this case she needed to handle on her own.
“Maybe sometime. . .in the next century,” Diana said with what was, for her, surprising diplomacy before heading for the door.
If she needed a hand, she could ask for it later—in the aforementioned next century.
“I can help you find Fiona,” he said as she took hold of the doorknob.
“Already found her,” she called back, letting the door swing shut behind her.
10
Diana wasn’t kidding. Tracking Fiona had been child’s play. It was similar to a witch’s locator spell, but Elementals didn’t need any sort of ritual to do it.
She could track any supernatural she’d seen recently enough, which at that moment included everyone at that party. The trace wouldn’t last, but her biggest problem was usually identification of her prey, not how to find them. In this case, Diana’s job was made a little simpler by her knowledge of the vamp in question. She just set course for the signature of a female vampire near Elva’s age that had bolted from town at top speed.
Fiona was hiding out in the Hamptons. Not at the lavish three-story home Gia said she owned. The vampire was also staying far from any of the coven’s properties. They had several mansions in the area Fiona could have used, but she’d borrowed one from another wealthy vampire of her acquaintance who had chosen to summer in Europe. That last she had found out from Logan, who had gotten in touch after her meeting with Pedro.
I can’t put off my break-in to the Denon headquarters much longer, Diana thought as she rode out to Fiona’s bolt-hole. Granted, the damage done in that case wasn’t going to get much worse in the near future, but she had a beef with those corporate assholes. Of course, she had a grudge against most everyone she was sent after.
It was dark by the time Diana parked her bike up the beach from where Fiona was staying. For a second, she toyed with the idea of simply parking out front and mowing down the security guards walking the perimeter, but she opted for stealth instead.
Getting past any guards the vampires had posted wouldn’t have been a problem, but she was curious about who else might be watching Fiona, so she needed to check out the house first. If Diana were a member of this black circle, she would be watching the vampires to see if retribution was coming their way for using their properties for black rites, making fools of them in the process.
Avoiding the guards did serve another purpose. If she fought them, she might end up killing one, and then she’d never hear the end of it from Serin. Not to mention she might end up tipping the balance to the black herself unnecessarily.
The beach was dark with very little moonlight. Diana preferred it that way, given the superiority of her night vision. A vampire couldn’t see as well as an Elemental, although a Were probably could.
Was the ocean always this loud? She hadn’t spent much time on a lot of beaches as part of her job. Ignoring the wistful tightening in her chest, she walked closer to the mansion, wishing she could linger to enjoy the rumble of the surf. Maybe with someone.
Not a vampire, she told herself as she walked up the beach.
Diana was close to the house when she sensed the hidden ward. It was buried in a sand dune facing the house’s back entrance. More than likely, there was a similar one on each side of the house.
Diana focused her energy on the ward, neutralizing its energy without deactivating it so she could lift it instead of slipping past it. It wasn’t the kind vampires typically had fashioned for themselves. This was a black stone with woven reeds tied around it. She turned it over in her hand. The reeds were knotted intricately, making an occult pattern similar to others she had seen in past investigations. But this one was covered with black wax, a novel detail. It was vaguely like a witch’s ward to keep out intruders from their own homes. Only it had been modified to spy and leave a trace on any who passed it.
Smart, Diana admitted.
It was definitely not a standard witch ward, though it borrowed heavily from their tradition. No, whoever had made this baby was definitely an innovator. And not exactly well-versed in standard witchcraft. A highly trained witch could have accomplished something similar by spelling a simple stone. It was more complicated to create, but safer.
As it was, this group risked a lot by leaving such an obvious ward where the vampires could have found it. And she was willing to bet one of these was sitting in front of every vampire-owned mansion in the Hamptons. The Broussard coven would retaliate against anyone who spied on them, but perhaps the circle didn’t care because they weren’t planning on staying in the area.
With that disheartening thought, Diana put back the ward without deactivating it. It wouldn’t leave a trace on her. There was no need to tip her hand to the black circle by removing it. And if it were found, it wasn’t likely the vampires would move against the circle now. They wouldn’t risk getting in her way.
Well, most of them wouldn’t.
The vampire’s standard ward against intruders didn’t react to Diana’s entrance, either. She walked in through the back door into a darkened parlor like an invited guest. The spacious room was adorned in the latest style. Or what she assumed was the latest style. Interior decorating wasn’t exactly something she cared enough about to keep up with. She preferred the safe houses, which were conveniently pre-decorated. Serin or Gia always took care of that sort of thing. Their places always ended up in in warm earth tones or cool soothing colors that reminded Diana of the ocean and Atlantis.
Walking down a darkened hallway, Diana sensed another guard doing an internal patrol around the corner. Blending into the shadows, she masked her presence.
A sensitive like Alec might have been able to detect her, but in her experience, such people were too valuable to work as guards—unless you had money to burn. She waited until the man had passed and continued deeper into the darkened house.
Fiona was definitely keeping a low profile. No party to hide in the crowd, which she had half-expected. No, her quarry was definitely shaken up and hiding quietly. Scanning upstairs, Diana found three people in the master bedroom. One was Fiona, the other was probably the daughter Alec had mentioned, and either the father or a servant. . .
Well, only one way to find out.
Diana walked upstairs to the second story bedroom the women were in and waltzed inside. The bedroom was decorated in the same clean modern style as the downstairs rooms. In contrast, the stunned vampires looked anachronistic—like they were dressed in period costume even though there wasn’t anything terribly old-fashioned about their clothing.
Just overdressed for the occasion, as usual.
Diana turned her attention to the older woman in the room.
Yes, she’d caught a glimpse of her in the ballroom at the coven house. And one of the busty blonde shrinking into the corner. The daughter, of course. What did Alec call her? Ah yes, Sylvan.
The last must be a servant after all. He was a monstrously huge man, like a rugby player that had been turned. Very recently from the looks of it. He was young enough to lack a healthy fear of her. He was almost dancing on his feet, clearly trying to decide whether or not to charge her.
When the guard remained twitching in indecision, Fiona burst into speech. “Oh, stand down, Geoffrey! You can’t possibly win. And she’s not going to kill us. She is after the witches,” she said, sitting down at the vanity with a little harrumph.
“There, was that so hard?” Diana asked no one in particular.
This happened a little too frequently. Someone she needed to talk to would bolt, forcing her to chase them down, and then once found they would immediately crumble. It was so annoying.
Neither the servant nor the pile of silicone in the corner responded to Fiona’s words. Are those breasts even real? Do vampires get plastic surgery? Would it keep?
Suddenly Diana was inexplicably angry. Alec probably got an eyeful of those idiotic things on a regular basis. He probably expected that all the women in his sphere to display such cleavage. She pushed that thought out of her mind and refocused on Fiona.
“I’m waiting,” Diana said a little more forcefully than she’d intended.
“I didn’t know they were black witches. I didn’t really know them at all.” Fiona’s voice held a distinct whine to it.
Diana wrinkled her nose. “Yet you lent them coven property. Not exactly something a vamp does for a near stranger, is it?”
Fiona wrung her hands. “I didn’t know them! I never even met them in person. But I knew the person who asked for the loan of the house. It was the owner of that club downtown, the new Underlife one.” She gestured at Sylvan who looked perplexed for a second.
Fire: The Elementals Book One Page 7
