The Elementals Collection
Page 3
Unless…
Most vampires conveniently burst into flames when they stepped into sunlight. To avoid smoldering, they kept to the night hours. Staying in the shadows wasn’t enough since they were blinded by natural light, even reflected sunlight. It took a rare and unusually confident vampire to see past their kind’s myths and long history to manipulate the magic around them enough to allow exposure to the sun. That didn’t stop the vast majority of them from seeking out meaningless ritual after ritual that promised to turn them into Daywalkers.
Daywalkers were scarcer than Elementals, with a total of six confirmed in all of history. The last had been beheaded by an Elemental five centuries ago. So it wasn’t likely there was one in this coven.
She was probably just too keyed up over Katie’s disappearance and had imagined the sensation of being watched. Turning around, Diana shrugged off her suspicions and headed back to the waterfront.
Across the square, Alec released a shaky breath. He’d flattened himself against a far side of a brown truck. It was big and square, but still he felt exposed.
Damn, he thought, looking up to see the surprised and confused expression on the UPS driver’s face. He slowly raised his head over the hood of the truck, but she was gone. Whoever she was. Whatever she was.
Smiling to the driver as if nothing strange had happened, Alec took out his phone for the special map application he’d had made to track the coven’s servants. Noting a clear path through the front door, he slipped inside undetected.
Knowing where the servants were at all times helped. With vampiric speed, he moved upstairs and into his old room. He hadn’t been back to Boston in years, but this room looked the same. Despite the fact he kept separate quarters near the waterfront, his mother insisted on keeping it exactly as it was. Except for the embroidered pillows he knocked off the bed when he sat down. Those seemed to have multiplied in his absence.
He’d never liked this room, with its blood red walls and black velvet accents. It looked like a damn bordello. But that didn’t matter. He wouldn’t be here much longer—not unless he found a lead in the disappearance of Pedro’s son. He’d hit a dead end in his investigation, and he would have to move on soon, despite his concern for the boy.
Alec had been buried knee-deep in dusty books in a back room of an Oxford library when his informant in Boston had gotten in touch. The son of a long time retainer had disappeared under suspicious circumstances a little over a week ago.
Pedro had served the family faithfully for many years, but the coven heads, his parents Alden and Elva, had done nothing to find out what happened. He’d come home to investigate as soon as he could. But he hadn’t found out anything—no trace of the boy or the people who had taken him. It didn’t look like an inside job.
Small blessings. If he had found evidence that someone in his house was involved, it would have been a huge mess. But finding nothing also meant that he’d been unable to help. And now it looked as if there was nothing more he could do, not personally at least. If one of the other Supernatural groups were responsible, it would be up to them to investigate and met out punishment. The covenants were very clear when it came to dealing with the Otherkind—Supernaturals not of your own race. And it was always possible that the taking of Pedro’s son, Elias, was the act of a human predator.
If he didn’t find anything in another few days, he would have his investigators keep looking after he left, for Pedro’s sake.
Alden and Elva wouldn’t be pleased if he left so soon, but Alec didn’t like staying in one place too long. He chose to keep moving every few years, circumnavigating the globe on his various academic quests.
My long vaunted search for answers. The meaning of life, he mocked himself.
Of course, he hadn’t called it that in the beginning. One search into the ancient world had led to another and so on. His plan had been to unlock the secrets of the ancients. The irony was that he’d been wildly successful..
If the secret of his discovery ever got out, it could shake the foundations of their society. The ability to walk in daylight was the vampire’s holy grail. But his only major discovery hadn’t given him the answers he’d sought.
Why did vampires exist? Had God the Father really turned their back on them? Or was it the Mother? Had they angered her? Was that why they were condemned to live in the dark? And why couldn’t they convert any human they chose? That and other questions had plagued him for as long as he could remember.
All he’d found was more of the circuitous and empty gibberish that was ancient vampire lore.
Well, maybe his life was not supposed to have a deeper meaning. His studies kept him busy. He also had his duty, even if his own parents shirked theirs.
And with that thought, the near constant weight in his chest settled more firmly. He had visited Pedro earlier that day. The little Hispanic man was in terrible shape.
Alec had to look into the local Otherkind before he left. He usually got on well with members of the other Supernatural races, but in this case he didn’t see an easy path ahead. His mind circled back to the girl in the square. He hadn’t seen much, only a flash of white skin and dark red hair.
She’s not a shifter and definitely not a Daywalker.
Once he’d finally been able to walk in daylight, he had wondered if another Daywalker might come out of the woodwork to approach him. But that hadn’t happened.
Maybe the girl was a witch or a shamaness. His kind paid a lot of money to those tricky beings when they needed spells worked. But there hadn’t been that specific vibration he always felt in the presence of one of their kind. All he had felt was a split second impression of immense power, and then a void as it was quickly masked. He debated telling Alden and Elva about it.
I was probably imagining the whole thing. Or it could have been a practitioner on vacation. A tourist even.
No, there was no need to panic everyone needlessly. Not that they would have the good sense to be scared if he sounded the alarm. The elders were in complete self-assurance on the superiority of their kind. But Alec had seen a lot in his travels, enough to wear away the unshakable certainty in vampire infallibility.
A noise behind him alerted him to another presence.
“Hello, Vincent,” he said without turning around.
“What I wouldn’t give to know how you do that,” a droll, cultured voice returned.
Alec turned to see Vincent in the doorway. The other vampire was impeccably dressed in a black suit and a gold embroidered vest with a red silk shirt underneath. Not that Alec was a slouch in the wardrobe department. A good, if dramatic, sense of fashion was innate to most vampires he’d met.
Vincent was probably there to gloat. He had been rising earlier in the past few years, earlier than the hour Alec currently pretended to wake—a detail he was quite smug about.
“I didn’t realize I had risen so late,” he lied.
“Not so late,” Vincent said, sounding pleased with himself. “But of course you’re not used to the hours we keep here anymore.” He paused. “I thought you’d like to know some fresh O positive was just delivered, since you didn’t approve our current lineup of donors.”
Alec nodded. “Thank you.”
Blood was truly the only essential when it came to sustenance, but few of his kind admitted that they needed it sparingly, at most every few days for those but the youngest of their kind. Instead, most had blood every day, provided by their human servants or acquired by the local blood bank with a few healthy bribes. Daily intake was more for ritual and pleasure than survival. Killing the host was considered bad form, especially since almost all vampires could ‘call’ blood—control the flow of blood in themselves and their donor to ensure that they only took what was needed.
Alec made it a point to only consume what blood he truly needed, but it wasn’t a popular position among his kind.
“What are you up to tonight?” Vincent asked, eager to report the answers to the elders should they ask.
“Hmm. Taking an interest in the Underlife?” Vincent sounded intrigued.
His interest was probably justified, Alec reflected. When he lived here last, he wouldn’t set foot in any of the supernatural nightspots for love or money.
“Why not? Things are a little dead after all that travel,” he said as he got up and pretended to rethink his choice of tie.
Taking off the blue silk neckcloth that he’d put on that morning, he set it aside in favor of wearing an open collar.
“Well, right now, Whore is the place to be seen,” Vincent said as he took a look around the room without appearing to do so.
“You’re kidding right?” Alec’s insides curdled a bit. “Did my parents have anything to do with that name?”
“No, it’s owned by some practitioners. But the coven house has its own VIP section and private room for meetings. The usual setup. Your parents aren’t into the club scene right now. More into exclusive soirées. Like tonight’s.” Vincent paused. “Your parents won’t be pleased if you skip another one.”
“I only got back last week and haven’t been in the mood. But I’ll be sure to drop by tonight before I go out,” Alec said.
He’d avoided all of the parties his parents had thrown since his return, but after seeing Pedro it might be a good idea to play nice. The locals mixed with the Otherkind far more frequently than they would have you believe, and he might learn something useful.
Which means socializing, he thought with a shudder.
“Excellent! I’ll tell your mother. She’ll be so pleased,” Vincent exclaimed with a huge smile.
He was practically out the door when Alec stopped him.
“Make sure she knows I’m only making an appearance. I don’t want her turning this into a welcome home celebration.”
He really didn’t want to be the focus tonight. Or any other night.
“I’ll be sure she knows your feelings on the subject. I should go help with the preparations. I have a few of my own invitations to extend. Ta-ta for now.” Vincent whirled away with a flourish.
It’s almost as if he’s always wearing a cape, Alec marveled as the other man left.
Alec did not flounce or whirl, nor did he sweep out of rooms like he was in a ball gown. He wouldn’t have known how even if he wanted to. But he still wondered how Vincent and all of his parent’s other favorites always managed to pull it off.
4
Later that night, Alec was regretting his impulse to join his mother’s party. He’d already been toasted twice and had roughly half the vampire population in the city paraded in front of him.
The damn female half. His parents had apparently decided to drop their more subtle efforts to persuade him to take a mate.
Alec smothered a yawn, annoyed they were resuming their campaign. The pressure to marry and produce a child before he turned had thankfully been abandoned when he had gone through his change early. Most turned after thirty human years or more. He had been an unprecedented twenty-four, a shocking event at the time. But after only a few hundred years reprieve, his parents had started hinting that the joys of taking a partner were a blessing despite the absence of children.
He had never felt the slightest temptation to find out if that was true. As for the steady stream of eligible female vampires being paraded in front of him, women were the last thing on his mind. Clearly his mother had chosen to ignore his polite requests that she stop matchmaking. He needed to speak to her about it, but he’d been avoiding a direct confrontation. His childless status was a sore point with them.
Eager to escape the inane conversation, he retreated to a chair near the fireplace and pretended to admire his mother’s latest redecoration effort. It almost made him smile. The opulent ballroom, with its red silk damask covered walls, had some of the most elaborate chandeliers he’d ever seen outside a casino.
I feel like I’m in Vegas.
“Hello, Alec,” a low female voice purred in his ear.
He turned away from the chandeliers to see Sylvan perched on the right arm of his armchair near the fireplace, a monstrously large piece that would have been at home in the grandest castles of Europe. Sylvan smiled invitingly and braced an arm above his shoulder. She couldn’t get closer to him unless she sat on his lap.
She trailed her hand up his arm, looking as if she was going to climb on top of him any second. He shifted slightly, trying to dislodge her crawling fingers.
“Hi, Sylvan,” Alec replied, his voice flat and discouraging.
Sylvan was the worst of his mother’s potential daughter-in-laws. Her large breasts were almost completely exposed to the nipple, a dark green dress hugging every voluptuous curve. He’d never been into her, but Sylvan was tenacious. She wanted to be at his side at the top of the of the coven hierarchy, the mistress of the manor when his parents stepped down.
“It’s good that you’re finally home, Alec,” she continued, her tongue curling around the syllables of his name.
Shifting in his seat, he stayed quiet.
Not pleased with his response or lack of one, Sylvan started again. “A little bird told me you were going to Whore tonight. You should come with me. They know me there.”
Of course they do. “Oh, I think I might fly solo. Or I may not hit a club after all. I have some work to do,” Alec said evasively.
Not for the first time, he wished vampires didn’t have twenty-twenty vision. Cleaning a pair of spectacles could have provided a distraction. Anything to avoid direct eye contact. Sylvan was like the sun—a bright shining star that burned out your retinas if you looked at it too long.
“You’ve devoted centuries to your research,” she replied, a hint of a sneer in her voice. “Your parents think it’s time you settled down and took over your responsibilities here.”
What responsibilities? Throwing the best party? Showing visiting dignitaries around town? Taking them clubbing?
“They’ve made that clear, but I’m simply not the marrying kind,” Alec said with a deprecating smile.
“Don’t compare a vampire bond to a human marriage,” Sylvan spit out. “Our kind bonds for eternity. It is more than a stupid human marriage; it is a union of souls.”
“Of course it is.”
I will not roll my eyes.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me!”
Damn.
“Anyway,” Sylvan continued, regaining her purr with remarkable speed. “I know all the clubs from here to Miami, and most of the ones in LA. All the ones worth knowing, that is. You really should join me sometime.”
“Maybe. . .sometime. But tonight is bad. I have some errands, and a few books to acquire.”
That was a good one. Sylvan never read. Not even sure she knows how. A surprising number of vampires didn’t bother to learn.
“Suit yourself. Just give me a buzz if you change your mind. I know everyone who’s anyone. You’ve been out of the loop for too long,” she said, rising from her perch in a smooth fluid motion that drew attention to her curves. “If you want to mix with the Otherkind, you need to know who the right people are. I can help you with that.”
“Some social guidance would not be amiss,” Alec said, reminding himself that his investigation was too important to brush her off outright. “Why don’t you start now? Why don’t you tell me about the local undesirables?”
“Really?” Sylvan asked, sitting back down on the arm of his chair in a flash. She leaned in conspiratorially. “Well, let’s see. Where should we start?”
She turned to the room at large.
Diana was outside the coven house, crouched in a treetop in the square. It was later than she had planned, but it seemed like the coven was staying in tonight. They were having a party, which meant the later she went in, the bigger the crowd. She’d rethought her plan and, if all went, she wo
uld circumvent the need for violence. Or at least major bodily harm.
Remember not to kill anyone. If they’re not involved with Katie’s disappearance, you’ll never hear the end of it from Serin. The current generation of leaders for this coven hadn’t met an Elemental before. She hopped down from the tree and headed to the house.
Time to make an impression.
5
Inside the coven house ballroom, Alec was doing his damnedest to get rid of Sylvan. He felt a little bad about it because she’d actually been helpful. He had a few leads now thanks to her, but gratitude only went so far. After downing the last of his wine, he excused himself to go get another drink. His mother could be counted on to serve only the finest vintages.
Alec studied the crowd from the relative safety of the bar. Everyone was dressed to kill, pun intended. But most humans would probably be disappointed in their parties. No vampires feeding off enthralled humans. No orgies or violence. Not even the hint of impropriety. The euphoria fresh human blood inspired was something best experienced in private. It would be hard to maintain the same level of vampire superiority if you’ve been seen in flagrante delicto, figuratively speaking.
He asked the bartender for a scotch and turned his attention back to the fireplace. He was doing a pretty good job of ignoring Sylvan, despite her pouty expression across the ballroom. He was subtly looking for the exit when he noticed the flames in the fireplace flicker. In unison—the whole blaze, which had a strange purple-blue color to it.
Stiffening, he walked closer while turning around to scan the room. Several others had noticed the fire’s unnatural behavior. Everyone hushed and those closest to the fireplace moved away from it. Some were crowding near the doors when there was a sudden rushing sound like an animal howling in the sudden quiet.