by Lauren Dane
“That same cab waited for us, which seemed a very nice thing and probably magical. I told the driver to stop down at the square but he brought us right here, said the dog barked—which she had—and told him where to drop us off. I figured I’d let you know all this. It must be connected to your investigation.”
Carl. It had to have been. “This cabbie, was he an old white guy?”
Betchamp laughed. “Yes. But to be fair, there is no shortage of older white men in London. He didn’t have a British accent though. American South I believe. Do you believe you know this driver? Did I make a mistake in riding with him? It’s just that the dog had very specific ideas about where to go.”
Rowan snorted and looked down to where her bossy dog splayed on her belly against the cool tile before she turned back to Betchamp. “No. No worries. She does have very strong ideas and you were right to let her lead. And to ride with this cabbie who yes, I believe is...he’s sort of my fairy god-sage mentor type person. He’s the one who brought Star to me to start with. If he took Star somewhere, she needed to go there. So thank you. And thank you for taking care of us all.” If Carl was involved again so soon after helping her the last time, things must be in motion that were severe or dire enough to warrant the extra attention. That was worrisome but she appreciated the help in any case.
Betchamp’s pleasure was evident in the color rising to his cheeks and that made Rowan doubly glad she’d thanked him.
“Star, you want to come on a ride with me and Auntie Genevieve? We can also stop by that spot you sniffed out near the Tower.”
The dog rolled to her back, grin on her mouth, tongue lolling. She wriggled a little before getting to her feet with a yodel type bark.
“Well, that’s a new one. I can’t wait to see what your daddy thinks of that sound.” Rowan snickered a while as she gathered her things and called David over to see if he wanted to accompany them. Which of course he did.
And he managed to talk her into his driving so she could keep an eye out for somewhere they might need to stop.
The place near the Tower was first. Star didn’t point out a bad guy’s door or bark at a truck or whatever. She trotted around, sniffing. She paused at a marker of some sort and Rowan took a photo of it and the symbol on it. It was one of those markers the city used to point out historical stuff. She did the same around the end of a hedgerow and a short stone wall.
After twenty minutes of dog stuff, Star moved back to the car so Rowan followed. She’d figure it out later. Maybe.
They went to Arthur’s flat next.
The violence of the night before still hung in the air, making her stomach twist a little as she remembered it was Clive who had to execute his uncles and their entire lines. Yes, it had to happen and yes, they were both pissant traitors who got a lot of people killed, including Carey and Thena. It would have been easier for Rowan to have handled it. And she would have without flinching because she loved the people they got murdered and because some creatures needed to be rubbed out of existence. Those two fucking assholes deserved to die twice.
“Let’s rip this place apart. We’ll try not to fuck up the antiques.” Rowan figured they’d sell the house and the stuff inside to pay Warren and the Vampire Nation in reparations for the damage Arthur and Thomas did.
“This place isn’t even warded!” Genevieve moved through the first floor muttering in French about inept Vampires.
For someone involved with all the black market magic, Arthur and his side chick had a lack of traps hiding their lawbreaking. Within the first half an hour they’d found thumb drives and some negatives and other potential evidence as they avoided the remains of the violence all throughout the flat. Rowan figured there’d been at least five, probably six Vampires in residence the night before given the stains on the carpet.
She was going to have to contact the Dust Devils in London for their particular type of cleaning skills to deal with the flat she was in and Thomas’s place as well. She’d need to see both first and also speak with Clive about it before she made contact though. So much politics from so many directions.
She’d been trained for this from birth. No matter that she hated it, no matter that she wanted peace and quiet. This was her path and she was meant to be there.
Thomas’s mansion was...well, Rowan understood Clive’s need to wash it off before he’d come back to their house. Even with sunrise chasing him the whole way.
The three of them stood in the doorway and took the scene inside in, no one speaking for long moments until Star used her body to push Rowan over the threshold.
“Star says we should just move it already,” Rowan told them as she stepped over a pile of bones and goo that would have been someone the night before. Not a Vampire though because Vampires just sort of poofed into dust and then nothingness when they were killed true dead. No bones left. But blood, well, that was another thing and the walls were vivid with it. A modernist splash of reds and oranges everywhere.
“There are wards here. But they’re standard.” Genevieve’s eyes seemed to blur as she began to unravel all the protections on all the nooks Thomas had hidden around the place.
Rowan avoided taking a deep breath as she made her way through the first floor. It was scarily quiet, not a living soul other than the three of them and Star. It didn’t feel disrespectful the way it sometimes did when she had to process a scene of great violence. She didn’t feel bad or guilty.
It was just another thing on her to do list. One item of dozens. Once it had been a dream that she’d see the last item crossed off and be free of it even for just a little while. Now she had accepted that her to do list would never be empty.
David came into the kitchen where she’d been poking through the cabinets. He handed over a file without a word.
Inside there were pictures of her and her various employees and people she worked with routinely. Pictures of Carey. Of Thena and David, of Susan and Rex and several others. There were codes to her old penthouse and a rough schedule of her daily life back in Las Vegas.
Her stomach cramped briefly as her blood ran cold. This Vampire who she’d met just a few weeks prior had looked her in the face while he’d also been responsible for the death of those she’d loved. He’d been in the room when she’d watched, helpless and grief stricken, as Carey had been assassinated on camera. At her wedding celebration.
So much rage and guilt flowed through her at the realization she had to excuse herself to go outside and into the beautifully maintained gardens. She needed the plants and the earth to soothe her before she took it out on anyone she was with. They didn’t deserve her anger or need for retribution. They were helping her while also being in danger simply because of their connection to her.
She’d been so fucking cocky! Focused on other things and had missed what had been right under her nose. People died because of that failure.
“Rowan?” Genevieve came out with Star. “Are you all right?”
She considered blowing it off but realized she wouldn’t have been able to carry it off and Genevieve would have known it.
She took a deep breath. “No. And I don’t know when I will be again. Maybe I never will be.”
Genevieve’s expression softened. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I blew them off. When I first met them both at Charles and Antonia’s house I underestimated them, barely even took notice. It’s my job to know what threats are out there and I just figured Thomas and Arthur were pretentious, spoiled Vampire shits who had daddy issues. All the while they were passing on information about me and mine to their compatriots who used that intel to breach my security and murder Carey. I should have seen it and I didn’t. This is all my fault.”
Genevieve said nothing for a few long moments until she sighed. “They were spoiled and pretentious Vampire shits with daddy issues. You didn’t miss that. You missed that these two from very po
werful bloodlines would throw that away and get past complaining to do something about it. Most Vampires are all talk. That’s a fact you know very well. You went off what you know. You made a decision that would have been the right one in 99 out of 100 cases. You’re not perfect, but you’re very good at what you do. This isn’t your fault. Deep down you know that.”
Rowan shrugged. “It’s my mistake. I’m the one who made it. People depend on me and I missed something super important. I can’t explain that away.”
“Maybe not. But no one is asking you to. Because this is bigger than that moment with Thomas. It’s been going on longer than you’ve been with Clive. We’re seeing the outline of this problem and it’s big. And old. It has a lot of parts. If the gods wanted us to be perfect they should have made us so. But they have their own problems. Their own flaws and imperfections so it’s up to those of us with courage and skill to do what’s best. And sometimes that comes with mistakes because no one can do it otherwise.”
Star yipped and licked Rowan’s hand.
“See? Even your dog agrees with me,” Genevieve said with a sad smile. “Sometimes we fail. And given the type of life we lead, failure can be fatal. But not to act for fear of failure is worse. No one wants or expects that of you. They need you to be who and what you are. Because in the long run, you will prevail. Without you in this particular game, there would only be failure. Your path is not an easy one. But you’re the only one who can take it and make something out of it. I’m sorry you lost your friends. And I’m sorry you’re feeling so low because of this duplicity. All I can do is tell you the truth.”
Rowan nodded, standing taller. “Thank you.” Friends were hard enough to find in her world—she only had a handful—but a true friend told you the truth and that was integral. A gift and a shield.
“I cleaned up the negative magics that I could find,” Genevieve said as they went back inside. “Untangled all the wards and traps. Found an excessively large amount of currency. Euros and US dollars mainly. But there’s a closet I found that you’re going to want to look at.”
Inside a closet that’d been behind a wall in a bathroom upstairs was a treasure trove of evidence.
Rowan stared at the filing cabinets and various boxes and bags and whistled. “Damn. I bet there’s all sorts of stuff in there I’m not supposed to know about. I’m tingly just looking at it.”
“I went through already, checking for and disarming alarms and trap spells but I want to be with you as you open the drawers and bags. Just in case.”
Chapter Thirteen
On her way home, Rowan stopped at the London Motherhouse where Susan was. After a cheek kiss and a cup of tea, Rowan pulled the dossier from her bag and handed it over to her friend.
She gave a brief outline of where she’d found it, skirting around too many details that Rowan felt were Nation business and not something Hunter Corp. officially needed to know. She and Clive were still trying to work out the details of their romantic lives being intertwined but respecting the boundaries around their work, especially when it came to sensitive details the other wouldn’t know but for their relationship.
It was a work in progress, but she was trying.
“Obviously Thomas obtained some of this information from someone here at Hunter Corp.” Rowan pointed to several documents with the HC watermark on them. “And when I started putting them all together it’s pretty clear they all came from Roth Wesslyian’s office. That fucking asshole.”
“I hope it really hurt him to die in that explosion,” Susan said of the homemade bomb that’d been set off within Hunter Corp. as an attempt to kill her and as many others as possible. It had killed several, including some innocent Hunters, but it had also killed Roth and his co-conspirator Hilary.
“You and me both. It’s like he scored a point after he got blown into bits. I hate that. It’s almost like he won except he’s dead.” At least there was that.
Susan’s tired laugh cheered Rowan up a little.
“At this point we know the leak within our ranks that resulted in the murder of our own came from Roth and he is a threat that’s been put down. We can’t change what he did or the result of his actions. But it’s one less thing to worry about out there trying to hurt us. Please do try to remember that. I know you must be feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment.”
Rowan sipped her tea, counting the minutes until the sun was down and Clive would awaken. “I’m very sick of failing.” She told Susan about missing the signs that Thomas and Arthur were Blood Front.
Susan shook her head at the end of the story. “So you’re going to add the weight of not knowing your husband’s uncles were secretly involved in an organization we thought had been reduced to nothing more than a few cowering whisperers? For all your self-doubt, you hold yourself to an impossibly high standard. You can’t possibly be as perfect as you expect yourself to be. You’re a very suspicious person by nature so you saw these wastrels and wrote them off for what they weren’t. Not sharp and dangerous like Clive or his father. Silly boys playing at being grown. And the rest? You are not failing. You’re one person up against something so much older and larger than you and you’re holding it back. Sometimes things will fall through the cracks because you can’t be everywhere at once. This is we do all we can territory, sweetheart. This is a long battle and a big picture game. You can’t be so hard on yourself that you burn out. There’s work to be done.”
That was two excellent pep talks from two very strong women in one day. Rowan figured she should maybe try to take what they were saying to heart.
On the way out she said, “Just by way of FYI, there’ll be more killing coming so be ready to report to the Vampire Nation. They’ll all be legally sanctioned.”
“What about Arthur and Thomas Stewart?” Susan asked.
“Clive and his father did that. They’ll report it to the proper parties in the proper way. Roderick was all me, but the other two, that’s not mine to report.”
Understanding lit Susan’s eyes and she nodded. “Keep me updated and do call if you need backup.”
“Thanks, I will. I think we’ll be headed back to Las Vegas soon. Tonight or tomorrow at the latest.”
Susan took another hug and then waved, watching Rowan leave the Motherhouse.
Rowan arrived home about ten minutes before the sun set. Clive was most likely already stirring, surfacing from his daylight rest, so she transferred the evidence she’d gathered that day inside and set up in her office, knowing he’d come in when he’d fed and was ready to talk.
She sought her own dinner and naturally there was tea waiting, along with a slice of cake and a promise for some sort of fish thing coming up in time for Clive’s arrival. It did not suck having a cook. Not one bit.
* * *
Clive came back into the house to be greeted by a happy dog. As much as he’d been horrified by the idea of a dog originally, he had to admit Star was a wonderful addition to their odd little family.
“And where is she then?” he asked, bending to scratch her belly after she’d flopped onto her back.
After she was satisfied with his attention, Star wriggled to her feet and set off toward the back of the home.
Elisabeth pointed her spoon in the direction of Rowan’s home office when he ended up in the kitchen.
“Are you well, Scion?” Elisabeth asked.
Clive thought about that. “I am more well today than I was when I went to rest. Dark days lay ahead. But for this moment I am well, thank you.”
“Good. Dinner will be ready shortly,” Elisabeth told him.
“Thank you again, Elisabeth.” He and Star headed toward Rowan’s office where he found his wife engrossed, all her attention on a screen as her fingers flew over the keyboard.
She wore her hair in one long braid that lay over her shoulder like a river of molten light and the sight of her was a kick to h
is gut. His own personal goddess.
He leaned there until she looked up at him with that smile of hers.
“Good evening, Hunter.”
“Hi, Scion. What’s good?” She got up and walked into his embrace. He’d never get over the way it made him feel that this skittish, wary, slightly feral creature could so easily seek affection from him the way she did.
And he needed that embrace very much after last night.
“I went over to Arthur’s and Thomas’s houses today. I’ll fill you in on what we found but why don’t you tell me what you need to tell me first. Now, while we’re alone. Then we’ll get it out of the way and go on with our night. You can tell me anything and so that’s what I expect. Don’t make me cross so early in the day by hiding things you think I’m too fragile to hear.” She pulled him over to the couch at the end of the room and sat at his side.
“You saw the results, I’m sure. It’s not like you don’t understand what happened.”
She had the American audacity to roll her eyes at him and made a move along roll of her fingers.
He sighed as quietly as possible but she heard anyway, and smirked. “Arthur was a fool. He started blaming Thomas the moment we walked in. He admitted it all, which wasn’t much. He was a glorified errand boy. His woman was more involved and also having an affair with Thomas. She didn’t know who the being Lyr served was, only that it was something very powerful. She gave some names, most of them we already knew. I had Alice look into the others and she said she’d connect with David about it.”
