Great-Uncle Ezra was silent for so long that she felt her legs going numb from having them pressed so tightly together. At last, his eyebrows rose. “You have done well.”
She squirmed, unsure how to react. He’d never praised her before.
“Continue to associate with Mr. Drake,” he said. “Your mission is to discover the location of his haven and the names of the other vampires in his nest.”
Her stomach twisted into knots. He didn’t know Jonathan was part of Winifred’s nest. That was good, as otherwise,he might have declared Jonathan off-limits like the Earl of Kingsbury.
As for the haven, leading hunters to Jonathan’s daylight resting place would mean breaking her promise of immunity. She’d been prepared to kill him when their mission concluded, but handing him over to her family for torture and eventual death was different. “B-But I…”
Great-Uncle Ezra shoved back his chair with a screech, then approached her. With every step, the entire room seemed to shake. When he reached her side, he placed a hand on her shoulder. “It was not a request.”
She stared at the half-eaten slice of toast on her plate. “I understand.”
Jonathan would be furious, but she could not betray her family, especially for the enemy.
*
Later that night,as she sat across from Jonathan in his carriage with a blindfold wrapped around her eyes, she scrunched her nose until a small gap formed. He had remained unusually silent throughout the drive, other than to confirm he hadn’t recognized their latest fledgling attacker. She did not mind, as it helped her concentrate on discovering where they were going. She tilted her head against the interior of the carriage and peered through what she could see of the window that wasn’t obscured by the curtain. It took several blocks, but eventually, she recognized St. Paul’s Cathedral, and then the name of a physician written on a plaque on the exterior of a house. That would be enough information for her family to determine where Jonathan had taken her. Seconds later, the carriage stopped.
“Have we arrived?” she asked.
He slipped his hand into hers. “We have.” Then he guided her out of the carriage onto the street. Immediately, a sour smell invaded her senses, and when she lifted her boot, it separated from the ground with a sick tearing sound.
“Not the most pleasant of locales, I know,” Jonathan said. “Stay by my side.”
He led her down a cobblestone path and then through a doorway.
“You can remove the blindfold now,” he said.
She did so, then blinked several times, adjusting to the faint light. “Where are we?”
Jonathan chuckled. “Madame Pearce’s. This is where human men come to seek the company of lady vampires.”
She flushed. “A brothel.”
She wasn’t sure what she’d expected from a bawdy house, but this wasn’t a vulgar, raucous place. A steep, wooden staircase stood in front of her with its dark banister perched above bone-white spindles and treads protected by a lush, silver runner. To her right was a well-lit drawing room papered in light blue with a diamond pattern. Heavy, velvet drapes in deep red and gold cascaded from the tall windows, and the faint scent of lilac hung in the air, layered over something older and muskier.
Sweat dripped down her back. Being caught in such a location would destroy her reputation and result in the loss of her employment, assuming a vampire didn’t murder her for being a hunter first.
It was a risk she’d have to take.
She followed Jonathan up the stairs and then into a room dominated by an enormous four-poster bed piled high with overstuffed pillows. The velvet curtains around the windows were closed, but an ornate golden chandelier hung above them, providing enough gaslight by which to see. As Jonathan closed the door, his abdominal muscles quivered.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
They were inside a brothel, in a locked room presumably intended for men to engage in carnal acts with vampire women. He couldn’t possibly expect her to—
“Relax,” he said. Then he walked over to the wood-paneled wall and pressed a switch she hadn’t noticed. A painting of a herd of galloping horses slid to the side, revealing a secret passageway.
“You’ve been here before,” she said. His familiarity with the brothel shouldn’t have been a surprise, given how the owner of the previous location to which he’d taken her had reacted. So, why did she feel the urge to demand he promise never to return?
“It’s one of my haunts,” Jonathan said. Then he gestured for her to pass. “Let’s see if we can find your vampire.”
She stared at the narrow hole. “You expect me to go in there?”
It was tight. She’d hardly be able to breathe.
“Would you prefer to barge into each of the rooms?” He put his hand on his hip. “Or I could summon Madame Pearce and ask her to introduce you to the ladies. I am sure she’d be keen to know why a hunter is interested in her business.”
