“Please,” he said. “Continue. I shall endeavor to be more forthcoming, if you agree to do the same.”
“Very well.” I folded my arms across my chest. “Since it would seem you’re not of a mind to do it yourself, I plan to track down your rogue vampire and bring him to justice myself.”
I thought he might forbid it, or at the very least attempt to dissuade me. But Grinaldi did neither, saying only, “Her, Mr. Beaumont.”
My eyes widened.
“Yes, the rogue you seek is a female,” he said. “Should you find her, I trust you’ll return her to me alive?”
His comment came out more like a question than a demand, and I pressed my advantage.
“So you can let her run wild again? Sink those fangs into a few more witches in my community? I don’t think so.”
“I can assure you that will not be the case. We simply prefer to handle our affairs internally, as I’m sure you’re well aware.”
I was. The punishments for betrayal and disloyalty in the Grinaldi family were legendary.
I considered his request. Given the fact that his rogue was directly tied to several murders and Grinaldi had yet to report her to the Council, he was in no position to negotiate.
However, there might come a time when I needed a favor, and Grinaldi—for all his faults—was a powerful ally to have in your corner.
“Once I’ve finished questioning her,” I said, “and I’ve deemed that she’s answered those questions truthfully, and she has done everything in her power to help us locate the hunter responsible for the deaths in my community, I will return her to you alive, assuming I find her in that condition to begin with and she does nothing to warrant immediate… termination.”
“I have your word?” he asked.
I inclined my head, lowering my eyes. It was all the promise he needed.
“Her given name is Fiona Brentwood. I don’t know what she calls herself now.” Grinaldi relaxed into his rocking chair, much more forthcoming now that he believed he’d handed his problem off to me. “She’d been living in Westchester when she’d first captured my youngest son’s attention four years ago, but she was originally from a small town near the Catskill Mountains called Phoenicia.”
Phoenicia.
Gray’s hometown.
“She was born twenty-three years ago,” he continued, “but was turned at the age of nineteen, not long after she and Everett began dating.”
I nodded, doing some quick mental math. I’d already assumed the rogue was a somewhat recently-turned vampire. The older members of Grinaldi’s family had always been loyal.
But her age put her at just two years behind Gray. With both of them being from the same town, they’d almost certainly known each other in school.
Which meant that Grinaldi’s rogue also knew Gray’s hunter long before she’d been turned.
“May I ask who turned her?” It wasn’t the most critical piece of information, but it might help me understand her a bit better. And if I could get inside her head, I might just be able to predict her next move. “Was it Everett?”
Grinaldi stopped his rocking, his fingers tightening over the arms of the chair, his eyes never leaving mine.
I was beginning to regret asking the question.
“In any case,” I continued, hoping to redirect the conversation and regain the ground I’d just lost, “I suppose I’ll start with—”
“Iturned her, Mr. Beaumont.” He finally broke his gaze, turning toward the window at the other end of the room. “And lest you think any less of me than you already do, I assure you—she wanted it.”
My mouth soured at his words. How many vampires had used that as a justification for turning the lives of innocent humans—particularly young women—into horror shows? Into nightmares from which there was no escape but death?
I shook free of the thoughts. I wasn’t here to save Fiona, or any of the others he’d turned during his long reign. I was here to save the witches rotting away in some prison we’d yet to locate. I was here to save Gray, a woman who’d come to mean more to me than Grinaldi—with his endless parade of servants and “cocktails” and sired children lining up to do his bidding—could possibly understand.
“And your son?” I prompted.
I hadn’t really expected him to divulge additional details, but he continued without hesitation.
