Dylan’s eyes flashed to hers. ‘What?’
‘Call Callum and find out if he knows who’s come here. We’re going to need to speak to him and Kyan about what Elisabetta said anyway, and now we have actual information to use, so …’ She gnawed on her lip, nerves fluttering at the thought of hearing Kyan’s voice again.
But the Wake were literally at their doorstep.
Nicole nodded tightly. ‘Do it. It’s Callum’s number, not Kyan’s. Callhim. Find out.’ Dylan’s jaw worked. ‘One day, we’re going to talk about your problem with him, but right now—’
‘Fine.’ Dylan took a breath, and began to tap the numbers in to the phone without looking at the paper.
Then he put the phone to his ear, and it began to ring.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Kyan
KYAN’S FINGERS TINGLED AS THE BLOODCOOLED IN HISveins. ‘What?’
‘It smells like Empyreal blood,’ the Vampire said. ‘But there’s something …’ An almost imperceptible wince creased the Vampire’s marble skin. His next words were low and interested, ‘… smothering it.’
‘Like what?’ Callum asked.
Verin blinked, as if to clear his interest. ‘Only tests may tell. You can leave it with me and I’ll contact you when it’s done. Now, if you’d be so kind—’
‘I don’t think so,’ Kyan said, planting himself on the plush rug.
If this was true, if anEmpyrealhad been mutated, what would that process do to a being that was already considered the alpha predator among supernaturals?
‘Maybe the Empyreal’s dead now,’ Callum suggested. ‘Maybe whatever experiment they tried didn’t work. Luca said it was the earliest attempt.’
Kyan shook his head mutely; the Nazen had given him more information once they got him safely home. ‘He said the last tests were done on it only last week. Whoever –whatever– this Empyreal now is, it’s still alive and it was in that building days before we were.’
What would have happened if the Huntbringer had been guarding the cells in the lab? Would Kyan have been able to sense it and identify the mutated Empyreal?
‘Can you tell if it’s a woman?’ Callum asked. ‘Any location markers or age?’
Worry coiled through Kyan. ‘You think it’s her mother? The file said she was burned in the house.’
Callum slid him a grave look. ‘No body, no proof. You think I’m going to trust some ash?’
Could Nicole’s mother be this Huntbringer?
Gods, how would he tell her?
‘I can’t tell you that now unless I test it myself,’ the Vampire answered. ‘Which I’m loath to do if this has been changed or poisoned in some way. So it may take more time as I’ll have to run tests that don’t require my own ability to taste. One thing I can tell you is whatever has been done to this, is not the same asthat.’ He raised his black brows and nodded to the fang on the table.
Which meant that whatever the Wake was doing was either twofold, or they were trying multiple techniques on multiple creatures.
Memories ofThe Wild Huntpainting in Westmoore House returned to Kyan’s mind. What chaos, what slaughter would they unleash like this?
‘They could be using a different technique with Empyreals,’ Callum mused quietly. ‘Something to counteract the self-healing and metamorphic ability that cleans up foreign substances in our blood.’
But they’d workedwiththe Wake; had forged a relationship a few millennia in the making. He’d thought that warranted some kind of comradeship. Trust.
Everything had been a lie.
Kyan began to prowl up and down the room. This didn’t feel so much like a development as being dug into an even deeper hole he had no way to get them out of. There was only one true answer: break the oath and free Empyreals so they could stop this happening. Fight this if they were taken in and used next …
He was so deep in thought he nearly didn’t notice Callum slip out his phone until his friend spoke.
