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"What do you mean, they're gone?" I stared at him. "Corpses just don't walk away. Well, not all that often."
"Use your head, girl," Chase said, looking exhausted. "We have four newborn hungry vamps on the loose. One of the laboratory techs saw them rise. He managed to hide until they left. He's an elf who works with Sharah." Chase lifted his cup to his lips. The coffee was scalding, but he didn't even flinch.
Freakin' bloody hell. "Do you think they were wannabes, then? Groupies who found a willing vamp to sire them?"
He shook his head. "I checked into their background. None of them hung with that crowd. They didn't cruise the clubs, they had good jobs, apartments, pets, families. Now I have to decide whether to notify their families or not. What can I say? Your daughter's dead, but she got up and walked away? Or do I just wait until they're reported missing? This is a sticky wicket, and I'm so damned glad that so far, only the FH-CSI is involved. But what I really need is for somebody to get out there and catch these new vamps before they start preying on the people of Seattle. That's on top of catching the joker who sired them."
Great. This night was just getting better and better. "Got any clues?"
"I don't know. You know the vamp community better than I ever could. My men and I'd be sitting ducks if we went into some of the sub-cult clubs that have sprung up over the past few years. And don't think I don't know about what goes on in there. I've heard about the parties at Dominick's." He set down his mug and gave me a tired shrug. "I know it's a lot to ask on top of finding whoever killed them in the first place but…"
I looked from Delilah to Camille. "I assume you two will go along for the ride?"
Camille nodded. "What else can we do?" She looked like she was going to say something, but then shook her head.
"Okay, you've got something on your mind. Give it up."
She stared at the floor for a moment. "As far as you know, how often do vamps leave their kills out for others to find? Wouldn't they normally take someone back to their nest if they were intending to sire them?"
What she said made sense, but I didn't see how it related. "Go on."
"I just think… it seems like this might be a message. That we were meant to take notice of those bodies, especially since Chase received that anonymous tip. Whoever it was didn't try to hide the bite marks, did he?" She frowned, pursing her lips in a gesture that reminded me so much of Father it was hard to look away.
"What she's trying to say is: Do you think this might be the Elwing Blood Clan's way of letting us know they made it through the portals?" Delilah rattled out her thoughts like staccato bullet play. She shivered and I realized that she was waiting for me to explode.
Both my sisters knew that I hated discussing the Elwing Blood Clan. My blow up shortly after Yule when they told me that the Clan might be headed this way proved that I wasn't ready to talk about them yet.
Trouble was, Delilah might just be right, and if she was, I was in for a world of hurt. I crossed to the fireplace, gazing into the flames that crackled and popped. The winter was cold all right, and suddenly it seemed bleak and dark. Spring was a long ways off, and for me, the returning light would never again cross my face. After a moment, I turned.
Chase looked mildly confused, as usual, but Camille, Delilah, and Iris eyed me cautiously. Once, I'd lived like them. Once, I'd taken deep breaths, felt my pulse race, enjoyed the cold and heat and the sun on my face. The Elwing Blood Clan had taken all of that away. Dredge had taken it away.
Stronger, older than any of them, he was their leader, dark wine on a hot summer's night. Dredge had shredded my skin. He'd taught me how closely pleasure is tied to intense and exquisite pain. He'd used every weapon he could think of that wouldn't kill me outright, including his own body. He'd ripped open my soul and nobody bothered to put Menolly back together again. And then at the end… he forced my lips to his wrist where he'd opened a vein. His blood trickled down my throat. I had no choice. It was swallow or choke. And so I swallowed. And then, the end came that was only the beginning to torment…
Shaking my head, I quickly barricaded my thoughts. Some roads were too dangerous to walk down. The OIA brought me back to sanity, but they couldn't take away the scars that were left on my body and heart. Sometimes wounds never heal. Sometimes memories never fade.
"Then I suppose we'd better find out if they're behind this," I said. "Wade should be here any minute. If anybody knows about anything new going down in the vamp community, he will. He keeps close ties with most of the nests and clubs."
Wade made it his business to know what was happening in the underground. There were three layers within the Supe community—those who were out of the closet and lived open lives; those who hadn't mainstreamed, but who could still pass for humans; and then there were the Supes who hid themselves away and steered clear of the human side of life. At least the average FBH's life.
"If it is them…" Camille said, her words drifting off.
"If it is Dredge, then Wisteria's going to be with him and my guess is they'll be trying to find their way into the Subterranean Realms to meet up with Shadow Wing." I paused, wiping my hand across my eyes. I usually didn't tire but right now I felt a thousand years old. "I want you to promise me one thing."
"What's that?" Chase asked, staring at me.
As I dropped my hand, I realized it was wet—slick with bloody tears. I'd been crying and didn't even know it. I didn't bother wiping the blood off my face but looked him straight in the eye. "If the Elwing Blood Clan's involved, Dredge is mine. And nobody says a word about what I do to him, no matter what I do. Understand? He's mine."
Delilah let out a small mew. Camille blinked but didn't say a word. She gave me a look that told me she understood. Chase nodded once. I turned back to the fire as Iris came up, carrying a towel over her shoulder.
"Menolly? Maggie's awake and looking for you. Would you like to come hold her for me while I make up her cream and sage? I think she's hungry." Her flaxen hair shimmered under the incandescent lighting, her gaze showing no pity, only clear, pure support. Grateful, I forced my lungs to take a long, deep breath. I didn't need to breathe, but it helped me focus when I was stressed out.
"Thanks," I said. "I'm right behind you."
We headed into the kitchen, where Maggie was sitting in her playpen, blinking. I glanced at Iris. "You woke her up, didn't you?"
Iris shrugged. "Hard to say. I went in my room to get a notebook and must have made too much noise. She started whimpering so I brought her out." She turned away, avoiding my stare, but I knew her too well. Maggie hadn't woken up on her own.
"Thank you," I said, shaking off my gloom. "How's the girl?"
