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Remorse fisted my heart. I hated like hell that she’d been dragged into this, but it was too late now.
I smoothed the backs of my fingers over her cheek. “Why don’t you take a shower,cher?”
“What about Joey?” She gripped my wrist, eyes bright with fear. “Andre’s going to make him a blood slave. He said he’ll give Joey to his coven.”
“We’ll find him,” I promised grimly.
And then Andre Redbone was dead meat. This wasn’t just about me and my place in the Syndicate. By dragging humans into it—myhumans—he’d crossed the line.
This was war.
“I think I know where he is,” Mila said.
I stilled. “Joey?”
An eager nod. “In Manhattan—an apartment building on Fifth Avenue. That’s where they took me. Joey was there, too. Andre let me see him. He was trying to be tough, but God, he was so scared.”
A black fury filled my head. “Where, exactly?” I asked as calmly as I could.
“On Fifth Avenue, across from Central Park. They kept me in the basement.”
I felt my eyes go vampire. I swore, low and vicious.
Mila blinked, heart rapping so hard I could almost feel it in my own chest.
“Damn it,” I grated, too on edge from pain and anger to mince my words. “Don’t you be afraid of me. YouknowI wouldn’t harm a single fucking hair on your head.”
She looked at me another moment, then brought a hand up to stroke my temple. “I know.”
The light touch felt like a blessing. I nuzzled her palm, still on edge, but beneath was the peace she’d always brought me. I’d almost forgotten how good it felt, howright.
Like the world was a better place than I knew it to be.
I drew her into my arms, ignoring the pain that stabbed my abdomen. “You’re safe now. I swear it on everything I hold holy.”
She rested her head against my chest. “I know.”
“All right, then.” I blew out a breath. “So. Tell me about this basement.”
She pulled away, thinking. “I can’t tell you much—I was locked in one of the cells the whole time. But I can tell you there’s no elevator to the basement. We took an elevator to the first floor, then went down another flight of stairs. There were six cells all together.”
“Would you know the building if you saw it?”
“Yes.” Her whole face lit up. “I didn’t see a building number, but it was just north of East Seventy-Sixth Street. And I had a good look at the front.”
“That’s all we need to look it up on Google Earth.” I limped into my office and sank carefully into my chair, trying not to groan.
Mila laid a hand on my shoulder. “Let me do it.”
I nodded and opened my laptop. As soon as I’d entered the password, she leaned over me to open the geolocation app, narrowing the search to Manhattan’s Upper East Side. A short time later, we were viewing the buildings on Fifth Avenue between Seventy-Sixth and Seventy-Seventh Streets.
“That’s it!” She zoomed in on a building near the corner of Seventy-Sixth and Fifth.
My jaw tightened. The building was owned by a member of the Louisiana Coven. Not Redbone, but Brenda McFadden, the vampire liaison between Louisiana and my father.
“You’re sure?”
“Positive. I remember the orange trees.” She pointed to the potted trees on either side of the walk.
