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“So we’re not pureblooded enough for Slayers, Inc.?”
“It’s…complicated.”
“Explain it to me in words of one syllable.”
She sighed. “The rank-and-file slayers are cheering you on—half of us are dhampirs, after all. We’d be happy to see you three take over your father’s syndicate. It’s the vampires who are jealous. You’re too famous—the Kral Dark Angels. They hate that the humans love you, that you’ve connected with them in a way a vampire never could.”
My hands tightened on the rail. “Well, fuck them, too.”
Like it was fun being targeted from birth for something you had no control over.
“Now, go.” Lainey did a shooing motion with her hand. “Or we’re all going to end up guests in Philippe’s posh little concrete cells.”
“Wait,” I said as she turned to leave. “What about my brother Zaq? Do you know where he is?”
She shook her head. “He escaped from Philippe somehow. That’s all I know.”
“That’s not what Mraz said. He said Zaq didn’t escape, that he was released. That he’s in New York to stake my dad.”
Beside me, Zoe stiffened. I shot her a glance but she gave a tiny shake of her head.
“Is that so?” Lainey asked. “That’s the first I’ve heard of it. We’re only given the details of our own mission.”
She was telling the truth. I sensed her sincerity.
“So you don’t know if he’s been brainwashed into thinking my father is behind the attacks on us?”
She tilted her head like a cute, silver-feathered bird. “Is that what they told you? Clever. But I can tell you this much. The slayers are looking for Zaquiel, too—in the States.”
“So he’s in America?”
“Last I heard.”
So Zaq had gotten back to America. But he hadn’t attacked my father yet, or Victorine would’ve rubbed it in my face. At least, that’s what I told myself.
I held out my hand to Lainey. “Thank you. The Krals owe you a blood debt.”
She shook it. “I’ll hold you to that.” Her grin was all teeth. Suddenly, she didn’t appear all that cute. She looked like one of those vicious pint-sized dogs.
I released her hand. “I’ll make sure Father knows.”
“Karoly Kral in my debt.” Lainey chuckled. “My friends at SI won’t believe it.”
Zoe leaned past me to ask, “What about the contract on Rafe?”
My brows crawled into my hairline. This was the slayer they’d sent to kill me? I didn’t know whether to laugh or be insulted.
“The contract’s still mine. I’m not leaving SI—I’m part of the resistance. Although you didn’t hear that from me. But I need time to establish a new cover, don’t I?” A slow smile. “Who knows what will happen between now and then? Ciao, you lovebirds.”
She slipped into the crowd and was gone.
I picked up the backpack, but Zoe didn’t move. She gazed out at the dark water, jaw set. “There’s something I have to tell you. About your brother.”
I set the backpack down. “Zaq?”
She nodded and turned to look at me. “Two nights ago Victorine came to my room and ordered me to call him. He’s okay,” she hurried to say. “But she forced me to pass on a message—that he has one week to complete his mission or you’d be sold to a vampire brothel.”
I growled under my breath. “So he definitely didn’t escape.”
