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She nodded. “We were assigned to the same operation. That’s how she and Zaq met.”
“Huh.” It explained why no one had ever heard of the Paris Syndicate princess until she’d mated with the middle Kral brother. Also, like Twilight, Renata gave off a badass vibe, although hers was quiet, watchful.
“Anyway,” Twilight continued, “Renata and I couldn’t understand why the Kral brothers were being targeted by SI. I mean, it was obvious they weren’t blood mad, and they hadn’t done anything to deserve being staked. The Krals don’t even keep blood slaves. What we didn’t know was that the SI Board had been bribed by the Tremblays to slay Gabriel, Zaq and Rafe. It was an easy sell, because the BOD wanted to strike at their father anyway—he was asking too many questions about SI and how things are run these days.”
I gave a low whistle. “That’s fucked up.”
“Yeah.” She shook her head. “We’re not supposed to take sides in syndicate vendettas. As far as I’m concerned, if you guys want to off each other, that’s your business. As a slayer, my job was to protect the humans. And Renata felt the same way.”
I eyed her, grudgingly impressed. From where I stood, Slayers, Inc. was a group of holier-than-thou do-gooders who, if not for the syndicates, would’ve cheerfully wiped out every vampire on earth. But to Twilight, being a slayer was a noble calling. She’d seen herself as fighting on the side of right.
“It seemed like everything had been settled,” she said. “The vampires who’d hired us to slay the Krals were in their final graves, and SI even gave Karoly Kral a seat on the Board. But here’s what no one else knows, or at least, I thought no one else knew it. I was at Zaq Kral’s mating ritual along with my alpha.”
I straightened. “The hell you were. I would’ve known.”
She moved a shoulder. “I told you I’m good. I was disguised as one of the caterers. I dyed my hair, made up my face so I looked twenty years older, and wore a false belly to make me appear heavier. Most people don’t pay attention to the hired help anyway. They see the uniform, not the person.”
“But I would’ve sensed you. Smelled you.”
“Heavy perfume.” She took a sip of water. “Works like a charm. You guys go out of your way to avoid it.”
She was right. Like most vampires, I found a human drenched in strong scent, whether perfume or aftershave, distasteful. And of course, the perfume would’ve disguised her natural scent.
“And I think you did sense me. During the ceremony, you rubbed the back of your neck—just like that—and looked around, like you felt someone watching you. I was crossing my fingers that you wouldn’t realize I was there.”
“So, why were you at the ritual?”
“To slay Princess Renata.”
My jaw slackened. “But why?”
Her mouth pulled into an odd little smile. “Because when you’re a slayer, you don’t just leave. And if you join a syndicate, it’s even worse. You’d better watch your back for the rest of your life.”
“But it’s been two years, and Renata’s okay.”
“They managed to bury the fact that she used to be a slayer. But my alpha knew, of course.”
“So what happened?”
“I couldn’t do it. My alpha said SI had ordered it, but by then, I wasn’t sure what to believe. Crow—that was my alpha’s code name—had gone off the deep end. She was paranoid, questioning everyone’s loyalty. And Renata’s good people, you know. My best friend, really.” She gave a wry little shrug. “So I staked Crow instead.”
“Your alpha?”
“Yeah.”
“And Kuro found out,” I said slowly.
She nodded. “And Kuro found out. I went off the grid immediately after, arranged things so it looked like I’d died, too. I thought I’d gotten away with it until he tracked me down. He threatened to inform the SI Board of Directors that not only was I alive, I’d killed my alpha.”
“So that’s what he’s got on you.”
Kuro was dead, regardless, but she’d just given me another reason for eliminating the man. Slowly and painfully.
“He shouldn’t know. Crow and I were alone. No one else was there, damn it—and Crow was a dhampir, so her body disintegrated. But he somehow found out or guessed what had happened and came looking for me. And he didn’t just threaten to expose me to the Board of Directors.” A humorless laugh. “He’s too smart for that. He promised me something, too. If I worked with him, he’d vouch for me to the Board. Bring me back into SI.”
“He wouldn’t have.” I’d never been more certain of something. “The motherfucker has his own agenda. He would’ve kept blackmailing you into doing questionable jobs for him until you slipped up, and then he would’ve abandoned you.”
“You’re probably right.” She pressed her lips together. “Hell, I know you’re right. He made me get that damn tattoo, after all. What use would I have been as a slayer with such an easy-to-identify mark? He might as well have tattooed a big ‘S’ on my forehead.”
