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My friends don’t answer. I think they’re in shock, half buzzed, and still trying to make sense of it all. Same as me. I tap my fingernails on the table to get their attention. “Are you not listening to me? The minute that pureblood finds out that I’ve sent him on a wild goose chase, he’s coming after me, and he knows exactly where we live. I could throttle Devora for giving that beast permission to come after us! How could she turn on her own like this?”
Belinda’s creamy complexion turns splotchy red. Most people think she’s the quiet one, but her close friends know the truth. “I hate that witch! All we ever heard from Devora was evil vampires this and evil vampires that for years at the academy, and now she’s in bed with the master of the Campania region. What the fuck is her end game? There has to be a way she’s benefiting from all of this. Don’t tell me she’s suddenly done a one-eighty with the vamps.”
The waiter stops by to see if we need a top off, but not one of us takes him up on his offer. Each of us reach for some bills and toss them on the table. Belinda scoops them up and hands the young man whose had his eye on her all night the money. “Thanks, but we’re going to call it a night.”
He moves on to help another patron, and a tall shadow across the club catches my attention. I watch as the well-suited man saunters to the syndicate table as if he owns the place. The man folds himself into an empty seat at their almost full table, lowers his head, and begins to talk to his men. That’s our cue to get the hell out of here because all we need is to draw his attention, especially after the stunt I’ve just pulled with the vampire.
I slide my empty glass to the middle of the table and grab my purse. “Nick Mancino just walked through that door. We need to get out of this region fast. I saw those syndicate goons watching me and the pureblood talk while he was at our table. Now their new don walks in a short time later. This can’t be coincidence. “Bathroom, ladies.” My friends grab their purses before following me among the throngs of tables, until we reach the door at the back of the lounge.
One lady exits as we enter the otherwise empty bathroom. I turn to my friends after I lock the door. “We don’t have a lot of time. Maybe an hour at most before Campania learns that he’s been tricked. Damn it all to hell. Why did I send them to the Caposso of all places. If rumors are true, Nick Mancino is someone you do not want to get on the bad side of, and I’ve just sent the vampires to his crew’s hangout. It was the first place that came to mind. Damn that vampire for throwing me off my game! Now we’ll have the vamps and syndicate after our asses for sure.”
My friend’s eyes swirl with color, and I curse my stupidity for causing them angst. There’s no time to dwell on it now, though. A rattle of the doorknob outside the bathroom spins us into action.
As much as Devora hates it, my tricks without the wand can come in pretty damn handy at times. One wave of a well jeweled hand and all four of us are back in the sanctity of our house overlooking the sea. At least what was a sanctuary before learning the vampire who rules this region knows exactly where we are and how to get us kicked out. “Let’s grab our stuff and get out of here as quickly as we can. The vampire was in no mood for games, but I wasn’t about to give our sisters up to a vampire no matter the reason. The rumors floating around about those witches may not even be true. For all we know it’s a story the vampires made up so they can get their hands on us and more of our coven sisters.”
I grab this and that from the living room, tossing it in a bag before moving onto the bedroom as my friends do the same. All while the eerie feeling of running out of time no matter how fast we move sends a streak of fear racing down the length of my spine.
Chapter5
Campania
The city streetsare quiet until we get close to Caposso. A club renowned for its high-end female dancers, and where many of the syndicate fucks, along with the shifters they’ve recruited away from Sheba to do their dirty work hang out. I gesture to an empty parking spot on the side of the road a little way ahead. “Park there. Let’s wait for Descallia and the rest of the crew.” Walking into the last club was one thing, but entering this one without warning could send a buzz throughout the syndicate world without intention and could start an all-out war.
A brief rap on the window pulls my attention from the front of the club where a crowd of people are still lined up trying to get inside the popular nightclub. Descallia opens the door and slides into the back seat and turns to me. “I’m glad you got a hold of me. I got word to the others and sent a message to Nick. I would expect him to pay me the same courtesy if he and his crew were heading into the Descallia.”
I give him a nod, respecting the gesture of giving a heads-up to the syndicate don. Although not quite understanding this sudden truce with the men constantly encroaching in our territory, undermining our profits, and plain annoying the fuck out of us every chance they get. He has to negotiate everything differently now that Master Trentino and Nick’s baby sister are a thing. I turn to face him. “Did you ask Master Trentino and Romano to come with us; they may be useful?”
He gives a grunt as he finishes pounding out a message. “Yes, and Trentino will bring Angel.” No one wants to admit it, but Trentino turning Nick’s baby sister and taking her for a mate has had its advantages for the vampires. The less time we spend fighting with the syndicate, the more time we have to focus on what really matters—the rogue bastards who want to bury us under a pile of ashes so deep that we’ll never return to stand in their way of taking over.
Overmaster Descallia’s not wrong in his collaboration with the don, but it’s a fine balance working with them while trying to keep the fuckers from dipping their fingers into what doesn’t belong to them. “Are you having Romano bring Raven too?”
He nods. “Yes, she’s proven herself loyal and committed.”
My jaw locks tight. Everything turns to shit when Devora is involved. Raven may have proven herself loyal, but she’s still the niece of one of the evilest head witches around. No matter what anyone else thinks, including our leader. I remain quiet, my thoughts kept to myself.
Overmaster doesn’t have to hear me speak to know what I’m thinking. His eyes blaze red and then darken in color. “Devora has many faults, but she sees what the defection of her witches to the rogues can do not only to the vampires, but her entire coven as well. Raven will come with Romano and can help provide a buffer between us and the witches we’re looking for.”
I should keep a lid on it, but of course I don’t. “No disrespect, but it can’t be coincidence that the very witches we’re trying to find end up hanging out in the syndicate club. Everyone knows this is where they hang out to do business, even Devora and her witches. Why would they come here unless they’re working for the fucking syndicate and being protected?”
His eyes redden again, and this time his fangs descend. “If the syndicate is protecting the witches and Nick wasn’t up front with me when I spoke with him, then he and I will have a problem. Until then, I’m going to assume it’s a coincidence or another reason that we don’t fully understand yet. He may be a new leader, but he knows the value of product distribution and collaboration with the right people. He’s not going to jeopardize that especially being new to the role. He’s not going to rock the boat; more likely he’s going to try to keep the peace.”
My jaw locks tight. Overmaster Descallia clearly puts more trust into Nick and his syndicate fucks than I do. He’s a shrewd overmaster, though, the only reason I don’t continue in this line of questioning. His wisdom and ability to see far into the future has kept the vampires at the top of the hierarchy in the underworld, even if sometimes it’s hard to understand his train of thought.
Descallia gestures out the window at the group approaching, then opens the door as the others walk toward us. “Thanks for coming,” he says as Trentino, Angel, Romano, Raven, Embry, Lucas, and Lucianna join us.
Overmaster Descallia’s eyebrows raise at his mate who looks somewhat sheepish. Lucianna’s eyes begin to glow bright crystalline green. “I’m not staying home while everyone else helps. Silver, Clay, and Terrence should be here shortly. Silver’s power of sight is becoming stronger every day, and Clay and Terrence are always willing to help if things get out of hand.”
Embry laughs. “Translation: we’re not staying home while there is shifter and syndicate ass to kick with a bonus of witch. Clay and Terrence get a wee bit cranky when they get left out of a good fight. Besides, we can’t let Master Campania have all the fun with the bitches.”
Raven’s head snaps around, and her eyes swirl before pinning Embry with their ire.
Embry swallows hard, looking as guilty as she should, given the company. “Sorry, Raven. Slip of the tongue. I know you’re not all like that, but it is hard to put aside the differences. The witches have been after the vampires for decades, doing everything they can to discredit us. Now we learn they’re working with the rogues who want to end us. It never seems to stop. I shouldn’t have said it, though. I really am sorry. You’ve taught me a lot about all the good you do too.”
Raven’s eyes still haven’t stopped swirling, though. I watch her hand because the witches are never too far away from their fucking wands. Always a surprise, out of nowhere and bam, they either disappear or turn your life upside down with some fucking trick or another.
The witch surprises me, though, and her eyes begin to settle. That doesn’t stop her from saying her piece. “The witches and vampires have come to an amiable agreement. As a senior head witch, my own aunt Devora has given Overmaster Descallia and our team permission to find the witches who are responsible for helping the rogues. It wasn’t sanctioned by us. The witches are not all against the vampires, but it will take time and continued effort on all of our parts to mend the fences of centuries of hate for the other.”
Lucianna nods and puts her arm around Raven. The pulse at the side of Raven’s neck begins to calm, and the electricity flickering at her fingertips goes out. “Well said,” she tells Raven.
